Maihar'du was the Hupyrian servant of former Grand Nagus Zek. Maihar'du had taken a vow of silence and was only permitted to speak to the Nagus. He was very imposing and was not only a servant, but a bodyguard and food taster. He was also the flight control officer to Zek's personal shuttle. He often provided Zek with his favorite drug, Hupyrian beetle snuff.
He was very concerned when Zek came under the influence of the Prophets and tried to rewrite the Rules of Acquisition. He brought Zek to Quark and Rom to seek their help. For their assistance, Maihar'du presented Quark with an expensive handkerchief and patted him on the head.
Once Zek appointed Rom as the new Grand Nagus, Maihar'du pulled Brunt away from Rom and forcibly sat him down to the side. After giving nods of well wishes and farewells to Rom, Maihar'du accompanied Zek and Ishka to Zek's retirement on Risa.
"I don't even really KNOW -- What You're TALKING About....!!
I mean, I KNOW, What You're Talking About -- but I don't REALLY know
What You're Talking About...!"
Wally Shawn :
“Well, uh... do you want to know my actual response to all this?
Do you want to hear my actual response?”
Andre :
Yes!
Wally Shawn :
See, my actual response, I mean...
I mean, I'm just trying to Survive, you know?
I mean, I'm just trying to earn a Living...
just trying to Pay My Rent and My Bills.
I mean... Ah, I Live My Life.
I enjoy staying home with Debby.
I'm reading Charlton Heston's autobiography.
And that's that.
I mean, you know, I mean, occasionally, maybe...
Debby and I will step outside,
we'll go to a party or something.
And if I can occasionally
get my little Talent together
and write a little play...
well, then that's just wonderful.
And I mean, I enjoy reading
about other little plays people have written,
and reading the reviews of those plays
and what people said about them...
and what people saidabout
what people said.
And I mean, I have a list of errands and responsibilities
that I keep in a notebook. I enjoy going through the notebook...
carrying out the responsibilities, doing the errands,
and crossing them off The List.
And, I mean, I just don't know how anybody
could enjoy anything more than I enjoy,
reading Charlton Heston's autobiography,
or, you know, getting up in the morning...
and having the cup of cold coffee
that's been waiting for me all night,
still there for me to drink in the morning...
and no cockroach or fly has died in it overnight.
I mean, I'm just so thrilled when I get up...
and I see that coffee there,
just the way I wanted it.
I mean, I just can't imagine..
How anybody could enjoy something else
any more than that.
I mean, obviously, if the cockroach,
if there is a dead cockroach in it...
well, then I just have a feeling
of disappointment, and I'm sad.
But I mean, I just don't think...
I feel the need for anything more than all this.
Whereas, you know, you seem to be saying...
that, uh... it's inconceivable that anybody
could be having a meaningful life today...
and, you know, everyone is totally destroyed...
and we all need to live in these outposts.
But I mean, you know, I just can't believe, even for you...
I mean, don't you find, isn't it pleasant just to get up in the morning... and there's Chiquita, there are the children.... and The Times is delivered, you can read it. I mean, maybe you'll direct a play, maybe you won't direct a play.
But forget about the play that
you may or may not direct.
Why is it necessary to, why not lean back
and just enjoy these details?
I mean, and there'd be a delicious
cup of coffee and a piece of coffeecake.
I mean, why is it necessary
to have more than this...
or to even thinkabout
having more than this?
I mean, I don't really know what you're talking about.
I mean, I know what you're talking about...
but I don't really know what you're talking about.
And I mean, you know, even if
I were to totally agree with you, you know,
and even if I were to accept the idea
that there's just no way for anybody
to have personal happiness now...
well, you know, I still couldn't accept the idea...
that the way to make life wonderful would be to just totally...
you know, reject Western civilization...
and fall back into some kind of belief
in some kind of weird something.
I mean, I don't even know
how to begin talking about this...
but you know, in the Middle Ages...
before the arrival of scientific thinking as we know it today...
well, people could believe anything.
Anything could be True,
The statue of the Virgin Mary
could speak or bleed or whatever it was.
But the wonderful thing that happened
was that then in The Development
of Science in The Western World
certain things did come slowly
to be known and understood.
I mean, you know... obviously,
all ideas in Science are constantly
being revised.
I mean, that's The Whole Point.
But we do at least know that
The Universe has some shape and order...
and that, you know,
Trees do notturn into
People or Goddesses...
and there are very good
reasonswhy they don't...
and you can't just believe
absolutely anything.
Whereas, the things that you're talking about...
I mean, I mean, You found the handprint in the book,
and there were Three "André"s
and one Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
And to me, that is
a coincidence.
But, and, and then, you know,
the people who put that book together...
well, they had their own
reasons for putting it together.
But to you it wassignificant,
as if that book had been written
40 years ago, so that you would see it,
as if it was planned
for you, in a way.
I mean, really, I mean...
I mean, all right, let's say,
if I get a fortune cookie
in a Chinese restaurant...
I mean, of course,
even I have a tendency.
I mean, you know, I mean, of course,
I would hardly throw it out.
I mean, I read it. I read it, and, and...
I just instinctively sort of, you know,
if it says something like, uh...
"A conversation
with a dark-haired man
will be very important for you"
Well, I just instinctively think, you know,
"Who do I know who has dark hair?"
"Did we have a conversation?"
"What did we talk about?"
In other words, there's something
in me that makes me read it
and I instinctively interpret it
as if it were an omen
of The Future.
But in my conscious opinion,
which is so fundamental to
my whole view of life...
I mean, I would just have to change totally
to not have this opinion.
In my conscious opinion,
this is simply something... that was
written in the cookie factory
several years ago and
in no way refers to me.
I mean, you know, the,
the fact that I got it.
I mean, the man who wrote it
did not know anything about me.
I mean, he could nothave known
anything about me.
There's no way that this cookie
could actually have to do with me.
And the fact that I've gotten it
is just basically a joke.
And I mean, if I were gonna go on a trip on an airplane... and I got a fortune cookie that said "Don't go!" I mean, of course, I admit I might feel a bit nervous for about one second. But in fact, I would go because, I mean... that trip is gonna be successful or unsuccessful... based on the state of the airplane and the state of the pilot.
And the cookie is in no position to know about that.
And I mean, you know, it's the same
with any kind of, prophecy,
or a sign, or an omen.
Because if you believe in omens then
that means that The Universe... I mean, I don't even know how to begin to describe this. That means that the future is somehow sending messages... backwards to the present. Which, which means that the future must exist in some sense already... in order to be able to send these messages. And it also means that things in the universe are there for a purpose... to give us messages. Whereas I think that things in the universe are just there. I mean, they don't mean anything. I mean, you know, if the turtle's egg falls out of the tree and splashes on the paving stones... it's just because that turtle was clumsy by accident. And, and to decide whether to send my ships off to war on the basis of that... seems a big mistake to me. Well, what information would you send your ships to war on? Because if it's all meaningless... what's the difference whether you accept the fortune cookie... or the statistics of the Ford Foundation? It doesn't seem to matter. Well, the meaningless fact of the fortune cookie or the turtles egg... can't possibly have any relevance to the subject you're analyzing. Whereas a group of meaningless facts that are collected and interpreted... in a scientific way may quite possibly be relevant. Because the wonderful thing about scientific theories about things... is that they're based on experiments that can be repeated.
Well, it's True, Wally.
I mean, you know,
following omens and so on...
İs probably just a way of letting ourselves off the hook so that
we don't have to take individual responsibilityfor our own actions.
But I mean, giving yourself over to The Unconscious can leave you vulnerable to all sorts of very frightening manipulation.
And in all the work that I was involved in,
there was always that danger.
And there was always that question of tampering with people's lives,
because if I lead one of these workshops,
then I do becomepartly a doctor
and partly a therapist,
and partly a priest.
And I'm not a doctor,
or a therapist or a priest.
And already some of these new monasteries, or communities
or whatever we've been talking about are becoming institutionalized...
and I guess even in a way,
at times, sort of fascistic.
You know, there's a sort of self-satisfied elitist paranoia that grows up... a feeling of "Them" and "Us" that is very unsettling.
But I mean, the thing is, Wally,
I think it's the exaggerated worship of science that has led us into this situation.
I mean, science has been held up to us as a magical force
that would somehow solve everything.
Well, quite the contrary.
It's done quite the contrary.
It's destroyed everything.
So that is what has really led, I think to this very strong, deep reaction against Science that we're seeing now, just as the Nazi demons that were released in the '30s in Germany
were probably a reaction against a certain oppressive kind of knowledge and culture and rational thinking.
Sol agree that we're talking about something
potentially very dangerous.
But modern science has not been
particularlyless dangerous.
Right. Well, I agree with you. I completely agree. No, you know, the truth is... I think I do know what really disturbs me about the work you've described... and I don't even know if I can express it. But somehow it seems that the whole point of the work that you did in those workshops... when you get right down to it and you ask what was it really about... The whole point, really, I think... was to enable the people in the workshops, including yourself... to somehow sort of strip away every scrap of purposefulness... from certain selected moments. And the point of it was so that you would then all be able to experience... somehow just pure being. In other words, you were trying to discover what it would be like to live for certain moments... without having any particular thing that you were supposed to be doing. And I think I just simply object to that. I mean, I just don't think I accept the idea that there should be moments... in which you're not trying to do anything. I think, it's our nature, to do things. I think we should do things. I think that, purposefulness... is part of our ineradicable basic human structure. And to say that we ought to be able to live without it... is like saying that, a tree ought to be able to live without branches or roots.
But, but actually, without branches or roots, it wouldn't be a tree. I mean, it would just be a log. Do you see what I'm saying? I mean, in other words, if
I'm sitting at home and I have nothing to do... well, I naturally reach for a book. I mean, what would be so great about just sitting there and, doing nothing? It just seems absurd.
And if Debby is there? Well, that's just the same thing. I mean, is there really such a thing as, uh... two people doing nothing but just being together? I mean, would they simply then... be, "relating," to use the word we're always using? I mean, what would that mean? I mean, either we're gonna have a conversation... or we're going to, carry out the garbage... or we're going to do something, separately or together. I mean, do you see what I'm saying? I mean, what does it mean to just, simply, sit there? That makes you nervous. Well, why shouldn't it make me nervous? It just seems ridiculous to me. That's interesting, Wally. You know, when I went to Ladakh in western Tibet and stayed on a farm for a month... well, there, you know, when people come over in the evening for tea, nobody says anything. Unless there's something to say, but there almost never is. So they just sit there and drink their tea, and it doesn't seem to bother them. I mean, you see, the trouble, Wally, with always being active and doing things... is that I think it's quite possible to do all sorts of things... and at the same time be completely dead inside. I mean, you're doing all these things, but are you doing them... because you really feel an impulse to do them... or are you doing them mechanically, as we were saying before? Because I really do believe that if you're just living mechanically... then you have to change your life. I mean, you know, when you're young, you go out on dates all the time. You go dancing or something. You're floating free. And then one day suddenly you find yourself in a relationship... and suddenly everything freezes. And this can be true in your work as well. And I mean, of course, if you're really alive inside... then of course there's no problem. I mean, if you're living with somebody in one little room... and there's a life going on between you and the person you're living with... well, then a whole adventure can be going on right in that room. But there's always the danger that things can go dead. Then I really do think you have to kind of become a hobo or something, you know... like Kerouac, and go out on the road. I really believe that. You know, it's not that wonderful to spend your life on the road. My own overwhelming preference is to stay in that room if you can. But you know, if you live with somebody for a long time, people are constantly saying... "Well, of course it's not as great as it used to be, but that's only natural. The first blush of a romance goes, and that's the way it has to be." Now, I totally disagree with that. But I do think that you have to constantly ask yourself the question, with total frankness: "Is your marriage still a marriage?" "Is the sacramental element there?" Just as you have to ask about the sacramental element in your work... "Is it still there?"
I mean, it's a very frightening thing, Wally, to have to suddenly realize
that, my God, I thought I was living my life, but in fact I haven't been a human being.
I've been a performer. I haven't been living. I've been acting.
I've, I've acted the role of the father.
I've acted the role of the husband.
I've acted the role of the friend.
I've acted the role of the writer, or director, or what have you.
I've lived in the same room with this person,
but I haven't really seen them.
I haven't really heard them.
I haven't really been with them.
Yeah, I know some people are just sometimes... uh, existing just side by side. I mean, the other person's, face could just turn into a great wolf's face... and, it just wouldn't be noticed.
And it wouldn't be noticed, no.
It wouldn't be noticed.
I mean, when I was in Israel a little while ago...
I mean, I have this picture of Chiquita
that was taken when she...
I always carry it with me.
It was taken when she was about 26 or something.
And it's in summer, and she's stretched out on a terrace
in this sort of old-fashioned long skirt that's kind of pulled up.
And she's slim and sensual and beautiful.
And I've always looked at that picture
and just thought about just how sexy she looks.
And then last year in Israel, I looked at the picture...
and I realized that that face in the picture
was the saddest face in the world.
That girl at that time was just lost...
so sad and so alone.
I've been carrying this picture for years
and not ever really seeing what it is, you know.
I just never really looked at the picture.
And then, at a certain point, I realised
I'd just gone for a good 18 years unable to feel
except in the most extreme situations.
I mean, to some extent,
I still had the ability to live in my work.
That was why I was such a work junkie.
That was why I felt that every play that I did
was a matter of my life or my death.
But in my real life, I was dead.
I was a robot.
I mean, I didn't even allow myself
to get angry or annoyed.
I mean, you know, today Chiquita, Nicolas, Marina...
All day long, as people do,
they do things that annoy me
and they say things that annoy me.
And today I get annoyed.
And they say,
"Why are you annoyed?"
And I say,
"Because you're annoying." you know.
And when I allowed myself to consider the possibility
of not spending the rest of my life with Chiquita...
I realized that what I wanted most in life
was to always be with her.
But at that time, I hadn't learned
what it would be like to let yourself
reactto another human being.
And if you can't react to Another Person,
then there's no possibility of action or interaction.
And if there isn't, I don't really know what the word "Love" means
except Duty, Obligation, Sentimentality, Fear.
I mean... I don't know about you, Wally, but I...
I just had to put myself
into
a kind of training program
to learn
How to Be A Human Being.
I mean, How Did I Feel
About Anything?
I Didn't Know.
What kind of things did I like?
What kind of people did I really want to be with? You know?
And the only way that I could think of
to find out was to just cut out all the noise
and stop performing all the time
andjust listen to what was inside me.
See, I think a time comes
when you need to do that.
Now, maybe in order to do it, you have to go to the Sahara... and maybe you can do it at home. But you need to cut out the noise. Yeah. Of course, personally, I, I just... I usually don't like those quiet moments, you know. I really don't. I mean, I don't know if it's that, Freudian thing or what... But, you know, the fear of unconscious impulses... or my own aggression or whatever, but... if things get too quiet, and I find myself just, sitting there... you know, as we were saying before...
I mean, whether I'm by myself, or, or I'm, I'm with someone else...
I just, I just have this feeling of... my God, I'm going to be revealed. In other words, I'm adequate to do any sort of a task... but I'm not adequate, just to, to be a human being. I mean, in other words, I'm not... If l'm just, trapped there and I'm not allowed to do things... but all I can do is just, be there... well, I'll just fail
I was beginning to realise that the only way to make this evening bearablewould be to
Ask André A Few Questions.
Asking Questions
always relaxes me.
In fact, I sometimes think that
my secret profession is that
I'm a Private Investigator,
A Detective.
I always enjoy
finding out
about People.
Even if they're in
absolute agony,
I always find it
very interesting.
The Life of a Playwright is tough.
It's noteasy, as some people seem to think.
You work hard writing plays,
and nobody puts them on.
You take up other lines of Work
to try to make A Living...
I became An Actor...
and people don't hire you.
So you just spend your days doing
the errands of your trade.
Today I'd had to be up by 10:00 in The Morning
to make some important phone calls.
Then I'd gone to the stationery
store to buy envelopes.
Then to the Xerox shop.
There were dozens of things to do.
By5:00pm I'd finally made it to The Post Office,
and mailed off several copies of my plays --meanwhile
checking constantly with my answering service to see
if my agent had called with any acting work.
In The Morning, The Mailbox
had just been stuffed with bills.
What was I supposed to do?
How was I supposed to pay them?
After all, I was already doing My Best.
I've lived in This City all My Life.
I grew up on The Upper East Side, and
when I was 10 years old, I was rich,
I was an aristocrat,
riding around in Taxis,
surrounded by Comfort,
and all I thought about
was Art and Music.
Now I'm 36, and
allI think about
is Money.
It was now 7:00pm and I would have liked nothing better
than to Go Home and have My Girlfriend Debby
cook me a nice, delicious dinner.
But for the last several years
our financial circumstances have forced Debby
to work three nights a week as a waitress.
After all, somebody had to bring in a little Money.
So I was on My Own.
But The Worst Thing of All was
that I'd been trapped by
an odd series of circumstances
into agreeing to have Dinner with
A Man I'd been avoiding literally for years.
His Name was André Gregory.
At one time he'd been a very close friend of mine,
as well as My Most Valued Colleague in The Theatre.
In fact, he was
The Man Who Had First Discovered Me,
and put one of My Plays on the professional stage.
When I'd known André, he'd been at the height of his career as a theater director
The amazing work he did with his company the Manhattan Project... Had just stunned audiences throughout the world. But then something had happened to André, He dropped out of the theater. He sort of disappeared, For months at a time, his family seemed only to know that he was traveling... In some odd place like Tibet... which was really weird because he loved his wife and children. He never used to like to leave home at all, Or else you'd hear that someone had met him at a party and he'd been telling people... that he talked with trees or something like that.
Obviously, Something Terrible
had happened to André --
The whole idea of meeting him made me very nervous.
I mean, I really wasn't up for that sort of thing,
I had problems of my own.
I mean, I couldn't help André.
Was I supposed to be A Doctor, or what?
Sir, My Name is Wallace Shawn.
I'm expected at the table of André Gregory.
That table will be a moment, sir.
If you like, you may have a drink at the bar. - Good evening, sir.
Could I have a club soda, please?
I'm sorry, sir. We only serve Source de Pavilion.
Oh, that'd be fine, thank you.
When I'd called André,
and he'd suggested that we meet in this particular restaurant,
I'd been rather surprised, because André's taste
used to be very ascetic...
Even though people have always known that he had some money somewhere.
I mean, how the hell else could he have been flying off to Asia
and so on, and still have been supporting His Family?
The reason I was meeting André was that
an acquaintance of mine, George Grassfield
had called me and just insisted that I had to see him.
Apparently, George had been walking his dog in an odd section of town the night before,
and he'd suddenly come upon André... leaning against a crumbling old building and sobbing.
André had explained to George that he'd just been watching the Ingmar Bergman movie
Autumn Sonata about 25 blocks away,
and he'd been seized by a fit of ungovernable crying
when The Character played by Ingrid Bergman had said...