Чужак в чужой стране

           And‘grok’meansallofthese,dependingonhowyouuseit.Itmeans‘fear,’itmeans‘love,’itmeans‘hate’–properhate,forbytheMartian‘map’youcannotpossiblyhateanythingunlessyougrokitcompletely,understanditsothoroughlythatyoumergewithitanditmergeswithyou–thenandonlythencanyouhateit.Byhatingyourself.Butthisalsoimplies,bynecessity,thatyouloveit,too,andcherishitandwouldnothaveitotherwise.Thenyoucanhate–and(Ithink)thatMartianhateisanemotionsoblackthatthenearesthumanequivalentcouldonlybecalledamilddistaste."

           Mahmoudscreweduphisface."Itmeans‘identicallyequal’inthemathematicalsense.Thehumanclich,‘Thishurtsmeworsethanitdoesyou’hasaMartianflavortoit,ifonlyatrace.TheMartiansseemtoknowinstinctivelywhatwelearnedpainfullyfrommodernphysics,thattheobserverinteractswiththeobservedsimplythroughtheprocessofobservation.‘Grok’meanstounderstandsothoroughlythattheobserverbecomesapartoftheprocessbeingobserved–tomerge,toblend,tointermarry,tolosepersonalidentityingroupexperience.Itmeansalmosteverythingthatwemeanbyreligion,philosophy,andscience–anditmeansaslittletousascolormeanstoablindman."Mahmoudpaused.