Social Diving

This is not a book review but again, I would like to write about something I read in a Chuck Palahniuk book.  This time I'm writing about the idea of social diving which I read about in the book Haunted. The book itself is quite unique because it is both an anthology and a novel.  The book is about a group of people who joined a writer's retreat which turned out to be a reality show kind of setup wherein extreme experiences and living conditions were imposed on them by the deranged organizer, supposedly to push each of them to create a masterpiece.  In the book, the writer's retreat participants took turns reciting their own stories as they grew more desperate to be the ultimate "winner" of the "reality show."  A total of 23 stories are featured in the book which also includes 21 narrative poems.

I like buying anthologies because I could read one essay or one story at a time, whenever I have the time to read, until I finish the book.  However, I found the ludicrously imaginative stories in Haunted so addictive that I finished reading the book in two sittings (I still needed to do other things.).

My favorite story is entitled Slumming by the character nicknamed Lady Baglady.  It's a story about a group of affluent (filthy rich) people who took up the hobby of slumming or social diving by disguising themselves to appear destitute and living the lives of homeless people for a night.  They enjoyed the anonymity, freedom, and sense of adventure that this new hobby gave them until it all ended in tragedy. (You have to read the story yourself to find out what the tragedy was.)

Anyway, I found this story really interesting not only because social climbing is a hot topic which my friends and I often make fun of, but also because this story got me reflecting on a few difficult questions.

1. Are we, as humans, doomed to endlessly seek salvation (in pop culture: happiness) and never find it?  The lyrics of a gospel song says that we are born with a hole that needs to be filled but how come people never agree what to fill it with?  How come external pressures (from society, family, authorities, etc.) often push us to do things or follow paths that are not consistent with what we want to do or what we think we want to do?  Why do we keep on not having things we want and not wanting things that we have?

2. Do the rich ever really envy the poor or is this just propaganda so that the poor will stay comfortable with what they have and not aspire to be rich?  Do the poor ever not envy the rich or is this just propaganda for the rich to think there is something desirable in being poor?

3.  Is there room for a possible collaboration between poor people who want to do social climbing and rich people who want to do social diving?  Something like a "social exchange" night wherein rich and poor people would switch clothes, homes, names, and lives?

4.  Is there really such a thing as salvation or happiness?  Or is salvation or happiness a mere abstraction that we created to provide a sense of meaning and direction to our futile existence?  And isn't it that a sense of meaning leads to happiness and if happiness brings a sense of meaning then isn't happiness self-fulfilling?  If it is so, then is there a way to happiness or is happiness the way?  If it is, then salvation or happiness is the way to what?

I'm sure there are a lot more questions that could arise from reading the story but the list above is quite a handful already so I'll stop here.

In summary, I think people will always find new things to do with their lives and playing with opposites (social diving vs social climbing) is always a good start in inventing and reinventing things.  And if social divers actually exist in real life (I believe they do), I guess they find the thought of "there's no way but down" quite intriguing and motivational.

I hope that, at the very least, this post encouraged you to take up a new hobby.