The first night after the failed events of The Quarry, Ryan found Dylan sitting alone by the lake. Dylan, who still had both hands, whose bite was healing, and who remained infected. And he felt guilty for what he'd done. He could never fault Ryan for his moral compass, but only himself, for loosing control.
But Ryan knew he was to blame. It wasn't Dylans fault, after all, he'd told him to cut his hand off. If Ryan had just done it, none of this would have happened. If he鈥檇 just listened, they would be alright.. right?
People are adept rationalizers, so insecure people seeking control are good at coming up with a rational account of what the other person has done wrong.
"You could have helped people," said Brutha. "But all you did was stamp around and roar and try to make people afraid. Like...like a man hitting a donkey with a stick. But people like Vorbis made the stick so good, that's all the donkey ends up believing in."
"That could use some work, as a parable," said Om sourly.
"This is real life I'm talking about!"
"It's not my fault if people misuse the--"
"It is! It has to be! If you muck up people's minds just because you want them to believe in you, what they do is all your fault!"