Monday, July 7, 2025
We secretly long for death yet outwardly fight for life. Bring death into the open, and you’ll see what taboo is. Other taboos are menstruation, blasphemy, incest, and swearing in front of your grandparents. It’s a creative way to refer to something without naming. Identify it, then it loses its grip. Keep it in the shadows, and it binds you. Isn’t that suspenseful? Suspended means to hold something up or keep its weight from being felt. Bring it into the open, and it’s light and airy.
Running down your street naked would be exhilarating because it’s taboo, and enshrouded in shame and finger wagging. If everybody ran down the street naked, it would be “meh.” Why are we strangely drawn to shadows yet have a parallel aversion to them?
If life weren’t suspenseful, would there be any joy, disgust, sting, humiliation, exuberance, or wonder? There would be nothing. No dullness. No anticipation. No satisfaction. No relief. No nail-biting. No suffering. No love. No nothing. An unimaginable void, suspended.
If you’ve ever performed or given a public speech, you know the thrill of “nerves.” What nerve, to express yourself! Isn’t the thrill of public sex to get caught? Exposure thrills, but the thrill is kept hushed. Keeping it under the wire is what thrills. Knowing secrets, and secretly keeping it under wraps is the fun. Don’t you see how thrill is set up? It remains just under the wire, while boldness and stupidity share a secret.
Public sex is bold. But after getting caught, death is preferable. Prefer death first. It will lead you away from the shadows, and you’ll expose taboo more subversively. We’ll learn what love is, and how shadows make what seems unlovable. We’ll learn to be expositors without any real ability to name, praise, or blame. If you know the secret, consider it “taboo” and hope others will catch on to that which cannot be pointed to.