The Fall Religion Quotes Page 3
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph). We used Justin O'Brien's translation.
| Quote #7 In solitude and when fatigued, one is after all inclined to take oneself for a prophet. When all is said and done, that’s really what I am, having taken refuge in a desert of stones, fogs, and stagnant waters – an empty prophet for shabby times, Elijah without a messiah, choked with fever and alcohol, my back up against this moldy door, my finger raised toward a threatening sky, showering imprecations on lawless men who cannot endure any judgment (5.22). |
In van Eyck’s painting, John the Baptist appears twice. In one panel, he has his finger pointed toward the divine figure. Jean-Baptiste can be seen as a perversion of John the Baptist, a man with no God to serve, a man who takes the place of God himself.
| Quote #8 Ah, mon cher, for anyone who is alone, without God and without a master, the weight of days is dreadful. Hence one must choose a master, God being out of style (6.14). |
Jean-Baptiste has presented a solution to this problem – himself! He’ll tell people what to do; he’ll be everyone’s master. But who is Jean-Baptiste’s God? Who is telling him what to do? He’s judging himself, but he can effectively become his own master? Probably not. It looks like that’s your job.
| Quote #9 This is why, très cher, after having solemnly paid my respects to freedom, I decided on the sly that it had to be handed over without delay to anyone who comes along. And every time I can, I preach in my church of Mexico City, I invite the good people to submit to authority and humbly to solicit the comforts of slavery, even if I have to present it as true freedom (6.17). |
This goes back to Jean-Baptiste’s earlier discussion in Chapter Three about "slavery with a smile." Have slaves, he says, but let them think that they are free men. He is doing the same thing in his profession as a judge-penitent, and he claims to have just done the same thing with you.
