首页
登录
职称英语
Yet the difference in tone and language must strike us, so soon as it is phi
Yet the difference in tone and language must strike us, so soon as it is phi
游客
2025-01-14
17
管理
问题
Yet the difference in tone and language must strike us, so soon as it is philosophy that speaks: that change should remind us that even if the function of religion and that of reason coincide, this function is performed in the two cases by very different organs. Religions are many, reason one. Religion consists of conscious ideas, hopes, enthusiasms, and objects of worship; it operates by grace and flourishes by prayer. Reason, on the other hand, is a mere principle or potential order, on which indeed we may come to reflect but which exists in us ideally only, without variation or stress of any kind. We conform or do not conform to it; it does not urge or chide us, not call for any emotions on our part other than those naturally aroused by the various objects which it unfolds in their true nature and proportion. Religion brings some order into life by weighting it with new materials. Reason adds to the natural materials only the perfect order which it introduces into them. Rationality is nothing but a form, an ideal constitution which experience may more or less embody. Religion is a part of experience itself, a mass of sentiments and ideas. The one is an inviolate principle, the other a changing and struggling force. And yet this struggling and changing force of religion seems to direct man toward something eternal. It seems to make for an ultimate harmony within the soul and for an ultimate harmony between the soul and all that the soul depends upon. Religion, in its intent, is a more conscious and direct pursuit of the Life of Reason than is society, science, or art, for these approach and fill out the ideal life tentatively and piecemeal, hardly regarding the goal or caring for the ultimate justification of the instinctive aims. Religion also has an instinctive and blind side and bubbles up in all manner of chance practices and intuitions; soon, however, it feels its way toward the heart of things, and from whatever quarter it may come, veers in the direction of the ultimate.
Nevertheless, we must confess that this religious pursuit of the Life of Reason has been singularly abortive. Those within the pale of each religion may prevail upon themselves, to express satisfaction with its results, thanks to a fond partiality in reading the past and generous draughts of hope for the future; but any one regarding the various religions at once and comparing their achievements with what reason requires, must feel how terrible is the disappointment which they have one and all prepared for mankind. Their chief anxiety has been to offer imaginary remedies for mortal ills, some of which are incurable essentially, while others might have been really cured by well-directed effort. The Greed oracles, for instance, pretended to heal our natural ignorance, which has its appropriate though difficult cure, while the Christian vision of heaven pretended to be an antidote to our natural death--the inevitable correlate of birth and of a changing and conditioned existence. By methods of this sort little can be done for the real betterment of life. To confuse intelligence and dislocate sentiment by gratuitous fictions is a short-sighted way of pursuing happiness. Nature is soon avenged. An unhealthy exaltation and a one-sided morality have to be followed by regrettable reactions. When these come, the real rewards of life may seem vain to a relaxed vitality, and the very name of virtue may irritate young spirits untrained in and natural excellence. Thus religion too often debauches the morality it comes to sanction and impedes the science it ought to fulfill.
What is the secret of this ineptitude? Why does religion, so near to rationality in its purpose, fall so short of it in its results? The answer is easy: religion pursues rationality through the imagination. When it explains events or assigns causes, it is an imaginative substitute for science. When it gives precepts, insinuates ideals, or remolds aspiration, it is an imaginative substitute for wisdom--I mean for the deliberate and impartial pursuit of all good. The condition and the aims of life are both represented in religion poetically, but this poetry tends to arrogate to itself literal truth and moral authority, neither of which it possesses. Hence the depth and importance of religion becomes intelligible no less than its contradictions and practical disasters. Its object is the same as that of reason, but its method is to proceed by intuition and by unchecked poetical conceits. [br] As used in the passage, the author would define "wisdom" as ______.
选项
A、the pursuit of rationality through imagination
B、an unemotional search for the truth
C、a purposeful and unbiased quest for what is best
D、a short-sighted way of pursuing happiness
答案
C
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3913139.html
相关试题推荐
Professionallanguagetranslatorslaborinabusinessthatisunorganizedand
Professionallanguagetranslatorslaborinabusinessthatisunorganizedand
Codeswitchingiswhenpeopleswitch,orchange,fromonelanguagetoanother
Codeswitchingiswhenpeopleswitch,orchange,fromonelanguagetoanother
Codeswitchingiswhenpeopleswitch,orchange,fromonelanguagetoanother
Codeswitchingiswhenpeopleswitch,orchange,fromonelanguagetoanother
TheWelshlanguagehasalwaysbeentheultimatemarkerofWelshidentity,but
Islanguage,likefood,abasichumanneedwithoutwhichachildatacritica
Islanguage,likefood,abasichumanneedwithoutwhichachildatacritica
Islanguage,likefood,abasichumanneedwithoutwhichachildatacritica
随机试题
Iamwritingtoyouto______(因让你失望而致歉).expressmyapologyforlettingyoudown由句
WhyMinorityStudentsDon’tGraduatefromCollege[A]BarryMills
女性生殖器结核的常见传播途径是A.直接蔓延 B.经血行传播 C.经淋巴传播
外国游客在华旅游期间因病死亡,地陪应做好的工作有()等。A.立即通知接待社 B
下列不属于商业银行董事会职责的是()。A.制定管理人员的职业规范 B.制
患者,男,40岁。结喉两侧各有1个3cmx2cmxlcm。表面光滑。质地韧,无压
十二烷基硫酸钠属于A.不是表面活性剂 B.非离子表面活性剂 C.两性离子表面
教育目的所要回答的根本问题是( )。A、教育的方向 B、教育为谁服务 C、
家庭生命周期中家庭成熟期阶段会产生的财务状况有()。A.收入增加而支出稳定,在
关于进行工作分析时所使用的访谈法的说法,正确的是( )。A.访谈法适用范围较窄
最新回复
(
0
)