got used to him; he had to be introduced, was allowed to touch her long trunk and to feed her some fruit and sugar cane. The sensitive end of the trunk was asking for more, and apples and bananas went into her wide mouth. The newly-born baby was standing, waving her tiny trunk, between her mother's legs. She was a small replica of her big mother. At last the mother allowed him to touch her baby; its skin was not too rough and its trunk was constantly on the move, much more alive than the rest of it. The mother was watching all the time and her keeper had to reassure her from time to time. It was a playful baby.
The woman came into the small room deeply distressed. Her son was killed in the war: "I loved him very much and he was my only child; he was well-educated and had the promise of great goodness and talent. He was killed and why should it happen to him and to me? There was real affection, love between us. It was such a cruel thing to happen." She was sobbing and there seemed to be no end to her tears. She took his hand and presently she became quiet enough to listen.
We spend so much money on educating our children; we give them so much care; we become deeply attached to them; they fill our lonely lives; in them we find our fulfilment, our sense of continuity. Why are we educated? To become technological machines? To spend our days in labour and die in some accident or with some painful disease? This is the life our culture, our religion, has brought us. Every wife or mother is crying all over the world; war or disease has claimed the son or the husband. Is love attachment? Is it tears and the agony of loss? Is it loneliness and
печалью, жалостью к себе и болью расставания? Если бы вы любили вашего сына, вы бы заботились, чтобы ни один сын не был убит на войне. Были тысячи войн, а матери и жёны никогда полностью не отвергали пути, ведущие к войне. Вы будете, страдая, лить слезы и сами того не желая поддерживать системы, которые порождают войну. Любовь не знает насилия.
Мужчина объяснил, почему он разошёлся с женой. "Мы были очень молоды, когда поженились, и через несколько лет жизнь разладилась во всех отношениях, сексуально, ментально, и мы оказались совершенно разными людьми. Вначале мы любили друг друга, но постепенно наша любовь перешла в ненависть; развод стал необходим, и юристы так считают".
Любовь — это наслаждение, настойчивое желание? Это физическое ощущение? А влечение и его удовлетворение — любовь ли это? Является ли любовь продуктом мысли? Или же это нечто случайное, вызываемое обстоятельствами? Является ли любовь чувством товарищества, доброты и дружбы? Если хоть что-нибудь из всего этого выходит на первое место, то это не любовь. Любовь является такой же окончательной и решающей, как и смерть.
Тропа, ведущая к вершинам гор, проходит через леса, луга и открытые пространства. Там, где начинается подъём, стоит скамейка, и на ней сидит старая супружеская пара, глядя вниз на залитую солнцем долину. Они приходят сюда очень часто. Сидят без слов, тихо созерцая красоту земли. Они ждут смерти. А тропа идёт дальше, вглубь снегов.
Дожди прошли, и огромные валуны блестели под утренним солнцем. В сухих руслах рек появилась вода, и земля снова радовалась; почва стала более красной, и каждый куст, каждая травинка стали зеленее, и на деревьях,
sorrow? Is it self-pity and the pain of separation? If you loved your son, you would see to it that no son was ever killed in a war. There have been thousands of wars, and mothers and wives have never totally denied the ways that lead to war. You will cry in agony and support, unwillingly, the systems that breed war. Love knows no violence.
The man explained why he was separating from his wife. "We married quite young and after a few years things began to go wrong in every way, sexually, mentally, and we seemed so utterly unsuited to each other. We loved each other, though, at the beginning and gradually it is turning into hate; separation has become necessary and the lawyers are seeing to it."
Is love pleasure and the insistence of desire? Is love physical sensation? Is attraction and its fulfilment love? Is it a commodity of thought? A thing put together by an accident of circumstances? Is it of companionship, kindliness and friendship? If any of these take precedence then it is not love. Love is as final as death.
There is a path that goes into the high mountains through woods, meadows and open spaces. And there is a bench before the climb begins and on it an old couple sit, looking down on the sunlit valley; they come there very often. They sit without a word, silently watching the beauty of the earth. They are waiting for death to come. And the path goes on into the snows.
