All really humane people admit that they’re rascals. That’s, you see, on the side of the not respectable, the selfish. But so, also, all humane people should admit that they’re jokers; that they are playing games and playing tricks. That I am doing it on you; I am most ready to admit this. I hoaxed you all into coming here to tell you – what? It was a trap, you see? But I’m going to make it an entertaining trap so that you won’t feel so badly about it.

Now, this is philosophy, but I think philosophy is like music. You go to a concert and you listen to somebody play Bach, or Mozart, or Beethoven, and what’s all that about? You know, it isn’t about anything except dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee, dee-dee diddly-dee, you know? That’s what it’s about.

And so, in the same way, as I conceive my work as a philosopher, I am simply pointing out that existence is the same kind of a thing as a Bach invention. It’s going this way, and that way, and hills, and water is going tch-tch-tch-tch-tch-tch-tch all out there, and the fish are going around in it, breeding, and the ducks are going this, that, and the other, and that’s the same thing as dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee, dee diddly-dee, see?

So, if you can admit that – that that’s what it’s all about – you have a little problem. Because there’s not only the threat that it really might be serious, and that you shouldn’t be laughing about this, but there’s also a kind of opposite. Then are you saying it’s merely just fiddling around?

I mean, are you saying that it’s only a game? Is that all there is to it? What do you think? You see, this again is a question that everybody has to think things through. What did you want? Didn’t you want a game? Did you want it to be serious in the end? Think about the question. What kind of a thing would you like God to be? What would you like to do for eternity? Really?

This is the way life is going on. And as a result comes all this, you see? The question is then, you see – in you heart of hearts – you can take the attitude that all this is terrible, or that it’s dreadfully serious. You see, you can play comedies, or you can play tragedies, farces, histories and romances, and all that kind of thing, and you can take these various attitudes to it.

But if you are awakened, and, as it were, you’ve been let in to the secret – which is what we’ve been talking about, see? Because the web is also the curtain, you know? The veil. The veil which hides the face of God from the angels, you see? There’s always this veil.

So, what I’m saying is, I think, this: I’m trying to share with you a certain style of life, and an attitude to life, and an insight. I’ve taken you to one side and said, Listen, kids, things aren’t what they seem. Don’t be fooled. There’s a big deception going on, and you’re involved in it, but I just thought that you ought to know it – and enjoy it.