Sheer curiosity, without immediate anticipa-tion of ends and uses, has done most to envision new ends and fresh uses. But curiosity does this in virtue of a strange counterpoint of use and enjoyment. The Creator who is the fountain of joy, and the cre-ation which is the material of university study, are here brought together in an ultimate way. It is significant that the university, the institutional solidification of the fact that studies are for delight, is an idea and a creation of a culture that once affirmed that men should glorify God and enjoy him forever. Use is blessed when enjoyment is honored.
Piety is deepest practicality, for it properly relates use and en-joyment.
And a world sacramentally received in joy is a world sanely used. That this vision involves a radical new understanding of the clean and fruitful earth is certainly so. But this vision, deeply religious in its gene-sis, is not so very absurd now that natural damnation is in orbit, and man's befouling of his ancient home has spread his death and dirt among the stars.