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Show &4* not show; that was what made him so dangerous. I remembered him ^Z^ ckxf~s*.T L<Miu~a eyes as being very tall, dark and handsome,; he was probably as charismatic as my father. Ervil had even developed a doctrine, had written books and pamphlets to make Ben's delusions into realities. Oh, it was truly a case of the blind leading the blind. I remembered reading speculations that Hitler had been someone else's puppet, that he had put into practice the mad plots of an elite group of philosophers which preceded him. I shuddered, thinking of what people will do for their leaders and of what leaders will . . people do -W A?«m . I poured hot water for my Sanka and sat down with the hot cup between my cold hands. Again I shuddered uncontrollably as I looked out on the bleak, snow-patched ground. The house was quiet. Becky was staying overnight at Danny's; the baby had fallen asleep. Suddenly I was struck with a notion of madness that surpassed any mental disorder I had studied in college, that was more pervasive even than the psychological disgrace and social corruption of Vietnam. Imagine, I thought, a man who manipulates every existing scripture, who lays claim to every set of concepts on the face of the earth, and uses them to augment his own power. Imagine a man with words at his disposal, words like Alpha and Omega, with images like the City of Enoch on the North Star and the bottomless pit in the Gulf of Mexico. Imagine a man so enthralled with his own intelligence and righteousness that he assumes the right to control others, to force the People of the earth to do the will of God. Imagine that the man is mad, that he claims all reason while having none, that ne claims all legitimacy while having none. Imagine a man who uses the concepts of goodness to perform the worst crimes. |