12-23-2012, 09:08 AM
Thank you for your feedback, tectak. Your suggested line doesn't really convey what I want to. The narrator's heart, like the temple, wasn't full but empty. The imagined desert slaughters affront his reason and empathy, meaning that, though he wants to buy into the pamphlet's philosophy, he finds that he can't. Your comment has given me a lot to think about in terms of how I can more directly convey what I mean, so thank you again.
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." - Gene Wolfe