The writer’s job is the job of a clown …the clown who also talks about sorrow. - Kenzaburō Ōe

He said he didn’t care if he went to heaven or hell, because neither could be more fearful than absolute nothingness; salvation and damnation were one and the same if the only thing out there was total nothingness.

To talk of prayer after admitting he professed no faith was, in my opinion, a breach of common courtesy. In this sense, he did make a social blunder, for which I think he well deserved some minor castigation.

The ideal teacher student relationship exists when the student is better than the teacher.