登陆注册
5261200000003

第3章 I INTRODUCTION IN DEFENCE OF EVERYTHING ELSE(2)

I discovered England. I do not see how this book can avoid being egotistical; and I do not quite see (to tell the truth) how it can avoid being dull. Dulness will, however, free me from the charge which I most lament; the charge of being flippant.

Mere light sophistry is the thing that I happen to despise most of all things, and it is perhaps a wholesome fact that this is the thing of which I am generally accused. I know nothing so contemptible as a mere paradox; a mere ingenious defence of the indefensible.

If it were true (as has been said) that Mr. Bernard Shaw lived upon paradox, then he ought to be a mere common millionaire; for a man of his mental activity could invent a sophistry every six minutes. It is as easy as lying; because it is lying.

The truth is, of course, that Mr. Shaw is cruelly hampered by the fact that he cannot tell any lie unless he thinks it is the truth.

I find myself under the same intolerable bondage. I never in my life said anything merely because I thought it funny; though of course, I have had ordinary human vainglory, and may have thought it funny because I had said it. It is one thing to describe an interview with a gorgon or a griffin, a creature who does not exist.

It is another thing to discover that the rhinoceros does exist and then take pleasure in the fact that he looks as if he didn't.

One searches for truth, but it may be that one pursues instinctively the more extraordinary truths. And I offer this book with the heartiest sentiments to all the jolly people who hate what I write, and regard it (very justly, for all I know), as a piece of poor clowning or a single tiresome joke.

For if this book is a joke it is a joke against me.

I am the man who with the utmost daring discovered what had been discovered before. If there is an element of farce in what follows, the farce is at my own expense; for this book explains how I fancied I was the first to set foot in Brighton and then found I was the last.

It recounts my elephantine adventures in pursuit of the obvious.

No one can think my case more ludicrous than I think it myself; no reader can accuse me here of trying to make a fool of him:

I am the fool of this story, and no rebel shall hurl me from my throne. I freely confess all the idiotic ambitions of the end of the nineteenth century. I did, like all other solemn little boys, try to be in advance of the age. Like them I tried to be some ten minutes in advance of the truth. And I found that I was eighteen hundred years behind it. I did strain my voice with a painfully juvenile exaggeration in uttering my truths. And I was punished in the fittest and funniest way, for I have kept my truths: but I have discovered, not that they were not truths, but simply that they were not mine. When I fancied that I stood alone I was really in the ridiculous position of being backed up by all Christendom.

It may be, Heaven forgive me, that I did try to be original; but I only succeeded in inventing all by myself an inferior copy of the existing traditions of civilized religion. The man from the yacht thought he was the first to find England; I thought I was the first to find Europe. I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy.

It may be that somebody will be entertained by the account of this happy fiasco. It might amuse a friend or an enemy to read how I gradually learnt from the truth of some stray legend or from the falsehood of some dominant philosophy, things that I might have learnt from my catechism--if I had ever learnt it.

There may or may not be some entertainment in reading how I found at last in an anarchist club or a Babylonian temple what I might have found in the nearest parish church. If any one is entertained by learning how the flowers of the field or the phrases in an omnibus, the accidents of politics or the pains of youth came together in a certain order to produce a certain conviction of Christian orthodoxy, he may possibly read this book.

But there is in everything a reasonable division of labour.

I have written the book, and nothing on earth would induce me to read it.

I add one purely pedantic note which comes, as a note naturally should, at the beginning of the book. These essays are concerned only to discuss the actual fact that the central Christian theology (sufficiently summarized in the Apostles' Creed) is the best root of energy and sound ethics. They are not intended to discuss the very fascinating but quite different question of what is the present seat of authority for the proclamation of that creed. When the word "orthodoxy" is used here it means the Apostles' Creed, as understood by everybody calling himself Christian until a very short time ago and the general historic conduct of those who held such a creed. I have been forced by mere space to confine myself to what I have got from this creed;

I do not touch the matter much disputed among modern Christians, of where we ourselves got it. This is not an ecclesiastical treatise but a sort of slovenly autobiography. But if any one wants my opinions about the actual nature of the authority, Mr. G.S.Street has only to throw me another challenge, and I will write him another book.

同类推荐
  • 佛说大三摩惹经

    佛说大三摩惹经

    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。
  • 十不二门文心解

    十不二门文心解

    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。
  • 佛说无量寿经

    佛说无量寿经

    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。
  • 黄帝阴符经讲义

    黄帝阴符经讲义

    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。
  • 明伦汇编人事典忧乐部

    明伦汇编人事典忧乐部

    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
  • 大唐荣耀之相伴入红尘

    大唐荣耀之相伴入红尘

    李俶登基称帝,江山美人终不可兼得,沈珍珠病故,但是,在小说中又有什么呢?沈珍珠与李豫相依入红尘。
  • 商王宠妻

    商王宠妻

    自然界向来有着它固有的规律。有些生物,生来就注定是天敌。比如贪婪的狼和弱小的羊;比如傲视大地的鹰和冷血腹黑的蛇;再比如…云南国那位最锱铢必较的商王,和看似幼小又无比软弱的她。一朝穿越,她从曾经最风光的单身金领竟变成了年方十二岁,父母双亡且家道中落的落魄商贾之女。姑母带着幼年的她嫁入丞相府那一日,他是被隆重邀请的贵客;而她,不过是一个受尽众人白眼的拖油瓶。可他,却在看到她的第一眼,就被她脸上看似乖巧却实则冷漠彻骨,仿佛看透尘世虚华的表情所吸引。从此,她成为了云南国最冷漠腹黑的商王宠在心尖上的人儿…*
  • 关于教育的格言

    关于教育的格言

    名人名言是古今中外仁人志士的精辟妙语!名人名言,集丰富的内涵、深刻的哲理、简练的语言于一身。读名人名言,如同和名人名家做面对面的沟通与交流,就好像聆听圣贤智慧的谆谆教导。智慧是知识凝结的宝石,文化是知识放出的异彩。而知识则是从积累而得,从教育中获取,本书涵盖了教育各方面的名人名言,让读者获益匪浅。
  • 西域要冲:阳关(文化之美)

    西域要冲:阳关(文化之美)

    “劝君更尽一杯酒,西出阳光无故人”王维笔下幽怨凄凉的别绪,千百年来牵动着多少游子的心弦,也使人们对千古盛传的阳关心驰神往……
  • 炒股实战秘笈:量价二次买入法

    炒股实战秘笈:量价二次买入法

    本书主要围绕股票的二次买入价值,以二次买入思维改变了起初投资者的习惯性操作模式,真正做到了投资思维的创新。
  • 沙弥十戒法并威仪

    沙弥十戒法并威仪

    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。
  • 往生的渴望

    往生的渴望

    “琳寒。”他紧紧的抱着琳寒,缓缓说道。“为什么,我们要经历那样的事情。”“辛瞳..因为这就是成长,总会经历的,在这样的世界。”琳寒有些心疼的安抚着他...“我们可以避免的不是吗,你明明什么都知道...”“这就是,最无奈的地方啊。成长之后的我们,无奈的要决定,让那些悲伤的事情藏在我们的脑海里.,然后继续往前走。”“我一点,都不喜欢现在的你。”另一边,星灵看着对面那个同样的自己,缓缓的说道。“那又怎么样呢,人终究有一天,会变成自己曾经最不喜欢的样子,我.不就是最好的证明吗?”对方回答着。“未来。一定会不一样的...”“你忘了吗,我就是你的未来。”“无论怎么挣扎..一切,还是会发生的。”
  • 僵尸压榨系统

    僵尸压榨系统

    这是一个奇妙的大陆。在这里,只有人族和僵尸。一座普通的危城,因为一个少年的崛起变的与众不同。这是一个神奇的系统,从此僵尸围城变得不再恐怖,从此攻城的僵尸变成一波波的物资供应。什么!行尸攻城了!快把他们抓起来,那是一瓶瓶速度合剂啊。什么!战争钢尸又来攻城了,快把他们抓起来,咱们正好缺几门防御大炮!已上架,请放心收藏,强烈求推荐!群号:287548463欢迎加入交流!!!
  • 谁的沧海不桑田

    谁的沧海不桑田

    来生要做一棵树,站成永恒的姿态。在我孤苦无依时,我才发现,原来你还在我的心底,予我以力量。你永远不知道自己到底有多坚强,直到有一天你除了坚强别无选择。
  • 仙姬不纯

    仙姬不纯

    卑鄙、虚荣、无耻、下贱……上一世,殷寻灵根相逆,丹田逼仄,成仙之路是凭着没脸没皮,一步一步“睡”上来的。她倒也不觉后悔——毕竟求仁得仁,作死得死。然而重生归来,某人却郁卒地发现,自己不是炮灰,只是脑洞不够,掰断了数茬金手指……带着一同重生的怨念神兽,结算前世纠缠的因果情仇。逆袭打脸,小心谨慎!口嫌体正,仙姬不纯!