As we left the park G. stopped talking and was going a few steps ahead of us.
We five walked behind him talking together. In going round a tree G. dropped the
stick - ebony with a Caucasian silver handle - he was carrying and one of us
bent down, picked it up, and gave it to him. G. walked on for a few steps, then
turned to us and said:
"That was astrology. Do you understand? You all saw me drop the stick. Why did
one of you pick it up? Let each of you speak for himself."
One said he had not seen G. drop the stick as he was looking another way. The
second said he had noticed that G. had not dropped the stick accidentally as
happens when a stick gets caught in something, but that he had intentionally
loosened his hand and let the stick fall. This had excited his curiosity and he
had waited to see what would happen next. The third said he saw G. drop the
stick, but was very absorbed in thinking of astrology, particularly trying to
remember what G. said once before, and did not pay sufficient attention to the
stick. The fourth saw the stick fall and thought of picking it up, but at that
moment the other picked up the stick and gave it to G. The fifth said he saw the
stick fall and then he saw himself picking it up and giving it to G. G. smiled
as he listened to us.
"This is astrology," he said. "In the same situation one man sees and does one
thing, another - another thing, a third - a third thing, and so on. And each one
acted according to his type. Observe people and yourselves in this way and then
perhaps we will afterwards talk of a different astrology."