84 Chapter 6
ONE MODERN SILLINESS
However, in this, the genuinely modern perspective on 'religion,' is
to be found one possible 'real' purpose of New Class Catholicism. True
moderns understand that 'belief,' though it never has a real object, is
unavoidable for the mass of men -- including intellectuals and
scientists. Because of the way adaptive selection has cobbled Man
together, men are going to be compelled to keep at least some of Mr.
Minsky's vanishing middle boxes around, for the foreseeable future.
Indeed, the more scientific we become, the more we will understand
that Man is an animal who simply will do certain things, such as have
'beliefs,' whether they have any point, whether they are beneficial or
destructive. The vanishing middle box will not vanish completely,
because Man for the foreseeable future will find himself driven by
irresistible evolved urges to abandon the scientific, the rational, and the
true for nothing more than Man's particular mess of evolutionary
pottage:
[Cause
] ['beliefs']
[Chance]
In the truly modern view, the middle box, however ridiculous, is
inevitable, because Man is Man. However, it may be possible to
manage the middle box, so that it does not balloon to undue
proportions. If the middle box can not be eliminated, perhaps its size
can be managed, lest it overwhelm or completely subvert Man's halting
attempts to be rational. In other words, it may be possible to manage
the 'religions' that are the cultural manifestations of the genetically-
programmed (but empty) need to 'believe' in a manner that is least
bothersome to the New Class, and which as far as possible causes the
'religions' to do whatever the New Class thinks 'religions' ought to do.
Therefore, a possible 'real' project for New Class Catholicism
would be to keep the middle box that is "Catholicism" to a size as
small as possible. In other words, one possible "serious" project for
New Class Catholicism is to manage Catholicism in a manner that is
least bothersome to the New Class, and which as far as possible causes
Catholicism to do whatever the New Class thinks "Catholicism" ought
to do:
[Cause
] [Catholicism]
[Chance]
Lacking, even by its own standards, anything intellectually or
scientifically real to do, New Class Catholicism may find its reason to
get out of bed in the morning in the political and persuasive task of
properly managing Catholicism, first and foremost on behalf of New
Class Catholics and on behalf of the New Class as a whole. This may
N.B. This is an html-ized copy of a page from the pdf file, The Knucklehead's Guide to Covenantal Theology.