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Timebinder, v. 1, Issue 2, 1945

letting my sense plunge into the endless infinities of space and time as a diver plunges his body into deep waters.

"Then when I come up for air, I feel invariably refreshed and invigorated; and the knowledge that some day I will never come up but drift forever into those dark waters (Death, we call this) is the reassuring knowledge 'that no man lives for ever, that dead men rise up never, and even the weariest river, winds somewhere safe to sea'.

"This letter wanders on at frightening length, but THE TIME-BINDER really interested me, and I hope you don't object to still a few more remarks. Many of these are probably negligible criticisms, but some may perhaps be really more than objections to choices of words, etc., and so be worth considering.

"I first of all object to the idea that you can equate the hearing of great music and reading of great books with thinking great thoughts. I don't believe the term 'thinking' should be used for anything as passive as receiving or repeating the thots of others. THINKING, properly conceived, should imply a personal contribution on the part of the thinker, as an honest effort to correlate data, grasp the meaning of a proposition, etc. I believe great thinking is in a class with great composing or great playing of music, not with listening to great music. (But perhaps there is more to listening than I imagine. ((I meant it in that sense.)) Anyway, we are in agreement that it benefits a man to widen the range of his thinking, which is the really important point of your introduction.

"As for achieving personal adequacy through time-binding, this has been more or less discussed above, and I won't linger over trifling details that don't quite jibe, other than to question your assumption that we have had 'poor white trash' etc., etc., because we were unwilling to accept them as equals. Not at all. We have them because they have failed to prove themselves the equals of those above them in the social scale. Whether they ever had a fair chance to prove themselves equal is something else again. ((Aye, there's the rub. -- EEE)). But you cannot deny that shiftless and incapable, incompetent people are bound to accumulate at the bottom of the heap under our system, and I can not feel much sympathy for them; I am sympathetic for those who are held under in spite of their own abilities and efforts, thru the casual injustices of the system. ((It is of these latter I was speaking. -- EEE)).

"I don't agree that equality should extend any further than equality of opportunity. We may try to help and be kind to those who have failed their opportunities, but how is it possible to respect them?

"At the bottom of p 9 I am impelled to wonder why you apply 'deep, solemn' to describe truly religious living. On the contrary, I have always though religion should have sparkle, an element of gaiety. I should find life dreary without that refreshing sparkle of gaiety in my philosophy; 'we dance along

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letting my sense plunge into the endless infinities of space and time as a diver plunges his body into deep waters. "Then when I come up for air, I feel invariably refreshed and invigorated; and the knowledge that some day I will never come up but drift forever into those dark waters (Death, we call this) is the reassuring knowledge 'that no man lives for ever, that dead men rise up never, and even the weariest river, winds somewhere safe to sea'. "This letter wanders on at frightening length, but THE TIME-BINDER really interested me, and I hope you don't object to still a few more remarks. Many of these are probably negligible criticisms, but some may perhaps be really more than objections to choices of words, etc., and so be worth considering. "I first of all object to the idea that you can equate the hearing of great music and reading of great books with thinking great thoughts. I don't believe the term 'thinking' should be used for anything as passive as receiving or repeating the thots of others. THINKING, properly conceived, should imply a personal contribution on the part of the thinker, as an honest effort to correlate data, grasp the meaning of a proposition, etc. I believe great thinking is in a class with great composing or great playing of music, not with listening to great music. (But perhaps there is more to listening than I imagine. ((I meant it in that sense.)) Anyway, we are in agreement that it benefits a man to widen the range of his thinking, which is the really important point of your introduction. "As for achieving personal adequacy through time-binding, this has been more or less discussed above, and I won't linger over trifling details that don't quite jibe, other than to question your assumption that we have had 'poor white trash' etc., etc., because we were unwilling to accept them as equals. Not at all. We have them because they have failed to prove themselves the equals of those above them in the social scale. Whether they ever had a fair chance to prove themselves equal is something else again. ((Aye, there's the rub. -- EEE)). But you cannot deny that shiftless and incapable, incompetent people are bound to accumulate at the bottom of the heap under our system, and I can not feel much sympathy for them; I am sympathetic for those who are held under in spite of their own abilities and efforts, thru the casual injustices of the system. ((It is of these latter I was speaking. -- EEE)). "I don't agree that equality should extend any further than equality of opportunity. We may try to help and be kind to those who have failed their opportunities, but how is it possible to respect them? "At the bottom of p 9 I am impelled to wonder why you apply 'deep, solemn' to describe truly religious living. On the contrary, I have always though religion should have sparkle, an element of gaiety. I should find life dreary without that refreshing sparkle of gaiety in my philosophy; 'we dance along 23