“Jesus, Artisan of Hoaxes, Bandit of Homage, Robber of Affection, hear! Since the day when thou didst issue from the complaisant bowels of a Virgin, thou hast failed all thine engagements, belied all thy promises. Centuries have wept, awaiting thee, fugitive God, mute God! Thou wast to redeem man and thou hast not, thou wast to appear in thy glory, and thou sleepest. Go, lie, say to the wretch who appeals to thee, ‘Hope, be patient, suffer; the hospital of souls will receive thee; the angels will assist thee; Heaven opens to thee.’ Impostor! thou knowest well that the angels, disgusted at thine inertness, abandon thee! Thou wast to be the Interpreter of our plaints, the Chamberlain of our tears; thou wast to convey them to the Father and thou hast not done so, for this intercession would disturb thine eternal sleep of happy satiety.”

Là-bas, Joris-Karl Huysmans

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last-twist-of-the-knife:

Faust: So still I seek the force, the reason governing life’s flow; and not just its external show.
Devil: The governing force? The reason? Some things cannot be known; they are beyond your reach even when shown.
Faust: Why should that be so?
Devil: They lie outside the boundaries that words can address; & man can only know those thoughts which language can express.
Faust: What? Do you mean that words are greater yet than man?
Devil: Indeed they are.
Faust: Then what of longing, affection, pain or grief. I can’t describe these, yet I know they are in my breast. What are they?
Devil: Without substance, as mist is.
Faust: In that case man is only air as well.  [reads] What has made me thirst then to be instructed in those things that are more than thirst allows?
Devil: Your thirst is artificial, fostered by the arrogance in you. So look no further than all your human brothers do: sleep, eat, drink, and let that be sufficient.
Faust: Liar and foul traitor, where are the pulse and core of nature you promised to reveal? Where?
Devil: Faustus, you lack the wit to see them in every blade of grass.

Jan Švankmajer – Faust (1994)

“I promise you everything. You shall see and receive everything if you go my way. But my way is difficult because perfection is difficult.”

So spoke the “evil” god, so spoke the light bringer and Satan—as Paraclete.

The Synagogue of Satan, Stanislaw Przybyszewski

“The “bad” god is lawlessness, contrariness and visionary leaps into the future. He is the curiosity that seeks after the most hidden mysteries and the boundless titanic defiance that overthrows all laws and rules. He is the highest wisdom and the deepest depravity. He is the wildest pride and speechless humility; that is the only way for man to thwart the rules. He sanctifies the high and daring, the zealous and calls it heroism. He teaches man that there is no crime except that of going against one’s own nature. He sanctifies curiosity and calls it science; He lets man investigate into his own origins and calls it philosophy. He allows and teaches everything in the streambed of sexuality without bounds and calls it art.”

The Synagogue of Satan, Stanislaw Przybyszewski