>[!quote] From the Book >The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard. >[!quote] Katha Upanishad 1.3.14 >Arise! Awake! Approach the great and learn. Like the sharp edge of the razor is that path, so the wise say hard to tread and difficult to cross. *The Razor's Edge* is a novel by Somerset Maugham published in 1945. It narrates the lives of four primary characters, Elliott, Isabel, Sophie, and Larry Darrell, with Maugham himself narrating as a minor character or witness to the lives of each. Each character pursues a form of [[Meaning]], in the form of status, escape, stability, and fulfillment. Only Larry ends up happy. The title is based on a verse of the *Katha Upanishad*. For me the term describes a form of intellectual pursuit similar to that described by [[Rationality MOC#Contemporary|contemporary rationality]] and analytical ethical philosophy, cutting through the [[Belief|beliefs]] one inherits through early socialization and investigating one's concept of reality. The razor's edge is the narrow divide between reason and perception. It is related to Plato's Forms, the perception of a reality unseen, while grounding oneself in the evaluation of evidence. It is also the blade that [[intimacy|cuts through grasping]].