and, yet another thing: shamanism

Social and economic systems determine our norms. Within capitalism, it is normative to direct much of one's libidinal energy towards trying to appear in the others of the others as having "interesting" qualities, that make one stand out from the crowd.My philosophy of life points in the opposite direction.What I still find startling and original are not those who decorate their characters. Perhaps one would have to do as I have done and experience shamanistic regression through all sorts of animal and primeval stages, to discover that the everyday human being is the most extraordinarily interesting thing. We should regain our capacity to marvel at this strange fact of being human.

This is my attitude to life: It's the basic assumption I bring to my memoir: How would an average person respond to the kinds of events I depict, to survive?

Being able to embody a human shape -- that is, being physiologically normal, is a miracle.

This is not to discount that anyone can become more (or, indeed, less "interesting") in other people's eyes. Yet to try to become more "interesting" in one's own eyes leads to losing one's grounding in this basic human state of being. This is because "interesting" has no essential or unchanging value, but rather shifts and changes according to others' libidinal desires. More profoundly, I have always found it much more interesting to fully embody one's reality, than to search in an outward direction for a sense of approval.