Dear Mick: Say there’s scale of belief, where would you fit in? Do you believe, on the one side, like Sartre, that the world is absurd, or on the other end, that everything is saturated with meaning, like Jung?
—Kevin Steed, Oakland

Dear Kevin: I would say that everything is saturated with meaning, and though the meaning might be absurd, it’s still meaning, not anti-meaning, so that would place me with Jung. One of the things that fascinates me is the idea that everything in a cultural moment is related. It’s easy to see a connection, for instance, between, say, the Reagan era and “Rambo” and “Top Gun.” But those elements also might be related to things like big lapels on Armani suits, or drum machines in music. It seems that the farther we get from a period, the more we can see its elements as part of some larger vision, which, depending on how you see the world, you could call the mind of God, or the turning of the universe, or some mass consciousness coming into being. As for this particular cultural moment, the one we’re in, I’d try reading the mass consciousness, except I’m afraid I’d end up peeking through my fingers with both hands covering my face, like a modified Munch’s “The Scream.”