Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Beata Beatrix (1863)
No holy book has ever redeemed or enlightened anyone; occasionally, someone will however redeem one of the holy books, with the power of an awakened mind, with the power of an illuminated heart, with the power of a liberated body, but only by their own magnetism and for the span of that person's influence.
In and of themselves, the holy books are dead letters. They can be wielded as blunt instruments, with which to do harm, they can be used as drugs, with which to manipulate others and gain power for oneself, they can be used as camouflage, with which to hide from oneself and others who might offer real intimacy.
Love's revelation dwells within the temple of one's own being, and within the greater temple of Nature Herself, not in the dead letters of any holy book, or within any system spun from it.
Revelation can be pooled collectively, and poured out, but only in the now, and only from one's own experience, and no one can partake of it unless they pour it forth.
-- Richard Power
