B86
Public Record
Excerpt From article.

Coming of Age: The search for the Great Tragedy.

People often speak of “spiritual journeys” or time spent “finding themselves” (often in a foreign country or in some means of isolation) in which they are left with an inordinate amount of time with their thoughts. These experiences are important, and generally allow a person to concretely define the Great Tragedy of her life. The Great Tragedy is a crucial part of her self-discovery, as it allows for the generation of her Relative Experience graph. The Great Tragedy is the event or experience that shaped her into the person she is today, and the obstacle she will have to overcome in order to find success.

The retelling of (or the decision not to tell) one’s Great Tragedy is remolded over time. The Great Tragedy is generally made of one’s most impactful negative event or group of events, combined with one’s most impactful positive event or group of events in a way that makes the negative most compelling. One’s Great Tragedy is rehearsed as one continually analyzes and retells it to her or himself. New details are added as they become relevant to one’s Self-Definition, as the Self-Definition is adapted to new contexts. A person’s decision to tell another person about their Great Tragedy can denote a sense of trust in that person, while others tell it frequently, in the hopes that it will alter others’ perceptions of them. The Great Tragedy may be retold as the ultimate obstacle one overcame in order to reach their perceived success; conversely, one’s Great Tragedy can also be used to excuse an inability to achieving one’s goals.

The Long Sit

Some time following one’s Great Tragedy, a person will find on the other side of a long stretch of time where they did little but examine themselves. This time period is known as the Long Sit. During one’s Long Sit, people tend to spend an exorbitant amount of time alone with their thoughts. If at any time they spend time with others, they spend that time examining themselves against others. This time is spent this time learning about people through learning about themselves. People often travel in order to commence their Long Sits, as this would be an opportune time to compare oneself to others, but a Long Sit cannot be started for any person. Long Sits invariably only occur when a person is not prepared for it, and is invariably only obvious that it has occurred after it has occurred. Those are the only two identifiers we have for triggering Long Sit, which invariably means that it is impossible to test for. A Long Sit can last anywhere from six months to 12 years, depending on the individual. During this time, she is actively processing the effect of the Great Tragedy on her life. Once she has determined the psychological impact of the Great Tragedy, and can move past it by identifying it, this signals the end of the Long Sit. […]

Corbalt Thern