DEBRA
Jim?

                    JIM
Yes.

                    DEBRA
Nice to meet you. I'm Debra.

                    JIM
                  (looking around)
Did you have anything to do with the decorating here, Debra?

                    DEBRA
No. The decorating was a little before my time. It's pretty cheerful, though, huh?

                    JIM
Yes, it's all quite sweet. I hope you don't get too many diabetic clients, because that puppy poster is just crying out for some insulin.

                    DEBRA
                  (amused)
Well, why don't we move into my office? I think you might find it more suited to your tastes.

                    JIM
You've got your own office?

                    DEBRA
I rent it, yes.

                    JIM
You don't have to share it with anyone?

                    DEBRA
No, I don't. Why don't we--

                    JIM
--A woman in office. How progressive.

                    DEBRA
Jim, why don't we move into the office?

                    JIM
Are you trying to avoid a scene, Debra?

                    DEBRA
No, I'm just trying to maintain your confidentiality.

                    JIM
And you're doing a bang-up job calling me by name out here... Debra.

                    DEBRA
Shall we?

                    JIM
Lead the way.

                    JIM
Nice chair.

                    JIM (CONT'D)
So, am I your first crazy of the morning?

                    DEBRA
Pardon?

                    JIM
I bet you see about a can of nuts a day.

                    DEBRA
Is it a concern for you to be the first client of the day? We can schedule our next meeting earlier, if that would make you more comfortable.

                    JIM
That wont be necessary. You seem anxious to begin, Debra. How exactly do we start this thing?

                    DEBRA
How would you like?

                    JIM
I wouldn't "like" to do any of this.

                    DEBRA
Why do you think you're here?

                    JIM
I think you know why I'm here. I don't mean to offend you, but you are aware that if circumstances were different, this would not be my activity of choice on a Tuesday morning?

                    DEBRA
Yes, I am. How does it make you feel to be here?

                    JIM
I was deemed mentally unfit by a court and ordered to enter therapy. How do you think I feel?

                    DEBRA
Reluctant?

                    JIM
To say the least.

                    DEBRA
Why do you think they sent you here?

                    JIM
They think I'm insane. Disturbed. Unbalanced. I suppose I can't be angry. I think the exact same things about them. But I'm not the one in the position of power, am I?

                    DEBRA
Do you think they might be trying to help?

                    JIM
No.

                    JIM (CONT'D)
Maybe. I don't know. For one reason or another, they felt that this would be a more appropriate means of rehabilitation than prison. So it's possible that one of them actually has faith in this.

                    DEBRA
Do you think there's something wrong with you?

                    JIM
No, I don't. Nor do I think there's something "wrong" with anyone else in the world. I've been blessed with a vision of truth that others simply lack. It's not their fault that they live without the clarity that I do nor
is it my fault that I feel the need to live by an ideology I know to be true. What is their fault, however, is the persecution that they force me to endure. I'm different, Debra, and it's that difference that has brought about so much conflict. Not that I'm a threat, but because I am different.

                    DEBRA
Do you wish you weren't so different? Have you ever considered that there may be others who share your philosophies?

                    JIM
I sometimes wonder if there are others who think the way I do.

                    DEBRA
Do you hope there are?

                    JIM
Yes. In a way I do. It would be comforting to know that the truth has not been reserved soley for me. Trust me, doctor, I do not have a God complex. The thought that I alone perceive the world accurately is quite disconcerting.

                    DEBRA
I would imagine so.

                    JIM
I feel proud to possess the understanding that I do. Still, don't be mistaken, it's comes at a tremendous cost. Motivation disappears, hope departs only to be replaced with pessimism... the kind of incapacitating cynicism that envelops you and makes it nearly impossible to face the world. It takes a strong mind to cope with reality. A very strong mind. I'm afraid the axiom is true: ignorance is bliss. No truer words have ever been spoken.

                    DEBRA
Jim, what is this ideology of yours that makes you so different?

                    JIM
Do you believe in emotion, Debra?

                    DEBRA
In what sense?

                    JIM
Do you believe it's real? Do you believe in love and hate? Depression and joy? Is it what the movies would have us believe?

                    DEBRA
                  (smiling)
Partly. It's deeper than that. I would say there's cognitive elements to any emotion, wouldn't you?

                    JIM
Yes, I would. In fact I would say that emotion consists entirely of mental processes, these being brought on by biology and remnants of evolution. And that belief, right there, is what has brought me to your office. Well, that and a few other things.

                    DEBRA
Do you not see pessimism as emotion?

                    JIM
No. Nor do I see hope as one. These are merely outlooks, ways of thinking. Manners in which one perceives the world.

                    DEBRA
I take it you don't feel very hopeful.

                    JIM
A species that runs on lies cannot possibly have a hopeful future.

                    DEBRA
Why do you say that?

                    JIM
We live in a world that operates according to the whims of the heart. The heart is a liar. The mind... everything that is true is contained within the mind, and yet we choose to ignore it.

                    DEBRA
Ah, but the mind can be just as false. After all, isn't it the mind that lies to you every night as you sleep, creating imaginary situations for you to enjoy only to rob you of them in the morning? It's the mind that creates voices in the head of the psychotic, and it is the mind that fabricates delusions and hallucinations. I don't see the honesty in that.

                    JIM
I can tell.

                    DEBRA
Humor me, Jim. What's to become of us?

                    JIM
Luckily, this will not last forever. The basic drives will eventually resurface. At that time, humanity will experience a process of what one might call de-evolution. Social emotion will deteriorate. Earth's population will devour itself almost instantly.

                    DEBRA
That sounds terrible.

                    JIM
Of course.

                    DEBRA
But isn't achieving this state of recognition the goal? Isn't recognizing human nature your proposed cure for the ailments of the world?

                    JIM
Theoretically, yes. But unfortunately it's far too late now. It's easy to moderate these feelings when you acknowledge them and are accustomed to their presence. But when they appear suddenly, all at once, and without warning, they are irrepressible.

                    DEBRA
But doesn't that mean that emotions are the seams that hold the fabric of society together?

                    JIM
Emotion is what has put us in this position - this tragic catch 22 in which we are forced to choose between being destroyed by lies or ravaged by the truth.

                    DEBRA
And what is the truth?

                    JIM
The truth, doctor... the truth is that emotion is a man made product. Love, anger, sadness - fabrications. All of them.

                    DEBRA
I want to ask you about this, Jim. But I don't want you to feel challenged.

                    JIM
As long as you don't have a gun pointed at my head, trust me - I can handle it.

                    DEBRA
All right. Then how do you explain the physical evidence of emotion? The euphoria of love, the rage of anger, the tears of sadness. How do you account for those? How do you explain the smile you just had on your face?

                    JIM
If I smile it because I am amused by your questioning. It's biology and out of my control. As for the rest - they are products of the basic drives I mentioned. The essence of human nature - agression, the desire to reproduce, self preservation. They are at the core of humanity, and they are the innate qualities that unify us as a people.

                    DEBRA
Then love is nothing more than desire?

                    JIM
For men, yes.

                    DEBRA
It is different for women?

                    JIM
For women it is the fulfillment of a need for protection.

                    DEBRA
So let me make sure I understand - relationships are just a kind of symbiosis that allows men to reproduce and offers women protection?

                    JIM
Essentially.

                    DEBRA
I don't think many people would agree with you.

                    JIM
It's may not be poetic, but it is true. And for me, that's what's important.

                    DEBRA
Have you ever felt love?

                    JIM
I once thought I did.

                    DEBRA
For whom?

                    JIM
My wife.

                    DEBRA
But that too was your instinct to reproduce at work?

                    JIM
Well, we never did it at work... Oh, I see what you're saying. Yes, yes, that's right.

                    DEBRA
Does it sadden you to realize you never loved her?

                    JIM
Have you been listening? I never loved her because love is an illusion. And no, I do not feel sad, because that's equally impossible.

                    DEBRA
How long were you married to her?

                    JIM
Fifteen years.

                    DEBRA
Do you miss her?

                    JIM
Yes.

                    DEBRA
And that's not linked to emotion?

                    JIM
You can keep trying to make me slip up, doctor, but you will not succeed. I miss my wife as I missed my mother after she died. When someone who took care of you passes, you feel a loss. Your body alerts you that you must fill the void created in order to survive.

                    DEBRA
That's what mourning is?

                    JIM
Yes. An instinctive response to new responsibilities. Quite clever, really.

                    DEBRA
Do you think God is the clever one behind this all?

                    JIM
Which god?

                    DEBRA
I don't know.

                    JIM
Exactly. Neither do I. You can't answer that question, I can't answer that question. So why bother asking it?

                    DEBRA
Do you think perhaps you're a prophet?

                    JIM
If I am, then my knowledge is certainly going to waste. Nobody is listening, and even if they did, it's too late for me to change anything.

                    DEBRA
Why do you say that? You could make a huge impact on the world before you are gone.

                    JIM
I don't know about that...

                    DEBRA
I think maybe you're just too lazy. You said you've lost motivation. I'm not sure you ever had any.

                    JIM
What are you implying?

                    DEBRA
That this philosophy of yours might just be a way of feeling special without actually accomplishing anything.

                    JIM
Are you trying to insult me?

                    DEBRA
No. I'm just calling it like I see it.

                    JIM
Well, that's very Howard Cosell of you, but I'd appreciate it if you kept your commentary to yourself.

                    DEBRA
Can you not stand criticism, Jim? Are your convictions that fragile? Are you really that shallow? Why did you bother telling me all this if you weren't receptive to advice?

                    JIM
                  (upset)
This isn't advice, this is just an attack.

                    DEBRA
You want the truth... this is the truth: you're nothing special, Jim. You're just another pessimist... a lazy man who justifies his laziness with a dreary world outlook. All your supposed knowledge accomplishes is making your life less and less valuable. The rest of us may be living a lie. I admit - it's very likely that we are. In fact, I know we are. But it's a nice lie. And for a lot of people, it's a necessary lie. And while you might be out there carrying out your so-called enlightened existence, the rest of us are experiencing love and joy and cherishing every second of it.

                    JIM
Enough!

                    DEBRA
It seems to me that you're focusing your pessimism in the wrong direction. There's nothing wrong with the world, is there? You know it. I know it. The only thing truly wrong with your life is you.

                    JIM
ENOUGH!

                    DEBRA
I hate to say it, Jim. But you're nothing. You've never been anything, and you never will be anything.

                    DEBRA
                  (gasping)
That's... hatred...

                    JIM
No it isn't!

                    DEBRA
Hatred!

                    JIM
It's aggression. I'm... I'm protecting myself.

                    DEBRA
From what?

                    JIM
From you!

                    DEBRA
Nonsense... I'm not... threat... hatred... you... hate... me...

                    JIM
You're wrong!

                    DEBRA
You... fool...

                    JIM
You're right! I hate you! I hate you!

                    NARRATOR
And with that, the therapist heads off to psychology heaven where the lion lies down with the lamb, Freud lies down with Jung, and Milgram electrocutes all of them. But right before she drifts away, she smiles... content in the knowledge that once again, the warmth of the heart - fueled by all its many passions - has emerged victorious over the cold callousness of the mind.

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