285 The greatest events and ideas - but the greatest ideas are the greatest events - are understood last of all: the generations contemporary with them do not experience such events - they go on living past them. What happens then is something like in the realm of the stars. The light of the most distant star comes to men last of all: and before that light arrives, men deny that there are stars there. "How many centuries does a spirit need in order to be understood?" - that is also a standard with which people construct a rank ordering and etiquette, as is necessary, for spirits and stars.- |