The Razor's Edge / a book report

I just finished Maugham's The Razor's Edge. TJ says this book is written for me. I think it is rather a book written about me. Similar to some of Hesse's books (I have read Siddhartha, Demian, Narcissus and Goldmund, The Journey to the East), this book is about the life of a sage, Larry, in becoming. However, Maugham's story is predictable and the characters are stereotyped. The portrait of Larry is too saintly and too flat. I like Hesse better. Hesse's language is much more poetic and passionate. Nonetheless, this is the first fiction of this sort that I have read since my becoming. I am reading so much of me in the story of Larry. Perhaps the stories of all seekers are similar. Larry started his search by asking questions about the existence of evil. In the end he still has no clear answer for it"

Ramakrishna looked upon the world as the sport of God. "It's like a game. In this game there are joy and sorrow, virtue and vice, knowledge and ignorance, good and evil. The game cannot continue if sin and suffering are altogether eliminated from the creation." I would reject that with all my strength. The best I can suggest is that when the Absolute manifested itself in the world evil was the natural correlation of good.... The best to be said for it is that when you've come to the conclusion that something is inevitable all you can do is to make the best of it. (p.279)

I have also thought about something similar to this problem recently. It is something like, science will never answer all our questions, and there is always something that we will never understand. Because if one day we understand everything, then what will we continue to live for? And that also place a different significance of a time when we understand everything to a time when we are ignorant. But since time goes on continuously like the natural numbers, all points of time are equally different and unique. So, the "game" cannot continue if all can be understood.

Back to Larry and me. Even Larry has no satisfying answer for his quest, it does not prevent him from believing. This also reminds me of this concept I recently recognized -- "Because we know something is true, it doesn't necessarily mean we understand it".

For me, I started my search by questioning myself, my belief system(s), my ability to comprehend and assimilate, my reasoning, my sanity... In another word, I did not question the moral values of things, but the validity of science and logic. Somehow I have also found the Absolute. This further shows that all earnest quests shall lead to the same and only Truth.

I don't know what this book does to non-seekers. I hope everyone knows some serious seekers and they will have better understanding of those who seek.