Jean starts detailing the below story at about 10:45 minutes into the video
The slaves walked slowly in single file, every one of them carrying a polished stone. Four lines of them, each line stretching a kilometer and a half long, from the stone quarries to the site where construction on the walled city had begun.
Under the watchful eyes of armed guards, one military guard for every ten slaves. Off to one side, on the pinnacle of a 13-meter-high mountain, crafted out of polished stones, sat Cratius, one of the high priests.
For the past four months, he had been silently observing the construction activity. Nobody distracted him. Not a single person dared interrupt his contemplation, even with a sideways glance.
Both slaves and guards accepted this artificial mountain with its throne on top as a fixed feature of the landscape. And nobody paid attention to the figure either sitting motionless on the throne or walking to and from around the lookout platform atop the mountain.
Cratius had set himself the task of restructuring the state, consolidating the power of the priests for a millennium, subjugating to them all the people of the earth, turning all without exception, including national rulers, into slaves of the priests.
One day, Cratius came down from his throne, leaving a double in his place. The priest changed his clothes and took off his wig. He gave orders to the captain of the guard to have him bound in chains like a simple slave and placed in the line behind a strong young slave named Nard.
Looking into the faces of the various slaves, Cratius had noticed that this young man in particular had a penetrating and purposeful look, not a wandering or detached gaze as did many of the others.
Nard's countenance alternated between excitement and intense contemplation. That means he's hatching some kind of plan the priest realized, but he wanted confirmation of the accuracy of his observation.
For two days, running Cratius followed Nard's every move, silently hauling the stones, sitting beside him at mealtimes and sleeping next to him in the barracks.
On the third night, directly the sleep command had been given, Cratius turned to the young slave and in a tone of bitterness and despair whispered to no one in particular, “Will this situation keep up the rest of our lives?”
The priest watched as the young slave gave a shudder and suddenly turned to face him. His eyes were sparkling, which was noticeable even in the dim torchlight of the cavernous barracks.
“It won't last much longer, the young slave whispered back. I've been working out a plan and you, old fellow, can be part of it”.
“What sort of plan, the priest asked,” with a sign of indifference.
Nard began to explain with an air of confidence and enthusiasm. “You see, old man, soon you and I and all of us will be free men instead of slaves. Figure it out for yourself. There's just one guard for every 10 of us and one guard, too, for every 15 women slaves who do the cooking and the sewing.
“When the time comes, if we all fall upon the guards at once, we can overpower them. It makes no difference that the guards are armed and we're in chains. We outnumber them ten to one, and our chains can also be used as weapons to shield us from the blows of their swords. We'll disarm all the guards, tie them up, and seize their weapons”.
“Hold on there, young man”, Cratius sighed again and added with feigned indifference. “Your plan isn't completely thought through. Sure, you can disarm the guards watching over us, but it won't be long before the ruler sends in replacements. A whole army, maybe. And he'll have the insurgents killed”.
“I've thought of that too, old man. We'll have to choose a time when the army's not around, and that time is coming. We've all noticed how the army's preparing for a campaign. They're getting provisions ready for a three-month trek. That means that in three months, the army will arrive at its destination and engage the enemy in combat. It will be weakened in battle, but it will be victorious and bring back many new slaves. They're already building new barracks to house them.
“We have to start disarming the guards just as soon as our ruler's army goes into battle. The couriers will need at least a month to come, to go call it home, and it will take at least three months after that for the weakened army to return.
“By the time the four months are up, we'll be ready to meet them. We'll have at least as many fighters as there are in the army. The slaves they seized will want to join us when they see what's happened. I thought it all out in advance, old man.
“I see, young fellow, with your plan you can disarm the guards and overpower the army”, the priest answered, already sounding more cheerful, and then added, “but what will become of the slaves after that? And what will happen with the rulers, the guards, and the soldiers?”
“I haven't given too much thought to that. Only one thing comes to mind, though. Whoever was a slave in the past will become a free man. Whoever is not a slave today will be a slave tomorrow”, replied Nard with some hesitation as though thinking aloud.
“But what about the priests? Tell me, young man, after your victory, will they be slaves or not?”
“The priests? Haven't thought about that either, but now I'm thinking the priests can stay where they are. The slaves and rulers listen to them. Sometimes they're hard to understand, but I get the feeling they're harmless. Let them keep on telling their stories about the gods, but we know best how to live our lives and have a good time”.
“Have a good time, that's great”, responded the priest and pretended he couldn't wait to get to sleep.
But there was no sleep for Cratius that night, only contemplation. Sure, he thought, the simplest course of action would be to report this to the ruler and have them seize this young slave. He's clearly the chief instigator.
But that won't solve the problem. The slaves will always have the desire to be freed from bondage. New leaders will emerge, new plans will be hatched. And as long as that goes on, the main threat to the state will always be from within.
Cratius was faced with the challenge of working out a plan to enslave the whole world. He realized there was no way he could attain his goal through physical compulsion alone. What he needed to do was exert a psychological influence on every single individual, on whole nations of people.
He had to bring about the thought of every single human being to the notion that slavery is the highest bliss. He had to launch a self-developing program to disorient whole nations in space, time, and ideas, especially in their literal perception of reality.
Cratius’ thought was working faster and faster. He was no longer conscious of his body or the heavy chains on his arms and legs. And all of a sudden, like a bolt of lightning, a program came to his thought.
Even though all the details were still to be worked out and he could not yet explain it to anyone else, he could already feel it within, exploding off the scale.
Cratius was now feeling himself to be the omnipotent ruler of the world. Lying on his bunk in chains, he was full of self-exaltation. Tomorrow morning, when they're escorting us all to work, I'll give the secret signal and have the guards captain take me out of the line and remove the chains.
I'll finalize my program, say a few words, and the world will start to change. Incredible. Just a few words and the whole world will be subject to me, to my thoughts.
God really has given to man a power unequaled in the universe, the power of human thought. It brings forth words which can change the course of history. The situations turned out very well indeed.
The slaves have prepared their plan of insurrection. It's logical, this plan, and is clearly capable of leading to an interim result very favorable to them. But with just a few words, I shall ensure that not only they, but their future descendants and the rulers of the earth too will be slaves for millennia to come.
In the morning, on Cratius’ signal, the captain of the guard freed him from his chains. The very next day, the five other priests, along with the pharaoh, were invited to his observation platform.
Cratius began his speech before the gathering as follows, “What you are about to hear must not be noted down or passed along by any of you. There are no walls around us and my words will be heard by no one but you.
“I have thought up a way of turning all people living on the earth into slaves of our Pharaoh. That is not something one can do even with the aid of vast numbers of troops and exhausting wars, but I shall accomplish it with a few simple sentences.
“All I need to do is utter them, and just two days later, you will see how the world has begun to change. Take a look down there, and you will see long lines of slaves and chains, each slave carrying a stone. They're guarded by a host of soldiers.
“The more slaves there are, the better for the state, or so we always thought. But the more slaves there are, the more we have to be afraid of their rebelling. So we increase the size of our guard. We are obliged to feed our slaves well, otherwise they will not be able to perform their heavy manual labor.
“But still they are lazy and inclined to rebellion. See how slowly they move? And the guards have become lazy and do not bother using their whips to beat even the strongest and healthiest slaves. They will soon be moving much more quickly. They won't need any guards. The guards themselves will be turned into slaves.
“This can be effected in the following way. Before sunset today, heralds will be sent out everywhere to proclaim the Pharaoh's decree. With the dawn of the new day, all slaves will be granted complete freedom. For each stone brought to the city, the free men will receive one coin. The coins may be exchanged for food, clothing, housing, a palace in town, or even a whole town. From here on in, you are free people”.
After the priests had let Cratius' words sink in, one of them, the eldest, said, “You are a demon, Cratius. The demonry resulting from your plan will cover most of the nations of the world”.
“So I may indeed be a demon and what i have thought up people in the future will call democracy!
At sunset the decree was proclaimed to the slaves. They were astounded many of them could not sleep at night thinking about the new and happy life that lay ahead of them
The next morning the priests and the pharaoh once again climbed up to the lookout platform atop the artificial mountain. They could not believe the scene unfolding before their eyes.
Thousands of former slaves chasing one after the other, hauling the same stones as before. Dripping with sweat, many of them were carrying two stones apiece. Others, with only one stone in their hands, were literally running, kicking up the dust as they ran.
Some of the guards were also hauling stones. These people, who now considered themselves free, after all. They were no longer in chains, strove to obtain as many of the sought-after coins as they could, so they could build a happy life for themselves.
Cratius remained at his post on the platform for several months after that, continuing to observe with satisfaction what was going on below.
The transformation was colossal. Some of the slaves had organized themselves into groups and built themselves carts. Then they piled stones on top of the carts and pushed them along, their skin covered in sweat.
They will invent many more devices, Cratius thought to himself with satisfaction.
Internal services have already started food and water delivery. Some slaves have been eating right on the go, not wanting to waste time going back to the barracks for a meal and paying for the food delivery with the coins they've earned.
Wow, they've also got doctors going around offering help to people with physical needs, right on the spot, also for coins. And they've appointed themselves traffic regulators.
Soon they'll be choosing their own rulers and judges. Let them choose. After all, they consider themselves free now. Whereas nothing has really changed. They're still hauling the same stones as before.
And so they have been running down through the millennia right up to the present day, through the dust, sweating to carry the heavy stones. And today the descendants of those slaves still keep up their senseless running.
Jean goes on to say, “This is the system that we have. It wasn’t built by humans for humans. It wasn’t built to uplift you, to help you expand, to help you become the best possible version of yourself” … and I suggest you listen to the rest of Jean Nolan’s vision of what should have been!
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