Essays in Idleness

When we say that God has saved us, and we are referring only to physical and historical facts, then if we are honest, we must agree that God does, and usually has. He does this in a “conventional” way, or without grandstanding. (We cannot know which events are miracles, anyway, or which are not, as we cannot see events developing from the inside. We only acknowledge certain miracles because they are shocking.) The conventional way, that God arranges to supply benignities, is by the very design of this world.

But it is easy to make a mess of things, down here. Anyone who is evil can do this himself, without much effort. However, to correct for the errors requires — not Divine intervention, but a background Divine plan. This is because correcting errors is vastly more complicated than making them; and if, from the beginning, the errors had not been anticipated, we would be overwhelmed.

What if, to use yesterday’s example, as the principal result of foolish “democratic” policies, unmarried women have, in large numbers, gone completely mad, and in their lunacy, have forgotten to get married. But then, children will become very scarce, the population will decline, and many other horrors will be statistically demonstrated. What will God do about this?

He will do nothing; for He has already installed the desire to be fruitful and to multiply within each woman in a unique, beautiful way, and within each man, likewise (for errant male behaviour is also quite possible).

And God, Who created every living soul, did the installations. Eventually, after they have tried the various ways to become mental cases, they (and the men, too) will discover they still crave what we might call a normal life; in which, for instance, most women get married and settle down, and those who don’t become nuns, or old maids.

Patience alone will guide us to this restoration, plus a little spontaneous miraculous action by the heroines and heroes. For God created a world in which there must be splendid behaviour, as well as nutjobs and psychopaths.