The judge smiled. Men are born for games. Nothing else. Every child knows that play is
nobler than work. He knows too that the worth or merit of a game is not inherent in
the game itself but rather in the value of that which is put at hazard. Games of chance
require a wager to have meaning at all. Games of sport involve the skill and strength of
the opponents and the humiliation of defeat and the pride of victory are in themselves
sufficient stake because they inhere in the worth of the principles and define them. But
trial of chance or trial of worth all games aspire to the condition of war for here that
which is wagered swallows up game, player, all.

Suppose two men at cards with nothing to wager save their lives. Who has not heard
such a tale? A turn of the card. The whole universe for such a player has labored
clanking to this moment which will tell if he is to die at that man's hand or that man
at his. What more certain validation of a man's worth could there be? This enhancement
of the game to its ultimate state admits no argument concerning the notion of fate. The
selection of one man over another is a preference absolute and irrevocable and it is a
dull man indeed who could reckon so profound a decision without agency or significance
either one. In such games as have for their stake the annihilation of the defeated the
decisions are quite clear. This man holding this particular arrangement of cards in his
hand is thereby removed from existence. This is the nature of war, whose stake is at
once the game and the authority and the justification. Seen so, war is the truest form of
divination. It is the testing of one's will and the will of another within that larger will
which because it binds them is therefore forced to select. War is the ultimate game
because war is at last a forcing of the unity of existence. War is god.

Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love.
And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.

But if in your heart you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, “God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.