wonders, which
must have been the cooking room of the house.

We did this work alone, for no words of ours could take the Golden One
away from the big glass which is not glass. They stood before it and
they looked and looked upon their own body.

When the sun sank beyond the mountains, the Golden One fell asleep on
the floor, amidst jewels, and bottles of crystal, and flowers of silk.
We lifted the Golden One in our arms and we carried them to a bed, their
head falling softly upon our shoulder. Then we lit a candle, and we
brought paper from the room of the manuscripts, and we sat by the
window, for we knew that we could not sleep tonight.

And now we look upon the earth and sky. This spread of naked rock and
peaks and moonlight is like a world ready to be born, a world that
waits. It seems to us it asks a sign from us, a spark, a first
commandment. We cannot know what word we are to give, nor what great
deed this earth expects to witness. We know it waits. It seems to say
it has great gifts to lay before us. We are to speak. We are to give its
goal, its highest meaning to all this glowing space of rock and sky.

We look ahead, we beg our heart for guidance in answering this call no
voice has spoken, yet we have heard. We look upon our hands. We see the
dust of centuries, the dust which hid great secrets and perhaps great
evils. And yet it stirs no fear within our heart, but only silent
reverence and pity.

May knowledge come to us! What is this secret our heart has understood
and yet will not reveal to us, although it seems to beat as if it were
endeavoring to tell it?

Chapter Eleven

I am. I think. I will.

My hands... My spirit... My sky... My forest... This earth of mine....

What must I say besides? These are the words. This is the answer.

I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head and I spread
my arms. This, my body and spirit, this is the end of the quest. I
wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. I wished to
find a warrant for being. I need no warrant for being, and no word of
sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.

It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the
earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its
song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the judgment of my
mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth. It is my will
which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only