I do not see how it is possible, in the nature of things, for any true religion to continue long. For religion must necessarily produce industry and frugality, and this cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so will love of the world, in all its branches. JOHN WESLEYToday I heard someone ask Nadia, who became Catholic around the same time I did, whether or not being Catholic had made her any more moral than she used to be. "No," she said, "but I did start drinking."
Obviously John Wesley's rule only applies to Protestantism.
After my conversion I had my first drink and my first cigarette, I read The Secret History and decided that the purpose of education was ekstasis ("Today, it is rarely recognized that Eros is the basis of education..."), and generally made my peace with self-destruction. It is nice to read Wesley's quote, which I came across in this book, and discover that a philosophy of the-crucible-of-violence-shall-turn-out-my-life-a-poem has the attending benefit of saving my religiosity from the vicious cycle of (ugh!) prosperity.
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