"In Oreanda they sat on a bench not far from church, looked down o the sea, and were silent. Yalta was barely visible through the morning mist, white clouds stood motionless on the mountaintops. The leaves of the trees did not stir, cicadas called, and the monotonous, dull noise of the sea, coming from below, spoke of the peace, of the eternal sleep that awaits us. So it had sounded below when neither Yalta nor Oreanda were there, so it sounded now and would go on sounding with the same dull indifference when we are no longer there. And in this constancy, in this utter indifference to the life and death of each of us there perhaps lies hidden the pledge of our eternal salvation, the unceasing perfection. Sitting beside the young woman, who looked so beautiful in the dawn, appeased and enchanted by the view of this magical decor- sea, mountains, clouds, the open sky- Gurov reflected that, essentially, if you thought of it, everything was beautiful in this world, everything except for what we ourselves think and do when we forget the higher goals of being and our human dignity."
This description here is incredible, how Chekhov portrays the "utter indifference" of the sea... how it has lived before, and will live after us. This utter indifference is such an important concept when it comes to nature, and nature's view towards humanity. They are indifferent to humans...and will easily live without us. This indifference makes nature the more mystifying, not having to depend on any living thing but their instinct. This utter indifference shall lead to perfection as Chekhov says, that if we become like nature, then we shall indeed be complete, for nature itself is complete, and therefore perfect.
Now, becoming like nature- not indifferent to our humanity, and become animals, but embracing the "higher goals and our human dignity". The height of humanity is to be the height of our nature, and therefore perfect. Our "salvation". Everything else is rotten humanity, that is not any good but to destroy the beautiful, and distort our purpose of achieving this goal.
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This is one of the best, if not the best of Chekhov's works.
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