any one grain of sand or star. It is that which is eternal, or in the true
sense of the word that which is divine in us, that endures in all changes,
that makes all change possible, for without something that endures in
change, there could be no change; without something continuous, that
persists through transformation, nothing could be transformed. The Self is
the bond that unites all souls, the red thread which runs through all
being, and the knowledge of which alone gives us knowledge of our true
nature. "Know thyself" no longer means for us "Know thy ego," but "Know
what lies beyond thy ego, know the Self," the Self that runs through the
whole world, through all hearts, the same for all men, the same for the
highest and the lowest, the same for creator and creature, the _Atman_ of
the Veda, the oldest and truest word for God.

For this reason the Horseherd was to me what all men have always been to
me--an appearance of the Self, the same as I myself, not only a
fellow-creature, but a fellow-man, a fellow-self. Had I met him in life,
who knows whether his ego or his appearance would have attracted me as
much as his letter. We all have our prejudices, and much as I honour a
Silesian peasant who has spent his life faithfully and honestly in a
strange land, I do not know whether I should have sat down by his iron
stove and chatted with him about {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}.

I also felt as I read his letter, that it was not a solitary voice in the
desert, but that he spoke in the name of many who felt as he felt, without
being willing or able to express it. This also has proved to be entirely
true.

Judging by the numerous letters and manuscripts that reach me, the
Horseherd was not alone in his opinions. There are countless others in the
world of the same mind, and even if his voice is silenced, his ideas
survive in all places and directions, and he will not lack followers and
defenders. The striking thing in the letters that reached me was that the
greater number and the most characteristic among his sympathisers did not
wish their names to be known. What does this signify? Do we still live on
a planet on which we dare not express what we hold to be the truth--planet
Terra so huge