ABSTRACT
The religious messiah having ceased to place so much emphasis upon morality, or act, his choice is seen to bear a striking resemblance to that of the monk. The objectivity which the monk will put forth as distinguishing him radically from the believer, on the contrary, converts a resemblance into what is almost an identity. The art of ‘self-expression’ is easily ‘perfect’, whether because form and idea pre-exist as in dying classical art, or because it is considered permissible to dispense with both as in minor romanticisms. The great artist whether classic or romantic is perpetually haunted by the possible, of which the ‘finished’ work is only an approximation. During the Korean war, the Chinese managed to convert to communism a few American prisoners who, upon their return home, were treated as mental cases. This, surely, is to be numbered among the great achievements of science; in the past men could only believe that their enemies were mistaken or corrupt.
