where philosophy showed me the way. None of its fundamental
mysteries can ever be solved but, as you pit yourself against them,
your experience and capacity for being alive grows."

"Very nice," Hart grinned, "wanting all men to be philosophers. They
never have been."

"You shouldn't have brought him here," growled the short man. "He's
not one of us. Now we have a real mess."

"Johnson, I'm leader of this group!" Burnett exploded. "Credit me with
a little understanding. All right, Hart, what you say is true. But
why? Because most men have always worked too hard to achieve the
fruits of curiosity."

"I hate to keep being a spoil-sport, but what does that prove? _Some_
men who had to work as hard as the rest have been interested in things
beyond the end of their nose."

They all groaned their disapproval.

"A good point, Hart, but it doesn't prove what you think. It just
shows that a minority enjoy innate capacities and environmental
variations that make the transition to philosopher easier."

"And _you_ haven't proven anything about the incurious majority."

"This does, though: whenever there was a favorable period the majority
who could, as you put it, see beyond the ends of their noses
increased. Our era is just the opposite. We are trapped in a vicious
circle. Those noses are usually so close to the grindstone that men
are afraid to raise their heads. We are breaking that circle!"

"It's a terribly important thing to aim for, Burnett, but--" He
brought up another doubt and somebody else answered it immediately.

For the next half hour, as one uncertainty was expressed after
another, everybody joined in the answers until inexorable logic forced
his surrender.

"All right," he conceded, "I will do anything I can--not to make work
for myself, but to help mankind rise above it."

* * * * *

Except for a brief, triumphant glance in Johnson's direction, Burnett
gave no further attention to what had happened and plunged immediately
into practical matters.

To halt the blind worship of work, the Rites had first to be
discredited. And to discredit the Rites, the awe inspired by their
infallible performance had to be weakened. The sabotage of the
Preliminary had been the first local step in that direction. There had
been a few similar, if smaller, episodes, executed by other groups,
but they had received as little publicity as possible.

"Johnson, you pulled one so big this time