I maintain that in my
books I actually do this as much as is possible, but I shall try and
do it still more. As a matter of fact, however, the Church clings to
the miraculous element of Christianity more fondly than ever; she
parades it more and more, and shows no sign of wishing to give up
even the smallest part of it. It is this which makes us despair of
being able to do anything with her and feel that either she or we
must go.
Gratitude and Revenge
Gratitude is as much an evil to be minimised as revenge is. Justice,
our law and our law courts are for the taming and regulating of
revenge. Current prices and markets and commercial regulations are
for the taming of gratitude and its reduction from a public nuisance
to something which shall at least be tolerable. Revenge and
gratitude are correlative terms. Our system of commerce is a protest
against the unbridled licence of gratitude. Gratitude, in fact, like
revenge, is a mistake unless under certain securities.
Cant and Hypocrisy
We should organise a legitimate channel for instincts so profound as
these, just as we have found it necessary to do with lust and revenge
by the institutions of marriage and the law courts. This is the
raison d'etre of the church. You kill a man just as much whether you
murder him or hang him after the formalities of a trial. And so with
lust and marriage, mutatis mutandis.
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