In ancient Greek mythology, Icarus flew toward the sky on wings made of wax. People would say not to fly too high out of pride, because the Sun's heat would melt the wax wings, and then you would fall from a great height like Icarus. But they would not remind you not to fly too low either, because water would soak the wings and drag you into the sea. After all, the moral of the story was meant to warn people that humility was a virtue. The boundaries of this world were already being constantly pushed, and there were always people who would chip away at your limits bit by bit in order to take more and more. Without boundaries, it was even easier to be controlled by others.
Before clocks were invented, people mainly observed time using sundials. Among that pile of miscellaneous books was a "guide" on how to set up a sundial. Since the angle of the shadow cast by the Sun changed with latitude, a sundial made for one location could not be used at another latitude. Furthermore, sundials showed apparent solar time, while clocks showed mean time. Even if a properly functioning clock was calibrated to match a sundial, there were only four days in a year when they indicated exactly the same time.
In short, aside from requiring them to be "slightly higher," this advice was very "useful." Poor families did not own mechanical devices like clocks. They could follow the "guide" and set up a sundial in their yards, though perhaps they would rather arrange their schedules according to the church bells.
Many people could read a clock but did not understand the principles behind the mechanisms beneath its face, or the purpose of those exquisitely constructed components.
An individual disappeared within a