Close Up Over

A Japan Times interview with Haruki Murakami, in which he discusses the conflict between closed systems and open systems in society:

The world is very chaotic today. You have to think about so many things — your stock options, the IT industry, which computer you should buy, junk bonds. You have 54 channels on DTV. You can know anything you want from the Internet. It’s so complicated, and you feel lost. But if you enter a small, closed circuit, you don’t have to think about anything. The guru or dictator will tell you what to do and think. It’s simple. So people like to enter those small, closed systems — just like the very intelligent people who gather in Aum Shinrikyo. But once you enter that system, you cannot escape. The door is closed.