Mynah Birds
"'Is that your bird?' Will asked.
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"She shook her head.
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"'Mynahs are like the electric light,' she said. 'They don't belong to anybody.'
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"'Why does he say those things?'
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"'Because somebody taught him,' she answered patiently.
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"'But why did they teach him those things? Why Attention? Why Here and now?'
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"'Well…' She searched for the right words in which to explain the self-evident to this strange imbecile. 'That's what you always forget, isn't it? I mean, you forget to pay attention to what's happening. And that's the same as not being here and now.'
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"'And the mynahs fly about reminding you—is that it?'
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"She nodded. That, of course, was it." — Aldous Huxley; Island, p. 12
Robert Beatty
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