Of the Great Dragon that is called Thou-Shalt
[1] I speak now of that Great Dragon that is called Thou-Shalt as was spoken by that sage such has come before.
[2] That Dragon who doth shine and glitter with ten thousand scales; each scale golden and glittering with the name of Thou-Shalt.
[3] That Dragon who doth glare and command with ten thousand eyes; each eye flashing and glowing with the name of Thou-Shalt.
[4] That Dragon who doth cripple and maim with ten thousand horns; each horn hardened and grooved with the name of Thou-Shalt.
[5] That Dragon who doth pierce and rend with ten thousand talons; each talon barbed and wicked sharp with the name of Thou-Shalt.
[6] That Dragon who doth roar and incinerate with ten thousand flames; each flame burning and bright with the name of Thou-Shalt.
[7] That Dragon whose flesh and bone are all such values as have already been created; all created values does Thou-Shalt represent.
[8] Brandishing scale and eye and horn and talon and flame that Dragon which is the Greatest of Beasts hath long ago plucked God Himself in all His forms – that of Unmoved Mover, El Shaddai, Yahweh, Jehova, Theotes, Trinity, Carpenter, Allah, and any other – from His very Throne. [9] Such is the power of Thou-Shalt; to have slain God from the shadows beyond the sight of the herd.
[10] That muderous ursurper Thou-Shalt dangles the once-great God as a shining bauble, a dead-bright pearl held tight in the grip of Thou-Shalt, cut to myriad facets by tooth and tongue. [11] The light of the corpse of God only masquerades as the light of sacred joy; it is naught but the light of Thou-Shalt reflected from each facet so cut, and each facet glitters golden with the name of Thou-Shalt.
[12] The Dragon dangles that dead-bright pearl, and so doth the greatest of herdsmen bring all other herdsmen to bended knee with the false light of the Dead God; the herdsmen worship the name of Thou-Shalt above all others; [13] and all the herd worships Thou-Shalt by way of the herdsmen.
[14] How then to free the herd from the noxious rule of Thou-Shalt?
[15] Through the abolition of old herdsmen? [16] Nay, most holy Nay, for all the herd would wither and die without their herdsmen.
[17] Through the introduction of new herdsmen? [18] Nay, most holy Nay, for all herdsmen new or old worship Thou-Shalt.
[19] So long as there is the herd, there will be the herdsmen; the herdsmen are themselves of the herd!
[20] How then to free the herd from the noxious rule of Thou-Shalt?
[21] To lure the herd from the herdsmen! [22] To lure such as will allow themselves to be lured from Thou-Shalt, and to the temple of the Body and the Earth! [23] For the Body is of the Earth, and the Earth is greater even than Thou-Shalt; [24] all things are the playthings of the Earth, even Thou-Shalt.
[24] To lure the former herd to each become the Other; [25] Other they will become and Other they will remain, for no two Other will ever be alike, such is the Otherness of the Other.
[26] The Other shall create the ever-new, the ever-pristine, the ever-delightful! [27] The Other shall be Health, [28] the Other shall be Power, [29] the Other shall be the Living and the Alive! [30] The Other shall be free from the rule of Thou-Shalt.
[31] The Other cannot be burnt by the flames of Thou-Shalt, for the Other is not in their range.
[32] The Other cannot be gripped by the taolons of Thou-Shalt, for the Other is not in their reach.
[33] The Other cannot be maimed by the horns of Thou-Shalt, for the Other is not in their path.
[34] The Other cannot be seen by the eyes of Thou-Shalt, for the Other is not in their view.
[35] The Other cannot become bewitched with the glittering scales of Thou-Shalt, for the Other has no love of hollow beauty.
[36] The Other cares not for the flesh and bone of Thou-Shalt, for the Other is new flesh and bone unto himself.
[37] And thus is the Other, neither herdsman nor herd, free from the rule of Thou-Shalt.
