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PARTISAN REVIEW
matter and spirit, that makes it ideally representative of our human
condition. Any description of sex must be pornographic. From the
outside-say, to a child-there is no matter of individuals being
involved.
I: This shutting-off from the child of a whole world was a sub–
ject that fascinated lames-
A: To a child sexual experience will usually seem comic. Whereas
an adult knows that the individual, the spirit, the lonely I is in–
volved.
If
sex were just like eating, say, it would be farcical, but
you cannot write about sex without violating the experience. The
factors involved are essentially changed if one becomes conscious of
what goes on, therefore it is a matter impossible to discuss or ex–
plain and parents are wise who attempt no homilies on the subject–
I have always found it remarkable that in poetry and romantic
literature there is so much about sex and very little about food which
is just as pleasurable and never lets you down; there is very little
about family love; nothing about a love for mathematics which is
certainly just as intense.
I: To go back to the
Sonnets,
for a moment.
If
one analyzes them,
I think they establish the possibility of loving someone whose char–
acter one distrusts. One can lust for someone one dislikes.
A : Yes, and this fact lies in back of the fatality you spoke of.
I:
As
Lao Tse remarked: "A beautiful thing is not to be con–
gratulated on its beauty. For a long time beautiful things have hin–
dered The Way. To be more personable than the average is to in–
vite sorrow. The kingfisher is killed for his beautiful feathers and
the tiger for his skin." The Buddhists made a study of all this. They
concluded that through beauty the forces of danger and trouble
found an entering wedge. The proverb:
"If
one loves flowers let
him admire the plums blooming in the snow" sums this up. He who
has great looks is apt to become contemptuous of adversity and self–
control and even to regard all suffering as useless.
A: The fleeting nature of beauty makes it moving to others–
I: And more suspect-
A: One should take it as a momentary thing. To become preoc–
cupied with it means a neurosis. There are people who stay always
