Realis 15 - Out of the Burning City Pt. 2

It is the great dilemma of chaos that one loses access to their reasoning faculties while inside of it. In placid conditions, intimacy generates knowledge. Exegesis is drawn from long, calm nights with a so-called holy text. A cure emerges from study done in the well managed sickhouse. The botanist lives among the trees, seeing flower become fruit become husk become seeds, seeds become scattered… and only then, finally, can they truly see the forest.

But in chaos… such intimacy is blinding. To count the mob’s number from amidst its shoving shoulders; to explicate the functioning of one’s lungs as they fill with water; to arrange a sonnet from within the first moments of heartbreak. These are the pursuits of either fools or those in search of some final novelty, moments before death.

Yet it is undeniable that intimacy still reveals, in chaos. A thermometer can tell you the temperature, but only skin can tell you the truth of the flame’s heat; only eyes which surveyed the fire from inside can say when ‘some burning’ became ‘a blaze’; only a nose which learned to pick out notes in the smoke—sandalwood, hair, ambiguous flesh.

Thus is the choice: Live with incomplete knowledge. Die pursuing the truth. Or survive. Survive. Survive.

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austinwalker on bluesky)

Featuring Andrew Lee Swan, Jack de Quidt, Janine Hawkins and Sylvi Bullet

Produced by Ali Acampora

Music by Jack de Quidt (available on bandcamp)

Cover Art by by Oddesque

With thanks to Amelia Renee, Arthur B., Aster Maragos, Bill Kaszubski, Cassie Jones, Clark, DB, Daniel Laloggia, Diana Crowley, Edwin Adelsberger, Emrys, Greg Cobb, Ian O'Dea, Ian Urbina, Irina A., Jack Shirai, Jake Strang, Katie Diekhaus, Ken George, Konisforce, Kristina Harris Esq, L Tantivy, Lawson Coleman, Mark Conner, Mike & Ruby, Muna A, Nat Knight, Olive Perry, Quinn Pollock, Robert Lasica, Shawn Drape, Shawn Hall, Summer Rose, TeganEden, Thomas Whitney, Voi, chocoube, deepFlaw, fen, & weakmint

This episode was made with support from listeners like you! To support us, you can go to friendsatthetable.cash