"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.