[Book.]

The danger is in identifying the archetype within the vision of a solid being. We must simplify experience if we ever hope to comprehend anything that happens to us, but it is a matter of time and chance what parts we whittle away to fit the slots of our own particular logic. We often begin to mistake the model for the reality, for we like to think we understand the world around us. And when what is unexpected happens, the mind tries to match it against known patterns, and failing that, strange things may come into vision — sometimes things we didn’t know were important to us, just what comes loose when shook hard enough. Ultimately, we will never lose the ability to surprise ourselves.

For thoughts in a crisis define the character underneath the casual façade.

[UPDATE: This concludes Chapter 3. The whole of what I have so far is here.]