Page 589
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2026 6:17 pm
I must force myself to think: “Okay, in what way is this person good?”
Maybe this person is a great specialist in something. Maybe she has
an education. Maybe she’s a doctor. Maybe she helps her parents and
supports them. You must search for the positive even in the darkest and
worst things. The positive. This is very important: looking for the positive
sides. The negative sides — those awaken inside everyone even without your
effort. Take me, for example. I am such a provocative character, Alexandr
Korol, right? And a negative person could easily think all sorts of things...
Just like in the movie Frankenstein. Imagine, he shows a group of scientists
an experiment at the beginning of the film where he reanimates a person.
They see it physically; literally, something actually happened, it works
— he applied the electricity. And do you know what their reaction is?
Screaming, shouting, emotions, and they yell: “Charlatan!” But how is
he a charlatan? He didn’t swindle them out of money. He isn’t deceiving
them. It’s not some actor pretending to be a corpse who suddenly “wakes
up” — which would be charlatanism. But you see, that is their reaction.
A reaction to what? To that which is incomprehensible and inexplicable
to them. People immediately have a reaction of fear and defense.
And they all cry: “Charlatan!”
I never understood before why, when I wrote a book about how happily I
see the world — like in the movies “Big Fish” or “Interstate 60” — about how
miracles happen, all people are kind, how you can live without arguing, how
music is immersive, and how there are signs everywhere... I wrote a book
like that, and people write “charlatan.” But in what way am I a charlatan? How
did I deceive them? I didn’t deceive them in anything; I didn’t do anything
for profit, I gained nothing. The book is free, yet they called me a charlatan.
And why? Because it infuriates them. It infuriates them that they don’t
have a fairy tale in their lives, but I do. Simply because they don’t have it,
and I’m writing about it, their competitive instinct kicks in, and they feel
an immediate need to belittle anyone who is “better” — that is why they
react that way. If I were writing a book about how miserable I am, how my
life is garbage, how everyone in my family beat and humiliated me or spat
in my face, and that I am a victim — then yes, everyone would love me.
Maybe this person is a great specialist in something. Maybe she has
an education. Maybe she’s a doctor. Maybe she helps her parents and
supports them. You must search for the positive even in the darkest and
worst things. The positive. This is very important: looking for the positive
sides. The negative sides — those awaken inside everyone even without your
effort. Take me, for example. I am such a provocative character, Alexandr
Korol, right? And a negative person could easily think all sorts of things...
Just like in the movie Frankenstein. Imagine, he shows a group of scientists
an experiment at the beginning of the film where he reanimates a person.
They see it physically; literally, something actually happened, it works
— he applied the electricity. And do you know what their reaction is?
Screaming, shouting, emotions, and they yell: “Charlatan!” But how is
he a charlatan? He didn’t swindle them out of money. He isn’t deceiving
them. It’s not some actor pretending to be a corpse who suddenly “wakes
up” — which would be charlatanism. But you see, that is their reaction.
A reaction to what? To that which is incomprehensible and inexplicable
to them. People immediately have a reaction of fear and defense.
And they all cry: “Charlatan!”
I never understood before why, when I wrote a book about how happily I
see the world — like in the movies “Big Fish” or “Interstate 60” — about how
miracles happen, all people are kind, how you can live without arguing, how
music is immersive, and how there are signs everywhere... I wrote a book
like that, and people write “charlatan.” But in what way am I a charlatan? How
did I deceive them? I didn’t deceive them in anything; I didn’t do anything
for profit, I gained nothing. The book is free, yet they called me a charlatan.
And why? Because it infuriates them. It infuriates them that they don’t
have a fairy tale in their lives, but I do. Simply because they don’t have it,
and I’m writing about it, their competitive instinct kicks in, and they feel
an immediate need to belittle anyone who is “better” — that is why they
react that way. If I were writing a book about how miserable I am, how my
life is garbage, how everyone in my family beat and humiliated me or spat
in my face, and that I am a victim — then yes, everyone would love me.