...religion, politics, Church and State, the theoretical expression of practical egoism were criticized and it was thought that the world could be reformed in this manner, without realizing that this would be just as fruitless as a doctor wanting to cure a disease by suppressing its external symptoms. Perverted consciousness and its manifestations, Church and State, are nothing but the symptoms of a perverted life – the picture of a real body which will not change just because a different and more beautiful picture is made of it.