The God of the Machine - Tranche 13
Chapter VI, Excerpt 1 of 2
Liberty, Christianity, and the New World
Ideas precede accomplishment. If an idea contains a universal principle, it will merge races; if it cuts across an idea previously accepted, it will divide nations in fatal strife. Every major disaster is the result of inadequacy, error, or perversion of intelligence. An idea may be previsioned in a myth. America was a myth centuries before its physical reality was certified. Whether Plato invented Lost Atlantis or elaborated it from a scrap of folklore, it is equally inexplicable.
As recently as the end of the eighteenth century, it could be said that happiness in Europe was a new idea. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – what men found in America was the wish they had sent in anticipation. As the prerequisite of happiness, the hope of liberty was from the first placed in America. The effectual discovery of America was made by the enterprise of capitalism. The voyage of Columbus was like the leap of an electric spark across an arc.
Spain was electrocuted by receiving a high voltage of energy into a political mechanism without proper transmission lines and insulation. Making contact with America, Spain picked up a vast stored charge of energy in the form of precious metals. Every ordinance now applied in the name of a planned economy was tried on the same pretext of public necessity, with the inevitable consequences of stopping production; the people increasingly impoverished and reduced to hunger and rags.
Liberty, Christianity, and the New World
Ideas precede accomplishment. If an idea contains a universal principle, it will merge races; if it cuts across an idea previously accepted, it will divide nations in fatal strife. Every major disaster is the result of inadequacy, error, or perversion of intelligence. An idea may be previsioned in a myth. America was a myth centuries before its physical reality was certified. Whether Plato invented Lost Atlantis or elaborated it from a scrap of folklore, it is equally inexplicable.
As recently as the end of the eighteenth century, it could be said that happiness in Europe was a new idea. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – what men found in America was the wish they had sent in anticipation. As the prerequisite of happiness, the hope of liberty was from the first placed in America. The effectual discovery of America was made by the enterprise of capitalism. The voyage of Columbus was like the leap of an electric spark across an arc.
Spain was electrocuted by receiving a high voltage of energy into a political mechanism without proper transmission lines and insulation. Making contact with America, Spain picked up a vast stored charge of energy in the form of precious metals. Every ordinance now applied in the name of a planned economy was tried on the same pretext of public necessity, with the inevitable consequences of stopping production; the people increasingly impoverished and reduced to hunger and rags.
However in our current society, there is a significant portion that seem to think that logical thinking is "racist". We don't seem to have found the unifying principal ... or maybe it is just not accepted widely enough?
As politically incorrect as it may be, our society seems to be fragmenting into different cultures, largely, but not exclusively, along racial lines. One culture admires hard work, even (especially?) in manual labor. Another admires scholarship and higher education. And another wishes to merely be fed and clothed and not have to work for it. There are certainly others and subcategories within these.
Very true. May I quote you? That is a great, succinct description!
Christianity projects a son of God who has descended from heaven to Earth to save Humans from their evil nature. All inhabitants need do is give their lives to Jesus, obey his teachings and they will be rewarded with eternity in heaven with God.
With Plato, individuals are treated as cattle. With Christianity, individuals are treated as evil beings with a chance of redemption if they give up their individuality.
How could Paterson have written such an intelligent book about individualism while holding to her Christian beliefs?