Guest guest Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Beauty In The Beast A Play by Eugene Halliday A Beast-headed man is seen in a cage. A young woman enters and walks past the cage Beast: Grrrh! Girl: Oh! B: Oh, indeed! G: Oh! B: Don't repeat yourself. G: I'm sorry. You startled me. And you repeated yourself - er -didn't you? B: Grrrh! G: You've done it again - but never mind, you're only a beast. It's quite surprising you can talk, really! And you talk quite well, too. Your English is quite good. B: Grrrh! G: Are you an English beast? I don't remember reading about your kind of beast in my natural history books at school. B: School books never include the best, not of anything. Besides I'm not a kind of beast; that would imply that there are other beasts like me - I'm unique - I'm not a beast, I'm the Beast G: But you are in the category of beasts, aren't you? B: No, I'm not. I am the only Beast. The one Beast from which categories of beasts have been developed. G: How do you mean? B: I am the only real Beast. All other creatures called beasts are just copies of parts of me. G: What a funny thing to say. You've got a man's body. B: I have not. Men have copied my body. There's nothing in the whole world except copies of me. I am the only real Reality. G: You mean that real Reality is only a beast with a man's body? B: It isn't a man's body. It's mine. Men haven't enough intelligence to build such a magnificent body. G: You're not very modest, are you? B: Modest? Modesty isn't for the Beast, the Only, the Supreme - er - the - Grrrh. Modesty. Now you can claim that for MAN if you like. I didn't invent THAT nonsense. G: Modesty isn't nonsense. I'm sure - B: Don't YOU say what modesty is; I know what it is. It's a great sham. That's what it is. G: I don't think it is a sham. I think - B: No you don't, you just repeat what you're TOLD. People don't think, they just THINK they think. They're out of touch with the Beastly nature of Reality. G: What do you mean? Surely if they think they think, they do think, don't they? B: No, they don't. They just think they do. Real thinking keeps in touch with reality, with the Reality of my Supreme Beastliness. G: I don't understand you. Surely Reality isn't all Beastliness? We humans have qualities that are not at all beastly. B: Quite. But un-Beastly qualities are not real, they are sham; they are coloured bits of tawdry material that men use to cover themselves up with, to hide their Beastliness from each other. G: Why should they do that if it's true that beastliness is the only Reality? B: Because they are weaklings. They are too scared to face Reality. That's why they have grown these silly similar faces. G: Similar faces? B: Yes. They're all the same - silly smooth creations. Every thing they do is calculated to make each one of them look like the others. G: They don't look all the same to me. B: You are one of them. So naturally not. Your attention is caught by the slightest difference of detail. G: I think, if you can't see the difference between one human being and another, you've not got very good eyes! B: Grrrh! Conceit! I can see the difference between their facades, whether they are well put on, or badly. But that's the only difference they have. Their underlying nature is so weak, such a feeble copy of my Supreme Beastliness that they daren't exhibit to each-other. G: It isn't that they are scared to show any beastliness they might have. It's that they consider beastliness to be inferior to human-ness. B: What fantasy! What you call human-ness is in practice just an attempt to cover up the Reality in their depths, the reality they have borrowed from me, the Reality of pure Beastliness. G: Human beings might admit that beastliness is BASIC to life, but they wouldn't admit that what is more basic is necessarily what is best. B: (loudly) Grrrrrr! G: Please don't roar at me. It hurts my ears. Surely you believe that even beasts shouldn't unnecessarily hurt each other? B: Not UNNECESSARILY. But there are worse things than being hurt. G: What kind of things? B: Untruthfulness, cowardice, cheating, envy of good qualities in other beings, a million things. G: Human beings admit these things are not good. But they try to eliminate them. B: They do NOT. They just try to BURY them where no-one can see them. They even succeed in hiding their bad qualities from their own consciousness. G: I don't think they do it deliberately. B: DELIBERATELY! Grrrh - ahem - sorry about that growl - G: Thank you. You are really almost human, aren't you? B: I am, NOT. You don't have to be human to be sensitive or sympathetic. It is just another example of man's arrogance to think that only humans can feel. G: I admit that some people are arrogant, perhaps all of us are arrogant sometimes. But we know it's a fault, and we try to get rid of it. And we know that animals DO have sensitivity, AND sympathy for each other. B: But they do it SPONTANEOUSLY, and they forget a moment later, and then they are playing happily together again as if nothing had happened. They do everything spontaneously. They don't PLOT harm to each other like men do. G: I know humans sometimes plot against each other. But they know its wrong to do so, and they try - B: Don't say it - you'll make me growl again! G: Sorry. But I do believe that human beings are trying to be good, even if they don't always succeed. B: What do you mean by good? Human beings are always using the word, and they haven't the faintest idea what it means. G: It means - er - kind, helpful, considerate, loving, and so on. B: It doesn't mean any such thing. You talk like a human being. G: I am one. B: Note the pride slipping into your tone. G: I didn't intend to be proud. B: No. Of course not. Humans don't. But whatever they DON'T intend to do, that they DO, and whatever they DO intend to do, they DON'T. G: St. Paul said that. B: Did he? Who is he? G: It's not who IS he? but who WAS he? He was the founder of a sub- division of one of man's religions. B: Religions. That's another thing I don't like about men; They're always inventing methods of trying to force themselves to do things they don't want to do. Quite silly and illogical of them but that's the way they work. G: It's not really illogical, because if they don't try to control themselves they might hurt each other and damage themselves. B: Well it wouldn't matter if they did, if they did it SPONTANEOUSLY, and then promptly forgot all about it, and went back to playing together as if nothing had happened. I once said that to a young man I met in the desert in Palestine, and he agreed with me. G: Did he? Well I think that lots of people would agree with it. It's only another way of putting the forgiveness commandment the Jewish Messiah gave us. B: Jewish Messiah? G: Yes. A man called Jesus who came from Nazareth. B: That's funny. The young fellow I talked to in the desert said HIS name was Jesus. A nice young fellow with a marvellous memory. He could remember when he used to be a Beast thousands of years earlier. I had a very good conversation with him, G: What do you mean, `He could remember thousands of years ago'? B: He could remember his previous incarnations. You know we all reincarnate from time to time. G: I don't know whether I believe in reincarnation. B: Well, if you want to be in good company you had better. All the best Beasts believe in re-incarnation. That young fellow certainly did. He could remember all the times he had lived in all the worlds there are. But the thing I admired most about him was that he could think very clearly. He had a most surprising command of logic. He certainly knew what to expect from men. I remember being quite surprised that he didn't run away from them altogether, considering what he knew about them. G: Well it doesn't help to run away from things, really, does it? B: That depends what the things are. Some things ARE dangerous, you know. Things bigger or stronger than you are, for instance. G: I wasn't thinking about it like that. I just meant in general. But you surprise me, talking about things being dangerous or bigger or stronger than you. I'm sure you could take care of yourself in any situation you might meet, except perhaps in an earthquake, or a volcanic eruption, or a forest fire, or a - B: I wasn't thinking only about things bigger and stronger being dangerous. G: What else were you thinking about? B: I don't want - I'd rather not - if you don't mind - I'd rather not talk about it. G: If you don't want to, of course. If you really don't want to - B: I don't. G: If you really and truly don't want to. But it is not good for you to suppress things. B: I'm not suppressing things. I'm just not wanting to discuss them, or some of them. G: Which ones? B: You are persistent, aren't you? I was just beginning to forget that you belong to mankind, and almost beginning to like you. But if you start pushing and trying to make me do something I don't will to do, I shall begin - I don't want to say this - I shall or I might - MIGHT begin to dislike you. G: I'm sorry. Its just that I want to help you if I can. You're such a nice beast, really, even if you do look a bit horrid and frightening. B: I don't look frightening to me. Its men who look frightening to me. G: Oh. No. They don't, really. I don't look frightening to you do I? B: Er - no. You don't - if I look carefully. But others of your kind do. G: How? B: They've got a certain kind of expression I don't like. G: What is it? Tell me what it is like, B: I'd rather not if you don't mind. G: Oh! Please! Please tell me. B: You won't like it - G: I won't mind. I promise. B: Well - its - no. I'd rather not. G: Oh! Please go on. B: Well. Don't forget you INSISTED on being told G: I won't forget. Please tell me. B: Alright. The thing I don't like about men is this - they are SLY. G: Oh! B: You didn't expect me to say that, did you? G: No. Not quite. B: You wanted me to say something not too horrid that would also be FLATTERING, didn't you? That's very human. G: Now YOU'RE being horrid. B: I'm not. I'm just being truthful. G: Its possible to be horrid whilst being truthful. It all depends on MOTIVE, you know. B: I DON'T know! It depends what you mean by `motive'. As I've told you I always move spontaneously. I don't design my actions before I do them. G: That's all very nice We'd all like to act spontaneously. But you can't build a civilisation on spontaneity, you know. B: No. That's why I dislike civilisation. G: But we have to have civilisation. B: You human beings DO, but only because you WANT to. G: It's not because we WANT to, it's because we HAVE to. We couldn't live together without it. B: Which makes my point. G: How? B: Well. What is civilisation? G: Er. It's a sort of living together. B: What sort of way? G: A way of living together without friction. B: Ho! Ho! G: What do you mean `Ho! Ho!'? B: Without friction, you say? You mean with all the friction hidden under an awful facade of politeness? G: Well. There may be some friction under the politeness, but it's better to have enough politeness to make it possible to live together isn't it? B: If you can't live together spontaneously it isn't worth living together at all - at least, from my point of view. G: But if we refused to be polite and we can't be spontaneous, how could we live together at all? B: You couldn't, could you? But if you can't be spontaneous, as real nature says you should be, and all you have got is a thin veneer of politeness hiding a lot of irritation and friction, what good is living together, anyway? G: You make it sound as if it isn't any good at all. B: Wel1 - that's how it is, isn't it? G: I think I could put it another way. B: Well. Put it. G: Er - I don't know how. It's very complicated, really. B: Very - if you like to see it that way. But it is very simple really. G: I wish I could see it as simple. B: You could if you did just one little thing. G: What little thing? B: You won't like it if I tell you. G: Why won't I? B: It will shake your idea of yourself. G: Why will it? B: Because I should have to accuse you of something you don't know you do. G: What do I do? Tell me! B: You think of yourself in a certain way - G: What way? B: A totally wrong way. G: What way? Tell me! B: You think you are superior to me. G: Oh - I - B: No. Don't say you don't G: How do you think I think I'm superior? B: I don't THINK you think you're superior. I KNOW you think you are. G: Oh! B: Yes. I KNOW. And I'll tell you, if you can bear to hear it, just in what way you and your kind think you're superior. G: Tell me, then. B: Well - G: Go on! Go on! B: Alright. YOU think you are superior to ME and you gave yourself away earlier - a few minutes ago. G: How? B: When l said I was sorry for growling at you, you said (mimicking) `You are really almost human, aren't you?' G: Er - B: No. Don't apologise for it. You meant it. And everyone should be free to say what they mean - regardless of race, colour, creed, vegetable, animal, and human and even mineral too. G: Er - B: No. Don't speak. You and the rest of mankind do far too much speaking - G: Er - B: - far too much speaking. You think you can talk yourself into or out of everything, out of hell and into heaven. G: Er - B: But you can't, you can't! G: Er - B: Don't interrupt me - or - or - I shall - or maybe I shall - growl at you again. G: Oh! B: You think you are superior to me - and you have an idea that you can do something for me, don't you? G: Well - er - not exactly. B: Exactly. `Not exactly'. I'll tell you what you think you can do `not exactly', for me. You - you - G: I what? B: You think you can - SAVE ME G: Save you? B: (Roaring) Yes! Save me! That's the way you think you can help me. G: (Placing fingers in ears) How? And please don't roar at me. You hurt my ears. B: How? What does it matter how? You are only going to save me `not exactly' anyway. G: I don't know what you mean B: You don't deny that you think that you can save me, do you? That you haven't thought you COULD save me ? G: Er - B: Don't deny it. Just for once have the courage to say clearly what you believe. Go on. Just admit that you think you are superior to me and that you can save me. G: I don't know what to say. B: You people never do when you are cornered. G: I'm not cornered! B: Oh! Yes you are! G: I'm not! B: Well. Admit that you think you are superior, and that you think you can save me. G: I don't think that - B: Or that you think you OUGHT to save me. G: From what? B: From myself, of course! That's one of your stock phrases, 'Save him from himself' Isn't it? Isn't it? Answer me! G: Well - B: Go on. G: I admit - B: Good! That's better. G: I admit that I feel sorry for you. B: There you are! You admit that you feel SORRY for me. And that is the same as saying you think you're superior! G: I wouldn't have put it like that. B: No. Of course you wouldn't. You and your kind never would put things as they are. Admit you'd like to save me G: Er - er - I would like to help you if I could - B: There! You've admitted it! Now we can get somewhere. G: Oh! Can we! B: Yes. Of course we can. When people come out in the open and admit the reality of a situation, a lot can be done about it. G: I think I can admit that. B: Good. Now let's examine the question of you saving me. What do you mean by SAVING? G: Er - B: Don't you mean `improve my nature'? G: Well - Er - B: Go on. Don't backslide out of it now. You have done quite well so far, really. G: Don't you think you are being a little superior? B: Let's carry on with the debate. Admit that you think my nature needs improving. G: Well, you do roar rather loudly - that is, when you roar. B: You've admitted it! You think I need improving, and you think you can do the necessary work on me. G: Alright. I believe I could help you. That is, if you'd let me. B: Alright. Now you are really honest. But how are you going to help me, to save me? What in me are you going to save me from? My Beastliness? But that's ALL I HAVE. Beastliness is my VERY SELF. If you save me from that you will annihilate me, eliminate my very BEING. G: Oh! I don't think I want to do that. Really I don't. B: Well then. If you don't want to do that you must believe that I am not entirely Beastly. You must believe - G: I believe that you have something more than beast in you B: Aha! G: Well. I've always been taught that you could lose all your beast liness, that you could take your beastliness off like a fur coat or something. B: Now you want to skin me! G: I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It was just a figure of speech. B: You ought to be careful of figures of speech. They're very dangerous things. I've seen a lot of trouble from them. I remember only too well the first trouble we ever got into was caused by a figure of speech. G: What was that? B: It was a very long time ago - in the garden where we all used to live together, your kind and mine. G: You mean in the Garden of Eden? Do you know about that? Who told you about it? B: Nobody told me about it. I was there. G: If you were, you must be very old. B: I'm eternal. And that's much more than being old. But let me tell you about the figure of speech. G: Please do. B: Well. It was like this. After the Great Spirit - blessed be He (we always say that in our religion, you know) - after the Great Spirit, blessed be He, had created the world and everything in it, the stars, and the sun and moon, and planets and earth, and trees and grass and our kind, He made man to tend the garden he had made for us. G: For your kind? B: For myself, and all lesser beasts. G: I thought God made the Garden of Eden for human beings! B: Just like man! Everything has to be made for his convenience! Conceit! Arrogance! And there's no justification for it - G: Doesn't it say in the Bible that - B: It does not! It does not say that the Garden was made for man. G: Oh! I thought it did. B: You thought wrong. It says that man was put into the garden to take care of it, to till the ground, and so on. G: Oh! B: And it doesn't say that we, the Beasts, were created to be forced to work! No, that's just another of man's ideas. G: Oh dear! B: Oh, Dear, indeed! G: You said you were going to tell me why figures of speech were dangerous. B: Yes, of course. And I would have finished by now if you hadn't interrupted me. G: I'm sorry. B: Well after the great spirit (blessed be He) had created everything, he told the man, whose name you will remember was Adam, that he could eat any of the fruits in the garden, except the fruit of one tree which was the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - G: Yes, go on. B: Well, that was a figure of speech, `The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil'. G: Well - ? B: Not well, at all, Because this figure of speech made Adam's wife very curious. The Great Spirit (blessed be He), of course, tried to stir this curiosity by telling Adam that if he ate any of the fruit of that tree, he and his wife would die, and - G: Yes? B: That was another figure of speech. G: What was? B: Saying they would die. G: Why was it a figure of speech? B: Because there is no death, really. Nothing can die. G: Nothing can die? How do you mean? People die every day. B: They do not. They only change their way of living, their mode of being. G: What do you mean? B: When they have been long enough in a body to gain enough experience to give them something to work on to build up their character in a certain way, they just leave that body and into a different state of being. G: Do they? B: Yes, they do. G: What for? B: So that they can digest their experiences and get out their real meaning and value and build it into a character worth having. G: Oh. I rather like that. B: Of course you do. Anyone with any sense likes it. And then, when the essentials of the experiences of the last life have been built into their character, they go into another body to gain some more experiences. So you see, no one really dies at all. G: Then why did God say they would die? Surely he always tells the truth? B: I've told you; it was a figure of speech. Practically every thing the Great Spirit (blessed be He) has said to his creatures is a figure of speech. And figures of speech are dangerous. G: Why should God - B: Would you mind saying `the Great Spirit' instead of God? The word `God' tends to make people think of Him as an object, instead of an infinitely pure intelligence-will. G: Why should the Great Spirit - B: Blessed be He - G: - say dangerous things? B: There aren't any other kind of things to SAY. Everything is dangerous. That's what makes life worth living. Ordinary, pure water is dangerous - you can drown in it as well as drink it. G: Isn't there ANYTHING not dangerous? B: No. Life is dangerous. Love is dangerous. Faith without knowledge is dangerous, Hope without work is dangerous. Everything without everything else is dangerous. Even trying to save ME is dangerous. G: But surely we can HELP each other in some way? B: So you've given up SAVING me, have you? Now you are just going to HELP me. G: I said help each other. B: Ah! Yes. Each other. Help each other. But how are we going to help each other? How are YOU going to help ME - without saving me from myself? Because I don't want to be annihilated by salvation. G: I'm sure that you have got something inside you that is more than beast. B: You still want me to lift up to your level! But you shouldn't do this unless I ASK for it. You should respect freedom, and tolerate other kinds of beings than your own. Unless you do, I have nothing more to say to you. G: I do respect freedom in other beings; certainly I do. B: What other beings? Other beings of your own kind? Do you respect the freedom of beings other than your own kind? Do you respect the freedom of the lion, the gorilla, the anaconda, the Golden Eagle, the lark, the mouse amongst the corn, the grey badger, the baby seal, the sea-gull, the oyster, the chrysalis, and the dragonfly? G: Er - B: Er - Indeed. You do not. You do not respect the freedom of any being, except the one which subserves some purpose of your own. Admit it. G: You force me into a corner. B: An admission. G: But surely everyone, every kind of being finally respects only the freedom of its own kind? B: Aha. We are at war! But now, thanks to the Great Spirit (blessed be He), in the open where we can fight honourably. G: I'm not fighting you or anyone else. B: Oh, yes you are. You have admitted that you respect the freedom any of beings like yourself. And I am not like you. G: I think you are. I think we are very alike. In fact, I'm sure we are very much alike in many ways. B: Name one. G: Er - er - We both believe we are right. You think you are right and now, possibly for the first time in my life, I think I am right. And now I know I can help you. B: You cannot help me without my permission. And if I give you my permission I am helping myself by allowing your help. G: I didn't mean I could help you without your help. But with your help I can. B: But you still want me to lose my Beastliness! To annihilate my essential being! G: No. Only to help you be less noisy and violent. B: You want to humanise me, to civilise me, to make me sly and polite and inwardly terrified as your mankind. G: Not to make you sly and terrified. B: But these are implied in your civilisation. Don't you know that? I'll tell you what. I'll have you a little bet. I'll bet you that I can make out a better case for my Beastliness than you can for your mankind. Will you accept the bet? G: Yes, I will. B: Good. As your sex is frailer than mine, you may begin. Make out your case for mankind. G: Alright. I'll try. The first thing I would like to point out is that man has no natural weapons as parts of his being. He has no lion's teeth or claws with which to damage or kill his neighbour. He has no rhinoceros's horn to threaten with, no eagle's talons to grasp a baby lamb with, no shark's streamline form to pursue his brother fish with, no fearsome darts of deceiving soft jelly fish, no electric shocks generated in an eel's body, no scorpion poisoned sting, no tarantula's bite. Man's whole body shows that he is not built for violence. B: Go on! He doesn't do so badly without them! But surely that is not all you have to say. All those are only negative virtues. What about the positive ones? G: Well. Man, because of his renunciation of weapons, has a greater freedom of action. He is not impeded with great antlers like the stag; therefore he can go into the deepest thickets in the forest which would trap the stag. He has not the tremendous weight of the elephant, therefore he can climb trees or walk on tightropes, or fly in a glider or an aeroplane. He has no long claws like the tiger, therefore he can feel and pick up with his fingers the tiniest thing, a pin, a needle, a hair, I could go on and on; but you will see what I am meaning without my labouring it too much. B: Yes. I see what your point is. G: Good, Well, Have I made my case out for mankind? B: There ARE some things you have left out. G: Of course. But surely I've made out enough to win my case. Man's lack of animal weapons, I mean his physical lack of them in his body, has left him free to do things that no animal could possibly do. He can use machines to give him the strength of the elephant, the speed of the cheetah, the soaring power of the albatross. He can dig like a mole, drill holes in wood quicker than a woodpecker, look through a microscope at things so tiny even the tiniest fly's eye couldn't see them. He can - B: Go on, go on. G: Measure the stars, rocket himself into space, beyond the earth, where no animal has ever been, ride from planet to planet - B: Not quite, yet. G: But he WILL do. B: There's no doubt about it. G: No. B: Well. Have you finished then? G: Yes. I think I have said enough. B: There are still some things you have left out - I mean, important things. G: What things? B: You've so far said only nice things about yourself and your kind. G: Oh. B: Yes. What about the horrible things that men can do which beasts cannot? And not only CAN do, but Do do. G: Aren't you going to make out a case for the animals now? B: You see. You illustrate just what I mean. And I'm sure you didn't even notice it. G: What? B: Your automatic cunning. G: What do you mean? B: Worse and worse. When I wanted you to describe the horrible things men do, after you had finished describing the nice, clever things, you just changed the subject. A typical mankind trick. G: I'm sorry. I didn't even notice. B: Still worse. You didn't notice. You notice all the nice things about you, and you don't notice all the un-nice things. G: I'm sorry. B: Sorry you've been found out. Sorry you've been discovered and your duplicity exposed! G: Well, I AM sorry. I'll try to be fair. Will you forgive me? And make out your case for the beasts? B: Alright. Forgiveness is easy for me. Not being a MAN, I have no axe to grind. Would you like me first to describe some of the horrible things men do? Or shall I make out my case for the Beast? G: Your case for the Beast. B: I thought you'd prefer that. You're still like your kind, squeamish about your undesirable qualities, boastful about your best. G: I'm sorry. B: Of course. But I'll give you my case for the Beast. G: Thank you. B: It's a very short one. G: Is it? B: Yes. Very short. It could all be summed up in one word. Can you guess which is the word? G: No I'm afraid I can't B: The word `sincerity.' Do you know what that means? G: Yes. It means meaning what you say. B: That's one thing it means. It also means pure, clean, whole. It's from the Latin `sine,' which means `without', and `caries' which means decay or rottenness. G: Goodness.' I didn't think you, that is, a beast, would know Latin! B: Latin is borrowed from original Beastly sounds - like every other language, of course. G: Oh! B: Yes. So `sincerity' means `without rottenness.' Beasts don't talk rot like mankind does, you know. Whatever a thing IS, that's what we SAY it is. That's our prime Beastly virtue. We mean what we say. G: Y - yes. B: Do you want me to say more? Or can you work out all the implications for yourself? As the Bishop said (mimicking) " Logic is the explication of the implication of terms. " So if you are logical you could represent the rest of my case yourself. G: I'd like you to explain a bit more for me. B: Well. Probably I'd better. Because with your mankind twisted way of thinking (for which I don't blame you personally because it has been handed down to you from your ancestors), with your way of thinking, you'd almost certainly get lost in your Logic. G: I probably would. B: A beginning of humility! Very hopeful. The light will begin to shine. Well. Ahem! The implications of sincerity. Ahem! Sincerity means without rottenness. Yes? G: Yes - B: Rottenness means the state in which something is in process of disintegration. Yes? G: Yes. B: Disintegration is a process or state of falling apart G: Yes. B: Good! Falling apart is falling out of relation. G: Er - yes. B: Falling out of relation is falling out of the essential of life? G: Mmmm - y - yes - er - B: As a young woman you do KNOW that the essential of life is relation, DON'T you? G: Y - yes B: Life is Love, and Love is relation, isn't it? G: One kind of relation. B: What other kind is there? G: Well, the opposite of love is hate, so I suppose there can be a relation of hate. B: What is hate? G: Destructiveness, I suppose. B: But destructiveness is against relation, isn't it? It makes things fall apart, disintegrate, doesn't it? G: Oh, dear. Yes. B: Then there is no relation of destructiveness other than this:- Destructiveness aims at unrelation. So hate aims at un-relation. G: But hate attacks THINGS, and attack on things is a kind of relation, isn't it? B: The attack energy in hate is love trying to destroy that which would destroy Love's relation. G: I'm getting a little confused. B: When you love someone, you desire to be in relation with that someone? G: Yes, of course. B: Of course! And if anything threatens to destroy the someone you love, or your relation with that someone, you do something, don't you? G: You hate it. B: What do you actually DO? G: You try to stop that thing from spoiling your relation or hurting the one you love. B: Quite. Naturally. What do you do to stop it? G: Anything you can? B: Such as destroy the thing? G: If necessary, yes. B: So destruction can spring out of love? G: Y - yes. I suppose you can put it like that. B: And destruction springs from hate? G: Oh! Yes. B: Then we can say that hate is a product of frustrated love? G: Er - Mmmm - I suppose we could. B: Or shortly, love frustrated is hate? Hate is love, frustrated? G: I think I see it. It's a bit unfamiliar. B: " Familiarity breeds contempt. " So be glad its unfamiliar. G: I will. B: To go back a bit. Sincerity, which is the basic beastly quality, is against rottenness, which is disintegration, and destruction; and hate which is frustration of love; so sincerity is against love's frustration. G: I'm a bit confused. I think I can follow it, but I'll have to think about it a bit more. B: Take your time. Unlike a man, a Beast will respect your needs. G: Oh dear! I've got such a long way from where I was at the beginning. B: You sound a bit frustrated. But don't forget sincerity can cure frustration. G: You make everything so complicated, and then you suddenly say everything is so simple. B: Everything looks complicated but is simple. All we have to do is to be sincere, pure in our intention to prefer relation to unrelation, construction to destruction, fulfilment to frustration, love to hate. G: But I do. B: When you remember. G: It isn't easy. B: Just be sincere. Will you? G: I'll try. B: Well. Answer me this question. When you first met me, did you see me as a Beast? G: Yes. B: Did you have an idea that I, as Beast, was inferior in any way to you? G: Y-yes. I thought you were - er - er - B: Rather beastly? G: Yes. B: And you thought to be beastly was worse than being like a man? G: Yes. I did. B: And you felt a desire to improve me, to make me more like a man G: I did. B: Well, don't be upset. Your desire to improve me sprang out of Love. Didn't it? G: Love? B: Yes, love. Love is the desire to improve things isn't it? To make better beings, better relations between beings? G: Er - yes. But I hadn't thought of it quite in that way. B: Don't be ashamed of love. G: I'm not, if you put it the way you do. B: Well then what is our relation now? G: I don't quite know. B: Well, don't you want to save me, now? G: I don't see how I can - unless - B: Unless what? G: Unless - but I don't see how I can. B: Can what? G: I mean, dare. B: Dare what? G: People would be too terrified if I did. B: Did what ? G: Let - er - Let you out of your cage. B: Ha! Ha! What makes you think I want to be let out? G: You must. Every living being hates to be caged. B: There might be worse things. G: You mean being killed? B: I've told you that life cannot be killed. G: Sorry. I'd forgotten. Then what worse things? B: Being amongst beings that have no sincerity. G: Oh! B: Do you like living amongst people that have no sincerity? G: No. Of course not. B: Well then. Why do you want to let me let me out of my cage? G: I thought you were unhappy there. B: I'd be more unhappy out there. G: Who locked you in? B: You're not very observant, are you? G: What do you mean? B: By 'not very observant' I mean you didn't notice much. G: I know that. What I meant was, what haven't I noticed? B: You haven't noticed that the key to this cage is - in the lock. G: I can't see it. B: Not on the outside, the inside. The key is on the inside. G: Goodness! Who put it there? B: I did, of course. G: How did you get hold of it? B: It's my own key. G: Your own key? B: Yes, my own key, and my own cage, too. G: Goodness! B: I made it specially for myself to measure. It cost extra of course, but it's worth it. G: But why did you lock yourself in? B: I didn't lock myself in. G: Oh, I can't understand you. B: I didn't lock myself in. I locked mankind out. G: Oh! B: Yes. They can't get in here you know. G: But why did you do it? B: Please try to use your memory. I've told you. I don't like insincerity. So I don't like mankind - except perhaps you. G: Oh! That's very nice of you. B: Not really. You are rather nice you know, for what you are G: Thank you. Why don't you turn your key and come out here, so much more space. You could move about better, much better. B: I'm not going out there amongst men with their sly ways, their politeness; their civility, and trickiness. G: Please. Please come out. I've become very fond of you, very fond. And I'm not afraid of you like I was. B: Good. But I'm not coming out, not as long as men are like they are. And I know they'll be like it for a long time yet. G: Please, Please. B: No. It wou1d be too horrible for me. You don't know - what it's like G: What what is like? B: Its alright for men to mix with each other. They are so far away from their beginnings they've quite forgotten what it is like to live spontaneously, freely, and sincerely. They only know how to be tricky and to cheat each other and cover their motives with horrible half-smiles. They don't miss sincerity and spontaneous love anymore. They've forgotten everything worthwhile. G: You make them sound awful. B: They are awful, so why shouldn't they sound it? G: I don't know, I suppose we all know it, really, deep down inside us. But it's not very nice to think about it, is it? B: No, it isn't. I can quite understand how they feel, BEING like they are, considering how awful they make me feel just to SEE them. G: Now you've made me feel sorry for them. B: Instead of for me? G: No; AS WELL AS for you. But I'm sorry for them in a different way. I'm sorry for them because - B: Because they are so uncomfortable with each other and with themselves? G: Yes. So I suppose I should be sorry for myself, too, shouldn't I? Because I belong with them B: No; don't do that. Self-pity is a terrible thing. I'll be sorry for you. G: Thank you. Now we're sorry for each other. B: That's alright so long as we don't forget and fall into double self- pity. G: You are very nice, really, aren't you? I wish - I wish - B: You wish what? G: I wish you could come out of your cage. B: I'm never going to come out until mankind has found its real self again, and re-learned how to live spontaneously and without guile, without trickery. G: Please, please come out! B: No. I'm sorry, but I can't - not safely. With my open temperament and natural sincerity I should be bound to get annoyed with men when they tried to trick me. Then I should roar at them, and possibly even claw them or bite them a little. And I don't want to do that. G: You're very nice. I wish you WOULD come out. B: It's no good. I can't expose myself to them or them to me. G: I feel awfully sad. B: You'd better go now. It's getting late. G: Won't you, please, come out? B: No. G: I feel awful. I don't think I can go back again to mix with my own kind; not now that I have been made conscious of what we are really like. B: Consciousness is a terrible thing. I know how you feel. But you must go. G: What about you? B: Don't think about me. Just go. G: I can't. Won't you come out? I can't go back on my own. I would be afraid I might forget again and fall back into being like I used to be. I've changed you know, and I can't go back. I've changed in the last few minutes. B: Yes. I know. You came to help me with a wrong motive, of course at least, at first. But now you really want to help me, in the right way. G: I do. I really do. B: Well, you have helped me; because you have shown me that you can change, you of mankind. And that means that they all might change - some day. G: Someday - but perhaps that day will be a very long way off. B: Remembering you, I'll be able to sit in my cage and wait more hopefully. Thank you for your help - and goodbye. G: I can't say goodbye. B: You must. G: I won't. I know now what it is I have always wanted - what I've always been looking for - B: What? G: A - a - a sincere being - a sincere beast - you. B: You shouldn't say that. G: Shouldn't I? I. Mean it - and you've taught me to be sincere. Will you please, please come out of your cage? B: No I can't. I've sworn to stop here until men stop their tricky ways and go back to the old true way of living. G: Please come out. B: No. G: If you don't come out I shall have to come in the cage with you, and wait with you until my kind have re-found themselves. B: You may have to wait for a very long time. G: I don't care. Please let me in. B: Please go back to your own kind. G: No. I can't leave you. B: Go back. You'll be terrible lonely if you don't. G: Not as lonely as you will be. I can't go back. How can I leave you now B: Just turn your back to me G: No. B: - and walk away. G: I can't. Not the way I feel now. Open the cage door. Open it. Please. Let me in to wait with you. B: It might be a very long wait. G: Please - I love you. Open the door. (The Beast goes to the cage door. Frowning in serious consideration, he puts his hand on the key and partly turns it, then hesitates). G: Open it. Please, Beast. Open it. (The Beast turns the key. The girl steps into the cage. They look at each other, face to face, embrace, and then sit down looking out through the bars of the cage). G: I wonder how long we'll have to wait? (They look at each other a moment, then stare straight out through the bars) End. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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