The essence of independence has been to think and act according to standards from within, not without: to follow one's own path, not that of the crowd.

Inevitably it follows that anyone with an independent mind must become 'one who resists or opposes an authority or established convention': a rebel. ...And if enough people come to agree with—and follow—the REBEL, we now have a DEVIL. Until, of course, still more people agree. And then, finally, we have ... GREATNESS.

Can all this just be an accident? Or could there be some alien intelligence behind it?

Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more.

We look for the Secret - the Philosopher's Stone, the Elixir of the Wise, Supreme Enlightenment, 'God' or whatever...and all the time it is carrying us about...It is the human nervous system itself.

...reality is always plural and mutable.