It is not necessary here to explain how this essential dichotomy between an individual retribution that can be genealogically codified and a non-personal order of things leads to two essentially different societies. One, the European, which is fundamentally mutable and the other, Indian, which is fundamentally immutable. This funda-mental immutability also means that tradition cannot be changed in the sense that it is radically eradicated. This interpretation, however, has nothing to do with volition. Haas tried to maintain as neutral a tone as possible in his essentialist diagnosis. The believer in an idol and the believer in an intellectual divine principle are neither better nor worse as Hindus. All that matters is that their place in the cosmic order be fixed.