He looked at me and in his eyes I saw a tear trembling.
- "Know then, my dear boy, that we need ethics
because we are away from love. When we feel love we set ourselves free
from any sort of ethics, from all rules and limits. Lack of love, want of
love makes ethics necessary, and not the opposite. ... Men have many ways to
express their experience. You know it, you are a writer yourself. I think
that this is the time to get rid of Dante's model, where hell is the ark of
sins and heaven an endless repetition of a laudatory haiku. Dante is really
great, I don't disagree. But let's say that his model is just not
accurate."
- "What would you like me to put in the place of
that monument?" I asked like I was receiving an order.
- "I'd like you to experiment with the parable of
the Prodigal Son. To ask yourself what life has to do with leaving your
homeland, and death with coming back, perhaps." ...
*
MY THOUGHT wouldn't
leave me calm enough to read. I
decided to go for a walk in town. I went to the second-hand store, I looked
through the window to see if the girl was inside - I wanted very much to
find her. I saw only the Chinese talking with someone, a customer perhaps. I
went up the Market Jew Street with the granite buildings. Nothing was able
to put me out of my questions. I saw a Chinese restaurant and got in, not
that much because I was hungry as because I was feeling bad, I was feeling
totally empty...
- "Oh! And here is the postulant monk!" her
voice sounded joyful.
