We can’t know that, so it has nothing to do with us. I think immortality is an anti–religious idea, as if there were rewards or anything happening somewhere else. It’s all got to be now and here.

ANTAGORAS

What has?

ACASTOS

That sort of – absolute seriousness.

TIMONAX

But that is morality.

ANTAGORAS

Religion is just morality plus a tragic feeling.

ACASTOS

No! [ voices raised ]

SOCRATES

Wait, wait! I want Acastos to tell us how he thinks religion relates to morality. Some people might say that morality is just public social rules and that there are a lot of serious private things which have nothing whatever to do with morals. Would you say that, Timonax?

TIMONAX after a moment’s reflection

Yes, so long as that doesn’t make morality unimportant.

SOCRATES to Acastos

And isn’t that a sensible view, isn’t that common sense?

ANTAGORAS

It’s certainly political common sense!

ACASTOS

I think religion contains morality. It goes beyond common sense, it goes beyond that sort of limited attitude, dividing the world into manageable bits. Religion is believing that your life is a whole – I mean that goodness and morality and duty are just everywhere – like always looking further and deeper – and feeling reverence for things – a religious person would care about everything in that sort of way, he’d feel everything mattered and every second mattered.

SOCRATES

No time off!

TIMONAX

Oh come, you must draw the line somewhere!

SOCRATES

Perhaps for Acastos religion means not drawing the line.

ACASTOS

That’s what one would mean by saying that Zeus is always watching.

TIMONAX

You don’t believe that Zeus is always watching!

ACASTOS

No, I mean it’s as if! It’s like we’re [ expressive gesture ] immersed.

ANTAGORAS

‘All is one’ is the oldest lie in the philosophy book.

SOCRATES while Acastos nods

So a religious attitude sees our life as an interconnected whole and a religious man would feel responsible for the quality of all his thoughts and experiences, even his perceptions, as if everything were significant and worthy of justice?

ACASTOS

Yes, this sort of – perpetual work – seems to me what religion is.

SOCRATES

You approve of such an attitude.

ACASTOS

Yes, it’s – as I see it – it’s like – it’s humility and unselfishness – and setting yourself aside to make room for other things, and people –

TIMONAX

But you can’t care about everything, that’s a ridiculous conceited idea, not a bit humble, anyway you’d go mad! You’re talking about states of mind all the time, lofty private emotions, what about actions, actions are what matter –

ACASTOS

I don’t mean just emotions – actions come out of states of mind and how we see the world, we can only move in the world we can see, we have to change ourselves and become better and understand more –

ANTAGORAS

We can’t change ourselves, we’ve always known that, only now we know why!

SOCRATES