Compelled to Be What You Are Not

Stumbling around on the 'net late last night, I came across a speech given by Philip K. Dick, the science fiction writer. The text of the speech is a little bit jarring, given as Dick was to expressing the belief that reality was only tangentially related to what we are living in now, but there are a few shiny bits to his thinking that I like. Those bits include the following passage (which I have amended to appease my feminist sensibilities):

"The authentic human being is one of us who instinctively knows what [s]he should not do, and, in addition, [s]he will balk at doing it. [S]He will refuse to do it, even if this brings down dread consequences to him [sic] and to those whom [s]he loves. This, to me, is the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to the tyrant and they calmly take the consequences of this resistance. Their deeds may be small, and almost always unnoticed, unmarked by history. Their names are not remembered, nor did these authentic humans expect their names to be remembered. I see their authenticity in an odd way: not in their willingness to perform great heroic deeds but in their quiet refusals. In essence, they cannot be compelled to be what they are not."
--Philip K. Dick, fr. "How to Build a Universe that Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later"

Yoga

We did the level one yoga class this morning (after several weeks of the fundamental class). I'm a bit tired out now though the class wasn't significantly more difficult; maybe it's the nine-thirty (as opposed to the eleven-fifteen) starting time. Ugh. Too early for a Saturday morning!