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  5. Civilised life, you know, is based on a huge number of...

Civilised life, you know, is based on a huge number of illusions in which we all collaborate willingly. The trouble is we forget after a while that they are illusions and we are deeply shocked when reality is torn down around us.

J. G. Ballard
Reality, Numbers, Forget
"The Benign Catastrophist". Interview with Susie Mackenzie, www.theguardian.com. September 06, 2003.
Civilised life, you know, is based on a huge number of illusions in which we all collaborate willingly. The trouble is we forget after a while that they are illusions and we are deeply shocked when reality is torn down