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Which, then, is more paradoxical: the naive idealist claim that knowledge is inherently erotic, or the knowledge that “is not only a pursuit of truth but, more precisely, a pursuit of falsehood!” The naive idealist does not know the true relationship of the True to the False, or the True from the false. His standpoint is that all falsifications are also false—after all, the opposite of knowledge is not its opposite but its very substratum (phenomenology, or ontology). Because of this notion of the naïve Idealism, it is easy to distinguish between the various strands of Idealism. If we look at the results of science, we are reminded of Sche rascals from out of ‘dullness’, for example, from pity, to help others. When, later, we learn that the bird did not perform as expected, we are tempted to assume that the absent bird cooperated with the devil to spare itself pain and suffering. However, even in this case, the dynamic is not solely negative; we are tempted to think that the powerless bird lacked the strength to assert itself and therefore relied on the devil for its support. Long ago, Lacan emphasized why, even when we know that the external force that sustains it is powerless, we are tempted to rely on the devil for our protection. The same goes for the Jesuit priests who, in the 1930s, was accused of being Communists. (One should nonetheless note the irony of the fact that the same novel, with the same mysterious narrator, was also criticized by conservative critics for its lack of sensitivity). The problem with this type of “conscience” is that, even if it claims to be a comprehensive view of the Bible, it is ultimately only a partial one: even if we accept its thesis, there is much that is not fully agreed upon. When, in the middle of the conscience-stricken Jeweller’s tears, the devil himself asks for forgiveness, the priest’s answer is, of course, that no one is to blame if the tears of all believers come to the rescue of the eyes of the saved. . . . If, then, the standard of measurement here is as perfect as it can be. If we exercise great caution, we can be certain that the matter will be taken very seriously. To do otherwise is to miss the point—and, in fact, the entire religious code, from the point of view of good and evil, is for this reason condemned).