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SREELAF.· But you are the process! aware .. capacity
SON: I? of a certain
RSEELF· . Ineded! That 's the irony of it.
SEt:.ON: Wh~t has irony to Jdo with it?
· Everything. You see. I have become
REA~at was heretofore unknown to me.
SELF.ON: How .have yo~ done that_?o .
· . I must, In all fairness, attribute the discovery to my pursuit of
REA~atlonal education, with strict adherence to your rules.
SELF_DN:. And wh~t .i~ this new-fou~d capacity? .
· It IS the possibility to develop In myself a strength that IS pure and
exclusive, and that transcends the necessity for any exterior support.
R (IMPRESSIVE PAUSE)
S:r.~.ON: Why do you desire this transcendence? Where will it g~t you?
. I came to desire it through living in this world and observmg the
REA~orkings of human beings, and of the things they depend on.
SREELAFS?.N: KnowWlhedatge,thinmgos?ney, worldly success, each other ... reason ...
ON: Reason?
SREELAFS·. Y es, people depend on reason. I depend on reason.
SELF: ON(S: LOAWndLYw, hyEMshPoHuAldTnI'tCAyLoLuY? ) Because I yearn for self-sufficiency.
Reason is not the self. It is the fulfillment of an innate potential in
the human mind to function on a level beyond the capacity of animals,
according to a universal standard that permits facile communication.
(VERY EMPHATICALLY). If there were no human mind, there
would beIf notherereasonw. ere no reason, you would not have realized this
REASON:
potential
SELF: Wrong.!-
REASON: But be reasonable! You yourself admitted that you reached
these conclusions through me-
SELF: Yes, you were the vehicle, and you performed admirably for me.
~ut you were not the only possibility. Understand that you are a erea-
tion of the mind, contrived as a tool for gaining self-knowledge. In
having devised my own means to self-realization, have I not accom-
plished the task on my own?
:ASON: You're rather pompous, aren't you?
LF: Why not? What good could it possibly do me to belittle my own
achievements? What would become of me if I sat idle, keeping my
ideas to myself for fear of over-asserting and being called pompous?
Is humility a grander thing than self-realization? Shall I relinquish
credit for becoming enlightened to the extent of abdicating my depen-