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diff --git a/10833-0.txt b/10833-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..603f08c --- /dev/null +++ b/10833-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2781 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10833 *** + +THE ESSAYS OF ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER + +RELIGION: A DIALOGUE, ETC. + +TRANSLATED BY T. BAILEY SAUNDERS, M.A. + + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +PREFATORY NOTE + +RELIGION: A DIALOGUE + +A FEW WORDS ON PANTHEISM + +ON BOOKS AND READING + +ON PHYSIOGNOMY + +PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS + +THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +Schopenhauer is one of the few philosophers who can be generally +understood without a commentary. All his theories claim to be drawn +direct from the facts, to be suggested by observation, and to interpret +the world as it is; and whatever view he takes, he is constant in his +appeal to the experience of common life. This characteristic endows his +style with a freshness and vigor which would be difficult to match in +the philosophical writing of any country, and impossible in that of +Germany. If it were asked whether there were any circumstances apart +from heredity, to which he owed his mental habit, the answer might be +found in the abnormal character of his early education, his acquaintance +with the world rather than with books, the extensive travels of his +boyhood, his ardent pursuit of knowledge for its own sake and without +regard to the emoluments and endowments of learning. He was trained in +realities even more than in ideas; and hence he is original, forcible, +clear, an enemy of all philosophic indefiniteness and obscurity; so that +it may well be said of him, in the words of a writer in the _Revue +Contemporaine, ce n'est pas un philosophe comme les autres, c'est un +philosophe qui a vu le monde_. + +It is not my purpose, nor would it be possible within the limits of a +prefatory note, to attempt an account of Schopenhauer's philosophy, to +indicate its sources, or to suggest or rebut the objections which may be +taken to it. M. Ribot, in his excellent little book, [Footnote: _La +Philosophie de Schopenhauer_, par Th. Ribot.] has done all that is +necessary in this direction. But the essays here presented need a word +of explanation. It should be observed, and Schopenhauer himself is at +pains to point out, that his system is like a citadel with a hundred +gates: at whatever point you take it up, wherever you make your +entrance, you are on the road to the center. In this respect his +writings resemble a series of essays composed in support of a single +thesis; a circumstance which led him to insist, more emphatically even +than most philosophers, that for a proper understanding of his system it +was necessary to read every line he had written. Perhaps it would be +more correct to describe _Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung_ as his +main thesis, and his other treatises as merely corollary to it. The +essays in this volume form part of the corollary; they are taken from a +collection published towards the close of Schopenhauer's life, and by +him entitled _Parerga und Paralipomena_, as being in the nature of +surplusage and illustrative of his main position. They are by far the +most popular of his works, and since their first publication in 1851, +they have done much to build up his fame. Written so as to be +intelligible enough in themselves, the tendency of many of them is +towards the fundamental idea on which his system is based. It may +therefore be convenient to summarize that idea in a couple of sentences; +more especially as Schopenhauer sometimes writes as if his advice had +been followed and his readers were acquainted with the whole of his +work. + +All philosophy is in some sense the endeavor to find a unifying +principle, to discover the most general conception underlying the whole +field of nature and of knowledge. By one of those bold generalizations +which occasionally mark a real advance in Science, Schopenhauer +conceived this unifying principle, this underlying unity, to consist in +something analogous to that _will_ which self-consciousness reveals to +us. _Will_ is, according to him, the fundamental reality of the world, +the thing-in-itself; and its objectivation is what is presented in +phenomena. The struggle of the will to realize itself evolves the +organism, which in its turn evolves intelligence as the servant of the +will. And in practical life the antagonism between the will and the +intellect arises from the fact that the former is the metaphysical +substance, the latter something accidental and secondary. And further, +will is _desire_, that is to say, need of something; hence need and pain +are what is positive in the world, and the only possible happiness is a +negation, a renunciation of _the will to live_. + +It is instructive to note, as M. Ribot points out, that in finding the +origin of all things, not in intelligence, as some of his predecessors +in philosophy had done, but in will, or the force of nature, from which +all phenomena have developed, Schopenhauer was anticipating something of +the scientific spirit of the nineteenth century. To this it may be added +that in combating the method of Fichte and Hegel, who spun a system out +of abstract ideas, and in discarding it for one based on observation and +experience, Schopenhauer can be said to have brought down philosophy +from heaven to earth. + +In Schopenhauer's view the various forms of Religion are no less a +product of human ingenuity than Art or Science. He holds, in effect, +that all religions take their rise in the desire to explain the world; +and that, in regard to truth and error, they differ, in the main, not by +preaching monotheism polytheism or pantheism, but in so far as they +recognize pessimism or optimism as the true description of life. Hence +any religion which looked upon the world as being radically evil +appealed to him as containing an indestructible element of truth. I have +endeavored to present his view of two of the great religions of the +world in the extract which concludes this volume, and to which I have +given the title of _The Christian System_. The tenor of it is to show +that, however little he may have been in sympathy with the supernatural +element, he owed much to the moral doctrines of Christianity and of +Buddhism, between which he traced great resemblance. In the following +_Dialogue_ he applies himself to a discussion of the practical efficacy +of religious forms; and though he was an enemy of clericalism, his +choice of a method which allows both the affirmation and the denial of +that efficacy to be presented with equal force may perhaps have been +directed by the consciousness that he could not side with either view to +the exclusion of the other. In any case his practical philosophy was +touched with the spirit of Christianity. It was more than artistic +enthusiasm which led him in profound admiration to the Madonna di San +Sisto: + + Sie trägt zur Welt ihn, und er schaut entsetzt + In ihrer Gräu'l chaotische Verwirrung, + In ihres Tobens wilde Raserei, + In ihres Treibens nie geheilte Thorheit, + In ihrer Quaalen nie gestillten Schmerz; + Entsetzt: doch strahlet Rub' and Zuversicht + Und Siegesglanz sein Aug', verkündigend + Schon der Erlösung ewige gewissheit. + +Pessimism is commonly and erroneously supposed to be the distinguishing +feature of Schopenhauer's system. It is right to remember that the same +fundamental view of the world is presented by Christianity, to say +nothing of Oriental religions. + +That Schopenhauer conceives life as an evil is a deduction, and possibly +a mistaken deduction, from his metaphysical theory. Whether his scheme +of things is correct or not--and it shares the common fate of all +metaphysical systems in being unverifiable, and to that extent +unprofitable--he will in the last resort have made good his claim to be +read by his insight into the varied needs of human life. It may be that +a future age will consign his metaphysics to the philosophical +lumber-room; but he is a literary artist as well as a philosopher, and +he can make a bid for fame in either capacity. What is remarked with +much truth of many another writer, that he suggests more than he +achieves, is in the highest degree applicable to Schopenhauer; and his +_obiter dicta_, his sayings by the way, will always find an audience. + +T.B. SAUNDERS. + + + + +RELIGION. + +A DIALOGUE. + + +_Demopheles_. Between ourselves, my dear fellow, I don't care about the +way you sometimes have of exhibiting your talent for philosophy; you +make religion a subject for sarcastic remarks, and even for open +ridicule. Every one thinks his religion sacred, and therefore you ought +to respect it. + +_Philalethes_. That doesn't follow! I don't see why, because other +people are simpletons, I should have any regard for a pack of lies. I +respect truth everywhere, and so I can't respect what is opposed to it. +My maxim is _Vigeat veritas et pereat mundus_, like the lawyers' _Fiat +justitia et pereat mundus_. Every profession ought to have an analogous +advice. + +_Demopheles_. Then I suppose doctors should say _Fiant pilulae et pereat +mundus_,--there wouldn't be much difficulty about that! + +_Philalethes_. Heaven forbid! You must take everything _cum grano +salis_. + +_Demopheles_. Exactly; that's why I want you to take religion _cum grano +salis_. I want you to see that one must meet the requirements of the +people according to the measure of their comprehension. Where you have +masses of people of crude susceptibilities and clumsy intelligence, +sordid in their pursuits and sunk in drudgery, religion provides the +only means of proclaiming and making them feel the hight import of life. +For the average man takes an interest, primarily, in nothing but what +will satisfy his physical needs and hankerings, and beyond this, give +him a little amusement and pastime. Founders of religion and +philosophers come into the world to rouse him from his stupor and point +to the lofty meaning of existence; philosophers for the few, the +emancipated, founders of religion for the many, for humanity at large. +For, as your friend Plato has said, the multitude can't be philosophers, +and you shouldn't forget that. Religion is the metaphysics of the +masses; by all means let them keep it: let it therefore command external +respect, for to discredit it is to take it away. Just as they have +popular poetry, and the popular wisdom of proverbs, so they must have +popular metaphysics too: for mankind absolutely needs _an interpretation +of life_; and this, again, must be suited to popular comprehension. +Consequently, this interpretation is always an allegorical investiture +of the truth: and in practical life and in its effects on the feelings, +that is to say, as a rule of action and as a comfort and consolation in +suffering and death, it accomplishes perhaps just as much as the truth +itself could achieve if we possessed it. Don't take offense at its +unkempt, grotesque and apparently absurd form; for with your education +and learning, you have no idea of the roundabout ways by which people in +their crude state have to receive their knowledge of deep truths. The +various religions are only various forms in which the truth, which taken +by itself is above their comprehension, is grasped and realized by the +masses; and truth becomes inseparable from these forms. Therefore, my +dear sir, don't take it amiss if I say that to make a mockery of these +forms is both shallow and unjust. + +_Philalethes_. But isn't it every bit as shallow and unjust to demand +that there shall be no other system of metaphysics but this one, cut out +as it is to suit the requirements and comprehension of the masses? that +its doctrine shall be the limit of human speculation, the standard of +all thought, so that the metaphysics of the few, the emancipated, as you +call them, must be devoted only to confirming, strengthening, and +explaining the metaphysics of the masses? that the highest powers of +human intelligence shall remain unused and undeveloped, even be nipped +in the bud, in order that their activity may not thwart the popular +metaphysics? And isn't this just the very claim which religion sets up? +Isn't it a little too much to have tolerance and delicate forbearance +preached by what is intolerance and cruelty itself? Think of the +heretical tribunals, inquisitions, religious wars, crusades, Socrates' +cup of poison, Bruno's and Vanini's death in the flames! Is all this +to-day quite a thing of the past? How can genuine philosophical effort, +sincere search after truth, the noblest calling of the noblest men, be +let and hindered more completely than by a conventional system of +metaphysics enjoying a State monopoly, the principles of which are +impressed into every head in earliest youth, so earnestly, so deeply, +and so firmly, that, unless the mind is miraculously elastic, they +remain indelible. In this way the groundwork of all healthy reason is +once for all deranged; that is to say, the capacity for original thought +and unbiased judgment, which is weak enough in itself, is, in regard to +those subjects to which it might be applied, for ever paralyzed and +ruined. + +_Demopheles._ Which means, I suppose, that people have arrived at a +conviction which they won't give up in order to embrace yours instead. + +_Philalethes_. Ah! if it were only a conviction based on insight. Then +one could bring arguments to bear, and the battle would be fought with +equal weapons. But religions admittedly appeal, not to conviction as the +result of argument, but to belief as demanded by revelation. And as the +capacity for believing is strongest in childhood, special care is taken +to make sure of this tender age. This has much more to do with the +doctrines of belief taking root than threats and reports of miracles. +If, in early childhood, certain fundamental views and doctrines are +paraded with unusual solemnity, and an air of the greatest earnestness +never before visible in anything else; if, at the same time, the +possibility of a doubt about them be completely passed over, or touched +upon only to indicate that doubt is the first step to eternal perdition, +the resulting impression will be so deep that, as a rule, that is, in +almost every case, doubt about them will be almost as impossible as +doubt about one's own existence. Hardly one in ten thousand will have +the strength of mind to ask himself seriously and earnestly--is that +true? To call such as can do it strong minds, _esprits forts_, is a +description more apt than is generally supposed. But for the ordinary +mind there is nothing so absurd or revolting but what, if inculcated in +that way, the strongest belief in it will strike root. If, for example, +the killing of a heretic or infidel were essential to the future +salvation of his soul, almost every one would make it the chief event of +his life, and in dying would draw consolation and strength from the +remembrance that he had succeeded. As a matter of fact, almost every +Spaniard in days gone by used to look upon an _auto da fe_ as the most +pious of all acts and one most agreeable to God. A parallel to this may +be found in the way in which the Thugs (a religious sect in India, +suppressed a short time ago by the English, who executed numbers of +them) express their sense of religion and their veneration for the +goddess Kali; they take every opportunity of murdering their friends and +traveling companions, with the object of getting possession of their +goods, and in the serious conviction that they are thereby doing a +praiseworthy action, conducive to their eternal welfare. [Footnote: Cf. +Illustrations of the history and practice of the Thugs, London, 1837; +also the _Edinburg Review_, Oct.-Jan., 1836-7.] The power of religious +dogma, when inculcated early, is such as to stifle conscience, +compassion, and finally every feeling of humanity. But if you want to +see with your own eyes and close at hand what timely inoculation will +accomplish, look at the English. Here is a nation favored before all +others by nature; endowed, more than all others, with discernment, +intelligence, power of judgment, strength of character; look at them, +abased and made ridiculous, beyond all others, by their stupid +ecclesiastical superstition, which appears amongst their other abilities +like a fixed idea or monomania. For this they have to thank the +circumstance that education is in the hands of the clergy, whose +endeavor it is to impress all the articles of belief, at the earliest +age, in a way that amounts to a kind of paralysis of the brain; this in +its turn expresses itself all their life in an idiotic bigotry, which +makes otherwise most sensible and intelligent people amongst them +degrade themselves so that one can't make head or tail of them. If you +consider how essential to such a masterpiece is inoculation in the +tender age of childhood, the missionary system appears no longer only as +the acme of human importunity, arrogance and impertinence, but also as +an absurdity, if it doesn't confine itself to nations which are still in +their infancy, like Caffirs, Hottentots, South Sea Islanders, etc. +Amongst these races it is successful; but in India, the Brahmans treat +the discourses of the missionaries with contemptuous smiles of +approbation, or simply shrug their shoulders. And one may say generally +that the proselytizing efforts of the missionaries in India, in spite of +the most advantageous facilities, are, as a rule, a failure. An +authentic report in the Vol. XXI. of the Asiatic Journal (1826) states +that after so many years of missionary activity not more than three +hundred living converts were to be found in the whole of India, where +the population of the English possessions alone comes to one hundred and +fifteen millions; and at the same time it is admitted that the Christian +converts are distinguished for their extreme immorality. Three hundred +venal and bribed souls out of so many millions! There is no evidence +that things have gone better with Christianity in India since then, in +spite of the fact that the missionaries are now trying, contrary to +stipulation and in schools exclusively designed for secular English +instruction, to work upon the children's minds as they please, in order +to smuggle in Christianity; against which the Hindoos are most jealously +on their guard. As I have said, childhood is the time to sow the seeds +of belief, and not manhood; more especially where an earlier faith has +taken root. An acquired conviction such as is feigned by adults is, as a +rule, only the mask for some kind of personal interest. And it is the +feeling that this is almost bound to be the case which makes a man who +has changed his religion in mature years an object of contempt to most +people everywhere; who thus show that they look upon religion, not as a +matter of reasoned conviction, but merely as a belief inoculated in +childhood, before any test can be applied. And that they are right in +their view of religion is also obvious from the way in which not only +the masses, who are blindly credulous, but also the clergy of every +religion, who, as such, have faithfully and zealously studied its +sources, foundations, dogmas and disputed points, cleave as a body to +the religion of their particular country; consequently for a minister of +one religion or confession to go over to another is the rarest thing in +the world. The Catholic clergy, for example, are fully convinced of the +truth of all the tenets of their Church, and so are the Protestant +clergy of theirs, and both defend the principles of their creeds with +like zeal. And yet the conviction is governed merely by the country +native to each; to the South German ecclesiastic the truth of the +Catholic dogma is quite obvious, to the North German, the Protestant. If +then, these convictions are based on objective reasons, the reasons must +be climatic, and thrive, like plants, some only here, some only there. +The convictions of those who are thus locally convinced are taken on +trust and believed by the masses everywhere. + +_Demopheles_. Well, no harm is done, and it doesn't make any real +difference. As a fact, Protestantism is more suited to the North, +Catholicism to the South. + +_Philalethes_. So it seems. Still I take a higher standpoint, and keep +in view a more important object, the progress, namely, of the knowledge +of truth among mankind. And from this point of view, it is a terrible +thing that, wherever a man is born, certain propositions are inculcated +in him in earliest youth, and he is assured that he may never have any +doubts about them, under penalty of thereby forfeiting eternal +salvation; propositions, I mean, which affect the foundation of all our +other knowledge and accordingly determine for ever, and, if they are +false, distort for ever, the point of view from which our knowledge +starts; and as, further, the corollaries of these propositions touch the +entire system of our intellectual attainments at every point, the whole +of human knowledge is thoroughly adulterated by them. Evidence of this +is afforded by every literature; the most striking by that of the Middle +Age, but in a too considerable degree by that of the fifteenth and +sixteenth centuries. Look at even the first minds of all those epochs; +how paralyzed they are by false fundamental positions like these; how, +more especially, all insight into the true constitution and working of +nature is, as it were, blocked up. During the whole of the Christian +period Theism lies like a mountain on all intellectual, and chiefly on +all philosophical efforts, and arrests or stunts all progress. For the +scientific men of these ages God, devil, angels, demons hid the whole of +nature; no inquiry was followed to the end, nothing ever thoroughly +examined; everything which went beyond the most obvious casual nexus was +immediately set down to those personalities. "_It was at once explained +by a reference to God, angels or demons_," as Pomponatius expressed +himself when the matter was being discussed, "_and philosophers at any +rate have nothing analogous_." There is, to be sure, a suspicion of +irony in this statement of Pomponatius, as his perfidy in other matters +is known; still, he is only giving expression to the general way of +thinking of his age. And if, on the other hand, any one possessed the +rare quality of an elastic mind, which alone could burst the bonds, his +writings and he himself with them were burnt; as happened to Bruno and +Vanini. How completely an ordinary mind is paralyzed by that early +preparation in metaphysics is seen in the most vivid way and on its most +ridiculous side, where such a one undertakes to criticise the doctrines +of an alien creed. The efforts of the ordinary man are generally found +to be directed to a careful exhibition of the incongruity of its dogmas +with those of his own belief: he is at great pains to show that not only +do they not say, but certainly do not mean, the same thing; and with +that he thinks, in his simplicity, that he has demonstrated the +falsehood of the alien creed. He really never dreams of putting the +question which of the two may be right; his own articles of belief he +looks upon as _à priori_ true and certain principles. + +_Demopheles_. So that's your higher point of view? I assure you there is +a higher still. _First live, then philosophize_ is a maxim of more +comprehensive import than appears at first sight. The first thing to do +is to control the raw and evil dispositions of the masses, so as to keep +them from pushing injustice to extremes, and from committing cruel, +violent and disgraceful acts. If you were to wait until they had +recognized and grasped the truth, you would undoubtedly come too late; +and truth, supposing that it had been found, would surpass their powers +of comprehension. In any case an allegorical investiture of it, a +parable or myth, is all that would be of any service to them. As Kant +said, there must be a public standard of Right and Virtue; it must +always flutter high overhead. It is a matter of indifference what +heraldic figures are inscribed on it, so long as they signify what is +meant. Such an allegorical representation of truth is always and +everywhere, for humanity at large, a serviceable substitute for a truth +to which it can never attain,--for a philosophy which it can never +grasp; let alone the fact that it is daily changing its shape, and has +in no form as yet met with general acceptance. Practical aims, then, my +good Philalethes, are in every respect superior to theoretical. + +_Philalethes_. What you say is very like the ancient advice of Timaeus +of Locrus, the Pythagorean, _stop the mind with falsehood if you can't +speed it with truth_. I almost suspect that your plan is the one which +is so much in vogue just now, that you want to impress upon me that + + The hour is nigh + When we may feast in quiet. + +You recommend us, in fact, to take timely precautions, so that the waves +of the discontented raging masses mayn't disturb us at table. But the +whole point of view is as false as it is now-a-days popular and +commended; and so I make haste to enter a protest against it. It is +_false_, that state, justice, law cannot be upheld without the +assistance of religion and its dogmas; and that justice and public order +need religion as a necessary complement, if legislative enactments are +to be carried out. It is _false_, were it repeated a hundred times. An +effective and striking argument to the contrary is afforded by the +ancients, especially the Greeks. They had nothing at all of what we +understand by religion. They had no sacred documents, no dogma to be +learned and its acceptance furthered by every one, its principles to be +inculcated early on the young. Just as little was moral doctrine +preached by the ministers of religion, nor did the priests trouble +themselves about morality or about what the people did or left undone. +Not at all. The duty of the priests was confined to temple-ceremonial, +prayers, hymns, sacrifices, processions, lustrations and the like, the +object of which was anything but the moral improvement of the +individual. What was called religion consisted, more especially in the +cities, in giving temples here and there to some of the gods of the +greater tribes, in which the worship described was carried on as a state +matter, and was consequently, in fact, an affair of police. No one, +except the functionaries performing, was in any way compelled to attend, +or even to believe in it. In the whole of antiquity there is no trace of +any obligation to believe in any particular dogma. Merely in the case of +an open denial of the existence of the gods, or any other reviling of +them, a penalty was imposed, and that on account of the insult offered +to the state, which served those gods; beyond this it was free to +everyone to think of them what he pleased. If anyone wanted to gain the +favor of those gods privately, by prayer or sacrifice, it was open to +him to do so at his own expense and at his own risk; if he didn't do it, +no one made any objection, least of all the state. In the case of the +Romans, everyone had his own Lares and Penates at home; they were, +however, in reality, only the venerated busts of ancestors. Of the +immortality of the soul and a life beyond the grave, the ancients had no +firm, clear or, least of all, dogmatically fixed idea, but very loose, +fluctuating, indefinite and problematical notions, everyone in his own +way: and the ideas about the gods were just as varying, individual and +vague. There was, therefore, really no _religion_, in our sense of the +word, amongst the ancients. But did anarchy and lawlessness prevail +amongst them on that account? Is not law and civil order, rather, so +much their work, that it still forms the foundation of our own? Was +there not complete protection for property, even though it consisted for +the most part of slaves? And did not this state of things last for more +than a thousand years? So that I can't recognize, I must even protest +against the practical aims and the necessity of religion in the sense +indicated by you, and so popular now-a-days, that is, as an +indispensable foundation of all legislative arrangements. For, if you +take that point of view, the pure and sacred endeavor after truth would, +to say the least, appear quixotic, and even criminal, if it ventured, in +its feeling of justice, to denounce the authoritative creed as a usurper +who had taken possession of the throne of truth and maintained his +position by keeping up the deception. + +_Demopheles_. But religion is not opposed to truth; it itself teaches +truth. And as the range of its activity is not a narrow lecture room, +but the world and humanity at large, religion must conform to the +requirements and comprehension of an audience so numerous and so mixed. +Religion must not let truth appear in its naked form; or, to use a +medical simile, it must not exhibit it pure, but must employ a mythical +vehicle, a medium, as it were. You can also compare truth in this +respect to certain chemical stuffs which in themselves are gaseous, but +which for medicinal uses, as also for preservation or transmission, must +be bound to a stable, solid base, because they would otherwise +volatilize. Chlorine gas, for example, is for all purposes applied only +in the form of chlorides. But if truth, pure, abstract and free from all +mythical alloy, is always to remain unattainable, even by philosophers, +it might be compared to fluorine, which cannot even be isolated, but +must always appear in combination with other elements. Or, to take a +less scientific simile, truth, which is inexpressible except by means of +myth and allegory, is like water, which can be carried about only in +vessels; a philosopher who insists on obtaining it pure is like a man +who breaks the jug in order to get the water by itself. This is, +perhaps, an exact analogy. At any rate, religion is truth allegorically +and mythically expressed, and so rendered attainable and digestible by +mankind in general. Mankind couldn't possibly take it pure and unmixed, +just as we can't breathe pure oxygen; we require an addition of four +times its bulk in nitrogen. In plain language, the profound meaning, the +high aim of life, can only be unfolded and presented to the masses +symbolically, because they are incapable of grasping it in its true +signification. Philosophy, on the other hand, should be like the +Eleusinian mysteries, for the few, the _élite_. + +_Philalethes_. I understand. It comes, in short, to truth wearing the +garment of falsehood. But in doing so it enters on a fatal alliance. +What a dangerous weapon is put into the hands of those who are +authorized to employ falsehood as the vehicle of truth! If it is as you +say, I fear the damage caused by the falsehood will be greater than any +advantage the truth could ever produce. Of course, if the allegory were +admitted to be such, I should raise no objection; but with the admission +it would rob itself of all respect, and consequently, of all utility. +The allegory must, therefore, put in a claim to be true in the proper +sense of the word, and maintain the claim; while, at the most, it is +true only in an allegorical sense. Here lies the irreparable mischief, +the permanent evil; and this is why religion has always been and always +will be in conflict with the noble endeavor after pure truth. + +_Demopheles_. Oh no! that danger is guarded against. If religion mayn't +exactly confess its allegorical nature, it gives sufficient indication +of it. + +_Philalethes_. How so? + +_Demopheles_. In its mysteries. "Mystery," is in reality only a +technical theological term for religious allegory. All religions have +their mysteries. Properly speaking, a mystery is a dogma which is +plainly absurd, but which, nevertheless, conceals in itself a lofty +truth, and one which by itself would be completely incomprehensible to +the ordinary understanding of the raw multitude. The multitude accepts +it in this disguise on trust, and believes it, without being led astray +by the absurdity of it, which even to its intelligence is obvious; and +in this way it participates in the kernel of the matter so far as it is +possible for it to do so. To explain what I mean, I may add that even in +philosophy an attempt has been made to make use of a mystery. Pascal, +for example, who was at once a pietist, a mathematician, and a +philosopher, says in this threefold capacity: _God is everywhere center +and nowhere periphery_. Malebranche has also the just remark: _Liberty +is a mystery_. One could go a step further and maintain that in +religions everything is mystery. For to impart truth, in the proper +sense of the word, to the multitude in its raw state is absolutely +impossible; all that can fall to its lot is to be enlightened by a +mythological reflection of it. Naked truth is out of place before the +eyes of the profane vulgar; it can only make its appearance thickly +veiled. Hence, it is unreasonable to require of a religion that it shall +be true in the proper sense of the word; and this, I may observe in +passing, is now-a-days the absurd contention of Rationalists and +Supernaturalists alike. Both start from the position that religion must +be the real truth; and while the former demonstrate that it is not the +truth, the latter obstinately maintain that it is; or rather, the former +dress up and arrange the allegorical element in such a way, that, in the +proper sense of the word, it could be true, but would be, in that case, +a platitude; while the latter wish to maintain that it is true in the +proper sense of the word, without any further dressing; a belief, which, +as we ought to know is only to be enforced by inquisitions and the +stake. As a fact, however, myth and allegory really form the proper +element of religion; and under this indispensable condition, which is +imposed by the intellectual limitation of the multitude, religion +provides a sufficient satisfaction for those metaphysical requirements +of mankind which are indestructible. It takes the place of that pure +philosophical truth which is infinitely difficult and perhaps never +attainable. + +_Philalethes_. Ah! just as a wooden leg takes the place of a natural +one; it supplies what is lacking, barely does duty for it, claims to be +regarded as a natural leg, and is more or less artfully put together. +The only difference is that, whilst a natural leg as a rule preceded the +wooden one, religion has everywhere got the start of philosophy. + +_Demopheles_. That may be, but still for a man who hasn't a natural leg, +a wooden one is of great service. You must bear in mind that the +metaphysical needs of mankind absolutely require satisfaction, because +the horizon of men's thoughts must have a background and not remain +unbounded. Man has, as a rule, no faculty for weighing reasons and +discriminating between what is false and what is true; and besides, the +labor which nature and the needs of nature impose upon him, leaves him +no time for such enquiries, or for the education which they presuppose. +In his case, therefore, it is no use talking of a reasoned conviction; +he has to fall back on belief and authority. If a really true philosophy +were to take the place of religion, nine-tenths at least of mankind +would have to receive it on authority; that is to say, it too would be a +matter of faith, for Plato's dictum, that the multitude can't be +philosophers, will always remain true. Authority, however, is an affair +of time and circumstance alone, and so it can't be bestowed on that +which has only reason in its favor, it must accordingly be allowed to +nothing but what has acquired it in the course of history, even if it is +only an allegorical representation of truth. Truth in this form, +supported by authority, appeals first of all to those elements in the +human constitution which are strictly metaphysical, that is to say, to +the need man feels of a theory in regard to the riddle of existence +which forces itself upon his notice, a need arising from the +consciousness that behind the physical in the world there is a +metaphysical, something permanent as the foundation of constant change. +Then it appeals to the will, to the fears and hopes of mortal beings +living in constant struggle; for whom, accordingly, religion creates +gods and demons whom they can cry to, appease and win over. Finally, it +appeals to that moral consciousness which is undeniably present in man, +lends to it that corroboration and support without which it would not +easily maintain itself in the struggle against so many temptations. It +is just from this side that religion affords an inexhaustible source of +consolation and comfort in the innumerable trials of life, a comfort +which does not leave men in death, but rather then only unfolds its full +efficacy. So religion may be compared to one who takes a blind man by +the hand and leads him, because he is unable to see for himself, whose +concern it is to reach his destination, not to look at everything by the +way. + +_Philalethes_. That is certainly the strong point of religion. If it is +a fraud, it is a pious fraud; that is undeniable. But this makes priests +something between deceivers and teachers of morality; they daren't teach +the real truth, as you have quite rightly explained, even if they knew +it, which is not the case. A true philosophy, then, can always exist, +but not a true religion; true, I mean, in the proper understanding of +the word, not merely in that flowery or allegorical sense which you have +described; a sense in which all religions would be true, only in various +degrees. It is quite in keeping with the inextricable mixture of weal +and woe, honesty and deceit, good and evil, nobility and baseness, which +is the average characteristic of the world everywhere, that the most +important, the most lofty, the most sacred truths can make their +appearance only in combination with a lie, can even borrow strength from +a lie as from something that works more powerfully on mankind; and, as +revelation, must be ushered in by a lie. This might, indeed, be regarded +as the _cachet_ of the moral world. However, we won't give up the hope +that mankind will eventually reach a point of maturity and education at +which it can on the one side produce, and on the other receive, the true +philosophy. _Simplex sigillum veri_: the naked truth must be so simple +and intelligible that it can be imparted to all in its true form, +without any admixture of myth and fable, without disguising it in the +form of _religion_. + +_Demopheles_. You've no notion how stupid most people are. + +_Philalethes_. I am only expressing a hope which I can't give up. If it +were fulfilled, truth in its simple and intelligible form would of +course drive religion from the place it has so long occupied as its +representative, and by that very means kept open for it. The time would +have come when religion would have carried out her object and completed +her course: the race she had brought to years of discretion she could +dismiss, and herself depart in peace: that would be the _euthanasia_ of +religion. But as long as she lives, she has two faces, one of truth, one +of fraud. According as you look at one or the other, you will bear her +favor or ill-will. Religion must be regarded as a necessary evil, its +necessity resting on the pitiful imbecility of the great majority of +mankind, incapable of grasping the truth, and therefore requiring, in +its pressing need, something to take its place. + +_Demopheles_. Really, one would think that you philosophers had truth in +a cupboard, and that all you had to do was to go and get it! + +_Philalethes_. Well, if we haven't got it, it is chiefly owing to the +pressure put upon philosophy by religion at all times and in all places. +People have tried to make the expression and communication of truth, +even the contemplation and discovery of it, impossible, by putting +children, in their earliest years, into the hands of priests to be +manipulated; to have the lines, in which their fundamental thoughts are +henceforth to run, laid down with such firmness as, in essential +matters, to be fixed and determined for this whole life. When I take up +the writings even of the best intellects of the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries, (more especially if I have been engaged in +Oriental studies), I am sometimes shocked to see how they are paralyzed +and hemmed in on all sides by Jewish ideas. How can anyone think out the +true philosophy when he is prepared like this? + +_Demopheles_. Even if the true philosophy were to be discovered, +religion wouldn't disappear from the world, as you seem to think. There +can't be one system of metaphysics for everybody; that's rendered +impossible by the natural differences of intellectual power between man +and man, and the differences, too, which education makes. It is a +necessity for the great majority of mankind to engage in that severe +bodily labor which cannot be dispensed with if the ceaseless +requirements of the whole race are to be satisfied. Not only does this +leave the majority no time for education, for learning, for +contemplation; but by virtue of the hard and fast antagonism between +muscles and mind, the intelligence is blunted by so much exhausting +bodily labor, and becomes heavy, clumsy, awkward, and consequently +incapable of grasping any other than quite simple situations. At least +nine-tenths of the human race falls under this category. But still the +people require a system of metaphysics, that is, an account of the world +and our existence, because such an account belongs to the most natural +needs of mankind, they require a popular system; and to be popular it +must combine many rare qualities. It must be easily understood, and at +the same time possess, on the proper points, a certain amount of +obscurity, even of impenetrability; then a correct and satisfactory +system of morality must be bound up with its dogmas; above all, it must +afford inexhaustible consolation in suffering and death; the consequence +of all this is, that it can only be true in an allegorical and not in a +real sense. Further, it must have the support of an authority which is +impressive by its great age, by being universally recognized, by its +documents, their tone and utterances; qualities which are so extremely +difficult to combine that many a man wouldn't be so ready, if he +considered the matter, to help to undermine a religion, but would +reflect that what he is attacking is a people's most sacred treasure. If +you want to form an opinion on religion, you should always bear in mind +the character of the great multitude for which it is destined, and form +a picture to yourself of its complete inferiority, moral and +intellectual. It is incredible how far this inferiority goes, and how +perseveringly a spark of truth will glimmer on even under the crudest +covering of monstrous fable or grotesque ceremony, clinging +indestructibly, like the odor of musk, to everything that has once come +into contact with it. In illustration of this, consider the profound +wisdom of the Upanishads, and then look at the mad idolatry in the India +of to-day, with its pilgrimages, processions and festivities, or at the +insane and ridiculous goings-on of the Saniassi. Still one can't deny +that in all this insanity and nonsense there lies some obscure purpose +which accords with, or is a reflection of the profound wisdom I +mentioned. But for the brute multitude, it had to be dressed up in this +form. In such a contrast as this we have the two poles of humanity, the +wisdom of the individual and the bestiality of the many, both of which +find their point of contact in the moral sphere. That saying from the +Kurral must occur to everybody. _Base people look like men, but I have +never seen their exact counterpart_. The man of education may, all the +same, interpret religion to himself _cum grano salis_; the man of +learning, the contemplative spirit may secretly exchange it for a +philosophy. But here again one philosophy wouldn't suit everybody; by +the laws of affinity every system would draw to itself that public to +whose education and capacities it was most suited. So there is always an +inferior metaphysical system of the schools for the educated multitude, +and a higher one for the _élite_. Kant's lofty doctrine, for instance, +had to be degraded to the level of the schools and ruined by such men as +Fries, Krug and Salat. In short, here, if anywhere, Goethe's maxim is +true, _One does not suit all_. Pure faith in revelation and pure +metaphysics are for the two extremes, and for the intermediate steps +mutual modifications of both in innumerable combinations and gradations. +And this is rendered necessary by the immeasurable differences which +nature and education have placed between man and man. + +_Philalethes_. The view you take reminds me seriously of the mysteries +of the ancients, which you mentioned just now. Their fundamental purpose +seems to have been to remedy the evil arising from the differences of +intellectual capacity and education. The plan was, out of the great +multitude utterly impervious to unveiled truth, to select certain +persons who might have it revealed to them up to a given point; out of +these, again, to choose others to whom more would be revealed, as being +able to grasp more; and so on up to the Epopts. These grades correspond +to the little, greater and greatest mysteries. The arrangement was +founded on a correct estimate of the intellectual inequality of mankind. + +_Demopheles_. To some extent the education in our lower, middle and high +schools corresponds to the varying grades of initiation into the +mysteries. + +_Philalethes_. In a very approximate way; and then only in so far as +subjects of higher knowledge are written about exclusively in Latin. But +since that has ceased to be the case, all the mysteries are profaned. + +_Demopheles_. However that may be, I wanted to remind you that you +should look at religion more from the practical than from the +theoretical side. _Personified_ metaphysics may be the enemy of +religion, but all the same _personified_ morality will be its friend. +Perhaps the metaphysical element in all religions is false; but the +moral element in all is true. This might perhaps be presumed from the +fact that they all disagree in their metaphysics, but are in accord as +regards morality. + +_Philalethes_. Which is an illustration of the rule of logic that false +premises may give a true conclusion. + +_Demopheles_. Let me hold you to your conclusion: let me remind you that +religion has two sides. If it can't stand when looked at from its +theoretical, that is, its intellectual side; on the other hand, from the +moral side, it proves itself the only means of guiding, controlling and +mollifying those races of animals endowed with reason, whose kinship +with the ape does not exclude a kinship with the tiger. But at the same +time religion is, as a rule, a sufficient satisfaction for their dull +metaphysical necessities. You don't seem to me to possess a proper idea +of the difference, wide as the heavens asunder, the deep gulf between +your man of learning and enlightenment, accustomed to the process of +thinking, and the heavy, clumsy, dull and sluggish consciousness of +humanity's beasts of burden, whose thoughts have once and for all taken +the direction of anxiety about their livelihood, and cannot be put in +motion in any other; whose muscular strength is so exclusively brought +into play that the nervous power, which makes intelligence, sinks to a +very low ebb. People like that must have something tangible which they +can lay hold of on the slippery and thorny pathway of their life, some +sort of beautiful fable, by means of which things can be imparted to +them which their crude intelligence can entertain only in picture and +parable. Profound explanations and fine distinctions are thrown away +upon them. If you conceive religion in this light, and recollect that +its aims are above all practical, and only in a subordinate degree +theoretical, it will appear to you as something worthy of the highest +respect. + +_Philalethes_. A respect which will finally rest upon the principle that +the end sanctifies the means. I don't feel in favor of a compromise on a +basis like that. Religion may be an excellent means of training the +perverse, obtuse and ill-disposed members of the biped race: in the eyes +of the friend of truth every fraud, even though it be a pious one, is to +be condemned. A system of deception, a pack of lies, would be a strange +means of inculcating virtue. The flag to which I have taken the oath is +truth; I shall remain faithful to it everywhere, and whether I succeed +or not, I shall fight for light and truth! If I see religion on the +wrong side-- + +_Demopheles_. But you won't. Religion isn't a deception: it is true and +the most important of all truths. Because its doctrines are, as I have +said, of such a lofty kind that the multitude can't grasp them without +an intermediary, because, I say, its light would blind the ordinary eye, +it comes forward wrapt in the veil of allegory and teaches, not indeed +what is exactly true in itself, but what is true in respect of the lofty +meaning contained in it; and, understood in this way, religion is the +truth. + +_Philalethes_. It would be all right if religion were only at liberty to +be true in a merely allegorical sense. But its contention is that it is +downright true in the proper sense of the word. Herein lies the +deception, and it is here that the friend of truth must take up a +hostile position. + +_Demopheles_. The deception is a _sine qua non_. If religion were to +admit that it was only the allegorical meaning in its doctrine which was +true, it would rob itself of all efficacy. Such rigorous treatment as +this would destroy its invaluable influence on the hearts and morals of +mankind. Instead of insisting on that with pedantic obstinacy, look at +its great achievements in the practical sphere, its furtherance of good +and kindly feelings, its guidance in conduct, the support and +consolation it gives to suffering humanity in life and death. How much +you ought to guard against letting theoretical cavils discredit in the +eyes of the multitude, and finally wrest from it, something which is an +inexhaustible source of consolation and tranquillity, something which, +in its hard lot, it needs so much, even more than we do. On that score +alone, religion should be free from attack. + +_Philalethes_. With that kind of argument you could have driven Luther +from the field, when he attacked the sale of indulgences. How many a one +got consolation from the letters of indulgence, a consolation which +nothing else could give, a complete tranquillity; so that he joyfully +departed with the fullest confidence in the packet of them which he held +in his hand at the hour of death, convinced that they were so many cards +of admission to all the nine heavens. What is the use of grounds of +consolation and tranquillity which are constantly overshadowed by the +Damocles-sword of illusion? The truth, my dear sir, is the only safe +thing; the truth alone remains steadfast and trusty; it is the only +solid consolation; it is the indestructible diamond. + +_Demopheles_. Yes, if you had truth in your pocket, ready to favor us +with it on demand. All you've got are metaphysical systems, in which +nothing is certain but the headaches they cost. Before you take anything +away, you must have something better to put in its place. + +_Philalethes_. That's what you keep on saying. To free a man from error +is to give, not to take away. Knowledge that a thing is false is a +truth. Error always does harm; sooner or later it will bring mischief to +the man who harbors it. Then give up deceiving people; confess ignorance +of what you don't know, and leave everyone to form his own articles of +faith for himself. Perhaps they won't turn out so bad, especially as +they'll rub one another's corners down, and mutually rectify mistakes. +The existence of many views will at any rate lay a foundation of +tolerance. Those who possess knowledge and capacity may betake +themselves to the study of philosophy, or even in their own persons +carry the history of philosophy a step further. + +_Demopheles_. That'll be a pretty business! A whole nation of raw +metaphysicians, wrangling and eventually coming to blows with one +another! + +_Philalethes_. Well, well, a few blows here and there are the sauce of +life; or at any rate a very inconsiderable evil compared with such +things as priestly dominion, plundering of the laity, persecution of +heretics, courts of inquisition, crusades, religious wars, massacres of +St. Bartholomew. These have been the result of popular metaphysics +imposed from without; so I stick to the old saying that you can't get +grapes from thistles, nor expect good to come from a pack of lies. + +_Demopheles_. How often must I repeat that religion is anything but a +pack of lies? It is truth itself, only in a mythical, allegorical +vesture. But when you spoke of your plan of everyone being his own +founder of religion, I wanted to say that a particularism like this is +totally opposed to human nature, and would consequently destroy all +social order. Man is a metaphysical animal,--that is to say, he has +paramount metaphysical necessities; accordingly, he conceives life above +all in its metaphysical signification, and wishes to bring everything +into line with that. Consequently, however strange it may sound in view +of the uncertainty of all dogmas, agreement in the fundamentals of +metaphysics is the chief thing, because a genuine and lasting bond of +union is only possible among those who are of one opinion on these +points. As a result of this, the main point of likeness and of contrast +between nations is rather religion than government, or even language; +and so the fabric of society, the State, will stand firm only when +founded on a system of metaphysics which is acknowledged by all. This, +of course, can only be a popular system,--that is, a religion: it +becomes part and parcel of the constitution of the State, of all the +public manifestations of the national life, and also of all solemn acts +of individuals. This was the case in ancient India, among the Persians, +Egyptians, Jews, Greeks and Romans; it is still the case in the Brahman, +Buddhist and Mohammedan nations. In China there are three faiths, it is +true, of which the most prevalent--Buddhism--is precisely the one which +is not protected by the State; still, there is a saying in China, +universally acknowledged, and of daily application, that "the three +faiths are only one,"--that is to say, they agree in essentials. The +Emperor confesses all three together at the same time. And Europe is the +union of Christian States: Christianity is the basis of every one of the +members, and the common bond of all. Hence Turkey, though geographically +in Europe, is not properly to be reckoned as belonging to it. In the +same way, the European princes hold their place "by the grace of God:" +and the Pope is the vicegerent of God. Accordingly, as his throne was +the highest, he used to wish all thrones to be regarded as held in fee +from him. In the same way, too, Archbishops and Bishops, as such, +possessed temporal power; and in England they still have seats and votes +in the Upper House. Protestant princes, as such, are heads of their +churches: in England, a few years ago, this was a girl eighteen years +old. By the revolt from the Pope, the Reformation shattered the European +fabric, and in a special degree dissolved the true unity of Germany by +destroying its common religious faith. This union, which had practically +come to an end, had, accordingly, to be restored later on by artificial +and purely political means. You see, then, how closely connected a +common faith is with the social order and the constitution of every +State. Faith is everywhere the support of the laws and the constitution, +the foundation, therefore, of the social fabric, which could hardly hold +together at all if religion did not lend weight to the authority of +government and the dignity of the ruler. + +_Philalethes_. Oh, yes, princes use God as a kind of bogey to frighten +grown-up children to bed with, if nothing else avails: that's why they +attach so much importance to the Deity. Very well. Let me, in passing, +recommend our rulers to give their serious attention, regularly twice +every year, to the fifteenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel, that +they may be constantly reminded of what it means to prop the throne on +the altar. Besides, since the stake, that _ultima ration theologorum_, +has gone out of fashion, this method of government has lost its +efficacy. For, as you know, religions are like glow-worms; they shine +only when it is dark. A certain amount of general ignorance is the +condition of all religions, the element in which alone they can exist. +And as soon as astronomy, natural science, geology, history, the +knowledge of countries and peoples have spread their light broadcast, +and philosophy finally is permitted to say a word, every faith founded +on miracles and revelation must disappear; and philosophy takes its +place. In Europe the day of knowledge and science dawned towards the end +of the fifteenth century with the appearance of the Renaissance +Platonists: its sun rose higher in the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries so rich in results, and scattered the mists of the Middle Age. +Church and Faith were compelled to disappear in the same proportion; and +so in the eighteenth century English and French philosophers were able +to take up an attitude of direct hostility; until, finally, under +Frederick the Great, Kant appeared, and took away from religious belief +the support it had previously enjoyed from philosophy: he emancipated +the handmaid of theology, and in attacking the question with German +thoroughness and patience, gave it an earnest instead of a frivolous +tone. The consequence of this is that we see Christianity undermined in +the nineteenth century, a serious faith in it almost completely gone; we +see it fighting even for bare existence, whilst anxious princes try to +set it up a little by artificial means, as a doctor uses a drug on a +dying patient. In this connection there is a passage in Condorcet's +"_Des Progrès de l'esprit humain_" which looks as if written as a +warning to our age: "the religious zeal shown by philosophers and great +men was only a political devotion; and every religion which allows +itself to be defended as a belief that may usefully be left to the +people, can only hope for an agony more or less prolonged." In the whole +course of the events which I have indicated, you may always observe that +faith and knowledge are related as the two scales of a balance; when the +one goes up, the other goes down. So sensitive is the balance that it +indicates momentary influences. When, for instance, at the beginning of +this century, those inroads of French robbers under the leadership of +Bonaparte, and the enormous efforts necessary for driving them out and +punishing them, had brought about a temporary neglect of science and +consequently a certain decline in the general increase of knowledge, the +Church immediately began to raise her head again and Faith began to show +fresh signs of life; which, to be sure, in keeping with the times, was +partly poetical in its nature. On the other hand, in the more than +thirty years of peace which followed, leisure and prosperity furthered +the building up of science and the spread of knowledge in an +extraordinary degree: the consequence of which is what I have indicated, +the dissolution and threatened fall of religion. Perhaps the time is +approaching which has so often been prophesied, when religion will take +her departure from European humanity, like a nurse which the child has +outgrown: the child will now be given over to the instructions of a +tutor. For there is no doubt that religious doctrines which are founded +merely on authority, miracles and revelations, are only suited to the +childhood of humanity. Everyone will admit that a race, the past +duration of which on the earth all accounts, physical and historical, +agree in placing at not more than some hundred times the life of a man +of sixty, is as yet only in its first childhood. + +_Demopheles_. Instead of taking an undisguised pleasure in prophesying +the downfall of Christianity, how I wish you would consider what a +measureless debt of gratitude European humanity owes to it, how greatly +it has benefited by the religion which, after a long interval, followed +it from its old home in the East. Europe received from Christianity +ideas which were quite new to it, the Knowledge, I mean, of the +fundamental truth that life cannot be an end-in-itself, that the true +end of our existence lies beyond it. The Greeks and Romans had placed +this end altogether in our present life, so that in this sense they may +certainly be called blind heathens. And, in keeping with this view of +life, all their virtues can be reduced to what is serviceable to the +community, to what is useful in fact. Aristotle says quite naively, +_Those virtues must necessarily be the greatest which are the most +useful to others_. So the ancients thought patriotism the highest +virtue, although it is really a very doubtful one, since narrowness, +prejudice, vanity and an enlightened self-interest are main elements in +it. Just before the passage I quoted, Aristotle enumerates all the +virtues, in order to discuss them singly. They are _Justice, Courage, +Temperance, Magnificence, Magnanimity, Liberality, Gentleness, Good +Sense_ and _Wisdom_. How different from the Christian virtues! Plato +himself, incomparably the most transcendental philosopher of +pre-Christian antiquity, knows no higher virtue than _Justice_; and he +alone recommends it unconditionally and for its own sake, whereas the +rest make a happy life, _vita beata_, the aim of all virtue, and moral +conduct the way to attain it. Christianity freed European humanity from +this shallow, crude identification of itself with the hollow, uncertain +existence of every day, + + coelumque tueri + Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus. + +Christianity, accordingly, does not preach mere Justice, but _the Love +of Mankind, Compassion, Good Works, Forgiveness, Love of your Enemies, +Patience, Humility, Resignation, Faith_ and _Hope_. It even went a step +further, and taught that the world is of evil, and that we need +deliverance. It preached despisal of the world, self-denial, chastity, +giving up of one's will, that is, turning away from life and its +illusory pleasures. It taught the healing power of pain: an instrument +of torture is the symbol of Christianity. I am quite ready to admit that +this earnest, this only correct view of life was thousands of years +previously spread all over Asia in other forms, as it is still, +independently of Christianity; but for European humanity it was a new +and great revelation. For it is well known that the population of Europe +consists of Asiatic races driven out as wanderers from their own homes, +and gradually settling down in Europe; on their wanderings these races +lost the original religion of their homes, and with it the right view of +life: so, under a new sky, they formed religions for themselves, which +were rather crude; the worship of Odin, for instance, the Druidic or the +Greek religion, the metaphysical content of which was little and +shallow. In the meantime the Greeks developed a special, one might +almost say, an instinctive sense of beauty, belonging to them alone of +all the nations who have ever existed on the earth, peculiar, fine and +exact: so that their mythology took, in the mouth of their poets, and in +the hands of their artists, an exceedingly beautiful and pleasing shape. +On the other hand, the true and deep significance of life was lost to +the Greeks and Romans. They lived on like grown-up children, till +Christianity came and recalled them to the serious side of existence. + +_Philalethes_. And to see the effects one need only compare antiquity +with the Middle Age; the time of Pericles, say, with the fourteenth +century. You could scarcely believe you were dealing with the same kind +of beings. There, the finest development of humanity, excellent +institutions, wise laws, shrewdly apportioned offices, rationally +ordered freedom, all the arts, including poetry and philosophy, at their +best; the production of works which, after thousands of years, are +unparalleled, the creations, as it were, of a higher order of beings, +which we can never imitate; life embellished by the noblest fellowship, +as portrayed in Xenophen's _Banquet_. Look on the other picture, if you +can; a time at which the Church had enslaved the minds, and violence the +bodies of men, that knights and priests might lay the whole weight of +life upon the common beast of burden, the third estate. There, you have +might as right, Feudalism and Fanaticism in close alliance, and in their +train abominable ignorance and darkness of mind, a corresponding +intolerance, discord of creeds, religious wars, crusades, inquisitions +and persecutions; as the form of fellowship, chivalry, compounded of +savagery and folly, with its pedantic system of ridiculous false +pretences carried to an extreme, its degrading superstition and apish +veneration for women. Gallantry is the residue of this veneration, +deservedly requited as it is by feminine arrogance; it affords continual +food for laughter to all Asiatics, and the Greeks would have joined in +it. In the golden Middle Age the practice developed into a regular and +methodical service of women; it imposed deeds of heroism, _cours +d'amour_, bombastic Troubadour songs, etc.; although it is to be +observed that these last buffooneries, which had an intellectual side, +were chiefly at home in France; whereas amongst the material sluggish +Germans, the knights distinguished themselves rather by drinking and +stealing; they were good at boozing and filling their castles with +plunder; though in the courts, to be sure, there was no lack of insipid +love songs. What caused this utter transformation? Migration and +Christianity. + +_Demopheles_. I am glad you reminded me of it. Migration was the source +of the evil; Christianity the dam on which it broke. It was chiefly by +Christianity that the raw, wild hordes which came flooding in were +controlled and tamed. The savage man must first of all learn to kneel, +to venerate, to obey; after that he can be civilized. This was done in +Ireland by St. Patrick, in Germany by Winifred the Saxon, who was a +genuine Boniface. It was migration of peoples, the last advance of +Asiatic races towards Europe, followed only by the fruitless attempts of +those under Attila, Zenghis Khan, and Timur, and as a comic afterpiece, +by the gipsies,--it was this movement which swept away the humanity of +the ancients. Christianity was precisely the principle which set itself +to work against this savagery; just as later, through the whole of the +Middle Age, the Church and its hierarchy were most necessary to set +limits to the savage barbarism of those masters of violence, the princes +and knights: it was what broke up the icefloes in that mighty deluge. +Still, the chief aim of Christianity is not so much to make this life +pleasant as to render us worthy of a better. It looks away over this +span of time, over this fleeting dream, and seeks to lead us to eternal +welfare. Its tendency is ethical in the highest sense of the word, a +sense unknown in Europe till its advent; as I have shown you, by putting +the morality and religion of the ancients side by side with those of +Christendom. + +_Philalethes_. You are quite right as regards theory: but look at the +practice! In comparison with the ages of Christianity the ancient world +was unquestionably less cruel than the Middle Age, with its deaths by +exquisite torture, its innumerable burnings at the stake. The ancients, +further, were very enduring, laid great stress on justice, frequently +sacrificed themselves for their country, showed such traces of every +kind of magnanimity, and such genuine manliness, that to this day an +acquaintance with their thoughts and actions is called the study of +Humanity. The fruits of Christianity were religious wars, butcheries, +crusades, inquisitions, extermination of the natives in America, and the +introduction of African slaves in their place; and among the ancients +there is nothing analogous to this, nothing that can be compared with +it; for the slaves of the ancients, the _familia_, the _vernae_, were a +contented race, and faithfully devoted to their masters' service, and as +different from the miserable negroes of the sugar plantations, which are +a disgrace to humanity, as their two colors are distinct. Those special +moral delinquencies for which we reproach the ancients, and which are +perhaps less uncommon now-a-days than appears on the surface to be the +case, are trifles compared with the Christian enormities I have +mentioned. Can you then, all considered, maintain that mankind has been +really made morally better by Christianity? + +_Demopheles_. If the results haven't everywhere been in keeping with the +purity and truth of the doctrine, it may be because the doctrine has +been too noble, too elevated for mankind, that its aim has been placed +too high. It was so much easier to come up to the heathen system, or to +the Mohammedan. It is precisely what is noble and dignified that is most +liable everywhere to misuse and fraud: _abusus optimi pessimus_. Those +high doctrines have accordingly now and then served as a pretext for the +most abominable proceedings, and for acts of unmitigated wickedness. The +downfall of the institutions of the old world, as well as of its arts +and sciences, is, as I have said, to be attributed to the inroad of +foreign barbarians. The inevitable result of this inroad was that +ignorance and savagery got the upper hand; consequently violence and +knavery established their dominion, and knights and priests became a +burden to mankind. It is partly, however, to be explained by the fact +that the new religion made eternal and not temporal welfare the object +of desire, taught that simplicity of heart was to be preferred to +knowledge, and looked askance at all worldly pleasure. Now the arts and +sciences subserve worldly pleasure; but in so far as they could be made +serviceable to religion they were promoted, and attained a certain +degree of perfection. + +_Philalethes_. In a very narrow sphere. The sciences were suspicious +companions, and as such, were placed under restrictions: on the other +hand, darling ignorance, that element so necessary to a system of faith, +was carefully nourished. + +_Demopheles_. And yet mankind's possessions in the way of knowledge up +to that period, which were preserved in the writings of the ancients, +were saved from destruction by the clergy, especially by those in the +monasteries. How would it have fared if Christianity hadn't come in just +before the migration of peoples. + +_Philalethes_. It would really be a most useful inquiry to try and make, +with the coldest impartiality, an unprejudiced, careful and accurate +comparison of the advantages and disadvantages which may be put down to +religion. For that, of course, a much larger knowledge of historical and +psychological data than either of us command would be necessary. +Academies might make it a subject for a prize essay. + +_Demopheles_. They'll take good care not to do so. + +_Philalethes_. I'm surprised to hear you say that: it's a bad look out +for religion. However, there are academies which, in proposing a subject +for competition, make it a secret condition that the prize is to go to +the man who best interprets their own view. If we could only begin by +getting a statistician to tell us how many crimes are prevented every +year by religious, and how many by other motives, there would be very +few of the former. If a man feels tempted to commit a crime, you may +rely upon it that the first consideration which enters his head is the +penalty appointed for it, and the chances that it will fall upon him: +then comes, as a second consideration, the risk to his reputation. If I +am not mistaken, he will ruminate by the hour on these two impediments, +before he ever takes a thought of religious considerations. If he gets +safely over those two first bulwarks against crime, I think religion +alone will very rarely hold him back from it. + +_Demopheles_. I think that it will very often do so, especially when its +influence works through the medium of custom. An atrocious act is at +once felt to be repulsive. What is this but the effect of early +impressions? Think, for instance, how often a man, especially if of +noble birth, will make tremendous sacrifices to perform what he has +promised, motived entirely by the fact that his father has often +earnestly impressed upon him in his childhood that "a man of honor" or +"a gentleman" or a "a cavalier" always keeps his word inviolate. + +_Philalethes_. That's no use unless there is a certain inborn +honorableness. You mustn't ascribe to religion what results from innate +goodness of character, by which compassion for the man who would suffer +by his crime keeps a man from committing it. This is the genuine moral +motive, and as such it is independent of all religions. + +_Demopheles_. But this is a motive which rarely affects the multitude +unless it assumes a religious aspect. The religious aspect at any rate +strengthens its power for good. Yet without any such natural foundation, +religious motives alone are powerful to prevent crime. We need not be +surprised at this in the case of the multitude, when we see that even +people of education pass now and then under the influence, not indeed of +religious motives, which are founded on something which is at least +allegorically true, but of the most absurd superstition, and allow +themselves to be guided by it all their life long; as, for instance, +undertaking nothing on a Friday, refusing to sit down thirteen at a +table, obeying chance omens, and the like. How much more likely is the +multitude to be guided by such things. You can't form any adequate idea +of the narrow limits of the mind in its raw state; it is a place of +absolute darkness, especially when, as often happens, a bad, unjust and +malicious heart is at the bottom of it. People in this condition--and +they form the great bulk of humanity--must be led and controlled as well +as may be, even if it be by really superstitious motives; until such +time as they become susceptible to truer and better ones. As an instance +of the direct working of religion, may be cited the fact, common enough, +in Italy especially, of a thief restoring stolen goods, through the +influence of his confessor, who says he won't absolve him if he doesn't. +Think again of the case of an oath, where religion shows a most decided +influence; whether it be that a man places himself expressly in the +position of a purely _moral being_, and as such looks upon himself as +solemnly appealed to, as seems to be the case in France, where the +formula is simply _je le jure_, and also among the Quakers, whose solemn +_yea_ or _nay_ is regarded as a substitute for the oath; or whether it +be that a man really believes he is pronouncing something which may +affect his eternal happiness,--a belief which is presumably only the +investiture of the former feeling. At any rate, religious considerations +are a means of awakening and calling out a man's moral nature. How often +it happens that a man agrees to take a false oath, and then, when it +comes to the point, suddenly refuses, and truth and right win the day. + +_Philalethes_. Oftener still false oaths are really taken, and truth and +right trampled under foot, though all witnesses of the oath know it +well! Still you are quite right to quote the oath as an undeniable +example of the practical efficacy of religion. But, in spite of all +you've said, I doubt whether the efficacy of religion goes much beyond +this. Just think; if a public proclamation were suddenly made announcing +the repeal of all the criminal laws; I fancy neither you nor I would +have the courage to go home from here under the protection of religious +motives. If, in the same way, all religions were declared untrue, we +could, under the protection of the laws alone, go on living as before, +without any special addition to our apprehensions or our measures of +precaution. I will go beyond this, and say that religions have very +frequently exercised a decidedly demoralizing influence. One may say +generally that duties towards God and duties towards humanity are in +inverse ratio. + +It is easy to let adulation of the Deity make amends for lack of proper +behavior towards man. And so we see that in all times and in all +countries the great majority of mankind find it much easier to beg their +way to heaven by prayers than to deserve to go there by their actions. +In every religion it soon comes to be the case that faith, ceremonies, +rites and the like, are proclaimed to be more agreeable to the Divine +will than moral actions; the former, especially if they are bound up +with the emoluments of the clergy, gradually come to be looked upon as a +substitute for the latter. Sacrifices in temples, the saying of masses, +the founding of chapels, the planting of crosses by the roadside, soon +come to be the most meritorious works, so that even great crimes are +expiated by them, as also by penance, subjection to priestly authority, +confessions, pilgrimages, donations to the temples and the clergy, the +building of monasteries and the like. The consequence of all this is +that the priests finally appear as middlemen in the corruption of the +gods. And if matters don't go quite so far as that, where is the +religion whose adherents don't consider prayers, praise and manifold +acts of devotion, a substitute, at least in part, for moral conduct? +Look at England, where by an audacious piece of priestcraft, the +Christian Sunday, introduced by Constantine the Great as a subject for +the Jewish Sabbath, is in a mendacious way identified with it, and takes +its name,--and this in order that the commands of Jehovah for the +Sabbath (that is, the day on which the Almighty had to rest from his six +days' labor, so that it is essentially the last day of the week), might +be applied to the Christian Sunday, the _dies solis_, the first day of +the week which the sun opens in glory, the day of devotion and joy. The +consequence of this fraud is that "Sabbath-breaking," or "the +desecration of the Sabbath," that is, the slightest occupation, whether +of business or pleasure, all games, music, sewing, worldly books, are on +Sundays looked upon as great sins. Surely the ordinary man must believe +that if, as his spiritual guides impress upon him, he is only constant +in "a strict observance of the holy Sabbath," and is "a regular +attendant at Divine Service," that is, if he only invariably idles away +his time on Sundays, and doesn't fail to sit two hours in church to hear +the same litany for the thousandth time and mutter it in tune with the +others, he may reckon on indulgence in regard to those little +peccadilloes which he occasionally allows himself. Those devils in human +form, the slave owners and slave traders in the Free States of North +America (they should be called the Slave States) are, as a rule, +orthodox, pious Anglicans who would consider it a grave sin to work on +Sundays; and having confidence in this, and their regular attendance at +church, they hope for eternal happiness. The demoralizing tendency of +religion is less problematical than its moral influence. How great and +how certain that moral influence must be to make amends for the +enormities which religions, especially the Christian and Mohammedan +religions, have produced and spread over the earth! Think of the +fanaticism, the endless persecutions, the religious wars, that +sanguinary frenzy of which the ancients had no conception! think of the +crusades, a butchery lasting two hundred years and inexcusable, its war +cry "_It is the will of God_," its object to gain possession of the +grave of one who preached love and sufferance! think of the cruel +expulsion and extermination of the Moors and Jews from Spain! think of +the orgies of blood, the inquisitions, the heretical tribunals, the +bloody and terrible conquests of the Mohammedans in three continents, or +those of Christianity in America, whose inhabitants were for the most +part, and in Cuba entirely, exterminated. According to Las Cases, +Christianity murdered twelve millions in forty years, of course all _in +majorem Dei gloriam_, and for the propagation of the Gospel, and because +what wasn't Christian wasn't even looked upon as human! I have, it is +true, touched upon these matters before; but when in our day, we hear of +_Latest News from the Kingdom of God_ [Footnote: A missionary paper, of +which the 40th annual number appeared in 1856], we shall not be weary of +bringing old news to mind. And above all, don't let us forget India, the +cradle of the human race, or at least of that part of it to which we +belong, where first Mohammedans, and then Christians, were most cruelly +infuriated against the adherents of the original faith of mankind. The +destruction or disfigurement of the ancient temples and idols, a +lamentable, mischievous and barbarous act, still bears witness to the +monotheistic fury of the Mohammedans, carried on from Marmud, the +Ghaznevid of cursed memory, down to Aureng Zeb, the fratricide, whom the +Portuguese Christians have zealously imitated by destruction of temples +and the _auto de fé_ of the inquisition at Goa. Don't let us forget the +chosen people of God, who after they had, by Jehovah's express command, +stolen from their old and trusty friends in Egypt the gold and silver +vessels which had been lent to them, made a murderous and plundering +inroad into "the Promised Land," with the murderer Moses at their head, +to tear it from the rightful owners,--again, by the same Jehovah's +express and repeated commands, showing no mercy, exterminating the +inhabitants, women, children and all (Joshua, ch. 9 and 10). And all +this, simply because they weren't circumcised and didn't know Jehovah, +which was reason enough to justify every enormity against them; just as +for the same reason, in earlier times, the infamous knavery of the +patriarch Jacob and his chosen people against Hamor, King of Shalem, and +his people, is reported to his glory because the people were +unbelievers! (Genesis xxxiii. 18.) Truly, it is the worst side of +religions that the believers of one religion have allowed themselves +every sin again those of another, and with the utmost ruffianism and +cruelty persecuted them; the Mohammedans against the Christians and +Hindoos; the Christians against the Hindoos, Mohammedans, American +natives, Negroes, Jews, heretics, and others. + +Perhaps I go too far in saying _all_ religions. For the sake of truth, I +must add that the fanatical enormities perpetrated in the name of +religion are only to be put down to the adherents of monotheistic +creeds, that is, the Jewish faith and its two branches, Christianity and +Islamism. We hear of nothing of the kind in the case of Hindoos and +Buddhists. Although it is a matter of common knowledge that about the +fifth century of our era Buddhism was driven out by the Brahmans from +its ancient home in the southernmost part of the Indian peninsula, and +afterwards spread over the whole of the rest of Asia, as far as I know, +we have no definite account of any crimes of violence, or wars, or +cruelties, perpetrated in the course of it. + +That may, of course, be attributable to the obscurity which veils the +history of those countries; but the exceedingly mild character of their +religion, together with their unceasing inculcation of forbearance +towards all living things, and the fact that Brahmanism by its caste +system properly admits no proselytes, allows one to hope that their +adherents may be acquitted of shedding blood on a large scale, and of +cruelty in any form. Spence Hardy, in his excellent book on _Eastern +Monachism_, praises the extraordinary tolerance of the Buddhists, and +adds his assurance that the annals of Buddhism will furnish fewer +instances of religious persecution than those of any other religion. + +As a matter of fact, it is only to monotheism that intolerance is +essential; an only god is by his nature a jealous god, who can allow no +other god to exist. Polytheistic gods, on the other hand, are naturally +tolerant; they live and let live; their own colleagues are the chief +objects of their sufferance, as being gods of the same religion. This +toleration is afterwards extended to foreign gods, who are, accordingly, +hospitably received, and later on admitted, in some cases, to an +equality of rights; the chief example of which is shown by the fact, +that the Romans willingly admitted and venerated Phrygian, Egyptian and +other gods. Hence it is that monotheistic religions alone furnish the +spectacle of religious wars, religious persecutions, heretical +tribunals, that breaking of idols and destruction of images of the gods, +that razing of Indian temples, and Egyptian colossi, which had looked on +the sun three thousand years, just because a jealous god had said, _Thou +shalt make no graven image_. + +But to return to the chief point. You are certainly right in insisting +on the strong metaphysical needs of mankind; but religion appears to me +to be not so much a satisfaction as an abuse of those needs. At any rate +we have seen that in regard to the furtherance of morality, its utility +is, for the most part, problematical, its disadvantages, and especially +the atrocities which have followed in its train, are patent to the light +of day. Of course it is quite a different matter if we consider the +utility of religion as a prop of thrones; for where these are held "by +the grace of God," throne and altar are intimately associated; and every +wise prince who loves his throne and his family will appear at the head +of his people as an exemplar of true religion. Even Machiavelli, in the +eighteenth chapter of his book, most earnestly recommended religion to +princes. Beyond this, one may say that revealed religions stand to +philosophy exactly in the relation of "sovereigns by the grace of God," +to "the sovereignty of the people"; so that the two former terms of the +parallel are in natural alliance. + +_Demopheles_. Oh, don't take that tone! You're going hand in hand with +ochlocracy and anarchy, the arch enemy of all legislative order, all +civilization and all humanity. + +_Philalethes_. You are right. It was only a sophism of mine, what the +fencing master calls a feint. I retract it. But see how disputing +sometimes makes an honest man unjust and malicious. Let us stop. + +_Demopheles_. I can't help regretting that, after all the trouble I've +taken, I haven't altered your disposition in regard to religion. On the +other hand, I can assure you that everything you have said hasn't shaken +my conviction of its high value and necessity. + +_Philalethes_. I fully believe you; for, as we may read in Hudibras-- + + A man convinced against his will + Is of the same opinion still. + +My consolation is that, alike in controversies and in taking mineral +waters, the after effects are the true ones. + +_Demopheles_. Well, I hope it'll be beneficial in your case. + +_Philalethes_. It might be so, if I could digest a certain Spanish +proverb. + +_Demopheles_. Which is? + +_Philalethes. Behind the cross stands the devil_. + +_Demopheles_. Come, don't let us part with sarcasms. Let us rather admit +that religion, like Janus, or better still, like the Brahman god of +death, Yama, has two faces, and like him, one friendly, the other +sullen. Each of us has kept his eye fixed on one alone. + +_Philalethes_. You are right, old fellow. + + + + +A FEW WORDS ON PANTHEISM. + + +The controversy between Theism and Pantheism might be presented in an +allegorical or dramatic form by supposing a dialogue between two persons +in the pit of a theatre at Milan during the performance of a piece. One +of them, convinced that he is in Girolamo's renowned marionette-theatre, +admires the art by which the director gets up the dolls and guides their +movements. "Oh, you are quite mistaken," says the other, "we're in the +Teatro della Scala; it is the manager and his troupe who are on the +stage; they are the persons you see before you; the poet too is taking a +part." + +The chief objection I have to Pantheism is that it says nothing. To call +the world "God" is not to explain it; it is only to enrich our language +with a superfluous synonym for the word "world." It comes to the same +thing whether you say "the world is God," or "God is the world." But if +you start from "God" as something that is given in experience, and has +to be explained, and they say, "God is the world," you are affording +what is to some extent an explanation, in so far as you are reducing +what is unknown to what is partly known (_ignotum per notius_); but it +is only a verbal explanation. If, however, you start from what is really +given, that is to say, from the world, and say, "the world is God," it +is clear that you say nothing, or at least you are explaining what is +unknown by what is more unknown. + +Hence, Pantheism presupposes Theism; only in so far as you start from a +god, that is, in so far as you possess him as something with which you +are already familiar, can you end by identifying him with the world; and +your purpose in doing so is to put him out of the way in a decent +fashion. In other words, you do not start clear from the world as +something that requires explanation; you start from God as something +that is given, and not knowing what to do with him, you make the world +take over his role. This is the origin of Pantheism. Taking an +unprejudiced view of the world as it is, no one would dream of regarding +it as a god. It must be a very ill-advised god who knows no better way +of diverting himself than by turning into such a world as ours, such a +mean, shabby world, there to take the form of innumerable millions who +live indeed, but are fretted and tormented, and who manage to exist a +while together, only by preying on one another; to bear misery, need and +death, without measure and without object, in the form, for instance, of +millions of negro slaves, or of the three million weavers in Europe who, +in hunger and care, lead a miserable existence in damp rooms or the +cheerless halls of a factory. What a pastime this for a god, who must, +as such, be used to another mode of existence! + +We find accordingly that what is described as the great advance from +Theism to Pantheism, if looked at seriously, and not simply as a masked +negation of the sort indicated above, is a transition from what is +unproved and hardly conceivable to what is absolutely absurd. For +however obscure, however loose or confused may be the idea which we +connect with the word "God," there are two predicates which are +inseparable from it, the highest power and the highest wisdom. It is +absolutely absurd to think that a being endowed with these qualities +should have put himself into the position described above. Theism, on +the other hand, is something which is merely unproved; and if it is +difficult to look upon the infinite world as the work of a personal, and +therefore individual, Being, the like of which we know only from our +experience of the animal world, it is nevertheless not an absolutely +absurd idea. That a Being, at once almighty and all-good, should create +a world of torment is always conceivable; even though we do not know why +he does so; and accordingly we find that when people ascribe the height +of goodness to this Being, they set up the inscrutable nature of his +wisdom as the refuge by which the doctrine escapes the charge of +absurdity. Pantheism, however, assumes that the creative God is himself +the world of infinite torment, and, in this little world alone, dies +every second, and that entirely of his own will; which is absurd. It +would be much more correct to identify the world with the devil, as the +venerable author of the _Deutsche Theologie_ has, in fact, done in a +passage of his immortal work, where he says, "_Wherefore the evil spirit +and nature are one, and where nature is not overcome, neither is the +evil adversary overcome_." + +It is manifest that the Pantheists give the Sansara the name of God. The +same name is given by the Mystics to the Nirvana. The latter, however, +state more about the Nirvana than they know, which is not done by the +Buddhists, whose Nirvana is accordingly a relative nothing. It is only +Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans who give its proper and correct +meaning to the word "God." + +The expression, often heard now-a-days, "the world is an end-in-itself," +leaves it uncertain whether Pantheism or a simple Fatalism is to be +taken as the explanation of it. But, whichever it be, the expression +looks upon the world from a physical point of view only, and leaves out +of sight its moral significance, because you cannot assume a moral +significance without presenting the world as means to a higher end. The +notion that the world has a physical but not a moral meaning, is the +most mischievous error sprung from the greatest mental perversity. + + + + +ON BOOKS AND READING. + + +Ignorance is degrading only when found in company with riches. The poor +man is restrained by poverty and need: labor occupies his thoughts, and +takes the place of knowledge. But rich men who are ignorant live for +their lusts only, and are like the beasts of the field; as may be seen +every day: and they can also be reproached for not having used wealth +and leisure for that which gives them their greatest value. + +When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental +process. In learning to write, the pupil goes over with his pen what the +teacher has outlined in pencil: so in reading; the greater part of the +work of thought is already done for us. This is why it relieves us to +take up a book after being occupied with our own thoughts. And in +reading, the mind is, in fact, only the playground of another's +thoughts. So it comes about that if anyone spends almost the whole day +in reading, and by way of relaxation devotes the intervals to some +thoughtless pastime, he gradually loses the capacity for thinking; just +as the man who always rides, at last forgets how to walk. This is the +case with many learned persons: they have read themselves stupid. For to +occupy every spare moment in reading, and to do nothing but read, is +even more paralyzing to the mind than constant manual labor, which at +least allows those engaged in it to follow their own thoughts. A spring +never free from the pressure of some foreign body at last loses its +elasticity; and so does the mind if other people's thoughts are +constantly forced upon it. Just as you can ruin the stomach and impair +the whole body by taking too much nourishment, so you can overfill and +choke the mind by feeding it too much. The more you read, the fewer are +the traces left by what you have read: the mind becomes like a tablet +crossed over and over with writing. There is no time for ruminating, and +in no other way can you assimilate what you have read. If you read on +and on without setting your own thoughts to work, what you have read can +not strike root, and is generally lost. It is, in fact, just the same +with mental as with bodily food: hardly the fifth part of what one takes +is assimilated. The rest passes off in evaporation, respiration and the +like. + +The result of all this is that thoughts put on paper are nothing more +than footsteps in the sand: you see the way the man has gone, but to +know what he saw on his walk, you want his eyes. + +There is no quality of style that can be gained by reading writers who +possess it; whether it be persuasiveness, imagination, the gift of +drawing comparisons, boldness, bitterness, brevity, grace, ease of +expression or wit, unexpected contrasts, a laconic or naive manner, and +the like. But if these qualities are already in us, exist, that is to +say, potentially, we can call them forth and bring them to +consciousness; we can learn the purposes to which they can be put; we +can be strengthened in our inclination to use them, or get courage to do +so; we can judge by examples the effect of applying them, and so acquire +the correct use of them; and of course it is only when we have arrived +at that point that we actually possess these qualities. The only way in +which reading can form style is by teaching us the use to which we can +put our own natural gifts. We must have these gifts before we begin to +learn the use of them. Without them, reading teaches us nothing but +cold, dead mannerisms and makes us shallow imitators. + +The strata of the earth preserve in rows the creatures which lived in +former ages; and the array of books on the shelves of a library stores +up in like manner the errors of the past and the way in which they have +been exposed. Like those creatures, they too were full of life in their +time, and made a great deal of noise; but now they are stiff and +fossilized, and an object of curiosity to the literary palaeontologist +alone. + +Herodotus relates that Xerxes wept at the sight of his army, which +stretched further than the eye could reach, in the thought that of all +these, after a hundred years, not one would be alive. And in looking +over a huge catalogue of new books, one might weep at thinking that, +when ten years have passed, not one of them will be heard of. + +It is in literature as in life: wherever you turn, you stumble at once +upon the incorrigible mob of humanity, swarming in all directions, +crowding and soiling everything, like flies in summer. Hence the number, +which no man can count, of bad books, those rank weeds of literature, +which draw nourishment from the corn and choke it. The time, money and +attention of the public, which rightfully belong to good books and their +noble aims, they take for themselves: they are written for the mere +purpose of making money or procuring places. So they are not only +useless; they do positive mischief. Nine-tenths of the whole of our +present literature has no other aim than to get a few shillings out of +the pockets of the public; and to this end author, publisher and +reviewer are in league. + +Let me mention a crafty and wicked trick, albeit a profitable and +successful one, practised by littérateurs, hack writers, and voluminous +authors. In complete disregard of good taste and the true culture of the +period, they have succeeded in getting the whole of the world of fashion +into leading strings, so that they are all trained to read in time, and +all the same thing, viz., _the newest books_; and that for the purpose +of getting food for conversation in the circles in which they move. This +is the aim served by bad novels, produced by writers who were once +celebrated, as Spindler, Bulwer Lytton, Eugene Sue. What can be more +miserable than the lot of a reading public like this, always bound to +peruse the latest works of extremely commonplace persons who write for +money only, and who are therefore never few in number? and for this +advantage they are content to know by name only the works of the few +superior minds of all ages and all countries. Literary newspapers, too, +are a singularly cunning device for robbing the reading public of the +time which, if culture is to be attained, should be devoted to the +genuine productions of literature, instead of being occupied by the +daily bungling commonplace persons. + +Hence, in regard to reading, it is a very important thing to be able to +refrain. Skill in doing so consists in not taking into one's hands any +book merely because at the time it happens to be extensively read; such +as political or religious pamphlets, novels, poetry, and the like, which +make a noise, and may even attain to several editions in the first and +last year of their existence. Consider, rather, that the man who writes +for fools is always sure of a large audience; be careful to limit your +time for reading, and devote it exclusively to the works of those great +minds of all times and countries, who o'ertop the rest of humanity, +those whom the voice of fame points to as such. These alone really +educate and instruct. You can never read bad literature too little, nor +good literature too much. Bad books are intellectual poison; they +destroy the mind. Because people always read what is new instead of the +best of all ages, writers remain in the narrow circle of the ideas which +happen to prevail in their time; and so the period sinks deeper and +deeper into its own mire. + +There are at all times two literatures in progress, running side by +side, but little known to each other; the one real, the other only +apparent. The former grows into permanent literature; it is pursued by +those who live _for_ science or poetry; its course is sober and quiet, +but extremely slow; and it produces in Europe scarcely a dozen works in +a century; these, however, are permanent. The other kind is pursued by +persons who live _on_ science or poetry; it goes at a gallop with much +noise and shouting of partisans; and every twelve-month puts a thousand +works on the market. But after a few years one asks, Where are they? +where is the glory which came so soon and made so much clamor? This kind +may be called fleeting, and the other, permanent literature. + +In the history of politics, half a century is always a considerable +time; the matter which goes to form them is ever on the move; there is +always something going on. But in the history of literature there is +often a complete standstill for the same period; nothing has happened, +for clumsy attempts don't count. You are just where you were fifty years +previously. + +To explain what I mean, let me compare the advance of knowledge among +mankind to the course taken by a planet. The false paths on which +humanity usually enters after every important advance are like the +epicycles in the Ptolemaic system, and after passing through one of +them, the world is just where it was before it entered it. But the great +minds, who really bring the race further on its course do not accompany +it on the epicycles it makes from time to time. This explains why +posthumous fame is often bought at the expense of contemporary praise, +and _vice versa_. An instance of such an epicycle is the philosophy +started by Fichte and Schelling, and crowned by Hegel's caricature of +it. This epicycle was a deviation from the limit to which philosophy had +been ultimately brought by Kant; and at that point I took it up again +afterwards, to carry it further. In the intervening period the sham +philosophers I have mentioned and some others went through their +epicycle, which had just come to an end; so that those who went with +them on their course are conscious of the fact that they are exactly at +the point from which they started. + +This circumstance explains why it is that, every thirty years or so, +science, literature, and art, as expressed in the spirit of the time, +are declared bankrupt. The errors which appear from time to time amount +to such a height in that period that the mere weight of their absurdity +makes the fabric fall; whilst the opposition to them has been gathering +force at the same time. So an upset takes place, often followed by an +error in the opposite direction. To exhibit these movements in their +periodical return would be the true practical aim of the history of +literature: little attention, however, is paid to it. And besides, the +comparatively short duration of these periods makes it difficult to +collect the data of epochs long gone by, so that it is most convenient +to observe how the matter stands in one's own generation. An instance of +this tendency, drawn from physical science, is supplied in the Neptunian +geology of Werter. + +But let me keep strictly to the example cited above, the nearest we can +take. In German philosophy, the brilliant epoch of Kant was immediately +followed by a period which aimed rather at being imposing than at +convincing. Instead of being thorough and clear, it tried to be +dazzling, hyperbolical, and, in a special degree, unintelligible: +instead of seeking truth, it intrigued. Philosophy could make no +progress in this fashion; and at last the whole school and its method +became bankrupt. For the effrontery of Hegel and his fellows came to +such a pass,--whether because they talked such sophisticated nonsense, +or were so unscrupulously puffed, or because the entire aim of this +pretty piece of work was quite obvious,--that in the end there was +nothing to prevent charlatanry of the whole business from becoming +manifest to everybody: and when, in consequence of certain disclosures, +the favor it had enjoyed in high quarters was withdrawn, the system was +openly ridiculed. This most miserable of all the meagre philosophies +that have ever existed came to grief, and dragged down with it into the +abysm of discredit, the systems of Fichte and Schelling which had +preceded it. And so, as far as Germany is concerned, the total +philosophical incompetence of the first half of the century following +upon Kant is quite plain: and still the Germans boast of their talent +for philosophy in comparison with foreigners, especially since an +English writer has been so maliciously ironical as to call them "a +nation of thinkers." + +For an example of the general system of epicycles drawn from the history +of art, look at the school of sculpture which flourished in the last +century and took its name from Bernini, more especially at the +development of it which prevailed in France. The ideal of this school +was not antique beauty, but commonplace nature: instead of the +simplicity and grace of ancient art, it represented the manners of a +French minuet. + +This tendency became bankrupt when, under Winkelman's direction, a +return was made to the antique school. The history of painting furnishes +an illustration in the first quarter of the century, when art was looked +upon merely as a means and instrument of mediaeval religious sentiment, +and its themes consequently drawn from ecclesiastical subjects alone: +these, however, were treated by painters who had none of the true +earnestness of faith, and in their delusion they followed Francesco +Francia, Pietro Perugino, Angelico da Fiesole and others like them, +rating them higher even than the really great masters who followed. It +was in view of this terror, and because in poetry an analogous aim had +at the same time found favor, that Goethe wrote his parable +_Pfaffenspiel_. This school, too, got the reputation of being whimsical, +became bankrupt, and was followed by a return to nature, which +proclaimed itself in _genre_ pictures and scenes of life of every kind, +even though it now and then strayed into what was vulgar. + +The progress of the human mind in literature is similar. The history of +literature is for the most part like the catalogue of a museum of +deformities; the spirit in which they keep best is pigskin. The few +creatures that have been born in goodly shape need not be looked for +there. They are still alive, and are everywhere to be met with in the +world, immortal, and with their years ever green. They alone form what I +have called real literature; the history of which, poor as it is in +persons, we learn from our youth up out of the mouths of all educated +people, before compilations recount it for us. + +As an antidote to the prevailing monomania for reading literary +histories, in order to be able to chatter about everything, without +having any real knowledge at all, let me refer to a passage in +Lichtenberg's works (vol. II., p. 302), which is well worth perusal. + +I believe that the over-minute acquaintance with the history of science +and learning, which is such a prevalent feature of our day, is very +prejudicial to the advance of knowledge itself. There is pleasure in +following up this history; but as a matter of fact, it leaves the mind, +not empty indeed, but without any power of its own, just because it +makes it so full. Whoever has felt the desire, not to fill up his mind, +but to strengthen it, to develop his faculties and aptitudes, and +generally, to enlarge his powers, will have found that there is nothing +so weakening as intercourse with a so-called littérateur, on a matter of +knowledge on which he has not thought at all, though he knows a thousand +little facts appertaining to its history and literature. It is like +reading a cookery-book when you are hungry. I believe that so-called +literary history will never thrive amongst thoughtful people, who are +conscious of their own worth and the worth of real knowledge. These +people are more given to employing their own reason than to troubling +themselves to know how others have employed theirs. The worst of it is +that, as you will find, the more knowledge takes the direction of +literary research, the less the power of promoting knowledge becomes; +the only thing that increases is pride in the possession of it. Such +persons believe that they possess knowledge in a greater degree than +those who really possess it. It is surely a well-founded remark, that +knowledge never makes its possessor proud. Those alone let themselves be +blown out with pride, who incapable of extending knowledge in their own +persons, occupy themselves with clearing up dark points in its history, +or are able to recount what others have done. They are proud, because +they consider this occupation, which is mostly of a mechanical nature, +the practice of knowledge. I could illustrate what I mean by examples, +but it would be an odious task. + +Still, I wish some one would attempt a _tragical_ history of literature, +giving the way in which the writers and artists, who form the proudest +possession of the various nations which have given them birth, have been +treated by them during their lives. Such a history would exhibit the +ceaseless warfare, which what was good and genuine in all times and +countries has had to wage with what was bad and perverse. It would tell +of the martyrdom of almost all those who truly enlightened humanity, of +almost all the great masters of every kind of art: it would show us how, +with few exceptions, they were tormented to death, without recognition, +without sympathy, without followers; how they lived in poverty and +misery, whilst fame, honor, and riches, were the lot of the unworthy; +how their fate was that of Esau, who while he was hunting and getting +venison for his father, was robbed of the blessing by Jacob, disguised +in his brother's clothes, how, in spite of all, they were kept up by the +love of their work, until at last the bitter fight of the teacher of +humanity is over, until the immortal laurel is held out to him, and the +hour strikes when it can be said: + + Der sehwere Panzer wird zum Flügelkleide + Kurz ist der Schmerz, unendlich ist die Freude. + + + + +PHYSIOGNOMY. + + +That the outer man is a picture of the inner, and the face an expression +and revelation of the whole character, is a presumption likely enough in +itself, and therefore a safe one to go by; evidenced as it is by the +fact that people are always anxious to see anyone who has made himself +famous by good or evil, or as the author of some extraordinary work; or +if they cannot get a sight of him, to hear at any rate from others what +he looks like. So people go to places where they may expect to see the +person who interests them; the press, especially in England, endeavors +to give a minute and striking description of his appearance; painters +and engravers lose no time in putting him visibly before us; and finally +photography, on that very account of such high value, affords the most +complete satisfaction of our curiosity. It is also a fact that in +private life everyone criticises the physiognomy of those he comes +across, first of all secretly trying to discern their intellectual and +moral character from their features. This would be a useless proceeding +if, as some foolish people fancy, the exterior of a man is a matter of +no account; if, as they think, the soul is one thing and the body +another, and the body related to the soul merely as the coat to the man +himself. + +On the contrary, every human face is a hieroglyphic, and a hieroglyphic, +too, which admits of being deciphered, the alphabet of which we carry +about with us already perfected. As a matter of fact, the face of a man +gives us a fuller and more interesting information than his tongue; for +his face is the compendium of all he will ever say, as it is the one +record of all his thoughts and endeavors. And, moreover, the tongue +tells the thought of one man only, whereas the face expresses a thought +of nature itself: so that everyone is worth attentive observation, even +though everyone may not be worth talking to. And if every individual is +worth observation as a single thought of nature, how much more so is +beauty, since it is a higher and more general conception of nature, is, +in fact, her thought of a species. This is why beauty is so captivating: +it is a fundamental thought of nature: whereas the individual is only a +by-thought, a corollary. + +In private, people always proceed upon the principle that a man is what +he looks; and the principle is a right one, only the difficulty lies in +its application. For though the art of applying the principle is partly +innate and may be partly gained by experience, no one is a master of it, +and even the most experienced is not infallible. But for all that, +whatever Figaro may say, it is not the face which deceives; it is we who +deceive ourselves in reading in it what is not there. + +The deciphering of a face is certainly a great and difficult art, and +the principles of it can never be learnt in the abstract. The first +condition of success is to maintain a purely objective point of view, +which is no easy matter. For, as soon as the faintest trace of anything +subjective is present, whether dislike or favor, or fear or hope, or +even the thought of the impression we ourselves are making upon the +object of our attention the characters we are trying to decipher become +confused and corrupt. The sound of a language is really appreciated only +by one who does not understand it, and that because, in thinking of the +signification of a word, we pay no regard to the sign itself. So, in the +same way, a physiognomy is correctly gauged only by one to whom it is +still strange, who has not grown accustomed to the face by constantly +meeting and conversing with the man himself. It is, therefore, strictly +speaking, only the first sight of a man which affords that purely +objective view which is necessary for deciphering his features. An odor +affects us only when we first come in contact with it, and the first +glass of wine is the one which gives us its true taste: in the same way, +it is only at the first encounter that a face makes its full impression +upon us. Consequently the first impression should be carefully attended +to and noted, even written down if the subject of it is of personal +importance, provided, of course, that one can trust one's own sense of +physiognomy. Subsequent acquaintance and intercourse will obliterate the +impression, but time will one day prove whether it is true. + +Let us, however, not conceal from ourselves the fact that this first +impression is for the most part extremely unedifying. How poor most +faces are! With the exception of those that are beautiful, good-natured, +or intellectual, that is to say, the very few and far between, I believe +a person of any fine feeling scarcely ever sees a new face without a +sensation akin to a shock, for the reason that it presents a new and +surprising combination of unedifying elements. To tell the truth, it is, +as a rule, a sorry sight. There are some people whose faces bear the +stamp of such artless vulgarity and baseness of character, such an +animal limitation of intelligence, that one wonders how they can appear +in public with such a countenance, instead of wearing a mask. There are +faces, indeed, the very sight of which produces a feeling of pollution. +One cannot, therefore, take it amiss of people, whose privileged +position admits of it, if they manage to live in retirement and +completely free from the painful sensation of "seeing new faces." The +metaphysical explanation of this circumstance rests upon the +consideration that the individuality of a man is precisely that by the +very existence of which he should be reclaimed and corrected. If, on the +other hand, a psychological explanation is satisfactory, let any one ask +himself what kind of physiognomy he may expect in those who have all +their life long, except on the rarest occasions, harbored nothing but +petty, base and miserable thoughts, and vulgar, selfish, envious, wicked +and malicious desires. Every one of these thoughts and desires has set +its mark upon the face during the time it lasted, and by constant +repetition, all these marks have in course of time become furrows and +blotches, so to speak. Consequently, most people's appearance is such as +to produce a shock at first sight; and it is only gradually that one +gets accustomed to it, that is to say, becomes so deadened to the +impression that it has no more effect on one. + +And that the prevailing facial expression is the result of a long +process of innumerable, fleeting and characteristic contractions of the +features is just the reason why intellectual countenances are of gradual +formation. It is, indeed, only in old age that intellectual men attain +their sublime expression, whilst portraits of them in their youth show +only the first traces of it. But on the other hand, what I have just +said about the shock which the first sight of a face generally produces, +is in keeping with the remark that it is only at that first sight that +it makes its true and full impression. For to get a purely objective and +uncorrupted impression of it, we must stand in no kind of relation to +the person; if possible, we must not yet have spoken with him. For every +conversation places us to some extent upon a friendly footing, +establishes a certain _rapport_, a mutual subjective relation, which is +at once unfavorable to an objective point of view. And as everyone's +endeavor is to win esteem or friendship for himself, the man who is +under observation will at once employ all those arts of dissimulation in +which he is already versed, and corrupt us with his airs, hypocrisies +and flatteries; so that what the first look clearly showed will soon be +seen by us no more. + +This fact is at the bottom of the saying that "most people gain by +further acquaintance"; it ought, however, to run, "delude us by it." It +is only when, later on, the bad qualities manifest themselves, that our +first judgment as a rule receives its justification and makes good its +scornful verdict. It may be that "a further acquaintance" is an +unfriendly one, and if that is so, we do not find in this case either +that people gain by it. Another reason why people apparently gain on a +nearer acquaintance is that the man whose first aspect warns us from +him, as soon as we converse with him, no longer shows his own being and +character, but also his education; that is, not only what he really is +by nature, but also what he has appropriated to himself out of the +common wealth of mankind. Three-fourths of what he says belongs not to +him, but to the sources from which he obtained it; so that we are often +surprised to hear a minotaur speak so humanly. If we make a still closer +acquaintance, the animal nature, of which his face gave promise, will +manifest itself "in all its splendor." If one is gifted with an acute +sense for physiognomy, one should take special note of those verdicts +which preceded a closer acquaintance and were therefore genuine. For the +face of a man is the exact impression of what he is; and if he deceives +us, that is our fault, not his. What a man says, on the other hand, is +what he thinks, more often what he has learned, or it may be even, what +he pretends to think. And besides this, when we talk to him, or even +hear him talking to others, we pay no attention to his physiognomy +proper. It is the underlying substance, the fundamental _datum_, and we +disregard it; what interests us is its pathognomy, its play of feature +during conversation. This, however, is so arranged as to turn the good +side upwards. + +When Socrates said to a young man who was introduced to him to have his +capabilities tested, "Talk in order that I may see you," if indeed by +"seeing" he did not simply mean "hearing," he was right, so far as it is +only in conversation that the features and especially the eyes become +animated, and the intellectual resources and capacities set their mark +upon the countenance. This puts us in a position to form a provisional +notion of the degree and capacity of intelligence; which was in that +case Socrates' aim. But in this connection it is to be observed, +firstly, that the rule does not apply to moral qualities, which lie +deeper, and in the second place, that what from an objective point of +view we gain by the clearer development of the countenance in +conversation, we lose from a subjective standpoint on account of the +personal relation into which the speaker at once enters in regard to us, +and which produces a slight fascination, so that, as explained above, we +are not left impartial observers. Consequently from the last point of +view we might say with greater accuracy, "Do not speak in order that I +may see you." + +For to get a pure and fundamental conception of a man's physiognomy, we +must observe him when he is alone and left to himself. Society of any +kind and conversation throw a reflection upon him which is not his own, +generally to his advantage; as he is thereby placed in a state of action +and reaction which sets him off. But alone and left to himself, plunged +in the depths of his own thoughts and sensations, he is wholly himself, +and a penetrating eye for physiognomy can at one glance take a general +view of his entire character. For his face, looked at by and in itself, +expresses the keynote of all his thoughts and endeavors, the _arrêt +irrevocable_, the irrevocable decree of his destiny, the consciousness +of which only comes to him when he is alone. + +The study of physiognomy is one of the chief means of a knowledge of +mankind, because the cast of a man's face is the only sphere in which +his arts of dissimulation are of no avail, since these arts extended +only to that play of feature which is akin to mimicry. And that is why I +recommend such a study to be undertaken when the subject of it is alone +and given up to his own thoughts, and before he is spoken to: and this +partly for the reason that it is only in such a condition that +inspection of the physiognomy pure and simple is possible, because +conversation at once lets in a pathognomical element, in which a man can +apply the arts of dissimulation which he has learned: partly again +because personal contact, even of the very slightest kind, gives a +certain bias and so corrupts the judgment of the observer. + +And in regard to the study of physiognomy in general, it is further to +be observed that intellectual capacity is much easier of discernment +than moral character. The former naturally takes a much more outward +direction, and expresses itself not only in the face and the play of +feature, but also in the gait, down even to the very slightest movement. +One could perhaps discriminate from behind between a blockhead, a fool +and a man of genius. The blockhead would be discerned by the torpidity +and sluggishness of all his movements: folly sets its mark upon every +gesture, and so does intellect and a studious nature. Hence that remark +of La Bruyère that there is nothing so slight, so simple or +imperceptible but that our way of doing it enters in and betrays us: a +fool neither comes nor goes, nor sits down, nor gets up, nor holds his +tongue, nor moves about in the same way as an intelligent man. (And this +is, be it observed by way of parenthesis, the explanation of that sure +and certain instinct which, according to Helvetius, ordinary folk +possess of discerning people of genius, and of getting out of their +way.) + +The chief reason for this is that, the larger and more developed the +brain, and the thinner, in relation to it, the spine and nerves, the +greater is the intellect; and not the intellect alone, but at the same +time the mobility and pliancy of all the limbs; because the brain +controls them more immediately and resolutely; so that everything hangs +more upon a single thread, every movement of which gives a precise +expression to its purpose. + +This is analogous to, nay, is immediately connected with the fact that +the higher an animal stands in the scale of development, the easier it +becomes to kill it by wounding a single spot. Take, for example, +batrachia: they are slow, cumbrous and sluggish in their movements; they +are unintelligent, and, at the same time, extremely tenacious of life; +the reason of which is that, with a very small brain, their spine and +nerves are very thick. Now gait and movement of the arms are mainly +functions of the brain; our limbs receive their motion and every little +modification of it from the brain through the medium of the spine. + +This is why conscious movements fatigue us: the sensation of fatigue, +like that of pain, has its seat in the brain, not, as people commonly +suppose, in the limbs themselves; hence motion induces sleep. + +On the other hand those motions which are not excited by the brain, that +is, the unconscious movements of organic life, of the heart, of the +lungs, etc., go on in their course without producing fatigue. And as +thought, equally with motion, is a function of the brain, the character +of the brain's activity is expressed equally in both, according to the +constitution of the individual; stupid people move like lay-figures, +while every joint of an intelligent man is eloquent. + +But gesture and movement are not nearly so good an index of intellectual +qualities as the face, the shape and size of the brain, the contraction +and movement of the features, and above all the eye,--from the small, +dull, dead-looking eye of a pig up through all gradations to the +irradiating, flashing eyes of a genius. + +The look of good sense and prudence, even of the best kind, differs from +that of genius, in that the former bears the stamp of subjection to the +will, while the latter is free from it. + +And therefore one can well believe the anecdote told by Squarzafichi in +his life of Petrarch, and taken from Joseph Brivius, a contemporary of +the poet, how once at the court of the Visconti, when Petrarch and other +noblemen and gentlemen were present, Galeazzo Visconti told his son, who +was then a mere boy (he was afterwards first Duke of Milan), to pick out +the wisest of the company; how the boy looked at them all for a little, +and then took Petrarch by the hand and led him up to his father, to the +great admiration of all present. For so clearly does nature set the mark +of her dignity on the privileged among mankind that even a child can +discern it. + +Therefore, I should advise my sagacious countrymen, if ever again they +wish to trumpet about for thirty years a very commonplace person as a +great genius, not to choose for the purpose such a beerhouse-keeper +physiognomy as was possessed by that philosopher, upon whose face nature +had written, in her clearest characters, the familiar inscription, +"commonplace person." + +But what applies to intellectual capacity will not apply to moral +qualities, to character. It is more difficult to discern its +physiognomy, because, being of a metaphysical nature, it lies +incomparably deeper. + +It is true that moral character is also connected with the constitution, +with the organism, but not so immediately or in such direct connection +with definite parts of its system as is intellectual capacity. + +Hence while everyone makes a show of his intelligence and endeavors to +exhibit it at every opportunity, as something with which he is in +general quite contented, few expose their moral qualities freely, and +most people intentionally cover them up; and long practice makes the +concealment perfect. In the meantime, as I explained above, wicked +thoughts and worthless efforts gradually set their mask upon the face, +especially the eyes. So that, judging by physiognomy, it is easy to +warrant that a given man will never produce an immortal work; but not +that he will never commit a great crime. + + + + +PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. + + +For every animal, and more especially for man, a certain conformity and +proportion between the will and the intellect is necessary for existing +or making any progress in the world. The more precise and correct the +proportion which nature establishes, the more easy, safe and agreeable +will be the passage through the world. Still, if the right point is only +approximately reached, it will be enough to ward off destruction. There +are, then, certain limits within which the said proportion may vary, and +yet preserve a correct standard of conformity. The normal standard is as +follows. The object of the intellect is to light and lead the will on +its path, and therefore, the greater the force, impetus and passion, +which spurs on the will from within, the more complete and luminous must +be the intellect which is attached to it, that the vehement strife of +the will, the glow of passion, and the intensity of the emotions, may +not lead man astray, or urge him on to ill considered, false or ruinous +action; this will, inevitably, be the result, if the will is very +violent and the intellect very weak. On the other hand, a phlegmatic +character, a weak and languid will, can get on and hold its own with a +small amount of intellect; what is naturally moderate needs only +moderate support. The general tendency of a want of proportion between +the will and the intellect, in other words, of any variation from the +normal proportion I have mentioned, is to produce unhappiness, whether +it be that the will is greater than the intellect, or the intellect +greater than the will. Especially is this the case when the intellect is +developed to an abnormal degree of strength and superiority, so as to be +out of all proportion to the will, a condition which is the essence of +real genius; the intellect is then not only more than enough for the +needs and aims of life, it is absolutely prejudicial to them. The result +is that, in youth, excessive energy in grasping the objective world, +accompanied by a vivid imagination and a total lack of experience, makes +the mind susceptible, and an easy prey to extravagant ideas, nay, even +to chimeras; and the result is an eccentric and phantastic character. +And when, in later years, this state of mind yields and passes away +under the teaching of experience, still the genius never feels himself +at home in the common world of every day and the ordinary business of +life; he will never take his place in it, and accommodate himself to it +as accurately as the person of moral intellect; he will be much more +likely to make curious mistakes. For the ordinary mind feels itself so +completely at home in the narrow circle of its ideas and views of the +world that no one can get the better of it in that sphere; its faculties +remain true to their original purpose, viz., to promote the service of +the will; it devotes itself steadfastly to this end, and abjures +extravagant aims. The genius, on the other hand, is at bottom a +_monstrum per excessum_; just as, conversely, the passionate, violent +and unintelligent man, the brainless barbarian, is a _monstrum per +defectum_. + + * * * * * + +_The will to live_, which forms the inmost core of every living being, +exhibits itself most conspicuously in the higher order of animals, that +is, the cleverer ones; and so in them the nature of the will may be seen +and examined most clearly. For in the lower orders its activity is not +so evident; it has a lower degree of objectivation; whereas, in the +class which stands above the higher order of animals, that is, in men, +reason enters in; and with reason comes discretion, and with discretion, +the capacity of dissimulation, which throws a veil over the operations +of the will. And in mankind, consequently, the will appears without its +mask only in the affections and the passions. And this is the reason why +passion, when it speaks, always wins credence, no matter what the +passion may be; and rightly so. For the same reason the passions are the +main theme of poets and the stalking horse of actors. The +conspicuousness of the will in the lower order of animals explains the +delight we take in dogs, apes, cats, etc.; it is the entirely naive way +in which they express themselves that gives us so much pleasure. + +The sight of any free animal going about its business undisturbed, +seeking its food, or looking after its young, or mixing in the company +of its kind, all the time being exactly what it ought to be and can +be,--what a strange pleasure it gives us! Even if it is only a bird, I +can watch it for a long time with delight; or a water rat or a hedgehog; +or better still, a weasel, a deer, or a stag. The main reason why we +take so much pleasure in looking at animals is that we like to see our +own nature in such a simplified form. There is only one mendacious being +in the world, and that is man. Every other is true and sincere, and +makes no attempt to conceal what it is, expressing its feelings just as +they are. + + * * * * * + +Many things are put down to the force of habit which are rather to be +attributed to the constancy and immutability of original, innate +character, according to which under like circumstances we always do the +same thing: whether it happens for the first or the hundredth time, it +is in virtue of the same necessity. Real force of habit, as a matter of +fact, rests upon that indolent, passive disposition which seeks to +relieve the intellect and the will of a fresh choice, and so makes us do +what we did yesterday and have done a hundred times before, and of which +we know that it will attain its object. But the truth of the matter lies +deeper, and a more precise explanation of it can be given than appears +at first sight. Bodies which may be moved by mechanical means only are +subject to the power of inertia; and applied to bodies which may be +acted on by motives, this power becomes the force of habit. The actions +which we perform by mere habit come about, in fact, without any +individual separate motive brought into play for the particular case: +hence, in performing them, we really do not think about them. A motive +was present only on the first few occasions on which the action +happened, which has since become a habit: the secondary after-effect of +this motive is the present habit, and it is sufficient to enable the +action to continue: just as when a body had been set in motion by a +push, it requires no more pushing in order to continue its motion; it +will go on to all eternity, if it meets with no friction. It is the same +in the case of animals: training is a habit which is forced upon them. +The horse goes on drawing his cart quite contentedly, without having to +be urged on: the motion is the continued effect of those strokes of the +whip, which urged him on at first: by the law of inertia they have +become perpetuated as habit. All this is really more than a mere +parable: it is the underlying identity of the will at very different +degrees of its objectivation, in virtue of which the same law of motion +takes such different forms. + + * * * * * + +_Vive muchos años_ is the ordinary greeting in Spain, and all over the +earth it is quite customary to wish people a long life. It is presumably +not a knowledge of life which directs such a wish; it is rather +knowledge of what man is in his inmost nature, _the will to live_. + +The wish which everyone has that he may be remembered after his +death,--a wish which rises to the longing for posthumous glory in the +case of those whose aims are high,--seems to me to spring from this +clinging to life. When the time comes which cuts a man off from every +possibility of real existence, he strives after a life which is still +attainable, even though it be a shadowy and ideal one. + + * * * * * + +The deep grief we feel at the loss of a friend arises from the feeling +that in every individual there is something which no words can express, +something which is peculiarly his own and therefore irreparable. _Omne +individuum ineffabile_. + + * * * * * + +We may come to look upon the death of our enemies and adversaries, even +long after it has occurred, with just as much regret as we feel for that +of our friends, viz., when we miss them as witnesses of our brilliant +success. + + * * * * * + +That the sudden announcement of a very happy event may easily prove +fatal rests upon the fact that happiness and misery depend merely on the +proportion which our claims bear to what we get. Accordingly, the good +things we possess, or are certain of getting, are not felt to be such; +because all pleasure is in fact of a negative nature and effects the +relief of pain, while pain or evil is what is really positive; it is the +object of immediate sensation. With the possession or certain +expectation of good things our demands rises, and increases our capacity +for further possession and larger expectations. But if we are depressed +by continual misfortune, and our claims reduced to a minimum, the sudden +advent of happiness finds no capacity for enjoying it. Neutralized by an +absence of pre-existing claims, its effects are apparently positive, and +so its whole force is brought into play; hence it may possibly break our +feelings, _i.e._, be fatal to them. And so, as is well known, one must +be careful in announcing great happiness. First, one must get the person +to hope for it, then open up the prospect of it, then communicate part +of it, and at last make it fully known. Every portion of the good news +loses its efficacy, because it is anticipated by a demand, and room is +left for an increase in it. In view of all this, it may be said that our +stomach for good fortune is bottomless, but the entrance to it is +narrow. These remarks are not applicable to great misfortunes in the +same way. They are more seldom fatal, because hope always sets itself +against them. That an analogous part is not played by fear in the case +of happiness results from the fact that we are instinctively more +inclined to hope than to fear; just as our eyes turn of themselves +towards light rather than darkness. + + * * * * * + +Hope is the result of confusing the desire that something should take +place with the probability that it will. Perhaps no man is free from +this folly of the heart, which deranges the intellect's correct +appreciation of probability to such an extent that, if the chances are a +thousand to one against it, yet the event is thought a likely one. Still +in spite of this, a sudden misfortune is like a death stroke, whilst a +hope that is always disappointed and still never dies, is like death by +prolonged torture. + +He who has lost all hope has also lost all fear; this is the meaning of +the expression "desperate." It is natural to a man to believe what he +wishes to be true, and to believe it because he wishes it, If this +characteristic of our nature, at once beneficial and assuaging, is +rooted out by many hard blows of fate, and a man comes, conversely, to a +condition in which he believes a thing must happen because he does not +wish it, and what he wishes to happen can never be, just because he +wishes it, this is in reality the state described as "desperation." + + * * * * * + +That we are so often deceived in others is not because our judgment is +at fault, but because in general, as Bacon says, _intellectus luminis +sicci non est, sed recipit infusionem a voluntate et affectibus_: that +is to say, trifles unconsciously bias us for or against a person from +the very beginning. It may also be explained by our not abiding by the +qualities which we really discover; we go on to conclude the presence of +others which we think inseparable from them, or the absence of those +which we consider incompatible. For instance, when we perceive +generosity, we infer justice; from piety, we infer honesty; from lying, +deception; from deception, stealing, etc.; a procedure which opens the +door to many false views, partly because human nature is so strange, +partly because our standpoint is so one-sided. It is true, indeed, that +character always forms a consistent and connected whole; but the roots +of all its qualities lie too deep to allow of our concluding from +particular data in a given case whether certain qualities can or cannot +exist together. + + * * * * * + +We often happen to say things that may in some way or other be +prejudicial to us; but we keep silent about things that might make us +look ridiculous; because in this case effect follows very quickly on +cause. + + * * * * * + +The pain of an unfulfilled wish is small in comparison with that of +repentance; for the one stands in the presence of the vast open future, +whilst the other has the irrevocable past closed behind it. + + * * * * * + +_Geduld, patientia_, patience, especially the Spanish _sufrimiento_, is +strongly connected with the notion of _suffering_. It is therefore a +passive state, just as the opposite is an active state of the mind, with +which, when great, patience is incompatible. It is the innate virtue of +a phlegmatic, indolent, and spiritless people, as also of women. But +that it is nevertheless so very useful and necessary is a sign that the +world is very badly constituted. + + * * * * * + +Money is human happiness in the abstract: he, then, who is no longer +capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete, devotes his heart +entirely to money. + + * * * * * + +Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the +intellect. + + * * * * * + +If you want to find out your real opinion of anyone, observe the +impression made upon you by the first sight of a letter from him. + + * * * * * + +The course of our individual life and the events in it, as far as their +true meaning and connection is concerned, may be compared to a piece of +rough mosaic. So long as you stand close in front of it, you cannot get +a right view of the objects presented, nor perceive their significance +or beauty. Both come in sight only when you stand a little way off. And +in the same way you often understand the true connection of important +events in your life, not while they are going on, nor soon after they +are past, but only a considerable time afterwards. + +Is this so, because we require the magnifying effect of imagination? or +because we can get a general view only from a distance? or because the +school of experience makes our judgment ripe? Perhaps all of these +together: but it is certain that we often view in the right light the +actions of others, and occasionally even our own, only after the lapse +of years. And as it is in one's own life, so it is in history. + +Happy circumstances in life are like certain groups of trees. Seen from +a distance they look very well: but go up to them and amongst them, and +the beauty vanishes; you don't know where it can be; it is only trees +you see. And so it is that we often envy the lot of others. + + * * * * * + +The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind, the lawyer all the +wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity. + + * * * * * + +A person of phlegmatic disposition who is a blockhead, would, with a +sanguine nature, be a fool. + + * * * * * + +Now and then one learns something, but one forgets the whole day long. + +Moreover our memory is like a sieve, the holes of which in time get +larger and larger: the older we get, the quicker anything entrusted to +it slips from the memory, whereas, what was fixed fast in it in early +days is there still. The memory of an old man gets clearer and clearer, +the further it goes back, and less clear the nearer it approaches the +present time; so that his memory, like his eyes, becomes short-sighted. + + * * * * * + +In the process of learning you may be apprehensive about bewildering and +confusing the memory, but not about overloading it, in the strict sense +of the word. The faculty for remembering is not diminished in proportion +to what one has learnt, just as little as the number of moulds in which +you cast sand, lessens its capacity for being cast in new moulds. In +this sense the memory is bottomless. And yet the greater and more +various any one's knowledge, the longer he takes to find out anything +that may suddenly be asked him; because he is like a shopkeeper who has +to get the article wanted from a large and multifarious store; or, more +strictly speaking, because out of many possible trains of thought he has +to recall exactly that one which, as a result of previous training, +leads to the matter in question. For the memory is not a repository of +things you wish to preserve, but a mere dexterity of the intellectual +powers; hence the mind always contains its sum of knowledge only +potentially, never actually. + +It sometimes happens that my memory will not reproduce some word in a +foreign language, or a name, or some artistic expression, although I +know it very well. After I have bothered myself in vain about it for a +longer or a shorter time, I give up thinking about it altogether. An +hour or two afterwards, in rare cases even later still, sometimes only +after four or five weeks, the word I was trying to recall occurs to me +while I am thinking of something else, as suddenly as if some one had +whispered it to me. After noticing this phenomenon with wonder for very +many years, I have come to think that the probable explanation of it is +as follows. After the troublesome and unsuccessful search, my will +retains its craving to know the word, and so sets a watch for it in the +intellect. Later on, in the course and play of thought, some word by +chance occurs having the same initial letters or some other resemblance +to the word which is sought; then the sentinel springs forward and +supplies what is wanting to make up the word, seizes it, and suddenly +brings it up in triumph, without my knowing where and how he got it; so +it seems as if some one had whispered it to me. It is the same process +as that adopted by a teacher towards a child who cannot repeat a word; +the teacher just suggests the first letter of the word, or even the +second too; then the child remembers it. In default of this process, you +can end by going methodically through all the letters of the alphabet. + +In the ordinary man, injustice rouses a passionate desire for vengeance; +and it has often been said that vengeance is sweet. How many sacrifices +have been made just to enjoy the feeling of vengeance, without any +intention of causing an amount of injury equivalent to what one has +suffered. The bitter death of the centaur Nessus was sweetened by the +certainty that he had used his last moments to work out an extremely +clever vengeance. Walter Scott expresses the same human inclination in +language as true as it is strong: "Vengeance is the sweetest morsel to +the mouth that ever was cooked in hell!" I shall now attempt a +psychological explanation of it. + +Suffering which falls to our lot in the course of nature, or by chance, +or fate, does not, _ceteris paribus_, seem so painful as suffering which +is inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another. This is because we +look upon nature and chance as the fundamental masters of the world; we +see that the blow we received from them might just as well have fallen +on another. In the case of suffering which springs from this source, we +bewail the common lot of humanity rather than our own misfortune. But +that it is the arbitrary will of another which inflicts the suffering, +is a peculiarly bitter addition to the pain or injury it causes, viz., +the consciousness that some one else is superior to us, whether by force +or cunning, while we lie helpless. If amends are possible, amends heal +the injury; but that bitter addition, "and it was you who did that to +me," which is often more painful than the injury itself, is only to be +neutralized by vengeance. By inflicting injury on the one who has +injured us, whether we do it by force or cunning, is to show our +superiority to him, and to annul the proof of his superiority to us. +That gives our hearts the satisfaction towards which it yearns. So where +there is a great deal of pride and vanity, there also will there be a +great desire of vengeance. But as the fulfillment of every wish brings +with it more or less of a sense of disappointment, so it is with +vengeance. The delight we hope to get from it is mostly embittered by +compassion. Vengeance taken will often tear the heart and torment the +conscience: the motive to it is no longer active, and what remains is +the evidence of our malice. + + + + +THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. + + +When the Church says that, in the dogmas of religion, reason is totally +incompetent and blind, and its use to be reprehended, it is in reality +attesting the fact that these dogmas are allegorical in their nature, +and are not to be judged by the standard which reason, taking all things +_sensu proprio_, can alone apply. Now the absurdities of a dogma are +just the mark and sign of what is allegorical and mythical in it. In the +case under consideration, however, the absurdities spring from the fact +that two such heterogeneous doctrines as those of the Old and New +Testaments had to be combined. The great allegory was of gradual growth. +Suggested by external and adventitious circumstances, it was developed +by the interpretation put upon them, an interpretation in quiet touch +with certain deep-lying truths only half realized. The allegory was +finally completed by Augustine, who penetrated deepest into its meaning, +and so was able to conceive it as a systematic whole and supply its +defects. Hence the Augustinian doctrine, confirmed by Luther, is the +complete form of Christianity; and the Protestants of to-day, who take +Revelation _sensu proprio_ and confine it to a single individual, are in +error in looking upon the first beginnings of Christianity as its most +perfect expression. But the bad thing about all religions is that, +instead of being able to confess their allegorical nature, they have to +conceal it; accordingly, they parade their doctrine in all seriousness +as true _sensu proprio_, and as absurdities form an essential part of +these doctrines, you have the great mischief of a continual fraud. And, +what is worse, the day arrives when they are no longer true _sensu +proprio_, and then there is an end of them; so that, in that respect, it +would be better to admit their allegorical nature at once. But the +difficulty is to teach the multitude that something can be both true and +untrue at the same time. And as all religions are in a greater or less +degree of this nature, we must recognize the fact that mankind cannot +get on without a certain amount of absurdity, that absurdity is an +element in its existence, and illusion indispensable; as indeed other +aspects of life testify. I have said that the combination of the Old +Testament with the New gives rise to absurdities. Among the examples +which illustrate what I mean, I may cite the Christian doctrine of +Predestination and Grace, as formulated by Augustine and adopted from +him by Luther; according to which one man is endowed with grace and +another is not. Grace, then, comes to be a privilege received at birth +and brought ready into the world; a privilege, too, in a matter second +to none in importance. What is obnoxious and absurd in this doctrine may +be traced to the idea contained in the Old Testament, that man is the +creation of an external will, which called him into existence out of +nothing. It is quite true that genuine moral excellence is really +innate; but the meaning of the Christian doctrine is expressed in +another and more rational way by the theory of metempsychosis, common to +Brahmans and Buddhists. According to this theory, the qualities which +distinguish one man from another are received at birth, are brought, +that is to say, from another world and a former life; these qualities +are not an external gift of grace, but are the fruits of the acts +committed in that other world. But Augustine's dogma of Predestination +is connected with another dogma, namely, that the mass of humanity is +corrupt and doomed to eternal damnation, that very few will be found +righteous and attain salvation, and that only in consequence of the gift +of grace, and because they are predestined to be saved; whilst the +remainder will be overwhelmed by the perdition they have deserved, viz., +eternal torment in hell. Taken in its ordinary meaning, the dogma is +revolting, for it comes to this: it condemns a man, who may be, perhaps, +scarcely twenty years of age, to expiate his errors, or even his +unbelief, in everlasting torment; nay, more, it makes this almost +universal damnation the natural effect of original sin, and therefore +the necessary consequence of the Fall. This is a result which must have +been foreseen by him who made mankind, and who, in the first place, made +them not better than they are, and secondly, set a trap for them into +which he must have known they would fall; for he made the whole world, +and nothing is hidden from him. According to this doctrine, then, God +created out of nothing a weak race prone to sin, in order to give them +over to endless torment. And, as a last characteristic, we are told that +this God, who prescribes forbearance and forgiveness of every fault, +exercises none himself, but does the exact opposite; for a punishment +which comes at the end of all things, when the world is over and done +with, cannot have for its object either to improve or deter, and is +therefore pure vengeance. So that, on this view, the whole race is +actually destined to eternal torture and damnation, and created +expressly for this end, the only exception being those few persons who +are rescued by election of grace, from what motive one does not know. + +Putting these aside, it looks as if the Blessed Lord had created the +world for the benefit of the devil! it would have been so much better +not to have made it at all. So much, then, for a dogma taken _sensu +proprio_. But look at it _sensu allegorico_, and the whole matter +becomes capable of a satisfactory interpretation. What is absurd and +revolting in this dogma is, in the main, as I said, the simple outcome +of Jewish theism, with its "creation out of nothing," and really foolish +and paradoxical denial of the doctrine of metempsychosis which is +involved in that idea, a doctrine which is natural, to a certain extent +self-evident, and, with the exception of the Jews, accepted by nearly +the whole human race at all times. To remove the enormous evil arising +from Augustine's dogma, and to modify its revolting nature, Pope Gregory +I., in the sixth century, very prudently matured the doctrine of +_Purgatory_, the essence of which already existed in Origen (cf. Bayle's +article on Origen, note B.). The doctrine was regularly incorporated +into the faith of the Church, so that the original view was much +modified, and a certain substitute provided for the doctrine of +metempsychosis; for both the one and the other admit a process of +purification. To the same end, the doctrine of "the Restoration of all +things" [Greek: apokatastasis] was established, according to which, in +the last act of the Human Comedy, the sinners one and all will be +reinstated _in integrum_. It is only Protestants, with their obstinate +belief in the Bible, who cannot be induced to give up eternal punishment +in hell. If one were spiteful, one might say, "much good may it do +them," but it is consoling to think that they really do not believe the +doctrine; they leave it alone, thinking in their hearts, "It can't be so +bad as all that." + +The rigid and systematic character of his mind led Augustine, in his +austere dogmatism and his resolute definition of doctrines only just +indicated in the Bible and, as a matter of fact, resting on very vague +grounds, to give hard outlines to these doctrines and to put a harsh +construction on Christianity: the result of which is that his views +offend us, and just as in his day Pelagianism arose to combat them, so +now in our day Rationalism does the same. Take, for example, the case as +he states it generally in the _De Civitate Dei_, Bk. xii. ch. 21. It +comes to this: God creates a being out of nothing, forbids him some +things, and enjoins others upon him; and because these commands are not +obeyed, he tortures him to all eternity with every conceivable anguish; +and for this purpose, binds soul and body inseparably together, so that, +instead, of the torment destroying this being by splitting him up into +his elements, and so setting him free, he may live to eternal pain. This +poor creature, formed out of nothing! At least, he has a claim on his +original nothing: he should be assured, as a matter of right, of this +last retreat, which, in any case, cannot be a very evil one: it is what +he has inherited. I, at any rate, cannot help sympathizing with him. If +you add to this Augustine's remaining doctrines, that all this does not +depend on the man's own sins and omissions, but was already predestined +to happen, one really is at a loss what to think. Our highly educated +Rationalists say, to be sure, "It's all false, it's a mere bugbear; +we're in a state of constant progress, step by step raising ourselves to +ever greater perfection." Ah! what a pity we didn't begin sooner; we +should already have been there. + +In the Christian system the devil is a personage of the greatest +importance. God is described as absolutely good, wise and powerful; and +unless he were counterbalanced by the devil, it would be impossible to +see where the innumerable and measureless evils, which predominate in +the world, come from, if there were no devil to account for them. And +since the Rationalists have done away with the devil, the damage +inflicted on the other side has gone on growing, and is becoming more +and more palpable; as might have been foreseen, and was foreseen, by the +orthodox. The fact is, you cannot take away one pillar from a building +without endangering the rest of it. And this confirms the view, which +has been established on other grounds, that Jehovah is a transformation +of Ormuzd, and Satan of the Ahriman who must be taken in connection with +him. Ormuzd himself is a transformation of Indra. + +Christianity has this peculiar disadvantage, that, unlike other +religions, it is not a pure system of doctrine: its chief and essential +feature is that it is a history, a series of events, a collection of +facts, a statement of the actions and sufferings of individuals: it is +this history which constitutes dogma, and belief in it is salvation. +Other religions, Buddhism, for instance, have, it is true, historical +appendages, the life, namely, of their founders: this, however, is not +part and parcel of the dogma but is taken along with it. For example, +the Lalitavistara may be compared with the Gospel so far as it contains +the life of Sakya-muni, the Buddha of the present period of the world's +history: but this is something which is quite separate and different +from the dogma, from the system itself: and for this reason; the lives +of former Buddhas were quite other, and those of the future will be +quite other, than the life of the Buddha of to-day. The dogma is by no +means one with the career of its founder; it does not rest on individual +persons or events; it is something universal and equally valid at all +times. The Lalitavistara is not, then, a gospel in the Christian sense +of the word; it is not the joyful message of an act of redemption; it is +the career of him who has shown how each one may redeem himself. The +historical constitution of Christianity makes the Chinese laugh at +missionaries as story-tellers. + +I may mention here another fundamental error of Christianity, an error +which cannot be explained away, and the mischievous consequences of +which are obvious every day: I mean the unnatural distinction +Christianity makes between man and the animal world to which he really +belongs. It sets up man as all-important, and looks upon animals as +merely things. Brahmanism and Buddhism, on the other hand, true to the +facts, recognize in a positive way that man is related generally to the +whole of nature, and specially and principally to animal nature; and in +their systems man is always represented by the theory of metempsychosis +and otherwise, as closely connected with the animal world. The important +part played by animals all through Buddhism and Brahmanism, compared +with the total disregard of them in Judaism and Christianity, puts an +end to any question as to which system is nearer perfection, however +much we in Europe may have become accustomed to the absurdity of the +claim. Christianity contains, in fact, a great and essential +imperfection in limiting its precepts to man, and in refusing rights to +the entire animal world. As religion fails to protect animals against +the rough, unfeeling and often more than bestial multitude, the duty +falls to the police; and as the police are unequal to the task, +societies for the protection of animals are now formed all over Europe +and America. In the whole of uncircumcised Asia, such a procedure would +be the most superfluous thing in the world, because animals are there +sufficiently protected by religion, which even makes them objects of +charity. How such charitable feelings bear fruit may be seen, to take an +example, in the great hospital for animals at Surat, whither Christians, +Mohammedans and Jews can send their sick beasts, which, if cured, are +very rightly not restored to their owners. In the same way when a +Brahman or a Buddhist has a slice of good luck, a happy issue in any +affair, instead of mumbling a _Te Deum_, he goes to the market-place and +buys birds and opens their cages at the city gate; a thing which may be +frequently seen in Astrachan, where the adherents of every religion meet +together: and so on in a hundred similar ways. On the other hand, look +at the revolting ruffianism with which our Christian public treats its +animals; killing them for no object at all, and laughing over it, or +mutilating or torturing them: even its horses, who form its most direct +means of livelihood, are strained to the utmost in their old age, and +the last strength worked out of their poor bones until they succumb at +last under the whip. One might say with truth, Mankind are the devils of +the earth, and the animals the souls they torment. But what can you +expect from the masses, when there are men of education, zoologists +even, who, instead of admitting what is so familiar to them, the +essential identity of man and animal, are bigoted and stupid enough to +offer a zealous opposition to their honest and rational colleagues, when +they class man under the proper head as an animal, or demonstrate the +resemblance between him and the chimpanzee or ourang-outang. It is a +revolting thing that a writer who is so pious and Christian in his +sentiments as Jung Stilling should use a simile like this, in his +_Scenen aus dem Geisterreich_. (Bk. II. sc. i., p. 15.) "Suddenly the +skeleton shriveled up into an indescribably hideous and dwarf-like form, +just as when you bring a large spider into the focus of a burning glass, +and watch the purulent blood hiss and bubble in the heat." This man of +God then was guilty of such infamy! or looked on quietly when another +was committing it! in either case it comes to the same thing here. So +little harm did he think of it that he tells us of it in passing, and +without a trace of emotion. Such are the effects of the first chapter of +Genesis, and, in fact, of the whole of the Jewish conception of nature. +The standard recognized by the Hindus and Buddhists is the Mahavakya +(the great word),--"tat-twam-asi" (this is thyself), which may always be +spoken of every animal, to keep us in mind of the identity of his inmost +being with ours. Perfection of morality, indeed! Nonsense. + +The fundamental characteristics of the Jewish religion are realism and +optimism, views of the world which are closely allied; they form, in +fact, the conditions of theism. For theism looks upon the material world +as absolutely real, and regards life as a pleasant gift bestowed upon +us. On the other hand, the fundamental characteristics of the Brahman +and Buddhist religions are idealism and pessimism, which look upon the +existence of the world as in the nature of a dream, and life as the +result of our sins. In the doctrines of the Zendavesta, from which, as +is well known, Judaism sprang, the pessimistic element is represented by +Ahriman. In Judaism, Ahriman has as Satan only a subordinate position; +but, like Ahriman, he is the lord of snakes, scorpions, and vermin. But +the Jewish system forthwith employs Satan to correct its fundamental +error of optimism, and in the _Fall_ introduces the element of +pessimism, a doctrine demanded by the most obvious facts of the world. +There is no truer idea in Judaism than this, although it transfers to +the course of existence what must be represented as its foundation and +antecedent. + +The New Testament, on the other hand, must be in some way traceable to +an Indian source: its ethical system, its ascetic view of morality, its +pessimism, and its Avatar, are all thoroughly Indian. It is its morality +which places it in a position of such emphatic and essential antagonism +to the Old Testament, so that the story of the Fall is the only possible +point of connection between the two. For when the Indian doctrine was +imported into the land of promise, two very different things had to be +combined: on the one hand the consciousness of the corruption and misery +of the world, its need of deliverance and salvation through an Avatar, +together with a morality based on self-denial and repentance; on the +other hand the Jewish doctrine of Monotheism, with its corollary that +"all things are very good" [Greek: panta kala lian]. And the task +succeeded as far as it could, as far, that is, as it was possible to +combine two such heterogeneous and antagonistic creeds. + +As ivy clings for the support and stay it wants to a rough-hewn post, +everywhere conforming to its irregularities and showing their outline, +but at the same time covering them with life and grace, and changing the +former aspect into one that is pleasing to the eye; so the Christian +faith, sprung from the wisdom of India, overspreads the old trunk of +rude Judaism, a tree of alien growth; the original form must in part +remain, but it suffers a complete change and becomes full of life and +truth, so that it appears to be the same tree, but is really another. + +Judaism had presented the Creator as separated from the world, which he +produced out of nothing. Christianity identifies this Creator with the +Saviour, and through him, with humanity: he stands as their +representative; they are redeemed in him, just as they fell in Adam, and +have lain ever since in the bonds of iniquity, corruption, suffering and +death. Such is the view taken by Christianity in common with Buddhism; +the world can no longer be looked at in the light of Jewish optimism, +which found "all things very good": nay, in the Christian scheme, the +devil is named as its Prince or Ruler ([Greek: ho archon tou +kosmoutoutou.] John 12, 33). The world is no longer an end, but a means: +and the realm of everlasting joy lies beyond it and the grave. +Resignation in this world and direction of all our hopes to a better, +form the spirit of Christianity. The way to this end is opened by the +Atonement, that is the Redemption from this world and its ways. And in +the moral system, instead of the law of vengeance, there is the command +to love your enemy; instead of the promise of innumerable posterity, the +assurance of eternal life; instead of visiting the sins of the fathers +upon the children to the third and fourth generations, the Holy Spirit +governs and overshadows all. + +We see, then, that the doctrines of the Old Testament are rectified and +their meaning changed by those of the New, so that, in the most +important and essential matters, an agreement is brought about between +them and the old religions of India. Everything which is true in +Christianity may also be found in Brahmanism and Buddhism. But in +Hinduism and Buddhism you will look in vain for any parallel to the +Jewish doctrines of "a nothing quickened into life," or of "a world made +in time," which cannot be humble enough in its thanks and praises to +Jehovah for an ephemeral existence full of misery, anguish and need. + +Whoever seriously thinks that superhuman beings have ever given our race +information as to the aim of its existence and that of the world, is +still in his childhood. There is no other revelation than the thoughts +of the wise, even though these thoughts, liable to error as is the lot +of everything human, are often clothed in strange allegories and myths +under the name of religion. So far, then, it is a matter of indifference +whether a man lives and dies in reliance on his own or another's +thoughts; for it is never more than human thought, human opinion, which +he trusts. Still, instead of trusting what their own minds tell them, +men have as a rule a weakness for trusting others who pretend to +supernatural sources of knowledge. And in view of the enormous +intellectual inequality between man and man, it is easy to see that the +thoughts of one mind might appear as in some sense a revelation to +another. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10833 *** |