“Well, now, this is positively interesting,” said the professor, shaking with laughter. “What is it you have? Whatever one asks for, there is none of it!” (Mikhail Bulgakov, “The Master and Margarita”)
“…and there are lions too. It’s in Russia there’s nothing; in Greece there is everything.” “Are there sperm whales in Greece?” “There is everything.” “Are there lobsters in Greece?” “There are… There is everything there.” (Anton Chekhov, “The Wedding”)
“Adamych, you are a wise man — tell me, what does a person need?” “I don’t particularly need anything besides what there is.” “And what has he got, then…” “Me? Everything! I have everything.” “But what is everything?” “Whatever is needed!” “And what is needed?” “Whatever there is.” (Mikhail Roshchin, “Old New Year”)
So there are three views of the surrounding world: the world is inherently incomplete (whatever one asks for, there is none of it); the world is utterly complete (in Greece there is everything); the world is in harmony (what is needed is what there is, and what there is, is what is needed). Note that the first two quotations speak of objective conditions, not of the goods a person may create. And the third speaks not of renouncing one’s own creative work but of an outlook able to secure favourable conditions for a person’s life. That is why Ivan Adamych — a character in Roshchin’s highly philosophical play — is a true member of the intelligentsia and a maker of profound maxims. What, then, does the maker actually need, the creator of artefacts, whether artist or scholar?
The first quotation is the motto of the impatient artist, the builder. The world is full of voids, and the maker is born to fill them. Not a minute is to be lost! Filling the world is a question of time.
The second is the motto of the traveller. Yes, much is lacking here; but if one stirs from the spot and reaches Greece, there one may find everything. One must go, and not a minute is to be lost! Filling the world is a question of space.
The third is the motto of the scholar. Fullness and emptiness not only sit side by side, they complete each other. What looks like fullness today turns out to be emptiness tomorrow, and the other way round. What, then, is to be done? Not to drag; not to be dragged; but to draw oneself into a deeper understanding of this beautiful and furious world, where space meets time and time fills space. In this lies the calling of the philosopher, the scholar, the human being.
