The Blackberry Walk

We never evolved for modern society. The bountiful shelves of vegetables, meat and high energy snacks is the hunter-gatherer's wet dream. Our ability to develop technologies, unlike any other species, has enabled us to conquer our basal requirements. And the Hikki was born forth. The product of overabundance, the hikki is a sedated beast who seldom seeks interaction. The king of his castle - whatever he calls for shall be brought. Withering away into a passionate husk, viewing the world of opportunity as a world of fear. The hikki has everything including the economic comfort of their parent's monetary support. Much like Faust, he has made a contract with the devil. Stuck in a snapshot of time. Getting without producing. A devil's contract cannot be terminated. The hikki cycle is much the same. The devil provides the hikki with all he could ever need: food, shelter, comfort, etc. The hikki then never learns the skills necessary to be self-sufficient, to get a job and provide for oneself leading to more dependence. What the Faust teaches us is not to covet the object in of itself but rather the skills we acquire along the way. Eating food to survive is pretty good, but the body requires the trappings of the acquisition of food to be performed like searching for things, chasing after things, cooking food, etc. Man is not divinely programmed solely with the desire to consume food and protect oneself beneath shelter but also the very acts to achieve such goals. Even though survival no longer requires hunting, man is not content until we act out the hunt through various abstractions such as games and exercise. The hikki receives the contentment of completion but not the energising nature of reaching a goal, they receive the serotonergic kick but not the dopaminergic. Hence the hikki begins to drown beneath his skin, without drive, without passion, without spirit, yet too contented to desire change. As we see in Greek myths, like say Perseus, a contract with a god is very different. Perseus receives the big shield from Athena and the big sword from Hermes. These are not the destination, like what Mephistopheles gives, but rather the means to reach the destination, like a parent giving a stable base for the child to push into the world. However there is a fine line between the great mother and the terrible mother: between that which pushes you into to the world with support and that which pulls you into to the house, clipping your wings and 'castrating' you. Gabriel Dropout is clearly inspired by Faust. Just like Faust who makes the contract due to the people of his town suffering from plague, Gabriel is starts gaming because of the suffering in a video game wherein she loses her angelic spirit is tarnished by the devil. the closest moe has come to achieving God in art - it certainly is for me.