But the death mask belongs to that limbo land between the animate being and its inert mass.

This doctrine, at its most benign, lowered the priority of people in a universe full of other animate beings deserving attention.

The most widespread system, however, has four classes: male, female, animate beings and certain objects, and finally a class for the remaining nouns.

When the eyes are closed, fantastically vivid images appear: first geometrical forms and then landscapes, buildings, animate beings, and symbolic objects.