From Erwin Chargaff’s (1986) Serious Questions: An ABC of Skeptical Reflections:
In earlier days, when I was still what they call teaching at a university, I was sometimes asked questions that showed me the depth of misery over which the seemingly carefree, youthful mind was suspended. Not being a licensed guru I refrained from advice but, occasionally, out of the not very bulky fullness of my own experience, I could say a few words. They were neither many nor profound: 1) You are not a cork bobbing upon the waters; you are not the plaything of evil powers. 2) If you are the product of evolution, then whoever made evolution, made you. 3) You are yourself, better more than less; and if you grow old, you would not want to have to spit at your own image in the mirror. 4) You cannot start too early to build a capsule of quiet, silence, solitude, around yourself. Only in that soundproof space can you hear the voice of nature, can you think the thoughts of your heart. 5) Whatever talks at you in the voice of the world is evil; no persuader means well. 6) If you find that there is only one thing you can do, then force yourself to do two. 7) Be not a 100 percent anything; don’t mix life and business; earn your bread during the day and be free, free, free afterward.
The Voice of Wisdom went on and on, but always the message was: DISCONNECT! (Incidentally, the opposite of E. M. Forster’s advice in Howards End.) For I am convinced that only a temporary secession, on the part of very many, from the kind of humanity that fills our century can save this world.