Contours of Nothing: Aphorisms, Maxims and Writings

By Shane Eide

‘I rest my affairs on nothing,’ Goethe said famously in his poem, ‘Vanitas! Vanitatum Vanitas!’ This book would dare to question, ‘Did he know that even nothing has such definite contours?’

In this sardonic collection of aphorisms, maxims and musings, history is not written by the winners, but ‘by those whom time has robbed of glory,’ while living in the moment ‘turns mere anxiety into sheer terror.’ Here, the realm of politics might as well be an insane asylum without walls. Voting, statistics, stand-up comedy, eastern religion, secularism, conservatism, progressivism, nihilism and even reading are dealt equal blows, while those mundane habits and gestures which we feel connect us all are inspected with enough scrutiny to make them blush.

Nevertheless, there is redemption: ‘If I can't laugh at it, I don't trust it. Humor is the only thing I take seriously.’

Moments of light break through as we’re reminded of the power of inspiration and creativity. ‘The writer spends so much time on that which is only a small, late stage manifestation of what is budding within him. He often ends up saying less than he actually knows, lest he become the one who is written.’

Comprised of selected material published originally at EmergentHermit.com and in The Burning Block zine along with all new material, this book of varied thoughts, observations and apocalyptic dismissals is sure to be a favorite for readers who appreciate more aphoristic, fragmentary gems which are, at once, irreverent and light-hearted.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shane Eide
• Release date: Nov 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463170359

Shane Eide

Shane Eide is a part-time hermit, part-time flaneur, which means that he is either spending time on literary pursuits or taking walks and thinking about literary pursuits​. He lives in a little room walled with books and sleeps near a big desk, on which he doesn't write since all the quiet is too distracting. He usually goes someplace noisy in order to write as much about fiction as he writes fiction. He's been writing fiction since he was about 11, in which time he's written several novels that he never intends to publish and which no one will ever see, and several others that he wants to publish that he's read out loud to his gold fish. He's been writing what he supposes would be called non-fiction ever since he wrote "Shane was here," in easily erasable pencil on a desk in junior high. You can read his essays and occasional fiction at his blog, www.emergenthermit.com

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Contours of Nothing

Aphorisms, Maxims and Writings

Shane Eide

Copyright

© Contours of Nothing: Aphorisms, Maxims and Writings

Published by Shane Eide

November 2019

Portland OR

Selected writings originally appeared in the blog at EmergentHermit.com and later, throughout The Burning Block zine, namely: No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 6 and No. 7. Particular writings have gone through minor edits for clarification and the improvement of their concepts.

The contents of this book may not be copied, altered or republished elsewhere without the author’s written consent. Brief passages may be cited for the sake of critique or review.

CONTENTS

Hallucinations of Commonality

Anxiety and Edict

Monster’s Muse

Fortune’s Signature

Destiny a Vanishing Point

A Note to the Reader

About the Author

Hallucinations of Commonality

*

One need not be afraid of failure. One should only mind one's failure when one's successes are little better.

*

There are people to whom it is hardly worth the effort to be dishonest.

*

To the young, humiliation is betrayal. To those advanced in years, betrayal itself is one of the few humiliations.

*

The shrewd recluse: he lets just enough people in so that they may warn others to stay away.

*

People say ‘we are all the same' to incite guilt and ‘you are all the same' to condescend.

*

The western mind is not suited to the nuanced revelation of truths which hide in plain sight. We treat all of reality like bark, which can be stripped to reveal a network of beetles and centipedes. We want our revelation to be as large as the illusion we suspect. However, when it is revealed to us that we have simply been victims of a great many very small white lies whose seeds had been planted in us at varying stages of our development, we then distrust the quiet truths once they are gradually revealed to us. Our fear of being duped saves us as often as it blinds us.

*

It is foolish to desire to read minds if one can't even read actions.

*

If I were serious about making my words immortal, I would write epitaphs. It is unfortunate that one cannot write epitaphs for one's opinions!

*

There are some friends who are handy to keep around for the sole fact that they perfectly embody what the masses think.

*

What is worse than the idea that everyone is entitled to an opinion? That no one is entitled to no opinion.

*

We entitle people to their opinions. We make them earn their wellbeing.

*

One wears one's opinions like a king who posts the severed heads of his enemies on poles around his castle. One suffers the instrument responsible for such a display at one's own peril, though by then, the king only adds another head, not because he needs more, but because the others failed to demonstrate his purpose.

*

It is considered suspicious today to be frank. There is always the suspicion that, if someone is too honest, something is hidden in that very honesty.

*

The second sigh after a grave disappointment is the sigh of relief.

*

Happiness finds us in uncanny places precisely when we've given up on it.

*

How easy it is to cease all action when one realizes that one is responsible for everything in one's life!

*

Everyone, in one's own mind, is the most open minded person they know. Incidentally, they all sleep on a mountain of bones.

*

I have brought myself past resentment for those who have dealt me cruelty by realizing that they are, in the great scheme of things, no more than monkeys who have learned a more sophisticated way to throw shit - a nihilist's forgiveness.

*

My hallucination of being normal comes straight from Lao Tzu. I can only be normal if I am more so than everyone else.

*

I feel a sense of loss