We are not suggesting that anyone should embrace the fatalism so characteristic of the Orient; we are suggesting only that one should arrive at a more balanced view of life. The lack of it forced soldiers and civilians alike to learn through the sufferings of experiences what they could have learned through the calmness of reflection. The perilous situations of wartime brought about a vein of fatalism in many minds to whom it was hitherto unknown. It made them realize for the first time how small is the circle of freedom in which the human will operates. Those who so arrogantly defended the extreme freedom of the human will in the past are losing their following, as the opposite idea of extreme fatalism creeps into the Western hemisphere from Asia.
-- Notebooks Category 11: The Negatives > Chapter 3 : Their Presence in The World > # 229
