Speaker 1: Chapter eleven of Anthem. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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Speaker 1: Cadin von Klegg Anthem by Einrand, Chapter eleven. I am
Speaker 1: I think, I will, my hands, my spirit, my sky,
Speaker 1: my forest, this earth of mine. What must I say?
Speaker 1: Besides these are the words? This is the answer. I
Speaker 1: stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift
Speaker 1: my head and I spread my arms. This my body
Speaker 1: and spirit. This is the end of the quest. I
Speaker 1: wish to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning.
Speaker 1: I wished to find a warrant for being. I need
Speaker 1: no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon
Speaker 1: my being. I am the warrant and the action. It
Speaker 1: is my eyes which see, and the sight of my
Speaker 1: eyes grants beauty to the earth. It is my ears
Speaker 1: which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its
Speaker 1: song to the world. It is my mind which thinks,
Speaker 1: and the judgment of my mind is the only searchlight
Speaker 1: that can find the truth. It is my will which chooses,
Speaker 1: and the choice of my will is the only edict.
Speaker 1: I must respect. Many words have been granted me, and
Speaker 1: some are wise, and some are false, but only three
Speaker 1: are wholly. I will it whatever road I take. The
Speaker 1: guiding star is within me. The guiding star and the lodestone,
Speaker 1: which point the way, they point in, but one direction
Speaker 1: they point to me. I know not of this earth
Speaker 1: on which I stand is the core of the universe,
Speaker 1: or if it is but a speck of dust lost
Speaker 1: in eternity. I know not, and I care not, for
Speaker 1: I know what happiness is possible to me on earth,
Speaker 1: and my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate. My
Speaker 1: happiness is not the means to any end. It is
Speaker 1: the end. It is its own goal, it is its
Speaker 1: own purpose. Neither am I the means to any end
Speaker 1: others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool
Speaker 1: for their use. I am not a servant of their needs.
Speaker 1: I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am
Speaker 1: not a sacrifice on their altars. I am a man.
Speaker 1: This miracle of me is mine to own and keep,
Speaker 1: and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine
Speaker 1: to kneel before. I do not surrender my treasures, nor
Speaker 1: do I share them. The fortune of my spirit is
Speaker 1: not to be blown into coins of brass and flung
Speaker 1: to the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit.
Speaker 1: I guard my treasures, my thought, my will, my freedom,
Speaker 1: and the greatest of these is freedom. I owe nothing
Speaker 1: to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them.
Speaker 1: I ask none to live for me, nor do I
Speaker 1: live for any others. I covet no man's soul, nor
Speaker 1: is my soul theirs to cove. I am neither foe
Speaker 1: nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of
Speaker 1: them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love,
Speaker 1: my brothers must do more than to have been born.
Speaker 1: I do not grant my love without reason, nor to
Speaker 1: any chance passerby who may wish to claim it. I
Speaker 1: honor men with my love, but honor is a thing
Speaker 1: to be earned. I shall choose friends among men, but
Speaker 1: neither slaves nor masters. I shall choose only such as
Speaker 1: please me and them. I shall love and respect, but
Speaker 1: neither command nor obey. And we shall join our hands
Speaker 1: when we wish, or walk alone when we so desire.
Speaker 1: For in the temple of his Spirit, each man is alone.
Speaker 1: Let each man keep his temple untouched and undefiled. Then
Speaker 1: let him join hands with others if he wishes, but
Speaker 1: only beyond his holy threshold. For the word we must
Speaker 1: never be spoken save by one's choice and as a
Speaker 1: second thought. This word must never be placed first within
Speaker 1: man's soul, else it become a monster, the root of
Speaker 1: all the evils on earth, the root of man's torture
Speaker 1: by men, and of an unspeakable lie. The word we
Speaker 1: is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens
Speaker 1: to stone, and crushes all beneath it. And that which
Speaker 1: is white and that which is black are lost equally
Speaker 1: in the gray of it. It is the word by
Speaker 1: which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by
Speaker 1: which the weak steal the might of the strong, by
Speaker 1: which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages. What
Speaker 1: is my joy if all hands, even the unclean, can
Speaker 1: reach into it? What is my wisdom? If even the
Speaker 1: fools can dictate to me? What is my freedom? If
Speaker 1: all creatures, even the botched and impotent, are my masters?
Speaker 1: What is my life? If I am but to bow,
Speaker 1: to agree, and to obey. But I am done with
Speaker 1: this creed of corruption. I am done with the monster
Speaker 1: of we. The word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery,
Speaker 1: falsehood and shame. And now I see the face of God,
Speaker 1: and I raise this God over the earth, This God
Speaker 1: whom men have sought since men came into being, This
Speaker 1: God who will grant them joy and peace and pride.
Speaker 1: This God, this one word ay, end of chapter eleven.
Speaker 1: Recording by Catin von Clegg The Lunar Island dot blogspot
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