Well, yes, of course you're right. Reality doesn't give a damn; reality doesn't even notice, because there's nothing there to do any noticing. You don't need a

Well, yes, of course you're right. Reality doesn't give a damn; reality doesn't even notice, because there's nothing there to do any noticing. You don't need a lot of imagination to see the horror in that. What you need a lot of imagination for, and a particular kind of imagination besides, is not seeing it. Not everyone can do that, which is why people who could do it invented gods, for the use of those who couldn't. And now we've outgrown gods, or think we have, because we've grown up to a point where we can do things which in the past only gods would dare imagine, and where's the place for gods in that? But it could all still go wrong for us, because reality doesn't give a damn, and if our descendants find themselves surrounded on every side by the bones of fallen dreams and a world that doesn't care, then people with the right kind of imagination will give them gods again. Because in times like those, gods are what people need, and there's no reason in the world why people shouldn't have what they need. And where's the place for Eastern philosophers in that? There's such a thing as too much navel-gazing, and the point at which it becomes too much is the one where you fall in and stop being of any use to anyone. Of course, some of them climb back out again and set about helping other people, and those, called bodhisattva, are the only ones worth the trouble. The others there's no point to, because what good does it do to go around telling people that reality doesn't give a damn and there's no meaning to existence and everyone lives and dies in a universe that might well casually wipe out the whole lot of us without even noticing, only it hasn't happened to happen yet? Going around doing that is rather missing the point, because, like Martin Amis, you haven't thought it all the way through.