George Saunders

And to the extent that we can posit what that is, we're in alignment with truth.

And if we're not, then we're out of alignment with truth.

Yes, that's exactly the tension of the book.

Thank you.

So Jill had an experience at her own death, and the experience was that she spontaneously inhabited the mind of the person responsible for her death.

So this was kind of like, she's had on the costume of her Jill self her whole life.

And of course, like we do, she mistook that for the universe.

Things are her qualia, right?

was the universe.

Then in that split second, she took that costume off, put on the costume of this kind of repellent person who in real life would have been quite disgusting to her.

And from that point of view, she's like, oh, okay, I understand him.

I am him.

And so this leads to this idea that from his point of view, and given that time only goes in one direction, how could he be any different than he is?

It's kind of an absurd thing to say.

He's done, you know?

So if he could have been more understanding, why wasn't he?

So again, time going in one direction, he's finished.

He was what he was.

And that kind of complexity is what she feels.

That in a certain way, we understand that height, for example, is not negotiable.