Hugh “Laurie says that he suffers from ‘mild depression,’ which he treats with occasional visits with a therapist, but insists that it has nothing to do with his low estimation of his work. That, he says, is something more in the shape of ‘a superstition,’ and that it’s part of his worldview. What comes next is the sort of logical paradox that so many self-professed atheists admit to when they try to explain their attempts to cobble together their own Rube Goldberg machinery to explain guilt, pride and hubris on their newly leveled secular playing field. (…)
“So there’s no God, but even in his absence, Laurie feels the capricious presence of some Old Testament version of Himself, scrutinizing everyone’s life – or perhaps just Laurie’s – and reserving the right to cast Laurie as Job and lay waste to his life. Superstitious is the right word for it, and frankly, there’s a chance that Laurie would be a little less depressed if, instead of living in fear of what he professes disbelief in, he had a deity to worship who could be a lightning rod for all that anxiety.”
