Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals

by Robert M. Pirsig

So Phædrus had seen that if you want to get out of an insane asylum the way to do it is not to try to persuade the psychiatrists that you may know more than they do about what is “wrong” with you. That is hopeless. The way to get out is to persuade them that you fully understand that they know more than you do and that you are fully ready to accept their intellectual authority. That is how heretics keep from getting burned. They recant. You have to do a first-class acting job and not allow any little glances of resentment to get in there. If you do they may catch you at it and you may be worse off than if you hadn’t tried. If they ask you how you’re feeling you can’t say, “Great!” That would be a symptom of delusion. But you can’t say, “Rotten!” either. They’ll believe it and increase the tranquilizer dosage. You have to say, “Well … I think I may be improving a little bit …” and do so with a little look of humility and pleading in your eyes. That brings the smiles.