She eyed me unsparingly.
"Is it really? Is it bullshit to encourage people to seize control of their own lives, to view themselves as derivations of power instead of getting caught up in all the guilt of what is right and what is wrong?"
When I did not answer, she went on, "I teach people to empower themselves. I teach them to let go of sin and salvation, to learn how to find happiness now—in this world. True, some of it is…empurpled for the sake of creating wonder and awe, but what does that consent to, if the ends are achieved? People walk away from my classes feeling like gods and goddesses. They discover that within themselves, rather than selling out to some cold, hypocritical institution."
I could not even begin to develop a response, and it occurred to me that Helena and Shaman thought really alike, both of them displeased with the system that'd
spawned them, each of them protesting against it in different ways.
