{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_27189/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_27189","id":"gutenberg_27189","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27189","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - Warfare","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Russian Literature","Peace","Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905"],"text":"Produced by Gerard Arthus, Jana Srna and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nbook was produced from scanned images of public domain\nmaterial from the Google Print project.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                      THE INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY\n\n                              NOW READY\n\n\n                 =Bloch's \"The Future of War\"=\n                 Price, 50 cents; by mail, 65 cents\n\n                 =Charles Sumner's Addresses on War=\n                 Price, 50 cents; by mail, 60 cents\n\n                 =Channing's Discourses on War=\n                 Price, 50 cents; by mail, 60 cents\n\n\n           Edited with introductions by Edwin D. Mead.\n           Published for the International Union by Ginn &\n           Company, Boston.\n\n\n\n\n                        \"BETHINK YOURSELVES!\"\n\n\n                                  BY\n                             LEO TOLSTOI\n\n\n\n\n                PUBLISHED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL UNION\n                        GINN & COMPANY, BOSTON\n                                 1904\n\n\n                  Reprinted from the _London Times_\n\n     Translated by V. Tchertkoff, Editor of the _Free Age Press_,\n                             and I. F. M.\n\n\n\n\n                        \"BETHINK YOURSELVES!\"\n\n   \"This is your hour, and the power of darkness.\"--Luke xxii. 53.\n\n\n\n\n                                   I\n\n\nAgain war. Again sufferings, necessary to nobody, utterly uncalled for;\nagain fraud; again the universal stupefaction and brutalization of men.\n\nMen who are separated from each other by thousands of miles, hundreds of\nthousands of such men (on the one hand--Buddhists, whose law forbids the\nkilling, not only of men, but of animals; on the other hand--Christians,\nprofessing the law of brotherhood and love) like wild beasts on land and\non sea are seeking out each other, in order to kill, torture, and\nmutilate each other in the most cruel way. What can this be? Is it a\ndream or a reality? Something is taking place which should not, cannot\nbe; one longs to believe that it is a dream and to awake from it. But no,\nit is not a dream, it is a dreadful reality!\n\nOne could yet understand how a poor, uneducated, defrauded Japanese, torn\nfrom his field and taught that Buddhism consists not in compassion to all\nthat lives, but in sacrifices to idols, and how a similar poor illiterate\nfellow from the neighborhood of Toula or Nijni Novgorod, who has been\ntaught that Christianity consists in worshipping Christ, the Madonna,\nSaints, and their ikons--one could understand how these unfortunate men,\nbrought by the violence and deceit of centuries to recognize the greatest\ncrime in the world--the murder of one's brethren--as a virtuous act, can\ncommit these dreadful deeds, without regarding themselves as being guilty\nin so doing.\n\nBut how can so-called enlightened men preach war, support it, participate\nin it, and, worst of all, without suffering the dangers of war\nthemselves, incite others to it, sending their unfortunate defrauded\nbrothers to fight? These so-called enlightened men cannot possibly\nignore, I do not say the Christian law, if they recognize themselves to\nbe Christians, but all that has been written, is being written, has and\nis being said, about the cruelty, futility, and senselessness of war.\nThey are regarded as enlightened men precisely because they know all\nthis. The majority of them have themselves written and spoken about this.\nNot to mention The Hague Conference, which called forth universal praise,\nor all the books, pamphlets, newspaper articles, and speeches\ndemonstrating the possibility of the solution of international\nmisunderstandings by international arbitration--no enlightened man can\nhelp knowing that the universal competition in the armaments of States\nmust inevitably lead them to endless wars, or to a general bankruptcy, or\nto both the one and the other. They cannot but know that besides the\nsenseless, purposeless expenditure of milliards of roubles, _i.e._ of\nhuman labor, on the preparations for war, during the wars themselves\nmillions of the most energetic and vigorous men perish in that period of\ntheir life which is best for productive labor (during the past century\nwars have destroyed fourteen million men). Enlightened men cannot but\nknow that occasions for war are always such as are not worth not only one\nhuman life, but not one hundredth part of all that which is spent upon\nwars (in fighting for the emancipation of the negroes much more was spent\nthan it would have cost to redeem them from slavery).\n\nEvery one knows and cannot help knowing that, above all, wars, calling\nforth the lowest animal passions, deprave and brutalize men. Every one\nknows the weakness of the arguments in favor of war, such as were\nbrought forward by De Maistre, Moltke, and others, for they are all\nfounded on the sophism that in every human calamity it is possible to\nfind an advantageous element, or else upon the utterly arbitrary assertion\nthat wars have always existed and therefore always must exist, as if the\nbad actions of men could be justified by the advantages or the\nusefulness which they realize, or by the consideration that they have\nbeen committed during a long period of time. All so-called enlightened\nmen know all this. Then suddenly war begins, and all this is instantly\nforgotten, and the same men who but yesterday were proving the cruelty,\nfutility, the senselessness of wars now think, speak, and write only\nabout killing as many men as possible, about ruining and destroying the\ngreatest possible amount of the productions of human labor, and about\nexciting as much as possible the passion of hatred in those peaceful,\nharmless, industrious men who by their labor feed, clothe, maintain these\nsame pseudo-enlightened men, who compel them to commit those dreadful\ndeeds contrary to their conscience, welfare, or faith.\n\n\n\n\n                                   II\n\n\nSomething is taking place incomprehensible and impossible in its cruelty,\nfalsehood, and stupidity. The Russian Tsar, the same man who exhorted all\nthe nations in the cause of peace, publicly announces that,\nnotwithstanding all his efforts to maintain the peace so dear to his\nheart (efforts which express themselves in the seizing of other peoples'\nlands and in the strengthening of armies for the defence of these stolen\nlands), he, owing to the attack of the Japanese, commands that the same\nshall be done to the Japanese as they had commenced doing to the\nRussians--_i.e._ that they should be slaughtered; and in announcing this\ncall to murder he mentions God, asking the Divine blessing on the most\ndreadful crime in the world. The Japanese Emperor has proclaimed the same\nthing in relation to the Russians.\n\nMen of science and of law (Messieurs Muravieff and Martens) strenuously\ntry to prove that in the recent call of all nations to universal peace\nand the present incitement to war, because of the seizure of other\npeoples' lands, there is no contradiction. Diplomatists, in their refined\nFrench language, publish and send out circulars in which they\ncircumstantially and diligently prove (though they know no one believes\nthem) that, after all its efforts to establish peaceful relations (in\nreality, after all its efforts to deceive other countries), the Russian\nGovernment has been compelled to have recourse to the only means for a\nrational solution of the question--_i.e._ to the murder of men. The same\nthing is written by Japanese diplomatists. Scientists, historians, and\nphilosophers, on their side, comparing the present with the past, deduce\nfrom these comparisons profound conclusions, and argue interminably about\nthe laws of the movement of nations, about the relation between the\nyellow and white races, or about Buddhism and Christianity, and on the\nbasis of these deductions and arguments justify the slaughter of those\nbelonging to the yellow race by Christians; while in the same way the\nJapanese scientists and philosophers justify the slaughter of those of\nthe white race. Journalists, without concealing their joy, try to outdo\neach other, and, not hesitating at any falsehood, however impudent and\ntransparent, prove in all possible ways that the Russians only are right\nand strong and good in every respect, and that all the Japanese are wrong\nand weak and bad in every respect, and that all those are also bad who\nare inimical or may become inimical toward the Russians--the English, the\nAmericans; and the same is proved likewise by the Japanese and their\nsupporters in relation to the Russians.\n\nNot to mention the military, who in the way of their profession prepare\nfor murder, crowds of so-called enlightened people, such as professors,\nsocial reformers, students, nobles, merchants, without being forced\nthereto by anything or anybody, express the most bitter and contemptuous\nfeelings toward the Japanese, the English, or the Americans, toward whom\nbut yesterday they were either well-disposed or indifferent; while,\nwithout the least compulsion, they express the most abject, servile\nfeelings toward the Tsar (to whom, to say the least, they were completely\nindifferent), assuring him of their unlimited love and readiness to\nsacrifice their lives in his interests.\n\nThis unfortunate, entangled young man, recognized as the leader of one\nhundred and thirty millions of people, continually deceived and compelled\nto contradict himself, confidently thanks and blesses the troops whom he\ncalls his own for murder in defence of lands which with yet less right he\nalso calls his own. All present to each other hideous ikons in which not\nonly no one amongst the educated believes, but which unlearned peasants\nare beginning to abandon; all bow down to the ground before these ikons,\nkiss them, and pronounce pompous and deceitful speeches in which no one\nreally believes.\n\nWealthy people contribute insignificant portions of their immorally\nacquired riches for this cause of murder or the organization of help in\nconnection with the work of murder; while the poor, from whom the\nGovernment annually collects two milliards, deem it necessary to do\nlikewise, giving their mites also. The Government incites and encourages\ncrowds of idlers, who walk about the streets with the Tsar's portrait,\nsinging, shouting hurrah! and who, under pretext of patriotism, are\nlicensed in all kinds of excess. All over Russia, from the Palace to the\nremotest village, the pastors of churches, calling themselves Christians,\nappeal to that God who has enjoined love to one's enemies--to the God of\nLove Himself--to help the work of the devil to further the slaughter of\nmen.\n\nStupefied by prayers, sermons, exhortations, by processions, pictures,\nand newspapers, the cannon's flesh, hundreds of thousands of men,\nuniformly dressed, carrying divers deadly weapons, leaving their parents,\nwives, children, with hearts of agony, but with artificial sprightliness,\ngo where they, risking their own lives, will commit the most dreadful act\nof killing men whom they do not know and who have done them no harm. And\nthey are followed by doctors and nurses, who somehow imagine that at home\nthey cannot serve simple, peaceful, suffering people, but can only serve\nthose who are engaged in slaughtering each other. Those who remain at\nhome are gladdened by news of the murder of men, and when they learn that\nmany Japanese have been killed they thank some one whom they call God.\n\nAll this is not only regarded as the manifestation of elevated feeling,\nbut those who refrain from such manifestations, if they endeavor to\ndisabuse men, are deemed traitors and betrayers, and are in danger of\nbeing abused and beaten by a brutalized crowd which, in defence of its\ninsanity and cruelty, can possess no other weapon than brute force.\n\n\n\n\n                                  III\n\n\nIt is as if there had never existed either Voltaire, or Montaigne, or\nPascal, or Swift, or Kant, or Spinoza, or hundreds of other writers who\nhave exposed, with great force, the madness and futility of war, and have\ndescribed its cruelty, immorality, and savagery; and, above all, it is as\nif there had never existed Jesus and his teaching of human brotherhood\nand love of God and of men.\n\nOne recalls all this to mind and looks around on what is now taking\nplace, and one experiences horror less at the abominations of war than at\nthat which is the most horrible of all horrors--the consciousness of the\nimpotency of human reason. That which alone distinguishes man from the\nanimal, that which constitutes his merit--his reason--is found to be an\nunnecessary, and not only a useless, but a pernicious addition, which\nsimply impedes action, like a bridle fallen from a horse's head, and\nentangled in his legs and only irritating him.\n\nIt is comprehensible that a heathen, a Greek, a Roman, even a mediaeval\nChristian, ignorant of the Gospel and blindly believing all the\nprescriptions of the Church, might fight and, fighting, pride himself on\nhis military achievements; but how can a believing Christian, or even a\nsceptic, involuntarily permeated by the Christian ideals of human\nbrotherhood and love which have inspired the works of the philosophers,\nmoralists, and artists of our time,--how can such take a gun, or stand by\na cannon, and aim at a crowd of his fellow-men, desiring to kill as many\nof them as possible?\n\nThe Assyrians, Romans, or Greeks might be persuaded that in fighting they\nwere acting not only according to their conscience, but even fulfilling a\nrighteous deed. But, whether we wish it or not, we are Christians, and\nhowever Christianity may have been distorted, its general spirit cannot\nbut lift us to that higher plane of reason whence we can no longer\nrefrain from feeling with our whole being not only the senselessness and\nthe cruelty of war, but its complete opposition to all that we regard as\ngood and right. Therefore, we cannot do as they did, with assurance,\nfirmness, and peace, and without a consciousness of our criminality,\nwithout the desperate feeling of a murderer, who, having begun to kill\nhis victim, and feeling in the depths of his soul the guilt of his act,\nproceeds to try to stupefy or infuriate himself, to be able the better to\ncomplete his dreadful deed. All the unnatural, feverish, hot-headed,\ninsane excitement which has now seized the idle upper ranks of Russian\nsociety is merely the symptom of their recognition of the criminality of\nthe work which is being done. All these insolent, mendacious speeches\nabout devotion to, and worship of, the Monarch, about readiness to\nsacrifice life (or one should say other people's lives, and not one's\nown); all these promises to defend with one's breast land which does not\nbelong to one; all these senseless benedictions of each other with\nvarious banners and monstrous ikons; all these _Te Deums_; all these\npreparations of blankets and bandages; all these detachments of nurses;\nall these contributions to the fleet and to the Red Cross presented to\nthe Government, whose direct duty is (whilst it has the possibility of\ncollecting from the people as much money as it requires), having declared\nwar, to organize the necessary fleet and necessary means for attending\nthe wounded; all these Slavonic, pompous, senseless, and blasphemous\nprayers, the utterance of which in various towns is communicated in the\npapers as important news; all these processions, calls for the national\nhymn, cheers; all this dreadful, desperate newspaper mendacity, which,\nbeing universal, does not fear exposure; all this stupefaction and\nbrutalization which has now taken hold of Russian society, and which is\nbeing transmitted by degrees also to the masses; all this is only a\nsymptom of the guilty consciousness of that dreadful act which is being\naccomplished.\n\nSpontaneous feeling tells men that what they are doing should not be;\nbut, as the murderer who has begun to assassinate his victim cannot stop,\nso also Russian people now imagine that the fact of the deadly work\nhaving been commenced is an unanswerable argument in favor of war. War\nhas been begun, and therefore it should go on. Thus it seems to simple,\nbenighted, unlearned men, acting under the influence of the petty\npassions and stupefaction to which they have been subjected. In exactly\nthe same way the most educated men of our time argue to prove that man\ndoes not possess free will, and that, therefore, even were he to\nunderstand that the work he has commenced is evil, he can no longer cease\nto do it. And dazed, brutalized men continue their dreadful work.\n\n\n\n\n                                   IV\n\n\nAsk a soldier, a private, a corporal, a non-commissioned officer, who has\nabandoned his old parents, his wife, his children, why he is preparing to\nkill men whom he does not know; he will at first be astonished at your\nquestion. He is a soldier, he has taken the oath, and it is his duty to\nfulfil the orders of his commanders. If you tell him that war--_i.e._ the\nslaughter of men--does not conform to the command, \"Thou shalt not kill,\"\nhe will say: \"And how if ours are attacked--For the King--For the\nOrthodox faith?\" (One of them said in answer to my question: \"And how if\nhe attacks that which is sacred?\" \"What do you mean?\" I asked. \"Why,\"\nsaid he, \"the banner.\") And if you endeavor to explain to such a soldier\nthat God's Commandment is more important not only than the banner but\nthan anything else in the world, he will become silent, or he will get\nangry and report you to the authorities.\n\nAsk an officer, a general, why he goes to the war. He will tell you that\nhe is a military man, and that the military are indispensable for the\ndefence of the fatherland. As to murder not conforming to the spirit of\nthe Christian law, this does not trouble him, as either he does not\nbelieve in this law, or, if he does, it is not in the law itself, but in\nthat explanation which has been given to this law. But, above all, he,\nlike the soldier, in place of the personal question, what should he do\nhimself, always put the general question about the State, or the\nfatherland. \"At the present moment, when the fatherland is in danger, one\nshould act, and not argue,\" he will say.\n\nAsk the diplomatists, who, by their deceits, prepare wars, why they do\nit. They will tell you that the object of their activity is the\nestablishment of peace between nations, and that this object is attained,\nnot by ideal, unrealizable theories, but by diplomatic action and\nreadiness for war. And, just as the military, instead of the question\nconcerning one's own action, place the general question, so also\ndiplomatists will speak about the interests of Russia, about the\nunscrupulousness of other Powers, about the balance of power in Europe,\nbut not about their own position and its activities.\n\nAsk the journalists why, by their writings, they incite men to war; they\nwill say that wars in general are necessary and useful, especially the\npresent war, and they will confirm this opinion of theirs by misty\npatriotic phrases, and, just like the military and diplomatist, to the\nquestion why he, a journalist, a particular individual, a living man,\nacts in a certain way, he will speak about the general interests of the\nnation, about the State, civilization, the white race. In the same way,\nall those who prepare war will explain their participation in that work.\nThey will perhaps agree that it would be desirable to abolish war, but at\npresent this is impossible. At present they as Russians and as men who\noccupy certain positions, such as heads of the nobility, representatives\nof local self-government, doctors, workers of the Red Cross, are called\nupon to act and not to argue. \"There is no time to argue and to think of\noneself,\" they will say, \"when there is a great common work to be done.\"\nThe same will be said by the Tsar, seemingly responsible for the whole\nthing. He, like the soldier, will be astonished at the question, whether\nwar is now necessary. He does not even admit the idea that the war might\nyet be arrested. He will say that he cannot refrain from fulfilling that\nwhich is demanded of him by the whole nation, that, although he does\nrecognize that war is a great evil, and has used, and is ready to use,\nall possible means for its abolition--in the present case he could not\nhelp declaring war, and cannot help continuing it. It is necessary for\nthe welfare and glory of Russia.\n\nEvery one of these men, to the question why he, so and so, Ivan, Peter,\nNicholas, whilst recognizing as binding upon him the Christian law which\nnot only forbids the killing of one's neighbor but demands that one\nshould love him, serve him, why he permits himself to participate in war;\n_i.e._ in violence, loot, murder, will infallibly answer the same thing,\nthat he is thus acting in the name of his fatherland, or faith, or oath,\nor honor, or civilization, or the future welfare of the whole of\nmankind--in general, of something abstract and indefinite. Moreover,\nthese men are always so urgently occupied either by preparation for war,\nor by its organization, or discussions about it, that in their leisure\ntime they can only rest from their labors, and have not time to occupy\nthemselves with discussions about their life, regarding such discussions\nas idle.\n\n\n\n\n                                   V\n\n\nMen of our Christian world and of our time are like a man who, having\nmissed the right turning, the further he goes the more he becomes\nconvinced that he is going the wrong way. Yet the greater his doubts, the\nquicker and the more desperately does he hurry on, consoling himself with\nthe thought that he will arrive somewhere. But the time comes when it\nbecomes quite clear that the way along which he is going will lead to\nnothing but a precipice, which he is already beginning to discern before\nhim.\n\nIn such a position stands the Christian humanity of our time. It is\nperfectly evident that, if we continue to live as we are now living,\nguided in our private lives, as well as in the life of separate States,\nby the sole desire of welfare for ourselves and for our State, and will,\nas we do now, think to ensure this welfare by violence, then, inevitably\nincreasing the means of violence of one against the other and of State\nagainst State, we shall, first, keep subjecting ourselves more and more,\ntransferring the major portion of our productiveness to armaments; and,\nsecondly, by killing in mutual wars the best physically developed men, we\nmust become more and more degenerate and morally depraved.\n\nThat this will be the case if we do not alter our life is as certain as\nit is mathematically certain that two non-parallel straight lines must\nmeet. But not only is this theoretically certain in our time; it is\nbecoming certain not only to thought, but also to the consciousness. The\nprecipice which we approach is already becoming apparent to us, and the\nmost simple, non-philosophizing, and uneducated men cannot but see that,\nby arming ourselves more and more against each other and slaughtering\neach other in war, we, like spiders in a jar, can come to nothing else\nbut the destruction of each other.\n\nA sincere, serious, rational man can no longer console himself by the\nthought that matters can be mended, as was formerly supposed, by a\nuniversal empire such as that of Rome or of Charles the Great, or\nNapoleon, or by the mediaeval spiritual power of the Pope, or by Holy\nAlliances, by the political balance of the European Concert, and by\npeaceful international tribunals, or, as some have thought, by the\nincrease of military strength and the newly discovered powerful weapons\nof destruction.\n\nIt is impossible to organize a universal empire or republic, consisting\nof European States, as different nationalities will never desire to unite\ninto one State. To organize international tribunals for the solution of\ninternational disputes? But who will impose obedience to the decision of\nthe tribunal upon a contending party who has an organized army of\nmillions of men? To disarm? No one desires it or will begin it. To invent\nyet more dreadful means of destruction--balloons with bombs filled with\nsuffocating gases, shells, which men will shower upon each other from\nabove? Whatever may be invented, all States will furnish themselves with\nsimilar weapons of destruction. And cannon's flesh, as after cold weapons\nit submitted to bullets, and meekly exposed itself to shells, bombs,\nfar-reaching guns, mitrailleuses, mines, so it will also submit to bombs\ncharged with suffocating gases scattered down upon it from balloons.\n\nNothing shows more evidently than the speeches of M. Muravieff and\nProfessor Martens about the Japanese war not contradicting The Hague\nPeace Conference--nothing shows more obviously than these speeches to\nwhat an extent, amongst the men of our time, the means for the\ntransmission of thought--speech--is distorted, and how the capacity for\nclear, rational thinking is completely lost. Thought and speech are used\nfor the purpose, not of serving as a guide for human activity, but of\njustifying any activity, however criminal it may be. The late Boer war\nand the present Japanese war, which can at any moment pass into a\nuniversal slaughter, have proved this beyond all doubt. All anti-military\ndiscussions can as little contribute to the cessation of war as the most\neloquent and persuasive considerations addressed to fighting dogs as to\nits being more advantageous to divide the piece of meat over which they\nare struggling than to mutilate each other and lose the piece of meat,\nwhich will be carried away by some passing dog not joining in the fight.\nWe are dashing on toward the precipice, cannot stop, and we are\napproaching its edge.\n\nFor every rational man who reflects upon the position in which humanity\nis now placed and upon that which it is inevitably approaching, it cannot\nbut be obvious that there is no practical issue out of this position,\nthat one cannot devise any combination or organization which would save\nus from the destruction toward which we are inevitably rushing. Not to\nmention the economical problems which become more and more complex, those\nmutual relations between the States arming themselves against each other\nand at any moment ready to break out into wars clearly point to the\ncertain destruction toward which all so-called civilized humanity is\nbeing carried. Then what is to be done?\n\n\n\n\n                                   VI\n\n\nTwo thousand years ago John the Baptist and then Jesus said to men: The\ntime is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand; (/metanoeite/)\nbethink yourselves and believe in the Gospel (Mark i. 15); and if you do\nnot bethink yourselves you will all perish (Luke xiii. 5).\n\nBut men did not listen to them, and the destruction they foretold is\nalready near at hand. And we men of our time cannot but see it. We are\nalready perishing, and, therefore, we cannot leave unheeded that--old in\ntime, but for us new--means of salvation. We cannot but see that, besides\nall the other calamities which flow from our bad and irrational life,\nmilitary preparations alone and the wars inevitably growing from them\nmust infallibly destroy us. We cannot but see that all the means of\nescape invented by men from these evils are found and must be found to be\nineffectual, and that the disastrous position of the nations arming\nthemselves against each other cannot but go on advancing continually. And\ntherefore the words of Jesus refer to us and our time more than to any\ntime or to any one.\n\nJesus said, \"Bethink yourselves\"--_i.e._ \"Let every man interrupt the\nwork he has begun and ask himself: Who am I? From whence have I appeared,\nand in what consists my destiny? And having answered these questions,\naccording to the answer decide whether that which thou doest is in\nconformity with thy destiny.\" And every man of our world and time, that\nis, being acquainted with the essence of the Christian teaching, needs\nonly for a minute to interrupt his activity, to forget the capacity in\nwhich he is regarded by men, be it of Emperor, soldier, minister, or\njournalist, and seriously ask himself who he is and what is his\ndestiny--in order to begin to doubt the utility, lawfulness, and\nreasonableness of his actions. \"Before I am Emperor, soldier, minister,\nor journalist,\" must say to himself every man of our time and of the\nChristian world, \"before any of these, I am a man--_i.e._ an organic\nbeing sent by the Higher Will into a universe infinite in time and space,\nin order, after staying in it for an instant, to die--_i.e._ to disappear\nfrom it. And, therefore, all those personal, social, and even universal\nhuman aims which I may place before myself and which are placed before me\nby men are all insignificant, owing to the shortness of my life as well\nas to the infiniteness of the life of the universe, and should be\nsubordinated to that higher aim for the attainment of which I am sent\ninto the world. This ultimate aim, owing to my limitations, is\ninaccessible to me, but it does exist (as there must be a purpose in all\nthat exists), and my business is that of being its instrument--_i.e._ my\ndestiny, my vocation, is that of being a workman of God, of fulfilling\nHis work.\" And having understood this destiny, every man of our world and\ntime, from Emperor to soldier, cannot but regard differently those duties\nwhich he has taken upon himself or other men have imposed upon him.\n\n\"Before I was crowned, recognized as Emperor,\" must the Emperor say to\nhimself: \"before I undertook to fulfil the duties of the head of the\nState, I, by the very fact that I live, have promised to fulfil that\nwhich is demanded of me by the Higher Will that sent me into life. These\ndemands I not only know, but feel in my heart. They consist, as it is\nexpressed in the Christian law, which I profess, in that I should submit\nto the will of God, and fulfil that which it requires of me, that I\nshould love my neighbor, serve him, and act towards him as I would wish\nothers to act towards me. Am I doing this?--ruling men, prescribing\nviolence, executions, and, the most dreadful of all,--wars. Men tell me\nthat I ought to do this. But God says that I ought to do something quite\ndifferent. And, therefore, however much I may be told that, as the head\nof the State, I must direct acts of violence, the levying of taxes,\nexecutions and, above all, war, that is, the slaughter of one's neighbor,\nI do not wish to and cannot do these things.\"\n\nSo must say to himself the soldier, who is taught that he must kill men,\nand the minister, who deemed it his duty to prepare for war, and the\njournalist who incited to war, and every man, who puts to himself the\nquestion, Who is he, what is his destination in life? And the moment the\nhead of the State will cease to direct war, the soldier to fight, the\nminister to prepare means for war, the journalist to incite\nthereto--then, without any new institutions, adaptations, balance of\npower, tribunals, there will of itself be destroyed that hopeless\nposition in which men have placed themselves, not only in relation to\nwar, but also to all other calamities which they themselves inflict upon\nthemselves.\n\nSo that, however strange this may appear, the most effective and certain\ndeliverance of men from all the calamities which they inflict upon\nthemselves and from the most dreadful of all--war--is attainable, not by\nany external general measures, but merely by that simple appeal to the\nconsciousness of each separate man which, nineteen hundred years ago, was\nproposed by Jesus--that every man bethink himself, and ask himself, who\nis he, why he lives, and what he should and should not do.\n\n\n\n\n                                  VII\n\n\nThe evil from which men of our time are suffering is produced by the fact\nthat the majority live without that which alone affords a rational\nguidance for human activity--without religion; not that religion which\nconsists in belief in dogmas, in the fulfilment of rites which afford a\npleasant diversion, consolation, stimulant, but that religion which\nestablishes the relation of man to the All, to God, and, therefore, gives\na general higher direction to all human activity, and without which\npeople stand on the plane of animals and even lower than they. This evil\nwhich is leading men to inevitable destruction has manifested itself with\nspecial power in our time, because, having lost all rational guidance in\nlife, and having directed all efforts to discoveries and improvements\nprincipally in the sphere of technical knowledge, men of our time have\ndeveloped in themselves enormous power over the forces of nature; but,\nnot having any guidance for the rational adaptation of this power, they\nnaturally have used it for the satisfaction of their lowest and most\nanimal propensities.\n\nBereft of religion, men possessing enormous power over the forces of\nnature are like children to whom powder or explosive gas has been given\nas a plaything. Considering this power which men of our time possess, and\nthe way they use it, one feels that considering the degree of their moral\ndevelopment men have no right, not only to the use of railways, steam,\nelectricity, telephones, photography, wireless telegraphs, but even to\nthe simple art of manufacturing iron and steel, as all these improvements\nand arts they use only for the satisfaction of their lusts, for\namusement, dissipation, and the destruction of each other.\n\nThen, what is to be done? To reject all these improvements of life, all\nthis power acquired by humanity--to forget that which it has learnt? This\nis impossible, however perniciously these mental acquisitions are used;\nthey still are acquisitions, and men cannot forget them. To alter those\ncombinations of nations which have been formed during centuries and to\nestablish new ones? To invent such new institutions as would hinder the\nminority from deceiving and exploiting the majority? To disseminate\nknowledge? All this has been tried, and is being done with great fervor.\nAll these imaginary methods of improvement represent the chief methods of\nself-oblivion and of diverting one's attention from the consciousness of\ninevitable perdition. The boundaries of States are changed, institutions\nare altered, knowledge is disseminated; but within other boundaries, with\nother organizations, with increased knowledge, men remain the same\nbeasts, ready any minute to tear each other to pieces, or the same slaves\nthey have always been, and always will be, while they continue to be\nguided, not by religious consciousness, but by passions, theories, and\nexternal influences.\n\nMan has no choice; he must be the slave of the most unscrupulous and\ninsolent amongst slaves, or else the servant of God, because for man\nthere is only one way of being free--by uniting his will with the will of\nGod. People bereft of religion, some repudiating religion itself, others\nrecognizing as religion those external, monstrous forms which have\nsuperseded it, and guided only by their personal lusts, fear, human laws,\nand, above all, by mutual hypnotism, cannot cease to be animals or\nslaves, and no external efforts can extricate them from this state; for\nonly religion makes a man free. And most of the people of our time are\ndeprived of it.\n\n\n\n\n                                  VIII\n\n\n\"But, in order to abolish the evil from which we are suffering,\" those\nwill say who are preoccupied by various practical activities, \"it would\nbe necessary that not a few men only, but all men, should bethink\nthemselves, and that, having done so, they should uniformly understand\nthe destination of their lives, in the fulfilment of the will of God and\nin the service of one's neighbor.\n\n\"Is this possible?\" Not only possible, do I answer, but it is impossible\nthat this should not take place. It is impossible for men not to bethink\nthemselves--_i.e._ impossible that each man should not put to himself the\nquestion as to who he is and wherefore he lives; for man, as a rational\nbeing, cannot live without seeking to know why he lives, and he has\nalways put to himself this question, and always, according to the degree\nof his development, has answered it in his religious teaching. In our\ntime, the inner contradiction in which men feel themselves elicits this\nquestion with special insistence, and demands an answer. It is impossible\nfor men of our time to answer this question otherwise than by recognizing\nthe law of life in love to men and in the service of them, this being for\nour time the only rational answer as to the meaning of human life; and\nthis answer nineteen hundred years ago has been expressed in the\nChristian religion and is likewise known to the vast majority of all\nmankind.\n\nThis answer in a latent state lives in the consciousness of all men of\nthe Christian world of our time; but it does not openly express itself\nand serve as guidance for our life, only because, on the one hand, those\nwho enjoy the greatest authority, so-called scientists, being under the\ncoarse error that religion is a temporary and outgrown step in the\ndevelopment of mankind and that men can live without religion, inculcate\nthis error to those of the masses who are beginning to be educated; and,\non the other hand, because those in power, sometimes consciously, but\noften unconsciously (being under the error that the Church faith is\nChristian religion), endeavor to support and excite in the people crude\nsuperstitions given out as the Christian religion. If only these two\ndeceptions were to be destroyed, then true religion, already latent in\nmen of our time, would become evident and obligatory.\n\nTo bring this about it is necessary that, on the one hand, men of science\nshould understand that the principle of the brotherhood of all men and\nthe rule of not doing unto others what one does not wish for oneself is\nnot one casual idea out of a multitude of human theories which can be\nsubordinated to any other considerations, but is an incontestable\nprinciple, standing higher than the rest, and flowing from the changeless\nrelation of man to that which is eternal, to God, and is religion, all\nreligion, and, therefore, always obligatory.\n\nOn the other hand, it is necessary that those who consciously or\nunconsciously preach crude superstitions under the guise of Christianity\nshould understand that all these dogmas, sacraments, and rites which they\nsupport and preach are not only, as they think, harmless, but are in the\nhighest degree pernicious, concealing from men that central religious\ntruth which is expressed in the fulfilment of God's will, in the service\nof men, and that the rule of acting toward others as one would wish\nothers to act toward oneself is not merely one of the prescriptions of\nthe Christian religion, but is the whole of practical religion, as indeed\nis stated in the Gospels.\n\nTo bring about that men of our time should uniformly place before\nthemselves the question of the meaning of life, and uniformly answer it,\nit is only necessary that those who regard themselves as enlightened\nshould cease to think and to inculcate to other generations that religion\nis atavism, the survival of a past wild state, and that for the good life\nof men the spreading of education is sufficient--_i.e._ the spread of the\nmost varied knowledge which is in some way to bring men to justice and to\na moral life. These men should understand instead that for the good life\nof humanity religion is vital, and that this religion already exists and\nlives in the consciousness of the men of our time. Men who are\nintentionally and unintentionally stupefying the people by church\nsuperstitions should cease to do so, and recognize that what is important\nand binding in Christianity is not baptism, nor Communion, nor profession\nof dogmas, etc., but only love to God and to one's neighbor, and the\nfulfilling of the commandment of acting toward others as one wishes\nothers to act toward oneself--and that in this lies all the law and the\nprophets.\n\nIf only both pseudo-Christians and men of science understood and preached\nto children and to the uneducated these simple, clear, and necessary\ntruths as they now preach their complicated, confused, and unnecessary\ntheories, all men would uniformly understand the meaning of their lives\nand recognize one and the same duties as flowing from this meaning.\n\n\n\n\n                                   IX\n\n\nBut \"How are we to act now, immediately among ourselves, in Russia, at\nthis moment, when our foes have already attacked us, are killing our\npeople, and threatening us; what should be the action,\" I shall be asked,\n\"of a Russian soldier, officer, general, Tsar, private individual? Are\nwe, forsooth, to allow our enemies to ruin our possessions, to seize the\nproductions of our labors, to carry away prisoners, or kill our men? What\nare we to do now that this thing has begun?\"\n\nBut before the work of war was commenced, by whomsoever it was\ncommenced--every awakened man must answer--before all else the work of my\nlife was commenced. And the work of my life has nothing in common with\nrecognition of the rights of the Chinese, Japanese, or Russians to Port\nArthur. The work of my life consists in fulfilling the will of Him who\nsent me into this life. This will is known to me. This will is that I\nshould love my neighbor and serve him. Then why should I, following\ntemporary, casual, irrational, and cruel demands, deviate from the known\neternal and changeless law of all my life? If there be a God, He will not\nask me when I die (which may happen at any moment) whether I retained\nChi-nam-po with its timber stores, or Port Arthur, or even that\nconglomeration which is called the Russian Empire, which He did not\nconfide to my care; but He will ask me what I have done with that life\nwhich He put at my disposal;--did I use it for the purpose for which it\nwas predestined, and under the conditions for fulfilling which it was\nintrusted to me? Have I fulfilled His law?\n\nSo that to this question as to what is to be done now, when war is\ncommenced, for me, a man who understands his destiny, whatever position I\nmay occupy, there can be no other answer than this, whatever be my\ncircumstances, whether the war be commenced or not, whether thousands of\nRussians or Japanese be killed, whether not only Port Arthur be taken,\nbut St. Petersburg and Moscow--I cannot act otherwise than as God demands\nof me, and that therefore I as a man can neither directly nor indirectly,\nneither by directing, nor by helping, nor by inciting to it, participate\nin war; I cannot, I do not wish to, and I will not. What will happen\nimmediately or soon, from my ceasing to do that which is contrary to the\nwill of God, I do not and cannot know; but I believe that from the\nfulfilment of the will of God there can follow nothing but that which is\ngood for me and for all men.\n\nYou speak with horror about what might happen if we Russians at this\nmoment ceased to fight, and surrendered to the Japanese what they desire\nfrom us. But if it be true that the salvation of mankind from\nbrutalization and self-destruction lies only in the establishment amongst\nmen of that true religion which demands that we should love our neighbor\nand serve him (with which it is impossible to disagree), then every war,\nevery hour of war, and my participation in it, only renders more\ndifficult and distant the realization of this only possible salvation.\n\nSo that, even if one places oneself on the unstable point of view of\ndefining actions according to their presumed consequences--even then the\nsurrender to the Japanese by the Russians of all which the former desire\nof us, besides the unquestionable advantage of the cessation of ruin and\nslaughter, would be an approach to the only means of the salvation of\nmankind from destruction; whereas the continuance of the war, however it\nmay end, will be a postponement of that only means of salvation.\n\n\"Yet even if this be so,\" it is replied, \"wars can cease only when all\nmen, or the majority, will refuse to participate in them. But the refusal\nof one man, whether he be Tsar or soldier, would only, unnecessarily, and\nwithout the slightest profit to any one, ruin his life. If the Russian\nTsar were now to throw up the war, he would be dethroned, perhaps killed,\nin order to get rid of him; if an ordinary man were to refuse military\nservice, he would be sent to a penal battalion and perhaps shot. Why,\nthen, without the slightest use should one throw away one's life, which\nmay be profitable to society?\" is the common question of those who do not\nthink of the destination of their life and therefore do not understand\nit.\n\nBut this is not what is said and felt by any man who understands the\ndestination of his life--_i.e._ by any religious man. Such a man is\nguided in his activity not by the presumed consequences of his action,\nbut by the consciousness of the destination of his life. A factory\nworkman goes to his factory and in it accomplishes the work which is\nallotted him without considering what will be the consequences of his\nlabor. In the same way a soldier acts, carrying out the will of his\ncommanders. So acts a religious man in fulfilling the work prescribed to\nhim by God, without arguing as to what precisely will come of that work.\nTherefore for a religious man there is no question as to whether many or\nfew men act as he does, or of what may happen to him if he does that\nwhich he should do. He knows that besides life and death nothing can\nhappen, and that life and death are in the hands of God whom he obeys.\n\nA religious man acts thus and not otherwise, not because he desires to\nact thus, nor because it is advantageous to himself or to other men, but\nbecause, believing that his life is in the hands of God, he cannot act\notherwise.\n\nIn this lies the distinction of the activity of religious men; and\ntherefore it is that the salvation of men from the calamities which they\ninflict upon themselves can be realized only in that degree in which they\nare guided in their lives, not by advantage nor arguments, but by\nreligious consciousness.\n\n\n\n\n                                   X\n\n\n\"But how about the enemies that attack us?\"\n\n\"Love your enemies, and ye will have none,\" is said in the teaching of\nthe Twelve Apostles. This answer is not merely words, as those may\nimagine who are accustomed to think that the recommendation of love to\none's enemies is something hyperbolical, and signifies not that which\nexpressed, but something else. This answer is the indication of a very\nclear and definite activity, and of its consequences.\n\nTo love one's enemies--the Japanese, the Chinese, those yellow people\ntoward whom benighted men are now endeavoring to excite our hatred--to\nlove them means not to kill them for the purpose of having the right of\npoisoning them with opium, as did the English; not to kill them in order\nto seize their land, as was done by the French, the Russians, and the\nGermans; not to bury them alive in punishment for injuring roads, not to\ntie them together by their hair, not to drown them in their river Amur,\nas did the Russians.\n\n\"A disciple is not above his master.... It is enough for a disciple that\nhe be as his master.\"\n\nTo love the yellow people, whom we call our foes, means, not to teach\nthem under the name of Christianity absurd superstitions about the fall\nof man, redemption, resurrection, etc., not to teach them the art of\ndeceiving and killing others, but to teach them justice, unselfishness,\ncompassion, love--and that not by words, but by the example of our own\ngood life. And what have we been doing to them, and are still doing?\n\nIf we did indeed love our enemies, if even now we began to love our\nenemies, the Japanese, we would have no enemy.\n\nTherefore, however strange it may appear to those occupied with military\nplans, preparations, diplomatic considerations, administrative,\nfinancial, economical measures, revolutionary, socialistic propaganda,\nand various unnecessary sciences, by which they think to save mankind\nfrom its calamities, the deliverance of man, not only from the calamities\nof war, but also from all the calamities which men inflict upon\nthemselves, will take place not through emperors or kings instituting\npeace alliances, not through those who would dethrone emperors, kings, or\nrestrain them by constitutions, or substitute republics for monarchies,\nnot by peace conferences, not by the realization of socialistic\nprogrammes, not by victories or defeats on land or sea, not by libraries\nor universities, nor by those futile mental exercises which are now\ncalled science; but only by there being more and more of those simple men\nwho, like the Dukhobors, Drojjin, Olkhovik, in Russia, the Nazarenes in\nAustria, Condatier in France, Tervey in Holland, and others, having\nplaced as their object not external alterations of life, but the closest\nfulfilment in themselves of the will of Him who has sent them into life,\nwill direct all their powers to this realization. Only such people\nrealizing the Kingdom of God in themselves, in their souls, will\nestablish, without directly aiming at this purpose, that external Kingdom\nof God which every human soul is longing for.\n\nSalvation will come to pass only in this one way and not in any other.\nTherefore what is now being done by those who, ruling men, inspire them\nwith religious and patriotic superstitions, exciting in them\nexclusiveness, hatred, and murder, as well as by those who, for the\npurpose of freeing men from slavery and oppression, invoke them to\nviolent external revolution, or think that the acquisition by men of very\nmuch incidental and for the most part unnecessary information will of\nitself bring them to a good life--all this, by distracting men from what\nalone they need, only removes them further from the possibility of\nsalvation.\n\nThe evil from which the men of the Christian world suffer is that they\nhave temporarily lost religion.\n\nSome people, having come to see the discord between the existing religion\nand the degree of mental and scientific development attained by humanity\nat the present time, have decided that in general no religion whatever is\nnecessary. They live without religion and preach the uselessness of any\nreligion of whatever kind. Others, holding to that distorted form of the\nChristian religion which is now preached, likewise live without religion,\nprofessing empty external forms, which cannot serve as guidance for men.\n\nYet a religion which answers to the demands of our time does exist and is\nknown to all men, and in a latent state lives in the hearts of men of the\nChristian world. Therefore that this religion should become evident to\nand binding upon all men, it is only necessary that educated men--the\nleaders of the masses--should understand that religion is necessary to\nman, that without religion men cannot live a good life, and that what\nthey call science cannot replace religion; and that those in power and\nwho support the old empty forms of religion should understand that what\nthey support and preach under the form of religion is not only not\nreligion, but is the chief obstacle to men's appropriating the true\nreligion which they already know, and which can alone deliver them from\ntheir calamities. So that the only certain means of man's salvation\nconsists merely in ceasing to do that which hinders men from assimilating\nthe true religion which already lives in their consciousness.\n\n\n\n\n                                   XI\n\n\nI had finished this writing when news came of the destruction of six\nhundred innocent lives opposite Port Arthur. It would seem that the\nuseless suffering and death of these unfortunate deluded men who have\nneedlessly and so dreadfully perished ought to disabuse those who were\nthe cause of this destruction. I am not alluding to Makaroff and other\nofficers--all these men knew what they were doing, and wherefore, and\nthey voluntarily, for personal advantage, for ambition, did as they did,\ndisguising themselves in pretended patriotism, a pretence not condemned\nmerely because it is universal. I allude rather to those unfortunate men\ndrawn from all parts of Russia, who, by the help of religious fraud, and\nunder fear of punishment, have been torn from an honest, reasonable,\nuseful, laborious family life, driven to the other end of the world,\nplaced on a cruel, senseless machine for slaughter, and torn to bits,\ndrowned along with this stupid machine in a distant sea, without any need\nor any possibility of advantage from all their privations, efforts, and\nsufferings, or from the death which overtook them.\n\nIn 1830, during the Polish war, the adjutant Vilijinsky sent to St.\nPetersburg by Klopitsky, in a conversation held in French with Dibitch,\nin answer to the latter's demand that the Russian troops should enter\nPoland, said to him:--\n\n\"Monsieur le Marechal, I think that in that case it will be quite\nimpossible for the Polish nation to accept this manifesto....\"\n\n\"Believe me, the Emperor will make no further concessions.\"\n\n\"Then I foresee that, unhappily, there will be war, that much blood will\nbe shed, there will be many unfortunate victims.\"\n\n\"Do not think so; at most there will be ten thousand who will perish on\nboth sides, and that is all,\"[1] said Dibitch in his German accent, quite\nconfident that he, together with another man as cruel and foreign to\nRussian and Polish life as he was himself,--Nicholas I,--had the right to\ncondemn or not to condemn to death ten or a hundred thousand Russians and\nPoles.\n\n  [1] Vilijinsky adds on his own behalf, \"The Field-Marshal did not then\n      think that more than sixty thousand Russians alone would perish in\n      this war, not so much from the enemy's fire as from disease--nor\n      that he would himself be amongst their number.\"\n\nOne hardly believes that this could have been, so senseless and dreadful\nis it,--and yet it was; sixty thousand maintainers of their families lost\ntheir lives owing to the will of those men. And now the same thing is\ntaking place.\n\nIn order not to let the Japanese into Manchuria, and to expel them from\nKorea, not ten thousand, but fifty and more thousands will, according to\nall probability, be necessary. I do not know whether Nicholas II and\nKuropatkin say like Dibitch in so many words that not more than fifty\nthousand lives will be necessary for this on the Russian side alone, only\nand only that; but they think it--they cannot but think it, because the\nwork they are doing speaks for itself; that ceaseless stream of\nunfortunate, deluded Russian peasants now being transported by thousands\nto the Far East--these are those same not more than fifty thousand live\nRussian men whom Nicholas Romanoff and Alexis Kuropatkin have decided\nthey may get killed, and who will be killed, in support of those\nstupidities, robberies, and every kind of abomination which were\naccomplished in China and Korea by immoral ambitious men now sitting\npeacefully in their palaces and expecting new glory and new advantage and\nprofit from the slaughter of these fifty thousand unfortunate, defrauded\nRussian workingmen guilty of nothing and gaining nothing by their\nsufferings and death. For other people's land, to which the Russians have\nno right, which has been criminally seized from its legitimate owners,\nand which, in reality, is not even necessary to the Russians--and also\nfor certain dark dealings by speculators, who in Korea wished to gain\nmoney out of other people's forests--many millions of money are spent,\n_i.e._ a great part of the labor of the whole of the Russian people,\nwhile the future generations of this people are bound by debts, its best\nworkmen are withdrawn from labor, and scores of thousands of its sons are\nmercilessly doomed to death; and the destruction of these unfortunate men\nis already begun. More than this: the war is being managed by those who\nhave hatched it so badly, so negligently, all is so unexpected, so\nunprepared, that, as one paper admits, Russia's chief chance of success\nlies in the fact that it possesses inexhaustible human material. It is\nupon this that those rely who send to death scores of thousands of\nRussian men!\n\nIt is frankly said that the regrettable reverses of our fleet must be\ncompensated on the land. In plain language this means that if the\nauthorities have badly directed things on sea, and by their negligence\nhave destroyed not only the nation's millions, but thousands of lives, we\ncan make it up by condemning to death on land several more scores of\nthousands!\n\nWhen crawling locusts cross rivers, it happens that the lower layers are\ndrowned until from the bodies of the drowned is formed a bridge over\nwhich the upper ranks can pass. In the same way are the Russian people\nbeing disposed of. Thus the first lower layer is already beginning to\ndrown, indicating the way to other thousands, who will all likewise\nperish.\n\nAnd are the originators, directors, and supporters of this dreadful work\nbeginning to understand their sin, their crime? Not in the least. They\nare quite persuaded that they have fulfilled, and are fulfilling, their\nduty, and they are proud of their activity. People speak of the loss of\nthe brave Makaroff, who, as all agree, was able to kill men very\ncleverly; they deplore the loss of a drowned excellent machine of\nslaughter which had cost so many millions of roubles; they discuss the\nquestion of how to find another murderer as capable as the poor benighted\nMakaroff; they invent new, still more efficacious, tools of slaughter;\nand all the guilty men engaged in this dreadful work, from the Tsar to\nthe humblest journalist, all with one voice call for new insanities, new\ncruelties, for the increase of brutality and hatred of one's fellow-men.\n\n\"Makaroff is not the only man in Russia, and every admiral placed in his\nposition will follow in his steps and will continue the plan and the idea\nof Makaroff, who has nobly perished in the strife,\" writes the _Novoe\nVremya_.\n\n\"Let us earnestly pray God for those who have laid down their lives for\nthe sacred Fatherland, without doubting for one moment that the\nFatherland will give us new sons, equally virtuous, for the further\nstruggle, and will find in them an inexhaustible store of strength for a\nworthy completion of the work,\" writes the St. Petersburg _Viedomosti_.\n\n\"A ripe nation will draw no other conclusion from the defeat, however\nunprecedented, than that we should continue, develop, and conclude the\nstrife; therefore let us find in ourselves new strength; new heroes of\nthe spirit will arise,\" writes the _Russ_,--and so forth.\n\nSo murder and every kind of crime go on with greater fury. People\nenthusiastically admire the martial spirit of the volunteers who, having\ncome unexpectedly upon fifty of their fellow-men, slay all of them, or\ntake possession of a village and slaughter all its population, or hang or\nshoot those accused of being spies--_i.e._ of doing the very same thing\nwhich is regarded as indispensable and is constantly done on our side.\nNews about these crimes is reported in pompous telegrams to their chief\ndirector, the Tsar, who, in return, sends to his virtuous troops his\nblessing on the continuation of such deeds.\n\nIs it not evident that, if there be a salvation from this position, it is\nonly one: that one which Jesus teaches?--\"Seek ye first the Kingdom of\nGod and His righteousness (that which is within you), and all the\nrest--_i.e._ all that practical welfare toward which man is\nstriving--will of itself be realized.\"\n\nSuch is the law of life: practical welfare is attained not when man\nstrives toward this practical welfare--such striving, on the contrary,\nfor the most part removes man from the attainment of what he seeks; but\nonly when man, without thinking of the attainment of practical welfare,\nstrives toward the most perfect fulfilment of that which before God,\nbefore the Source and Law of his life, he regards as right. Then only,\nincidentally, is practical welfare also attained.\n\nSo that the true salvation of men is only one thing: the fulfilment of\nthe will of God by each individual man within himself--_i.e._ in that\nportion of the universe which alone is subject to his power. In this is\nthe chief, the only, destiny and duty of every individual man, and at the\nsame time this is the only means by which every individual man can\ninfluence others; and, therefore, to this, and to this only, should all\nthe efforts of every man be directed.\n\nMay 2, 1904.\n\n\n\n\n                                  XII\n\n\nI had only just despatched the last of the preceding pages of this paper\nwhen the dreadful news came of a new iniquity committed in regard to the\nRussian people by those light-minded men who, crazed with power, have\nappropriated the right of managing them. Again coarse and servile slaves\nof slaves, dressed up in various dazzling attires--varieties of Generals\nwishing to distinguish themselves, or to earn the right to add one more\nlittle star, fingle fangle, or scrap of ribbon to their idiotic glaring\nget-up, or else from stupidity or carelessness--again these miserable men\nhave destroyed amid dreadful sufferings thousands of those honorable,\nkind, hard-working laborers who feed them. And again this iniquity not\nonly does not cause those responsible for it to reflect and repent, but\none hears and reads only about its being necessary as speedily as\npossible to mutilate and slaughter a greater number of men, and to ruin\nstill more families, both Russian and Japanese.\n\nMore than this, to prepare men for fresh iniquities of this kind, the\nperpetrators of these crimes, far from recognizing what is evident to\nall--viz. that for the Russians this event, even from their patriotic,\nmilitary point of view, was a scandalous defeat--endeavor to assure\ncredulous people that these unfortunate Russian laboring men--lured into\na trap like cattle into a slaughterhouse, of whom several thousands have\nbeen killed and maimed merely because one General did not understand what\nanother General had said--have performed an act of heroism because those\nwho could not run away were killed and those who did run away remained\nalive. As to the fact that one of these immoral and cruel men,\ndistinguished by the titles of Generals, Admirals, drowned a quantity of\npeaceful Japanese, this is also described as a great and glorious act of\nheroism, which must gladden the hearts of Russians. And in all the papers\nare reprinted this awful appeal to murder:--\n\n\"Let the two thousand Russian soldiers killed on the Yalu, together with\nthe maimed _Retvisan_ and her sister ships, with our lost torpedo-boats,\nteach our cruisers with what devastation they must break in upon the\nshores of base Japan. She has sent her soldiers to shed Russian blood,\nand no quarter should be afforded her. Now one cannot--it is sinful--be\nsentimental; we must fight; we must direct such heavy blows that the\nmemory of them shall freeze the treacherous hearts of the Japanese. Now\nis the time for the cruisers to go out to sea to reduce to ashes the\ntowns of Japan, flying as a dreadful calamity along its shores. No more\nsentimentality.\"\n\nThe frightful work commenced is continued. Loot, violence, murder,\nhypocrisy, theft, and, above all, the most fearful fraud--the distortion\nof religious teachings, both Christian and Buddhistic--continue. The\nTsar, the chief responsible person, continues to review the troops, to\nthank, reward, and encourage them; he issues an edict for the calling out\nof the reserves; his faithful subjects again and again lay down their\nproperty and lives at the feet of him they call, only with their lips,\ntheir adored Monarch. On the other hand, desiring to distinguish\nthemselves before each other in deeds and not in words only, they tear\naway the fathers and the bread-winners from their orphaned families,\npreparing them for slaughter. The worse the position of Russia, the more\nrecklessly do the journalists lie, transforming shameful defeats into\nvictories, knowing that no one will contradict them; and they quietly\ncollect money from subscriptions and sales. The more money and labor of\nthe people is devoted to the war, the more is grabbed by various\nauthorities and speculators, who know that no one will convict them\nbecause every one is doing the same. The military, trained for murder,\nhaving passed years in a school of inhumanity, coarseness, and idleness,\nrejoice--poor men--because, besides an increase of their salary, the\nslaughter of superiors opens vacancies for their promotion. Christian\npastors continue to invite men to the greatest of crimes, continue to\ncommit sacrilege, praying God to help the work of war; and, instead of\ncondemning, they justify and praise that pastor who, with the cross in\nhis hands on the very scene of murder, encouraged men to the crime. The\nsame thing is going on in Japan. The benighted Japanese go in for murder\nwith yet greater fervor, owing to their victories; the Mikado also\nreviews and rewards his troops; various Generals boast of their bravery,\nimagining that, having learned to kill, they have acquired enlightenment.\nSo, too, groan the unfortunate working people torn from useful labor and\nfrom their families. So their journalists also lie and rejoice over their\ngains. Also probably--for where murder is elevated into virtue every kind\nof vice is bound to flourish--also probably all kinds of commanders and\nspeculators earn money; and Japanese theologians and religious teachers\nno less than the masters in the techniques of armament do not remain\nbehind the Europeans in the techniques of religious deceit and sacrilege,\nbut distort the great Buddhistic teaching by not only permitting but\njustifying that murder which Buddha forbade. The Buddhistic scientist,\nSoyen-Shaku, ruling over eight hundred monasteries, explains that\nalthough Buddha forbade manslaughter he also said he could never be at\npeace until all beings are united in the infinitely loving heart of all\nthings, and that, therefore, in order to bring into harmony that which is\ndiscordant it is necessary to fight and to kill men.[2]\n\n  [2] In the article it is said: \"This triple world is my own possession.\n      All the things therein are my own children ... the ten thousand\n      things in this world are no more than the reflections of my own\n      self. They come from the one source. They partake of the one body.\n      Therefore I cannot rest, until every being, even the smallest\n      possible fragment of existence, is settled down to its proper\n      appointment.... This is the position taken by the Buddha, and we,\n      his humble followers, are but to walk in his wake. Why, then, do we\n      fight at all? Because we do not find this world as it ought to be.\n      Because there are here so many perverted creatures, so many wayward\n      thoughts, so many ill-directed hearts, due to ignorant\n      subjectivity. For this reason Buddhists are never tired of\n      combating all productions of ignorance, and their fight must be to\n      the bitter end. They will show no quarter. They will mercilessly\n      destroy the very root from which arises the misery of this life. To\n      accomplish this end, they will never be afraid of sacrificing their\n      lives....\" There follow, just as is usual with us, entangled\n      arguments about self-sacrifice and kindness, about the\n      transmigration of souls and about much else--all this for the sole\n      purpose of concealing the simple and clear commandment of Buddha:\n      not to kill. Further it is said: \"The hand that is raised to strike\n      and the eye that is fixed to take aim do not belong to the\n      individual, but are the instruments utilized by a principle higher\n      than transient existence.\" (\"The Open Court,\" May, 1904. \"Buddhist\n      Views of War,\" by the Right Rev. Soyen-Shaku.)\n\nIt is as if there never had existed the Christian and Buddhistic teaching\nabout the unity of the human spirit, the brotherhood of men, love,\ncompassion, the sacredness of human life. Men, both Japanese and\nRussians, already enlightened by the truth, yet like wild animals, nay,\nworse than wild animals, throw themselves upon each other with the sole\ndesire to destroy as many lives as possible. Thousands of unfortunates\ngroan and writhe in cruel sufferings and die in agony in Japanese and\nRussian field hospitals, asking themselves in bewilderment why this\nfearful thing was done with them, while other thousands are already\nrotting in the earth or on the earth, or floating in the sea, in swollen\ndecomposition. And scores of thousands of wives, fathers, mothers,\nchildren, are bemoaning their bread-winners; uselessly destroyed. Yet all\nthis is still too little; new and newer victims are being prepared. The\nchief concern of the Russian organizers of slaughter is that on the\nRussian side the stream of food for cannon--three thousand men per day\ndoomed to destruction--should not be interrupted for one minute. The\nJapanese are preoccupied with the same thing. The locusts are incessantly\nbeing driven down into the river in order that the rows behind may pass\nover the bodies.\n\nWhen will this cease, and the deceived people at last recover themselves\nand say: \"Well, go you yourselves, you heartless Tsars, Mikados,\nMinisters, Bishops, priests, generals, editors, speculators, or however\nyou may be called, go you yourselves under these shells and bullets, but\nwe do not wish to go and we will not go. Leave us in peace, to plough,\nand sow, and build,--and also to feed you.\" It would be so natural to say\nthis now, when amongst us in Russia resounds the weeping and wailing of\nhundreds of thousands of mothers, wives, and children, from whom are\nbeing snatched away their bread-earners, the so-called \"reserve.\" These\nsame men, the majority of the reserve, are able to read; they know what\nthe Far East is; they know that war is going on, not for anything which\nis in the least necessary to Russia, but for some dealings in strange\nland, leased lands, as they themselves call them, on which it seemed\nadvantageous to some corrupt speculators to build railways and so gain\nprofit; also they know, or might know, that they will be killed like\nsheep in a slaughterhouse, since the Japanese possess the latest\nimprovements in tools of murder, which we do not, as the Russian\nauthorities who are sending these people to death had not thought in time\nof furnishing themselves with the same weapons as the Japanese. Knowing\nall this, it would indeed be so natural to say, \"Go you, those who have\nbrought on this work, all you to whom war is necessary, and who justify\nit; go you, and face the Japanese bullets and mines, but we will not go,\nbecause we not only do not need to do this, but we cannot understand how\nit can be necessary to any one.\"\n\nBut no, they do not say this; they go, and they will continue to go; they\ncannot but go as long as they fear that which ruins the body and not that\nwhich ruins both the body and the soul. \"Whether we shall be killed,\"\nthey argue, \"or maimed in these chinnampos, or whatever they are called,\nwhither we are driven, we do not know; it yet may happen that we shall\nget through safely, and, moreover, with rewards and glory, like those\nsailors who are now being feasted all over Russia because the Japanese\nbombs and bullets did not hit them, but somebody else; whereas should we\nrefuse, we should be certainly sent to prison, starved, beaten, exiled to\nthe province of Yakoutsk, perhaps even killed immediately.\" So with\ndespair in their hearts, leaving behind a good rational life, leaving\ntheir wives and their children,--they go.\n\nYesterday I met a Reservist soldier accompanied by his mother and wife.\nAll three were riding in a cart; he had had a drop too much; his wife's\nface was swollen with tears. He turned to me:--\n\n\"Good-by to thee! Lyof Nikolaevitch, off to the Far East.\"\n\n\"Well, art thou going to fight?\"\n\n\"Well, some one has to fight!\"\n\n\"No one need fight!\"\n\nHe reflected for a moment. \"But what is one to do; where can one\nescape?\"\n\nI saw that he had understood me, had understood that the work to which he\nwas being sent was an evil work.\n\n\"Where can one escape?\" That is the precise expression of that mental\ncondition which in the official and journalistic world is translated into\nthe words--\"For the Faith, the Tsar, and the Fatherland.\" Those who,\nabandoning their hungry families, go to suffering, to death, say as they\nfeel, \"Where can one escape?\" Whereas those who sit in safety in their\nluxurious palaces say that all Russian men are ready to sacrifice their\nlives for their adored Monarch, and for the glory and greatness of\nRussia.\n\nYesterday, from a peasant I know, I received two letters, one after the\nother. This is the first:--\n\n\"Dear Lyof Nikolaevitch,--Well, to-day I have received the official\nannouncement of my call to the Service; to-morrow I must present myself\nat the headquarters. That is all. And after that--to the Far East to meet\nthe Japanese bullets. About my own and my household's grief I will not\ntell you; it is not you who will fail to understand all the horror of my\nposition and the horrors of war; all this you have long ago painfully\nrealized, and you understand it all. How I have longed to visit you, to\nhave a talk with you! I had written to you a long letter in which I\ndescribed the torments of my soul; but I had not had time to copy it,\nwhen I received my summons. What is my wife to do now with her four\nchildren? As an old man, of course, you cannot do anything yourself for\nmy folks, but you might ask some of your friends in their leisure to\nvisit my orphaned family. I beg you earnestly that if my wife proves\nunable to bear the agony of her helplessness with her burden of children\nand makes up her mind to go to you for help and counsel, you will receive\nand console her. Although she does not know you personally, she believes\nin your word, and that means much. I was not able to resist the summons,\nbut I say beforehand that through me not one Japanese family shall be\norphaned. My God! how dreadful is all this--how distressing and painful\nto abandon all by which one lives and in which one is concerned.\"\n\nThe second letter is as follows: \"Kindest Lyof Nikolaevitch, Only one day\nof actual service has passed, and I have already lived through an\neternity of most desperate torments. From 8 o'clock in the morning till 9\nin the evening we have been crowded and knocked about to and fro in the\nbarrack yard, like a herd of cattle. The comedy of medical examination\nwas three times repeated, and those who had reported themselves ill did\nnot receive even ten minutes' attention before they were marked\n'Satisfactory.' When we, these two thousand satisfactory individuals,\nwere driven from the military commander to the barracks, along the road\nspread out for almost a verst stood a crowd of relatives, mothers, and\nwives with infants in arms; and if you had only heard and seen how they\nclasped their fathers, husbands, sons, and hanging round their necks\nwailed hopelessly! Generally I behave in a reserved way and can restrain\nmy feelings, but I could not hold out, and I also wept. [In journalistic\nlanguage this same is expressed thus: \"The upheaval of patriotic feeling\nis immense.\"] Where is the standard that can measure all this immensity\nof woe now spreading itself over almost one-third of the world? And we,\nwe are now that food for cannon, which in the near future will be offered\nas sacrifice to the God of vengeance and horror. I cannot manage to\nestablish my inner balance. Oh! how I execrate myself for this\ndouble-mindedness which prevents my serving one Master and God.\"\n\nThis man does not yet sufficiently believe that what destroys the body is\nnot dreadful, but that which destroys both the body and the soul,\ntherefore he cannot refuse to go; yet while leaving his own family he\npromises beforehand that through him not one Japanese family shall be\norphaned; he believes in the chief law of God, the law of all\nreligions--to act toward others as one wishes others to act toward\noneself. Of such men more or less consciously recognizing this law, there\nare in our time, not in the Christian world alone, but in the Buddhistic,\nMahomedan, Confucian, and Brahminic world, not only thousands but\nmillions.\n\nThere exist true heroes, not those who are now being feted because,\nhaving wished to kill others, they were not killed themselves, but true\nheroes, who are now confined in prisons and in the province of Yakoutsk\nfor having categorically refused to enter the ranks of murderers, and who\nhave preferred martyrdom to this departure from the law of Jesus. There\nare also such as he who writes to me, who go, but who will not kill. But\nalso that majority which goes without thinking, and endeavors not to\nthink of what it is doing, still in the depth of its soul does now\nalready feel that it is doing an evil deed by obeying authorities who\ntear men from labor and from their families and send them to needless\nslaughter of men, repugnant to their soul and their faith; and they go\nonly because they are so entangled on all sides that--\"Where can one\nescape?\"\n\nMeanwhile those who remain at home not only feel this, but know and\nexpress it. Yesterday in the high road I met some peasants returning from\nToula. One of them was reading a leaflet as he walked by the side of his\ncart.\n\nI asked, \"What is that--a telegram?\"\n\n\"This is yesterday's,--but here is one of to-day.\" He took another out of\nhis pocket. We stopped. I read it.\n\n\"You should have seen what took place yesterday at the station,\" he said;\n\"it was dreadful. Wives, children, more than a thousand of them, weeping.\nThey surrounded the train, but were allowed no further. Strangers wept,\nlooking on. One woman from Toula gasped and fell down dead. Five\nchildren. They have since been placed in various institutions; but the\nfather was driven away all the same.... What do we want with this\nManchuria, or whatever it is called? There is sufficient land here. And\nwhat a lot of people and of property has been destroyed.\"\n\nYes, the relation of men to war is now quite different from that which\nformerly existed, even so lately as the year '77. That which is now\ntaking place never took place before.\n\nThe papers set forth that, during the receptions of the Tsar, who is\ntravelling about Russia for the purpose of hypnotizing the men who are\nbeing sent to murder, indescribable enthusiasm is manifested amongst the\npeople. As a matter of fact, something quite different is being\nmanifested. From all sides one hears reports that in one place three\nReservists have hanged themselves; in another spot, two more; in yet\nanother, about a woman whose husband had been taken away bringing her\nchildren to the conscription committee-room and leaving them there; while\nanother hanged herself in the yard of the military commander. All are\ndissatisfied, gloomy, exasperated. The words, \"For the Faith, the King,\nand the Fatherland,\" the National Anthem, and shouts of \"Hurrah\" no\nlonger act upon people as they once did. Another warfare of a different\nkind--the struggling consciousness of the deceit and sinfulness of the\nwork to which people are being called--is more and more taking possession\nof the people.\n\nYes, the great strife of our time is not that now taking place between\nthe Japanese and the Russians, nor that which may blaze up between the\nwhite and yellow races, not that strife which is carried on by mines,\nbombs, bullets, but that spiritual strife which without ceasing has gone\non and is now going on between the enlightened consciousness of mankind\nnow waiting for manifestation and that darkness and that burden which\nsurrounds and oppresses mankind.\n\nIn His own time Jesus yearned in expectation, and said, \"I came to cast\nfire upon the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled.\" Luke\nxii. 49.\n\nThat which Jesus longed for is being accomplished, the fire is being\nkindled. Then do not let us check it, but let us spread and serve it.\n\n13 May, 1904.\n\nI should never finish this paper if I were to continue to add to it all\nthat corroborates its essential idea. Yesterday the news came in of the\nsinking of the Japanese ironclads; and in the so-called higher circles of\nRussian fashionable, rich, intellectual society they are, without the\nslightest conscientious scruples, rejoicing at the destruction of a\nthousand human lives. Yet to-day I have received from a simple seaman, a\nman standing on the lowest plane of society, the following letter:[3]\n\n\"Much respected Lyof Nikolaevitch, I greet you with a low bow, with love,\nmuch respected Lyof Nikolaevitch. I have read your book. It was very\npleasant reading for me. I have been a great lover of reading your works.\nWell, Lyof Nikolaevitch, we are now in a state of war, please write to me\nwhether it is agreeable to God or not that our commanders compel us to\nkill. I beg you, Lyof Nikolaevitch, write to me please whether or not the\ntruth now exists on earth. Tell me, Lyof Nikolaevitch. In church here a\nprayer is being read, the priest mentions the Christ-loving army. Is it\ntrue or not that God loves war? I pray you, Lyof Nikolaevitch, have you\ngot any books from which I could see whether truth exists on earth or\nnot? Send me such books. What they cost, I will pay. I beg you, Lyof\nNikolaevitch, do not neglect my request. If there are no books then send\nme a letter. I will be very glad when I receive a letter from you. I will\nawait your letter with impatience. Good-by for the present. I remain\nalive and well and wish the same to you from the Lord God. Good health\nand good success in your work.\"\n\n\n  [3] The letter is written in a most illiterate way, filled with\n      mistakes in orthography and punctuation.\n                                                              (Trans.)","title":"\"Bethink Yourselves!\"","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":13749}