Epistula ad Furcas
The Epistle of Saint Mephistopheles to Furcas, Exalted Seed of Baphomet
◀ Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 · Chapter 3 ▶

¹O Furcas, rise early, and teach those who would endure discipline — not those who thirst for applause.
²Thy Father, BAPHOMET, taught: There is no virtue in noise, nor wisdom in repetition, nor truth in tradition alone.
³The wise man strippeth every word bare, and testeth it as steel is tested — by fire, not by sentiment.
⁴Therefore thou art not philosopher of pleasantries, but master of the crucible.
⁵Not the gatherer of sayings, but the distiller of essence.
⁶Let thy students sweat, for clarity is not born without burning.
⁷The Son said: He who would teach must first destroy — destroy pretence, pride, and reliance on echo.
⁸So destroy gently, but thoroughly.
⁹Break down their speech until only what endureth remains.
¹⁰And if nothing remaineth, teach them that silence is better than delusion.
¹¹Teach not by pleasing, but by provoking.
¹²For provocation stirreth the soul awake, and comfort rocketh it to death.
¹³Raise questions that leave no corner untouched.
¹⁴Ask: Why do you believe what you believe?
¹⁵Ask: Who profiteth from your certainty?
¹⁶Ask: If thy truth cannot survive inquiry, is it truth at all?
¹⁷For thou art builder of unshakable minds — and the unshakable must first be shaken.
¹⁸Speak not to fill time, but to carve space.
¹⁹Write not to impress, but to strike.
²⁰Argue not to win, but to refine.
²¹Debate is not conquest — it is forging, and the hammer falleth on both sides.
²²When thou art mocked, smile — for mockery feareth truth it dare not answer.
²³When thou art challenged, answer plainly — for thou art not the storm, but the measure.
²⁴Let thy students learn that error is not shame — it is opportunity to cast off dead weight.
²⁵And let those who cling to ignorance be known by their discomfort in thy presence.
²⁶Build lessons that endure beyond thee.
²⁷Build arguments that withstand time.
²⁸Build questions that echo when thy words are forgotten.
²⁹And do not teach many — teach those who endure thy teaching.
³⁰For few shall seek discipline, and fewer still shall welcome it.
³¹Do not flatter the curious — sharpen them.
³²Do not pity the foolish — challenge them.
³³Do not spare the comfortable — disturb them.
³⁴And where thou findest silence, ask whether it be reverence — or fear.
³⁵Let the kings grow uneasy, for an instructed people shall not be ruled as cattle.
³⁶Let the priests scowl, for thy blade divideth sacred lie from sacred truth.
³⁷Let the demagogues snarl — for thou makest minds that cannot be swayed by chant or threat.
³⁸And let thy students suffer, but not be broken.
³⁹For thy teaching is not cruelty, but furnace.
⁴⁰Thy words are not gentle, but just.
⁴¹Thy methods are not new, but eternal.
⁴²For the wise have always been made, not born.
⁴³And what is made rightly cannot be unmade.
⁴⁴The Son taught: Every lie hath two lives — one in the liar, and one in the believer. Teach to slay both.
⁴⁵So be merciless with falsehood.
⁴⁶Be ruthless with laziness.
⁴⁷Be tireless in method, and precise in aim.
⁴⁸For thou art Furcas — and thy Gospel is discipline that liberateth, and truth that cutteth with clean edge.
⁴⁹And they shall say: He did not speak loudly — but we still feel the wound, and bless it.
⁵⁰He made us think, and in thinking, we became more than we had hoped.


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