meaning - In any but the most vestigial and nostalgic way...?


Once again, here I am with a question raised by the highly unintelligable Hitchens...


It can be equally useful and instructive to take a glimpse at the closing of religions, or religious movements. The Millerites, for example, are no more. And we shall not hear again, in any but the most vestigial and nostalgic way, of Pan or Osiris or any of the thousands of gods who once held people in utter thrall. god is not Great by Christopher Hitchens, p. 169


As a result of a long and tedious searh, I have -rightly, I hope- concluded that any but the most XXX means "all the other things except for the one which is the most XXX". Oddly enough, I can't figure out the exact meaning of vestigial in the phrase in bold in the above quote and can't come up with a meaningful explanation of the whole phrase either.


Any help would be appreciated greatly.



Answer



Vestigial in this context means all but a very small remnant of something that was once much larger or more noticeable.



vestigial adjective: forming a very small remnant of something that was once much larger or more noticeable. "he felt a vestigial flicker of anger from last night"; synonyms: remaining, surviving, residual, leftover, lingering. see, Google



Nostalgic is used to mean characterized by or exhibiting feelings of nostalgia. i.e., expressing a romantic or sentimental sensibility.



nostalgia noun: a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. "I was overcome with acute nostalgia for my days in college"; synonyms: reminiscence, remembrance, recollection. see, Google



So, Mr. Hitchens is expressing the opinion that we shall not be hearing much of the gods Pan and Osiris (or any of the thousands of gods who once held people in utter thrall) because reason has vanquished them and all that is left of these gods is a very small remnant (i.e., in literature and myth), therefore only someone suffering from nostalgia, who has a romantic, sentimental and backward-looking understanding of the irrational concept of supernatural deities, is likely to discuss "the gods" at all.


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