For ages, people have gone through life contemplating many intensifying questions. Such questions include, where did we come from, where do we go when we die, why do things happen the way they do and what is the meaning of ones' existence? To answer these grave questions, many people have turned in the direction of religion to find their answers. The need to possess a sense of religion increases as people go through life, hence learning to question more, which is seen clearly through the character of Larry Darrell. Religion is also commonly used for a sense of acceptance and stability in ones life, and as a result, a sense of hope is generated.
"I kept on asking myself what life was for. After all it as only by luck that I was alive; wanted to make something of my life, but I didn't know what. I'd never thought much about God. I began to think about Him now. I couldn't understand why there was evil in the world."
Pg. 252
REINCARNATION
This aspect of the absolute involves theories about previous existences. Once one leaves this world, it is believed that the soul continues and enters a new body in another life. The other life allows the person to come back in accordance to what their behavior was like in the previous one, therefore they are either punished or rewarded. The general idea is that as a soul moves from one life and enters another, a purer state is achieved due to them having to deal with their sins, ultimately becoming the absolute; the purest of the pure. Larry embarks on believing in this idea as a result of his experience during meditation. In an attempt at meditation, he thought he saw the figures of himself in his prior lives through the candle.
PURPOSES AND BELIEFS
The Absolute consists of complex yet vague ideas. It is understood that there is no beginning, the soul coexisted with the universe refers to the seven veils of ignorance and its return upon the unveiling individuality is all in the mind. Salvation is won through love but man's most precious faculty is reason. The infinite gives never ending happiness "Reality. You cannot say what it is, you can only say what it isn't."(pg. 269). Everyone came from the same place and had the same existence. People with these set of values believe in it with every part of their being and during their ceremonies, they become one with the Absolute. Through their rituals, it all seems real. The Absolute is everything and only requires personal development, desire and faith
HINDUISM VS. CHRISTIANITY
For Larry, religion doesn’t play a large role in his life until after the war. He emerges from the war in a troubled state and turns towards religion, Christianity in particular, for stability. Unfortunately, Christianity doesn’t satisfy Larry completely. He finds there to be an inadequate amount of information within it, so he turns to Hinduism.
In the eyes of Larry, Christians need to be reminded of religion through a set way of life, which is set by a larger group. They encompass a narrow-minded perspective in that there’s only one correct way of acting. Believing in the Bible, Christianity is entirely faith focused. It is through that as long as one believes in God and forms a strong relationship with him they are guaranteed a place in heaven. After death, humans are judged by God and either go to heaven or hell.
On the other hand, Hinduism does not ask for one to trust, but rather to experience, having a need to know reality. They turn more to practice than faith, therefore an uniformity of behavior rather than of belief is found among Hindus. Each individual perceives an orderly pattern that gives form and meaning to his or her own life. It is the individual that defines the perimeters, therefore allowing the religion (which is actually a way of life) to be open to interpretation. One must accept that there are no concrete answers in Hinduism, but rather that more questions may arise than can be answered, as well as the realization that a complete understanding is close to impossible. Coming from the Veda, a key belief is that there is never a definite separation of good from evil, there is only abalance of the two that can be obtained, which is the struggle that many people fight continuously in their lives. For example,
- The beautiful mountains are praised a great deal for their remarkable appearance, but they are actually created from the shifting of the earth.
- A nice vase is still breakable.
The Hindu believe in meditation and other forms of communication other than simply talking, "Shri Ganesha used to say that silence also is conversation" (Pg. 295). A certain mystical philosophical meditation on the meaning of existence and the nature of the universe is very much in practice within this religion. The quote above is from a quote in real life that was told to Maugham by the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, the actual Indian holy man he used as a model for Shri Ganesha:
"He bore himself with naturalness and at the same time with dignity. His mien (i.e., bearing, appearance) was cheerful, smiling, polite. His eyes with a gentle benignity rested on my face. His body was absolutely still. He smiled and said, 'Silence is also conversation.' "
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM recalling meeting the Maharshi for the first time.
THE EFFECTS ON LARRY
Larry feels that the Christian religion is lacking, so he reverts to Hinduism where he feels more fulfilled. There are many events which he cannot make sense of, such as;
- During the war Larry sees his best friend, called only by the first name Patsy in the novel, die before his eyes and doesn’t understand why he had to die. The boy was not much older than him, had had much energy and was so good.
- Sophie MacDonald, who Larry believes to be a good person,is shunned upon by the church because of the type of lifestyle she led.
The Absolute has a very great and powerful effect on Larry. It changes Larry and allows him to find what he has been looking for all along. The distance that separates you from faith is no greater than the thickness of a cigarette paper. (pg. 253). This search, entailing happiness, has come to a halt when Larry casts away the materialistic world and allows for his ideological side to shine through. "Larry talked of God and eternity, of the Absolute and weary wheel of endless becoming." (Pg. 272).
Another change that occurs to Larry is that he now turns to manual labor in order to counteract his weakness in mind with hard labour providing strength in body. This labour clears his mind and becomes spiritually invigorating, which in turn regenerates his mind in all its ends. By such means, Larry is truly able to find a balance between body and soul, realizing that he can’t think all day as well as he can’t work all day. The main change in Larry occurs due to his change of focus. He has altered his attention from himself onto others. Instead of living in this world, he lives with the more psychological questions in life. He becomes happy in the end, but doesn't necessarily get any satisfactory answers to all of his questions to life. This satisfaction is gained through not being so self-absorbed but rather giving of ones self to others and helping others, as oppose to being greedy and having lust for material things. It is seen how "Larry becomes one with the Absolute as his eyes seemed then to look inwards rather than out." (pg. 248). Therefore it can be stated that this transformation Larry has gone through has changed his perspective of the world and allows him to view the world for substance rather than appearance.
WHAT IS EVIL?
Hindus believe that evil is the absence of God. They believe that God created everything, including evil and sin, to test humanity’s strength. "If an all-good and all-powerful God created the world, why did he create evil?" (Pg. 256). He created it as a balance to the pure things. Hinduism is based on the theory that everything must be balanced out, or should have an opposite. Larry finds something lacking in the Christian faith because they do not provide an answer to that very important question. Hindus believe God is both good and evil and to become part of the Absolute you must accept both. Christianity is based on the belief that in order to be accepted into the kingdom of heaven one must deny all evil and cleanse the soul. You are given one chance at it when you are on earth and what you do affects whether or not you will become pure.
HOW DOES REINCARNATION RELATE TO EVIL?
Reincarnation is the test of the soul to deny evil and become one with the Absolute. Hindus believe that when you are reincarnated the evils you suffer in your present life are a direct result of the sins you committed in your previous one. You must deal with them in this life so that you can become more willing to shed your individuality and become one with the Absolute. Christians believe that you are born again into everlasting life at the side of God, but you only get one chance to prove yourself worthy of such an honour. Larry is looking for a haven in Hinduism, a way of forgiveness. As a Christian, he felt he would have been punished for something he did not do or understand. As a Hindu he has the chance to start again and repent before being eternally judged.
THE TEMPTATION OF EVIL
Evil acts as a temptation for Hindus. If a person can resist evil then they are truly worthy of the Absolute. Once they have embraced the evil and dealt with it, they are turned back to the path of God. One sees their progress by the position they take in their new life. Once they have dealt with all their sin, which may take many rebirths, they join the Absolute. Christianity follows along the same lines; for they believe that evil is a temptation to Christianity. They judge their progress by whether or not they were accepted into heaven.
LARRY'S VIEWS ON HINDUISM
Larry finds Hindu doctrines much more satisfying than those of Christianity do. He finds it hard to believe with all the evil in the world that you can repent once and be forgiven for all of your sins. With his experience in the war, Larry started to question the presence of evil and why God would create it if He were supposed to represent purity and compassion. Hinduism helps answer the questions Larry asks, whereas the narrow-mindedness of the Christian church, only hinders it.
Larry’s long quest started with his experiences in the war. This causes him to ask questions that have been plaguing man for centuries, such as why are we here, and what is our purpose? In the end he is left with more questions than answers, however he achieves a sense of fulfillment, something he didn’t feel when he followed the Christian church. The Hindu belief gives Larry a sense of hope. That there will be a second chance and what is most important to you is what is most important to all. It gives him something to work on, a never-ending goal: to become one with the Absolute by shedding evil, ego and apprehension. Larry finally learns to live with what has happened to him during the war and his newfound faith encourages him to experience what the world has to offer. Most significantly Larry learns to live with forbearance, compassion, selflessness and continence.
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