"And all the rest is commentary."

"What do you mean?"

"It's complete now in itself. There's nothing more to be said, besides commentary on the original work."

"Is that what we're doing now?"

"Precisely. We're merely joining what we expect to be generations of scholars poring over these books, deciding what to make of them."

"And why would they do that?"

"Some to earnestly learn what we were trying to say, obviously. But also some who want to twist our writings to suit their own agendas."

"You expect a lot of that to happen?"

"Inevitably. Power is a seductive thing. Those using our books for their own ends might even overshadow the scholars, because their need to spread their point of view is greater."

"You speak as if there isn't much hope for your books then."

"We hope at its core, there are lessons to be learned by those who try to pervert our words, even during copying and translation."

"Wait, what do you mean by copying and translation?"

"We expect our books to be retold in many languages, and also to be copied many times. Those doing the translation and copying will realize they have a unique power to change how our work is perceived."

"That is somewhat of a frightening prospect."

"Even among those with ill intent, we hope some of the original message will pass on to them, push their thinking just a bit in the right direction."

"You hope to influence even the criminals."

"We hope especially to influence the criminals. Those who get along with their neighbors don't need our message nearly as much as those who act out of fear, anger, or hatred."

"You seem to be quite confident in what you have written."

"God willing, this will come to pass, but as we noted, all this is commentary."

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