A Time Of Changes by Robert Silverberg

Author:Robert Silverberg [Silverberg, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction
Published: 2011-01-13T06:00:00+00:00

"To others, though, you may not complain, you may not unburden a sorrowful soul, you may not seek advice, you may not expose your desires and needs, you may not speak of dreams and fantasies and romance, you may not talk of anything but chily, impersonal things." Schweiz shuddered. "Pardon, your grace, but one finds this a harsh way to live. One's own search has constantly been for warmth and love and human contact, for sharing, for opening, and this world here seems to elevate the opposite of what one prizes most highly."

"Have you had much luck," I asked, "finding warmth and love and human contact?"

Schweiz shrugged. "It has not always been easy."

"For us there is never loneliness, since we have bond-kin. With Halum, with Noim, with such as these to offer comfort, why does one need a world of strangers?"

"And if your bond-kin are not close at hand? If one is wandering, say, far from them in the snows of Glin?"

"One suffers, then. And one's character grows tougher. But that is an exceptional situation. Schweiz, our system may force us into isolation, yet it also guarantees us love."

"But not the love of husband for wife. Not the love of father for child."

"Perhaps not."

"And even the love of bond-kin is limited. For you yourself, eh, have admitted that you feel a longing for your bondsister Halum that cannot be —"

I cut him off, teling him sharply, "Speak of other things!" Color flared in my cheeks; my skin grew hot.

Schweiz nodded and smiled a chastened smile. "Pardon, your grace. The conversation became too intense; there was loss of control, but no injury meant."

"Very wel."

"The reference was too personal. One is abashed."

"You meant no injury," I said, guilty over my outburst, knowing he had stung me at a vulnerable place and that I had overreacted to the bite of truth. I poured more wine.

We drank in silence for a time.

Then Schweiz said, "May one make a proposal, your grace? May one invite you to take part in an experiment that may prove interesting and valuable to you?"

"Go on," I said, frowning, il at ease.

"You know," he began, "that one has long felt uncomfortably conscious of his solitary state in the universe, and that one has sought without success some means of comprehending his relationship to that universe. For you, the method lies in religious faith, but one has failed to reach such faith because of his unfortunate compulsion toward total rationalism. Eh? One cannot break through to that larger sense of belonging by words alone, by prayer alone, by ritual alone. This thing is possible for you, and one envies you for it. One finds himself trapped, isolated, sealed up in his skul, condemned to metaphysical solitude: a man apart, a man on his own. One does not find this state of godlessness enjoyable or desirable. You of Borthan can tolerate the sort of emotional isolation you impose on yourselves, since you have the consolations of your religion, you have drainers and

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.