Chance or the Dance? by Thomas Howard

Author:Thomas Howard [Howard, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9781642290349
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2018-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Autocrats, Autonomy, and Acorns

But it is not a mere aesthetic shift that has occurred from the old to the new myth. That would be interesting enough, and food for long, taxing discussions. The shift has also redefined for us the way we think about what we are supposed to do, and the rationale we find for our attitudes and actions. It redefines, in other words, the moral question.

It can always be asked of a viewpoint what difference it makes. There are a thousand intriguing ideas (matter is a figment of somebody’s imagination; we are reincarnated incessantly; the moon is made of green cheese) that bid for our attention (and always win someone’s) whose effects are hard to trace in any practical way. We feel patronizing toward an idea that does nothing but call attention to itself and results in a group whose activity is a whispered and initiated sharing of “our” truth. To a certain extent, of course, this is inevitable; the most exalted and substantial ideas have this in common with the most ragtag and bobtail inventions, that they attract groups to themselves and become a center of focus, talk, and ritual. So that the Holy Synod of Russian Orthodoxy, the Americans for Democratic Action, the Ku Klux Klan, the local witchcraft society, the communist cell, and the Scientific Humanism study group may all be lumped together, according to one kind of analysis, as merely people drawn together by some common idea, seeing themselves as a group of illuminati and outsiders as more or less benighted. And, as long as they do nothing but talk to themselves about their ideas, and celebrate those ideas inside their temples, the rest of us don’t much mind one way or another. It is only when Marxism finally throws out tsarism, or when the witches hex our children, or Christians give us a cup of cold water, that we take any notice.

If four hundred years ago we had chanced upon a small group of intellectuals chatting excitedly over their ale about the idea that the proper study of mankind is man, and that the way to carry on that study is to rule out from the start all mythic and superstitious presuppositions and to lay down strict rules as to what may and may not be admitted into serious discussion (“facts”, yes; prophecies, omens, and angels, no)—if we had come across this, we would undoubtedly have tried to arrange a public burning. If we had been astute enough, we would have argued that that sort of talk could lead only to the eventual view that there was in fact nothing but these “facts” to be talked about, and that all our angels and gods and terrors would vanish, and what a perdition that would be for us all. Let us stamp out the evil now! Let us have these heretics to the stake at once!

And, while our method of countering the threat would have been a bit robust, our idea would have

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.