None of your characters are right in this tale;
There is no such thing as absolute freedom (Jesus),
the best way to define it is by e
freely, individually made (continuous,
dynamic) collective decision.
No totalitarian elite - however intelligent -
will be able
to provide happiness for us. We can be only
supportive of decisions we understand and
we were part of making.
Eva
> From: Durant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> >actually, after a while there is enough experience to do it better,
> >that is what human progress is about. We are able to learn
>
> Human "progress" is an illusion.
>
> Judge for Thyself Who is Right
> by Jay Hanson
>
> Dostoevsky's parable is set in sixteenth-century Seville—at the height of
> the Inquisition. On the day after a magnificent bonfire, in which nearly one
> hundred heretics were burned alive, Jesus descends and is immediately
> recognized. The cardinal—the Grand Inquisitor—has Him promptly arrested and
> thrown in prison. That evening, the door of Jesus' cell opens and the old,
> ascetic Inquisitor enters to confront Him. For a few minutes there is
> silence, then the Inquisitor delivers the most profound and terrible attack
> against Christianity.
>
> The Inquisitor charges Jesus with betrayal of mankind, for deliberately
> rejecting the only ways in which men might have been happy. This singular
> moment occurred when "the wise and dread spirit, the spirit of
> self-destruction and non-existence," tempted Jesus in the wilderness by
> asking Him three questions.
>
> First, the spirit asked Jesus to turn stones into bread. Jesus refused
> because He wanted mankind free, and what would obedience be worth if it were
> bought with bread? Thus, He denied men their deepest craving—to find someone
> who would take away the awesome burden of freedom.
>
> Then, the spirit asked Jesus to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the
> temple, "for it is written: the angels shall hold Him up lest he fall".
> Again Jesus refused, rejecting miracles because He wanted faith given
> freely. But the Inquisitor explains that man cannot live without miracles,
> for if he is deprived of them, he immediately creates new ones. Man is
> weaker and baser by nature than Jesus thought. "By showing him so much
> respect, Thou didst ... cease to feel for him.... "
>
> Jesus' last temptation was to rule the world, to unite all mankind "in one
> unanimous and harmonious ant-heap, for the craving for universal unity is
> the third and last anguish of men...." He refused once again, and thereby
> rejected the only ways in which men might have been made happy.
>
> The Inquisitor explains "We are not working with Thee but with him [the
> spirit].... We have taken the sword of Caesar, and in taking it, of course,
> have rejected Thee and followed him. Oh, ages are yet to come of the
> confusion of free thought, of their science and cannibalism.... [But] we
> have corrected Thy work and have founded it upon miracle, mystery and
> authority. And men rejoiced that they were again led like sheep, and that
> the terrible gift that had brought them such suffering, was, at last, lifted
> from their hearts.... And all will be happy, all the millions of creatures
> except the hundred thousand who rule over them. For only we, who guard the
> mystery, shall be unhappy.... Peacefully they will die, peacefully they will
> expire in Thy name, and beyond the grave they will find nothing but death."
>
> "And we alone shall feed them...." the Inquisitor continues, "Oh, never,
> never can they feed themselves without us! No science will give them bread
> so long as they remain free. In the end they will lay their freedom at our
> feet, and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.'"
>
> Jay
>
>
