The argument
against the infidel comes essentially to this; you tell me that my hopes
will not be realized, and therefore you make me necessarily and
needlessly miserable. For God's sake, do not disperse my dreams. People
are not satisfied with the answer that the nightmare has gone as well as
the vision of bliss, and that fears are destroyed as much as hopes;
because, as a matter of fact, they can contrive to dwell upon that part
of the doctrine which is comfortable for the moment. We have power over
our dreams though we conceal its exercise from ourselves. But the
argument itself involves the fundamental fallacy. To destroy a
groundless hope is not to destroy a man's happiness. The instantaneous
effort may be painful: but it is the price which we have to pay for a
cure of deep-seated complaints. The infidel's reply is substantially
this: I may destroy your hopes; but I do not destroy your power of
hoping. I bid you no longer fix your mind on a chimera but on tangible
and realizable prospects. I warn you that efforts to soar above the
atmosphere can only lead to disappointment, and that time spent in
squaring the circle is simply time spent.
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