Only Believe Things That Are Easy to Understand is a series of collisions between antagonistic terms: knowledge, belief, justified emotions, good fortune, books, and lucky numbers.
YEAR: 2014
RUNTIME: 6:30
VOICES: Anne Hardcastle, Craig Walker
MUSIC (SAMPLED): Anton Webern, 6 Orchestral Pieces; Alan Berg, Lyrical Suite for Soprano
Script
Only believe things that are easy to understand; everything else is false.
Only support causes which sure to have agreeable outcomes; all others violate key principles.
Only use words which fulfill the silent expectations of those words which have come before; all others misrepresent our innermost nature.
Only respect refined sensibilities when they delight in the ruined ideals of corrupted institutions, all others have retreated into the protective embrace of the ethical life.
Only trust inanimate objects whose true purpose has not been obscured by literary values, all others mock the need for authentic experience.
Only laugh at situations which expose the indelible stamp of their lowly origins, all others corrupt the utopian ideals of language and belief.
…
All mispronounced foreign words have unique personalities.
Accompanied by their corrupting influence, they infiltrate core values at a velocity just below the speed of light.
The background monitors remain switched on.
A second beam, energized by several morally inescapable conclusions, spirals in clockwise from the rear.
Small, blurry things collide, and disintegrate into smaller, blurrier things.
Still higher intensities are expected soon.
If all goes well, they will provide enough data to recalibrate the debilitating effects of left-wing melancholy, and engineer smash-ups.
Fortunately, the detection tools are able to focus even while engulfed in smoke.
If the world is beastly, it’s because its building blocks are made of brute facts.
…
They don’t believe that suffering is the path to redemption.
They don’t believe in the cursed world of the Old Testament.
Still, they have forgotten how strongly they can influence people.
Groups of novelists are bussed in from the north.
Untrustworthy inhabitants in the outlying districts quietly remove their clothes.
Those confused by awkward feelings of modesty and virtue seek advice from knowledgeable strangers.
The familiar day to day work of brain and muscle has little noticeable impact.
More mature adversaries are contacted, and arrive wearing hats.
Their figures of speech are identified, singled out, pulled aside, and submitted to humiliating searches.
Every orifice of every catachresis is thoroughly inspected.
Only breezy turns of phrases permitted beyond this point.
The rest are unwieldy contraptions to help us appreciate the rhythms of political folklore.
Their use does not require any special scientific training.
One stands in front of a towering mountain, and one just knows that it is there.
You don’t have to be told by authorities.
Cherish your lucky number; don’t reveal it to anyone, not even your best friend.
And don’t be too quick to make judgments based on emotional responses.
That would be incorrect, and you will be disqualified.
Still, one might see very clearly what is right in front of you, without knowing if it is a mammal, a reptile, or a bird.
There are millions if not billions of emotions which have not yet been identified and catalogued.
Bewilderment is a weak and flickering flame; hostility, likewise.
The clouds darken; the wind rises; trees are uprooted; giant boulders bounce down the sides of collapsing mountains and crash into the sea; gargantuan waves make the ocean floors tremble.
Those are changes which are bound to occur, and when they do, proceed with caution, unless the appropriate symbols are shown, in which case, proceed with reckless self-confidence.
That is sure to bring good fortune, at least to those who care deeply.
The following is a list of those people who, despite everything, still just don’t seem to give a shit: Diane, Pierre, Bill, Cynthia, Jason, Barbara, Benjamin, Stephanie, Janice, Linda, Bruce, Ken, David, Allison, Matthew, Christopher, Katherine, Cindy, Kathleen, Henry, Ken, and Alicia.