登陆注册
5211100000009

第9章

Spinoza himself admits it.It is impossible to strive against this truth which surrounds us and which presses on us from all sides.REASONS OF THE ATHEISTSNotwithstanding, I have known refractory persons who say that there is no creative intelligence at all, and that movement alone has by itself formed all that we see and all that we are.They tell you brazenly:"The combination of this universe was possible, seeing that the combination exists: therefore it was possible that movement alone arranged it.Take four of the heavenly bodies only, Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Earth: let us think first only of the place where they are, setting aside all the rest, and let us see how many probabilities we have that movement alone put them in their respective places.We have only twenty-four chances in this combination, that is, there are only twenty-four chances against one to bet that these bodies will not be where they are with reference to each other.Let us add to these four globes that of Jupiter; there will be only a hundred and twenty against one to bet that Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury and our globe, will not be placed where we see them."Add finally Saturn: there will be only seven hundred and twenty chances against one, for putting these six big planets in the arrangement they preserve among themselves, according to their given distances.It is therefore demonstrated that in seven hundred and twenty throws, movement alone has been able to put these six principal planets in their order."Take then all the secondary bodies, all their combinations, all their movements, all the beings that vegetate, that live, that feel, that think, that function in all the globes, you will have but to increase the number of chances; multiply this number in all eternity, up to the number which our feebleness calls 'infinity,' there will always be a unity in favour of the formation of the world, such as it is, by movement alone: therefore it is possible that in all eternity the movement of matter alone has produced the entire universe such as it exists.It is even inevitable that in eternity this combination should occur.Thus, "they say," not only is it possible for the world to be what it is by movement alone, but it was impossible for it not to be likewise after an infinity of combinations." ANSWERAll this supposition seems to me prodigiously fantastic, for two reasons;first, that in this universe there are intelligent beings, and that you would not know how to prove it possible for movement alone to produce understanding;second, that, from your own avowal, there is infinity against one to bet, that an intelligent creative cause animates the universe.When one is alone face to face with the infinite, one feels very small.

Again, Spinoza himself admits this intelligence; it is the basis of his system.You have not read it, and it must be read.Why do you want to go further than him, and in foolish arrogance plunge your feeble reason in an abyss into which Spinoza dared not descend? Do you realize thoroughly the extreme folly of saying that it is a blind cause that arranges that the square of a planet's revolution is always to the square of the revolutions of other planets, as the cube of its distance is to the cube of the distances of the others to the common centre? Either the heavenly bodies are great geometers, or the Eternal Geometer has arranged the heavenly bodies.

But where is the Eternal Geometer? is He in one place or in all places, without occupying space? I have no idea.Is it of His own substance that He has arranged all things? I have no idea.Is He immense without quantity and without quality? I have no idea.All that I know is that one must worship Him and be just.NEW OBJECTION OF A MODERN ATHEISTCan one say that the parts of animals conform to their needs: what are these needs? preservation and propagation.Is it astonishing then that, of the infinite combinations which chance has produced, there has been able to subsist only those that have organs adapted to the nourishment and continuation of their species? have not all the others perished of necessity? ANSWERThis objection, oft-repeated since Lucretius, is sufficiently refuted by the gift of sensation in animals, and by the gift of intelligence in man.How should combinations "which chance has produced," produce this sensation and this intelligence (as has just been said in the preceding paragraph)? Without any doubt the limbs of animals are made for their needs with incomprehensible art, and you are not so bold as to deny it.You say no more about it.You feel that you have nothing to answer to this great argument which nature brings against you.The disposition of a fly's wing, a snail's organs suffices to bring you to the ground.MAUPERTUIS' OBJECTIONModern natural philosophers have but expanded these so-called arguments, often they have pushed them to trifling and indecency.They have found God in the folds of the Skin of the rhinoceros: one could, with equal reason, deny His existence because of the tortoise's shell.ANSWERWhat reasoning! The tortoise and the rhinoceros, and all the different species, are proof equally in their infinite variety of the same cause, the same design, the same aim, which are preservation, generation and death.

There is unity in this infinite variety; the shell and the skin bear witness equally.What! deny God because shell does not resemble leather!

And journalists have been prodigal of eulogies about these ineptitudes, eulogies they have not given to Newton and Locke, both worshippers of the Deity who spoke with full knowledge.MAUPERTUIS' OBJECTIONOf what use are beauty and proportion in the construction of the snake?

They may have uses, some say, of which we are ignorant.At least let us be silent then; let us not admire an animal which we know only by the harm it does.ANSWERAnd be you silent too, seeing that you cannot conceive its utility any more than I can; or avow that in reptiles everything is admirably proportioned.

Some are venomous, you have been so yourself.Here there is question only of the prodigious art which has formed snakes, quadrupeds, birds, fish and bipeds.This art is sufficiently evident.You ask why the snake does harm? And you, why have you done harm so many times? Why have you been a persecutor? which is the greatest of all crimes for a philosopher.

That is another question, a question of moral and physical ill.For long has one asked why there are so many snakes and so many wicked men worse than snakes.If flies could reason, they would complain to God of the existence of spiders; but they would admit what Minerva admitted about Arachne, in the fable, that she arranges her web marvellously.

One is bound therefore to recognize an ineffable intelligence which even Spinoza admitted.One must agree that this intelligence shines in the vilest insect as in the stars.And as regards moral and physical ill, what can one say, what do? console oneself by enjoying physical and moral good, in worshipping the Eternal Being who has made one and permitted the other.

One more word on this subject.Atheism is the vice of a few intelligent persons, and superstition is the vice of fools.But rogues! what are they?

rogues.

同类推荐
  • 佛冤禅师语录

    佛冤禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 阅世编

    阅世编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 一切法高王经

    一切法高王经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 春雨

    春雨

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 满清外史

    满清外史

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 奇门法窍

    奇门法窍

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 千城悔首思歌浸

    千城悔首思歌浸

    “世道百转,无论是你的前世,还是你的今生,我千忆城永远爱的是现在的是,这一世的,唯一的,你……”他怀中抱着只剩着一丝微弱呼吸的女孩,她笑了,笑得如海棠花一般:“我也是……”
  • 最美的花儿献给您

    最美的花儿献给您

    在小小说界里有“拼命三郎”之称的作家陈勇,已经用自己对文学的执着,为自己的家乡,为年轻人谱写了一曲曲赞歌。作家很多处都描写了老~江河的如画美景。像“此时的老~江河,水天一色,被黑夜融化了”(《鱼鹰》);“雨中的老~江河,一片灰蒙蒙的,这是老~江河最寂寞的颜色”(《水嫂》);“旭日东升的老江河,渔船碧水相映,白云与渔民共影”(《水姐》);“傍晚时分,老江河神奇莫测,气象万千。晚霞的光芒,依然将江面上细小的波纹映得熠熠生辉,几只洁白的鸟儿舒展双翼,自由地翱翔在江天之间”(《吹萨克斯的男孩》)等等,这样描写老江河美景的句子俯拾皆是。
  • 玄王冷妃

    玄王冷妃

    本文已完结!!!★水清浅,丞相府胆小如鼠、懦弱无能、任人欺凌、大门不出二门不迈的庶出三小姐。而她,同名同姓,二十一世纪赫赫有名的“铁血杀手兼金牌猎人”,黑白两道通吃,嗜血无情杀人如麻。大婚当日,因不满夫君玄王水清浅自尽而亡,当再次睁开眼已经是另外一个强大冷凛的灵魂。她冷傲、淡漠、绝对不是个好惹的主!她始终记得一句话:“不要去恨,要去报复!”从此,一段新的人生开始了…★千方百计地要他一纸休书,没有想到这个玄王深藏不露根本不是世人所传的那般,相反却是神秘无比!喜欢烟花之地,那就让她们和府中成群的姬妾就都卷铺盖走人!喜欢朝臣之女,那就让他们和玄王关系决裂,自己也好潇洒走人!喜欢身份地位,那就让当初逼迫她下嫁的丞相父亲与她脱离父女关系!这样还不行,究竟怎么样才能给她一纸休书?这个神秘的男人,究竟是一个怎么样的人物?云篆瑶章读者群:185422808(感兴趣的可以加哦!)叩门砖:小说里的任意一人物名字★特别重要申明:男主绝对干净,不是种马!云是完美主义者,坚决不允许男主是花花公子!本文=女强+男也强+爱情(身体一对一)+各种斗+圆满结局------【精彩片段之一】------“你们两个叫什么名字?”水清浅慢步踱步至她们身前问道。“奴婢……”两人同时开口,互相白了一眼,“贱人,我先说!”水清浅一阵好笑,没有想到就连区区婢女都如此嚣张,“行了,你们两个都叫贱人是吧?”水清浅不由地回首望着皇后和鸾妃煞白的脸色嘲笑道:“两位娘娘的婢女名字还真特别啊!”“好了,两位贱人带着你们各自宫中的人好好打一架,谁输了就是谁偷得东西,明白吗?”水清浅不由地一阵历喝,“好了,开始吧!”一挥手,示意她们开始。------【精彩片段之二】------水清浅早就看准了锦鲤池旁的一艘小舟,拿起舟桨飞速地划到鸾妃落水处,大喝几声:“大姐,你身后好多蛇啊!我来救你!”“啪!”一声巨响,水清浅狠狠地将划桨拍在了鸾妃的背上。鸾妃一阵惨叫,也顾不得那么多了直呼“三妹,快救我!”“后面,还有!我打!”水清浅也不管鸾妃的呼叫就不停地朝着鸾妃一阵打,打得鸾妃满地找牙,只死死地抓着小舟的边沿不放。“小心!”水清浅又是一拍,狠狠地打在了鸾妃的巴掌之上,一个血红的桨印刻在鸾妃雪白的脸上。“还有……我再打……”水清浅自然是不会放过这个名正言顺的大好时机……
  • 大汉遗梦之未央浮沉

    大汉遗梦之未央浮沉

    刘邦死后,大汉王朝才算真正意义上的进入了和平的时期,天下大的战事基本结束。直到刘彻登基这数十年的时间中,统治阶级上层相继发生了吕雉擅权、诸吕乱政、铲除诸吕、文帝登基,以及后来波及天下的七国之乱等大事件。
  • 一寸河山一寸血2

    一寸河山一寸血2

    本书以全新的视角,讲述了中国正面抗日全史。它也是离新中国最近的历史,那是个社会结构、思想经济全面动荡转型的时代,新中国就是从那里走来,而我们就生活在新中国里,我们之所以会是现在这个样子,与那个时代密不可分。了解它,有助于我们了解自己这个时代。本书以皇姑屯事件和“九一八”事变为发端,以东北沦丧为起点,再现十四年抗战历史背景下的风云人物、精彩往事。本书犹如一部恢宏的画卷,作者以或幽默、或深沉、或激越、或悲壮的笔调,带你走近张作霖,走近蒋介石,走近汪精卫,领略他们曾经有过的铁甲与鲜花,情义与权谋,眼泪与欢笑,欣慰与悲怆。本册为第2册,主要讲述了1933年到1937年,日军由局部侵华到全面侵华的历史。
  • 愿有时光收藏爱

    愿有时光收藏爱

    12个爱情故事,12种寂寞柔软人生。张爱玲、戴望舒、胡适、顾城、林徽因、冰心、三毛、沈从文......有的爱情伤痛的令人崩溃,有的爱情坚定若磐石般令人感动,有的爱情许你岁月静好,有的爱情给你一世寂寞。品味不同的爱情,体会不同的辛酸苦楚、哀怨情愁。看他们的爱情故事,悟自己的人生哲学。愿他们的眼泪,成为你爱的力量。
  • 塔木德:犹太人经商和处世圣经

    塔木德:犹太人经商和处世圣经

    《塔木德》是10个世纪中两千多位犹太学者的心血结晶,是整个犹太民族生活方式的导航图。本书重点萃取了《塔木德》中有关犹太人如何经商和处世的62条箴言,分上下两篇,以大量生动的事例进行阐发,揭示了犹太人独特的金钱观念、经营技巧和处世法则,从中可以窥见犹太人之所以卓越的秘密。
  • 性格的力量

    性格的力量

    本书从认识性格、了解性格、锻造性格、性格与社交、性格与职业、性格与婚姻、性格与管理,以及性格测试等诸多方面,帮你揭开性格神秘的面纱,教你洞悉人性的弱点,取其优而匡其劣,完善自我,成就人生。英国著名文豪狄更斯曾说过:“一种健全的性格,比一百种智慧都更有力量。”这句名言告诉我们一个道理:有什么样的性格,就会有什么样的人生。积极的性格能帮助我们获取健康、幸福和财富。在当今竞争空前激烈的时代,一个人想要生存立足,求得发展,性格的完整与健全至关重要。
  • 爆宠前妻:老公,不可以

    爆宠前妻:老公,不可以

    “夏安暖!这一次就算是折断你的双脚,我也不会再让你离开我!”原本她以为他们之间不会再有任何牵扯,却不曾想,五年后的再见,他会如此失态。“我和你早就已经没关系了!”“没关系了?”他邪肆的勾了勾唇角,“可是,就在刚刚你还在求我,就成了没关系了吗?”她的小脸爆红,“闭嘴!”咔嚓一声,卧室的房门被推开,好奇宝宝一脸疑惑。“爹爹妈咪,你们已经喊了一天了,你们不累啊?我听着就好累噻。”她原以为他爱的人不是她,却是在很久之后,她才知道,在她离开他后,他吞下了整整一瓶安眠药……