The story of the creation of the first man and woman from Norse mythology.
Odin and Vili and Ve (Norse Gods) knew that a world is not a world until it is inhabited. They wandered high and low, looking for people, and they found nothing. At last, on the rocky shingle at the edge of the sea, they found two logs, sea-tossed, that had floated there on the tides and been cast ashore.
The first log was a log of ash wood. The ash tree is resilient and handsome and its roots go deep. Its wood carves well and will not split or crack. Ash wood makes a good tool handle, or the shaft of a spear.
The second log they found, beside the first on the beach, so close to the first log they were almost touching, was a log of elm wood. The elm tree is graceful, but its wood is hard enough to be made into the toughest planks and beams; you can build a fine home or a hall from elm wood.
The gods took the two logs. They set the logs so they were upright on the sand, the height of people. Odin held them, and one by one he breathed life into them. No longer were they dead logs on a beach: now they were alive.
Vili gave them will; he gave them intelligence and drive. Now they could move, and they could want.
Ve carved the logs. He gave them the shape of people. He carved their ears, that they might hear, and their eyes, that they might see, and lips, that they might speak.
The two logs stood on the beach, two naked people. Ve had carved one with male genitals, the other he had carved female.
The three brothers made clothes for the woman and the man, to cover themselves and to keep them warm, in the chilly sea-spray on the beach at the edge of the world.
Last of all they gave the two people they had made names: the man they called Ask, or Ash Tree; the woman they called Embla, or Elm.
– from the book Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
I personally especially love the interpretation of the types of wood and what it says about the unique characteristics of men and women.
Men: “The ash tree is resilient and handsome and its roots go deep. Its wood carves well and will not split or crack. Ash wood makes a good tool handle, or the shaft of a spear.”
Women: “The elm tree is graceful, but its wood is hard enough to be made into the toughest planks and beams; you can build a fine home or a hall from elm wood.”
Fight club monologue - A criticism of modernity.
We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War, no Great Depression. Our Great War is a spiritual war. Our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.
– from the movie Fight Club (click HERE for the scene)
This quote really puts into words a deep feeling I think a lot of people have nowadays, either consciously or unconsciously. Without a great threat to stand united against, the world dissolved into a kind of meaningless materialism. At the same time, new threats are made up or created on purpose just to fill that need for meaning, something to fight for. Without a common real threat to fight for, people dissolve into factions and start fighting each other.
Chuang Tzu's dream
Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Chuang Tzu. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. – by Chuang Tzu, written approximately around 300 BCE
Logic's (artist) criticism of modernity.
Lyrics from the song Killing Spree by Logic
Real shit goin’ on in Lebanon
But I don’t give a fuck, my favorite show is coming on
Hashtag pray for this, pray for that
But you ain’t doing shit, get away from that
Blame it on a black, blame it on a white
Blame it on a gun, blame it on a Muslim
Everybody wanna blame him, blame her
Just blame it on the mothafucka killing everyone!
Everybody wanna get high
Everybody wanna live life like they can’t die
Everybody gotta be right
Everybody scrollin’, scrollin’ through they life
I wish they would love me like I like they pictures
I wish I had bitches
I wish I had motivation to get money
Ain’t it funny, my rainy day would be sunny
If I had the vision of currency fallin’ above from the sky
Fallin’ above from the sky, listen up
Everybody looking for the meaning of life through a cell phone screen…
Maybe not the most eloquent way to describe it, but still. A lot of accurate representations of some of the insanity of society in this era.