Read the words of Flavius. When Eodan claims that a Power has been with him, Flavius responds:
"'So you may think. But what educated man can take seriously those overgrown children on Olympus?...
"'I myself do not believe in any Power except chance.'" (p. 110)
But there is a Temple of Fortuna in Rome!
"'There are blind moieties of matter, obeying blind laws; only the idiot hand of chance keeps each cycle of centuries from being the same.'" (pp. 110-111)
A modern man in the Roman Republic! We basically agree with him. By "we," I mean the editorial position of this blog, by which I mean, "I." But we would express ourselves differently. Blindness is a defect in a member of a normally sighted species but it is inappropriate to apply the adjective "blind" to inanimate matter - except as a way to affirm that the motions of such matter are not consciously directed, which is what Flavius is doing.
Although some human beings are seen to be "idiots" when compared with more intelligent persons, chance is not idiotic because there is no question of its being intelligent. However, we can again agree with Flavius' underlying thesis that matter is not intelligently directed. If the gods did exist, then they also would have emerged from "blind," "idiot" Chaos. At least, the Olympian's grandfather, Uranus, did whereas Odin's grandfather emerged from pre-cosmic ice.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree with Flavius in dismissing with contempt the pagan gods. I disagree with his belief that "blind" chance rules all things. And I disagree that the universe somehow blindly popped into existence without a Creator who created the cosmos at the big bang.
Ad astra! Sean
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