Martian Time-Slip

by Philip K. Dick

“You ever been psychoanalyzed, Helio?” Arnie said to him, feeling cheerful, now. “No, Mister. Entire psychoanalysis is a vainglorious foolishness.” “How zat, Helio?” “Question they never deal with is, what to remold sick person like. There is no what, Mister.” “I don’t get you, Helio.” “Purpose of life is unknown, and hence way to be is hidden from the eyes of living critters. Who can say if perhaps the schizophrenics are not correct? Mister, they take a brave journey. They turn away from mere things, which one may handle and turn to practical use; they turn inward to meaning. There, the black-night-without-bottom lies, the pit. Who can say if they will return? And if so, what will they be like, having glimpsed meaning? I admire them.” “Kee-rist,” Arnie said, with derision, “you half-educated freak—I’ll bet if human civilization disappeared from Mars you’d be right back there among those savages in ten seconds flat, worshipping idols and all the rest of it. Why do you pretend you want to be like us? Why are you reading that manual?” Heliogabalus said, “Human civilization will never leave Mars, Mister; that is why I study this book.”