e the entire universe. And that may be the ultimate destiny of man: to conquer and rule the entire universe. That is how wonderful man is. I-And, if you had been telling this story only one hundred years ago, you would have been telling only of the paradise to come, and not of how we will reconstruct the damage to the world on our way to this paradise. The story as we know so far is: The world was made for man to conquer and rule, and under human rule it was meant to become a paradise.....but. It has always been followed by a 'but'. Because, the Takers have always perceived that the world was far short of the paradise it was meant to be. And, the story has an explanation of why the conquest of the world has resulted in destruction. Man was bound to screw it up; there is something fundamentally wrong with man. Man was destined to turn the world into paradise but tragically he was born flawed and so the paradise has always been spoiled by greed and shortsightedness. And yet, the conclusion that man is flawed is based on his taking evidence from only recent history, a small portion of his actual history. I propose to you that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with people. Given a story to enact that puts them in accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a story that puts them at odds with the world, as yours does, they will live at odds with the world. Given a story to enact in which they are the lords of the world, they will act like the lords of the world. And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------I-One of the most striking features of the Taker culture is its passionate and unwavering dependence on prophets. There is no tradition whatever of prophets rising up among...
