I decided not to cross any bridges I had burned behind me. - Robert A. Heinlein

I see the beauty of Mike's attempt to devise an ideal ethic and applaud his recognition that such must start by junking the present sexual code and starting fresh. Most philosophers haven't the courage for this; they swallow the basics of the present code — monogamy, family pattern, continence, body taboos, conventional restrictions on intercourse, and so forth — then fiddle with details...even such piffle as discussing whether the female breast is an obscene sight! (p.365)

Father always required me to think for myself, and Mr. Clemens urged me to, also. I was taught that the one Unforgivable Sin, the offense against one’s own integrity, was to accept anything at all simply on authority.

Attend me. How do you prove that there are eggs in a bird’s nest? Don’t strain your gray matter: go climb the tree and find out. There is no other way.