'But you and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save.'
The ballad of the white horse

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Optimists & pessimists

Chesterton's journey to Christianity continues in chapter 5 of 'Orthodoxy' with a question about optimism and pessimism. Blindly thinking well of this world, as an optimist may do, will not change the world for the better. Neither will a pessimist make any useful changes. Chesterton realizes that one needs a passion, a love that is not blind, for the world. 'One must somehow find a way of loving the world without trusting it; somehow one must love the world without being worldly.'
Considering this, he slowly realizes that Christianity actually has the answer: God the creator is separate from His creation. Adhering to this doctrine, 'one could be at peace with the universe and yet be at war with the world'. Furthermore, the vague notions about how the world should be, as described in chapter 4, all fall into their places within the framework of Christianity.

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