858. The word "homosexuality" is really the word used by society in general to describe the whole of the aforementioned "spring awakening", with all its ramifications of divergences from so-called "natural" sexuality. As society in general has not hitherto possessed the slightest ability to understand what it actually was it was witnessing, and it was therefore able to view everything that differed from their own sexuality as only "delusions" that had to be combated with full force, almost more strongly than robbers and murderers, society became very harsh judges and persecutors of this sexuality and prosecuted it with judicial laws, prison and the death penalty.
      But what was the judicial punishment itself compared with the torture and disgrace it had to be for the homosexual to go through the public ridicule of legal proceedings and be held up to its friends, relatives and everyone else who meant anything to him as a kind of monster that should as soon as possible be cast out of human society? What was it to be a thief, robber or murderer, compared with such disgrace? No, society in general was too closely related to these thieves, robbers and murderers or had far too much of their nature in themselves, for them to be considered "unnatural", even though it was of course necessary to punish them to prevent them from getting out of hand. But if a being had a slightly stronger sympathy for a being of their own sex than was usual, it was an unheard-of audacity, a downright demonic tendency to undermine the continuance of the race or the species. And how should the representatives, moral guardians and legislators of such an ignorant general public have any other kind of attitude, as they themselves still flourished with a sympathy for the opposite sex that was not always controlled in a completely decent way, and they still had the "rutting buck's" antipathy towards members of their own sex? And for the perpetrators of gossip, such disclosures were the most rewarding topic of all. What situation could outdo such news or bring greater success than the disclosure of a being's sexual divergence from the "herd"? Would not the report of some citizen's financial affairs or marital troubles, his bankruptcy or divorce be worn-out clichés compared with this matchless news? What sensation could penetrate deeper into the darkest corners of basements and attics, of shops and workplaces? The "fallen" Adam and Eve would most certainly end up feeling "naked". And hundreds upon hundreds of beings have frozen to death as a result of the icy chill of this ignorance, or with strong legal authority directly executed, and with waves of gossip have been compelled to commit suicide or be ostracised by society. But no one is to blame in this matter. The purpose of the principle of world redemption is merely to show that such persecutors belong to the group of those who "know not what they do".