Living in Apocalypse

This might sound twisted, but I really like dystopian/apocalyptic novels. I just finished a heartbreaking, spine-chilling book, probably one of the most sparsely poetic stories I've ever read - the words were woven with such simplicity, and yet such noir-type tone, I could see the author's lifeless world perfectly....the book is "The Road" by a writer named Cormac McCarthy. I'd never heard of him before picking up the book.

Then I searched online and found out there was a movie based on the book, which I'm in the middle of watching; but I had to pause and write my reaction, which got me thinking about other apocalyptic novels I've read, like "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood...

And I started wondering, why am I, and other readers, attracted to these "perverse" plotlines... By "perverse" I don't mean that it's a bad thing, I just mean, it's unusual, or perhaps not "normal" according to society's standards to be attracted to darkness, to "dark" stories...

I know why I'm attracted to these stories. It is precisely because of the extreme "dimming" of positivity, of life's brightness, that make me appreciate "normality." That sounds trite, I know, but it's true. When we ache, when we long for something, like a lover, or a good meal, we appreciate it more.

But why does the mind have to go to extremes to appreciate the middle ground?

That is perhaps another philosophical or neurological tangent that science or sociology has yet to uncover...

Then I think, I am living in Israel, which carries with it the myth of Apocalypse. 

It certainly doesn't feel like "apocalypse" on a daily basis; most of the time I feel like I'm living in another capitalist society but with Middle Eastern/Mediterranean culture influencing people's behavior and traditions (which produces an ironic clash of Middle Eastern hospitality with Israeli directness/rudeness - take whichever word pleases you most)...

The apocalypse story of the Holy Land is one of Judeo-Christian origin (as far as I know). I wonder what the apocalypse stories of other cultures are like, and what they imply about Us: feckless, passionate, ambitious, desire-driven Humanity...

I hope I haven't depressed whoever might be reading this...but if I got you thinking about the meaning of "apocalypse" whether on a personal or societal (or some other) level...well, that is ultimately my goal with this post.

Happy thought-trains, my fellow over-analyzers...