“It crouches near the center of creation. There is no night where it waits. Only the riddle of which terrible dream will set it loose. It beheaded mercy to take possession of that place. It feasts on darkness from the minds of men. No one has ever seen its eyeless face. When it sleeps we know a few moments of peace. But when it breathes again we go down in fire and mate with jackals. It knows our fear. It has our number. It waited for our coming and it will abide long after we have become congealed smoke. It has never heard music, and shows its fangs when we panic. It is the beast of our savage past, hungering today, and waiting patiently for the mortal meal of all our golden tomorrows. It lies waiting.” ― Harlan Ellison, The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World. June 1968
Bible verse Romans 11:32 is the Mercy equation beheaded in many cases.
Romans 11:32 says, "For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all" (ESV). This verse, the culmination of Paul's argument in Romans 1-11, explains that God, in His wisdom and sovereignty, allowed both Jews and Gentiles to be subject to disobedience so that He could extend His mercy universally to everyone.
Gentiles / Infidels / Non-believers / All inclusive / Everyone.
Source: Joseph Campbell age 81 in 1986 - The Power of Myth, published in 1988 - page 36
BILL MOYERS: That would explain the other inscription down there, "Novus Ordo Sedorum."
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: "A new order of the world." This is a new order of the world. And the saying above, "Annuit Coeptis," means "He has smiled on our accomplishments" or "our activities."
BILL MOYERS: He --
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: He, the eye, what is represented by the eye. Reason. In Latin you wouldn't have to say "he," it could be "it" or "she" or "he." But the divine power has smiled on our doings. And so this new world has been built in the sense of God's original creation, and the reflection of God's original creation, through reason, has brought this about.