From his epic For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, in the Herod section, a rather prescient argument from the great bard ...
Reason will be replaced by Revelation. Instead of Rational
Law, objective truths perceptible to any who will undergo
the necessary intellectual discipline, Knowledge will
degenerate into a riot of subjective visions... Whole
cosmogonies will be created out of some forgotten personal
resentment, complete epics written in private languages,
the daubs of schoolchildren ranked above the greatest
masterpieces. Idealism will be replaced by Materialism.
Life after death will be an eternal dinner party where all
the guests are 20 years old... Justice will be replaced by
Pity as the cardinal human virtue, and all fear of
retribution will vanish... The New Aristocracy will consist
exclusively of hermits, bums and permanent invalids. The
Rough Diamond, the Consumptive Whore, the bandit who is
good to his mother, the epileptic girl who has a way with
animals will be the heroes and heroines of the New Age,
when the general, the statesman, and the philosopher have
become the butt of every farce and satire.
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