Liber Aleph

THE BOOK OF WISDOM OR FOLLY 125 Dt De Ordine Civitatum (Of the Ordering of States) O presently, O my son, this first Organisation among Men, by a Procedure parallel to that of the Differentiation of Protoplasm, made the State competent to explore and to control Nature; and every Profit of this sort released more Energy, and enlarged the Class of the Learned, until, as it is this Day, only a small Proportion of any man’s Work must needs go to the satisfaction of first Will essential and common, the Provision of Shelter, Food, and Protection. Verily, also thou seest many Women made free to live as they will, even o the Admiration and Delight of the Sage whose eye laugheth to contemplate Mischief. Thus the duty of every Unit towards the whole is diminished, and also the necessity to conform with hose narrow Laws which preserve primitive Tribes in their struggle against Environ- ment. Thus the State need suppress only such Heresies as directly threaten its political Stability, only such modes of Life as work manifest and proven Hurt to others, or cause general Disorder by their Scandal. Therefore save and except he interferes thereby with the root Laws of common Weal, a man is free to develop as he will according to his true Nature. s