Anyone too undisciplined, too self-righteous or too self-centered to live in the world as it is has a tendency to “idealize” a world which ought to be. But no matter what political or religious direction such “idealists” choose, their visions always share one telling characteristic: in their utopias, heavens or brave new worlds, their greatest personal weakness suddenly appears to be a strength. In a “religiously pure” community, for example, any puritanical blockhead who was unable to love his neighbor or turn the other cheek can suddenly sweep the entire world into the category of “Damned” and pass himself off as “Saved.”
Dr. Gurtzner
in David James Duncan’s The Brothers K
