We are playing a game
And the game runs like this
The only thing you really know is what you can put into words
Let's suppose I love some girl
Rapturous
And somebody says to me, would you really love her
Or how am I going to prove this
Well, say, write poetry
Tell us all how much you love her
Then we'll believe you
So if I'm an artist and I can put this into words and convince everybody that
I've written the most ecstatic love letters ever written
They say, all right, okay, we'll admit it, you really do love her
But supposing you're not very articulate
Are we going to tell you you don't love her
You don't have to be Heloise and Abelard to be in love
So the whole game that our culture is playing
Is that nothing really happens unless it's in a newspaper
So when we are at a party and there's a great party
Somebody said, too bad there wasn't a tape recorder
And so our children begin to feel that they don't exist authentically
Unless they get their names in the papers
And the fastest way of getting your name in the papers is to commit a crime
And then you'll be photographed, then you'll appear in court
And everybody will notice you
It really happened if it was recorded
In other words, if you shout and the distance doesn't come back and echo
It didn't happen
That's a real thing
And it's true, the fun that echoes
We all like singing in the bathtub because there's more resonance there
And when we play a musical instrument like a violin or a cello
It has a sounding box because that gives resonance to the sound
And in the same way, the cortex of the human brain
Enables us when we are happy to know that we are happy
And that gives a certain resonance to it
If you're happy and you don't know you're happy, there's nobody home