Klarinet Archive - Posting 000126.txt from 1996/02

From: Gary Bisaga <gary@-----.ORG>
Subj: Re: A love/hate relationship
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 12:31:22 -0500

Dan Leeson writes:
>I don't know how many of you have read Somerset Maugham's play "Rain" in which
>a preacher speaks loudly in public about the morals of the local prostitute,
>but in private he tries his best to get her in the sack. That is what I
>felt like: a two-faced hypocrite.

To paraphrase somebody (Churchill? Well, if not, at least he's always
a safe bet for a quote) to be a hypocrite is the worst thing possible,
except for all the alternatives. What is a hypocrite? A person who
says one thing and does another. How many of us really do exactly
what we say? We should preach lofty goals; we should certainly try to
live up to those goals. The fact remains, however, that we cannot
always live up to those lofty goals! As St. Paul said, "For what I
want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do ... when I want to do
good, evil is right there with me."

Thus, the only person who isn't a hypocrite to some extent is the
person who actually espouses ideals identical with the life that he's
actually living. Since none of us can possibly live perfect lives,
should we have no ideals at all, nothing loftier to shoot for than
whatever we're actually doing at the time? I'm afraid the nuns in
Catholic school had it right (even if the implementation of the idea
was flawed) when they said that the sin is all in our intent. The act
itself is, on a certain level, just the follow-up to the actual sin of
intent. (Not that the actual consequences of the two should be the
same; but that's getting into another can of worms.)

So, Dan, not to get into too much theological language, but I have to
feel that accepting Diane's rebuke by your admitting your hypocrisy
is, in fact, your salvation in this matter. You needn't entirely give
up your secret love of the showy sets of variations. In fact, there
is no sin in being tempted -- even Jesus was tempted -- but rather in
giving in to the temptation by your action. I suppose this means (if
this is what you feel to be the correct ideal, which you do seem to)
you should preach against a showy piece, hopefully with the hope that
others will find the same salvation (i.e. not commissioning, writing,
or performing similar pieces, at least not with the intent of showing
off) but that you shouldn't really feel bad about liking certain
aspects of such pieces.

Hopefully not too far off clarinet-related topics,
Gary Bisaga (gbisaga@-----.org)