"Lies are essential to humanity. They are perhaps as important as the pursuit of pleasure and moreover are dictated by that pursuit." – Marcel Proust

I think that this quote fits Cat’s Cradle perfectly. Lies are essential to the people of San Lorenzo, and they are their only pleasures. Without the lies of Bokononism, San Lorenzans would be forced to confront their realities. Although the followers of Bokonon know that the whole religion is a lie, they would rather have a lie to believe in than to only live with the truth. However this doesn’t only apply to the people of San Lorenzo, we all escape from our daily lives in some way.

We all know that most forms of entertainment are essentially lies; Harry Potter isn’t real (I know I wish he were too) and Spongebob doesn’t exist either. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pretend like they do. As Marcel Proust said, lies are in essence dictated by the pursuit of pleasure. I know I would prefer to escape into a good fantasy novel or participate in a fantasy world through a video game than I would like to escape into the world of my chemistry book. Sure I think the sciences are interesting and extremely valuable to understand (I’m planning on majoring in science), but reading a textbook full of “truths” is just not as pleasurable as escaping into a good lie.

It is interesting however that “truth” does help to make the lies more immersive. Like the lying exercise we did in the beginning of the semester where most lies we told had some truth in them, the “truths” in science help to make some of the lies that we escape into more convincing. The first video games were nothing like the ones we have today and either were the first movies. It was much harder to escape into the fantasy world of Pong than it is to journey into the games of today. The same goes for movies; it’s a lot easier to imagine being in the realm of movies today than it was when the original Nosferatu was first released. Things just seem a lot more realistic, and that generally makes them more immersive (again truths making the lies more fulfilling).

Just yesterday when I knew I should be studying for my upcoming biology and chemistry tests, I instead decided to escape into the Medieval Era through a video game. Although I definitely know that I am not actually on horseback leading an army of spearmen and archers, for the period of time that I am playing the game, it almost feels like it. I am not riding a real horse, wielding a real sword, or commanding a real army, but I am doing all of that in the virtual world. The virtual world is a “lie” but it sucks me in and entertains me and anyone else who enjoys playing videogames, reading, or watching movies. I agree with Marcel Proust's statement that, "Lies are essential to humanity. They are perhaps as important as the pursuit of pleasure and moreover are dictated by that pursuit."

<-Nosferatu

(unrelated to Nosferatu )
This song reminds me of escaping from the "truths." Nightwish is my favorite band and I know that the keyboardist/song writer is an escapist. He loves Disney for that reason and many of his songs deal with the realm of fantasy. This song, "Away", to me represents traveling to a dreamworld, far from the confines of reality; listening to it takes me into that world.