Arise, awake and learn by approaching the exalted ones, for the path is sharp as a razor's edge... Katha Upanishads
Most of the important things I've learned in my life have come from stretching my mind with good books. Early on they opened up a world of possibilities I never knew existed.
Last night I read an article about the great writer, Somerset Maugham. One of his late novels, written in 1944 was "The Razor's Edge."
I must have read it in the late 50s when I was an impressionable young teenager. It blew me away.
It's about this guy named Larry who is engaged to be married but then goes off to war, gets traumatized, comes home and, instead of taking a good job, wants to read and think.
His fiance, Isabel, gets really worried when she finds a Greek dictionary in his bedroom.
"What's this going to lead to?"
She has a right to worry because Larry embarks upon a life long spiritual quest.
"I want to make up my mind whether God is or God is not," he tells Isabel.
"I want to find out why evil exists. I want to know whether when I die it's the end." In other words, he's looking for the meaning of life. Or more specifically, the meaning of his life.
He invites Isabel to come along but she has other plans.
The fact that Larry spent his entire life on a spiritual quest was monumental to me. It helped me to know that you don't believe things just because somebody tells you you have to. It's a lot more complicated.
The Razor's Edge was made into a movie in 1946 staring Tyrone Power and again in 1986 staring Bill Murray ( who was excellent as Larry.) I'm thinking I might watch it again this summer.
***
