540
PARTISAN REVIEW
JB:
Well, there is one. It's kind of a funny thing to be asked. And it
puts me immediately in a position where I am tempted to pro–
selytize, to a certain extent. But, first of ali, one shouldn't really
allow oneself into that situation where one's sense of good and evil
gets so, as you say, sophisticated. Basically there is one criterion
which nobody with sophistication would refuse: that you should
treat your own k(nd the way you would like to be treated yourself.
It's a tremendous idea offered to us by Christianity, in a sense. It's a
terribly selfish idea, and it finally established the bond.
DM:
It
turned the urge toward self-preservation into a social value.
JB:
But of course . Frost said once, to be social is to be forgiving. And
that's basically the requirement, to forgive because you would like to
be forgiven yourself, not only by the Almighty, but by your fellow
beings. And I thought the other day-well, I looked-now it's going
to be a little bit maudlin, but then in effect I prove my profes–
sion - out of the window and I saw a star. Then I thought , that star
over there, presumably, with some help, is the domain of the Al–
mighty, all the stars, etcetera. Then it occurred to me that this
thought about loving your neighbor as yourself travelled here from
quite afar. I thought, how appropriate is the origin. That is, the stars
being the origin of this idea . For a star to like its neighbor , it takes
something, yes? It's kind of interesting to think about, to think it
through. I don't really know . ... I don't think any magazines will
want this interview.
DM:
Do you think they won't swallow it?
JB:
No, it's not that they won't swallow it. They'll probably find it
too lyrical.
