专八阅读训练：Religion and Rationality

Religion and Rationality

Yet the difference in tome and language must strike us, so soonas it is philosophy that speaks: that change should remind usthat even if the function of religion and that of reason coincide,this function is performed in the two cases by very differentorgans. Religions are many, reason one. Religion consists ofconscious ideas, hopes, enthusiasms, and objects of worship; itoperates by grace and flourishes by prayer. Reason, on theother hand, is a mere principle or potential order, on which indeed we may come to reflect butwhich exists in us ideally only, without variation or stress of any kind. We conform or do notconform to it; it does not urge or chide us, not call for any emotions on our part other than thosenaturally aroused by the various objects which it unfolds in their true nature and proportion.Religion brings some order into life by weighting it with new materials. Reason adds to the naturalmaterials only the perfect order which it introduces into them. Rationality is nothing but a form, anideal constitution which experience may more or less embody. Religion is a part of experience itself,a mass of sentiments and ideas. The one is an inviolate principle, the other a changing andstruggling force. And yet this struggling and changing force of religion seems to direct man towardsomething eternal. It seems to make for an ultimate harmony within the soul and for an ultimateharmony between the soul and all that the soul depends upon. Religion, in its intent, is a moreconscious and direct pursuit of the Life of Reason than is society, science, or art, for theseapproach and fill out the ideal life tentatively and piecemeal, hardly regarding the foal or caring forthe ultimate justification of the instinctive aims. Religion also has an instinctive and blind side andbubbles up in all manner of chance practices and intuitions; soon, however, it feels its way towardthe heart of things, and from whatever quarter it may come, veers in the direction of the ultimate.

Nevertheless, we must confess that this religious pursuit of the Life of Reason has been singularlyabortive. Those within the pale of each religion may prevail upon themselves, to expresssatisfaction with its results, thanks to a fond partiality in reading the past and generous draughts ofhope for the future; but any one regarding the various religions at once and comparing theirachievements with what reason requires, must feel how terrible is the disappointment which theyhave one and all prepared for mankind. Their chief anxiety has been to offer imaginary remediesfor mortal ills, some of which are incurable essentially, while others might have been really cured bywell-directed effort. The Greed oracles, for instance, pretended to heal out natural ignorance, whichhas its appropriate though difficult cure, while the Christian vision of heaven pretended to be anantidote to our natural death—the inevitable correlate of birth and of a changing and conditionedexistence. By methods of this sort little can be done for the real betterment of life. To confuseintelligence and dislocate sentiment by gratuitous fictions is a short-sighted way of pursuinghappiness. Nature is soon avenged. An unhealthy exaltation and a one-sided morality have to befollowed by regrettable reactions. When these come. The real rewards of life may seem vain to arelaxed vitality, and the very name of virtue may irritate young spirits untrained in and naturalexcellence. Thus religion too often debauches the morality it comes to sanction and impedes thescience it ought to fulfill.

What is the secret of this ineptitude? Why does religion, so near to rationality in its purpose, fall soshort of it in its results? The answer is easy; religion pursues rationality through the imagination.When it explains events or assigns causes, it is an imaginative substitute for science. When it givesprecepts, insinuates ideals, or remoulds aspiration, it is an imaginative substitute for wisdom—Imean for the deliberate and impartial pursuit of all food. The condition and the aims of life are bothrepresented in religion poetically, but this poetry tends to arrogate to itself literal truth and moralauthority, neither of which it possesses. Hence the depth and importance of religion becomesintelligible no less than its contradictions and practical disasters. Its object is the same as that ofreason, but its method is to proceed by intuition and by unchecked poetical conceits.

1. As used in the passage, the author would define “wisdom” as
[A] the pursuit of rationality through imagination.
[B] an unemotional search for the truth.
[C] a purposeful and unbiased quest for what is best.
[D] a short-sighted way of pursuing happiness

2. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
[A] Religion seeks the truth through imagination, reason, in its search, utilizes the emotions.
[B] Religion has proved an ineffective tool in solving man’s problems.
[C] Science seeks a piece meal solution to man’s questions.
[D] The functions of philosophy and reason are the same.

3. According to the author, science differs from religion in that
[A] it is unaware of ultimate goals. [B] it is unimaginative.
[C] its findings are exact and final. [D] it resembles society and art.

4. The author states that religion differs from rationality in that
[A] it relies on intuition rather than reasoning .
[B] it is not concerned with the ultimate justification of its instinctive aims.
[C] it has disappointed mankind.
[D] it has inspired mankind.

5. According to the author, the pursuit of religion has proved to be
[A] imaginative. [B] a provider of hope for the future.
[C] a highly intellectual activity [D] ineffectual.