The great defender of religion is the lie. Lies are the most vital
possession of man. Religion lives upon lies, and society maintains
itself upon them, with its train of priests and soldiers--the one,
moreover, as useless as the other. This great Maia of falsehood sustains
all the sky borders in the theatre of life, and, when some fall, it
lifts up others.
If there were a solvent for lies, what surprises would be in store for
us! Nearly everybody who now appears to us to be upright, inflexible,
and to hold his chest high, would be disclosed as a flaccid, weak
person, presenting in reality a sorry spectacle.
Lies are much more stimulating than truth; they are also almost always
more tonic and more healthy. I have come to this conclusion rather late
in life. For utilitarian and practical ends, it is clearly our duty to
cultivate falsehood, arbitrariness, and partial truths. Nevertheless, we
do not do so. Can it be that, unconsciously, we have something of the
heroic in us?