Maybe we are ready, he thought. Maybe we've almost finished with our adolescence. Maybe we are on the verge of being ready for an adult culture. Could that be why the Kimonians let us in, the only ones in the galaxy they are willing to let in?
His brain reeled with the thought.
On Earth only one of every thousand passed the examination that sent them on to Kimon. Maybe here on Kimon only another one in every thousand would be qualified to absorb the culture that Kimon offered them.
But before you could even start to absorb the culture, before you could start to learn, before you ever went to school, you'd have to admit that you didn't know. You'd have to admit that you were a child. You couldn't keep on polishing up false pride to use as a shield between you and the culture that waited for your understanding.
Morley, Bishop said, I may have the answer - the answer that you're awaiting back on Earth.
But I can't tell it to you. It's something that can't be told. It's a thing that each one must find out for himself.
And the pity of it is that Earth is not readily equipped to find it out. It is not a lesson that is often taught on Earth.
Armies and guns could not storm the citadel of Kimonian culture, for you simply could not fight a war with a parapsychic people. Earth aggressiveness and business cunning likewise would fail to crack the deadpan face of Kimon.
There is only one way, Morley, Bishop said, talking to his friend. There is only one thing that will crack this planet, and that is humility.
And Earthmen are not humble creatures.