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moral conduct, is arbitrary. What they obtain from religion
is
not
the answer to their question concerning the meaning of life, but only
here again, the fallacious assurance, that there is an answer.
If
they
were satisfied with their own values, if they found life meaningful
as they actually lived it, they would not need this assurance. Ac–
cordingly the problem here is to account for the growth among in–
tellectuals of this pervasive form of self-distrust.
In this case, I think that the obvious explanations are in the main
correct. The position of many intellectuals at the present time is that
they can neither wholly detach themselves from the fortunes and
standards of their society nor identify themselves with them. Those of
them who undertook political action in a spirit of revolutionary
idealism are now for the most part disillusioned; but this does not al–
low them to be indifferent to politics: they are aware of being at the
mercy of events which they cannot control. In these circumstances
they find that they cannot work as they would wish; or that to
concentrate on their work does not sufficiently protect them from
the insidious doubt whether anything they can accomplish really
matters. This attitude is still not common among scientists; and it is
noteworthy that there has not recently been any great tendency on
the part of scientists to be converted to religious beliefs. In their
case it
is
not a matter for surprise if they do not find religion credible;
but it is also true that it is now easier for a scientist than for, say,
an imaginative writer to look upon his work as something wholly
worth doing for its own sake. And this being so, he can the more
readily dispense with the religious assurance that life is really mean–
ingful, particularly as this assurance is empty in itself.
It is often said that human beings cannot live happily without a
creed; but if this is taken to imply that they cannot live happily
without a belief in the supernatural, I think that it is false. What
may be true
is
that they cannot live happily unless there is something
in their lives to which they attach significance; but this
is
an end
which there is still no sufficient reason to regard as generally un–
attainable. Religion has in its social aspects done something to
further its attainment, but there is also a sense in which it has been
an obstacle; for by disparaging life in this world it has discouraged
people from finding in it the satisfaction that it can provide. It is
now somewhat the fashion to mock humanism; but at least its
