A conversation between protagonist Larry Darrell and Somerset
Maugham, author as himself, from The Razor’s Edge. Larry begins.
“According to the Vedantists, the self, which they call the atman and we call the soul, is distinct from the body and its senses, distinct from the mind and its intelligence; it is not part of the Absolute, for the Absolute, being infinite, can have no parts but the Absolute itself. It is uncreated; it has existed from eternity and when at last it has cast off the seven veils of ignorance will return to the infinitude from which it came. It is like a drop of water that has arisen from the sea, and in a shower has fallen into a puddle, then drifts into a brook, finds its way into a stream, after that into a river, passing through mountain gorges and wide plains, winding this way and that, obstructed by rocks and fallen trees, till at last it reaches the boundless seas from which it rose.”
“But that poor little drop of water, when it has once more become one with the sea, has surely lost its individuality.”
Larry grinned.
“You want to taste sugar, you don’t want to become sugar. What is individuality but the expression of our egoism? Until the soul has shed the last trace of that, it cannot become one with the Absolute.”
“You talk very familiarly of the Absolute, Larry, and it’s an imposing word. What does it actually signify to you?”
“Reality. You can’t say what it is; you can only say what it isn’t. It’s inexpressible. The Indians call it Brahman. It’s not a person, it’s not a thing, it’s not a cause. It has no qualities. It transcends permanence and change; whole and part, finite and infinite. It is eternal because its completeness and perfection are unrelated to time. It is truth and freedom.”
“Golly,” I said to myself.
-Somerset Maugham
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