THE KNUCKLEHEAD
'
S GUIDE TO COVENANTAL THEOLOGY
69
whether we like it or not?
This is plain embarrassing.
On the other hand, "what holes?" Catholics -- if their bland
consignment of 'freedom' to necessity can be stomached -- at least can
arrive at a consistent definition of "responsibility," and very
importantly, what "responsibility" entails as a practical matter.
That puts them two up on "why bother?" Catholics, who, if even
two or three of them are gathered together, can not seem to do either
thing.
This is beyond embarrassing.
Thus the awe-inspiring pessimism of Mr. Minsky's boxes a) does
not make that pessimism less logical, and b) does not prove the rational
superiority of either current flavor of Catholic theology. Indeed, in
their similar -- though hardly identical -- incoherence, both current
flavors of Catholic theology corroborate Mr. Minsky's final
conclusions, which perhaps could not be more pessimistic:
* Man is naturally impelled to seek reasons and to resist control.
However, these same drives enable Man to become intelligent enough
to understand that only Cause and Chance exist. Anything that is
Cause means that Man's impulse to resist control is futile, and anything
that is Chance means that Man's impulse to seek reasons is futile. Thus
Man realizes that his own natural and irresistible impulses to seek
reasons and to resist control have brought him to the understanding
that it is futile to seek reasons and to resist control.
* However, Man's impulses to seek reasons and resist control are really
irresistible -- he would stop being Man if he didn't have these. Thus the
real truth, that everything, including Man, is solely the result of Cause
and Chance, and therefore that Man can not be free, and thus can not
be responsible, is too much for Man to face, let alone to bear, because
of Man's very nature, because of the very way he is built.
* If Man ever did face the real truth about himself and the universe, he
might (perhaps must) rebel against his fate, and destroy others and
himself -- even though this rebellion itself must be futile, being itself
the result of Cause and Chance.
* Reason must therefore rationally conclude that it should become
irrational, just to make it possible for Man to get through the day.
Yet, perhaps even these do not fully plumb the pessimism, for two
further implications might be drawn from the above conclusions:
N.B. This is an html-ized copy of a page from the pdf file, The Knucklehead's Guide to Covenantal Theology.