The White, the Black, the Red, and the Green

Khatam Asam (d. 852) is remembered in Sulami's Tabaqat to have said:"Whoever would embrace our faith must undergo four kinds of death: white death, black death, red death, and green death. The white death is hunger; the black death is to endure the torment caused by other people; the red death is opposition to the lower self; and the green death is the sowing of a cloak from patches."

The Mazeppist remarks: It is by following the demands of our hunger that we find ourselves in society and, within that society, an audience. Once we have obtained an audience, we begin the struggle with the self. The rest is bricolage.