He can practically see the gears in Claude's mind turning as he considers it, and gives him the time to do so without urging an answer. The question may or may not have a simple answer, but it doesn't have an easy one, that much he's sure of.

"I think that makes you more honest with yourself than many men would be willing to be." This is unsurprising; it's one of the reasons he respects Claude.

"And I think you're right about what's easier. Looking back, can see the pieces of life as we remember it. Beyond our grasp, but solid in our minds." It's a strange way to people, events, memories that have no presence in this world — but he knows them in a way he can't know things here. "There's more uncertainty here. More possibilities that what we've built could be torn down for reasons we have no way of anticipating."