Not Greatly Changed

The fourth function
 Of a mythology then
 Is to center
 And integrate
 The individual
 In relation
 To himself
 The microcosm
 In relation to
 Its society
 We'll call that the "mezzo-cosm,"
 The in-between cosm
 In relation to
 The universe
 As he's able to know it
 And finally
 In relation to that
 Ultimate mystery
 Of which I spoke
 In the beginning
 Now let me say
 A word
 About
 The problem of integrating
 The individual
 This is the thing
 That has been the same
 This is the thing
 That has been the same
 Societies have changed
 But the problem of the individual in his life course
 Has not
 Greatly changed
 The human being
 Is a very
 Strange animal
 He matures
 When he is about
 Twenty
 Years old
 He has been
 Growing
 For twenty years
 For most animals
 That is the length of a lifetime
 So here is a creature
 Who has grown for twenty years
 In an
 Attitude
 And in a position
 Largely of dependency
 Uncertain of himself
 Turning
 To his parents
 For
 Help
 Instruction
 Protection
 Approval
 And punishment
 This creates
 A psychological structure
 Of
 Dependency
 The individual
 Is in an attitude
 Of dependence
 On parental figures
 Then
 We ask him
 To become
 Responsible
 To assume
 Responsibility
 Grow up
 This is the thing
 That has been the same
 This is the thing
 That has been the same
 Societies have changed
 But the problem of the individual in his life course
 Has not
 Greatly changed
 This
 Is the crisis
 Of the transit
 From infancy
 To adulthood
 From dependency
 To
 Responsibility
 Something has to be done
 To make it happen
 It won't happen automatically
 As we now know
 From the problem of psychoanalysis
 A person who
 Looks like an adult
 But every time responsibility is thrown upon him,
 Turns around to see where mother or daddy is
 Just hasn't passed that threshold
 A neurotic is a person who is having responses
 Of dependency when there ought to be responses
 Of
 Responsibility
 That's all it is
 So then he goes to a
 Psychiatrist who tells him
 "Grow up"
 That's about all
 The problem is
 But that is not so easy
 After you have
 The business of a reflex
 Stimulus
 Response
 Response takes place
 The response of dependence
 Dependence, dependence
 And now suddenly it's got to be
 Responsibility
 This is the thing
 That has been the same
 This is the thing
 That has been the same
 Societies have changed
 But the problem of the individual in his life course
 Has not
 Greatly changed
 This is the thing
 That has been the same
 This is the thing
 That has been the same
 Societies have changed
 But the problem of the individual in his life course
 Has not
 Greatly changed