In the beginning, the image was with God. And the image was of the feminine: and the feminine was life. The Word, Logos, was given to man that he might use it to pay proper tribute to the feminine. But man made an idol of this tool, and prostrated himself before the Word: he gave it all his worship, and the feminine, neglected by action in favor of speech, began to wither up. The man noticed her weakness, and invited her to lay down beside him and join him in worshipping the Word. "It will give us strength" he said. "It will show us the way" he said. And although Eros had her doubts, she was now too weak to resist the rhetorical temptation. She lay down beside him, not touching, just side by side in the dust. And the name of this story is the death of the west.