About a week ago I was thinking about time travel, the future, and fate (I may or may not have been watching Terminator 2). Connect the dots: if one were to believe in fate, or destiny, or any other sort of predestination, then it is reasonable to assume that the future is in some way set. If the future is set, then it could be argued that the future has already happened. If the future has already happened, but we are not aware of it, then one could assume that there are future incarnations of ourselves, living out future events while we live out current events. Essentially, we are catching up with our future selves. If this is the case then it would be reasonable to assume that there are past incarnations of ourselves that are catching up with our present selves, who are in turn catching up with our future selves. Therefore, it could be said that we are living our entire lives simultaneously. That is a lot of assuming, I know, but I was quite pleased with myself nonetheless. Then I started reading Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut’s Tralfamadorians view life in this manner, as existing all the time at the same time. Though Vonnegut never explains how this is possible (or maybe he does? I haven’t quite finished the book yet, though it may involve the 4th dimension), I was minorly devastated that my omni-exisitential ponderings were hardly ground breaking works of staggering originality. Moral of the story: someone will always have your idea before you. And it will be better. The best you can hope to do is either a) improve on it, or b) disguise it.
In other news, here is a (failed) attempt at the perfect first sentence:
It was amazing how much blood there was, especially on the once-ivory-now-crimson-colored blades of the ceiling fan.
Ego
- blackwood
- pretentious, affected, grandiose, highfalutin, ostentatious, pompous, self-assertive, self-conceited, self-important, self-satisfied, smug, sandwiches.
2 comments:
I'd like to comment on this with as much effort as you put into writing it, but I just don't have it in me at the moment.
Firstly, as you said in your post, some one has already done it first, and it has been done better, than you can ever hope. Effectively, your best sentence has already been written: "Maman died today, or maybe it was yeasterday. I don't remember." Take that.
Secondly, now I have to read Slaughter House Five, damn you.
Also, what will you give me not to tell everyone you know about this foray into pretentiousness?
Too bad that's two sentences, huh?
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