[Cont'd from previous post]
"'This is the significance of the first question in the wilderness, and this is what thou hast rejected for the sake of that freedom which thou hast exalted above everything. Yet in this question lies hid the great secret of this world. Choosing "full employment," thou wouldst have satisfied the universal and everlasting craving of America -- to find someone to worship. So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone to worship. But man seeks to worship what is established beyond dispute, so that all men would agree at once to worship it. For these pitiful creatures are concerned not only to find what one or the other can worship, but to find community of worship is the chief misery of every American individually and of all humanity from the beginning of time. For the sake of common worship they've slain each other with the sword. They have set up corporations and challenged one another, "Put away your corporations and come and worship ours, or we will buy you and your corporations!" And so it will be to the end of the corporate world, even when corporations disappear from the earth; they will fall down before cult gurus just the same. Thou didst know, thou couldst not but have known, this fundamental secret of American nature, but thou didst reject the one infallible banner which was offered thee to make all Americans bow down to thee alone- the banner of earthly jobs; and thou hast rejected it for the sake of freedom and the jobs of Heaven. Behold what thou didst further. And all again in the name of freedom! I tell thee that Americans are tormented by no greater anxiety than to find some employer quickly to whom he can hand over that gift of freedom with which the ill-fated creatures are born. But only one who can appease their conscience can take over their freedom. In employment there was offered thee an invincible banner; give bread, and America will worship thee, for nothing is more certain than bread. But if someone else gains possession of her conscience -- Oh! then she will cast away Thy bread and follow after him who has ensnared her conscience. In that thou wast right.
For the secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for. Without a stable conception of the object of life, Americans would not consent to go on living, and would rather destroy themselves than remain on earth, though they had jobs in abundance. That is true. But what happened? Instead of taking Americans' freedom from them, thou didst make it greater than ever! Didst thou forget that Americans prefer peace, and even death, to freedom of choice in the knowledge of good and evil? Nothing is more seductive for Americans than their freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering. And behold, instead of giving a firm foundation for setting the conscience of Americans at rest for ever, thou didst choose all that is exceptional, vague and enigmatic; thou didst choose what was utterly beyond the strength of Americans, acting as though thou didst not love them at all -- thou who didst come to give thy life for them! Instead of taking possession of Americans' freedom, thou didst increase it, and burdened the spiritual kingdom of America with its sufferings for ever. Thou didst desire Americans' free love, that they should follow thee freely, enticed and taken captive by Thee. In place of the rigid ancient law, Americans must hereafter with free heart decide for themselves what is good and what is evil, having only thy image before them as their guide. But didst thou not know that they would at last reject even thy image and thy truth, if they are weighed down with the fearful burden of free choice? They will cry aloud at last that the truth is not in thee, for they could not have been left in greater confusion and suffering than thou hast caused, laying upon them so many cares and unanswerable problems.
"'So that, in truth, thou didst thyself lay the foundation for the destruction of thy kingdom, and no one is more to blame for it. Yet what was offered thee? There are three powers, three powers alone, able to conquer and to hold captive for ever the conscience of these impotent rebels for their happiness. Those forces are fame, mystery and authority. Thou hast rejected all three and hast set the example for doing so. When the wise and dread spirit offered thee a primetime interview and said to thee, "If thou wouldst know whether Thou art the next Oprah Winfrey then take the plunge, for it is written: the public shall hold him up lest he flop and bruise himself, and thou shalt know then whether thou art a crack pundit and shalt prove then how great is thy wisdom in world affairs." But thou didst refuse and wouldst not show off. Oh, of course, thou didst proudly and well, like Jesus; but the weak, unruly race of Americans, are they gods? Oh, thou didst know then that in taking one step, in making one movement to hype thyself, thou wouldst be yielding to them and have lost all thy credibility, and wouldst have been dashed to pieces before that public opinion which thou didst come to save. And the wise spirit that tempted thee would have rejoiced. But I ask again, are there many like thee? And couldst thou believe for one moment that Americans, too, could face such a temptation? Is the nature of Americans such, that they can reject fame, and at the great moments of their life, the moments of their deepest, most agonising spiritual difficulties, cling only to the free verdict of the heart? Oh, thou didst know that thy deed would be recorded in books, would be handed down to remote times and the utmost ends of the web, and thou didst hope that Americans, following thee, would cling to Truth and not ask for fame. But thou didst not know that when Americans reject fame they reject Truth too; for Americans seek not so much truth as the famous. And as Americans cannot bear to be without the famous, they will create new celebrities of their own for themselves, and will worship deeds of punditry and
televangelism, though they might be a hundred times over rebels, subversives and infidels. Thou didst not come out of the sidelines when they shouted to thee, mocking and reviling thee, "Come out of the woods and we will believe that thou art an expert." Thou didst not come out, for again thou wouldst not enslave Americans by fame, and didst crave faith given freely, not based on fame. Thou didst crave for free love and not the base raptures of the slave before the might that has overawed him for ever. But thou didst think too highly of Americans therein, for they are slaves, of course, though rebellious by nature. Look round and judge; fifteen years have passed, look upon them. Whom hast thou raised up to thyself? I swear, Americans are weaker and baser by nature than thou hast believed them! Can they, can they do what thou didst? By showing them so much respect, thou didst, as it were, cease to feel for them, for thou didst ask far too much from them -- thou who hast loved them more than thyself! Respecting them less, thou wouldst have asked less of them. That would have been more like love, for their burden would have been lighter. They are weak and vile. What though they are everywhere now rebelling against our power, and proud of their rebellion? It is the pride of a child and a schoolboy. They are little children rioting and barring out the teacher at school. But their childish delight will end; it will cost them dear. Mankind as a whole has always striven to organise a universal state. There have been many great nations with great histories, but the more highly they were developed the more unhappy they were, for they felt more acutely than other people the craving for world-wide union. The great conquerors, Timours and Ghenghis-Khans, whirled like hurricanes over the face of the earth striving to subdue its people, and they too were but the unconscious expression of the same craving for universal unity. Hadst thou taken the world and Mammon's money, thou wouldst have founded the universal state and have given universal peace. For who can rule Americans if not he who holds their conscience and their livelihoods in his hands? We have taken the money of Mammon, and in taking it, of course, have rejected thee and followed him. Oh, ages are yet to come of the confusion of free thought, of their science and cannibalism. For having begun to build their tower of Babel without us, they will end, of course, with cannibalism. But then the beast will crawl to us and
lick our feet and spatter them with tears of blood. And we shall sit upon the beast and raise the cup, and on it will be written, "Mystery." But then, and only then, the reign of peace and happiness will come for Americans. Thou art proud of thine elect, but thou hast only the elect, while we give rest to all. And besides, how many of those elect, those mighty ones who could become elect, have grown weary waiting for thee, and have transferred and will transfer the powers of their spirit and the warmth of their heart to the other camp, and end by raising their free banner against thee. Thou didst thyself lift up that banner. But with us all will be happy and will no more rebel nor destroy one another as under thy freedom. Oh, we shall persuade them that they will only become free when they renounce their freedom to us and submit to us. And shall we be right or shall we be lying? They will be convinced that we are right, for they will remember the horrors of slavery and confusion to which thy freedom brought them. Freedom, free thought, and science will lead them into such straits and will bring them face to face with such marvels and insoluble mysteries, that some of them, the fierce and rebellious, will destroy themselves, others, rebellious but weak, will destroy one another, while the rest, weak and unhappy, will crawl fawning to our feet and whine to us: "Yes, you were right, you alone possess His mystery, and we come back to you, save us from ourselves!"
"'Receiving jobs from us, they will see clearly that we take the works made by their hands from them, to give it to them, without any miracle. They will see that we do not change the stones to bread, but in truth they will be more thankful for taking it from our hands than for employment itself! For they will remember only too well that in old days, without our help, even the livelihoods they got turned to waste in their hands, while since they have come back to us, the very idleness has turned to jobs in their communities. Too, too well will they know the value of complete submission! And until Americans know that, they will be unhappy. Who is most to blame for their not knowing it?-speak! Who scattered the flock and sent it astray on unknown paths? But the flock will come together again and will submit once more, and then it will be once for all. Then we shall give them the quiet humble happiness of weak creatures such as they are by nature. Oh, we shall persuade them at last not to be proud, for thou didst lift them up and thereby taught them to be proud. We shall show them that they are weak, that they are only pitiful children, but that childlike happiness is the sweetest of all. They will become timid and will look to us and huddle close to us in fear, as chicks to the hen. They will marvel at us and will be awe-stricken before us, and will be proud at our being so powerful and clever that we have been able to subdue such a turbulent flock of thousands of millions. They will tremble impotently before our wrath, their minds will grow fearful, they will be quick to shed tears like women and children, but they will be just as ready at a sign from us to pass to laughter and rejoicing, to happy mirth and childish song. Yes, we shall set them to work, but in their leisure hours we shall make their life like a child's game, with children's prayers and innocent talkshows. Oh, we shall allow them even sin, they are weak and helpless, and they will love us like children because we allow them to sin. We shall tell them that every sin will be expiated, if it is done with our permission, that we allow them to sin because we love them, and the punishment for these sins we take upon ourselves. And we shall take it upon ourselves, and they will adore us as their saviours who have taken on themselves their sins before God. And they will have no secrets from us. We shall allow or forbid them to live with their wives and mistresses, to have or not to have children according to whether they have been obedient or disobedient- and they will submit to us gladly and cheerfully. The most painful secrets of their conscience, all, all they will bring to us, and we shall have an answer for all. And they will be glad to believe our answer, for it will save them from the great anxiety and terrible agony they endure at present in making a free decision for themselves. And all will be happy, all the millions of creatures except the hundred thousand who rule over them. For only we, we who guard the mystery, shall be unhappy. There will be thousands of millions of happy babes, and a hundred thousand sufferers who have taken upon themselves the curse of the knowledge of truth and lie. Peacefully they will die, peacefully they will expire in thy name, and beyond the grave they will find nothing but death. But we shall keep the secret, and for their happiness we shall allure them with the reward of heaven and eternity. Though if there were anything in the other world, it certainly would not be for such as they. It is prophesied that thou wilt come again in victory, thou wilt come with thy chosen, the proud and strong, but we will say that they have only saved themselves, but we have saved all. We are told that the harlot who sits upon the beast, and holds in her hands the mystery, shall be put to shame, that the weak will rise up again, and will rend her royal purple and will strip naked her loathsome body. But then I will stand up and point out to thee the thousand millions of happy children who have known no sin. And we who have taken their sins upon us for their happiness will stand up before thee and say: "Judge us if thou canst and darest." Know that I fear Thee not. Know that I too have been in the wilderness, I too have lived on roots and locusts, I too prized the freedom with which thou hast blessed Americans, and I too was striving to stand among thy elect, among the strong and powerful, thirsting "to make up the number." But I awakened and would not serve madness. I turned back and joined the ranks of those who have corrected thy work. I left the proud and went back to the humble, for the happiness of the humble. What I say to thee will come to pass, and our dominion will be built up. I repeat, tomorrow thou shalt see that gullible flock who at a sign from me will hasten to heap up the hot cinders about the pile on which I shall flame thee for coming to hinder us. For if anyone has ever deserved our flak, it is thou. Tomorrow I shall slam thee. Dixi.'"
Joey stopped. He was carried away as he talked, and spoke with excitement; when he had finished, he suddenly smiled.
Adapted from:
tameri.com |
