The Desert

Elster moves to the desert to get away from the hectic pace of city life. He is fed up with political squabbles and New York pretention; he wants to eliminate distractions and get back to the basics of being. He wants to embrace the emptiness (and paradoxically, the fullness) of the desert landscape and use it as a transcendental inspiration towards inner peace. Time in the desert slows down, allowing one’s consciousness to expand and absorb more than it possibly can in the over-stimulating and anxiety-provoking big city. Elster wants to get back to nature, join the consciousness of the universe, where he believes the truth, if it is to be found, will be found. In a sense, this pilgrimage to the desert parallels Jim’s daily trips to the 24 Hour Psycho exhibit in the MOMA: both the exhibit and the desert slow the...