At Telepylus 323
really such a revolutionary reversal of what seems
obvious. But I’ve been through it myself, and the
plain fact is this: finding ourselves here with so much
more time on our hands than we ever had in our lives,
we get desperate. In a big city, if we're bored, we
simply look around for some diversion, and there are
plenty of them. But here, there’s no alleviation or the
possibility of it. We must either go under completely
or decide to swim. Hlere’s another case where the
Big Lion, who must certainly be Satan himself, econo-
mises time. One has to be very stupid not to discover
within forty-eight hours that there is no possibility of
amusing oneself in any of the ordinary ways. In
London one could waste one’s life before bringing
one’s mind to the point where Big Lion wants it. So
one finds oneself immediately up against the fact that
one has got to find something to do. Well, we go and
ask Big Lion; and Big Lion says: ‘Do what thou
wilt.’ ‘But, yes,’ we say, ‘what is that?’ He replies
rudely, ‘Find out.’ We ask how to find out; and he
says, ‘How do you know what is the good of a motor-
car?’ Well, we think a bit ; and then we tell him that
we find out the use of a motor-car by examining it,
looking at its various parts, comparing it and them
with similar machines whose use we already know,
such as the bullock wagon and the steam engine. We
make up our minds that an automobile is constructed
in order to travel along the high road. ‘Very good,’
says Big Lion, ‘go up top. Examine yourself, your
faculties and tendencies, the trend of your mind, and
the aspirations of your soul. Allow me to assure you
that you will find this investigation leaves you very
little time to wonder what in the devil to do with
yourself.’ ‘Thank you very much,’ we say, ‘ but suppose
our judgment is wrong, suppose that what we have
decided is an automobile intended to go, is in reality
a coffin intended to contain a corpse?’ ‘Quite so,’
says Big Lion, ‘ you have to test your judgment ; and
you don’t do that by asking the opinion of people who