Затворник и Шестипалый
Hermit and Six-Toes — Victor Pelevin
The most precise book about awakening is written about chickens. A manual for liberation disguised as a fairy tale. Two hours to read — then decide which world you live in.
Victor Pelevin’s debut novella, first published in 1990 in the magazine “Химия и жизнь” (Chemistry and Life). Two broiler chickens, Hermit and Six-Toes, are raised for slaughter on a poultry factory — and one of them starts asking what lies beyond the walls of the only world he’s ever known. A short fable that reads as a plain children’s story on the surface and a Buddhist parable about waking up underneath.
A few lines worth keeping:
Before leaving any world, you must sum up the experience of your stay in it.
Love gives meaning to what we do — even though there is none.
If you take it that you’re drowning your whole life — and that’s exactly how it is — then love is what helps you keep your head above the water.
If you find yourself in the dark and see even the faintest ray of light, you have to walk toward it instead of arguing about whether there’s any point. Maybe there really is no point. But just sitting in the dark has no point either, no matter what.
Why are you called One-Eye if both your eyes are fine? — Because my third eye is open, and there’s only one of it. In a sense, everyone whose third eye is open is one-eyed.
Appears in think → forward