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"Bethink Yourselves"
By
Leo Tolstoy
Cont=
ents
I =
II =
III =
VIII =
XI =
XII =
"This is your hour, and=
the
power of darkness."--Luke xxii. 53.
Again war. Again sufferings, necess=
ary to
nobody, utterly uncalled for; again fraud; again the universal stupefaction=
and
brutalization of men.
Men who are separ=
ated
from each other by thousands of miles, hundreds of thousands of such men (on
the one hand--Buddhists, whose law forbids the killing, not only of men, bu=
t of
animals; on the other hand--Christians, professing the law of brotherhood a=
nd
love) like wild beasts on land and on sea are seeking out each other, in or=
der
to kill, torture, and mutilate each other in the most cruel way. What can t=
his
be? Is it a dream or a reality? Something is taking place which should not,
cannot be; one longs to believe that it is a dream and to awake from it. But
no, it is not a dream, it is a dreadful reality!
One could yet
understand how a poor, uneducated, defrauded Japanese, torn from his field =
and
taught that Buddhism consists not in compassion to all that lives, but in
sacrifices to idols, and how a similar poor illiterate fellow from the neig=
hborhood
of Toula or Nijni Novgorod, who has been taught that Christianity consists =
in
worshipping Christ, the Madonna, Saints, and their ikons--one could underst=
and
how these unfortunate men, brought by the violence and deceit of centuries =
to
recognize the greatest crime in the world--the murder of one's brethren--as=
a
virtuous act, can commit these dreadful deeds, without regarding themselves=
as
being guilty in so doing.
But how can so-ca=
lled
enlightened men preach war, support it, participate in it, and, worst of al=
l,
without suffering the dangers of war themselves, incite others to it, sendi=
ng
their unfortunate defrauded brothers to fight? These so-called enlightened =
men
cannot possibly ignore, I do not say the Christian law, if they recognize
themselves to be Christians, but all that has been written, is being writte=
n,
has and is being said, about the cruelty, futility, and senselessness of wa=
r. They
are regarded as enlightened men precisely because they know all this. The
majority of them have themselves written and spoken about this. Not to ment=
ion
The Hague Conference, which called forth universal praise, or all the books,
pamphlets, newspaper articles, and speeches demonstrating the possibility of
the solution of international misunderstandings by international
arbitration--no enlightened man can help knowing that the universal competi=
tion
in the armaments of States must inevitably lead them to endless wars, or to=
a
general bankruptcy, or to both the one and the other. They cannot but know =
that
besides the senseless, purposeless expenditure of milliards of roubles, i.e=
. of
human labor, on the preparations for war, during the wars themselves millio=
ns
of the most energetic and vigorous men perish in that period of their life
which is best for productive labor (during the past century wars have destr=
oyed
fourteen million men). Enlightened men cannot but know that occasions for w=
ar
are always such as are not worth not only one human life, but not one hundr=
edth
part of all that which is spent upon wars (in fighting for the emancipation=
of
the negroes much more was spent than it would have cost to redeem them from
slavery).
Every one knows a=
nd
cannot help knowing that, above all, wars, calling forth the lowest animal
passions, deprave and brutalize men. Every one knows the weakness of the
arguments in favor of war, such as were brought forward by De Maistre, Molt=
ke,
and others, for they are all founded on the sophism that in every human
calamity it is possible to find an advantageous element, or else upon the
utterly arbitrary assertion that wars have always existed and therefore alw=
ays
must exist, as if the bad actions of men could be justified by the advantag=
es
or the usefulness which they realize, or by the consideration that they hav=
e been
committed during a long period of time. All so-called enlightened men know =
all
this. Then suddenly war begins, and all this is instantly forgotten, and the
same men who but yesterday were proving the cruelty, futility, the
senselessness of wars now think, speak, and write only about killing as many
men as possible, about ruining and destroying the greatest possible amount =
of
the productions of human labor, and about exciting as much as possible the
passion of hatred in those peaceful, harmless, industrious men who by their
labor feed, clothe, maintain these same pseudo-enlightened men, who compel =
them
to commit those dreadful deeds contrary to their conscience, welfare, or fa=
ith.
II
Something is taking place
incomprehensible and impossible in its cruelty, falsehood, and stupidity. T=
he
Russian Tsar, the same man who exhorted all the nations in the cause of pea=
ce,
publicly announces that, notwithstanding all his efforts to maintain the pe=
ace
so dear to his heart (efforts which express themselves in the seizing of ot=
her
peoples' lands and in the strengthening of armies for the defence of these
stolen lands), he, owing to the attack of the Japanese, commands that the s=
ame shall
be done to the Japanese as they had commenced doing to the Russians--i.e. t=
hat
they should be slaughtered; and in announcing this call to murder he mentio=
ns
God, asking the Divine blessing on the most dreadful crime in the world. The
Japanese Emperor has proclaimed the same thing in relation to the Russians.=
Men of science an=
d of
law (Messieurs Muravieff and Martens) strenuously try to prove that in the
recent call of all nations to universal peace and the present incitement to
war, because of the seizure of other peoples' lands, there is no contradict=
ion.
Diplomatists, in their refined French language, publish and send out circul=
ars
in which they circumstantially and diligently prove (though they know no one
believes them) that, after all its efforts to establish peaceful relations =
(in reality,
after all its efforts to deceive other countries), the Russian Government h=
as
been compelled to have recourse to the only means for a rational solution of
the question--i.e. to the murder of men. The same thing is written by Japan=
ese
diplomatists. Scientists, historians, and philosophers, on their side,
comparing the present with the past, deduce from these comparisons profound
conclusions, and argue interminably about the laws of the movement of natio=
ns,
about the relation between the yellow and white races, or about Buddhism and
Christianity, and on the basis of these deductions and arguments justify the
slaughter of those belonging to the yellow race by Christians; while in the
same way the Japanese scientists and philosophers justify the slaughter of
those of the white race. Journalists, without concealing their joy, try to
outdo each other, and, not hesitating at any falsehood, however impudent an=
d transparent,
prove in all possible ways that the Russians only are right and strong and =
good
in every respect, and that all the Japanese are wrong and weak and bad in e=
very
respect, and that all those are also bad who are inimical or may become
inimical toward the Russians--the English, the Americans; and the same is
proved likewise by the Japanese and their supporters in relation to the
Russians.
Not to mention th=
e military,
who in the way of their profession prepare for murder, crowds of so-called
enlightened people, such as professors, social reformers, students, nobles,
merchants, without being forced thereto by anything or anybody, express the
most bitter and contemptuous feelings toward the Japanese, the English, or =
the
Americans, toward whom but yesterday they were either well-disposed or
indifferent; while, without the least compulsion, they express the most abj=
ect,
servile feelings toward the Tsar (to whom, to say the least, they were
completely indifferent), assuring him of their unlimited love and readiness=
to sacrifice
their lives in his interests.
This unfortunate,
entangled young man, recognized as the leader of one hundred and thirty
millions of people, continually deceived and compelled to contradict himsel=
f,
confidently thanks and blesses the troops whom he calls his own for murder =
in
defence of lands which with yet less right he also calls his own. All prese=
nt
to each other hideous ikons in which not only no one amongst the educated
believes, but which unlearned peasants are beginning to abandon; all bow do=
wn
to the ground before these ikons, kiss them, and pronounce pompous and
deceitful speeches in which no one really believes.
Wealthy people
contribute insignificant portions of their immorally acquired riches for th=
is
cause of murder or the organization of help in connection with the work of
murder; while the poor, from whom the Government annually collects two
milliards, deem it necessary to do likewise, giving their mites also. The
Government incites and encourages crowds of idlers, who walk about the stre=
ets
with the Tsar's portrait, singing, shouting hurrah! and who, under pretext =
of
patriotism, are licensed in all kinds of excess. All over Russia, from the
Palace to the remotest village, the pastors of churches, calling themselves
Christians, appeal to that God who has enjoined love to one's enemies--to t=
he
God of Love Himself--to help the work of the devil to further the slaughter=
of men.
Stupefied by pray=
ers,
sermons, exhortations, by processions, pictures, and newspapers, the cannon=
's
flesh, hundreds of thousands of men, uniformly dressed, carrying divers dea=
dly
weapons, leaving their parents, wives, children, with hearts of agony, but =
with
artificial sprightliness, go where they, risking their own lives, will comm=
it
the most dreadful act of killing men whom they do not know and who have done
them no harm. And they are followed by doctors and nurses, who somehow imag=
ine
that at home they cannot serve simple, peaceful, suffering people, but can =
only
serve those who are engaged in slaughtering each other. Those who remain at=
home
are gladdened by news of the murder of men, and when they learn that many
Japanese have been killed they thank some one whom they call God.
All this is not o=
nly
regarded as the manifestation of elevated feeling, but those who refrain fr=
om
such manifestations, if they endeavor to disabuse men, are deemed traitors =
and
betrayers, and are in danger of being abused and beaten by a brutalized cro=
wd
which, in defence of its insanity and cruelty, can possess no other weapon =
than
brute force.
III
It is as if there had never existed
either Voltaire, or Montaigne, or Pascal, or Swift, or Kant, or Spinoza, or
hundreds of other writers who have exposed, with great force, the madness a=
nd
futility of war, and have described its cruelty, immorality, and savagery; =
and,
above all, it is as if there had never existed Jesus and his teaching of hu=
man
brotherhood and love of God and of men.
One recalls all t=
his
to mind and looks around on what is now taking place, and one experiences
horror less at the abominations of war than at that which is the most horri=
ble
of all horrors--the consciousness of the impotency of human reason. That wh=
ich
alone distinguishes man from the animal, that which constitutes his merit--=
his
reason--is found to be an unnecessary, and not only a useless, but a pernic=
ious
addition, which simply impedes action, like a bridle fallen from a horse's
head, and entangled in his legs and only irritating him.
It is comprehensi=
ble
that a heathen, a Greek, a Roman, even a mediæval Christian, ignorant=
of
the Gospel and blindly believing all the prescriptions of the Church, might
fight and, fighting, pride himself on his military achievements; but how ca=
n a
believing Christian, or even a sceptic, involuntarily permeated by the
Christian ideals of human brotherhood and love which have inspired the work=
s of
the philosophers, moralists, and artists of our time,--how can such take a =
gun,
or stand by a cannon, and aim at a crowd of his fellow-men, desiring to kil=
l as
many of them as possible?
The Assyrians,
Romans, or Greeks might be persuaded that in fighting they were acting not =
only
according to their conscience, but even fulfilling a righteous deed. But,
whether we wish it or not, we are Christians, and however Christianity may =
have
been distorted, its general spirit cannot but lift us to that higher plane =
of
reason whence we can no longer refrain from feeling with our whole being no=
t only
the senselessness and the cruelty of war, but its complete opposition to all
that we regard as good and right. Therefore, we cannot do as they did, with
assurance, firmness, and peace, and without a consciousness of our criminal=
ity,
without the desperate feeling of a murderer, who, having begun to kill his
victim, and feeling in the depths of his soul the guilt of his act, proceed=
s to
try to stupefy or infuriate himself, to be able the better to complete his
dreadful deed. All the unnatural, feverish, hot-headed, insane excitement w=
hich
has now seized the idle upper ranks of Russian society is merely the sympto=
m of
their recognition of the criminality of the work which is being done. All t=
hese
insolent, mendacious speeches about devotion to, and worship of, the Monarc=
h,
about readiness to sacrifice life (or one should say other people's lives, =
and
not one's own); all these promises to defend with one's breast land which d=
oes
not belong to one; all these senseless benedictions of each other with vari=
ous
banners and monstrous ikons; all these Te Deums; all these preparations of
blankets and bandages; all these detachments of nurses; all these contribut=
ions
to the fleet and to the Red Cross presented to the Government, whose direct
duty is (whilst it has the possibility of collecting from the people as much
money as it requires), having declared war, to organize the necessary fleet=
and
necessary means for attending the wounded; all these Slavonic, pompous,
senseless, and blasphemous prayers, the utterance of which in various towns=
is
communicated in the papers as important news; all these processions, calls =
for
the national hymn, cheers; all this dreadful, desperate newspaper mendacity,
which, being universal, does not fear exposure; all this stupefaction and b=
rutalization
which has now taken hold of Russian society, and which is being transmitted=
by
degrees also to the masses; all this is only a symptom of the guilty
consciousness of that dreadful act which is being accomplished.
Spontaneous feeli=
ng
tells men that what they are doing should not be; but, as the murderer who =
has
begun to assassinate his victim cannot stop, so also Russian people now ima=
gine
that the fact of the deadly work having been commenced is an unanswerable
argument in favor of war. War has been begun, and therefore it should go on.
Thus it seems to simple, benighted, unlearned men, acting under the influen=
ce
of the petty passions and stupefaction to which they have been subjected. In
exactly the same way the most educated men of our time argue to prove that =
man does
not possess free will, and that, therefore, even were he to understand that=
the
work he has commenced is evil, he can no longer cease to do it. And dazed,
brutalized men continue their dreadful work.
Ask a soldier, a private, a corpora=
l, a
non-commissioned officer, who has abandoned his old parents, his wife, his
children, why he is preparing to kill men whom he does not know; he will at
first be astonished at your question. He is a soldier, he has taken the oat=
h,
and it is his duty to fulfil the orders of his commanders. If you tell him =
that
war--i.e. the slaughter of men--does not conform to the command, "Thou
shalt not kill," he will say: "And how if ours are attacked--For =
the
King--For the Orthodox faith?" (One of them said in answer to my quest=
ion:
"And how if he attacks that which is sacred?" "What do you
mean?" I asked. "Why," said he, "the banner.") And=
if
you endeavor to explain to such a soldier that God's Commandment is more
important not only than the banner but than anything else in the world, he =
will
become silent, or he will get angry and report you to the authorities.
Ask an officer, a
general, why he goes to the war. He will tell you that he is a military man,
and that the military are indispensable for the defence of the fatherland. =
As
to murder not conforming to the spirit of the Christian law, this does not
trouble him, as either he does not believe in this law, or, if he does, it =
is
not in the law itself, but in that explanation which has been given to this
law. But, above all, he, like the soldier, in place of the personal questio=
n,
what should he do himself, always put the general question about the State,=
or
the fatherland. "At the present moment, when the fatherland is in dang=
er,
one should act, and not argue," he will say.
Ask the diplomati=
sts,
who, by their deceits, prepare wars, why they do it. They will tell you that
the object of their activity is the establishment of peace between nations,=
and
that this object is attained, not by ideal, unrealizable theories, but by
diplomatic action and readiness for war. And, just as the military, instead=
of
the question concerning one's own action, place the general question, so al=
so diplomatists
will speak about the interests of Russia, about the unscrupulousness of oth=
er
Powers, about the balance of power in Europe, but not about their own posit=
ion
and its activities.
Ask the journalis=
ts
why, by their writings, they incite men to war; they will say that wars in
general are necessary and useful, especially the present war, and they will
confirm this opinion of theirs by misty patriotic phrases, and, just like t=
he
military and diplomatist, to the question why he, a journalist, a particular
individual, a living man, acts in a certain way, he will speak about the ge=
neral
interests of the nation, about the State, civilization, the white race. In =
the
same way, all those who prepare war will explain their participation in that
work. They will perhaps agree that it would be desirable to abolish war, bu=
t at
present this is impossible. At present they as Russians and as men who occu=
py
certain positions, such as heads of the nobility, representatives of local
self-government, doctors, workers of the Red Cross, are called upon to act =
and
not to argue. "There is no time to argue and to think of oneself,"
they will say, "when there is a great common work to be done." The
same will be said by the Tsar, seemingly responsible for the whole thing. H=
e,
like the soldier, will be astonished at the question, whether war is now
necessary. He does not even admit the idea that the war might yet be arrest=
ed.
He will say that he cannot refrain from fulfilling that which is demanded of
him by the whole nation, that, although he does recognize that war is a gre=
at
evil, and has used, and is ready to use, all possible means for its
abolition--in the present case he could not help declaring war, and cannot =
help
continuing it. It is necessary for the welfare and glory of Russia.
Every one of these
men, to the question why he, so and so, Ivan, Peter, Nicholas, whilst
recognizing as binding upon him the Christian law which not only forbids the
killing of one's neighbor but demands that one should love him, serve him, =
why
he permits himself to participate in war; i.e. in violence, loot, murder, w=
ill infallibly
answer the same thing, that he is thus acting in the name of his fatherland=
, or
faith, or oath, or honor, or civilization, or the future welfare of the who=
le
of mankind--in general, of something abstract and indefinite. Moreover, the=
se
men are always so urgently occupied either by preparation for war, or by its
organization, or discussions about it, that in their leisure time they can =
only
rest from their labors, and have not time to occupy themselves with discuss=
ions
about their life, regarding such discussions as idle.
V
Men of our Christian world and of o=
ur
time are like a man who, having missed the right turning, the further he go=
es
the more he becomes convinced that he is going the wrong way. Yet the great=
er
his doubts, the quicker and the more desperately does he hurry on, consoling
himself with the thought that he will arrive somewhere. But the time comes =
when
it becomes quite clear that the way along which he is going will lead to no=
thing
but a precipice, which he is already beginning to discern before him.
In such a position
stands the Christian humanity of our time. It is perfectly evident that, if=
we
continue to live as we are now living, guided in our private lives, as well=
as
in the life of separate States, by the sole desire of welfare for ourselves=
and
for our State, and will, as we do now, think to ensure this welfare by
violence, then, inevitably increasing the means of violence of one against =
the
other and of State against State, we shall, first, keep subjecting ourselves
more and more, transferring the major portion of our productiveness to
armaments; and, secondly, by killing in mutual wars the best physically
developed men, we must become more and more degenerate and morally depraved=
.
That this will be=
the
case if we do not alter our life is as certain as it is mathematically cert=
ain
that two non-parallel straight lines must meet. But not only is this
theoretically certain in our time; it is becoming certain not only to thoug=
ht,
but also to the consciousness. The precipice which we approach is already
becoming apparent to us, and the most simple, non-philosophizing, and
uneducated men cannot but see that, by arming ourselves more and more again=
st
each other and slaughtering each other in war, we, like spiders in a jar, c=
an
come to nothing else but the destruction of each other.
A sincere, seriou=
s,
rational man can no longer console himself by the thought that matters can =
be
mended, as was formerly supposed, by a universal empire such as that of Rom=
e or
of Charles the Great, or Napoleon, or by the mediæval spiritual power=
of
the Pope, or by Holy Alliances, by the political balance of the European
Concert, and by peaceful international tribunals, or, as some have thought,=
by
the increase of military strength and the newly discovered powerful weapons=
of
destruction.
It is impossible =
to
organize a universal empire or republic, consisting of European States, as
different nationalities will never desire to unite into one State. To organ=
ize
international tribunals for the solution of international disputes? But who
will impose obedience to the decision of the tribunal upon a contending par=
ty
who has an organized army of millions of men? To disarm? No one desires it =
or
will begin it. To invent yet more dreadful means of destruction--balloons w=
ith
bombs filled with suffocating gases, shells, which men will shower upon each
other from above? Whatever may be invented, all States will furnish themsel=
ves
with similar weapons of destruction. And cannon's flesh, as after cold weap=
ons it
submitted to bullets, and meekly exposed itself to shells, bombs, far-reach=
ing
guns, mitrailleuses, mines, so it will also submit to bombs charged with
suffocating gases scattered down upon it from balloons.
Nothing shows more
evidently than the speeches of M. Muravieff and Professor Martens about the
Japanese war not contradicting The Hague Peace Conference--nothing shows mo=
re
obviously than these speeches to what an extent, amongst the men of our tim=
e,
the means for the transmission of thought--speech--is distorted, and how the
capacity for clear, rational thinking is completely lost. Thought and speech
are used for the purpose, not of serving as a guide for human activity, but=
of justifying
any activity, however criminal it may be. The late Boer war and the present
Japanese war, which can at any moment pass into a universal slaughter, have
proved this beyond all doubt. All anti-military discussions can as little
contribute to the cessation of war as the most eloquent and persuasive
considerations addressed to fighting dogs as to its being more advantageous=
to
divide the piece of meat over which they are struggling than to mutilate ea=
ch
other and lose the piece of meat, which will be carried away by some passing
dog not joining in the fight. We are dashing on toward the precipice, cannot
stop, and we are approaching its edge.
For every rational
man who reflects upon the position in which humanity is now placed and upon
that which it is inevitably approaching, it cannot but be obvious that ther=
e is
no practical issue out of this position, that one cannot devise any combina=
tion
or organization which would save us from the destruction toward which we are
inevitably rushing. Not to mention the economical problems which become more
and more complex, those mutual relations between the States arming themselv=
es
against each other and at any moment ready to break out into wars clearly p=
oint
to the certain destruction toward which all so-called civilized humanity is=
being
carried. Then what is to be done?
VI
Two thousand years ago John the Bap=
tist
and then Jesus said to men: The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is=
at
hand; (μετανοεῖτε) bethink yoursel=
ves
and believe in the Gospel (Mark i. 15); and if you do not bethink yourselves
you will all perish (Luke xiii. 5).
But men did not
listen to them, and the destruction they foretold is already near at hand. =
And
we men of our time cannot but see it. We are already perishing, and, theref=
ore,
we cannot leave unheeded that--old in time, but for us new--means of salvat=
ion.
We cannot but see that, besides all the other calamities which flow from our
bad and irrational life, military preparations alone and the wars inevitably
growing from them must infallibly destroy us. We cannot but see that all the
means of escape invented by men from these evils are found and must be foun=
d to
be ineffectual, and that the disastrous position of the nations arming them=
selves
against each other cannot but go on advancing continually. And therefore the
words of Jesus refer to us and our time more than to any time or to any one=
.
Jesus said, "Bethink yourselves"--i.e. "Let every man interrupt the work= he has begun and ask himself: Who am I? From whence have I appeared, and in wh= at consists my destiny? And having answered these questions, according to the answer decide whether that which thou doest is in conformity with thy destiny." And every man of our world and time, that is, being acquaint= ed with the essence of the Christian teaching, needs only for a minute to interrupt his activity, to forget the capacity in which he is regarded by m= en, be it of Emperor, soldier, minister, or journalist, and seriously ask himse= lf who he is and what is his destiny--in order to begin to doubt the utility, lawfulness, and reasonableness of his actions. "Before I am Emperor, soldier, minister, or journalist," must say to himself every man of our time and of the Christian world, "before any of these, I am a man--i.e= . an organic being sent by the Higher Will into a universe infinite in time and space, in order, after staying in it for an instant, to die--i.e. to disapp= ear from it. And, therefore, all those personal, social, and even universal human ai= ms which I may place before myself and which are placed before me by men are a= ll insignificant, owing to the shortness of my life as well as to the infinite= ness of the life of the universe, and should be subordinated to that higher aim = for the attainment of which I am sent into the world. This ultimate aim, owing = to my limitations, is inaccessible to me, but it does exist (as there must be a purpose in all that exists), and my business is that of being its instrument--i.e. my destiny, my vocation, is that of being a workman of God= , of fulfilling His work." And having understood this destiny, every man of= our world and time, from Emperor to soldier, cannot but regard differently those duties which he has taken upon himself or other men have imposed upon him.<= o:p>
"Before I was
crowned, recognized as Emperor," must the Emperor say to himself:
"before I undertook to fulfil the duties of the head of the State, I, =
by
the very fact that I live, have promised to fulfil that which is demanded o=
f me
by the Higher Will that sent me into life. These demands I not only know, b=
ut
feel in my heart. They consist, as it is expressed in the Christian law, wh=
ich
I profess, in that I should submit to the will of God, and fulfil that whic=
h it
requires of me, that I should love my neighbor, serve him, and act towards =
him
as I would wish others to act towards me. Am I doing this?--ruling men,
prescribing violence, executions, and, the most dreadful of all,--wars. Men
tell me that I ought to do this. But God says that I ought to do something
quite different. And, therefore, however much I may be told that, as the he=
ad of
the State, I must direct acts of violence, the levying of taxes, executions
and, above all, war, that is, the slaughter of one's neighbor, I do not wis=
h to
and cannot do these things."
So must say to
himself the soldier, who is taught that he must kill men, and the minister,=
who
deemed it his duty to prepare for war, and the journalist who incited to wa=
r,
and every man, who puts to himself the question, Who is he, what is his
destination in life? And the moment the head of the State will cease to dir=
ect
war, the soldier to fight, the minister to prepare means for war, the
journalist to incite thereto--then, without any new institutions, adaptatio=
ns,
balance of power, tribunals, there will of itself be destroyed that hopeles=
s position
in which men have placed themselves, not only in relation to war, but also =
to
all other calamities which they themselves inflict upon themselves.
So that, however
strange this may appear, the most effective and certain deliverance of men =
from
all the calamities which they inflict upon themselves and from the most
dreadful of all--war--is attainable, not by any external general measures, =
but
merely by that simple appeal to the consciousness of each separate man whic=
h,
nineteen hundred years ago, was proposed by Jesus--that every man bethink
himself, and ask himself, who is he, why he lives, and what he should and s=
hould
not do.
<=
span
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fa=
reast-font-family:
Calibri'>VII
The evil from which men of our time=
are
suffering is produced by the fact that the majority live without that which
alone affords a rational guidance for human activity--without religion; not
that religion which consists in belief in dogmas, in the fulfilment of rites
which afford a pleasant diversion, consolation, stimulant, but that religion
which establishes the relation of man to the All, to God, and, therefore, g=
ives
a general higher direction to all human activity, and without which people
stand on the plane of animals and even lower than they. This evil which is
leading men to inevitable destruction has manifested itself with special po=
wer
in our time, because, having lost all rational guidance in life, and having
directed all efforts to discoveries and improvements principally in the sph=
ere
of technical knowledge, men of our time have developed in themselves enormo=
us
power over the forces of nature; but, not having any guidance for the ratio=
nal
adaptation of this power, they naturally have used it for the satisfaction =
of
their lowest and most animal propensities.
Bereft of religio=
n,
men possessing enormous power over the forces of nature are like children to
whom powder or explosive gas has been given as a plaything. Considering this
power which men of our time possess, and the way they use it, one feels that
considering the degree of their moral development men have no right, not on=
ly
to the use of railways, steam, electricity, telephones, photography, wirele=
ss
telegraphs, but even to the simple art of manufacturing iron and steel, as =
all
these improvements and arts they use only for the satisfaction of their lus=
ts,
for amusement, dissipation, and the destruction of each other.
Then, what is to =
be
done? To reject all these improvements of life, all this power acquired by
humanity--to forget that which it has learnt? This is impossible, however
perniciously these mental acquisitions are used; they still are acquisition=
s,
and men cannot forget them. To alter those combinations of nations which ha=
ve
been formed during centuries and to establish new ones? To invent such new
institutions as would hinder the minority from deceiving and exploiting the
majority? To disseminate knowledge? All this has been tried, and is being d=
one
with great fervor. All these imaginary methods of improvement represent the
chief methods of self-oblivion and of diverting one's attention from the
consciousness of inevitable perdition. The boundaries of States are changed,
institutions are altered, knowledge is disseminated; but within other
boundaries, with other organizations, with increased knowledge, men remain =
the
same beasts, ready any minute to tear each other to pieces, or the same sla=
ves they
have always been, and always will be, while they continue to be guided, not=
by
religious consciousness, but by passions, theories, and external influences=
.
Man has no choice=
; he
must be the slave of the most unscrupulous and insolent amongst slaves, or =
else
the servant of God, because for man there is only one way of being free--by
uniting his will with the will of God. People bereft of religion, some
repudiating religion itself, others recognizing as religion those external,
monstrous forms which have superseded it, and guided only by their personal
lusts, fear, human laws, and, above all, by mutual hypnotism, cannot cease =
to
be animals or slaves, and no external efforts can extricate them from this
state; for only religion makes a man free. And most of the people of our ti=
me
are deprived of it.
VIII
"But, in order to abolish the =
evil
from which we are suffering," those will say who are preoccupied by
various practical activities, "it would be necessary that not a few men
only, but all men, should bethink themselves, and that, having done so, they
should uniformly understand the destination of their lives, in the fulfilme=
nt
of the will of God and in the service of one's neighbor.
"Is this
possible?" Not only possible, do I answer, but it is impossible that t=
his
should not take place. It is impossible for men not to bethink themselves--=
i.e.
impossible that each man should not put to himself the question as to who h=
e is
and wherefore he lives; for man, as a rational being, cannot live without
seeking to know why he lives, and he has always put to himself this questio=
n, and
always, according to the degree of his development, has answered it in his
religious teaching. In our time, the inner contradiction in which men feel
themselves elicits this question with special insistence, and demands an
answer. It is impossible for men of our time to answer this question otherw=
ise
than by recognizing the law of life in love to men and in the service of th=
em,
this being for our time the only rational answer as to the meaning of human
life; and this answer nineteen hundred years ago has been expressed in the =
Christian
religion and is likewise known to the vast majority of all mankind.
This answer in a
latent state lives in the consciousness of all men of the Christian world of
our time; but it does not openly express itself and serve as guidance for o=
ur
life, only because, on the one hand, those who enjoy the greatest authority,
so-called scientists, being under the coarse error that religion is a tempo=
rary
and outgrown step in the development of mankind and that men can live witho=
ut
religion, inculcate this error to those of the masses who are beginning to =
be
educated; and, on the other hand, because those in power, sometimes
consciously, but often unconsciously (being under the error that the Church
faith is Christian religion), endeavor to support and excite in the people
crude superstitions given out as the Christian religion. If only these two =
deceptions
were to be destroyed, then true religion, already latent in men of our time,
would become evident and obligatory.
To bring this abo=
ut
it is necessary that, on the one hand, men of science should understand that
the principle of the brotherhood of all men and the rule of not doing unto
others what one does not wish for oneself is not one casual idea out of a
multitude of human theories which can be subordinated to any other
considerations, but is an incontestable principle, standing higher than the
rest, and flowing from the changeless relation of man to that which is eter=
nal,
to God, and is religion, all religion, and, therefore, always obligatory.
On the other hand=
, it
is necessary that those who consciously or unconsciously preach crude
superstitions under the guise of Christianity should understand that all th=
ese
dogmas, sacraments, and rites which they support and preach are not only, as
they think, harmless, but are in the highest degree pernicious, concealing =
from
men that central religious truth which is expressed in the fulfilment of Go=
d's
will, in the service of men, and that the rule of acting toward others as o=
ne
would wish others to act toward oneself is not merely one of the prescripti=
ons
of the Christian religion, but is the whole of practical religion, as indee=
d is
stated in the Gospels.
To bring about th=
at
men of our time should uniformly place before themselves the question of the
meaning of life, and uniformly answer it, it is only necessary that those w=
ho
regard themselves as enlightened should cease to think and to inculcate to
other generations that religion is atavism, the survival of a past wild sta=
te,
and that for the good life of men the spreading of education is
sufficient--i.e. the spread of the most varied knowledge which is in some w=
ay
to bring men to justice and to a moral life. These men should understand
instead that for the good life of humanity religion is vital, and that this
religion already exists and lives in the consciousness of the men of our ti=
me.
Men who are intentionally and unintentionally stupefying the people by chur=
ch superstitions
should cease to do so, and recognize that what is important and binding in
Christianity is not baptism, nor Communion, nor profession of dogmas, etc.,=
but
only love to God and to one's neighbor, and the fulfilling of the commandme=
nt
of acting toward others as one wishes others to act toward oneself--and tha=
t in
this lies all the law and the prophets.
If only both
pseudo-Christians and men of science understood and preached to children an=
d to
the uneducated these simple, clear, and necessary truths as they now preach
their complicated, confused, and unnecessary theories, all men would unifor=
mly
understand the meaning of their lives and recognize one and the same duties=
as
flowing from this meaning.
IX
But "How are we to act now,
immediately among ourselves, in Russia, at this moment, when our foes have
already attacked us, are killing our people, and threatening us; what shoul=
d be
the action," I shall be asked, "of a Russian soldier, officer,
general, Tsar, private individual? Are we, forsooth, to allow our enemies to
ruin our possessions, to seize the productions of our labors, to carry away
prisoners, or kill our men? What are we to do now that this thing has
begun?"
But before the wo=
rk
of war was commenced, by whomsoever it was commenced--every awakened man mu=
st
answer--before all else the work of my life was commenced. And the work of =
my
life has nothing in common with recognition of the rights of the Chinese,
Japanese, or Russians to Port Arthur. The work of my life consists in
fulfilling the will of Him who sent me into this life. This will is known to
me. This will is that I should love my neighbor and serve him. Then why sho=
uld
I, following temporary, casual, irrational, and cruel demands, deviate from=
the
known eternal and changeless law of all my life? If there be a God, He will=
not
ask me when I die (which may happen at any moment) whether I retained Chi-n=
am-po
with its timber stores, or Port Arthur, or even that conglomeration which is
called the Russian Empire, which He did not confide to my care; but He will=
ask
me what I have done with that life which He put at my disposal;--did I use =
it
for the purpose for which it was predestined, and under the conditions for
fulfilling which it was intrusted to me? Have I fulfilled His law?
So that to this
question as to what is to be done now, when war is commenced, for me, a man=
who
understands his destiny, whatever position I may occupy, there can be no ot=
her
answer than this, whatever be my circumstances, whether the war be commence=
d or
not, whether thousands of Russians or Japanese be killed, whether not only =
Port
Arthur be taken, but St. Petersburg and Moscow--I cannot act otherwise than=
as
God demands of me, and that therefore I as a man can neither directly nor
indirectly, neither by directing, nor by helping, nor by inciting to it,
participate in war; I cannot, I do not wish to, and I will not. What will
happen immediately or soon, from my ceasing to do that which is contrary to=
the
will of God, I do not and cannot know; but I believe that from the fulfilme=
nt
of the will of God there can follow nothing but that which is good for me a=
nd
for all men.
You speak with ho=
rror
about what might happen if we Russians at this moment ceased to fight, and
surrendered to the Japanese what they desire from us. But if it be true that
the salvation of mankind from brutalization and self-destruction lies only =
in
the establishment amongst men of that true religion which demands that we
should love our neighbor and serve him (with which it is impossible to
disagree), then every war, every hour of war, and my participation in it, o=
nly
renders more difficult and distant the realization of this only possible
salvation.
So that, even if =
one
places oneself on the unstable point of view of defining actions according =
to
their presumed consequences--even then the surrender to the Japanese by the
Russians of all which the former desire of us, besides the unquestionable
advantage of the cessation of ruin and slaughter, would be an approach to t=
he
only means of the salvation of mankind from destruction; whereas the
continuance of the war, however it may end, will be a postponement of that =
only
means of salvation.
"Yet even if
this be so," it is replied, "wars can cease only when all men, or=
the
majority, will refuse to participate in them. But the refusal of one man,
whether he be Tsar or soldier, would only, unnecessarily, and without the
slightest profit to any one, ruin his life. If the Russian Tsar were now to
throw up the war, he would be dethroned, perhaps killed, in order to get ri=
d of
him; if an ordinary man were to refuse military service, he would be sent t=
o a
penal battalion and perhaps shot. Why, then, without the slightest use shou=
ld
one throw away one's life, which may be profitable to society?" is the
common question of those who do not think of the destination of their life =
and therefore
do not understand it.
But this is not w=
hat
is said and felt by any man who understands the destination of his life--i.=
e.
by any religious man. Such a man is guided in his activity not by the presu=
med
consequences of his action, but by the consciousness of the destination of =
his
life. A factory workman goes to his factory and in it accomplishes the work
which is allotted him without considering what will be the consequences of =
his labor.
In the same way a soldier acts, carrying out the will of his commanders. So
acts a religious man in fulfilling the work prescribed to him by God, witho=
ut
arguing as to what precisely will come of that work. Therefore for a religi=
ous
man there is no question as to whether many or few men act as he does, or of
what may happen to him if he does that which he should do. He knows that
besides life and death nothing can happen, and that life and death are in t=
he
hands of God whom he obeys.
A religious man a=
cts
thus and not otherwise, not because he desires to act thus, nor because it =
is
advantageous to himself or to other men, but because, believing that his li=
fe
is in the hands of God, he cannot act otherwise.
In this lies the
distinction of the activity of religious men; and therefore it is that the
salvation of men from the calamities which they inflict upon themselves can=
be
realized only in that degree in which they are guided in their lives, not by
advantage nor arguments, but by religious consciousness.
X
"But how about the enemies that
attack us?"
"Love your e=
nemies,
and ye will have none," is said in the teaching of the Twelve Apostles.
This answer is not merely words, as those may imagine who are accustomed to
think that the recommendation of love to one's enemies is something
hyperbolical, and signifies not that which expressed, but something else. T=
his
answer is the indication of a very clear and definite activity, and of its
consequences.
To love one's
enemies--the Japanese, the Chinese, those yellow people toward whom benight=
ed
men are now endeavoring to excite our hatred--to love them means not to kill
them for the purpose of having the right of poisoning them with opium, as d=
id
the English; not to kill them in order to seize their land, as was done by =
the
French, the Russians, and the Germans; not to bury them alive in punishment=
for
injuring roads, not to tie them together by their hair, not to drown them in
their river Amur, as did the Russians.
"A disciple =
is
not above his master.... It is enough for a disciple that he be as his
master."
To love the yellow
people, whom we call our foes, means, not to teach them under the name of
Christianity absurd superstitions about the fall of man, redemption,
resurrection, etc., not to teach them the art of deceiving and killing othe=
rs,
but to teach them justice, unselfishness, compassion, love--and that not by
words, but by the example of our own good life. And what have we been doing=
to
them, and are still doing?
If we did indeed =
love
our enemies, if even now we began to love our enemies, the Japanese, we wou=
ld
have no enemy.
Therefore, however
strange it may appear to those occupied with military plans, preparations,
diplomatic considerations, administrative, financial, economical measures,
revolutionary, socialistic propaganda, and various unnecessary sciences, by
which they think to save mankind from its calamities, the deliverance of ma=
n,
not only from the calamities of war, but also from all the calamities which=
men
inflict upon themselves, will take place not through emperors or kings
instituting peace alliances, not through those who would dethrone emperors,
kings, or restrain them by constitutions, or substitute republics for
monarchies, not by peace conferences, not by the realization of socialistic=
programmes,
not by victories or defeats on land or sea, not by libraries or universitie=
s,
nor by those futile mental exercises which are now called science; but only=
by
there being more and more of those simple men who, like the Dukhobors, Droj=
jin,
Olkhovik, in Russia, the Nazarenes in Austria, Condatier in France, Tervey =
in
Holland, and others, having placed as their object not external alterations=
of
life, but the closest fulfilment in themselves of the will of Him who has s=
ent
them into life, will direct all their powers to this realization. Only such
people realizing the Kingdom of God in themselves, in their souls, will est=
ablish,
without directly aiming at this purpose, that external Kingdom of God which
every human soul is longing for.
Salvation will co=
me
to pass only in this one way and not in any other. Therefore what is now be=
ing
done by those who, ruling men, inspire them with religious and patriotic
superstitions, exciting in them exclusiveness, hatred, and murder, as well =
as
by those who, for the purpose of freeing men from slavery and oppression, i=
nvoke
them to violent external revolution, or think that the acquisition by men of
very much incidental and for the most part unnecessary information will of =
itself
bring them to a good life--all this, by distracting men from what alone they
need, only removes them further from the possibility of salvation.
The evil from whi=
ch
the men of the Christian world suffer is that they have temporarily lost
religion.
Some people, havi=
ng
come to see the discord between the existing religion and the degree of men=
tal
and scientific development attained by humanity at the present time, have
decided that in general no religion whatever is necessary. They live without
religion and preach the uselessness of any religion of whatever kind. Other=
s,
holding to that distorted form of the Christian religion which is now preac=
hed,
likewise live without religion, professing empty external forms, which cann=
ot
serve as guidance for men.
Yet a religion wh=
ich
answers to the demands of our time does exist and is known to all men, and =
in a
latent state lives in the hearts of men of the Christian world. Therefore t=
hat
this religion should become evident to and binding upon all men, it is only
necessary that educated men--the leaders of the masses--should understand t=
hat
religion is necessary to man, that without religion men cannot live a good
life, and that what they call science cannot replace religion; and that tho=
se
in power and who support the old empty forms of religion should understand =
that
what they support and preach under the form of religion is not only not rel=
igion,
but is the chief obstacle to men's appropriating the true religion which th=
ey
already know, and which can alone deliver them from their calamities. So th=
at
the only certain means of man's salvation consists merely in ceasing to do =
that
which hinders men from assimilating the true religion which already lives in
their consciousness.
XI
I had finished this writing when ne=
ws
came of the destruction of six hundred innocent lives opposite Port Arthur.=
It
would seem that the useless suffering and death of these unfortunate deluded
men who have needlessly and so dreadfully perished ought to disabuse those =
who
were the cause of this destruction. I am not alluding to Makaroff and other=
officers--all
these men knew what they were doing, and wherefore, and they voluntarily, f=
or
personal advantage, for ambition, did as they did, disguising themselves in
pretended patriotism, a pretence not condemned merely because it is univers=
al.
I allude rather to those unfortunate men drawn from all parts of Russia, wh=
o,
by the help of religious fraud, and under fear of punishment, have been torn
from an honest, reasonable, useful, laborious family life, driven to the ot=
her
end of the world, placed on a cruel, senseless machine for slaughter, and t=
orn
to bits, drowned along with this stupid machine in a distant sea, without a=
ny
need or any possibility of advantage from all their privations, efforts, an=
d sufferings,
or from the death which overtook them.
In 1830, during t=
he
Polish war, the adjutant Vilijinsky sent to St. Petersburg by Klopitsky, in=
a
conversation held in French with Dibitch, in answer to the latter's demand =
that
the Russian troops should enter Poland, said to him:--
"Monsieur le
Maréchal, I think that in that case it will be quite impossible for =
the
Polish nation to accept this manifesto...."
"Believe me,=
the
Emperor will make no further concessions."
"Then I fore=
see
that, unhappily, there will be war, that much blood will be shed, there wil=
l be
many unfortunate victims."
"Do not think
so; at most there will be ten thousand who will perish on both sides, and t=
hat
is all,"[1] said Dibitch in his German accent, quite confident that he,
together with another man as cruel and foreign to Russian and Polish life a=
s he
was himself,--Nicholas I,--had the right to condemn or not to condemn to de=
ath
ten or a hundred thousand Russians and Poles.
[1] Vilijinsky adds on his own beh=
alf,
"The Field-Marshal did not then think=
that
more than sixty thousand Russians alone would perish in this =
war,
not so much from the enemy's fire as from disease--nor that =
he
would himself be amongst their number."
One hardly believes that this could=
have
been, so senseless and dreadful is it,--and yet it was; sixty thousand
maintainers of their families lost their lives owing to the will of those m=
en.
And now the same thing is taking place.
In order not to l=
et
the Japanese into Manchuria, and to expel them from Korea, not ten thousand,
but fifty and more thousands will, according to all probability, be necessa=
ry.
I do not know whether Nicholas II and Kuropatkin say like Dibitch in so many
words that not more than fifty thousand lives will be necessary for this on=
the
Russian side alone, only and only that; but they think it--they cannot but
think it, because the work they are doing speaks for itself; that ceaseless
stream of unfortunate, deluded Russian peasants now being transported by
thousands to the Far East--these are those same not more than fifty thousand
live Russian men whom Nicholas Romanoff and Alexis Kuropatkin have decided =
they
may get killed, and who will be killed, in support of those stupidities,
robberies, and every kind of abomination which were accomplished in China a=
nd
Korea by immoral ambitious men now sitting peacefully in their palaces and
expecting new glory and new advantage and profit from the slaughter of these
fifty thousand unfortunate, defrauded Russian workingmen guilty of nothing =
and
gaining nothing by their sufferings and death. For other people's land, to =
which
the Russians have no right, which has been criminally seized from its
legitimate owners, and which, in reality, is not even necessary to the
Russians--and also for certain dark dealings by speculators, who in Korea
wished to gain money out of other people's forests--many millions of money =
are
spent, i.e. a great part of the labor of the whole of the Russian people, w=
hile
the future generations of this people are bound by debts, its best workmen =
are
withdrawn from labor, and scores of thousands of its sons are mercilessly
doomed to death; and the destruction of these unfortunate men is already be=
gun.
More than this: the war is being managed by those who have hatched it so ba=
dly,
so negligently, all is so unexpected, so unprepared, that, as one paper adm=
its,
Russia's chief chance of success lies in the fact that it possesses
inexhaustible human material. It is upon this that those rely who send to d=
eath
scores of thousands of Russian men!
It is frankly said
that the regrettable reverses of our fleet must be compensated on the land.=
In
plain language this means that if the authorities have badly directed thing=
s on
sea, and by their negligence have destroyed not only the nation's millions,=
but
thousands of lives, we can make it up by condemning to death on land several
more scores of thousands!
When crawling loc=
usts
cross rivers, it happens that the lower layers are drowned until from the
bodies of the drowned is formed a bridge over which the upper ranks can pas=
s.
In the same way are the Russian people being disposed of. Thus the first lo=
wer
layer is already beginning to drown, indicating the way to other thousands,=
who
will all likewise perish.
And are the
originators, directors, and supporters of this dreadful work beginning to
understand their sin, their crime? Not in the least. They are quite persuad=
ed
that they have fulfilled, and are fulfilling, their duty, and they are prou=
d of
their activity. People speak of the loss of the brave Makaroff, who, as all
agree, was able to kill men very cleverly; they deplore the loss of a drown=
ed
excellent machine of slaughter which had cost so many millions of roubles; =
they
discuss the question of how to find another murderer as capable as the poor
benighted Makaroff; they invent new, still more efficacious, tools of slaug=
hter;
and all the guilty men engaged in this dreadful work, from the Tsar to the
humblest journalist, all with one voice call for new insanities, new cruelt=
ies,
for the increase of brutality and hatred of one's fellow-men.
"Makaroff is=
not
the only man in Russia, and every admiral placed in his position will follo=
w in
his steps and will continue the plan and the idea of Makaroff, who has nobly
perished in the strife," writes the Novoe Vremya.
"Let us
earnestly pray God for those who have laid down their lives for the sacred
Fatherland, without doubting for one moment that the Fatherland will give us
new sons, equally virtuous, for the further struggle, and will find in them=
an
inexhaustible store of strength for a worthy completion of the work,"
writes the St. Petersburg Viedomosti.
"A ripe nati=
on
will draw no other conclusion from the defeat, however unprecedented, than =
that
we should continue, develop, and conclude the strife; therefore let us find=
in
ourselves new strength; new heroes of the spirit will arise," writes t=
he
Russ,--and so forth.
So murder and eve=
ry
kind of crime go on with greater fury. People enthusiastically admire the
martial spirit of the volunteers who, having come unexpectedly upon fifty of
their fellow-men, slay all of them, or take possession of a village and
slaughter all its population, or hang or shoot those accused of being
spies--i.e. of doing the very same thing which is regarded as indispensable=
and
is constantly done on our side. News about these crimes is reported in pomp=
ous
telegrams to their chief director, the Tsar, who, in return, sends to his
virtuous troops his blessing on the continuation of such deeds.
Is it not evident
that, if there be a salvation from this position, it is only one: that one
which Jesus teaches?--"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness (that which is within you), and all the rest--i.e. all that
practical welfare toward which man is striving--will of itself be
realized."
Such is the law of
life: practical welfare is attained not when man strives toward this practi=
cal
welfare--such striving, on the contrary, for the most part removes man from=
the
attainment of what he seeks; but only when man, without thinking of the
attainment of practical welfare, strives toward the most perfect fulfilment=
of
that which before God, before the Source and Law of his life, he regards as
right. Then only, incidentally, is practical welfare also attained.
So that the true
salvation of men is only one thing: the fulfilment of the will of God by ea=
ch individual
man within himself--i.e. in that portion of the universe which alone is sub=
ject
to his power. In this is the chief, the only, destiny and duty of every
individual man, and at the same time this is the only means by which every
individual man can influence others; and, therefore, to this, and to this o=
nly,
should all the efforts of every man be directed.
May 2, 1904.
XII
I had only just despatched the last=
of
the preceding pages of this paper when the dreadful news came of a new iniq=
uity
committed in regard to the Russian people by those light-minded men who, cr=
azed
with power, have appropriated the right of managing them. Again coarse and
servile slaves of slaves, dressed up in various dazzling attires--varieties=
of
Generals wishing to distinguish themselves, or to earn the right to add one
more little star, fingle fangle, or scrap of ribbon to their idiotic glarin=
g get-up,
or else from stupidity or carelessness--again these miserable men have
destroyed amid dreadful sufferings thousands of those honorable, kind,
hard-working laborers who feed them. And again this iniquity not only does =
not
cause those responsible for it to reflect and repent, but one hears and rea=
ds
only about its being necessary as speedily as possible to mutilate and slau=
ghter
a greater number of men, and to ruin still more families, both Russian and
Japanese.
More than this, to
prepare men for fresh iniquities of this kind, the perpetrators of these
crimes, far from recognizing what is evident to all--viz. that for the Russ=
ians
this event, even from their patriotic, military point of view, was a scanda=
lous
defeat--endeavor to assure credulous people that these unfortunate Russian
laboring men--lured into a trap like cattle into a slaughterhouse, of whom
several thousands have been killed and maimed merely because one General did
not understand what another General had said--have performed an act of hero=
ism
because those who could not run away were killed and those who did run away
remained alive. As to the fact that one of these immoral and cruel men, dis=
tinguished
by the titles of Generals, Admirals, drowned a quantity of peaceful Japanes=
e,
this is also described as a great and glorious act of heroism, which must
gladden the hearts of Russians. And in all the papers are reprinted this aw=
ful
appeal to murder:--
"Let the two
thousand Russian soldiers killed on the Yalu, together with the maimed Retv=
isan
and her sister ships, with our lost torpedo-boats, teach our cruisers with =
what
devastation they must break in upon the shores of base Japan. She has sent =
her
soldiers to shed Russian blood, and no quarter should be afforded her. Now =
one
cannot--it is sinful--be sentimental; we must fight; we must direct such he=
avy
blows that the memory of them shall freeze the treacherous hearts of the
Japanese. Now is the time for the cruisers to go out to sea to reduce to as=
hes
the towns of Japan, flying as a dreadful calamity along its shores. No more=
sentimentality."
The frightful work
commenced is continued. Loot, violence, murder, hypocrisy, theft, and, above
all, the most fearful fraud--the distortion of religious teachings, both
Christian and Buddhistic--continue. The Tsar, the chief responsible person,
continues to review the troops, to thank, reward, and encourage them; he is=
sues
an edict for the calling out of the reserves; his faithful subjects again a=
nd
again lay down their property and lives at the feet of him they call, only =
with
their lips, their adored Monarch. On the other hand, desiring to distinguis=
h themselves
before each other in deeds and not in words only, they tear away the fathers
and the bread-winners from their orphaned families, preparing them for
slaughter. The worse the position of Russia, the more recklessly do the
journalists lie, transforming shameful defeats into victories, knowing that=
no
one will contradict them; and they quietly collect money from subscriptions=
and
sales. The more money and labor of the people is devoted to the war, the mo=
re
is grabbed by various authorities and speculators, who know that no one will
convict them because every one is doing the same. The military, trained for
murder, having passed years in a school of inhumanity, coarseness, and
idleness, rejoice--poor men--because, besides an increase of their salary, =
the slaughter
of superiors opens vacancies for their promotion. Christian pastors continu=
e to
invite men to the greatest of crimes, continue to commit sacrilege, praying=
God
to help the work of war; and, instead of condemning, they justify and praise
that pastor who, with the cross in his hands on the very scene of murder,
encouraged men to the crime. The same thing is going on in Japan. The benig=
hted
Japanese go in for murder with yet greater fervor, owing to their victories;
the Mikado also reviews and rewards his troops; various Generals boast of t=
heir
bravery, imagining that, having learned to kill, they have acquired
enlightenment. So, too, groan the unfortunate working people torn from usef=
ul
labor and from their families. So their journalists also lie and rejoice ov=
er
their gains. Also probably--for where murder is elevated into virtue every =
kind
of vice is bound to flourish--also probably all kinds of commanders and spe=
culators
earn money; and Japanese theologians and religious teachers no less than the
masters in the techniques of armament do not remain behind the Europeans in=
the
techniques of religious deceit and sacrilege, but distort the great Buddhis=
tic
teaching by not only permitting but justifying that murder which Buddha
forbade. The Buddhistic scientist, Soyen-Shaku, ruling over eight hundred
monasteries, explains that although Buddha forbade manslaughter he also sai=
d he
could never be at peace until all beings are united in the infinitely loving
heart of all things, and that, therefore, in order to bring into harmony th=
at
which is discordant it is necessary to fight and to kill men.[2]
[2] In the article it is said:
"This triple world is my own possession. All t=
he
things therein are my own children ... the ten thousand thing=
s in
this world are no more than the reflections of my own self.=
They
come from the one source. They partake of the one body. There=
fore I
cannot rest, until every being, even the smallest possi=
ble
fragment of existence, is settled down to its proper appoi=
ntment....
This is the position taken by the Buddha, and we, his h=
umble
followers, are but to walk in his wake. Why, then, do we fight=
at
all? Because we do not find this world as it ought to be. Becau=
se
there are here so many perverted creatures, so many wayward thoug=
hts,
so many ill-directed hearts, due to ignorant subje=
ctivity.
For this reason Buddhists are never tired of comba=
ting
all productions of ignorance, and their fight must be to the b=
itter
end. They will show no quarter. They will mercilessly destr=
oy the
very root from which arises the misery of this life. To accom=
plish
this end, they will never be afraid of sacrificing their lives=
...."
There follow, just as is usual with us, entangled argum=
ents
about self-sacrifice and kindness, about the trans=
migration
of souls and about much else--all this for the sole purpo=
se of
concealing the simple and clear commandment of Buddha: not to
kill. Further it is said: "The hand that is raised to strike and t=
he eye
that is fixed to take aim do not belong to the indiv=
idual,
but are the instruments utilized by a principle higher than
transient existence." ("The Open Court," May, 1904.
"Buddhist Views=
of
War," by the Right Rev. Soyen-Shaku.)
It is as if there
never had existed the Christian and Buddhistic teaching about the unity of =
the
human spirit, the brotherhood of men, love, compassion, the sacredness of h=
uman
life. Men, both Japanese and Russians, already enlightened by the truth, yet
like wild animals, nay, worse than wild animals, throw themselves upon each
other with the sole desire to destroy as many lives as possible. Thousands =
of
unfortunates groan and writhe in cruel sufferings and die in agony in Japan=
ese
and Russian field hospitals, asking themselves in bewilderment why this fea=
rful
thing was done with them, while other thousands are already rotting in the
earth or on the earth, or floating in the sea, in swollen decomposition. And
scores of thousands of wives, fathers, mothers, children, are bemoaning the=
ir
bread-winners; uselessly destroyed. Yet all this is still too little; new a=
nd
newer victims are being prepared. The chief concern of the Russian organize=
rs
of slaughter is that on the Russian side the stream of food for cannon--thr=
ee
thousand men per day doomed to destruction--should not be interrupted for o=
ne
minute. The Japanese are preoccupied with the same thing. The locusts are
incessantly being driven down into the river in order that the rows behind =
may
pass over the bodies.
When will this ce=
ase,
and the deceived people at last recover themselves and say: "Well, go =
you
yourselves, you heartless Tsars, Mikados, Ministers, Bishops, priests,
generals, editors, speculators, or however you may be called, go you yourse=
lves
under these shells and bullets, but we do not wish to go and we will not go.
Leave us in peace, to plough, and sow, and build,--and also to feed you.&qu=
ot;
It would be so natural to say this now, when amongst us in Russia resounds =
the
weeping and wailing of hundreds of thousands of mothers, wives, and childre=
n,
from whom are being snatched away their bread-earners, the so-called
"reserve." These same men, the majority of the reserve, are able =
to
read; they know what the Far East is; they know that war is going on, not f=
or
anything which is in the least necessary to Russia, but for some dealings in
strange land, leased lands, as they themselves call them, on which it seeme=
d advantageous
to some corrupt speculators to build railways and so gain profit; also they
know, or might know, that they will be killed like sheep in a slaughterhous=
e,
since the Japanese possess the latest improvements in tools of murder, whic=
h we
do not, as the Russian authorities who are sending these people to death had
not thought in time of furnishing themselves with the same weapons as the
Japanese. Knowing all this, it would indeed be so natural to say, "Go =
you,
those who have brought on this work, all you to whom war is necessary, and =
who
justify it; go you, and face the Japanese bullets and mines, but we will not
go, because we not only do not need to do this, but we cannot understand ho=
w it
can be necessary to any one."
But no, they do n=
ot
say this; they go, and they will continue to go; they cannot but go as long=
as
they fear that which ruins the body and not that which ruins both the body =
and
the soul. "Whether we shall be killed," they argue, "or maim=
ed
in these chinnampos, or whatever they are called, whither we are driven, we=
do
not know; it yet may happen that we shall get through safely, and, moreover,
with rewards and glory, like those sailors who are now being feasted all ov=
er
Russia because the Japanese bombs and bullets did not hit them, but somebody
else; whereas should we refuse, we should be certainly sent to prison, star=
ved,
beaten, exiled to the province of Yakoutsk, perhaps even killed
immediately." So with despair in their hearts, leaving behind a good
rational life, leaving their wives and their children,--they go.
Yesterday I met a
Reservist soldier accompanied by his mother and wife. All three were riding=
in
a cart; he had had a drop too much; his wife's face was swollen with tears.=
He
turned to me:--
"Good-by to
thee! Lyof Nikolaevitch, off to the Far East."
"Well, art t=
hou
going to fight?"
"Well, some =
one
has to fight!"
"No one need
fight!"
He reflected for a
moment. "But what is one to do; where can one escape?"
I saw that he had
understood me, had understood that the work to which he was being sent was =
an
evil work.
"Where can o=
ne
escape?" That is the precise expression of that mental condition which=
in
the official and journalistic world is translated into the words--"For=
the
Faith, the Tsar, and the Fatherland." Those who, abandoning their hung=
ry
families, go to suffering, to death, say as they feel, "Where can one
escape?" Whereas those who sit in safety in their luxurious palaces say
that all Russian men are ready to sacrifice their lives for their adored
Monarch, and for the glory and greatness of Russia.
Yesterday, from a
peasant I know, I received two letters, one after the other. This is the
first:--
"Dear Lyof
Nikolaevitch,--Well, to-day I have received the official announcement of my
call to the Service; to-morrow I must present myself at the headquarters. T=
hat
is all. And after that--to the Far East to meet the Japanese bullets. About=
my
own and my household's grief I will not tell you; it is not you who will fa=
il
to understand all the horror of my position and the horrors of war; all this
you have long ago painfully realized, and you understand it all. How I have
longed to visit you, to have a talk with you! I had written to you a long
letter in which I described the torments of my soul; but I had not had time=
to
copy it, when I received my summons. What is my wife to do now with her fou=
r children?
As an old man, of course, you cannot do anything yourself for my folks, but=
you
might ask some of your friends in their leisure to visit my orphaned family=
. I
beg you earnestly that if my wife proves unable to bear the agony of her
helplessness with her burden of children and makes up her mind to go to you=
for
help and counsel, you will receive and console her. Although she does not k=
now
you personally, she believes in your word, and that means much. I was not a=
ble
to resist the summons, but I say beforehand that through me not one Japanese
family shall be orphaned. My God! how dreadful is all this--how distressing=
and
painful to abandon all by which one lives and in which one is concerned.&qu=
ot;
The second letter=
is
as follows: "Kindest Lyof Nikolaevitch, Only one day of actual service=
has
passed, and I have already lived through an eternity of most desperate
torments. From 8 o'clock in the morning till 9 in the evening we have been
crowded and knocked about to and fro in the barrack yard, like a herd of
cattle. The comedy of medical examination was three times repeated, and tho=
se
who had reported themselves ill did not receive even ten minutes' attention
before they were marked 'Satisfactory.' When we, these two thousand
satisfactory individuals, were driven from the military commander to the
barracks, along the road spread out for almost a verst stood a crowd of
relatives, mothers, and wives with infants in arms; and if you had only hea=
rd
and seen how they clasped their fathers, husbands, sons, and hanging round
their necks wailed hopelessly! Generally I behave in a reserved way and can
restrain my feelings, but I could not hold out, and I also wept. [In
journalistic language this same is expressed thus: "The upheaval of
patriotic feeling is immense."] Where is the standard that can measure=
all
this immensity of woe now spreading itself over almost one-third of the wor=
ld?
And we, we are now that food for cannon, which in the near future will be
offered as sacrifice to the God of vengeance and horror. I cannot manage to=
establish
my inner balance. Oh! how I execrate myself for this double-mindedness which
prevents my serving one Master and God."
This man does not=
yet
sufficiently believe that what destroys the body is not dreadful, but that
which destroys both the body and the soul, therefore he cannot refuse to go;
yet while leaving his own family he promises beforehand that through him not
one Japanese family shall be orphaned; he believes in the chief law of God,=
the
law of all religions--to act toward others as one wishes others to act towa=
rd oneself.
Of such men more or less consciously recognizing this law, there are in our
time, not in the Christian world alone, but in the Buddhistic, Mahomedan,
Confucian, and Brahminic world, not only thousands but millions.
There exist true
heroes, not those who are now being fêted because, having wished to k=
ill
others, they were not killed themselves, but true heroes, who are now confi=
ned
in prisons and in the province of Yakoutsk for having categorically refused=
to
enter the ranks of murderers, and who have preferred martyrdom to this
departure from the law of Jesus. There are also such as he who writes to me,
who go, but who will not kill. But also that majority which goes without
thinking, and endeavors not to think of what it is doing, still in the dept=
h of
its soul does now already feel that it is doing an evil deed by obeying
authorities who tear men from labor and from their families and send them to
needless slaughter of men, repugnant to their soul and their faith; and the=
y go
only because they are so entangled on all sides that--"Where can one e=
scape?"
Meanwhile those w=
ho
remain at home not only feel this, but know and express it. Yesterday in the
high road I met some peasants returning from Toula. One of them was reading=
a
leaflet as he walked by the side of his cart.
I asked, "Wh=
at
is that--a telegram?"
"This is
yesterday's,--but here is one of to-day." He took another out of his
pocket. We stopped. I read it.
"You should =
have
seen what took place yesterday at the station," he said; "it was
dreadful. Wives, children, more than a thousand of them, weeping. They
surrounded the train, but were allowed no further. Strangers wept, looking =
on.
One woman from Toula gasped and fell down dead. Five children. They have si=
nce
been placed in various institutions; but the father was driven away all the
same.... What do we want with this Manchuria, or whatever it is called? The=
re
is sufficient land here. And what a lot of people and of property has been
destroyed."
Yes, the relation=
of
men to war is now quite different from that which formerly existed, even so
lately as the year '77. That which is now taking place never took place bef=
ore.
The papers set fo= rth that, during the receptions of the Tsar, who is travelling about Russia for= the purpose of hypnotizing the men who are being sent to murder, indescribable enthusiasm is manifested amongst the people. As a matter of fact, something quite different is being manifested. From all sides one hears reports that = in one place three Reservists have hanged themselves; in another spot, two mor= e; in yet another, about a woman whose husband had been taken away bringing he= r children to the conscription committee-room and leaving them there; while another ha= nged herself in the yard of the military commander. All are dissatisfied, gloomy, exasperated. The words, "For the Faith, the King, and the Fatherland," the National Anthem, and shouts of "Hurrah" no = longer act upon people as they once did. Another warfare of a different kind--the struggling consciousness of the deceit and sinfulness of the work to which people are being called--is more and more taking possession of the people.<= o:p>
Yes, the great st=
rife
of our time is not that now taking place between the Japanese and the Russi=
ans,
nor that which may blaze up between the white and yellow races, not that st=
rife
which is carried on by mines, bombs, bullets, but that spiritual strife whi=
ch
without ceasing has gone on and is now going on between the enlightened
consciousness of mankind now waiting for manifestation and that darkness and
that burden which surrounds and oppresses mankind.
In His own time J=
esus
yearned in expectation, and said, "I came to cast fire upon the earth,=
and
how I wish that it were already kindled." Luke xii. 49.
That which Jesus
longed for is being accomplished, the fire is being kindled. Then do not le=
t us
check it, but let us spread and serve it.
13 May, 1904.
I should never fi=
nish
this paper if I were to continue to add to it all that corroborates its
essential idea. Yesterday the news came in of the sinking of the Japanese
ironclads; and in the so-called higher circles of Russian fashionable, rich,
intellectual society they are, without the slightest conscientious scruples,
rejoicing at the destruction of a thousand human lives. Yet to-day I have
received from a simple seaman, a man standing on the lowest plane of societ=
y,
the following letter:[3]
"Much respec=
ted
Lyof Nikolaevitch, I greet you with a low bow, with love, much respected Ly=
of
Nikolaevitch. I have read your book. It was very pleasant reading for me. I
have been a great lover of reading your works. Well, Lyof Nikolaevitch, we =
are
now in a state of war, please write to me whether it is agreeable to God or=
not
that our commanders compel us to kill. I beg you, Lyof Nikolaevitch, write =
to
me please whether or not the truth now exists on earth. Tell me, Lyof
Nikolaevitch. In church here a prayer is being read, the priest mentions the
Christ-loving army. Is it true or not that God loves war? I pray you, Lyof
Nikolaevitch, have you got any books from which I could see whether truth
exists on earth or not? Send me such books. What they cost, I will pay. I b=
eg
you, Lyof Nikolaevitch, do not neglect my request. If there are no books th=
en
send me a letter. I will be very glad when I receive a letter from you. I w=
ill await
your letter with impatience. Good-by for the present. I remain alive and we=
ll
and wish the same to you from the Lord God. Good health and good success in
your work."
&n=
bsp;
[3] The letter is written in a most illiterate way, filled with mista=
kes in
orthography and punctuation. =
&nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; =
(Trans.)