The Little World

Are you an Intellectual? Do you know any intellectuals? Can you define intellectual?

I can’t.

I can define intellect, but I’m darned if I know where to look for it in other people. If they essay to show it to me I am suspicious of the process, and if they do not show it I suspect it is not there. So where does the scale modeller and the Little World come into the whole thing?

a. The very act of taking an interest in the Little World is an intellectual one to begin with. Little Worlds are like a view through a microscope – intellectual curiosity itches to see what is there and to compare it to what is known of Big Worlds. The person who never looks through the eyepiece of the microscope or telescope might just as well keep their eyes shut – and their mind may be shut as well.

b. The scale modeller has an intellectual understanding of self-control – the non-scale modeller relinquishes some of this but gains more of a sense of emotion. They both think more than the person who contemplates an object only as food, fuel, or fashion.

c. The Little World enthusiast builds their world somewhere and sometime. This may be far removed from the here and now, and can go both forward and backward in time as well as to wherever the imagination wishes. Thus the intellect of the builder is exercised in many ways to make the small reality appear. Most Little World builders are thinking all the time – even if in some cases they are only thinking of lunch.

It is no surprise that many Little Worlders are also avid readers and internet researchers. They are hoarders and inveterate dawdlers in shops, libraries, museums, and galleries. They are never ” Done Yet? “.

d. The Little World builder can talk. Oh Lord, can they talk. Get them started on the subject of their hobby and you may not get out of the room alive. If you have the same interest as they do and can trade secrets and aspirations, you may elect to die happy.