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."Gaze into the Void and call itmother.""But that's an animal!" I protested."You can't compare its life with that of aman.""Can't I? I suppose you will say that other creatures have merely a spark ofvitality, while man has a soul, hand-forged by deity, which can be slipped inand out of him like a knife with its sheath.""Well," I said, embarrassed and troubled, "I don't know that I believe in a soulexactly.""But you like to think that there's something so precious about you that thecosmos can't spare it.You know your body won't survive, but something tellsyou that your own private unit of life will be picked in Time by the cherishingpower that made it." He nudged the Void with his elbow."This is your creator.Find love and warmth in it if you can, for in the end you're going back to it."I looked backward up the steps leading cheerlessly to my past, then out atthe bleakness which stood for the future.Whether he takes the trouble toreason about it or not, or whether he wants to believe in it or not, it is thenature of man to think there's a chance of escaping oblivion.The denial of thatchance did not stir my emotions, however.I merely felt like someone, alreadydestitute, who discovers there's something else for him to lose."That's all there is to it?" I said quietly."Every bit of it." He stirred the little grub in his right hand with a finger of theleft."If you want to claim that the life in you is a soul, salute your spiritualequal here; for the animating impulse which sets you both in meaninglessmotion is one and the same."My shrug was honest evidence of the way I felt."Why tell me about it?""Why! Because once you understand that man is no pet of uncaring divinity,you can appreciate the absurdity of men's moral pretensions.How they lovethem and strut beneath the burden! Even those who lay claim to skepticismwhere deity is concerned they often more earnestly than the rest, as thoughto make up for it will ask whether man is living up to his responsibilities andwill soberly use such phrases as 'the destiny of man.'"With a snap of his forefinger he launched the grub into space.Thinking ofthat endless fall, I couldn't help wincing.He saw that and grinned."There's your destiny of man, and your responsibility is neither more nor lessthan that of the Void, which made you and will redistribute your dead particles,alike with fish-eyed indifference."Not because I disbelieved him, but because he was enjoying himself where Icould not, I glowered at him."Is this what you brought me in the cave to see?""Only incidentally.You had to comprehend that humanity was createdsoulless before you could savor the irony of people whose chief affliction is thebelief that they are spiritual beings." As abruptly as if I had been causing thedelay rather than he, he grasped my arm once more."It's time to see thecitizenry of the Pit."The countless stairs were the stairs of a jail; but in the grim fashion of prisonarchitecture they offered security.Not so much could be said of the path attheir foot.Without preamble it dipped over the rim and down the inside of a vast cylinder.To envisage something of my unhappiness, it is necessary to envisagedescending into a volcano by means of a trail carved sparingly from the stonelining.Ahead all I could see was the path coiled downward until it disappearedin smoke.From somewhere below there arose a confusion of noises.Some I wasunable to identify, while others sounded like human shrieks and shouts.Although I did not like standing on so narrow a ledge, I can luckily do suchwithout losing control of my faculties.The Abyss in itself, possessingdimensions, was less terrifying than the Void.I studied it as well as the limitedvisibility would permit, then looked at Faustopheles.He in turn was watchingme keenly."Do many people live down there?" Determined to give him as littlesatisfaction as possible, I spoke coolly."A good few.""I can't say I blame them, but they don't seem to enjoy it."His eyes clouded, and I could see that he was concerned with his ownthoughts rather than mine."They do not, Silverlock, but you can't blame it allon the accommodations.Put a halo on one of these; lap them in the sweet air ofElysium; let divine maidens serve them and love them or if they themselvesare women, let them be Houris or Valkyries; and still they would not be happy."His expression grew sardonic."And do you know why that is?"I wanted to be flippant, but couldn't quite manage it."No.""Because they wouldn't even know where they were.They don't know wherethey are now; and if you asked an inmate of the crowded dungeons we're aboutto visit, he would swear he was in solitary confinement.Can you give me theanswer to that one?""No," I repeated."Because they've reached the dead end of being, which is to be able to thinkof nothing but oneself.Let's descend now."Keeping a shoulder to the wall, I followed him as he circled downward.Soon Iwas breathing fumes; but my lungs seemed to have the power to digest them,for I didn't cough.Nor did my eyes water, in spite of the fact that the smoke wasthick enough to be opaque at a moderate distance.It was this which preventedme from seeing how a vast loft had been cut into the rock until we were on alevel with it.Obeying my guide's gesture, I left the path and paused with him to lookaround.Not much of the smoke which billowed in the Abyss entered here, so Iwas able to see that what I witnessed close at hand was in mass production on ahuge scale.The sight was such that I would have fled to escape it, butFaustopheles grabbed me.Sick with horror, I accompanied him.Seated on each of the blocks of stone scattered at intervals throughout theplace was a man or a woman.They sat with their heads in their hands, gazingat the floor and mumbling to themselves.Except when they were subjected totorture, that is.This was administered by one of a corps of demons, red andnaked, tailed and horned.One would step behind a man, say, and begindrilling through the top of his head.The victim did not struggle, though heusually stopped mumbling and sat up, wide-armed and sightless.He wouldhold this mesmerized pose until his torturer removed the drill and poured something into the hole that had been made.Whatever it was, it had the effectof nitroglycerine on the door of a safe.It burst the lid of the skull, so that thefour parts stood erect to display a red hot and pulsing brain.When thishappened the victim screamed and commenced babbling some wildconfessional.At its conclusion the top flaps of the brain pan would close andknit again.Then the sufferer would quiet and go on talking to himself.I couldn't help continuing to show my dismay, and as usual this putFaustopheles into what with him passed for a good humor."This is the roost forbirds who have done something which makes no sense when viewed with therest of their lives in mind, and which, by the same token, renders the rest oftheir lives senseless." He chuckled."We'll pick one out and hear it sing."At this callous proposal my repugnance became anger."No!" I shouted."No,damn you!"Instead of taking offense, he snatched me to him and laughed in my face."Listen, mannikin; I've been damned by an expert; and besides, you shouldnever waste a curse on anything too big for it." After giving me that advice, hepeered about [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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."Gaze into the Void and call itmother.""But that's an animal!" I protested."You can't compare its life with that of aman.""Can't I? I suppose you will say that other creatures have merely a spark ofvitality, while man has a soul, hand-forged by deity, which can be slipped inand out of him like a knife with its sheath.""Well," I said, embarrassed and troubled, "I don't know that I believe in a soulexactly.""But you like to think that there's something so precious about you that thecosmos can't spare it.You know your body won't survive, but something tellsyou that your own private unit of life will be picked in Time by the cherishingpower that made it." He nudged the Void with his elbow."This is your creator.Find love and warmth in it if you can, for in the end you're going back to it."I looked backward up the steps leading cheerlessly to my past, then out atthe bleakness which stood for the future.Whether he takes the trouble toreason about it or not, or whether he wants to believe in it or not, it is thenature of man to think there's a chance of escaping oblivion.The denial of thatchance did not stir my emotions, however.I merely felt like someone, alreadydestitute, who discovers there's something else for him to lose."That's all there is to it?" I said quietly."Every bit of it." He stirred the little grub in his right hand with a finger of theleft."If you want to claim that the life in you is a soul, salute your spiritualequal here; for the animating impulse which sets you both in meaninglessmotion is one and the same."My shrug was honest evidence of the way I felt."Why tell me about it?""Why! Because once you understand that man is no pet of uncaring divinity,you can appreciate the absurdity of men's moral pretensions.How they lovethem and strut beneath the burden! Even those who lay claim to skepticismwhere deity is concerned they often more earnestly than the rest, as thoughto make up for it will ask whether man is living up to his responsibilities andwill soberly use such phrases as 'the destiny of man.'"With a snap of his forefinger he launched the grub into space.Thinking ofthat endless fall, I couldn't help wincing.He saw that and grinned."There's your destiny of man, and your responsibility is neither more nor lessthan that of the Void, which made you and will redistribute your dead particles,alike with fish-eyed indifference."Not because I disbelieved him, but because he was enjoying himself where Icould not, I glowered at him."Is this what you brought me in the cave to see?""Only incidentally.You had to comprehend that humanity was createdsoulless before you could savor the irony of people whose chief affliction is thebelief that they are spiritual beings." As abruptly as if I had been causing thedelay rather than he, he grasped my arm once more."It's time to see thecitizenry of the Pit."The countless stairs were the stairs of a jail; but in the grim fashion of prisonarchitecture they offered security.Not so much could be said of the path attheir foot.Without preamble it dipped over the rim and down the inside of a vast cylinder.To envisage something of my unhappiness, it is necessary to envisagedescending into a volcano by means of a trail carved sparingly from the stonelining.Ahead all I could see was the path coiled downward until it disappearedin smoke.From somewhere below there arose a confusion of noises.Some I wasunable to identify, while others sounded like human shrieks and shouts.Although I did not like standing on so narrow a ledge, I can luckily do suchwithout losing control of my faculties.The Abyss in itself, possessingdimensions, was less terrifying than the Void.I studied it as well as the limitedvisibility would permit, then looked at Faustopheles.He in turn was watchingme keenly."Do many people live down there?" Determined to give him as littlesatisfaction as possible, I spoke coolly."A good few.""I can't say I blame them, but they don't seem to enjoy it."His eyes clouded, and I could see that he was concerned with his ownthoughts rather than mine."They do not, Silverlock, but you can't blame it allon the accommodations.Put a halo on one of these; lap them in the sweet air ofElysium; let divine maidens serve them and love them or if they themselvesare women, let them be Houris or Valkyries; and still they would not be happy."His expression grew sardonic."And do you know why that is?"I wanted to be flippant, but couldn't quite manage it."No.""Because they wouldn't even know where they were.They don't know wherethey are now; and if you asked an inmate of the crowded dungeons we're aboutto visit, he would swear he was in solitary confinement.Can you give me theanswer to that one?""No," I repeated."Because they've reached the dead end of being, which is to be able to thinkof nothing but oneself.Let's descend now."Keeping a shoulder to the wall, I followed him as he circled downward.Soon Iwas breathing fumes; but my lungs seemed to have the power to digest them,for I didn't cough.Nor did my eyes water, in spite of the fact that the smoke wasthick enough to be opaque at a moderate distance.It was this which preventedme from seeing how a vast loft had been cut into the rock until we were on alevel with it.Obeying my guide's gesture, I left the path and paused with him to lookaround.Not much of the smoke which billowed in the Abyss entered here, so Iwas able to see that what I witnessed close at hand was in mass production on ahuge scale.The sight was such that I would have fled to escape it, butFaustopheles grabbed me.Sick with horror, I accompanied him.Seated on each of the blocks of stone scattered at intervals throughout theplace was a man or a woman.They sat with their heads in their hands, gazingat the floor and mumbling to themselves.Except when they were subjected totorture, that is.This was administered by one of a corps of demons, red andnaked, tailed and horned.One would step behind a man, say, and begindrilling through the top of his head.The victim did not struggle, though heusually stopped mumbling and sat up, wide-armed and sightless.He wouldhold this mesmerized pose until his torturer removed the drill and poured something into the hole that had been made.Whatever it was, it had the effectof nitroglycerine on the door of a safe.It burst the lid of the skull, so that thefour parts stood erect to display a red hot and pulsing brain.When thishappened the victim screamed and commenced babbling some wildconfessional.At its conclusion the top flaps of the brain pan would close andknit again.Then the sufferer would quiet and go on talking to himself.I couldn't help continuing to show my dismay, and as usual this putFaustopheles into what with him passed for a good humor."This is the roost forbirds who have done something which makes no sense when viewed with therest of their lives in mind, and which, by the same token, renders the rest oftheir lives senseless." He chuckled."We'll pick one out and hear it sing."At this callous proposal my repugnance became anger."No!" I shouted."No,damn you!"Instead of taking offense, he snatched me to him and laughed in my face."Listen, mannikin; I've been damned by an expert; and besides, you shouldnever waste a curse on anything too big for it." After giving me that advice, hepeered about [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]