Publisher's Synopsis
Nothing more strangely indicates an enormous and silent evil of modern society than theextraordinary use which is made nowadays of the word "orthodox." In former days the hereticwas proud of not being a heretic. It was the kingdoms of the world and the police and the judgeswho were heretics. He was orthodox. He had no pride in having rebelled against them; they hadrebelled against him. The armies with their cruel security, the kings with their cold faces, thedecorous processes of State, the reasonable processes of law-all these like sheep had goneastray. The man was proud of being orthodox, was proud of being right. If he stood alone in ahowling wilderness he was more than a man; he was a church. He was the centre of the universe;it was round him that the stars swung. All the tortures torn out of forgotten hells could not makehim admit that he was heretical. But a few modern phrases have made him boast of it. He says, with a conscious laugh, "I suppose I am very heretical," and looks round for applause. The word"heresy" not only means no longer being wrong; it practically means being clear-headed andcourageous. The word "orthodoxy" not only no longer means being right; it practically meansbeing wrong. All this can mean one thing, and one thing only. It means that people care less forwhether they are philosophically right. For obviously a man ought to confess himself crazybefore he confesses himself heretical. The Bohemian, with a red tie, ought to pique himself onhis orthodoxy. The dynamiter, laying a bomb, ought to feel that, whatever else he is, at least he isorthodox.It is foolish, generally speaking, for a philosopher to set fire to another philosopher inSmithfield Market because they do not agree in their theory of the universe. That was done veryfrequently in the last decadence of the Middle Ages, and it failed altogether in its object. Butthere is one thing that is infinitely more absurd and unpractical than burning a man for hisphilosophy. This is the habit of saying that his philosophy does not matter, and this is doneuniversally in the twentieth century, in the decadence of the great revolutionary period. Generaltheories are everywhere contemned; the doctrine of the Rights of Man is dismissed with thedoctrine of the Fall of Man. Atheism itself is too theological for us to-day. Revolution itself istoo much of a system; liberty itself is too much of a restraint. We will have no generalizations.Mr. Bernard Shaw has put the view in a perfect epigram: "The golden rule is that there is nogolden rule." We are more and more to discuss details in art, politics, literature. A man's opinionon tramcars matters; his opinion on Botticelli matters; his opinion on all things does not matter.He may turn over and explore a million objects, but he must not find that strange object, theuniverse; for if he does he will have a religion, and be lost. Everything matters-excepteverything