The first news is: Life on Earth is doing fine.
The second is that: Everyone has a virus,
but the third thing is that everyone is still doing fine,
and hardly anyone even notices it.
In most individuals the virus seems to have a salubrious affect, and it has altered the behavior of man collectively 
to such an extent that should it now disappear, 
his life would be radically changed.
(Although this virus does not perfectly match the 
medical definition thereof, it comes suitably close --  plus, 
there is no other, more exact word.
[there are however, several curious similarities between the two, such as: science notes that ordinary viruses can be rendered inactive through crystallization, and stored in bottles for indefinite periods of time, and later be revived,
and the same is done with the virus being referred to,
but it is put away in containers called books]).
 

Based on the length of their connection,
(man having been host to the virus 
for as long as he has recorded his history), 
it would be assumed that their relationship is 
one of symbiosis,
(although from one perspective this could be questioned, and their affiliation viewed as one-sided and parasitic;
[the undiagnosed problem with this analysation is that 
it comes from one of the parties involved, 
but in any case, it is not a question commonly conceived --
that sport is left in the hands of a few 
untrained specialists]). 
 

No one has ever physically seen the virus,
and no advances in optical technology will ever 
make doing so possible;
its presence is recognized solely by its handiwork,
which is singular and unavoidable;
the fruits of its existence touch every corner of 
human life,
yet less is known about it than any other aspect thereof.
 

The virus’ position in the life of man is now so central
that it is conventionally thought-of, spoken-of, 
and taken-to-be
an immutable part of what he is -- 
and this silent assumption is not without reason, 
but what it IS without is:
a closer examination, and objective analysis.
 

The virus’ primary defense is in the fact that it is 
so widespread in man’s mind that it has been able to 
surround consciousness, 
and blind his thinking to its presence.
The virus is so powerful and now has such control over 
man’s mental processes that it is able to keep him 
literally from even having any ideas, or suspicions regarding its presence.
 

The overall results of the virus’ activities 
prove overall, beneficial to man-the-collective,
and its existence is commonly accepted and unnoted.
There have always been however, 
a few individuals who, for some genetic reason,
have a particular and unshakable awareness of the virus,
but even these people have a difficult time in 
pragmatically identifying and categorizing it:
doing so requires the up most in scientific skills,
but again the virus protects itself by creating 
a specific blind spot in man’s thinking
as concerns any attempted study of same.
 

A man who undertakes to investigate the case of this virus
is without any useable text books, or instructions,
this is not to ignore a plethora of self-proclaimed same,
but the only ones that survive
are ones that the virus has allowed to survive,
which, (need I note), it has sanitized & neutered.
Since the virus cannot be seen, 
(much less extracted and examined in a lab), 
it can only be studied by each person 
as it exists, and manifests itself in him.
This sort of medical detective has for a lab -- only himself,
and his sole methods of investigation --  that work! --
are those he fashions for himself along the way.
 

For the few: nothing equals the excitement & pleasure of the study of the virus (except of course, a ménage a trois  with a couple of Pasteur’s granddaughters),
and nothing else of which the human mind can conceive 
proves so nearly impossible, (but --  Hey!
the rules were already here when we showed up to play).
 

If something’s buggin’ you,
and you figure you’re one of the few,
what it is is   --    the virus,
and you’ve been told more today than you’re 
supposed to know,
plus the fact that you knew it all already,
adds up to the opportunity for 
solving this medical mystery for yourself, (to wit):
”Why do I keep thinking that what I’m thinking is me?” --
--  the virus, Frank! --  it’s the virus!

                                          J
 
 
 
 

…another highly amusing aspect of this case is that:
what a man-who-knows --  KNOWS
is not what those who want-to-know 
                  THINK they want to know.