University of Virginia Library

Mindless Bliss

These apologists contend that
The Honor System reflects certain
phantasmago
civilized man-among whose
manifestations are not lying,
not cheating and not stealing. The
Hindu definition of Mindless Bliss,
'neti neti' (not this, not this) seems
roughly parallel.

Thus Honor per se becomes the
shrouded Moloch, transcendent and
unknowable, for to blaspheme The
System in terms of social contract
would undermine the
rationalizations behind its insatiable
cravings for human sacrifice.

These sacrifices are the exiles,
the unappealingly unwashed, the
spiritually deficient miscreants
whose absence reminds the rest of
us that we are, after all, a 'better
sort'.

Their fate contrasts ironically
with the 'redeemables' who get
drunk, for example, and beat
someone's face in. Admitting their
deeds, these remain "one of us" to
be chastened perhaps, but never
banished.

Those who fail to appreciate the
spiritual subtleties of Platonic
Honor are admonished to remain
quiet about it.