In modern ideal conceptions of society there are some desires that are
possibly not attainable: but there are some desires that are not desirable. That all men should live in equally beautiful houses is a dream
that may or may not be attained. But that all men should live in the same beautiful house is not a dream at all; it is a nightmare. That a man
should love all old women is an ideal that may not be attainable. But that a man should regard all old women exactly as he regards his mother is not only an unattainable ideal, but an ideal which ought not to be attained.
I
do not know if the reader agrees with me in these examples; but I will add the example which has always affected me most. I could never conceive or
tolerate any Utopia which did not leave to me the liberty for which I chiefly care, the liberty to bind myself. Complete anarchy would not
merely make it impossible to have any discipline or fidelity; it would also make it impossible to have any fun. To take an obvious instance, it
would not be worth while to bet if a bet were not binding. The dissolution of all contracts would not only ruin morality but spoil sport. Now betting
and such sports are only the stunted and twisted shapes of the original instinct of man for adventure and romance, of which much has been said in
these pages. And the perils, rewards, punishments, and fulfillments of an adventure must be real, or the adventure is only a shifting and heartless
nightmare. If I bet I must be made to pay, or there is no poetry in betting. If I challenge I must be made to fight, or there is no poetry in
challenging. If I vow to be faithful I must be cursed when I am unfaithful, or there is no fun in vowing. You could not even make a fairy
tale from the experiences of a man who, when he was swallowed by a whale, might find himself at the top of the Eiffel Tower, or when he was turned
into a frog might begin to behave like a flamingo.
For the purpose even of the wildest romance results must be real; results must be irrevocable.
Christian marriage is the great example of a real and irrevocable result; and that is why it is the chief subject and center of all our romantic
writing. And this
is
my last instance of the things that I should ask, and ask imperatively, of any social paradise; I should ask to be kept to my bargain, to have my
oaths and engagements taken seriously; I should ask Utopia to avenge my honour on myself. All my modern Utopian friends look at each other rather
doubtfully, for their ultimate hope is the dissolution of all special ties. But again I seem to hear, like a kind of echo, an answer from beyond
the world. “You will have real obligations, and therefore real adventures when you get to my Utopia. But the hardest obligation and the steepest
adventure is to get there.”
Orthodoxy, first published in 1908, by G. K. Chesterton, is in the public domain, and available from Project Gutenberg. The previous post in this series is here. Thanks for reading! Read Chesterton.
Musings on science, the Bible, and fantastic literature (and sometimes basketball and other stuff).
God speaks to us through the Bible and the findings of science, and we should listen to both types of revelation.
The title is from Psalm 84:11.
The Wikipedia is usually a pretty good reference. I mostly use the World English Bible (WEB), because it is public domain. I am grateful.
License
I have written an e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which is free to anyone. To download that book, in several formats, go here.
The posts in this blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You can copy and use this material, as long as you aren't making money from it. If you give me credit, thanks. If not, OK.
The posts in this blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You can copy and use this material, as long as you aren't making money from it. If you give me credit, thanks. If not, OK.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Excerpts from Orthodoxy, by G. K. Chesterton, 49
Labels:
Chesterton,
G. K. Chesterton,
keeping promises,
marriage,
Orthodoxy,
promises,
utopia,
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