Books Speak to Me

There's this game where you get a red book (any red book, so long as it's red. How red? Just red. If it looks red to you and you're not colorblind, it probably works.) and you put your hand on it (whichever, if you don't have hands, use your feet. If you don't have feet, use your face. If you don't have a face, I can't help you.) and then you ask a question (any question, be it deep or stupid or personal or mean). You open the book to a random page, put your finger in a random place in that page without looking and then you read what is there. THAT is the answer to your question.

YES!

As much as I'd like to take all sorts of games like these with a grain of salt, I have been playing them since I was little and it is uncanny how some answers will sound so right. I know that the human mind is built to make connections, so vague answers are a sure way of getting "right" answers. If the words that you point at in the book are sort of, kinda related to what you asked, your brain will do the rest of the work.

Usually, however, the answer will be so right, so dead on, that my disbelief will not be able to jade me. And that is when I get not one or two answers that speak to me, but many. And the same question asked twice will only be answered with two different ways of saying the same message. The times when books tell me an answer I wanted or expected I am inclined to believe I'm just twisting their passages to my liking, but they have told me many uncomfortable truths, and they all seem to have their tempers. Some will be quite clear, others will be vague, others will simply not answer your questions. They will not show you a rare, inscrutable passage, they will plainly tell you they are in no mood to hear your inquiries.

Poetry books, in general, will be vague, although Milne seems to get his point across whether in prose or verse. And for some reason, no book seems too fond of answering questions about tattoos (something to do with ink, perhaps?). If you want short, simple answers, your best bet is a dictionary.

Now, supposedly it is The Devil answering the questions through the book. Which may or may not be true. I am not a Christian so I'm changing the way I look at this Devil. However it is always best to not take the books' answers for law, and consider yourself what is being said and the consequences of your actions before jumping ahead.

As for me, what is expected of me will not make me happy.