At another time I said to God, "I wish to beg for forgiveness," and God said, "I have cut human beings off from me, so that they speak of the forgiveness of God while completely in the dark and doubly blind." I said, "How may I know if I am forgiven?" God said, "Religion is something human beings do on their own to express their innermost selves. For each human being has a cosmos in his heart, a tiny cosmos in his heart, in her heart; and human beings made up religion on their own to express this cosmos; but I am silent toward them, and no one can know me at all: for all are in darkness and no one has eyes." I said, "Are we exiles, then?" but God did not answer, but fell silent; and I was very much disturbed, for I knew I was cut off from God, that the human condition is separation from God in a cold cold place, and exile in a cold cold place.