Statement 1: These Did Not Make Me...

This is a picture of place of pride on my bookshelves. It is the space in which I have placed the books which I feel shaped who I am today. From The Devil's Notebook, one of the more bearable writtings of Anton LaVey, to Lucifer Rising, a book which chronicled Satanism and gave me a somewhat deeper understanding of what was going on with it, to Transmetropolitan, the main character of which I have conciously made efforts to pattern myself off of, and from whom I took certain quotes and viewpoints, to Machiavelli's The Prince, which really demonstrates one of the biggest lies of this section of book shelf. I haven't read The Prince. I started reading it, but I didn't finish, yet (I plan to, in a vague "I'll get to it eventually" sort of way), and thus it cannot truly have shaped me.

I feel like they didn't so much shape me as display what was already there, which is how The Prince is there.

But honestly... it's a lie. These books did not shape me, they crafted a cheap impostor whom wears my skin and pretends to be a unique person.

In a moment, I will take these down, and put them in the proper places on my shelves, the sections they belong in according to subject. I will admit, I feel a deep desire to put something in their place, but it would be just as false as the current books. Anything currently put in that space would not truly be something which shaped me, but rather something I'm trying to be. At best I could put in this space books about early interests of mine, books about dinosaurs, and alien life, and ancient religion, but I'd be hard pressed to actually find such books in my room at the moment, and even then, it wouldn't be things that shaped or informed me, merely things I like. At least it's a bit more honest, but if that's the criteria, then eleven of the current books can stay.

I've a long way to go, and it starts with minuscule actions and efforts, and friends willing to help. If you visit my room after tonight, and see that these books have not moved, please smack me upside the head, I obviously need it.