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diff --git a/27189-8.txt b/27189-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4378033 --- /dev/null +++ b/27189-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1829 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of "Bethink Yourselves", by Leo Tolstoi + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: "Bethink Yourselves" + +Author: Leo Tolstoi + +Translator: V. Tchertkoff + +Release Date: November 7, 2008 [EBook #27189] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "BETHINK YOURSELVES" *** + + + + +Produced by Gerard Arthus, Jana Srna and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + THE INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY + + NOW READY + + + =Bloch's "The Future of War"= + Price, 50 cents; by mail, 65 cents + + =Charles Sumner's Addresses on War= + Price, 50 cents; by mail, 60 cents + + =Channing's Discourses on War= + Price, 50 cents; by mail, 60 cents + + + Edited with introductions by Edwin D. Mead. + Published for the International Union by Ginn & + Company, Boston. + + + + + "BETHINK YOURSELVES!" + + + BY + LEO TOLSTOI + + + + + PUBLISHED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL UNION + GINN & COMPANY, BOSTON + 1904 + + + Reprinted from the _London Times_ + + Translated by V. Tchertkoff, Editor of the _Free Age Press_, + and I. F. M. + + + + + "BETHINK YOURSELVES!" + + "This is your hour, and the power of darkness."--Luke xxii. 53. + + + + + I + + +Again war. Again sufferings, necessary to nobody, utterly uncalled for; +again fraud; again the universal stupefaction and brutalization of men. + +Men who are separated from each other by thousands of miles, hundreds of +thousands of such men (on the one hand--Buddhists, whose law forbids the +killing, not only of men, but of animals; on the other hand--Christians, +professing the law of brotherhood and love) like wild beasts on land and +on sea are seeking out each other, in order to kill, torture, and +mutilate each other in the most cruel way. What can this be? Is it a +dream or a reality? Something is taking place which should not, cannot +be; one longs to believe that it is a dream and to awake from it. But no, +it is not a dream, it is a dreadful reality! + +One could yet understand how a poor, uneducated, defrauded Japanese, torn +from his field and taught that Buddhism consists not in compassion to all +that lives, but in sacrifices to idols, and how a similar poor illiterate +fellow from the neighborhood of Toula or Nijni Novgorod, who has been +taught that Christianity consists in worshipping Christ, the Madonna, +Saints, and their ikons--one could understand how these unfortunate men, +brought by the violence and deceit of centuries to recognize the greatest +crime in the world--the murder of one's brethren--as a virtuous act, can +commit these dreadful deeds, without regarding themselves as being guilty +in so doing. + +But how can so-called enlightened men preach war, support it, participate +in it, and, worst of all, without suffering the dangers of war +themselves, incite others to it, sending their unfortunate defrauded +brothers to fight? These so-called enlightened men cannot possibly +ignore, I do not say the Christian law, if they recognize themselves to +be Christians, but all that has been written, is being written, has and +is being said, about the cruelty, futility, and senselessness of war. +They are regarded as enlightened men precisely because they know all +this. The majority of them have themselves written and spoken about this. +Not to mention The Hague Conference, which called forth universal praise, +or all the books, pamphlets, newspaper articles, and speeches +demonstrating the possibility of the solution of international +misunderstandings by international arbitration--no enlightened man can +help knowing that the universal competition in the armaments of States +must inevitably lead them to endless wars, or to a general bankruptcy, or +to both the one and the other. They cannot but know that besides the +senseless, purposeless expenditure of milliards of roubles, _i.e._ of +human labor, on the preparations for war, during the wars themselves +millions of the most energetic and vigorous men perish in that period of +their life which is best for productive labor (during the past century +wars have destroyed fourteen million men). Enlightened men cannot but +know that occasions for war are always such as are not worth not only one +human life, but not one hundredth part of all that which is spent upon +wars (in fighting for the emancipation of the negroes much more was spent +than it would have cost to redeem them from slavery). + +Every one knows and cannot help knowing that, above all, wars, calling +forth the lowest animal passions, deprave and brutalize men. Every one +knows the weakness of the arguments in favor of war, such as were +brought forward by De Maistre, Moltke, and others, for they are all +founded on the sophism that in every human calamity it is possible to +find an advantageous element, or else upon the utterly arbitrary assertion +that wars have always existed and therefore always must exist, as if the +bad actions of men could be justified by the advantages or the +usefulness which they realize, or by the consideration that they have +been committed during a long period of time. All so-called enlightened +men know all this. Then suddenly war begins, and all this is instantly +forgotten, and the same men who but yesterday were proving the cruelty, +futility, the senselessness of wars now think, speak, and write only +about killing as many men as possible, about ruining and destroying the +greatest possible amount of the productions of human labor, and about +exciting as much as possible the passion of hatred in those peaceful, +harmless, industrious men who by their labor feed, clothe, maintain these +same pseudo-enlightened men, who compel them to commit those dreadful +deeds contrary to their conscience, welfare, or faith. + + + + + II + + +Something is taking place incomprehensible and impossible in its cruelty, +falsehood, and stupidity. The Russian Tsar, the same man who exhorted all +the nations in the cause of peace, publicly announces that, +notwithstanding all his efforts to maintain the peace so dear to his +heart (efforts which express themselves in the seizing of other peoples' +lands and in the strengthening of armies for the defence of these stolen +lands), he, owing to the attack of the Japanese, commands that the same +shall be done to the Japanese as they had commenced doing to the +Russians--_i.e._ that they should be slaughtered; and in announcing this +call to murder he mentions God, asking the Divine blessing on the most +dreadful crime in the world. The Japanese Emperor has proclaimed the same +thing in relation to the Russians. + +Men of science and of law (Messieurs Muravieff and Martens) strenuously +try to prove that in the recent call of all nations to universal peace +and the present incitement to war, because of the seizure of other +peoples' lands, there is no contradiction. Diplomatists, in their refined +French language, publish and send out circulars in which they +circumstantially and diligently prove (though they know no one believes +them) that, after all its efforts to establish peaceful relations (in +reality, after all its efforts to deceive other countries), the Russian +Government has been compelled to have recourse to the only means for a +rational solution of the question--_i.e._ to the murder of men. The same +thing is written by Japanese diplomatists. Scientists, historians, and +philosophers, on their side, comparing the present with the past, deduce +from these comparisons profound conclusions, and argue interminably about +the laws of the movement of nations, about the relation between the +yellow and white races, or about Buddhism and Christianity, and on the +basis of these deductions and arguments justify the slaughter of those +belonging to the yellow race by Christians; while in the same way the +Japanese scientists and philosophers justify the slaughter of those of +the white race. Journalists, without concealing their joy, try to outdo +each other, and, not hesitating at any falsehood, however impudent and +transparent, prove in all possible ways that the Russians only are right +and strong and good in every respect, and that all the Japanese are wrong +and weak and bad in every respect, and that all those are also bad who +are inimical or may become inimical toward the Russians--the English, the +Americans; and the same is proved likewise by the Japanese and their +supporters in relation to the Russians. + +Not to mention the military, who in the way of their profession prepare +for murder, crowds of so-called enlightened people, such as professors, +social reformers, students, nobles, merchants, without being forced +thereto by anything or anybody, express the most bitter and contemptuous +feelings toward the Japanese, the English, or the Americans, toward whom +but yesterday they were either well-disposed or indifferent; while, +without the least compulsion, they express the most abject, servile +feelings toward the Tsar (to whom, to say the least, they were completely +indifferent), assuring him of their unlimited love and readiness to +sacrifice their lives in his interests. + +This unfortunate, entangled young man, recognized as the leader of one +hundred and thirty millions of people, continually deceived and compelled +to contradict himself, confidently thanks and blesses the troops whom he +calls his own for murder in defence of lands which with yet less right he +also calls his own. All present to each other hideous ikons in which not +only no one amongst the educated believes, but which unlearned peasants +are beginning to abandon; all bow down to the ground before these ikons, +kiss them, and pronounce pompous and deceitful speeches in which no one +really believes. + +Wealthy people contribute insignificant portions of their immorally +acquired riches for this cause of murder or the organization of help in +connection with the work of murder; while the poor, from whom the +Government annually collects two milliards, deem it necessary to do +likewise, giving their mites also. The Government incites and encourages +crowds of idlers, who walk about the streets with the Tsar's portrait, +singing, shouting hurrah! and who, under pretext of patriotism, are +licensed in all kinds of excess. All over Russia, from the Palace to the +remotest village, the pastors of churches, calling themselves Christians, +appeal to that God who has enjoined love to one's enemies--to the God of +Love Himself--to help the work of the devil to further the slaughter of +men. + +Stupefied by prayers, sermons, exhortations, by processions, pictures, +and newspapers, the cannon's flesh, hundreds of thousands of men, +uniformly dressed, carrying divers deadly weapons, leaving their parents, +wives, children, with hearts of agony, but with artificial sprightliness, +go where they, risking their own lives, will commit the most dreadful act +of killing men whom they do not know and who have done them no harm. And +they are followed by doctors and nurses, who somehow imagine that at home +they cannot serve simple, peaceful, suffering people, but can only serve +those who are engaged in slaughtering each other. Those who remain at +home are gladdened by news of the murder of men, and when they learn that +many Japanese have been killed they thank some one whom they call God. + +All this is not only regarded as the manifestation of elevated feeling, +but those who refrain from such manifestations, if they endeavor to +disabuse men, are deemed traitors and betrayers, and are in danger of +being abused and beaten by a brutalized crowd which, in defence of its +insanity and cruelty, can possess no other weapon than brute force. + + + + + III + + +It is as if there had never existed either Voltaire, or Montaigne, or +Pascal, or Swift, or Kant, or Spinoza, or hundreds of other writers who +have exposed, with great force, the madness and futility of war, and have +described its cruelty, immorality, and savagery; and, above all, it is as +if there had never existed Jesus and his teaching of human brotherhood +and love of God and of men. + +One recalls all this to mind and looks around on what is now taking +place, and one experiences horror less at the abominations of war than at +that which is the most horrible of all horrors--the consciousness of the +impotency of human reason. That which alone distinguishes man from the +animal, that which constitutes his merit--his reason--is found to be an +unnecessary, and not only a useless, but a pernicious addition, which +simply impedes action, like a bridle fallen from a horse's head, and +entangled in his legs and only irritating him. + +It is comprehensible that a heathen, a Greek, a Roman, even a mediæval +Christian, ignorant of the Gospel and blindly believing all the +prescriptions of the Church, might fight and, fighting, pride himself on +his military achievements; but how can a believing Christian, or even a +sceptic, involuntarily permeated by the Christian ideals of human +brotherhood and love which have inspired the works of the philosophers, +moralists, and artists of our time,--how can such take a gun, or stand by +a cannon, and aim at a crowd of his fellow-men, desiring to kill as many +of them as possible? + +The Assyrians, Romans, or Greeks might be persuaded that in fighting they +were acting not only according to their conscience, but even fulfilling a +righteous deed. But, whether we wish it or not, we are Christians, and +however Christianity may have been distorted, its general spirit cannot +but lift us to that higher plane of reason whence we can no longer +refrain from feeling with our whole being not only the senselessness and +the cruelty of war, but its complete opposition to all that we regard as +good and right. Therefore, we cannot do as they did, with assurance, +firmness, and peace, and without a consciousness of our criminality, +without the desperate feeling of a murderer, who, having begun to kill +his victim, and feeling in the depths of his soul the guilt of his act, +proceeds to try to stupefy or infuriate himself, to be able the better to +complete his dreadful deed. All the unnatural, feverish, hot-headed, +insane excitement which has now seized the idle upper ranks of Russian +society is merely the symptom of their recognition of the criminality of +the work which is being done. All these insolent, mendacious speeches +about devotion to, and worship of, the Monarch, about readiness to +sacrifice life (or one should say other people's lives, and not one's +own); all these promises to defend with one's breast land which does not +belong to one; all these senseless benedictions of each other with +various banners and monstrous ikons; all these _Te Deums_; all these +preparations of blankets and bandages; all these detachments of nurses; +all these contributions to the fleet and to the Red Cross presented to +the Government, whose direct duty is (whilst it has the possibility of +collecting from the people as much money as it requires), having declared +war, to organize the necessary fleet and necessary means for attending +the wounded; all these Slavonic, pompous, senseless, and blasphemous +prayers, the utterance of which in various towns is communicated in the +papers as important news; all these processions, calls for the national +hymn, cheers; all this dreadful, desperate newspaper mendacity, which, +being universal, does not fear exposure; all this stupefaction and +brutalization which has now taken hold of Russian society, and which is +being transmitted by degrees also to the masses; all this is only a +symptom of the guilty consciousness of that dreadful act which is being +accomplished. + +Spontaneous feeling tells men that what they are doing should not be; +but, as the murderer who has begun to assassinate his victim cannot stop, +so also Russian people now imagine that the fact of the deadly work +having been commenced is an unanswerable argument in favor of war. War +has been begun, and therefore it should go on. Thus it seems to simple, +benighted, unlearned men, acting under the influence of the petty +passions and stupefaction to which they have been subjected. In exactly +the same way the most educated men of our time argue to prove that man +does not possess free will, and that, therefore, even were he to +understand that the work he has commenced is evil, he can no longer cease +to do it. And dazed, brutalized men continue their dreadful work. + + + + + IV + + +Ask a soldier, a private, a corporal, a non-commissioned officer, who has +abandoned his old parents, his wife, his children, why he is preparing to +kill men whom he does not know; he will at first be astonished at your +question. He is a soldier, he has taken the oath, and it is his duty to +fulfil the orders of his commanders. If you tell him that war--_i.e._ the +slaughter of men--does not conform to the command, "Thou shalt not kill," +he will say: "And how if ours are attacked--For the King--For the +Orthodox faith?" (One of them said in answer to my question: "And how if +he attacks that which is sacred?" "What do you mean?" I asked. "Why," +said he, "the banner.") And if you endeavor to explain to such a soldier +that God's Commandment is more important not only than the banner but +than anything else in the world, he will become silent, or he will get +angry and report you to the authorities. + +Ask an officer, a general, why he goes to the war. He will tell you that +he is a military man, and that the military are indispensable for the +defence of the fatherland. As to murder not conforming to the spirit of +the Christian law, this does not trouble him, as either he does not +believe in this law, or, if he does, it is not in the law itself, but in +that explanation which has been given to this law. But, above all, he, +like the soldier, in place of the personal question, what should he do +himself, always put the general question about the State, or the +fatherland. "At the present moment, when the fatherland is in danger, one +should act, and not argue," he will say. + +Ask the diplomatists, who, by their deceits, prepare wars, why they do +it. They will tell you that the object of their activity is the +establishment of peace between nations, and that this object is attained, +not by ideal, unrealizable theories, but by diplomatic action and +readiness for war. And, just as the military, instead of the question +concerning one's own action, place the general question, so also +diplomatists will speak about the interests of Russia, about the +unscrupulousness of other Powers, about the balance of power in Europe, +but not about their own position and its activities. + +Ask the journalists why, by their writings, they incite men to war; they +will say that wars in general are necessary and useful, especially the +present war, and they will confirm this opinion of theirs by misty +patriotic phrases, and, just like the military and diplomatist, to the +question why he, a journalist, a particular individual, a living man, +acts in a certain way, he will speak about the general interests of the +nation, about the State, civilization, the white race. In the same way, +all those who prepare war will explain their participation in that work. +They will perhaps agree that it would be desirable to abolish war, but at +present this is impossible. At present they as Russians and as men who +occupy certain positions, such as heads of the nobility, representatives +of local self-government, doctors, workers of the Red Cross, are called +upon to act and not to argue. "There is no time to argue and to think of +oneself," they will say, "when there is a great common work to be done." +The same will be said by the Tsar, seemingly responsible for the whole +thing. He, like the soldier, will be astonished at the question, whether +war is now necessary. He does not even admit the idea that the war might +yet be arrested. He will say that he cannot refrain from fulfilling that +which is demanded of him by the whole nation, that, although he does +recognize that war is a great evil, and has used, and is ready to use, +all possible means for its abolition--in the present case he could not +help declaring war, and cannot help continuing it. It is necessary for +the welfare and glory of Russia. + +Every one of these men, to the question why he, so and so, Ivan, Peter, +Nicholas, whilst recognizing as binding upon him the Christian law which +not only forbids the killing of one's neighbor but demands that one +should love him, serve him, why he permits himself to participate in war; +_i.e._ in violence, loot, murder, will infallibly answer the same thing, +that he is thus acting in the name of his fatherland, or faith, or oath, +or honor, or civilization, or the future welfare of the whole of +mankind--in general, of something abstract and indefinite. Moreover, +these men are always so urgently occupied either by preparation for war, +or by its organization, or discussions about it, that in their leisure +time they can only rest from their labors, and have not time to occupy +themselves with discussions about their life, regarding such discussions +as idle. + + + + + V + + +Men of our Christian world and of our time are like a man who, having +missed the right turning, the further he goes the more he becomes +convinced that he is going the wrong way. Yet the greater his doubts, the +quicker and the more desperately does he hurry on, consoling himself with +the thought that he will arrive somewhere. But the time comes when it +becomes quite clear that the way along which he is going will lead to +nothing but a precipice, which he is already beginning to discern before +him. + +In such a position stands the Christian humanity of our time. It is +perfectly evident that, if we continue to live as we are now living, +guided in our private lives, as well as in the life of separate States, +by the sole desire of welfare for ourselves and for our State, and will, +as we do now, think to ensure this welfare by violence, then, inevitably +increasing the means of violence of one against the other and of State +against State, we shall, first, keep subjecting ourselves more and more, +transferring the major portion of our productiveness to armaments; and, +secondly, by killing in mutual wars the best physically developed men, we +must become more and more degenerate and morally depraved. + +That this will be the case if we do not alter our life is as certain as +it is mathematically certain that two non-parallel straight lines must +meet. But not only is this theoretically certain in our time; it is +becoming certain not only to thought, but also to the consciousness. The +precipice which we approach is already becoming apparent to us, and the +most simple, non-philosophizing, and uneducated men cannot but see that, +by arming ourselves more and more against each other and slaughtering +each other in war, we, like spiders in a jar, can come to nothing else +but the destruction of each other. + +A sincere, serious, rational man can no longer console himself by the +thought that matters can be mended, as was formerly supposed, by a +universal empire such as that of Rome or of Charles the Great, or +Napoleon, or by the mediæval spiritual power of the Pope, or by Holy +Alliances, by the political balance of the European Concert, and by +peaceful international tribunals, or, as some have thought, by the +increase of military strength and the newly discovered powerful weapons +of destruction. + +It is impossible to organize a universal empire or republic, consisting +of European States, as different nationalities will never desire to unite +into one State. To organize international tribunals for the solution of +international disputes? But who will impose obedience to the decision of +the tribunal upon a contending party who has an organized army of +millions of men? To disarm? No one desires it or will begin it. To invent +yet more dreadful means of destruction--balloons with bombs filled with +suffocating gases, shells, which men will shower upon each other from +above? Whatever may be invented, all States will furnish themselves with +similar weapons of destruction. And cannon's flesh, as after cold weapons +it submitted to bullets, and meekly exposed itself to shells, bombs, +far-reaching guns, mitrailleuses, mines, so it will also submit to bombs +charged with suffocating gases scattered down upon it from balloons. + +Nothing shows more evidently than the speeches of M. Muravieff and +Professor Martens about the Japanese war not contradicting The Hague +Peace Conference--nothing shows more obviously than these speeches to +what an extent, amongst the men of our time, the means for the +transmission of thought--speech--is distorted, and how the capacity for +clear, rational thinking is completely lost. Thought and speech are used +for the purpose, not of serving as a guide for human activity, but of +justifying any activity, however criminal it may be. The late Boer war +and the present Japanese war, which can at any moment pass into a +universal slaughter, have proved this beyond all doubt. All anti-military +discussions can as little contribute to the cessation of war as the most +eloquent and persuasive considerations addressed to fighting dogs as to +its being more advantageous to divide the piece of meat over which they +are struggling than to mutilate each other and lose the piece of meat, +which will be carried away by some passing dog not joining in the fight. +We are dashing on toward the precipice, cannot stop, and we are +approaching its edge. + +For every rational man who reflects upon the position in which humanity +is now placed and upon that which it is inevitably approaching, it cannot +but be obvious that there is no practical issue out of this position, +that one cannot devise any combination or organization which would save +us from the destruction toward which we are inevitably rushing. Not to +mention the economical problems which become more and more complex, those +mutual relations between the States arming themselves against each other +and at any moment ready to break out into wars clearly point to the +certain destruction toward which all so-called civilized humanity is +being carried. Then what is to be done? + + + + + VI + + +Two thousand years ago John the Baptist and then Jesus said to men: The +time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand; (/metanoeite/) +bethink yourselves and believe in the Gospel (Mark i. 15); and if you do +not bethink yourselves you will all perish (Luke xiii. 5). + +But men did not listen to them, and the destruction they foretold is +already near at hand. And we men of our time cannot but see it. We are +already perishing, and, therefore, we cannot leave unheeded that--old in +time, but for us new--means of salvation. We cannot but see that, besides +all the other calamities which flow from our bad and irrational life, +military preparations alone and the wars inevitably growing from them +must infallibly destroy us. We cannot but see that all the means of +escape invented by men from these evils are found and must be found to be +ineffectual, and that the disastrous position of the nations arming +themselves against each other cannot but go on advancing continually. And +therefore the words of Jesus refer to us and our time more than to any +time or to any one. + +Jesus said, "Bethink yourselves"--_i.e._ "Let every man interrupt the +work he has begun and ask himself: Who am I? From whence have I appeared, +and in what consists my destiny? And having answered these questions, +according to the answer decide whether that which thou doest is in +conformity with thy destiny." And every man of our world and time, that +is, being acquainted with the essence of the Christian teaching, needs +only for a minute to interrupt his activity, to forget the capacity in +which he is regarded by men, be it of Emperor, soldier, minister, or +journalist, and seriously ask himself who he is and what is his +destiny--in order to begin to doubt the utility, lawfulness, and +reasonableness of his actions. "Before I am Emperor, soldier, minister, +or journalist," must say to himself every man of our time and of the +Christian world, "before any of these, I am a man--_i.e._ an organic +being sent by the Higher Will into a universe infinite in time and space, +in order, after staying in it for an instant, to die--_i.e._ to disappear +from it. And, therefore, all those personal, social, and even universal +human aims which I may place before myself and which are placed before me +by men are all insignificant, owing to the shortness of my life as well +as to the infiniteness of the life of the universe, and should be +subordinated to that higher aim for the attainment of which I am sent +into the world. This ultimate aim, owing to my limitations, is +inaccessible to me, but it does exist (as there must be a purpose in all +that exists), and my business is that of being its instrument--_i.e._ my +destiny, my vocation, is that of being a workman of God, of fulfilling +His work." And having understood this destiny, every man of our world and +time, from Emperor to soldier, cannot but regard differently those duties +which he has taken upon himself or other men have imposed upon him. + +"Before I was crowned, recognized as Emperor," must the Emperor say to +himself: "before I undertook to fulfil the duties of the head of the +State, I, by the very fact that I live, have promised to fulfil that +which is demanded of me by the Higher Will that sent me into life. These +demands I not only know, but feel in my heart. They consist, as it is +expressed in the Christian law, which I profess, in that I should submit +to the will of God, and fulfil that which it requires of me, that I +should love my neighbor, serve him, and act towards him as I would wish +others to act towards me. Am I doing this?--ruling men, prescribing +violence, executions, and, the most dreadful of all,--wars. Men tell me +that I ought to do this. But God says that I ought to do something quite +different. And, therefore, however much I may be told that, as the head +of the State, I must direct acts of violence, the levying of taxes, +executions and, above all, war, that is, the slaughter of one's neighbor, +I do not wish to and cannot do these things." + +So must say to himself the soldier, who is taught that he must kill men, +and the minister, who deemed it his duty to prepare for war, and the +journalist who incited to war, and every man, who puts to himself the +question, Who is he, what is his destination in life? And the moment the +head of the State will cease to direct war, the soldier to fight, the +minister to prepare means for war, the journalist to incite +thereto--then, without any new institutions, adaptations, balance of +power, tribunals, there will of itself be destroyed that hopeless +position in which men have placed themselves, not only in relation to +war, but also to all other calamities which they themselves inflict upon +themselves. + +So that, however strange this may appear, the most effective and certain +deliverance of men from all the calamities which they inflict upon +themselves and from the most dreadful of all--war--is attainable, not by +any external general measures, but merely by that simple appeal to the +consciousness of each separate man which, nineteen hundred years ago, was +proposed by Jesus--that every man bethink himself, and ask himself, who +is he, why he lives, and what he should and should not do. + + + + + VII + + +The evil from which men of our time are suffering is produced by the fact +that the majority live without that which alone affords a rational +guidance for human activity--without religion; not that religion which +consists in belief in dogmas, in the fulfilment of rites which afford a +pleasant diversion, consolation, stimulant, but that religion which +establishes the relation of man to the All, to God, and, therefore, gives +a general higher direction to all human activity, and without which +people stand on the plane of animals and even lower than they. This evil +which is leading men to inevitable destruction has manifested itself with +special power in our time, because, having lost all rational guidance in +life, and having directed all efforts to discoveries and improvements +principally in the sphere of technical knowledge, men of our time have +developed in themselves enormous power over the forces of nature; but, +not having any guidance for the rational adaptation of this power, they +naturally have used it for the satisfaction of their lowest and most +animal propensities. + +Bereft of religion, men possessing enormous power over the forces of +nature are like children to whom powder or explosive gas has been given +as a plaything. Considering this power which men of our time possess, and +the way they use it, one feels that considering the degree of their moral +development men have no right, not only to the use of railways, steam, +electricity, telephones, photography, wireless telegraphs, but even to +the simple art of manufacturing iron and steel, as all these improvements +and arts they use only for the satisfaction of their lusts, for +amusement, dissipation, and the destruction of each other. + +Then, what is to be done? To reject all these improvements of life, all +this power acquired by humanity--to forget that which it has learnt? This +is impossible, however perniciously these mental acquisitions are used; +they still are acquisitions, and men cannot forget them. To alter those +combinations of nations which have been formed during centuries and to +establish new ones? To invent such new institutions as would hinder the +minority from deceiving and exploiting the majority? To disseminate +knowledge? All this has been tried, and is being done with great fervor. +All these imaginary methods of improvement represent the chief methods of +self-oblivion and of diverting one's attention from the consciousness of +inevitable perdition. The boundaries of States are changed, institutions +are altered, knowledge is disseminated; but within other boundaries, with +other organizations, with increased knowledge, men remain the same +beasts, ready any minute to tear each other to pieces, or the same slaves +they have always been, and always will be, while they continue to be +guided, not by religious consciousness, but by passions, theories, and +external influences. + +Man has no choice; he must be the slave of the most unscrupulous and +insolent amongst slaves, or else the servant of God, because for man +there is only one way of being free--by uniting his will with the will of +God. People bereft of religion, some repudiating religion itself, others +recognizing as religion those external, monstrous forms which have +superseded it, and guided only by their personal lusts, fear, human laws, +and, above all, by mutual hypnotism, cannot cease to be animals or +slaves, and no external efforts can extricate them from this state; for +only religion makes a man free. And most of the people of our time are +deprived of it. + + + + + VIII + + +"But, in order to abolish the evil from which we are suffering," those +will say who are preoccupied by various practical activities, "it would +be necessary that not a few men only, but all men, should bethink +themselves, and that, having done so, they should uniformly understand +the destination of their lives, in the fulfilment of the will of God and +in the service of one's neighbor. + +"Is this possible?" Not only possible, do I answer, but it is impossible +that this should not take place. It is impossible for men not to bethink +themselves--_i.e._ impossible that each man should not put to himself the +question as to who he is and wherefore he lives; for man, as a rational +being, cannot live without seeking to know why he lives, and he has +always put to himself this question, and always, according to the degree +of his development, has answered it in his religious teaching. In our +time, the inner contradiction in which men feel themselves elicits this +question with special insistence, and demands an answer. It is impossible +for men of our time to answer this question otherwise than by recognizing +the law of life in love to men and in the service of them, this being for +our time the only rational answer as to the meaning of human life; and +this answer nineteen hundred years ago has been expressed in the +Christian religion and is likewise known to the vast majority of all +mankind. + +This answer in a latent state lives in the consciousness of all men of +the Christian world of our time; but it does not openly express itself +and serve as guidance for our life, only because, on the one hand, those +who enjoy the greatest authority, so-called scientists, being under the +coarse error that religion is a temporary and outgrown step in the +development of mankind and that men can live without religion, inculcate +this error to those of the masses who are beginning to be educated; and, +on the other hand, because those in power, sometimes consciously, but +often unconsciously (being under the error that the Church faith is +Christian religion), endeavor to support and excite in the people crude +superstitions given out as the Christian religion. If only these two +deceptions were to be destroyed, then true religion, already latent in +men of our time, would become evident and obligatory. + +To bring this about it is necessary that, on the one hand, men of science +should understand that the principle of the brotherhood of all men and +the rule of not doing unto others what one does not wish for oneself is +not one casual idea out of a multitude of human theories which can be +subordinated to any other considerations, but is an incontestable +principle, standing higher than the rest, and flowing from the changeless +relation of man to that which is eternal, to God, and is religion, all +religion, and, therefore, always obligatory. + +On the other hand, it is necessary that those who consciously or +unconsciously preach crude superstitions under the guise of Christianity +should understand that all these dogmas, sacraments, and rites which they +support and preach are not only, as they think, harmless, but are in the +highest degree pernicious, concealing from men that central religious +truth which is expressed in the fulfilment of God's will, in the service +of men, and that the rule of acting toward others as one would wish +others to act toward oneself is not merely one of the prescriptions of +the Christian religion, but is the whole of practical religion, as indeed +is stated in the Gospels. + +To bring about that men of our time should uniformly place before +themselves the question of the meaning of life, and uniformly answer it, +it is only necessary that those who regard themselves as enlightened +should cease to think and to inculcate to other generations that religion +is atavism, the survival of a past wild state, and that for the good life +of men the spreading of education is sufficient--_i.e._ the spread of the +most varied knowledge which is in some way to bring men to justice and to +a moral life. These men should understand instead that for the good life +of humanity religion is vital, and that this religion already exists and +lives in the consciousness of the men of our time. Men who are +intentionally and unintentionally stupefying the people by church +superstitions should cease to do so, and recognize that what is important +and binding in Christianity is not baptism, nor Communion, nor profession +of dogmas, etc., but only love to God and to one's neighbor, and the +fulfilling of the commandment of acting toward others as one wishes +others to act toward oneself--and that in this lies all the law and the +prophets. + +If only both pseudo-Christians and men of science understood and preached +to children and to the uneducated these simple, clear, and necessary +truths as they now preach their complicated, confused, and unnecessary +theories, all men would uniformly understand the meaning of their lives +and recognize one and the same duties as flowing from this meaning. + + + + + IX + + +But "How are we to act now, immediately among ourselves, in Russia, at +this moment, when our foes have already attacked us, are killing our +people, and threatening us; what should be the action," I shall be asked, +"of a Russian soldier, officer, general, Tsar, private individual? Are +we, forsooth, to allow our enemies to ruin our possessions, to seize the +productions of our labors, to carry away prisoners, or kill our men? What +are we to do now that this thing has begun?" + +But before the work of war was commenced, by whomsoever it was +commenced--every awakened man must answer--before all else the work of my +life was commenced. And the work of my life has nothing in common with +recognition of the rights of the Chinese, Japanese, or Russians to Port +Arthur. The work of my life consists in fulfilling the will of Him who +sent me into this life. This will is known to me. This will is that I +should love my neighbor and serve him. Then why should I, following +temporary, casual, irrational, and cruel demands, deviate from the known +eternal and changeless law of all my life? If there be a God, He will not +ask me when I die (which may happen at any moment) whether I retained +Chi-nam-po with its timber stores, or Port Arthur, or even that +conglomeration which is called the Russian Empire, which He did not +confide to my care; but He will ask me what I have done with that life +which He put at my disposal;--did I use it for the purpose for which it +was predestined, and under the conditions for fulfilling which it was +intrusted to me? Have I fulfilled His law? + +So that to this question as to what is to be done now, when war is +commenced, for me, a man who understands his destiny, whatever position I +may occupy, there can be no other answer than this, whatever be my +circumstances, whether the war be commenced or not, whether thousands of +Russians or Japanese be killed, whether not only Port Arthur be taken, +but St. Petersburg and Moscow--I cannot act otherwise than as God demands +of me, and that therefore I as a man can neither directly nor indirectly, +neither by directing, nor by helping, nor by inciting to it, participate +in war; I cannot, I do not wish to, and I will not. What will happen +immediately or soon, from my ceasing to do that which is contrary to the +will of God, I do not and cannot know; but I believe that from the +fulfilment of the will of God there can follow nothing but that which is +good for me and for all men. + +You speak with horror about what might happen if we Russians at this +moment ceased to fight, and surrendered to the Japanese what they desire +from us. But if it be true that the salvation of mankind from +brutalization and self-destruction lies only in the establishment amongst +men of that true religion which demands that we should love our neighbor +and serve him (with which it is impossible to disagree), then every war, +every hour of war, and my participation in it, only renders more +difficult and distant the realization of this only possible salvation. + +So that, even if one places oneself on the unstable point of view of +defining actions according to their presumed consequences--even then the +surrender to the Japanese by the Russians of all which the former desire +of us, besides the unquestionable advantage of the cessation of ruin and +slaughter, would be an approach to the only means of the salvation of +mankind from destruction; whereas the continuance of the war, however it +may end, will be a postponement of that only means of salvation. + +"Yet even if this be so," it is replied, "wars can cease only when all +men, or the majority, will refuse to participate in them. But the refusal +of one man, whether he be Tsar or soldier, would only, unnecessarily, and +without the slightest profit to any one, ruin his life. If the Russian +Tsar were now to throw up the war, he would be dethroned, perhaps killed, +in order to get rid of him; if an ordinary man were to refuse military +service, he would be sent to a penal battalion and perhaps shot. Why, +then, without the slightest use should one throw away one's life, which +may be profitable to society?" is the common question of those who do not +think of the destination of their life and therefore do not understand +it. + +But this is not what is said and felt by any man who understands the +destination of his life--_i.e._ by any religious man. Such a man is +guided in his activity not by the presumed consequences of his action, +but by the consciousness of the destination of his life. A factory +workman goes to his factory and in it accomplishes the work which is +allotted him without considering what will be the consequences of his +labor. In the same way a soldier acts, carrying out the will of his +commanders. So acts a religious man in fulfilling the work prescribed to +him by God, without arguing as to what precisely will come of that work. +Therefore for a religious man there is no question as to whether many or +few men act as he does, or of what may happen to him if he does that +which he should do. He knows that besides life and death nothing can +happen, and that life and death are in the hands of God whom he obeys. + +A religious man acts thus and not otherwise, not because he desires to +act thus, nor because it is advantageous to himself or to other men, but +because, believing that his life is in the hands of God, he cannot act +otherwise. + +In this lies the distinction of the activity of religious men; and +therefore it is that the salvation of men from the calamities which they +inflict upon themselves can be realized only in that degree in which they +are guided in their lives, not by advantage nor arguments, but by +religious consciousness. + + + + + X + + +"But how about the enemies that attack us?" + +"Love your enemies, and ye will have none," is said in the teaching of +the Twelve Apostles. This answer is not merely words, as those may +imagine who are accustomed to think that the recommendation of love to +one's enemies is something hyperbolical, and signifies not that which +expressed, but something else. This answer is the indication of a very +clear and definite activity, and of its consequences. + +To love one's enemies--the Japanese, the Chinese, those yellow people +toward whom benighted men are now endeavoring to excite our hatred--to +love them means not to kill them for the purpose of having the right of +poisoning them with opium, as did the English; not to kill them in order +to seize their land, as was done by the French, the Russians, and the +Germans; not to bury them alive in punishment for injuring roads, not to +tie them together by their hair, not to drown them in their river Amur, +as did the Russians. + +"A disciple is not above his master.... It is enough for a disciple that +he be as his master." + +To love the yellow people, whom we call our foes, means, not to teach +them under the name of Christianity absurd superstitions about the fall +of man, redemption, resurrection, etc., not to teach them the art of +deceiving and killing others, but to teach them justice, unselfishness, +compassion, love--and that not by words, but by the example of our own +good life. And what have we been doing to them, and are still doing? + +If we did indeed love our enemies, if even now we began to love our +enemies, the Japanese, we would have no enemy. + +Therefore, however strange it may appear to those occupied with military +plans, preparations, diplomatic considerations, administrative, +financial, economical measures, revolutionary, socialistic propaganda, +and various unnecessary sciences, by which they think to save mankind +from its calamities, the deliverance of man, not only from the calamities +of war, but also from all the calamities which men inflict upon +themselves, will take place not through emperors or kings instituting +peace alliances, not through those who would dethrone emperors, kings, or +restrain them by constitutions, or substitute republics for monarchies, +not by peace conferences, not by the realization of socialistic +programmes, not by victories or defeats on land or sea, not by libraries +or universities, nor by those futile mental exercises which are now +called science; but only by there being more and more of those simple men +who, like the Dukhobors, Drojjin, Olkhovik, in Russia, the Nazarenes in +Austria, Condatier in France, Tervey in Holland, and others, having +placed as their object not external alterations of life, but the closest +fulfilment in themselves of the will of Him who has sent them into life, +will direct all their powers to this realization. Only such people +realizing the Kingdom of God in themselves, in their souls, will +establish, without directly aiming at this purpose, that external Kingdom +of God which every human soul is longing for. + +Salvation will come to pass only in this one way and not in any other. +Therefore what is now being done by those who, ruling men, inspire them +with religious and patriotic superstitions, exciting in them +exclusiveness, hatred, and murder, as well as by those who, for the +purpose of freeing men from slavery and oppression, invoke them to +violent external revolution, or think that the acquisition by men of very +much incidental and for the most part unnecessary information will of +itself bring them to a good life--all this, by distracting men from what +alone they need, only removes them further from the possibility of +salvation. + +The evil from which the men of the Christian world suffer is that they +have temporarily lost religion. + +Some people, having come to see the discord between the existing religion +and the degree of mental and scientific development attained by humanity +at the present time, have decided that in general no religion whatever is +necessary. They live without religion and preach the uselessness of any +religion of whatever kind. Others, holding to that distorted form of the +Christian religion which is now preached, likewise live without religion, +professing empty external forms, which cannot serve as guidance for men. + +Yet a religion which answers to the demands of our time does exist and is +known to all men, and in a latent state lives in the hearts of men of the +Christian world. Therefore that this religion should become evident to +and binding upon all men, it is only necessary that educated men--the +leaders of the masses--should understand that religion is necessary to +man, that without religion men cannot live a good life, and that what +they call science cannot replace religion; and that those in power and +who support the old empty forms of religion should understand that what +they support and preach under the form of religion is not only not +religion, but is the chief obstacle to men's appropriating the true +religion which they already know, and which can alone deliver them from +their calamities. So that the only certain means of man's salvation +consists merely in ceasing to do that which hinders men from assimilating +the true religion which already lives in their consciousness. + + + + + XI + + +I had finished this writing when news came of the destruction of six +hundred innocent lives opposite Port Arthur. It would seem that the +useless suffering and death of these unfortunate deluded men who have +needlessly and so dreadfully perished ought to disabuse those who were +the cause of this destruction. I am not alluding to Makaroff and other +officers--all these men knew what they were doing, and wherefore, and +they voluntarily, for personal advantage, for ambition, did as they did, +disguising themselves in pretended patriotism, a pretence not condemned +merely because it is universal. I allude rather to those unfortunate men +drawn from all parts of Russia, who, by the help of religious fraud, and +under fear of punishment, have been torn from an honest, reasonable, +useful, laborious family life, driven to the other end of the world, +placed on a cruel, senseless machine for slaughter, and torn to bits, +drowned along with this stupid machine in a distant sea, without any need +or any possibility of advantage from all their privations, efforts, and +sufferings, or from the death which overtook them. + +In 1830, during the Polish war, the adjutant Vilijinsky sent to St. +Petersburg by Klopitsky, in a conversation held in French with Dibitch, +in answer to the latter's demand that the Russian troops should enter +Poland, said to him:-- + +"Monsieur le Maréchal, I think that in that case it will be quite +impossible for the Polish nation to accept this manifesto...." + +"Believe me, the Emperor will make no further concessions." + +"Then I foresee that, unhappily, there will be war, that much blood will +be shed, there will be many unfortunate victims." + +"Do not think so; at most there will be ten thousand who will perish on +both sides, and that is all,"[1] said Dibitch in his German accent, quite +confident that he, together with another man as cruel and foreign to +Russian and Polish life as he was himself,--Nicholas I,--had the right to +condemn or not to condemn to death ten or a hundred thousand Russians and +Poles. + + [1] Vilijinsky adds on his own behalf, "The Field-Marshal did not then + think that more than sixty thousand Russians alone would perish in + this war, not so much from the enemy's fire as from disease--nor + that he would himself be amongst their number." + +One hardly believes that this could have been, so senseless and dreadful +is it,--and yet it was; sixty thousand maintainers of their families lost +their lives owing to the will of those men. And now the same thing is +taking place. + +In order not to let the Japanese into Manchuria, and to expel them from +Korea, not ten thousand, but fifty and more thousands will, according to +all probability, be necessary. I do not know whether Nicholas II and +Kuropatkin say like Dibitch in so many words that not more than fifty +thousand lives will be necessary for this on the Russian side alone, only +and only that; but they think it--they cannot but think it, because the +work they are doing speaks for itself; that ceaseless stream of +unfortunate, deluded Russian peasants now being transported by thousands +to the Far East--these are those same not more than fifty thousand live +Russian men whom Nicholas Romanoff and Alexis Kuropatkin have decided +they may get killed, and who will be killed, in support of those +stupidities, robberies, and every kind of abomination which were +accomplished in China and Korea by immoral ambitious men now sitting +peacefully in their palaces and expecting new glory and new advantage and +profit from the slaughter of these fifty thousand unfortunate, defrauded +Russian workingmen guilty of nothing and gaining nothing by their +sufferings and death. For other people's land, to which the Russians have +no right, which has been criminally seized from its legitimate owners, +and which, in reality, is not even necessary to the Russians--and also +for certain dark dealings by speculators, who in Korea wished to gain +money out of other people's forests--many millions of money are spent, +_i.e._ a great part of the labor of the whole of the Russian people, +while the future generations of this people are bound by debts, its best +workmen are withdrawn from labor, and scores of thousands of its sons are +mercilessly doomed to death; and the destruction of these unfortunate men +is already begun. More than this: the war is being managed by those who +have hatched it so badly, so negligently, all is so unexpected, so +unprepared, that, as one paper admits, Russia's chief chance of success +lies in the fact that it possesses inexhaustible human material. It is +upon this that those rely who send to death scores of thousands of +Russian men! + +It is frankly said that the regrettable reverses of our fleet must be +compensated on the land. In plain language this means that if the +authorities have badly directed things on sea, and by their negligence +have destroyed not only the nation's millions, but thousands of lives, we +can make it up by condemning to death on land several more scores of +thousands! + +When crawling locusts cross rivers, it happens that the lower layers are +drowned until from the bodies of the drowned is formed a bridge over +which the upper ranks can pass. In the same way are the Russian people +being disposed of. Thus the first lower layer is already beginning to +drown, indicating the way to other thousands, who will all likewise +perish. + +And are the originators, directors, and supporters of this dreadful work +beginning to understand their sin, their crime? Not in the least. They +are quite persuaded that they have fulfilled, and are fulfilling, their +duty, and they are proud of their activity. People speak of the loss of +the brave Makaroff, who, as all agree, was able to kill men very +cleverly; they deplore the loss of a drowned excellent machine of +slaughter which had cost so many millions of roubles; they discuss the +question of how to find another murderer as capable as the poor benighted +Makaroff; they invent new, still more efficacious, tools of slaughter; +and all the guilty men engaged in this dreadful work, from the Tsar to +the humblest journalist, all with one voice call for new insanities, new +cruelties, for the increase of brutality and hatred of one's fellow-men. + +"Makaroff is not the only man in Russia, and every admiral placed in his +position will follow in his steps and will continue the plan and the idea +of Makaroff, who has nobly perished in the strife," writes the _Novoe +Vremya_. + +"Let us earnestly pray God for those who have laid down their lives for +the sacred Fatherland, without doubting for one moment that the +Fatherland will give us new sons, equally virtuous, for the further +struggle, and will find in them an inexhaustible store of strength for a +worthy completion of the work," writes the St. Petersburg _Viedomosti_. + +"A ripe nation will draw no other conclusion from the defeat, however +unprecedented, than that we should continue, develop, and conclude the +strife; therefore let us find in ourselves new strength; new heroes of +the spirit will arise," writes the _Russ_,--and so forth. + +So murder and every kind of crime go on with greater fury. People +enthusiastically admire the martial spirit of the volunteers who, having +come unexpectedly upon fifty of their fellow-men, slay all of them, or +take possession of a village and slaughter all its population, or hang or +shoot those accused of being spies--_i.e._ of doing the very same thing +which is regarded as indispensable and is constantly done on our side. +News about these crimes is reported in pompous telegrams to their chief +director, the Tsar, who, in return, sends to his virtuous troops his +blessing on the continuation of such deeds. + +Is it not evident that, if there be a salvation from this position, it is +only one: that one which Jesus teaches?--"Seek ye first the Kingdom of +God and His righteousness (that which is within you), and all the +rest--_i.e._ all that practical welfare toward which man is +striving--will of itself be realized." + +Such is the law of life: practical welfare is attained not when man +strives toward this practical welfare--such striving, on the contrary, +for the most part removes man from the attainment of what he seeks; but +only when man, without thinking of the attainment of practical welfare, +strives toward the most perfect fulfilment of that which before God, +before the Source and Law of his life, he regards as right. Then only, +incidentally, is practical welfare also attained. + +So that the true salvation of men is only one thing: the fulfilment of +the will of God by each individual man within himself--_i.e._ in that +portion of the universe which alone is subject to his power. In this is +the chief, the only, destiny and duty of every individual man, and at the +same time this is the only means by which every individual man can +influence others; and, therefore, to this, and to this only, should all +the efforts of every man be directed. + +May 2, 1904. + + + + + XII + + +I had only just despatched the last of the preceding pages of this paper +when the dreadful news came of a new iniquity committed in regard to the +Russian people by those light-minded men who, crazed with power, have +appropriated the right of managing them. Again coarse and servile slaves +of slaves, dressed up in various dazzling attires--varieties of Generals +wishing to distinguish themselves, or to earn the right to add one more +little star, fingle fangle, or scrap of ribbon to their idiotic glaring +get-up, or else from stupidity or carelessness--again these miserable men +have destroyed amid dreadful sufferings thousands of those honorable, +kind, hard-working laborers who feed them. And again this iniquity not +only does not cause those responsible for it to reflect and repent, but +one hears and reads only about its being necessary as speedily as +possible to mutilate and slaughter a greater number of men, and to ruin +still more families, both Russian and Japanese. + +More than this, to prepare men for fresh iniquities of this kind, the +perpetrators of these crimes, far from recognizing what is evident to +all--viz. that for the Russians this event, even from their patriotic, +military point of view, was a scandalous defeat--endeavor to assure +credulous people that these unfortunate Russian laboring men--lured into +a trap like cattle into a slaughterhouse, of whom several thousands have +been killed and maimed merely because one General did not understand what +another General had said--have performed an act of heroism because those +who could not run away were killed and those who did run away remained +alive. As to the fact that one of these immoral and cruel men, +distinguished by the titles of Generals, Admirals, drowned a quantity of +peaceful Japanese, this is also described as a great and glorious act of +heroism, which must gladden the hearts of Russians. And in all the papers +are reprinted this awful appeal to murder:-- + +"Let the two thousand Russian soldiers killed on the Yalu, together with +the maimed _Retvisan_ and her sister ships, with our lost torpedo-boats, +teach our cruisers with what devastation they must break in upon the +shores of base Japan. She has sent her soldiers to shed Russian blood, +and no quarter should be afforded her. Now one cannot--it is sinful--be +sentimental; we must fight; we must direct such heavy blows that the +memory of them shall freeze the treacherous hearts of the Japanese. Now +is the time for the cruisers to go out to sea to reduce to ashes the +towns of Japan, flying as a dreadful calamity along its shores. No more +sentimentality." + +The frightful work commenced is continued. Loot, violence, murder, +hypocrisy, theft, and, above all, the most fearful fraud--the distortion +of religious teachings, both Christian and Buddhistic--continue. The +Tsar, the chief responsible person, continues to review the troops, to +thank, reward, and encourage them; he issues an edict for the calling out +of the reserves; his faithful subjects again and again lay down their +property and lives at the feet of him they call, only with their lips, +their adored Monarch. On the other hand, desiring to distinguish +themselves before each other in deeds and not in words only, they tear +away the fathers and the bread-winners from their orphaned families, +preparing them for slaughter. The worse the position of Russia, the more +recklessly do the journalists lie, transforming shameful defeats into +victories, knowing that no one will contradict them; and they quietly +collect money from subscriptions and sales. The more money and labor of +the people is devoted to the war, the more is grabbed by various +authorities and speculators, who know that no one will convict them +because every one is doing the same. The military, trained for murder, +having passed years in a school of inhumanity, coarseness, and idleness, +rejoice--poor men--because, besides an increase of their salary, the +slaughter of superiors opens vacancies for their promotion. Christian +pastors continue to invite men to the greatest of crimes, continue to +commit sacrilege, praying God to help the work of war; and, instead of +condemning, they justify and praise that pastor who, with the cross in +his hands on the very scene of murder, encouraged men to the crime. The +same thing is going on in Japan. The benighted Japanese go in for murder +with yet greater fervor, owing to their victories; the Mikado also +reviews and rewards his troops; various Generals boast of their bravery, +imagining that, having learned to kill, they have acquired enlightenment. +So, too, groan the unfortunate working people torn from useful labor and +from their families. So their journalists also lie and rejoice over their +gains. Also probably--for where murder is elevated into virtue every kind +of vice is bound to flourish--also probably all kinds of commanders and +speculators earn money; and Japanese theologians and religious teachers +no less than the masters in the techniques of armament do not remain +behind the Europeans in the techniques of religious deceit and sacrilege, +but distort the great Buddhistic teaching by not only permitting but +justifying that murder which Buddha forbade. The Buddhistic scientist, +Soyen-Shaku, ruling over eight hundred monasteries, explains that +although Buddha forbade manslaughter he also said he could never be at +peace until all beings are united in the infinitely loving heart of all +things, and that, therefore, in order to bring into harmony that which is +discordant it is necessary to fight and to kill men.[2] + + [2] In the article it is said: "This triple world is my own possession. + All the things therein are my own children ... the ten thousand + things in this world are no more than the reflections of my own + self. They come from the one source. They partake of the one body. + Therefore I cannot rest, until every being, even the smallest + possible fragment of existence, is settled down to its proper + appointment.... This is the position taken by the Buddha, and we, + his humble followers, are but to walk in his wake. Why, then, do we + fight at all? Because we do not find this world as it ought to be. + Because there are here so many perverted creatures, so many wayward + thoughts, so many ill-directed hearts, due to ignorant + subjectivity. For this reason Buddhists are never tired of + combating all productions of ignorance, and their fight must be to + the bitter end. They will show no quarter. They will mercilessly + destroy the very root from which arises the misery of this life. To + accomplish this end, they will never be afraid of sacrificing their + lives...." There follow, just as is usual with us, entangled + arguments about self-sacrifice and kindness, about the + transmigration of souls and about much else--all this for the sole + purpose of concealing the simple and clear commandment of Buddha: + not to kill. Further it is said: "The hand that is raised to strike + and the eye that is fixed to take aim do not belong to the + individual, but are the instruments utilized by a principle higher + than transient existence." ("The Open Court," May, 1904. "Buddhist + Views of War," by the Right Rev. Soyen-Shaku.) + +It is as if there never had existed the Christian and Buddhistic teaching +about the unity of the human spirit, the brotherhood of men, love, +compassion, the sacredness of human life. Men, both Japanese and +Russians, already enlightened by the truth, yet like wild animals, nay, +worse than wild animals, throw themselves upon each other with the sole +desire to destroy as many lives as possible. Thousands of unfortunates +groan and writhe in cruel sufferings and die in agony in Japanese and +Russian field hospitals, asking themselves in bewilderment why this +fearful thing was done with them, while other thousands are already +rotting in the earth or on the earth, or floating in the sea, in swollen +decomposition. And scores of thousands of wives, fathers, mothers, +children, are bemoaning their bread-winners; uselessly destroyed. Yet all +this is still too little; new and newer victims are being prepared. The +chief concern of the Russian organizers of slaughter is that on the +Russian side the stream of food for cannon--three thousand men per day +doomed to destruction--should not be interrupted for one minute. The +Japanese are preoccupied with the same thing. The locusts are incessantly +being driven down into the river in order that the rows behind may pass +over the bodies. + +When will this cease, and the deceived people at last recover themselves +and say: "Well, go you yourselves, you heartless Tsars, Mikados, +Ministers, Bishops, priests, generals, editors, speculators, or however +you may be called, go you yourselves under these shells and bullets, but +we do not wish to go and we will not go. Leave us in peace, to plough, +and sow, and build,--and also to feed you." It would be so natural to say +this now, when amongst us in Russia resounds the weeping and wailing of +hundreds of thousands of mothers, wives, and children, from whom are +being snatched away their bread-earners, the so-called "reserve." These +same men, the majority of the reserve, are able to read; they know what +the Far East is; they know that war is going on, not for anything which +is in the least necessary to Russia, but for some dealings in strange +land, leased lands, as they themselves call them, on which it seemed +advantageous to some corrupt speculators to build railways and so gain +profit; also they know, or might know, that they will be killed like +sheep in a slaughterhouse, since the Japanese possess the latest +improvements in tools of murder, which we do not, as the Russian +authorities who are sending these people to death had not thought in time +of furnishing themselves with the same weapons as the Japanese. Knowing +all this, it would indeed be so natural to say, "Go you, those who have +brought on this work, all you to whom war is necessary, and who justify +it; go you, and face the Japanese bullets and mines, but we will not go, +because we not only do not need to do this, but we cannot understand how +it can be necessary to any one." + +But no, they do not say this; they go, and they will continue to go; they +cannot but go as long as they fear that which ruins the body and not that +which ruins both the body and the soul. "Whether we shall be killed," +they argue, "or maimed in these chinnampos, or whatever they are called, +whither we are driven, we do not know; it yet may happen that we shall +get through safely, and, moreover, with rewards and glory, like those +sailors who are now being feasted all over Russia because the Japanese +bombs and bullets did not hit them, but somebody else; whereas should we +refuse, we should be certainly sent to prison, starved, beaten, exiled to +the province of Yakoutsk, perhaps even killed immediately." So with +despair in their hearts, leaving behind a good rational life, leaving +their wives and their children,--they go. + +Yesterday I met a Reservist soldier accompanied by his mother and wife. +All three were riding in a cart; he had had a drop too much; his wife's +face was swollen with tears. He turned to me:-- + +"Good-by to thee! Lyof Nikolaevitch, off to the Far East." + +"Well, art thou going to fight?" + +"Well, some one has to fight!" + +"No one need fight!" + +He reflected for a moment. "But what is one to do; where can one +escape?" + +I saw that he had understood me, had understood that the work to which he +was being sent was an evil work. + +"Where can one escape?" That is the precise expression of that mental +condition which in the official and journalistic world is translated into +the words--"For the Faith, the Tsar, and the Fatherland." Those who, +abandoning their hungry families, go to suffering, to death, say as they +feel, "Where can one escape?" Whereas those who sit in safety in their +luxurious palaces say that all Russian men are ready to sacrifice their +lives for their adored Monarch, and for the glory and greatness of +Russia. + +Yesterday, from a peasant I know, I received two letters, one after the +other. This is the first:-- + +"Dear Lyof Nikolaevitch,--Well, to-day I have received the official +announcement of my call to the Service; to-morrow I must present myself +at the headquarters. That is all. And after that--to the Far East to meet +the Japanese bullets. About my own and my household's grief I will not +tell you; it is not you who will fail to understand all the horror of my +position and the horrors of war; all this you have long ago painfully +realized, and you understand it all. How I have longed to visit you, to +have a talk with you! I had written to you a long letter in which I +described the torments of my soul; but I had not had time to copy it, +when I received my summons. What is my wife to do now with her four +children? As an old man, of course, you cannot do anything yourself for +my folks, but you might ask some of your friends in their leisure to +visit my orphaned family. I beg you earnestly that if my wife proves +unable to bear the agony of her helplessness with her burden of children +and makes up her mind to go to you for help and counsel, you will receive +and console her. Although she does not know you personally, she believes +in your word, and that means much. I was not able to resist the summons, +but I say beforehand that through me not one Japanese family shall be +orphaned. My God! how dreadful is all this--how distressing and painful +to abandon all by which one lives and in which one is concerned." + +The second letter is as follows: "Kindest Lyof Nikolaevitch, Only one day +of actual service has passed, and I have already lived through an +eternity of most desperate torments. From 8 o'clock in the morning till 9 +in the evening we have been crowded and knocked about to and fro in the +barrack yard, like a herd of cattle. The comedy of medical examination +was three times repeated, and those who had reported themselves ill did +not receive even ten minutes' attention before they were marked +'Satisfactory.' When we, these two thousand satisfactory individuals, +were driven from the military commander to the barracks, along the road +spread out for almost a verst stood a crowd of relatives, mothers, and +wives with infants in arms; and if you had only heard and seen how they +clasped their fathers, husbands, sons, and hanging round their necks +wailed hopelessly! Generally I behave in a reserved way and can restrain +my feelings, but I could not hold out, and I also wept. [In journalistic +language this same is expressed thus: "The upheaval of patriotic feeling +is immense."] Where is the standard that can measure all this immensity +of woe now spreading itself over almost one-third of the world? And we, +we are now that food for cannon, which in the near future will be offered +as sacrifice to the God of vengeance and horror. I cannot manage to +establish my inner balance. Oh! how I execrate myself for this +double-mindedness which prevents my serving one Master and God." + +This man does not yet sufficiently believe that what destroys the body is +not dreadful, but that which destroys both the body and the soul, +therefore he cannot refuse to go; yet while leaving his own family he +promises beforehand that through him not one Japanese family shall be +orphaned; he believes in the chief law of God, the law of all +religions--to act toward others as one wishes others to act toward +oneself. Of such men more or less consciously recognizing this law, there +are in our time, not in the Christian world alone, but in the Buddhistic, +Mahomedan, Confucian, and Brahminic world, not only thousands but +millions. + +There exist true heroes, not those who are now being fêted because, +having wished to kill others, they were not killed themselves, but true +heroes, who are now confined in prisons and in the province of Yakoutsk +for having categorically refused to enter the ranks of murderers, and who +have preferred martyrdom to this departure from the law of Jesus. There +are also such as he who writes to me, who go, but who will not kill. But +also that majority which goes without thinking, and endeavors not to +think of what it is doing, still in the depth of its soul does now +already feel that it is doing an evil deed by obeying authorities who +tear men from labor and from their families and send them to needless +slaughter of men, repugnant to their soul and their faith; and they go +only because they are so entangled on all sides that--"Where can one +escape?" + +Meanwhile those who remain at home not only feel this, but know and +express it. Yesterday in the high road I met some peasants returning from +Toula. One of them was reading a leaflet as he walked by the side of his +cart. + +I asked, "What is that--a telegram?" + +"This is yesterday's,--but here is one of to-day." He took another out of +his pocket. We stopped. I read it. + +"You should have seen what took place yesterday at the station," he said; +"it was dreadful. Wives, children, more than a thousand of them, weeping. +They surrounded the train, but were allowed no further. Strangers wept, +looking on. One woman from Toula gasped and fell down dead. Five +children. They have since been placed in various institutions; but the +father was driven away all the same.... What do we want with this +Manchuria, or whatever it is called? There is sufficient land here. And +what a lot of people and of property has been destroyed." + +Yes, the relation of men to war is now quite different from that which +formerly existed, even so lately as the year '77. That which is now +taking place never took place before. + +The papers set forth that, during the receptions of the Tsar, who is +travelling about Russia for the purpose of hypnotizing the men who are +being sent to murder, indescribable enthusiasm is manifested amongst the +people. As a matter of fact, something quite different is being +manifested. From all sides one hears reports that in one place three +Reservists have hanged themselves; in another spot, two more; in yet +another, about a woman whose husband had been taken away bringing her +children to the conscription committee-room and leaving them there; while +another hanged herself in the yard of the military commander. All are +dissatisfied, gloomy, exasperated. The words, "For the Faith, the King, +and the Fatherland," the National Anthem, and shouts of "Hurrah" no +longer act upon people as they once did. Another warfare of a different +kind--the struggling consciousness of the deceit and sinfulness of the +work to which people are being called--is more and more taking possession +of the people. + +Yes, the great strife of our time is not that now taking place between +the Japanese and the Russians, nor that which may blaze up between the +white and yellow races, not that strife which is carried on by mines, +bombs, bullets, but that spiritual strife which without ceasing has gone +on and is now going on between the enlightened consciousness of mankind +now waiting for manifestation and that darkness and that burden which +surrounds and oppresses mankind. + +In His own time Jesus yearned in expectation, and said, "I came to cast +fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled." Luke +xii. 49. + +That which Jesus longed for is being accomplished, the fire is being +kindled. Then do not let us check it, but let us spread and serve it. + +13 May, 1904. + +I should never finish this paper if I were to continue to add to it all +that corroborates its essential idea. Yesterday the news came in of the +sinking of the Japanese ironclads; and in the so-called higher circles of +Russian fashionable, rich, intellectual society they are, without the +slightest conscientious scruples, rejoicing at the destruction of a +thousand human lives. Yet to-day I have received from a simple seaman, a +man standing on the lowest plane of society, the following letter:[3] + +"Much respected Lyof Nikolaevitch, I greet you with a low bow, with love, +much respected Lyof Nikolaevitch. I have read your book. It was very +pleasant reading for me. I have been a great lover of reading your works. +Well, Lyof Nikolaevitch, we are now in a state of war, please write to me +whether it is agreeable to God or not that our commanders compel us to +kill. I beg you, Lyof Nikolaevitch, write to me please whether or not the +truth now exists on earth. Tell me, Lyof Nikolaevitch. In church here a +prayer is being read, the priest mentions the Christ-loving army. Is it +true or not that God loves war? I pray you, Lyof Nikolaevitch, have you +got any books from which I could see whether truth exists on earth or +not? Send me such books. What they cost, I will pay. I beg you, Lyof +Nikolaevitch, do not neglect my request. If there are no books then send +me a letter. I will be very glad when I receive a letter from you. I will +await your letter with impatience. Good-by for the present. I remain +alive and well and wish the same to you from the Lord God. Good health +and good success in your work." + + + [3] The letter is written in a most illiterate way, filled with + mistakes in orthography and punctuation. + (Trans.) + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of "Bethink Yourselves", by Leo Tolstoi + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "BETHINK YOURSELVES" *** + +***** This file should be named 27189-8.txt or 27189-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/1/8/27189/ + +Produced by Gerard Arthus, Jana Srna and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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