1
We begin and end the study of philosophy by a
consideration of the subject of ethics. Without a certain ethical discipline to
start with, the mind will distort truth to suit its own fancies. Without a
mastery of the whole course of philosophy to its very end, the problem of the
significance of good and evil cannot be solved. (6-1.8)
2
The pursuit of moral excellence is immeasurably
better than the pursuit of mystical sensations. Its gains are more durable, more
indispensable, and more valuable. (6-1.52)
3
The philosophical discipline seeks to build up a
character which no weakness can undermine and from which all negative
characteristics have been thrown out.
4
There are five ways in which the human being
progressively views his own self and consequently five graduated ethical stages
on his quest. First, as an ignorant materialist he lives entirely within his
personality and hence for personal benefit regardless of much hurt caused to
others in order to secure this benefit. Second, as an enlightened materialist he
is wrapped in his own fortunes but does not seek them at the expense of others.
Third, as a religionist he perceives the impermanence of the ego and, with a
sense of sacrifice, he denies his self-will. Fourth, as a mystic he acknowledges
the existence of a higher power, God, but finds it only within himself. Fifth,
as a philosopher he recognizes the universality and the oneness of being in
others and practises altruism with joy. (6-1.53)
5
The moral precepts which it offers for use in living
and for guidance in wise action are not offered to all alike, but only to those
engaged on the quest. They are not likely to appeal to anyone who is virtuous
merely because he fears the punishment of sin rather than because he loves
virtue itself. Nor are they likely to appeal to anyone who does not know where
his true self-interest lies. There would be nothing wrong in being utterly
selfish if only we fully understood the self whose interest we desire to
preserve or promote. For then we would not mistake pleasure for happiness nor
confuse evil with good. Then we would see that earthly self-restraint in some
directions is in reality holy self-affirmation in others, and that the hidden
part of self is the best part. (6-1.4)
6
We have begun to question Nature and we must abide
the consequences. But we need not fear the advancing tide of knowledge. Its
effects on morals will be only to discipline human character all the more. For
it is not knowledge that makes men immoral, it is the lack of it. False
foundations make uncertain supports for morality. (6-1.512)
7
This grand section of the quest deals with the right
conduct of life. It seeks both the moral re-education of the individual's
character for his own benefit and the altruistic transformation of it for
society's benefit. (6-1.6)
8
If you want to obtain a good objective, you must use
a good means as no other will bring the same result.
9
Such study of the ethics of philosophy will not, of
course, give the student the power to be able to practise those ethics
completely. He cannot always govern his own complexes or control his own desires
or rule his own compulsions. Nevertheless, to know what he is expected to do and
what he ought to do is a valuable first step towards doing it.
10
Disinterested action does not mean renouncing all
work that brings financial reward. How then could one earn a livelihood? It does
not mean ascetic renunciation and monastic flight from personal
responsibilities. The philosophic attitude is that a man shall perform his full
duty to the world, but this will be done in such a way that it brings injury to
none. Truth, honesty, and honour will not be sacrificed for money. Time, energy,
capacity, and money will be used wisely in the best interests of mankind, and
above all the philosopher will pray constantly that the Overself will accept him
as a dedicated instrument of service. And it surely will.
11
He may look at what has happened in five different
but equally valuable and equally necessary ways: (a) as a test, (b) as
opposition of adverse force, (c) as a problem to adjust himself to
psychologically, (d) as a temptation or tribulation to be met and overcome
morally, (e) as the outworking of past karma to be intelligently endured or
impersonally negotiated.
12
But, after all, these qualities are only the
negative prerequisites of spiritual realization. They are not realization
itself. Their attainment is to free oneself from defects that hinder the
attainment of higher consciousness, not to possess oneself of true
consciousness. (6-1.54)
13
The longer he lives the more he discovers that real
peace depends on the strength with which he rules his own heart, and real
security depends on the truth with which he rules his own mind. When he leaves
his emotions in disorder they bring agony--as the accompaniment or the follower
of the happiness they claimed at first to be able to give. When he lets his
thoughts serve the blindnesses of his ego, they deceive, mislead, or trouble
him. (6-3.21)
14
Men ask, "What is truth?" But in reply truth itself
questions them, "Who are you to ask that? Have you the competence, the faculty,
the character, the judgement, the education, and the preparation to recognize
truth? If not, first go and acquire them, not forgetting the uplift of
character." (6-1.513)
15
The act must illustrate the man, the deed must
picture the attitude. It is thus only that thought becomes alive. (6-1.55)
16
The philosophic attitude is a curious and
paradoxical one precisely because it is a complete one. It approaches the human
situation with a mentality as practical and as cold-blooded as an engineer's,
but steers its movement by a sensitivity to ideals as delicate as an artist's.
It always considers the immediate, attainable objectives, but is not the less
interested in distant, unrealizable ones.
17
The discovery of moral relativity gives no
encouragement however to moral laxity. If we are freed from human convention, it
is only because we are to submit ourselves sacrificially to the Overself's
dictate. The unfoldment of progressive states of conscious being is not possible
without giving up the lower for the higher. (6-1.311)
18
Buddha did not go into deeper problems before he
had gone into practical ethics. He taught people to be good and do good before
he taught them to venture into the marshy logic of the metaphysical maze. And
even when they had emerged safely from a territory where so many lose themselves
utterly, he brought them back to ethical values albeit now of a much higher kind
because based on utter unselfishness. For love must marry knowledge, pity must
shed its warm rays upon the cold intellect. Enlightenment of others must be the
price of one's own enlightenment. These things are not easily felt by the
mystic, who is often too absorbed in his own ecstasies to notice the miseries of
others or by the metaphysician who is often too tied by his own verbosity to his
hard and rigorous logic to realize that mankind is not merely an abstract noun
but is made up of flesh-and-blood individuals. The philosopher however finds
these benign altruistic needs to be an essential part of truth. Consequently the
salvation which he seeks--from ignorance and the attendant miseries that dog its
steps--is not for himself but for the whole world. (6-1.60)
19
The more I travel and observe the more I come to
believe that the only men who will make something worthwhile of philosophy are
the men who have already made something worthwhile of their personal lives. The
dreamers and cranks will only fool themselves, the failures and alibi-chasers
will only become confirmed in their fantasies. (6-1.56)
20
Each person who enters our life for a time, or
becomes involved with it at some point, is an unwitting channel bringing good or
evil, wisdom or foolishness, fortune or calamity to us. This happens because it
was preordained to happen--under the law of recompense. But the extent to which
he affects our outer affairs is partly determined by the extent to which we let
him do so, by the acceptance or rejection of suggestions made by his conduct,
speech, or presence. It is we who are finally responsible. (6-1.290)
21
Unless he passes through the portals of this
discipline, he cannot receive truth, but only its parodies, distortions, and
imitations.
22
It is quite true that moral codes have historically
been merely relative to time, place, and so on. But if we try to make such
relativity a basis of non-moral action, if we act on the principle that wrong is
not worse than right and evil not different from good, then social life would
soon show a disastrous deterioration, the ethics of the jungle would become its
governing law, and catastrophe would overtake it in the end. (6-1.303)
23
The first and immediate consequence of perceiving
philosophic truth is a moral one. There is a strong appeal to the intellect and
an equally strong appeal to the heart. These two viewpoints are not opposed to
each other.
24
It is not enough to wish to better one's character.
One must also know how to begin the task aright and how to continue it
correctly. Otherwise he gropes blindly and falls into the old weaknesses, the
old errors, even if they take new forms.
He has to find out what unwise tendencies are operative in his character without his knowledge, what wrong impulses arise from his subconscious self and lead to harmful actions.
25
It is true that thought precedes action, that
actions express thoughts, and that to rule mind is to rule the entire life. But
it is also true that man's battles with himself proceed by progressive stages,
that he exerts will more easily than he changes feeling. Therefore, the
discipline of inward thinking should follow after--and not before--it. To
counsel him to take care of his inner life and that then the outer life will
take care of itself, as so many mystics do, is to be plausible but also to show
a lack of practicality. Man's heart will feel no peace as his mind will know no
poise until he abandons the lower instincts and gives himself up to this
unearthly call. First, he must abandon them outwardly in deeds; later he must do
it inwardly even in thoughts. This will inevitably bring him into inner
struggle, into oscillation between victories and defeats, elations and despairs.
The way up is long, hard, rugged, and slow to tread. It is always a stage for
complaints and outcries, battles and falls. Only time--the master power--can
bring him to its lofty end. Only when the lessons of birth after birth etch
themselves deeply and unmistakably into his conscious mind through dreadful
repetition can he accept them co-operatively, resignedly, and thus put a stop to
the needless sufferings of desire, passion, and attachment. (6-4.30)
26
Many people talk mysticism or play with psychism so
long as either promises them wonderful powers which most other people haven't
got or wonderful experiences which most other people do not have. But when they
come to philosophy and find that it demands from them a renovation of their
entire character, they are seized with fear and retreat. Philosophy is not for
such people, for it does not conform to their wishes. It tells them what they do
not like to hear. It disturbs their egoistic vanity and troubles their
superficial serenity when it throws a glaring spotlight on their lower nature,
their baser motives, and their ugly weaknesses. (6-1.57)
27
At the beginning of each temptation there is a
choice offered, as though one stood at the crossroads and must take one which
leads upward to peace and well-being or the other which leads downward to hell.
In the offering, the chance to escape from the oncoming temptation is given. If
the chance is taken immediately, it can be escaped; but if there is the
slightest dallying with the luring picture, then the chance is lost. Therefore,
there should be instant rejection of it.
28
From Lord Beaconsfield's novel: "Ah," said
Coningsby, "I should like to be a great man." The stranger threw at him a
scrutinizing glance. His countenance was serious. He said in a voice of most
solemn melody, "Nurture your mind with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic
makes heroes."
29
While the aspirant fails to take an inventory of
his weaknesses and consequently fails to build into his character the attributes
needed, much of his meditation will be either fruitless or a failure or even
harmful. (6-1.58)
30
The fundamental test and final measure of anyone's
spirituality is provided by his character. And his character is tested and
measured by his actions.
31
Those who underrate the difficulty of
self-changing, who promise a simple and easy path to a successful result, render
the flock of gullible aspirants only a disservice. Wishful thinking may bring
such aspirants to this path but eventual disappointment will throw them off it.
32
The key to right conduct is to refuse to identify
himself with the lower nature. The hypnotic illusion that it is really himself
must be broken: the way to break it is to deny every suggestion that comes from
it, to use the will in resisting it, to use the imagination in projecting it as
something alien and outside, to use the feelings in aspiration towards the true
self and the mind in learning to understand what it is. (6-1.50)
33
The disciple who wishes to make real progress must
attack, weaken, and ultimately destroy certain bad traits of character. Among
them is the trait of jealousy of his fellow disciples. It is not only an
unpleasant thought but may also end in disastrous consequences. It often leads
to wrathful moods and raging spells. It not only harms the other disciple but
always does harm to the sinner himself. It is caused by an unreasonable sense of
possessiveness directed towards the teacher which does not understand that love
should give freedom to him, not deny it to him. (6-1.51)
34
If a man becomes cold, pitiless, impenetrable, if
he sets himself altogether apart from the life and feelings of other men, if he
is dead to the claims of music and the beauties of art, be sure he is an
intellectualist or a fanatical ascetic--not a philosopher. (6-6.10)
35
The forming of a good character is the beginning,
the middle, and the end of this work.
36
He who is jealous does not thereby show he loves
the one on whose account he shows this emotion. He shows only that he loves
himself. What he feels is selfish possessiveness. It is the same feeling which
he manifests for his bank account. This is not love in any sense.
37
That it is not enough for men to think truth, that
they must also feel it, is a statement with which most scientists, being
intellect-bound, would disagree. But artists, mystics, true philosophers, and
religious devotees would accept it. (6-1.59)
38
What did Jesus mean when he enjoined his disciples
to love their neighbours as themselves? Did he mean the sentimental, emotional,
and hail-fellow-well-met attitude which the churches teach? How could he when in
order to become what he was, he had once to hate and turn aside from that part
of himself, the lower part--that is, the ego and the animal nature--which is
mostly what neighbours show forth? If his disciples were taught to hate, and not
to love, their egos, how then could they love the ego-dominated humanity amidst
which they found themselves? The injunction "Love thy neighbour" has often led
to confusion in the minds of those who hear or read it, a confusion which forces
many to refuse to accept it. And they are the ones who do not understand its
meaning, but misinterpret it to mean "Like thy neighbour!" The correct meaning
of this age-old ethical injunction is "Practise compassion in your physical
behaviour and exercise goodwill in your mental attitude towards your neighbour."
Everyone can do this even when he cannot bring himself to like his neighbour.
Therefore this injunction is not a wholly impracticable one as some believe, but
quite the contrary.
Whoever imagines that it means the development of a highly sentimental, highly emotional condition is mistaken; for emotions of that kind can just as easily swing into their opposites of hate as remain what they are. This is not love, but the masquerade of it. Sentimentality is the mere pretense of compassion. It breaks down when it is put under strains, whereas genuine compassion will always continue and never be cancelled by them. True love towards one's neighbour must come from a level higher than the emotional and such a level is the intuitive one. What Jesus meant was "Come into such an intuitive realization of the one Infinite Power from which you and your neighbour draw your lives that you realize the harmony of interests, the interdependence of existence which result from this fact." What Jesus meant, and what alone he could have meant, was indicated by the last few words of his injunction, "as thyself." The self which they recognized to be the true one was the spiritual self, which they were to seek and love with all their might--and it was this, not the frail ego, which they were also to love in others. The quality of compassion may easily be misunderstood as being mere sentimentality or mere emotionality. It is not these things at all. They can be foolish and weak when they hide the truth about themselves from people, whereas a truly spiritual compassion is not afraid to speak the truth, not afraid to criticize as rigorously as necessary, to have the courage to point out faults even at the cost of offending those who prefer to live in self-deception. Compassion will show the shortcoming within themselves which is in turn reflected outside themselves as maleficent destiny.
When the adept views those who are suffering from the effects of their own ungoverned emotion or their own uncontrolled passion and desire, he does not sink with the victims into those emotions, passions, and desires, even though he feels self-identity with them. He cannot permit such feelings to enter his consciousness. If he does not shrink from his own suffering, it is hardly likely that the adept will shrink from the sufferings of others. Consequently it is hardly likely that the emotional sympathy which arises in the ordinary man's heart at the sight of suffering will arise in precisely the same way in the adept's heart. He does not really regard himself as apart from them. In some curious way, both they and he are part of one and the same life. If he does not pity himself for his own sufferings in the usual egoistic and emotional way, how can he bring himself to pity the sufferings of others in the same kind of way? This does not mean that he will become coldly indifferent towards them. On the contrary, the feeling of identification with their inmost being would alone prevent that utterly; but it means that the pity which arises within him takes a different form, a form which is far nobler and truer because emotional agitation and egotistic reaction are absent from it. He feels with and for the sufferings of others, but he never allows himself to be lost in them; and just as he is never lost in fear or anxiety about his own sufferings, so he cannot become lost in those emotions or the sufferings of others. The calmness with which he approaches his own sufferings cannot be given up because he is approaching other people's sufferings. He has bought that calmness at a heavy price--it is too precious to be thrown away for anything. And because the pity which he feels in his heart is not mixed up with emotional excitement or personal fear, his mind is not obscured by these excrescences, and is able to see what needs to be done to relieve the suffering ones far better than an obscured mind could see. He does not make a show of his pity, but his help is far more effectual than the help of those who do.
The altruistic ideal is set up for aspirants as a practical means of using the will to curb egoism and crush its pettiness. But these things are to be done to train the aspirant in surrendering his personal self to his higher self, not in making him subservient to other human wills. The primacy of purpose is to be given to spiritual self-realization, not to social service. This above all others is the goal to be kept close to his heart, not meddling in the affairs of others. Only after he has attended adequately--and to some extent successfully--to the problem of himself can he have the right to look out for or intrude into other people's problems.
This does not mean, however, that he is to become narrowly self-centered or entirely selfish. On the contrary, the wish to confer happiness and the willingness to seek the welfare of mankind should be made the subject of solemn dedication at every crucial stage, every inspired hour, of his quest. But prudence and wisdom bid him wait for a more active altruistic effort until he has lifted himself to a higher level, found his own inner strength, knowledge, and peace and learnt to stand unshaken by the storms, passions, desires, and greeds of ordinary life.
Hence it is better for the beginner to keep to himself any pretensions to altruism, remaining silent and inactive about them. The dedication may be made, but it should be made in the secrecy of the inmost heart. Better than talk about it or premature activity for it, is the turning of attention to the work of purifying himself, his feelings, motives, mind, and deeds.
Just as the word compassion is so often mistaken for a foolish and weak sentimentality, so the words egolessness, unselfishness, and unself-centeredness are equally mistaken for what they are not. They are so often thought to mean nonseparateness from other individuals or the surrender of personal rights to other individuals or the setting aside of duty to ourself for the sake of serving other individuals. This is often wrong. The philosophical meaning of egoism is that attitude of separateness not from another individual on the same imperfect level as ourself but from the one universal life-power which is behind all individuals on a deeper level than them all. We are separated from that infinite mind when we allow the personal ego to rule us, when we allow the personal self to prevent the one universal self from entering our field of awareness. The sin lies in separating ourselves in consciousness from this deeper power and deeper being which is at the very root of all selves.
39
Jesus' preachment of love of one's neighbour as
oneself is impossible to follow in all fullness until one has attained the
height whereon his own true self dwells. Obedience to it would mean identifying
oneself with the neighbour's physical pain and emotional suffering so that they
were felt not less keenly than one's own. One could not bear that when brought
into contact with all kinds of human sorrow that shadow life. It could be borne
only when one had crushed its power to affect one's own feelings and disturb
one's own equilibrium. Therefore, such love would bring unbearable suffering. By
actively identifying oneself with those who are sorrowing, by pushing one's
sympathy with them to its extreme point, one gets disturbed and weakened. This
does not improve one's capacity to help the sufferer, but only lessens it. To
love others is praiseworthy, but it must be coupled with balance and with reason
or it will lose itself ineffectually in the air. Not to let his interest in
other matters or his sympathy with other persons carry him away from his
equilibrium, his inner peace, but to stop either when it threatens to agitate
his mind or disturb his feelings, is wisdom.
40
Love of the divine is our primary duty. Love of our
neighbour is only a secondary one.
41
Regard, affection and friendliness, sympathy,
fellow-feeling and love are not feelings to be thrown away because he has taken
to the philosophic quest. On the contrary, they may become valuable
stepping-stones in his progress if he treats them aright, if he evaluates them
correctly, purifies them emotionally, and ennobles them morally.
42
One consequence of this compassionate habit is that
an immense comprehension of human nature floods his whole being.
43
"Loving your neighbour as yourself" needs a careful
interpretation. The verb "to love" holds widely different meanings for different
people. It does not mean that he will feel very much more affectionate to
everyone he meets, no matter who it be, than he formerly was. Its fundamental
meaning is that one will so identify himself with another person, thing, or idea
as to feel emotionally one with it and selflessly surrendered to it. This has
little to do with his liking or disliking the object of his love. They affect
the conditions under which his love operates, for liking makes the operation
easier and disliking harder, but its essential attribute is self-identification
with the beloved and selfless response to it. Loving starts and ends with giving
up the ego to another.
44
Compassion is the highest moral value, the noblest
human feeling, the purest creature-love. It is the final social expression of
man's divine soul. For he is able to feel with and for another man only because
both are in reality related in harmony by the presence of that soul in each one.
45
He who can detach himself from emotion even while
he continues to feel it, becomes its true master.
46
It is not that he is asked to rise above all
emotions to attain the serenity and blessedness of such a life; it is rather
that he is asked to rise above the lower emotions. For it is indispensable to
cherish the higher ones. Indeed, it is in the complete overturn of his seat of
feeling that the passage from earthly to spiritual life will most show itself.
Without it, with a merely intellectual overturn alone, the Overself can never be
realized.
47
He will rise above personal emotion into perfect
serenity rather than fall below it into dull apathy.
48
The same human characteristic of emotion which
enslaves and even harms him when it is attached to earthly things alone, exalts
and liberates him when it is disciplined and purified by philosophy. (6-3.150)
49
Those who talk of liberating themselves from the
moral repression of conventional society are right in some cases but wrong in
most. For they chiefly mean that they want to be free to follow sensual desires
without imposing any self-discipline. They do not see that to overcome those
desires is the true self-liberation.
50
When a man's desires and yearnings, thirsts and
longings are so strong as to upset his reasoning power and block his intuitive
capacity, he is stopped from finding truth. In this condition he shuts his eyes
to those facts which are displeasing or which are contrary to his desires and
opens them only to those which are pleasing or agreeable to his wishes. Thinking
bends easily to desires, so that the satisfaction of personal interest rather
than the quest of universal truth becomes its real object. (6-4.31)
51
The obligation is laid upon him to respond to the
Overself's demand that he shall make an endeavour to rise above the animal level
of his being. And this cannot be done upon a basis of mere emotion alone. It
calls for an exercise of the higher will. He has indeed to engage in a holy war.
52
Refinement of the way one lives, thinks, speaks,
and acts is not only a positive value but in its indirect result actually
contributes to the spiritual quest. Those who decry it as a mere superficiality
confuse the imitated action with the real one.
53
A high degree of refinement in morals, manners, and
mind shows not merely human quality but also spiritual sensitivity.
54
In practising this large forbearance towards
others, we need not allow them to practise imposition towards us. We should
consider the circumstances and decide by wisdom how far it is wise to go and at
what point to stop; in short, we should use discrimination.
55
His goodness, forgiveness, and comprehension should
go out to those who seem to have misjudged him. What they feel about him seems
to them to be the truth about him. It is the best they know--why blame them if
appearances deceive them? If he continues to send them such kind thoughts, he
actually lifts himself out of his own ego, he vanquishes his own egoism.
56
To the degree you keep ego out of your reaction to
an enemy, to that degree you will be protected from him. His antagonism must be
met not only with calmness, indifference, but also with a positive forgiveness
and active love. These alone are fitting to a high present stage of
understanding. Be sure that if you do so, good will ultimately emerge from it.
Even if this good were only the unfoldment of latent power to master negative
emotion which you show by such an attitude, it would be enough reward. But it
will be more. (6-5.315)
57
If some people regard him as a peculiar character
and others as an eccentric individual, that will only be because he has failed
to disguise his philosophic interests sufficiently in an unphilosophic world.
58
The idea that perfectly harmonious human relations
can be established between human beings still dominated by egoism is a
delusional one. Even where it seems to have been established, the true situation
has been covered by romantic myth.
59
We need not become less human because we seek to
make ourselves better men. The Good, the True, and the Beautiful will refine,
and not destroy, our human qualities. (6-6.11)
60
If he is to keep his inward peace unruffled he must
live above the level of those who have it not. This can be done only if he obeys
the practical injunctions of Jesus and Buddha, only if he keeps out of his
emotional system all the negatives like resentment, bitterness, quarrelsomeness,
jealousy, spite, and revenge. These lower emotions must definitely be outgrown
if philosophic calm is to be the supreme fact and philosophic wisdom the guiding
factor in his life. When other men show their enmity and meanness toward him, he
is to retaliate by showing his indifference and generosity. When they falsely
assail his character or enviously calumniate his work, he is to forbear from
harsh feelings and not let them forfeit his goodwill. He is not to succumb to
the human temptation to retaliate in kind. For he is engaged on a holy ascent,
and to succumb would be to slip grievously back. Indeed, out of the base actions
of others, he may kindle noble reactions which assist his upward climb. (6-5.40)
61
In his own heart he has no enemies and is always
ready to make his peace with those who have acted as such. However, even those
who treat him as an enemy but whom he does not regard as such, as well as those
who turn the basilisk glance of envy upon him, will be useful tutors of the
values of existence, and after every kind of onslaught he can sit quietly
beneath a friendly tree and understand better why fame is a gift of doubtful
value, a sword with two edges whose sharper and crueller edge is jealousy; why
it is as satisfying to have malignant enemies as to have benevolent friends, for
they afford practical instruction in non-attachment and self-purification,
priceless tuition which no friend is ever likely to give him; why a man is
sometimes indebted to his bitterest opponents for the favour of a useful
criticism which has somehow crept in among their ugly lies, while his best
friends injure him by being silent; why he must be content to walk alone with
truth and refrain from asking of the world that understanding which it is
incompetent to give; why most warm human longings for a happiness dependent upon
others inevitably end in the dismal dust and cold ash; and why the finite ego
affords too narrow a life for the infinite Mind, of which, as Jesus told his
wondering hearers, we know neither whence it cometh nor whither it goeth.
62
Justice often demands that force be used in order
to implement its decisions. Philosophy sets up justice as one of the guiding
principles of personal and national conduct. Therefore philosophy has no use for
pacifism or nonviolence. (6-7.25)
63
The goodness which one man may express in his
relation to another is derived ultimately from his own divine soul and is an
unconscious recognition of, as well as gesture to, the same divine presence in
that other. Moreover, the degree to which anyone becomes conscious of his true
self is the degree to which he becomes conscious of it in others. Consequently,
the goodness of the fully illumined man is immeasurably beyond that of the
conventionally moral man. (6-1.367)
64
The resistance of evil is a social duty. Its
strongest expression heretofore has been defensive war against a criminally
aggressive offending nation. If resistance is itself an evil, war is the most
evil form of that evil. The appearance of the atomic bomb is a sign that a new
approach must be found today, that the old way of defensive war will not meet
the new problems which have arisen. If man is to end war once and for all and
find peace, he must do so both internally and externally. He can do the one by
ending the rule of the animal aggressive emotions within himself such as greed,
anger, revenge, and hatred, and he can do the other by abandoning the slaying of
his fellow creatures, whether human or animal. He may take whatever defensive
preparations he pleases, but he must stop short at the point of killing other
men. The refusal to slaughter would then evoke powerful spiritual forces, and if
enough persons evoke them the end of war would be assured. However it is
unlikely that such an idealistic course would appeal to more than a small
minority of mankind, so that if the end of war is to be brought about in another
way it can only be by the political method of an international policing army
operated by a world federation of peoples. Since such a federation does not
exist today, its only possibility of coming into existence is through the hard
lessons learnt out of the appalling destructiveness of an atomic war. There is
no other alternative to such a war than the renunciation of the right to kill.
(6-7.26)
65
If what is right for the masses, with their limited
standards, is not right for the disciple, with his loftier ones, then the
reverse is also true. The code which he must apply to life is well beyond the
understanding and reach of the masses. To attempt to impose it on them is to
create moral or social confusion and to unbalance their minds.