They say that it is the fear of death and of what comes after death that makes men turn to religion as they advance in years. Vain imaginings! That sickness is old age and a horrible disease it is. "Take this, for example," he said, and in his deep voice once more began to read: "'A man grows old he feels in himself that radical sense of weakness, of listlessness, of discomfort, which accompanies the advance of age and, feeling thus, imagines himself merely sick, lulling his fears with the notion that this distressing condition is due to some particular cause, from which, as from an illness, he hopes to recover. But as time goes on, they, as all men, will find that independence was not made for man–that it is an unnatural state–will do for a while, but will not carry us on safely to the end …'" Mustapha Mond paused, put down the first book and, picking up the other, turned over the pages. These may think it a great thing to have everything, as they suppose, their own way–to depend on no one–to have to think of nothing out of sight, to be without the irksomeness of continual acknowledgment, continual prayer, continual reference of what they do to the will of another. Is it not our happiness thus to view the matter? Is it any happiness or any comfort, to consider that we are our own? It may be thought so by the young and prosperous. We did not make ourselves, we cannot be supreme over ourselves. “We are not our own any more than what we possess is our own. Christianity without tears - that's what soma is.” You can carry at least half your mortality about in a bottle. now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. And there's always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there's always soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And what you ought to do is on the whole so pleasant, so many of the natural impulses are allowed free play, that there really aren't any temptations to resist. There's no such thing as a divided allegiance you're so conditioned that you can't help doing what you ought to do. The greatest care is taken to prevent you from loving anyone too much. When there are wars, where there are divided allegiances, where there are temptations to be resisted, objects of love to be fought for or defended - there, obviously, nobility and heroism have some sense. Conditions have got to be thoroughly unstable before the occasion can arise. But wouldn’t you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina? In your own way, for example not in everybody else’s way.“In a properly organized society like ours, nobody has any opportunities for being noble or heroic. Everybody’s happy nowadays.” He laughed, “Yes, ‘Everybody’s happy nowadays.’ We begin giving the children that at five. ![]() “No, the real problem is: How is it that I can’t, or rather-because, after all, I know quite well why I can’t-what would it be like if I could, if I were free-not enslaved by my conditioning.” “But, Bernard, you’re saying the most awful things.” “Don’t you wish you were free, Lenina?” “I don’t know what you mean. “How can you?” In a different key, “How can I?” he repeated meditatively. “Bernard!” She protested in a voice of amazed distress. And I damned well wish I weren’t!” Lenina was shocked by his blasphemy. ” “Yes, I know,” said Bernard derisively. “And how can you talk like that about not wanting to be a part of the social body? After all, every one works for every one else. ![]() “It’s horrible, it’s horrible,” she kept repeating. ![]() Doesn’t it make you feel like that, Lenina?” But Lenina was crying. More on my own, not so completely a part of something else. ” he hesitated, searching for words with which to express himself, “as though I were more me, if you see what I mean. ![]() And I don’t want to look.” “But I do,” he insisted. “One can’t even look with that beastly noise going on.” “But it’s lovely. “I want to look at the sea in peace,” he said.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |