“In one sense, of course, all intelligent ideas are
narrow. They cannot be broader than themselves. A Christian is only restricted
in the same sense that an atheist is restricted. He cannot think Christianity
false and continue to be a Christian; and the atheist cannot think atheism
false and continue to be an atheist. But as it happens, there is a very special
sense in which materialism has more restrictions than spiritualism….The
Christian is quite free to believe that there is a considerable amount of
settled order and inevitable development in the universe. But the materialist
is not allowed to admit into his spotless machine the slightest speck of
spiritualism or miracle….The Christian admits that the universe is manifold and
even miscellaneous, just as a sane man knows that he is complex. The sane man
knows that he has a touch of the beast, a touch of the devil, a touch of the
saint, a touch of the citizen. Nay, the really sane man knows that he has a
touch of the madman. But the materialist's world is quite simple and solid,
just as the madman is quite sure he is sane. The materialist is sure that
history has been simply and solely a chain of causation, just as the
interesting person before mentioned is quite sure that he is simply and solely
a chicken. Materialists and madmen never have doubts.”—English man of letters
(and Roman Catholic convert) Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936),
Orthodoxy
(1908)
No comments:
Post a Comment