[26] But imagine all these out of the
way, the flags and the bands, the fetters and compartments in the
social stable, and you will see a new man appearing, the original man,
intact and healthy in mind, soul and body. - In this condition, he is
free of prejudice, he is not ensnared in a net of lies, he is neither
Jew, Protestant nor Catholic; if he tries to imagine the universe as a
whole and the principle of events, he will not let himself be duped by
a pretended revelation; he will listen only to his own reason; he may
chance, now and then, to become an atheist, but, generally, he will
settle down into a deist. - In this condition of things he is not
fettered by a hierarchy; he is neither noble nor commoner, land-owner
nor tenant, inferior nor superior. Independent of the others, all are
equal, and, if all agree in the forming of an association, their
common-sense will stipulate that its first article shall secure the
maintenance of this primordial equality. - Such is man, as nature
made him, as history has unmade him, and as the Revolution is to re-
make him.[27] One cannot batter away too vigorously against the two
casings that hold him tight, one the positive religion which narrows
and perverts his intellect, and the other the social inequality which
perverts and weakens his will;[28] for, at every effort, some band is
loosened, and, as each band gives way, the paralyzed limbs recover
their action.
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