Man alive versus the specialists

Lawrence compares the novelist with other 'specialists'.

• The parson talks of souls in heaven; the novelist knows that paradise is in the palm of the hand.
• The philosopher talks of infinity and pure spirit. But a finger in the fire 'knows' that fire burns, more surely than any theory of Nirvana.

Words and teachings are only 'tremulations on the ether', like radio messages. They matter only if a living person takes them in.

The saint offers himself as spiritual food (Lawrence jokes that St Francis offers himself as angel-cake). The philosopher thinks only thoughts matter. The scientist studies dead bits of the body, and calls them 'me'.

Lawrence denies being a soul, or a mind, or a brain, or a set of glands. The whole person outweighs any one piece of him. He is 'man alive'. Nothing is important but life.