Chapter 1918 - Tears of the Gods - Part 7

A thought then, a supposition, that perhaps his understanding of progress was not all there. Once more a memory, from Dominus himself. He had said such a thing, hadn't he? That, implicit in any understanding of progress, there seemed to be the assumption of its own demise. Progress was that which could not be contained. Once one sought to cage it, understand it, and study it, the thing itself, as if by pure disagreeableness, would distort, and it would change. It existed only to surprise. Under a strange pressure, it did blossom and find corridors towards brilliance and towards – at times – towards terribleness, that none could foresee. It was the honest magic offered to normal men, without the possibility of ever exerting control over it.