In a country ruled by a people who struggle from morning to night just to keep their stomachs full, thought does not develop, because there is not even time to think.

 In a country ruled by a people who struggle from morning to night just to keep their stomachs full, thought does not develop, because there is not even time to think. And since life is lived on the brink, since what fills the stomach is not questioning but bread, the absence of thought is not even felt. I imagine myself in the middle of a filthy and ignorant city in the Middle East, in the very center of people who are all rushing here and there, and the only thing I feel is absolute nonrecognition. You cannot talk philosophy with the typical poor people who, the moment they see you, try to shove something into your hands to sell it to you. You cannot explain to them the opium-like dependence of societies on “purpose” or the multiple and complex dimensions of the universe. They will neither understand it nor care about it. And since these identical types, differing only in age, cover an entire country, you not only feel but also become fully convinced with your whole being that you are the only conscious entity among millions, unable to find a single real person in that country.