Orual, we have heard your complaint: the gods now proclaim their judgement. I have sat and watched you throughout your journeys; I have seen all that about which you complain. When you and your sisters were but children, I watched as you played together. When Psyche was offered to Ungit, I was there. When you made Psyche swear the oath to look upon her husband in light, I was there. When you thus destroyed all her happiness, and selfishly declared that it was you, not she, who was the victim, I was there. I have heard your complaint; the gods have listened. But what have justly accused us of? That we destroyed your happiness? You destroyed it yourself. That we took from you Istra? She was not your own, but ours, to give to whomever we pleased, for our own purposes and glory. That we twisted the truth? Your own pride is responsible for that.
What is just in your complaint? What truth has ever been in your words? Can you not see that we, through our own designs, worked for the good of all? How much happier you would have been to let Psyche go! You would have been much more capable of loving her and being loved by her. You disordered the loves, and so your love became unrecognizable as such: it became hatred. Did you really think that the gods simply sought to make your life difficult for the mere sake of it? Did not the Fox--as many faults as he had--teach you how to think? Did you think we were gods only of men, and not also of reason? Were you thus incapable of reasoning that you, not we, were the source of all your difficulties? We provided the path to happiness and fulfillment beyond your comprehension, and yet you fought every step of the way. The very thing you were seeking--to love and to be loved by Psyche--you made impossible.
Lastly, you call us liars, gods who have twisted the truth. I am referring, of course, to the myth told you by the priest of Essur. Yes, I know well of it--for it was I myself who passed down the story, that the truth itself may be known. A twister of truth? Hardly! Rather, I reshaped what you yourself had twisted. What matters whether you and Redival were both present or not? Can you not see that the narrative details are not the purpose of the myth, only the means by which it is told? You ought rather have focused on the charge of selfishness, which you denied. I presented the truth to you in another light, since your own memory had long since precluded the possibility of perceiving the real truth. And yet you still did not see, you still did not grasp the meaning. You were selfish, jealous that Psyche had a life that was not centered around you. How could you not see that? Do you not know that happiness is impossible unless centered around its proper object? And what object could conceivably called proper except that of your Creator? You were jealous that Psyche had happiness, and rather than participate in her happiness--how much it would have brought you!--you sought instead to destroy it. But the value of the myth lies not only there. Why do you think Psyche was elevated to our level? Why should we call her a goddess? It is simply because she, by loving properly, loving as she ought, she became as we intended her. She became capable of loving as the gods are capable. I tried to make what was unclear to you clearer through the myth. How much more the priest of Essur understood than you! He participated in it; he enacted it; he perceived meaning you were not capable of perceiving. Why else should myths exist other than this, to reveal to you what you are ordinarily too blind to see?
And so it is we pronounce our judgment. We have heard your complaint, but it is time for you to be silent. You seek our answer? Listen. We believe you are still capable of it. But you must still make the effort to learn. We grant that you may live, but only until you learn the truth. For though you have been most unjust towards us, we nevertheless intend that you should understand. Your book, it is not finished: it must be, so that those in whose hands it may fall may gain wisdom. Now it contains only foolishness, but it will be that much more wise when it is contrasted with the truth we intend you to see. Go now, depart. Your trial is over. This is our judgment, that you should now listen, lest you remain forever a fool.
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