It was a small moment, but it felt like a scene: three men in green, and suddenly a walk turns into a seminar.
“Look,” said Dr. AuDHS, and he did not point at the grounds, not at the mountains, but at the grass itself, as if the grass were the actual text. “The donkey is not stupid. That is important. The donkey is…” He searched for a word that is not moral. “…purposeful. He does not want discourse. He wants a situation in which he is right.”
Morgenstern snorted.
“That is stupid,” he said.
“No,” said Dr. AuDHS. “It is efficient. The stupid one is the one who believes that every argument is about truth.”
Hans Castorp thought of Settembrini and Naphta, of endless debates, of concepts that were used like weapons. Back then it was not always about truth either. It was about jurisdiction. About status. About the feeling of being right.
“The tiger,” continued Dr. AuDHS, “is the animal of truth. He sees: green. He cannot help it. He says it. And he believes that with that the matter is…”
“…settled,” said Hans Castorp quietly, and he was startled because he had spoken.
Dr. AuDHS looked at him, and in this look there was a small, approving nod.
“Settled,” he confirmed. “But truth rarely settles anything. Truth is only an offer. Sometimes an attack.”
Morgenstern furrowed his brow.
“And the lion?” he asked.
“Ah,” said Dr. AuDHS, and now came that irony which is not mocking but friendly to insight. “The lion is the most interesting animal. Not because he is right, but because he has power. He decides which truth counts – not as knowledge, but as order.”
“He says: if you believe it is blue, then it is blue,” said Morgenstern, and one could hear the disgust.
“Yes,” said Dr. AuDHS. “That is a sentence that is very popular in our time. People call that tolerance. They call it perspective. They call it…” He raised his shoulders slightly. “…empathy. But often it is nothing other than conflict avoidance.”
Hans Castorp thought of the Sonnenalp itself, of its entire architecture of conflict avoidance: soft armchairs, warm lights, soothing windows, programs that turn everything into ‘experience’. Up here even illness is arranged so that it does not disturb.
“And why does he punish the tiger?” asked Hans Castorp.
“Because the tiger makes the mistake of investing energy,” said Dr. AuDHS. “Time. Attention. Nerves. The lion does not punish the truth. He punishes the waste.”
Morgenstern twisted his mouth.
“That is…” he said. “That is cynical.”
“It is biological,” answered Dr. AuDHS. “And now we come to something that you both already know without knowing it.”
