I have had a recently rekindled interest in the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the mythos he created in his time. This probably has a great deal to do with the incredibly awesome board game I got not too long ago, Arkham Horror, which is based on the Cthulu Mythos. So far I've dug up two annotated collections of stories and an H.P. Lovecraft lexicon (which is a must have for anyone trying to really interpret any of the things going on his weird and often vague prose-poetry) that will be draining all the extra funds I worked for over Easter. Something about working tirelessly through a religious holiday in order to purchase blasphemous tomes of macabre 1930's horror seems really fitting for some reason.
I wonder why the horrific is so fascinating to humanity. All throughout history, the most intriguing stories have involved facing some sort of horrific force, be it goblins or the Wendigo or fairies or demons, etc. etc. etc. Is it our despreation for something, ANYTHING, that can snap us out of the ordinary banality of daily life that we look to things that would stalk us in the night and in our dreams to amuse us? Or is there something more, something deep and particular about the predator and prey relationship that has been woven into our psyches?
It seems that there are no more adventures to be had. There are no more secrets of the dark and terrible ancient world for us to uncover. There are no terrible things for us to fight, no monsters that we can overcome to give our lives meaning. The monsters that are out there are too abstract to placate our needs. We can't kill poverty with a shotgun. We can't stop governmental corruption with spells or elder signs. The monster that has a hold of our generation's lives is nihilism, and from where I am sitting I don't see any way of beating it with the resources we've got. But, foolish idealist that I am, I will keep looking. After all, the middle ages ended in a Renaissance, and maybe such a time will come again.
I wonder why the horrific is so fascinating to humanity. All throughout history, the most intriguing stories have involved facing some sort of horrific force, be it goblins or the Wendigo or fairies or demons, etc. etc. etc. Is it our despreation for something, ANYTHING, that can snap us out of the ordinary banality of daily life that we look to things that would stalk us in the night and in our dreams to amuse us? Or is there something more, something deep and particular about the predator and prey relationship that has been woven into our psyches?
It seems that there are no more adventures to be had. There are no more secrets of the dark and terrible ancient world for us to uncover. There are no terrible things for us to fight, no monsters that we can overcome to give our lives meaning. The monsters that are out there are too abstract to placate our needs. We can't kill poverty with a shotgun. We can't stop governmental corruption with spells or elder signs. The monster that has a hold of our generation's lives is nihilism, and from where I am sitting I don't see any way of beating it with the resources we've got. But, foolish idealist that I am, I will keep looking. After all, the middle ages ended in a Renaissance, and maybe such a time will come again.
Before we can have another Renaissance, there needs to be a twenty-first century version of the Black Plague. I'm all for thinning the herd and moving on. Nihilism is a monster? It's a matter of perspective. A little death, destruction and mayhem coupled with a loss of civilized "comforts" would do wonders for perspective...