Sermon 16
For this was the dawn of Resdaynia, when Chimer and Dwemer lived under the wise and benevolent rule of ALMSIVI and Her champion, the Hortator. And Ayem would ever guide the Hortator, closer to him than his jugular vein. This is the first of the three lessons of ruling kings:
"Do not be lured into wakefulness. This is the illusion. God is the dreamer, and yet, Her burden is knowledge. We are the shards of thought and memory, straining towards the centre, towards wholeness. Disunity is the way of the Sharmat, for it separates us from ourselves, and thus the divine.
"According to the Codes of Boethiah, there can be no value but for God. She is the insurer of cosmic value. No life has meaning but what we assign to it. For this reason there are red-jungled empires which sacrifice weeping children to rain gods. This is their right, for their collective will has named this justice.
"The true power of the Namer lies in the shape they give. Words are scrawled on the soul to declare ownership. Thus is the cataloguist worse than a rapist. Do not be blinded by theory. The Deep Ones would transfigure you into an algorithm in the equation of identity. This is the straight path, the easy path. It is wide and welcoming and weathered with deceit. The true path is narrow and manifold, narrow as a child's pelvis, narrower still at the point of equilibrium, which is ephemeral as butterfly wing dust.
"There are those who will join the Sharmat at the centre, climb the Tower of self-thought. Here lies the Mouth of Hell, eager to swallow you. There is no centre but what you make it. Define this place, thrust your sceptre into the earth, inherit it. Here is your Tower, here is your Catharsis.
"Only the golden-eyed perceive division between the sacred and the profane. According to the Codes of Boethiah, all is devoured by the maw of time, which is God. What we consume does not change us, does not shackle us. Only man cares for control.
"You may not understand this now, but the Wheel of Ages turns onwards, heedless of the prayers oiling its axle. Your heart is heavy, and made of the earth-bones. It strikes the pool of possibility, sending out infinite reality-ripples. Swim in the riptide, relinquish yourself to it, and you shall return, again and again, till you are able to laugh at heaven.
"I can offer only love, which is weak. It is powerless before the sword and the flame. Armour yourself in love, and you will know pain unending. This is the secret to life everlasting, which proceeds through Me. The belly of God is a many-roomed mansion, never filled. Even as the battered hosts whirl in the star chambers and the halls of solid music, God remains hungry. Emulate God, and you shall have a key to the gateless gate, which opens only to you, and those who walk as you.
"Remember the Sharmat loves you, though you deny this. It is his love which drives him to dance on the graves of your ancestors. Hate is but a pale shadow of love, and cannot inspire true evil. But evil is only a difference of opinion, an ideal you shall embody till the thief presses a blade to your neck."
The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.