The ride of your life

Bill Hicks, a prophetic comic who died in the early ninetys, usually ended his shows with this bit. Interestingly enough, the late Hunter S. Thompson was often quoted for saying "you buy the ticket and you take the ride." Life, the iconoclasts are saying, is only a ride. You can get off, or change your ride at any time, because, it isn't real in the first place. One thing we often find about myth is they too aren't real. They are great stories, but ordinary stories too, made up of the stuff of the repetitive and daily--everyday is "epic", every tiny, minute detail is of mythical proportions. The parallel between a ride and myth is that by doing both, by riding and mything (I'm expanding English verbage. We should all by mything on a daily basis), we are living each day as if it were your last. Bill says we can get out of the myth and off the ride that has become so repetitive to the point of convincing us that its real by making the choice between fear and love, alienation and cosmic oneness. I'm not going to argue with him, but from my own cumulative confusion of everything that we've read, it is that repetition that makes us a cosmic whole. The twists and turns of the ride, though undoubtedly illusory, are the stories we use to tell ourselves who we are. We use myth and cliche as a way of understanding our own culture. It's late and I'm rambling, but I think we should all find our own ride. Keep the lines down and create your own myth.