It was raining behind the window of the drawing room. The fire was burning in the fireplace by which the beautiful Great Dane was lying on the soft Persian carpet. Edward, the dog"s master, was sitting in the big leathern armchair nearby reading a small volume of Oscar Wilde. There was a dead silence in the room, excluding the sound of the rain outside. Unexpectedly some ado appeared in the hall, then in the corridor, and a young man who had got wet through came in. Edward was sitting in his armchair in the same pose.
-Good evening, Roger. Sit down next to me in the armchair, please. You must have got wet through. Would you like some brandy or a cigar?
-Thank you Edward, with pleasure. I"m so wet! What a horrible weather!
-But what made you leave your house?
-Ah, I was tired to be locked up and decided to enjoy nature: sit on the grass, listen to birds singing, streams babbling... But it suddenly started raining.
-Was it worth it?
-Certainly, it was. Don"t you like it being outside under the blue sky, surrounded by an expanse, green trees...
-Not at all.
-But why?
-Because I like comfort.
-In your opinion, there"s none in nature?
-Without any doubt! Nature is irrational, chaotic and rough. Were it perfect, would people build dwellings, seek food, or learn how to get fire? Or you believe that we shouldn"t have developed, become Homo sapiens, studied geometry and physics, in other words, conquered nature with the help of mind?
-Why should we move away from our roots? A man is the part of the nature. What does he need physics, astronomy, or mathematics for, when he lived in harmony with nature at all times and was happy?
-You think he was happy? If he had been happy, would he have started developing? You contend that the uncivilized people have always lived in harmony with nature, do you? Then, what would you say about North-American Indians?
-They are a perfect example of how people co-existed with nature in harmony. They worshiped wild animals, trees, rivers; they considered nature to be alive, they regarded it as their mother, they esteemed and loved it...
-...what didn"t prevent them from destroying herds of bisons by driving them away from precipices to have a fur coat or cook a dinner. And what about the rancher tribes because of which the Sahara desert appeared? A man cannot co-exist with nature in harmony. Either he overrides it, or it overrides him.
-Very well, a person may not be able to live in harmony with nature but after all that"s his fault rather than nature"s one; it remains wise and perfect, as before.
-Your mistake, Roger, is that you liken a man to an animal. A man differs. A man is used to order, you hear, order. He is accustomed to creation while nature"s used to destruction. Everything is well-ordered in a man"s life; everything has its own form. Verses are limited by definite meters; time is limited by thousands, hundreds of years, minutes, seconds and splits of seconds; the relationships between people are also limited by some norms and so on. Everything created by a person has its end and the beginning, its own size; everything among people is controlled by rules, there is nothing injudicious. A man rules over nature, like everything on this planet. The wisdom of nature is a Utopia and an endeavor to get rid of responsibility for everything by putting it on nature. A man is the king of nature, so the destiny of the world depends on him.
-In nature everything is placed under the rules, motion and the constant flow of life which has no end too.
-But this constant flow of life is chaotic against us, people. A man should judge things from his personal position first of all, because the center of the universe for a man is he himself what was mentioned by the Greek philosophers a long time ago. We had to survive and develop for hundreds of years to become independent of nature and live in peace. If it had been wise to us, once again, we wouldn"t have had to develop... I will ask you only one simple question, Roger: would you prefer to come back outside under the rain, or to stay here, in my drawing room?
-You know, Edward, let us give up this conversation. It"ll be to no avail. I"d rather drink some more brandy and smoke one more cigar with your permission. Tell me where have you got such excellent cigars?