Comments on: Talkin’ ’bout the Vatican… https://habitablezone.com/2014/01/04/talkin-bout-the-vatican/ Sun, 19 Apr 2026 21:38:00 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Robert https://habitablezone.com/2014/01/04/talkin-bout-the-vatican/#comment-29276 Robert Sun, 05 Jan 2014 05:49:14 +0000 http://habitablezone.com/?p=42044#comment-29276 Aye, laddy, I know. Aye, laddy, I know.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2014/01/04/talkin-bout-the-vatican/#comment-29273 ER Sun, 05 Jan 2014 03:22:19 +0000 http://habitablezone.com/?p=42044#comment-29273 ...but the speed of light is so slow, and the stars are so far away. …but the speed of light is so slow, and the stars are so far away.

]]> By: Robert https://habitablezone.com/2014/01/04/talkin-bout-the-vatican/#comment-29268 Robert Sun, 05 Jan 2014 01:26:08 +0000 http://habitablezone.com/?p=42044#comment-29268 Yessssss, institutions that survive for millenia can carry out long term and ambitious agendas. But maybe agenda, singular, is a better word. What makes an institution able to survive and carry on its founding mission is ever-growing conservatism becoming fanatic single-minded devotion to <i>preserving</i> that founding mission. At the end of two millenia, all the Church can do is be the Holy Mother of all Churches. It's impossible to imagine it taking on a new mission that wasn't envisioned, or said to be envisioned, by its founder. The Bene Gesserit had that one audacious idea, to breed the Kwisatch Haderach. Millenia later, they reacted with perfect institutional conservatism to smash the heretic who spoiled their plan. What I'm saying is: If you rely on a millenial institution to carry out your mission, be damned sure that the mission is still going to be a good thing millenia later. And perhaps only a fanatic is fool enough to believe <i>that</i>. Yessssss, institutions that survive for millenia can carry out long term and ambitious agendas. But maybe agenda, singular, is a better word. What makes an institution able to survive and carry on its founding mission is ever-growing conservatism becoming fanatic single-minded devotion to preserving that founding mission.

At the end of two millenia, all the Church can do is be the Holy Mother of all Churches. It’s impossible to imagine it taking on a new mission that wasn’t envisioned, or said to be envisioned, by its founder.

The Bene Gesserit had that one audacious idea, to breed the Kwisatch Haderach. Millenia later, they reacted with perfect institutional conservatism to smash the heretic who spoiled their plan.

What I’m saying is: If you rely on a millenial institution to carry out your mission, be damned sure that the mission is still going to be a good thing millenia later.

And perhaps only a fanatic is fool enough to believe that.

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