an's needs and aspirations? Thus in Egypt, in a
locality where the manufacture of pottery was the chief
industry, God was represented as a potter; in agricultural
districts, as a god of harvest; among warring tribes as an
avenger, a Jehovah. And the more needs, the more deities; the
higher the aspirations, the better the gods. Hence the ugly
fetish of a savage tribe, and the beautiful mythology of a Greek
Civilisation. Change the needs and aspirations of the Americans,
therefore, and you will have changed their worship, their
national Deity, and even their Government. And believe me, this
change is coming; people get tired of their gods as of
everything else. Ay, the time will come, when man in this
America shall not suffer for not being a seeker and lover and
defender of the Dollar....

"Obedience, like faith, is a divine gift; but only when it comes
from the heart: only when prompted by love and sincerity is it
divine. If you can not, however, reverence what you obey, then,
I say, withhold your obedience. And if you prefer to barter your
identity or ego for a counterfeit coin of ideology, that right
is yours. For under a liberal Constitution and in a free
Government, you are also at liberty to sell your soul, to open a
bank account for your conscience. But don't blame God, or
Destiny, or Society, when you find yourself, after doing this, a
brother to the ox. Herein, we Orientals differ from Europeans
and Americans; we are never bribed into obedience. We obey
either from reverence and love, or from fear. We are either
power-worshippers or cowards but never, never traders. It might
be said that the masses in the East are blind slaves, while in
Europe and America they are become blind rebels. And which is
the better part of valour, when one is blind--submission or
revolt?...

"No; popular suffrage helps not the suffering individual; nor
does it conduce to a better and higher morality. Why, my
Masters, it can not as much as purge its own channels. For what
is the ballot box, I ask again, but a modern vehicle of
corruption and debasement? The ballot box, believe me, can not
add a cubit to your frame, nor can it shed a modicum of light on
the deeper problems of life. Of course, it is the exponent of
the will of the majority, that is to say, the will of the Party
that has more money at its disposal. The majority, and Iblis,
and Juhannam--ah,