J. Revolt, the Typical Emotional Element of the Irenic Utopianist

Because he thinks this way, the true Catholic is the contrary of the utopianist who, deprived of the light of faith, considers error, evil, and pain to be absurd contingencies of human existence that anger him. He thinks it natural for man to rise up against this triad of adversaries. Moreover, as the utopianist fails to consider the existence of another life, he is led to conclude as evident, necessary, and unquestionable that we can eliminate pain, evil, and error. Otherwise, he would be forced to admit that the very order of being is absurd.

This is what his utopia is essentially based upon. Thus, it is understandable that for the utopinianist, life cannot normally have a legitimate meaning of struggle, trial, and expiation; it can only have a meaning of soft and agreeable peace. The utopianist is by definition a pacifist "á outrance;" he is ultra‑ecumenical and ultra‑irenical. None of his dreams would have interior consistency or be capable of satisfying him completely if they did not include the suppression of all struggles and controversies.

It is understood that the earthly paradise based on science and technology dreamed of by utopianism includes the satisfaction of the human passions both in what is legitimate and in what is most tempestuous, unruly, and illegitimate, for the mortification of the passions is incompatible with this irenical "paradise."

Pride and sensuality occupy a prominent place among the disorderly passions. They mark the utopianist with two main characteristics: the desire to be supreme in his sphere, not accepting a transcendent God, and the tendency to complete freedom in satisfying all the unruly instincts and appetites.

Because the utopianist believes only in this life, he thinks that the possibility of obtaining from this world all the satisfaction his being desires is inherent to the nature of things. He expects in fact to obtain this satisfaction through his own efforts. He is the "worldly" man par excellence, since he puts all his hopes in this world.²⁴