登陆注册
5261200000052

第52章 VIII THE ROMANCE OF ORTHODOXY(4)

The Christian is staring with a frantic intentness outwards. If we follow that clue steadily we shall find some interesting things.

A short time ago Mrs. Besant, in an interesting essay, announced that there was only one religion in the world, that all faiths were only versions or perversions of it, and that she was quite prepared to say what it was. According to Mrs. Besant this universal Church is simply the universal self. It is the doctrine that we are really all one person; that there are no real walls of individuality between man and man. If I may put it so, she does not tell us to love our neighbours; she tells us to be our neighbours.

That is Mrs. Besant's thoughtful and suggestive description of the religion in which all men must find themselves in agreement.

And I never heard of any suggestion in my life with which I more violently disagree. I want to love my neighbour not because he is I, but precisely because he is not I. I want to adore the world, not as one likes a looking-glass, because it is one's self, but as one loves a woman, because she is entirely different.

If souls are separate love is possible. If souls are united love is obviously impossible. A man may be said loosely to love himself, but he can hardly fall in love with himself, or, if he does, it must be a monotonous courtship. If the world is full of real selves, they can be really unselfish selves. But upon Mrs. Besant's principle the whole cosmos is only one enormously selfish person.

It is just here that Buddhism is on the side of modern pantheism and immanence. And it is just here that Christianity is on the side of humanity and liberty and love. Love desires personality; therefore love desires division. It is the instinct of Christianity to be glad that God has broken the universe into little pieces, because they are living pieces. It is her instinct to say "little children love one another" rather than to tell one large person to love himself. This is the intellectual abyss between Buddhism and Christianity; that for the Buddhist or Theosophist personality is the fall of man, for the Christian it is the purpose of God, the whole point of his cosmic idea. The world-soul of the Theosophists asks man to love it only in order that man may throw himself into it.

But the divine centre of Christianity actually threw man out of it in order that he might love it. The oriental deity is like a giant who should have lost his leg or hand and be always seeking to find it; but the Christian power is like some giant who in a strange generosity should cut off his right hand, so that it might of its own accord shake hands with him. We come back to the same tireless note touching the nature of Christianity; all modern philosophies are chains which connect and fetter; Christianity is a sword which separates and sets free. No other philosophy makes God actually rejoice in the separation of the universe into living souls.

But according to orthodox Christianity this separation between God and man is sacred, because this is eternal. That a man may love God it is necessary that there should be not only a God to be loved, but a man to love him. All those vague theosophical minds for whom the universe is an immense melting-pot are exactly the minds which shrink instinctively from that earthquake saying of our Gospels, which declare that the Son of God came not with peace but with a sundering sword. The saying rings entirely true even considered as what it obviously is; the statement that any man who preaches real love is bound to beget hate. It is as true of democratic fraternity as a divine love; sham love ends in compromise and common philosophy; but real love has always ended in bloodshed. Yet there is another and yet more awful truth behind the obvious meaning of this utterance of our Lord. According to Himself the Son was a sword separating brother and brother that they should for an aeon hate each other.

But the Father also was a sword, which in the black beginning separated brother and brother, so that they should love each other at last.

This is the meaning of that almost insane happiness in the eyes of the mediaeval saint in the picture. This is the meaning of the sealed eyes of the superb Buddhist image. The Christian saint is happy because he has verily been cut off from the world; he is separate from things and is staring at them in astonishment.

But why should the Buddhist saint be astonished at things?--since there is really only one thing, and that being impersonal can hardly be astonished at itself. There have been many pantheist poems suggesting wonder, but no really successful ones. The pantheist cannot wonder, for he cannot praise God or praise anything as really distinct from himself. Our immediate business here, however, is with the effect of this Christian admiration (which strikes outwards, towards a deity distinct from the worshipper) upon the general need for ethical activity and social reform. And surely its effect is sufficiently obvious. There is no real possibility of getting out of pantheism, any special impulse to moral action.

For pantheism implies in its nature that one thing is as good as another; whereas action implies in its nature that one thing is greatly preferable to another. Swinburne in the high summer of his scepticism tried in vain to wrestle with this difficulty.

In "Songs before Sunrise," written under the inspiration of Garibaldi and the revolt of Italy he proclaimed the newer religion and the purer God which should wither up all the priests of the world:

"What doest thou now Looking Godward to cry I am I, thou art thou, I am low, thou art high, I am thou that thou seekest to find him, find thou but thyself, thou art I."

同类推荐
  • 法华经持验记

    法华经持验记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Confidence

    Confidence

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 千手千眼观自在菩萨广大圆满无碍

    千手千眼观自在菩萨广大圆满无碍

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 绝命辞

    绝命辞

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Heretics

    Heretics

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 销售中的拒绝处理70招

    销售中的拒绝处理70招

    客户一开口就婉言谢绝,应该怎么处理?面对前台或总机的阻拦,应该怎么处理?发掘客户需求过程中的拒绝,应该怎么处理?客户对产品或者公司有顾虑,应该怎么处理?客户对价格有异议,应该怎么处理?如何预防而不是去处理客户的拒绝?……针对这些经常遇到且令人非常头疼的问题,本书精选70类实战情景进行说明。每类实战情景都提供了简单实用的话术范本,可复制性极强,上午学完下午就能用,可以短时间内快速提升销售人员的沟通技巧和销售业绩。
  • 华为是如何留住10万人才的

    华为是如何留住10万人才的

    在华为,员工之间通过竞争上岗,通过竞争定优劣。公司的人才也是通过竞争的方式脱颖而出的。华为实行绩效考核制、末尾淘汰制。
  • 总裁老公,晚上见

    总裁老公,晚上见

    身为独生女却被父亲冷落,更被他商业联姻卖给了别人。虽说这个别人是她的青梅竹马,可青梅竹马不爱她,还一直怀疑她居心叵测,她气笑,居心叵测个鬼!她转身离开,却又被他花式求爱缠住,“老婆求别走,我保证以后一定会让你幸福!”
  • 网游之终极盾皇

    网游之终极盾皇

    穷小子兼倒霉蛋进入游戏,竟然幸运的被神秘智能模块附身,从此拥有了神奇的各种能力。依靠超高的亲和力,他在游戏中能和美女NPC随意搭讪。能与BOSS谈理想,能和小怪聊未来,在这魔幻般的乱世里,李旭上演了一场激情四射的彪悍人生。手持巨盾,不动如山,扫平全球各战场。君临天下,乱世盾皇,开创网游新世纪。
  • 美元上的小红点

    美元上的小红点

    退一万步讲,如果不是遇到了莫会计,不是听从了她的蛊惑,宋德志绝不会丧心病狂,对儿子下狠手的。可是,把责任全都推到莫会计身上,也有些牵强。宋德志不是没脑子的人,怎能轻易听了人家的摆布?说来说去,还得从自身找原因,还得从灵魂深处下刀子。宋德志为人要强,平生只羡慕成功人士。也有一个例外——老战友南方。过得好,他就不羡慕,偶尔说起来,嘴角也是往下撇的。自从南方上了福布斯排行榜,宋德志就更不提他了。这边,推崇成功人士,那边,就见不得混日子的人,尤其鄙视宋文科这号的。你可以平庸,可就是不能游手好闲。人一旦游手好闲了,就容易走歪路,就容易惹是生非。宋文科嫌烦,不爱听。
  • 进退与攻守:中国历史人物的博弈对局

    进退与攻守:中国历史人物的博弈对局

    本书从历史人物的较量中得出:博弈精神的核心,就是策略的选择;进退是人生的策略,攻守是人生的战局;历史对局中的博弈,扣人心弦又发人深醒。
  • 史上最难攻略的女BOSS

    史上最难攻略的女BOSS

    她是BUG一样的存在,史上最难攻略的女BOSS,没有之一。一句话来说:这是一个土著女BOSS对抗“穿越者”“重生者”“任务者”的故事……欢迎加入安妮普通书友群,群聊号码:697934386
  • 世界儿童故事经典:天文故事

    世界儿童故事经典:天文故事

    有一种东西叫做钻石,如天上的星星,风雨的岁月和空间,凝固成人类精神的永恒,它跨越了国界、语言、年龄。“注音版影响孩子一生的名著”系列图书,每一本都是你生命中不可不读的经典。
  • 公子藏娇

    公子藏娇

    看过一个男人,因为看上了自家小媳妇的脸蛋,开始了漫漫追妻的故事吗?“啥?少爷拉楚小姐的手?不可能!少爷从来不近女色!可能是你瞎了”顾祁泽这辈子最大的败笔,莫过于看上了楚筱辞那美的不可方物的小脸蛋,小媳妇啥都好,就是有点耗脸皮万千江山不及一人风华无祭,白衣神明[小说名改错字了,是卿世颜鸾,未满60天没法改名]
  • 科幻世界(2014年1-12月)合集

    科幻世界(2014年1-12月)合集

    科幻世界杂志社创立于1979年,目前是中国最具影响力的专业科幻出版机构。其中,由四川省科协主管主办的《科幻世界》月刊,以倡导创新思维,展示科学魅力为发展目标,主要刊登国内外一流的科幻小说和最新沿的科学动态,以及优秀的科幻画作和实用的写作指南,极大地激发了青少年读者崇尚科学、热爱幻想的热情,多次荣获国内期刊出版最高奖项。