| |
by and by he became afraid, apprehensive, because Mark Twain was sitting there as if dead. Not even a glimpse of appreciation came to his face. The people clapped so many times, they were ecstatic, but Mark Twain just sat there not giving any indication at all that he had been impressed this way or that, neither negative nor positive. He remained indifferent -- and indifference is more deadly than negative attitudes, because if you are against something, at least you have some attitude towards it; if you are against you give some meaning to it. But if you are indifferent you say that this is absolutely useless, not even worth being against.
When the speech finished, Mark Twain went back in the car with the priest. The priest could not ask anything and they remained silent. Just when Mark Twain was getting out of the car the priest said. "You have not said anything about my lecture."
Mark Twain replied, "It is nothing new. I have a book in my house and you have simply copied from it. This lecture is borrowed and you cannot fool me. You can fool those fools there in the church, but I am a man of letters and I study. By chance, only last night I was reading that book."
The priest couldn't believe it. He said, "What are you saying? I have not copied it from anywhere. It is impossible!"
Mark Twain said, "Every word that you said is there. And tomorrow I will send the book." Tomorrow came; he sent him a copy of a big dictionary and he said, "You can find all the words here!"
This is the mind of the analyst. He can kill poetry immediately. He can say it is just words joined together. He cannot see between the words, he cannot see between the lines -- and the poetry exists there. The beauty exists there, and the ecstasy and God and all that is significant always exists between the words, between the lines.
The mustard seed is the smallest and contains the biggest. You cannot see God because he is the smallest -- the mustard seed -- but you can see the universe. And if the universe is there the seed must be there. How can there be a tree without the seed? Can there be a tree without a seed? Whether or not you can see it is not the
|
|
|