Chesterton and Kreeft

A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about truth; this has been exactly reversed.

- G. K. Chesterton

Why, why, why weren't we taught Chesterton in schools? Why don't we hear him from the pulpits? The more I read of him, the more I wonder why he isn't better known. Or more well known than he is anyway.

This quote is from at least a century ago yet fits today perfectly. We should doubt ourselves but not truth. We should admit we are fallible and need help yet have no worries about where help lies. Yet we trust in ourselves while believing there is no truth. If that isn't an oxymoron, a contradiction in itself, then what is?

It reminds of a comment from one Peter Kreeft, a more recent, lesser known, yet astute commentator on human nature: "Religion is indeed a crutch, as the atheists argue. And until the atheist confesses that he is a cripple, he will not be in the market for a crutch." 

If our premises are poor our reason will be skewed. Until we each admit that we aren't the center of the Universe we will not see the Universe properly. Almost all human error begins in the hubris that we know best. Yet without an undoubtable truth above and beyond us we can't know anything. Even ourselves.