some palahniuk

I'm currently reading Chuck Palahniuk's latest novel Haunted. Reading earlier today I came across one of those great Palahniuk passages that made me stop, shake my head and realize (once again) that CP is simply one of the best writers in the game today.

Excerpts from page 109, Chapter: Erosion, A Poem About Mr. Whittier:

"The same mistakes we made as cavemen," says Mr. Whittier, "we still make."
So maybe we're supposed to fight and hate and torture each other.

...He says, "Maybe suffering and misery is the point of life."
Consider that the earth is a processing plant, a factory.
Picture a tumbler used to polish rocks:
A rolling drum filled with water and sand.
Consider that your soul is dropped in as an ugly rock, some raw material or a natural resource, crude oil, mineral ore.
And all conflict and pain is just the abrasive that rubs us, polishes our souls, refines us,
teaches and finishes us over lifetime after lifetime.
Then consider that you've chosen to jump in, again and again,
knowing this suffering is your entire reason for coming to earth.

...He says, "The only alternative is, we're all just eternally stupid."
We fight wars. We fight for peace. We fight hunger. We love to fight.
We fight and fight and fight, with our guns or mouths or money.
And the planet is never one lick better than it was before us.

...Mr. Whittier says: "Maybe we're living the exact way we're meant to live."
Maybe our factory planet is processing our souls...just fine.


Pure Palahniuk, baby.

mc