R. Scott Bakker - Screens of tumbling water, breaking the world beyond them into...

Screens of tumbling water, breaking the world beyond them into glittering lines and smeared shadows. Kellhus had ceased trying to penetrate them. Power, Anasûrimbor Moënghus said, is always power over. When an infant may be either, what is the difference between a Fanim and an Inrithi? Or between a Nansur and a Scylvendi? What could be so malleable in Men that anyone, split between circumstances, could be his own murderer?You learned this lesson quickly. You looked across Wilderness and you saw thousands upon thousands of them, their backs bent to the field, their legs spread to the ceiling, their mouths reciting scripture, their arms hammering steel Thousands upon thousands of them, each one a small circle of repeating actions, each one a wheel in the great machine of nations You understood that when men stop bowing, the emperor ceases to rule, that when the whips are thrown into the river, the slave ceases to serve. For an infant to be an emperor or a slave or a merchant or a whore or a general or whatever, those about him must act accordingly. And Men act as they believe. You saw them, in their thousands, spread across the world in great hierarchies, the actions of each exquisitely attuned to the expectations of others. The identity of Men, you discovered, was determined by the beliefs, the assumptions, of others. This is what makes them emperors or slaves Not their gods. Not their blood. Nations live as Men act, Moënghus said, his voice refracted through the ambient rush of waters. Men act as they believe. And Men believe as they are conditioned. Since they are blind to their conditioning, they do not doubt their intuitions Kellhus nodded in wary assent. They believe absolutely, he said.

R. Scott Bakker

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Screens of tumbling water, breaking the world beyond them into glittering lines and smeared shadows. Kellhus had ceased trying to penetrate them. Power, Anasûrimbor Moënghus said, is always power over. When an infant may be either, what is the difference between a Fanim and an Inrithi? Or between a Nansur and a Scylvendi? What could be so malleable in Men that anyone, split between circumstances, could be his own murderer?You learned this lesson quickly. You looked across Wilderness and you saw thousands upon thousands of them, their backs bent to the field, their legs spread to the ceiling, their mouths reciting scripture, their arms hammering steel Thousands upon thousands of them, each one a small circle of repeating actions, each one a wheel in the great machine of nations You understood that when men stop bowing, the emperor ceases to rule, that when the whips are thrown into the river, the slave ceases to serve. For an infant to be an emperor or a slave or a merchant or a whore or a general or whatever, those about him must act accordingly. And Men act as they believe. You saw them, in their thousands, spread across the world in great hierarchies, the actions of each exquisitely attuned to the expectations of others. The identity of Men, you discovered, was determined by the beliefs, the assumptions, of others. This is what makes them emperors or slaves Not their gods. Not their blood. Nations live as Men act, Moënghus said, his voice refracted through the ambient rush of waters. Men act as they believe. And Men believe as they are conditioned. Since they are blind to their conditioning, they do not doubt their intuitions Kellhus nodded in wary assent. They believe absolutely, he said. R. Scott Bakker

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screens tumbling water breaking world glittering lines smeared shadows kellhus ceased penetrate power anasã»rimbor moã«nghus infant difference fanim inrithi nansur scylvendi malleable men split circumstances murderer learned lesson quickly looked wilderness thousands backs bent field legs spread ceiling mouths reciting scripture arms hammering steel small circle repeating actions wheel great machine nations understood stop bowing emperor ceases rule whips thrown river slave serve merchant whore general act hierarchies exquisitely attuned expectations identity discovered determined beliefs assumptions makes emperors slaves gods blood live voice refracted ambient rush waters conditioned blind conditioning doubt intuitions nodded wary assent absolutely

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