It is sometimes challenging to evade the tentacles of the cultures I am immersed in; I freely admit I find some few of their common lures seductive. But their power to compel me is small when compared to the culture I myself have cobbled together from my resentments, my fears, my grasping, my fantasies, my idols, my teachers, my desires, my knowledge, and my ‘wisdom’. Now there’s a pretty little parasite… indeed… and one I am almost hypnotically inclined to overlook.