And now the second piece, which is called "Definition."
Totalitarianism is the highest, up to now,
degree of development and blossoming of the State.
The State is God marching into the world
as Hegel was one to say.
A State interests itself passionately, and with great
detail, in the lot of its citizens.
It inundates them with specific instructions on how to live,
what to believe in, what to think, how to dress,
which stores to frequent, where and where not to vacation,
which books to read and which not to read,
which paintings to look at.
It casts an unfriendly eye on all the movements and troubles
of its citizens.
It prohibits their gatherings and demonstrations.
It is widely jealous of its citizens, wants to have them
all to itself under its exclusive care.
The citizens, on the other hand, study their state
with equal passion.
They observe their state with distress and greedy curiosity.
They watch it day and night, write poems and novels
about it, dream and talk about it,
anticipate all of its moves and intentions.
The pages of books devoted to it are full of distaste,
but then the State's reports are not
at all flattering to the citizens either.
Neither side likes the other, yet both are interested.
The State doomed to its citizenry,
the citizens dependent on their State.
If, therefore, the state were to be the true marriage of God
in the world, the Gnostics who believed
the world had been created by an evil demon would be right.
They who have become intimately acquainted with the highest
state of development of the State
are convinced God does not merge.
He is motionless.