24. It is fear that makes of our finitude the nursery of sin. But then we still have to ask, "What finite being can dispense with fear?" Isn't it necessary in a finite world in order to protect ourselves from being destroyed by other finite beings? Yes, of course. Yet, fear becomes the nursery of sin when it begins to become our normative stance in relation to the world around us. It embodies the grandiosity of a tiny being trying to assert total control of its world. And such grandiosity is so patent a lie that it can only poison the soul in which it takes up residence. The soul poisoned by fear becomes sinful.