Back in the 90s, comedian Steven Wright did a stand-up routine which included one of my favorite paraprosdokians that went something like, "I woke up the other day, and everything in my apartment had been replaced by exact replicas." How did he know? Though funny, it's bizarre, but like all good humor, it contains within it, some grain of truth. Sometimes things change and we're not quite sure how, or everything seems to be as they always were, but they're different, or ... well, you get the picture.
Just yesterday I was having a chat with a friend over lunch. As so often, the subjects were world events, breaking news, the situation in the world ... nothing out of the ordinary. It struck me, though, as he spoke that all the key words he was using -- the government, politicians, training and education, society, the social order -- were all common, everyday, familiar words, but -- and this makes all the difference -- none of them meant what I once thought they meant, nor what I was taught that they meant, and most poignant of all, nor what he was implying that they meant. All of the concepts had changed, but I wasn't immediately quite sure how, or though it all seemed to make sense, it was somehow very different.
No, I didn't stop him and tell him I was having a Wrightian experience. In fact, we both went on as if nothing had happened at all, but I'm convinced that I'm not the only one who has such feelings. I would be willing to be that every one of you has, at one time or another, in one situation or another, have felt that everything was cast in a quick pale of doubt, that nothing is as it once was, that though you understand each and every word being said, they're just not making sense.
None of us is going insane (or if we are, this isn't the reason), nor are we simply feeling our screws loosen, nor is there anything actually wrong with us at all. We're not lacking in any particular way. These feelings, these experiences are perfectly normal, at least they are these days. I can't speak for past ages, I can only speak for my own, but we are going through (a) a great number of changes (all at once) that are (b) radical (in the true sense of the word; that is, going to the very root of things) in nature, and that are (c) I believe, unavoidable. There are times (as history has shown us) when things can change in a really big way -- like the "discovery" of monotheism, or the emergence of argumentative discourse, or the "discovery" of perspective, or the acknowledgement of time as a dimension -- but none of these changes -- all of which we, today, simply take for granted and accept as givens -- happened overnight. What history also shows us, however, is that each of these great changes took less and less time to accomplish and each change was far more subtle than the one preceding it.
The time in which we could firmly and unerringly rely on our five senses has gone for the most part. Crassness has been superseded by subtlety, directness by innuendo, details by implications, and the clearly marked lines between fact and fantasy, between news and commentary, between reporting and advertising, between investing and speculating, between service and exploitation, and more are becoming increasingly blurred. We need to be aware, not only that such changes are taking place, but also in which directions these changes are taking us. What is more, it is imperative that we find ways to help make others aware as well.
There are days when I'm convinced we all live in Mr. Wright's apartment.
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