the sixth step

“step six says you are not who they say you are, even if you do what they say you do.”

this is the sixth step in the 12-step recovery program from western civilization – written into a novel by casey maddox called the day philosophy dies.

this is also something said to me by a friend 8 months ago as we grappled with our activism, our shared sorrows, our paths forward. he said, “you are not what they tell you to be, you are a wild animal, and you did not create this. you need to find a way home.”

how these reoccuring themes keep coming back at me, in the people i meet, in the books i choose to read, in the path towards health i seek. who are all of us but wild animals caged in concrete, pacing our cells and pawing at simple reflections of ourselves in media and shopping malls?

the aforementioned book lets us imagine what it would take to bring civilization to a halt, twists the top off possibilities, and throws out subversive ideas like red pills.

it’s worth a read, i couldn’t put it down once i started it.