johannes k.

dear c.

😂 that's a great story. you should write a novel. almost everyone should write a novel.

because i am prone to making pronouncements like that i have my computer set to insert the word 'almost' whenever i type 'everyone' or 'always' because it's so annoying when people write almost everyone and almost always. there! that's what it does. and if you really want to write 'everyone' or 'always' you can just go back and delete the 'almost'.

also : almost everyone should have therapy. but the problem is that most therapists are a. incompetent b. egomaniacs and c. money hungry — and anyway there's not enough therapists for almost everyone to have therapy.

but if you're not writing a novel what are you doing? you're wasting a life. onze lieve heer gave you a life, or someone or something did, i don't care if you're religious or not, life is a kind of like a gift. right? that's number one. the least you can do is leave behind a novel. my old boss, who was known in the popular press as doctor death and who had ambitions to be a stand up comic, used to say, ok so life is a gift but you should be able to return it, which is a great line and it's true of course but generally i am a heideggerian as far as that's concerned at least.

i have a sort of friend who is a famous and successful novelist (i am not going to name drop him) who told me : don't put names of philosophers into your writing without explaining who they are and what they have to say — but i am not sure i agree. he says if you don't do that it's just name dropping. is he right? i am sure as hell not going to try and explain heidegger. maybe i could just say 'an old nazi philosopher'? that would complicate things!

also i believe writing a novel can be cathartic and almost everyone should have at least one catharsis, but 'spiritual cleansing', that's two bits of bullshit in one! 'spiritual cleansing' would require a reiki therapist probably and i don't believe in reiki therapists although they do exist. they call themselves 'reiki master' ha ha and the problems starts right there. i know this because i have a dear friend who became a 'reiki master' and i love her but i don't love her when she starts talking about reiki and that's a problem. the last time we met, she made a long journey to visit me and i didn't have much time and when i saw her i was so happy but then after a while when she started talking about reiki i became so tired and i wanted to get away from her. it was sad and i felt awkward because i do love her. i just wish we could be together without her talking about reiki.

or actually you know the problem is not only the reiki it's that she subjects me to a monologue. monologues can be great and this is why almost everyone should write a novel (or have a blog ha ha) but not if the monologue is happening in real life in real time, it's super alienating and almost everything is a monologue. in real life/time what is urgently needed is dialogue but real dialogue is rare.

ha ha everyone should be engaged in a dialogue.

i went back and deleted that 'almost'.