Who Is Great White North?
Suspect elimination cache ten
10. 9 o’clock: “BU2B2” (quicklime)
Associated with the devil. Quicklime generates heat by burning chalk or limestone. That the symbol looks something like a pitchfork might give its meaning away.
Narrative
“Those fateful words [of the pedlar’s], ‘What do you lack?’ spark an inner monologue about all that I have lost. No more bound1ess optimism, no more faith in greater powers, too much pain, too much grief, and too much disillusion. Despite all that, I realize the great irony that although I now believe only in the exchange of love, even that little faith follows the childhood reflex that ‘I was brought up to believe.'”
Commentary
The purpose of this short musical interlude is to confirm that the protagonist has concluded that the world has no plan, we live in an existential hell, but even with that understanding, he still chooses to live on the basis of his plan. Neil describes this interlude as a soliloquy, the follow-up to the first soliloquy in the story, BU2B. Note that the runes for BU2B and BU2B2 are both associated with the devil, or hell, the first with sulphur and the second with quicklime. The two soliloquies address the same issue from two vantage points. The first is about questioning what we’re taught and the second is about confirming the fundamental falsity of what we’re taught. In other words, Plato’s noble lie, that we’re all born into our place for a reason and we ought not to question our lot in life, is exposed for what it is: an effort by the leadership class to keep people in their places.
BU2B2
THOSE FATEFUL WORDS, "What do you lack?" spark an inner monologue about all that I have lost. No more boundless optimism, no more faith in greater powers, too much pain, too much grief, and too much disillusion. Despite all that, I realize the great irony that although I now believe only in the exchange of love, even that little faith follows the childhood reflex that "I was brought up to believe."
I was brought up to believe
Belief has failed me now
The bright glow of optimism
Abandoned me somehow
Belief has failed me now
Life goes from bad to worse
No philosophy consoles me
In a clockwork universe
Life goes from bad to worse
I still choose to live
Find a measure of love and laughter
And another measure to give
I still choose to live
And give, even while I grieve
Though the balance tilts against me
I was brought up to believe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yusKlHgtvIE
