Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

like he: They look at someone and know that the person has no soul, period, end of all rational
considerations." He laughed. "On my first meeting with father he resolved that I had 'soul' and
received me with open arms. And you decided that I had so much soul that you had to have
part of it!"
Alexandra knew, of course, exactly who were her soulmates and who her antagonists,
and once she had made this distinction, it stuck to the person with many serious
consequences. She nodded and looked pensively at Konrad. "How do you think this process
works?"
Konrad stopped before her and faced her, a frown on his brow. "I have thought about
how you acquire such knowledge for many years. It is obviously entirely visual. You look at
somebody and know. In fact, words confuse you. You search for a picture in your mind that fits
the stranger."
He scratched his head. "You and father read body language. There are people with the
‘right’ and others with the ‘wrong’ body language, or what is worse, no body language at all.
Dahl speaks with his head. He has trained his body to remain mute."
Konrad touched his lips with his clasped hands and then swept his arm. "I am convinced
that this is the reason why Papa is unable to trust him: Dahl is a western, intellectual,
humanist, a Kopfmensch, who shows no feelings and permits himself no intuitive spontaneity.
He decides between good and evil with his head—a decidedly dangerous person!"
Alexandra smiled and said mockingly. "Are you serious in thinking that Kopfmenschen
are dangerous? I have tried all these years to control my emotions with my head."
Konrad waved his head. "Yes and no. Kopfmenschen believe they make predictable,
rational decisions, which, without their knowledge, may be badly distorted by their suppressed
emotions."
He laughed briefly. "With you this is an entirely different matter, you are so openly
emotional that a little head-control is desirable for your own good. As long as you are aware
that you make decisions emotionally everything is all right. It is when you lose your head that
you become dangerous to yourself. Your intuitive grasp of good and evil is in excellent health,
and you know that I rely on you more often than seems justified by my judgment. Your visions
may sometimes be crazy, but they are not distorted by inherited traumata as Dahl’s are—a
fortunate circumstance you probably owe to your father who loves you so consummately."
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