Carolina QuotesFor modern man there is no providence, because it would imply a wisdom superior to his and a relationship of means to ends which he cannot find out. Instead of feeling grateful that some things are past his discovering..., he is vexed and promises himself that one day the last arcanum will be forced to yield its secret. His pride reveals itself in impatience, which is an unwillingness to bear the pain of discipline. The physical world IS a complex of imposed conditions; when these thwart im- mediate expressions of his will, he becomes angry and asserts that there should be no obstruction of his wishes. In effect this becomes a deification of his own will; man is not making himself like a god but is taking himself as he is and putting himself in the place of God.
Richard M. Weaver Carolinian
Source
p. 183
- work
- Ideas have Consequences (1948)
- year
- 1948
- locator
- p. 183
Cite this record
“For modern man there is no providence, because it would impl…” Richard M. Weaver. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-CCD1687A4A. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/ccd1687a4a
More from Richard M. Weaver
There is no difficulty in securing enough agreement for action on the point that education should serve the needs of the people. But all hinges on the interpretation of needs; if the primary need of man is to perfect his spiritual being … then education of the mind and the passions will take precedence over all else. The growth of materialism, however, has made this a consideration remote and even incomprehensible to the majority.
Life without prejudice, were it ever to be tried, would soon reveal itself to be a life without principle. For prejudices, as we have seen earlier, are often built-in principles. They are the extract which the mind has made of experience.
Now, with the general decay of religious faith, it is the scientists who must speak ex cathedra, whether they wish to or not.