If I’m in a really good mood, and feeling super confident,
I look at everything which other people worship and adore
And say, “Are you kidding me? Who needs that?”
And without getting into the details of what I ridicule—
Every authority, every cherished belief—
I think you’ll agree with me that it’s easy—you’ve done it, too!
But now I’m going to take this cynical detachment and aim it at you.
You’re a selfish fraud. You lie constantly to yourself and others about many things.
See? You and I know how easy this is, and we both know it’s true.
But hyper-cynicism is the most useful state of mind,
Much better than being obsequious, agreeable, cliquish, or kind,
Because it allows you quickly to get to the heart of the matter.
You can be ignorant about something for years when you fawn and flatter.
When you stand in ignorant awe of something, you never know,
In your worship, what it really is; but when you ridicule beauty and genius,
Your malicious mockery falls into passionate imitation-–the key to knowing it,
And soon, you are playing Mozart, or you are beautiful, and then you are ripe
For fresh ridicule, which is the secret, you realize, of all knowledge.
Love grows (it does!) as you go deeply, unashamed, into your own vanity.
It allows you to love another’s vanity. Hate. Love. Imitate. Make fun of me.
I said I was amazingly confident, and this is true.
When you are depressed and self-loathing, you despise everything, too.
But this is different. This is not illness, where you push food away;
This is the best love, the best poem. Love like glue.
