OPINION

Rules for life

Like so many other scribes, I have been inspired by psychologist Jordan Peterson's fascinating book to sketch my rules of life. But mine are different, because each is drawn from canonical science fiction.

Why? Maybe because this is the literature on which I grew up, or maybe because I have never lost the taste for it. Or maybe because the sci-fi canon really does have a lot to teach about the well-lived life.

Here, then, are my rules. I cannot pretend that I always follow them, but I certainly try.

• Happiness consists in getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more.--Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers.

• Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.--J.R.R. Tolkien.

• We do not pretend to have achieved perfection, but we do have a system, and it works.--spoken by the alien Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still.

• Don't provoke the Borg!--said by Q to his son Q.

• Some things you teach yourself to remember to forget.--William Gibson.

• Guerrillas have something to hope for.--James Tiptree Jr. (pen name of Alice Bradley Sheldon), The Women Men Don't See.

• The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are. They're Caesar's praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, "Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal."--Ray Bradbury.

• Beware of the Dark Side. Anger, fear, aggression: The Dark Side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.--Yoda.

Editorial on 03/27/2018

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