The Kingdom of God Is Within You - Leo Nikoleyevich Tolstoy (best non fiction books of all time txt) 📗

The emperor engages them and they

begin to sew at them, but they explain that the clothes have the

extraordinary property of remaining invisible to anyone who is

unfit for his position. The courtiers come to look at the

tailors’ work and see nothing, for the men are plying their

needles in empty space. But remembering the extraordinary

property of the clothes, they all declare they see them and are

loud in their admiration. The emperor does the same himself. The

day of the procession comes in which the emperor is to go out in

his new clothes. The emperor undresses and puts on his new

clothes, that is to say, remains naked, and naked he walks through

the town. But remembering the magic property of the clothes, no

one ventures to say that he has nothing on till a little child

cries out: “Look, he is naked!”

 

This will be exactly the situation of all who continue through

inertia to fill offices which have long become useless directly

someone who has no interest in concealing their uselessness

exclaims in all simplicity: “But these people have been of no use

to anyone for a long time past!”

 

The condition of Christian humanity with its fortresses, cannons,

dynamite, guns, torpedoes, prisons, gallows, churches, factories,

customs offices, and palaces is really terrible. But still

cannons and guns will not fire themselves, prisons will not shut

men up of themselves, gallows will not hang them, churches will

not delude them, nor customs offices hinder them, and palaces and

factories are not built nor kept up of themselves. All those

things are the work of men. If men come to understand that they

ought not to do these things, then they will cease to be. And

already they are beginning to understand it. Though all do not

understand it yet, the advanced guard understand and the rest will

follow them. And the advanced guard cannot cease to understand

what they have once understood; and what they understand the rest

not only can but must inevitably understand hereafter.

 

So that the prophecy that the time will come when men will be

taught of God, will learn war no more, will beat their swords into

plowshares and their spears into reaping-hooks, which means,

translating it into our language, the fortresses, prisons,

barracks, palaces, and churches will remain empty, and all the

gibbets and guns and cannons will be left unused, is no longer a

dream, but the definite new form of life to which mankind is

approaching with ever-increasing rapidity.

 

But when will it be?

 

Eighteen hundred years ago to this question Christ answered

that the end of the world (that is, of the pagan organization of

life) shall come when the tribulation of men is greater than it

has ever been, and when the Gospel of the kingdom of God, that is,

the possibility of a new organization of life, shall be preached

in the world unto all nations. (Matt. xxiv. 3-28.) But of that

day and hour knoweth no man but the Father only (Matt. xxiv. 3-6),

said Christ. For it may come any time, in such an hour as

ye think not.

 

To the question when this hour cometh Christ answers that we

cannot know, but just because we cannot know when that hour is

coming we ought to be always ready to meet it, just as the master

ought to watch who guards his house from thieves, as the virgins

ought to watch with lamps alight for the bridegroom; and further,

we ought to work with all the powers given us to bring that hour

to pass, as the servants ought to work with the talents intrusted

to them. (Matt. xxiv. 43, and xxvi. 13, 14-30.) And there could

be no answer but this one. Men cannot know when the day and the

hour of the kingdom of God will come, because its coming depends

on themselves alone.

 

The answer is like that of the wise man who, when asked whether it

was far to the town, answered, “Walk!”

 

How can we tell whether it is far to the goal which humanity is

approaching, when we do not know how men are going toward it,

while it depends on them whether they go or do not go, stand

still, slacken their pace or hasten it? All we can know is what

we who make up mankind ought to do, and not to do, to bring about

the coming of the kingdom of God. And that we all know. And we

need only each begin to do what we ought to do, we need only each

live with all the light that is in us, to bring about at once the

promised kingdom of God to which every man’s heart is yearning.

 

CHAPTER XII.

 

CONCLUSION—REPENT YE, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.

 

1. Chance Meeting with a Train Carrying Soldiers to Restore Order

Among the Famishing Peasants—Reason of the Expedition—How the

Decisions of the Higher Authorities are Enforced in Cases of

Insubordination on Part of the Peasants—What Happened at Orel, as

an Example of How the Rights of the Propertied Classes are

Maintained by Murder and Torture—All the Privileges of the

Wealthy are Based on Similar Acts of Violence.

 

2. The Elements that Made up the Force Sent to Toula, and the

Conduct of the Men Composing it—How these Men Could Carry Out

such Acts—The Explanation is Not to be Found in Ignorance,

Conviction, Cruelty, Heartlessness, or Want of Moral Sense—They

do these Things Because they are Necessary to Support the Existing

Order, which they Consider it Every Man’s Duty to Support—The

Basis of this Conviction that the Existing Order is Necessary and

Inevitable—In the Upper Classes this Conviction is Based on the

Advantages of the Existing Order for Themselves—But what Forces

Men of the Lower Classes to Believe in the Immutability of the

Existing Order, from which they Derive no Advantage, and which

they Aid in Maintaining, Facts Contrary to their Conscience?—This

is the Result of the Lower Classes being Deluded by the Upper,

Both as to the Inevitability of the Existing Order and the

Lawfulness of the Acts of Violence Needed to Maintain it—

Deception in General—Special Form of Deception in Regard to

Military Service—Conscription.

 

3. How can Men Allow that Murder is Permissible while they Preach

Principles of Morality, and How can they Allow of the Existence in

their Midst of a Military Organization of Physical Force which is

a Constant Menace to Public Security?—It is only Allowed by the

Upper Classes, who Profit by this Organization, Because their

Privileges are Maintained by it—The Upper Classes Allow it, and

the Lower Classes Carry it into Effect in Spite of their

Consciousness of the Immorality of the Deeds of Violence, the More

Readily Because Through the Arrangements of the Government the

Moral Responsibility for such Deeds is Divided among a Great

Number of Participants in it, and Everyone Throws the

Responsibility on Someone Else—Moreover, the Sense of Moral

Responsibility is Lost through the Delusion of Inequality, and the

Consequent Intoxication of Power on the Part of Superiors, and

Servility on the Part of Inferiors—The Condition of these Men,

Acting against the Dictates of their Conscience, is Like that of

Hypnotized Subjects Acting by Suggestion—The Difference between

this Obedience to Government Suggestion, and Obedience to Public

Opinion, and to the Guidance of Men of a Higher Moral Sense—The

Existing Order of Society, which is the Result of an Extinct

Public Opinion and is Inconsistent with the Already Existing

Public Opinion of the Future, is only Maintained by the

Stupefaction of the Conscience, Produced Spontaneously by Self-interest in the Upper Classes and Through Hypnotizing in the Lower

Classes—The Conscience or the Common Sense of such Men may

Awaken, and there are Examples of its Sudden Awakening, so that

one can Never be Sure of the Deeds of Violence they are Prepared

for—It Depends Entirely on the Point which the Sense of the

Unlawfulness of Acts of Violence has Reached, and this Sense may

Spontaneously Awaken in Men, or may be Reawakened by the Influence

of Men of more Conscience.

 

4. Everything Depends on the Strength of the Consciousness of

Christian Truths in Each Individual Man—The Leading Men of Modern

Times, however, do not Think it Necessary to Preach or Practice

the Truths of Christianity, but Regard the Modification of the

External Conditions of Existence within the Limit Imposed by

Governments as Sufficient to Reform the Life of Humanity—On this

Scientific Theory of Hypocrisy, which has Replaced the Hypocrisy

of Religion, Men of the Wealthy Classes Base their Justification

of their Position—Through this Hypocrisy they can Enjoy the

Exclusive Privileges of their Position by Force and Fraud, and

Still Pretend to be Christians to One Another and be Easy in their

Minds—This Hypocrisy Allows Men who Preach Christianity to Take

Part in Institutions Based on Violence—No External Reformation of

Life will Render it Less Miserable—Its Misery the Result of

Disunion Caused by Following Lies, not the Truth—Union only

Possible in Truth—Hypocrisy Hinders this Union, since Hypocrites

Conceal from themselves and Others the Truth they Know—Hypocrisy

Turns all Reforms of Life to Evil—Hypocrisy Distorts the Idea of

Good and Evil, and so Stands in the Way of the Progress of Men

toward Perfection—Undisguised Criminals and Malefactors do Less

Harm than those who Live by Legalized Violence, Disguised by

Hypocrisy—All Men Feel the Iniquity of our Life, and would Long

Ago have Transformed it if it had not been Dissimulated by

Hypocrisy—But Seem to have Reached the Extreme Limits of

Hypocrisy, and we Need only Make an Effort of Conscience to Awaken

as from a Nightmare to a Different Reality.

 

5. Can Man Make this Effort?—According to the Hypocritical Theory

of the Day, Man is not Free to Transform his Life—Man is not Free

in his Actions, but he is Free to Admit or to Deny the Truth he

Knows—When Truth is Once Admitted, it Becomes the Basis of

Action—Man’s Threefold Relation to Truth—The Reason of the

Apparent Insolubility of the Problem of Free Will—Man’s Freedom

Consists in the Recognition of the Truth Revealed to him. There

is no Other Freedom—Recognition of Truth Gives Freedom, and Shows

the Path Along which, Willingly or Unwillingly by Mankind, Man

Must Advance—The Recognition of Truth and Real Freedom Enables

Man to Share in the Work of God, not as the Slave, but as the

Creator of Life—Men Need only Make the Effort to Renounce all

Thought of Bettering the External Conditions of Life and Bend all

their Efforts to Recognizing and Preaching the Truth they Know, to

put an End to the Existing Miserable State of Things, and to Enter

upon the Kingdom of God so far as it is yet Accessible to Man—All

that is Needed is to Make an End of Lying and Hypocrisy—But then

what Awaits us in the Future?—What will Happen to Humanity if Men

Follow the Dictates of their Conscience, and how can Life go on

with the Conditions of Civilized Life to which we are Accustomed?

—All Uneasiness on these Points may be Removed by the Reflection

that Nothing True and Good can be Destroyed by the Realization of

Truth, but will only be Freed from the Alloy of Falsehood.

 

6. Our Life has Reached the Extreme Limit of Misery and Cannot be

Improved by any Systems of Organization—All our Life and all our

Institutions are Quite Meaningless—Are we Doing what God Wills of

us by Preserving our Privileges and Duties to Government?—We are

put in this Position not Because the World is so Made and it is

Inevitable, but Because we Wish it to be so, Because it is to the

Advantage of Some of us—Our Conscience is in Opposition to our

Position and all our Conduct, and the Way Out of the Contradiction

is to be Found in the Recognition of the Christian