Lipton’s Journal/February 1, 1955/395

Word echoes. (I suppose what I’m really trying to do with word and consonant echoes is psychoanalyze language.) Anyway: A Liar. The verb: to lie. Which also means to lie down. I accept the identity completely. A liar is engaging in a passive activity—no matter how much action he may appear to set off. The fact of the matter is that a liar is invariably punished, and lies with the desire to be so punished. For the liar, afraid of his H, is seeking the passive position where society will curb him. Like gossips, liars are adventurers afraid to begin. Their lying is their defense against action. Which is why it is so compulsive. Truly, there is a worse alternative—they will have to act, and that brings disaster.