It was a difficult life, and one doesn't want to be nostalgic for the mud, but life was undoubtedly much more meaningful when I was making theatre in the city. By perhaps a factor of ten, if meaningfulness can abide ratios. The questions were much more difficult, and the answers much more rewarding. But it's a rather closed world, and can turn against any random person very quickly, and without a thought. The initial thought, after the two or three years on the outside of things, was to get a solid base for everyday existence with the law degree... and thereby hangs a tale.
It is good to notice the differences in the scale of meaning, though. Like going from a Fowles novel to a 90s televised drama. The spiritual stakes reduced, even when the empirical risks increased. On the bright side, Prometheus had a bit of a torch to see things by when he went back down. False light? Perhaps. But light. Prometheus brings the fire, not the perfect color of light.
"More light!" (Henry Miller)