Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Flatland with Notes and Commentary
- Part I This World
- 1 Of the Nature of Flatland
- 2 Of the Climate and Houses in Flatland
- 3 Concerning the Inhabitants of Flatland
- 4 Concerning the Women
- 5 Of our Methods of Recognizing one another
- 6 Of Recognition by Sight
- 7 Concerning Irregular Figures
- 8 Of the Ancient Practice of Painting
- 9 Of the Universal Colour Bill
- 10 Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition
- 11 Concerning our Priests
- 12 Of the Doctrine of our Priests
- Part II Other Worlds
- Epilogue by the Editor
- Continued Notes
- Appendix A Critical Reaction to Flatland
- Appendix B The Life and Work of Edwin Abbott Abbott
- Recommended Reading
- References
- Index of Defined Words
- Index
12 - Of the Doctrine of our Priests
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Flatland with Notes and Commentary
- Part I This World
- 1 Of the Nature of Flatland
- 2 Of the Climate and Houses in Flatland
- 3 Concerning the Inhabitants of Flatland
- 4 Concerning the Women
- 5 Of our Methods of Recognizing one another
- 6 Of Recognition by Sight
- 7 Concerning Irregular Figures
- 8 Of the Ancient Practice of Painting
- 9 Of the Universal Colour Bill
- 10 Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition
- 11 Concerning our Priests
- 12 Of the Doctrine of our Priests
- Part II Other Worlds
- Epilogue by the Editor
- Continued Notes
- Appendix A Critical Reaction to Flatland
- Appendix B The Life and Work of Edwin Abbott Abbott
- Recommended Reading
- References
- Index of Defined Words
- Index
Summary
As to the doctrine of the Circles it may briefly be summed up in a single maxim, “Attend to your Configuration.” Whether political, ecclesiastical, or moral, all their teaching has for its object the improvement of individual and collective Configuration – with special reference of course to the Configuration of the Circles, to which all other objects are subordinated.
It is the merit of the Circles that they have effectually suppressed those ancient heresies which led men to waste energy and sympathy in the vain belief that conduct depends upon will, effort, training, encouragement, praise, or anything else but Configuration. It was Pantocyclus – the illustrious Circle mentioned above, as the queller of the Colour Revolt – who first convinced mankind that Configuration makes the man; that if, for example, you are born an Isosceles with two uneven sides, you will assuredly go wrong unless you have them made even – for which purpose you must go to the Isosceles Hospital; similarly, if you are a Triangle, or Square, or even a Polygon, born with any Irregularity, you must be taken to one of the Regular Hospitals to have your disease cured; otherwise you will end your days in the State Prison or by the angle of the State Executioner.
All faults or defects, from the slightest misconduct to the most flagitious crime, Pantocyclus attributed to some deviation from perfect Regularity in the bodily figure, caused perhaps (if not congenital) by some collision in a crowd; by neglect to take exercise, or by taking too much of it; or even by a sudden change of temperature, resulting in a shrinkage or expansion in some too susceptible part of the frame.
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- Information
- FlatlandAn Edition with Notes and Commentary, pp. 102 - 113Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009