fe ''■■WM ^/<, ' only super- stition, and they transmit this to innocent, trustful children, at an age when impres- sions are so deep that thej' are never after- wards completely crt'aced. XXXVI. THE EVIL CAUSED BY RELIGIOUS DECEPTION. 192. Sin, causing man to at times com- mit acts contrary to his spiritual nature — to love, — impedes his birth to the new true life. 193. Snares, by justifying sins, lead man into a life of sin, so that he not only commits certain sinful acts, but, while living an animal life, does not perceive it to be in contradiction to the true life. 194. Such a position is possible only when the truth is perverted by religious deception. No man, whose understand- ing is not thus perverted, can be blind to the falsehood of snares. 195. Religious deception is, therefore, the foundation of all the sins and calami- ties of mankind. 107 io8 The Christian Teaching. 196. Religious deception is that which is called in the Gospel " blasphemy against the Holy Ghost," concerning which it is said that it cannot be pardoned — i. e., it can never, in any life, fail to be ruinous. XXXVII. THE WAY TO LIVE ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF CHRIST. 197. In' order to live according to the teaching of Christ, man must destroy the obstacles which impede true life, or the manifestation of love. 198. These obstacles are sins. But sins cannot be destroyed until man frees him- self from snares. And freedom from snares is possible only to the man who is free from religious deception. 199. Therefore, in order to live accord- ing to the teaching of Christ, man must first of all free himself from religious deception. 200. Only after having freed himself from this can a man liberate himself from the falsehood of snares ; only after seeing the falsehood of snares can he free him- self from sins. 109 XXXVIII. F.SCAPE FROM RELIGIOUS DKCEr- riON. 201. In order to free himself from re- Iis:;;ious deception in genera!, man must understand and remember that the only instrument he possesses for the acquisition of knowledge is reason, and therefore that e\ery te.iching allinning what is contrary to reason is a delusion, an attempt to set aside the only instrument for acquiring knowledge which God has given to man. 202. In order to escape from religious deception, man must understand and re- member that he has not, and cannot have, any other instrument of know ledge but reason — that, whether he will or no, e\-ery man believes only in reason. Tliey therefore deceive themselves who sa\- that The Christian Teaching, iii they believe in Moses, Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, the Church, the Koran, the Bible, but not in reason, because, what- ever their faith, they believe, not in the medium which transmits the truths in which they believe — not in Moses, Bud- dha, Christ, the Bible, — but in reason, which tells them that they must have faith in Moses, Christ, the Bible, and not in Buddha or Mohammed, and vice versa. 203. Man can receive truth only through his reason. The man therefore who thinks that he receives truth through faith, and not through reason, only de- ludes himself, and uses his reason for a purpose for which it was never intended — namely, to solve questions as to which of those who transmit that which is given out as truth one "must believe, and which reject. Whereas reason is intended, not to decide between whom one must and must not believe (this, indeed, it cannot do), but to verify the truth of what is pre- sented to it. This it can always do ; for this purpose it was designed. 204. Misinterpreters of truth generally 112 The Christian Teaching. say that one cannot trust reason because its assertions vary in different men, and that it is therefore better, for the sake of union, to beHeve in revelation confirmed by miracles. But such a statement is directly opposed to fact. Reason never makes opposite assertions, but always and in all men asserts or denies the same thing. 205. It is only " faiths" which assert: one that God revealed Himself on Sinai, and is the God of the Hebrews ; another, that God is Brahma, Vishnu and Siva; another that He is the Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Ghost; a fourth, that He is identical with heaven and earth ; a fifth, that the whole truth was revealed by Buddha; a sixth, that all was revealed by Mohammed. It is only these faiths that divide men, whereas reason, whether it be the reason of a Jew, a Japanese, a Chinaman, an Arab, an Englishman or a Russian, always says one and the same thing. 206. When it is said that reason can deceive, and in confirmation of this are The Christian Teaching. 113 cited the contradictory assertions of differ- ent people as to the existence or nature of a God, and the way in which He must be served, they make a mistake, and, in- tentionally or unintentionally, confuse reason with speculation and invention. Speculations and inventions, it is true, may be and are infinitely diverse and numerous, but the conclusions of reason are the same for all men at all times. Speculations and inventions about the origin of the world and of sin, and as to what will happen after death, may be in- finitely various, but the conclusions of reason as to whether it is true that three Gods are one, that a man died and then rose again, that he walked upon the water or flew away into the sky, that in con- suming bread and wine I consume flesh and blood — the conclusions of reason about these questions are the same for all men in all the world, and are undoubt- edly correct. Whether a Jew affirm that God walked in a flame of fire, or a Hindoo that Buddha ascended in the rays of the sun, or whether it be affirmed that Mo- 1 14 The Christian Teaching. hammed flew into heaven, or Christ walked on the water and so forth, the reason of all men always and ever3'where gives the same answer: "It is not true." But to the question, " Is it right to act towards others as you would have them act to- wards you ? Is it good to love men, to pardon their oiTences and to be merci- ful ? " the reason of all men, at all times, answers: " Yes, it is right, it is good." 20/ . Therefore, to avoid falling a prey to religious deception, man must under- stand and remember that truth is revealed to him only through reason, given him by God for the purpose of discovering the will of God, and that the practice of in- spiring distrust in reason is founded on the desire to deceive, and is the greatest blasphemy. 208. Such are the general means of liberating oneself from religious deception. But in order to escape it, one must know all its methods and beware of and strive against them. XXXIX. ESCAPE FROM RELIGIOUS DECEP- TION INCULCATED FROM IN- FANCY. 209. In order that a man may live ac- cording to the teaching of Christ, he must first of all free himself from the religious deception in which he was educated, whether this deception be Hebrew, Bud- dhist, Japanese, Confucian or Christian. 210. And in order to do so, a man must understand and remember that he has re- ceived reason directly from God, who alone can unite all men; whereas human traditions do not unite, but divide. He must, therefore, while verifying the be- liefs inculcated from infancy, have no fear of the doubts and questions which reason calls forth, but must, on the contrary, 115 ii6 The Christian Teaching. carefully submit all that has been trans- mitted to him to examination and com- parison with other creeds, and, however ancient the transmitted traditions may be, or however impressive their surroundings, must acknowledge none as true which contradict reason. 211. Having submitted the beliefs in- culcated from childhood to the judgment of reason, the man who wishes to quite free himself from this mode of religious deception must boldly and unreservedly throw aside all that is contrary to his judgment, not doubting for a moment that what is thus contrary must be untrue. 212. Having freed himself from the religious deception taught him from child- hood, the man who wishes to live accord- ing to Christ's teaching must himself refrain from contributing to the deception of children by word, example or by si- lence, and must also expose this deceit by every possible means, following the ex- ample of Christ, who pitied children on ac- count of those deceptions to which they are subject. XL. ESCAPE FROM THE RELIGIOUS DE- CEPTION CAUSED BY ACTION ON THE SENSES. 213. Having freed himself from the re- ligious deception inculcated from infancy, man must avoid the deception produced by deceivers of all nations by means of external influence on the senses. 214. To avoid falling under this decep- tion, man must understand and remember that the propagation and acceptance of truth by men require neither apparatus nor adornments; that only falsehood and deception demand special conditions for their transmission ; and therefore that all solemn services, processions, ornaments, perfumes, songs and so forth, are no proof of truth, but on the contrary serve 117 ii8 The Christian Teaching. to show that falsehood, not truth, is being transmitted. 215. To avoid falHng under deception by action on the senses, man should call to mind the words of Christ, that God must be served, not in any particular place, but in spirit and truth, and that he who wishes to pray should go, not into the temple, but into the solitude of his own room, knowing that all external splendour in the worship of God has for its object deception, which deception is the more cruel the more magnificent the ceremony. He should, therefore, not only himself refrain from participating in stupefying acts of worship, but should also, when possible, expose this deceit. XLl. ESCAPE FROM THE DECEPTION OF MEDIATION. 2i6. Freed from the second deception of action on the senses, man has yet to avoid the deception of mediation between God and man, which will certainly con- ceal the truth from him if he surrenders to it. 217. That he may not fall under this deception, a man must understand and remember that God only reveals Himself directly to man's heart, and that every intermediary, whether it be one person or a collection of persons, a book or a tradi- tion, not only hides God from man, but also causes the most dreadful evil which can befall him, namely, that he should regard as God that which is not God. 119 I20 The Christian Teaching. 218. As soon as man admits faith in any kind of mediation, he deprives himself of the only possible means of authenticating his knowledge, and incurs the liability of accepting any kind of falsehood in the place of truth. 219. It is owing to mediation alone that men have practised and continue to prac- tise those dreadful deceptions owing to which reasonable and good men pray, as if to God, to Christ, the Virgin Mary, Buddha, Mohammed, Saints, relics and images. 220. In order to avoid this deception, man must understand and remember that truth is revealed to him primarily and most reliably, not in a book, nor by tra- dition, nor through any assembly of men, but in his own heart and reason, as Moses declared when he told the people that the law of God must be sought neither over the sea, nor in the sky, but in one's heart ; and as Christ taught the Jews when he said that they knew not the truth, be- cause they believed the traditions of men instead of him who was sent by God. The Christian Teaching. 121 And it is reason, the only infallible instru- ment whereby to attain to knowledge, that is sent into us by God. 221. To avoid the deception of media- tion, man must understand and remem- ber that truth cannot be at once revealed in its fulness, but is disclosed to man by degrees. Further, that it is disclosed to those only who seek it, and not to those who, believing what is transmitted to them by so-called infallible intermediaries, think that they possess it. In order, therefore, not to incur the danger of fall- ing into the most dreadful errors, man must regard no one as an infallible teacher, but must seek the truth everywhere in all human traditions, verifying them by his own reason. XLII. ESCAPE FROM FAITH IN MIRACLES. 222. But, having freed himself from the deception inculcated in childho'od, avoided that of impressive ceremonies, and rejected all intermediaries between himself and God, man will not yet be free from religious deception and capable of understanding Christ's teaching, un- less he liberate himself from faith in the supernatural, the miraculous. 223. It is said that miracles, i. e., the supernatural, are performed with the ob- ject of uniting men ; but in fact nothing so disunites them, for every religion has its own miracles, and repudiates those of all others. Nor can this be otherwise. The miraculous, or supernatural, is in- finitely various ; the natural only is every- where and always the same. The Christian Teaching. 123 224. So, to escape the deception of faith in the miraculous, man must acknow- ledge as true only that which is natural, which is in accordance with his reason, and must recognise as false all that is unnatural — that contradicts his reason, — knowing that all that is given out as such is human deception, as are various con- temporary miracles, cures, raisings of the dead, miraculous images, relics, the transformation of bread and wine, etc., and as are the miracles related in the Bible, the Gospels, and in the Budd- hist, Mohammedan, Lao-Tzian and other scriptures. XLIII. ESCAPE FROM THE DECEPTION OF MISINTERPRETATION OF TRUTH. 225. Having escaped from the decep- tion of mediation, man must also free himself from that of misinterpretation. 226. Whatever be the religion a man has been educated in, whether it be Mo- hammedan, Christian, Buddhist, Hebrew or Confucian, in every one he will meet, side by side with assertions which are un- questionably true, and accepted by his reason, assertions contrary to reason, which are represented as equally reliable. 227. If he would free himself from this deception, man must not be troubled by the fact that the assertions acknowledged by reason and those rejected by it are given out as equally certain, and as of the 124 The Christian Teaching. 125 same origin, and are apparently insepar- ably connected. He must understand and remember that every revelation of truth to man, i. e., every new understand- ing of truth by one of the more advanced men, has always so impressed people that they have enclosed it in a supernatural form. To every manifestation of truth an element of superstition has inevitably been added, so that to discover the truth it is imperative that he should separate false- hood and fiction from truth and reality, and not, on the contrary, accept all that has been transmitted concerning the re- velation of the truth. 228. Having separated truth from the added superstition, let it be understood and remembered that the element of superstition is not only not as sacred as the truth itself (as those afifirm who bene- fit by these superstitions), but, on the contrary, constitutes the most pernicious medium of the concealment of truth, to destroy which man must exert all his powers. PART FIFTH. LIBERATION FROM SNARES. 127 XLIV. THE WAY TO AVOID SNARES. 229. Man, having liberated himself from religious deception, would be ready to ac- cept the teaching of Christ, were it not for snares. But, though freed from religious deception, and understanding Christ's teaching, he is always in danger of falling into snares. 230. The essence of all snares consists in this, that man, having awakened to con- sciousness, experiences the discord and suffering caused by sin, and seeks to es- cape both, not by striving against the sin, but by justifying it. 231. And sin cannot appear to be justi- fied except by deception. 232. Therefore, in order to avoid falling into snares, man must not fear to recog- 129 130 The Christian Teaching. nise the truth, knowing that its recogni- tion cannot remove him further from welfare, whereas untruth is the chief source of sin and of man's departure from welfare. 233. So, to escape snares, man must, above all, avoid lying, especially to him- self ; being careful not so much to abstain from lying before others as to himself, /. e., not hiding from himself the motive of his actions. 234. Further, if a man would avoid snares and the resulting sin and ruin he must not be afraid to repent of his sins, repentance being the only means of liber- ation from sin and the calamities arising from it. 235. Such are the means whereby men may avoid falling into snares in general. But, in order to be able to avoid each par- ticular snare, one must clearly understand what constitutes its deception and harm. XLV. THE DECEPTION OF THE SNARE OF PREPARATION (THE PERSONAL SNARE). ^ 236. The first and most common snare into which man falls is the personal snare, that of making preparations to live, instead of living. If a man does not him- self invent this justification of his sins, he will always find it already invented by men who have lived before him. 237. " I can now," says man, " for a time, diverge from the path of duty, from what is demanded by my spiritual nature, because I am unready. I will first prepare myself, and then, when the time comes, I will begin to live altogether in accord- ance with my conscience." 238. The deception of this snare consists in man turning aside from life in the pre- 131 132 The Christian Teaching. sent, which is the only actual one, and hoping for life in the future, whereas the future does not belong to him. 239. The deception here is made clear by the circumstance that, if a man foresee the morrow, he must also foresee the next day, and the next and so on, and if he foresee all this, he will also foresee his in- evitable death. And, foreseeing that, he will not make preparations for the future of a life which is approaching its termination, because death destroys the meaning of all that for which man prepares in this life. If a man give free scope to his reason, he cannot but see that the life of his separate being is senseless, and that he can there- fore make no preparation for it. 240. The deception is also revealed by the consideration that man cannot pre- pare himself for a future manifestation of love and of service to God. Man is not a tool that is used by someone else. You may sharpen an axe, and if you have no time to use it, it can be used by someone else, but no one can utilise a man save the man himself, because he is a tool continu- The Christian Teaching. 133 ally working and perfected only by work. 241. The evil of the snare is that the man who has fallen into it, while looking forward to a life in the future, which never comes, not only fails to live the true life, but even loses the temporal life of the present. Thinking to perfect himself for the future, man relinquishes that per- fecting in love which can be accomplished only in present and which is the life's purpose of every man. 242. In order to avoid falling into this snare, man must understand and remem- ber that there is no time for preparation ; that he must live in the best way possible now, as he is; that the only perfecting he needs is the perfecting in love, and that this is accomplished only in the present. 243. He must therefore, without delay, live each moment in the present with all his powers, for God, i. e., for all who make demands upon his life, knowing that it is precisely for this continual serv- ice he has come into the world, and that at any moment he may be deprived of the possibility of rendering it. XLVI. THE DECEPTION AND EVIL OF THE SNARE OF ACTIVITY. 244. A man occupied on a certain piece of work is involuntarily captivated by it, and it appears to him that, for the sake of that work, he may refrain from doing what is required of him by his conscience, by God. 245. The deception in this snare con- sists in the fact that any human work may turn out useless or may be interrupted and remain unfinished, whereas the work of God, which is accomplished by man through the fulfilment of the will of God, can neither prove useless nor in anywise be interrupted. 246. The evil in this snare is that, hav- ing decided that some particular work — 134 The Christian Teaching. 135 whether it be raking over seeds or liber- ating a nation from slavery — is more important than the work of God, i. e., the immediate help and service of one's neighbour (often the most insignificant work in human judgment), there will al- ways be found work which it is necessary to finish before complying with the de- mands of the work of God. Man will thus continually excuse himself from the service of God — from the accomplishment of the work of life — by substituting the service of what is dead for the service of that which is living. 247. Having fallen into this snare, men will always postpone the service of God until they shall be free from all worldly activity ; whereas from worldly activities men are never free. To avoid falling into it, man must understand and remember that no human activity which has an end can be the aim of a true eternal life, which aim can be nothing but the participation in the endless work of God, which con- sists in the greatest possible manifestation of love. (^o The Christian Teaching-. .348. Thorcforo. iti oixler to escape the snare of activit)-. tnan must ilo no work of his own that violates the work of God, that violates love to n\en ; and he must always be ready to relinqviish any occupa- tion, when summoned to the accomplish- mci\t of that work. Like a workman employed on his master's work, he shoidd attend to his own alTaii"s only whet\ his powers and attention arc ivot required for his master's work. XLVII. THE DECEPTION AND HARM OF THE FAMILY SNARE. 249. This snare is used, more than any other, to justify men's sins. Persons free from the snare of preparation for Hfe, or that of activity, are rarely free — especially if they be women — from the family snare. 250. This snare consists in men, in the name of exclusive love for the members of their own family, regarding themselves as free from duties to others, and calmly committing sins of avarice, ambition, idle- ness and lust, without regarding them as sins. 251. The deception of this snare con- sists in the fact that the animal propensity drawing men towards the continuation of the race (which is lawful only in so far as 137 138 The Christian Teaching. it does not violate love to mankind) is re- garded as a virtue justifying sin. 252. The evil of this snare is that, more than any other, it strengthens the sin of property, intensifies strife among men by exalting as a merit and a virtue the animal instinct of love towards one's family, and diverts men from knowledge of the true meaning of life. 253. To avoid falling into this snare, man must refrain from intentionally de- veloping in himself this family love, from regarding this love as a virtue, and from yielding to it. And knowing the snare, he must be always on his guard against it, so as not to sacrifice the divine for the family love. 254. One can without caution love one's enemies, unattractive people, strang- ers, and altogether give one's self up to this love; but one cannot without caution love the members of one's own family, because such a love leads to moral blind- ness, and justification of sins. 255. In order not to fall into this snare, man must understand and remember The Christian Teaching. 139 firstly that love is true, bestowing life and welfare, only when it neither seeks nor expects nor hopes for recompense, just as no other manifestation of life expects recompense for its existence. Secondly, that love for one's family is an animal instinct, which is good only so long as kept within the limits of an in- stinct, and so long as man does not sacri- fice spiritual demands for its sake. 256. Therefore, in order to avoid this snare, man must endeavour to do for every stranger the same that he wishes to do for his family, and not do for his family such things as he is not ready and able to do for a stranger. XLVIII. THE DECEPTION AND EVIL OF THE SNARE OF FELLOWSHIP. 257. Having separated themselves from others and linked themselves together under certain exceptional conditions, men think that, if they maintain these condi- tions, they are performing such a good work that it liberates them from the gen- eral demands of conscience. 258. The deception of this snare con- sists in the circumstance that by entering into fellowship with a certain small num- ber of people, men cut themselves off from the natural fellowship of all, and consequently violate the most important natural duties in the name of artificial ones. 259. The evil of the snare is that men 140 The Christian Teaching. 141 who have bound themselves together in separate fellowships, and whose lives are guided by their own special rules and not by the common laws of reason, depart further and further from those reasonable principles of life common to all men, be- come less tolerant and more cruel to all outside their fellowship, and thus deprive themselves and others of true welfare. To avoid falling into this snare, man must understand and remember that the rules of fellowships organised by men may be infinitely various, changeable and con- tradictory, that no rule artificially ordained by man should bind him, if it be contrary to the law of love, and that every exclu- sive union limits the circle of fellowship and deprives man of the chief source of welfare, possibility of loving communion with all on earth. 260. He should therefore not only re- frain from entering all societies, fellow- ships and associations, but should avoid all that may exclude him, in union with others, from the rest of mankind. XLIX. THE DECEPTION AND EVIL OF THE STATE SNARE. 261. This cruellest of snares is, like false religion, transmitted to men by two modes of deception, — inculcation of false- hood upon children, and influence exerted on the feelings of men by external solemn- ities. On awakening to consciousness, almost every man who lives in a state finds himself already entangled in State snares, and living under the persuasion that his is a superior special people, state, country, for the welfare and advancement of which he should blindly obey the exist- ing government, and at its bidding torture, wound and slay his fellows. 262. The deception of this snare con- sists in the assumption that, for the sake 142 The Christian Teaching. 143 of the welfare of his nation, man may dis- regard the requirements of conscience, and sacrifice his moral freedom. 263. The evil of this snare is that as soon as we admit the possibility of ascert- aining and understanding what consti- tutes the welfare of a number of people, there is no limit to conjecture as to the resultant welfare from any act whatever ; so that any act may be justified the mo- ment a man assumes that the welfare or life of one man may be sacrificed for the sake of the future welfare of many. There is no limit to the evil that can be done in the name of such reasoning. The first assumption — that we can know what will promote the future welfare of many — has been responsible in former times for tort- ure, the inquisition and slavery, and in our time, for courts of law, prisons and landed property. Acting on the second assumption — that of Caiaphas, — Christ was slain in the past, and at the present time millions perish by execution and war. 264. In order to avoid falling into this 144 The Christian Teaching. snare, man must understand and remem- ber that before belonging to any state or nation, he belongs to God, being a mem- ber of a universal kingdom, and that so far from being able to transfer to anyone the responsibility for his actions, he must himself alone always be answerable for them. 265. Therefore man must under no cir- cumstances prefer men of his own nation or state to those of another ; no considera- tion as to the future welfare of many must ever induce him to do harm to his neighbours; and he must not think that he ought to obey anyone whomsoever in preference to his own conscience. PART SIXTH. THE STRUGGLE WITH SINS. 145 STRIVING AGAINST SINS. 266. But, although they may have freed themselves from religious deception and avoided snares, men still fall into sins. A man with awakened consciousness knows that the meaning of his life con- sists only in the service of God, and yet, owing to habit, he commits sins, which hinder both the manifestation of love, and the attainment of true welfare. 267. How, then, is man to strive against the habit of sin ? 268. Before he can successfully so strive he must in the first place clearly under- stand the consequences of sins : that they do not accomplish the purpose for which they are committed, that they do not in- crease, but rather diminish the animal 147 148 The Christian Teaching. welfare of men. Secondly, he must know in what order to contend with the sins. 269. Firstly, therefore, one should clearly understand and remember that the conditions of man's life in this world are such that after the awakening of reasonable consciousness every search for personal welfare deprives him of this wel- fare, and that, on the contrary, he obtains welfare only when he does not think of his personal well-being, but uses all his powers in the service of God. " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His right- eousness and all the rest shall be added unto you." 270. Secondly, for success in striving against habits of sin one must know to which sin one should first direct one's at- tention, not beginning by striving against a sin which has its roots in another as yet unconquered one, but recognising their mutual connection and succession. LI. THE RIGHT ORDER IN WHICH TO CONTEND WITH SINS. 271. There is a connection and se- quence between sins by which one sin engenders others, or hinders liberation from them. 272. Man cannot Hberate himself from any sins as long as he addicts himself to the sin of intoxication ; he cannot liberate himself from the sin of ambition if he yield to that of avarice, or from avarice while he is addicted to the sin of idleness ; he cannot free himself from sexual sin if he addicts himself to sensual sin and that of idleness ; and he cannot liberate him- self from ambition and avarice so long as he yields to sensual sin. 273. This does not mean that one 149 150 The Christian Teaching. should not strive against every sin at all times, but that, for success in the contest, one should know with which to begin, or rather with which one cannot begin. 274. It is often only this striving against sins in the wrong order which causes that want of success which drives men to despair. 275. The sin which, while yielded to, precludes the possibility of all contest with others, is intoxication by means of stupefying substances, impressive sur- roundings or exciting actions. The in- toxicated man resists neither idleness nor sensuousness, sexual propensities nor ambition. Therefore, in order that he may contend with other sins, he must first of all liberate himself from that of intoxication. 276. The next sin from which a man must liberate himself if he would have power to strive against sensuousness, avarice, ambition and sexual sin, is idle- ness. The freer a man is from the sin of idleness, the easier it is for him to abstain from sensuousness, avarice, sexual sin The Christian Teaching. 151 and ambition. A man who is working requires no elaboration of the means of satisfying his needs, does not require property, is less liable to sexual tempta- tions, and has neither the occasion nor the leisure for contest with his fellows. 277. Next comes the sensual sin. The more abstemious a man is in food, cloth- ing and habitation, the easier it will be for him to liberate himself from avarice, ambition and sexual sin. Satisfied with little, he does not need property, restraint helps in the struggle with sexual desires, and, having need of little, he has no reason for conflict with his fellows. 278. The next sin is avarice. The freer man is from this sin, the easier will it be for him to refrain from sexual sin and from ambition. Nothing so encourages sexual sin as superfluity of property, and nothing so promotes conflict among men. 279. The next is the sin of ambition, or competition, which is included in and promoted by all the other sins, and liber- ation from which is possible only in con- junction with liberation from them all. LII. THE WAY TO STRIVE AGAINST SIN. 280. It is possible to strive successfully against sins in general only when we know their successive order, so that we may commence with those without freedom from which we cannot contend against the others. 281. But even in the contest with each separate sin, one must begin with those manifestations of it which are within man's power to abstain from and which have not yet become habitual. 282. Such manifestations are, in every kind of sin — intoxication, idleness, sen- suousness, avarice, ambition, sexual sin, — the personal sins, those which men com- mit for the first time, not yet being 152 The Christian Teaching. 153 habituated to them. Therefore it is from those sins that a man must first of all free himself. 283. It is only after having liberated himself from these sins — after having ceased to invent new means of augment- ing his personal welfare, that man can begin to contend against the habits and traditions of sin established in his particu- lar circle. 284. And only when he has conquered these traditional sins can a man begin to strive against innate ones. LIII. STRIVING AGAINST THE SIN OF INTOXICATION. 285. The purpose of man's life is the manifestation and increase of love; this increase takes place only in consequence of man's consciousness of his true divine self, and the more conscious he is of that true self, the greater his welfare. And therefore all that impedes this conscious- ness, as does every kind of excitement, all that strengthens the erroneous con- sciousness of one's separate life and weakens the consciousness of one's true self, as every kind of intoxication does, impedes the attainment of true welfare. 286. In the case of a man awakened to consciousness, every form of intoxication, besides hindering the attainment of true 154 The Christian Teaching. 155 welfare by him, also deceives him, not only by failing to increase that personal welfare which he seeks through stimula- tion, but by even depriving him of that share of animal welfare which he already possesses. In addicting himself to any kind of art- ificial stimulation — smoking, drinking, sol- emnities, dancing — a man still living on the animal plane, or a child not yet awakened to consciousness, receives full satisfaction from the excitement produced, and needs no repetition of it. But with awakened reason man remarks that every excite- ment stifles the activity of his reason, and destroys the pain of the contradiction be- tween the demands of the animal and spiritual natures. He therefore requires a repetition and strengthening of the in- toxication, and increases his demand until the reason which had awakened within him is altogether stifled. This can only be attained by destroying altogether, or at all events in part, the corporeal life. So that a man with awakened reason, in addicting himself to this sin, fails to ob- 156 The Christian Teaching. tain the welfare he expects, and falls a victim to the most various and cruel calamities. 287. A man free from intoxication em- ploys in the service of his worldly life all those powers of mind or intellect which he possesses, and can intelligently choose what is best for his animal welfare ; whereas a man addicted to intoxication loses even those mental powers which are natural to the animal, and necessary for the avoidance of harm and the reception of pleasure. 288. Such are the consequences of the sin of intoxication for the man who com- mits it ; for those who surround him the consequences are particularly disastrous. This is so, firstly, because, for the produc- tion of the means of intoxication, enorm- ous expenditure of labour is necessary ; so that a large proportion of the labour of mankind is spent upon the production of intoxicants, the preparation of exciting ceremonies, processions, religious services, monuments, temples and commemorations of every kind. Secondly, because smok- The Christian Teaching. 157 ing, wine, exciting movements and espec- ially pompous ceremonies, compel weak- minded men, while under these influences, to commit the most insane, coarse, per- nicious and cruel actions. This should be understood and borne in mind by the man who is tempted to any form of in- toxication. 289. No one while living in the body can altogether destroy the possibility of temporary intoxication by means of food or drink, special external surroundings or stimulating movements, or to the. con- sequent strengthening of his animal con- sciousness and the weakening of the consciousness of his spiritual self. But if man cannot altogether destroy this tend- ency towards excitement, every man may reduce it to the smallest possible limits : and this constitutes the struggle with the sin of intoxication which faces everyone. 290. In order to liberate himself from this sin a man must understand and re- member that a certain degree of excite- ment is natural to man as an animal, under special circumstances and at certain 158 The Christian Teaching. times: but that when consciousness has awakened within him, he should not only refrain from seeking this excitement, but endeavour to avoid it, and cultivate that tranquil state of mind in which the activ- ity of his reason can manifest itself in all its power — that activity through which the greatest welfare may be procured both for the man himself and for the beings that are connected with him. 291. In order to attain to this a man must begin by refraining from adding to that sin of intoxication to which he is accustomed and which has become the habit of his life. If into a man's life there have already entered certain habits of intoxication, recurring periodically and regarded as indispensable by all around him, let him, even if he continue those habits, introduce no new ones, neither imitating others nor inventing for himself. If accustomed to smoke cigarettes, let him refrain from habituating himself to the use of cigars or opium ; if accustomed to beer or wine, let him refrain from stronger intoxicants; accustomed to low The Christian Teaching. 159 bows during prayer at home or in church, or to jumping and dancing during wor- ship, let him refrain from all fresh acts of that kind ; if in the habit of keeping cer- tain festivals, let him institute no new ones. Let him refrain from increasing the means of excitement to which he is ac- customed, and he will have already done much towards liberating himself and others from the sin of intoxication. If men would only introduce no new forms of sin, sin would be destroyed ; because it originates at a time when there are, as yet, no habits formed, and when it is therefore easy to overcome it ; and there ahvaj-s have been and always will be men who free themselves from sin. 292. When a man has become conscious of the folly of this sin, and has firmly de- cided not to multiply those modes of intoxication which have become habitual to him, then let him cease from smoking and drinking, if he have acquired these habits, or from taking part in the solem- nities and festivals in which he formerly i6o The Christian Teaching. participated, or from exciting movements, if he be accustomed to them. 293. As soon as a man has freed him- self from these artificial habits of intoxica- tion in which he has been living, let him begin to free himself also from those states of excitement produced in him by certain food, drink, movements and sur- roundings that are common to everyone. 294. Although men will never, while in the body, altogether liberate themselves from the excitement and intoxication pro- duced by food, drink, movements and surroundings, the degree of this intox- ication may be reduced to the smallest limits. And the more a man awakened to consciousness frees himself from this sin, the clearer will his reason become, the easier will it be for him to strive against all the other sins, the more true welfare will he obtain, the more material welfare will be added to him and the more will he contribute to the welfare of others. LIV. STRIVING AGAINST THE SIN OF IDLENESS. 295. The man whose consciousness is awakened is not a self-existent being, satisfying itself and capable of independ- ent welfare; he is God's ambassador, for whom welfare is possible only in propor- tion to his fulfilment of the will of God. Therefore for a man to serve his separate personality is as unreasonable as it would be for a workman to serve the tool with which he works, to spare his spade or his scythe, instead of spending it in the work which is set him. As it is said in the Gospel, he who wishes to save his bodily life will lose his true life, and only by spending one's bodily life can one obtain true life. 161 1 62 The Christian Teaching. 296. To compel others to work for the satisfaction of one's needs is as unreason- able as it would be for a workman to de- stroy or spoil the tools of his companions in order to preserve or improve the tool he should use up in the performance of the work to which both he and his com- panions are appointed. 297. But besides depriving himself of true welfare by freeing himself from labour and laying it upon others, such a man also deprives himself of that animal wel- fare which comes to him through the natural bodily labour necessary for the satisfaction of his needs. 298. Man obtains the greatest welfare of his separate being through the exercise of his powers and through rest, when he lives instinctively like an animal, working and resting just as much as is necessary for his animal life. But as soon as man artificially transfers the labour to others, and arranges for himself artificial rest, he ceases to receive the delight which rest affords. 299. The man who works receives true The Christian Teaching. 163 delight from rest ; whereas, instead of the rest he seeks, the idle man experiences constant uneasiness. Besides this, by artificial idleness, he destroys the very source of pleasure — his health; thus, weakening his body, he deprives himself of the ability to labour, and consequently of the result of labour — true rest, and en- genders in himself painful diseases. 300. Such are the results of idleness for the man who commits the sin. For those who surround him the consequences are hurtful, firstly, because, as the Chinese proverb says, " If there be one man who does not work, then there is another who is crying of hunger "; and secondly, be- cause ignorant people, not knowing the dissatisfaction from which idle men suffer, try to imitate them, and experience to- wards them, instead of good-will, envious, unkind feelings. This should be known to everyone who wishes to subdue the sin of idleness. 301. In order to free oneself from this sin, one must clearly understand and re- member that any liberation of oneself 1 64 The Christian Teaching. from the labour one has been accustomed to perform will, instead of increasing, diminish the welfare of one's separate personality, and also cause unnecessary injury to others. 302. Although it is impossible to de- stroy in man's animal being the desire for rest and the aversion to work (according to the Bible, idleness was bliss, and work punishment), still it is at the diminution of this sin, its reduction to the smallest possible dimensions, that man must aim if he would free himself from the sin of idleness. 303. In order to liberate himself from the sin of idleness a man must begin by not exempting himself from any work that he has hitherto done ; if he formerly brushed his own clothes, washed his own linen, let him not compel another to do it ; if he dispensed with articles produced by other men's labour, let him not now purchase them ; if he went about on foot, he should not ride ; if he carried his own portmanteau, he should not give it to a porter, and so on. All this seems so in- The Christian Teaching. 165 significant; but were people to refrain from doing these things they would be free from most of their sins, and from the sufferings resulting from them. 304. Only when a man has learnt to re- frain from exempting himself from, and laying upon others, labour formerly per- formed by him, can he successfully begin to strive against traditional idleness. If he be a peasant, let him now refrain from forcing his wife, when weak, to do what he has leisure to do himself; from hiring the workmen he used to hire ; from pur- chasing the products of labour he used formerly to purchase, but which others dispense with. If he be fi rich man, let him discharge his servant, and take care of his things himself, and refrain from purchasing the expensive clothes to which he is accustomed. 305. When a man has succeeded in conquering the idleness he has been ac- customed to from childhood, and has descended to the plane of labour on which those around him hve, then only can he successfully commence to strive against 1 66 The Christian Teaching. the innate sin of idleness by working for the welfare of others even while they rest. 306. The fact that human life, owing to the division of labour, has become so intricate that it is impossible for a man himself to satisfy all his own needs and those of his family, and that in this world one cannot avoid profiting by other men's labour — this fact should not prevent a man from striving to attain a position wherein he may be able to give to others more than he receives from them. 307. In order to be sure of doing this, one should first do for one's self and one's family all that one has time to do ; and then, in the service of others, choose, not the work that one likes, and for which there are always many volunteers, such as supervising, teaching and amusing people, but the work that is urgently nec- essary but unattractive, and avoided by all, as is the case with every kind of com- mon and dirty work. LV. STRIVING AGAINST SENSUAL SIN. 308. Man was designed to serve God through the increase of love. The fewer a man's needs, the easier will it be for him to serve God and man, and therefore the more true welfare will he receive through the increase of love within him- self. 309. But in addition to the welfare of true life which man receives in proportion to his freedom from sensual sin, his con- dition is such, that if he attend to his needs only in the degree in which they demand satisfaction, and does not direct his reason to the increase of the pleasure arising from their satisfaction, such satis- faction affords him the greatest welfare attainable from this source. Whereas, 167 1 68 The Christian Teaching. with the increase of one's wants, whether they be satisfied or not, the welfare of earthly life inevitably diminishes. 310. Man will receive the greatest wel- fare from the satisfaction of his needs of food, drink, sleep, clothing, lodging, when he satisfies them, like an animal, instinctively, not in order to obtain pleas- ure from food, not when it is refined, but when he is hungry, and from clothes, not when they are very fine, but when he feels cold, and from lodging, not when it is luxurious, but when he takes refuge in it from the weather. 311. A man who has rich dinners, clothing and houses, which he does not need, will receive less pleasure than a man who uses the poorest food, clothing and accommodation, but does so after he has become hungry, cold and wet. So that complicating and providing plenteously the means of satisfying needs does not in- crease the welfare of the personal life, but rather diminishes it. 3 1 2. Superfluity of the means of satisfy- ing needs deprives man of the very source The Christian Teaching. 169 of the pleasure he derives in satisfying them : it destroys the health of the organ- isms, for no food affords pleasure to the diseased, weak stomach, no clothing, no houses, can warm a body deficient in blood. 313. Such are the consequences of sen- sual sin for the man who yields to it. For those around him the results are two- fold: firstly, needy men are deprived of those products consumed by the luxuri- ous; secondly, all feeble-minded men wit- nessing the superfluity of the luxurious but not their suffering, allured by their position and tempted by the same sin, experience towards them, instead of the joyful, brotherly feelings natural to all, painful envy and ill-feeling. It is this that a man must recognise in order that he may successfully strive against sensual sin. 314. To destroy the tendency in the separate being of man of seeking pleasure from the satisfaction of one's needs is im- possible as long as man Hves in the body, but he may reduce this tendency to the 170 The Christian Teaching. smallest dimensions, and in doing so con- sists the struggle with this sin. 315. To attain the utmost freedom from sensual sin, a man must first of all clearly understand and remember that any com- plication of the means of satisfying his needs will diminish rather than increase his welfare, and cause unnecessary evil to others. 316. If he would free himself from the habit of this sin, a man must begin with refraining from increasing his needs, from changing that to which he is accustomed, from imitating and inventing new wants. He should not begin to drink tea, when he has hitherto lived in good health with- out it ; should not erect a new mansion when he already has one. To thus refrain seems little, but if people would only do so, nine tenths of the sins and sufferings of mankind would disap- pear. 317. A man can only commence the struggle with the traditional sin when he carefully refrains from introducing new luxuries into his life ; only then can a man The Christian Teaching. 171 accustomed to drink tea and eat meat, or habituated to champagne and fine horses, gradually break away from what is unne- cessary, and exchange luxurious habits for more simple ones. 318. And it is only when he has freed himself from luxurious habits, and de- scended to the level of the poorest, that a man can begin to strive against innate sensual sin, i. e., diminish his needs in comparison even with the poorest and most abstemious of men. LVI. STRIVING AGAINST THE SIN OF AVARICE. 319. The true welfare of man consists in the manifestation of love, and he is moreover placed in such a position that he never knows when he will die ; any hour may be his last. Therefore no reasonable man can violate love in the present in order to insure a future which may never come. Yet this is precisely the conduct of those who try to acquire property and keep it from others, in order to insure the future for themselves and their family. 320. But in addition to depriving them- selves of true welfare, the people who be- have thus fail to attain that welfare of the separate individual which is always ac- cessible to man. 172 The Christian Teaching. 173 321. It is natural for man to satisfy his needs by labour, and even like certain animals to provide the things he will re- quire in the future ; and in so acting he attains the highest possible welfare for his separate being. 322. But the moment a man begins to assert exceptional rights to the articles thus provided or otherwise obtained, the welfare of his separate being not only diminishes, but is even replaced by suffer- ing. 323. The man who trusts the insurance of his future to his labour, to the mutual helpfulness of men and, above all, to the organisation of the universe in such a way that men's lives are as well insured as those of the birds of the air or the lilies of the field — such a man can peacefully sur- render himself to all the joys of life; whereas a man who has begun to secure property for the future, can never enjoy a moment's peace. 324. First of all, he never knows for how long he must insure himself — for a month, a year, ten years, or the next 1 74 The Christian Teaching. generation. Secondly, cares concerning his property distract him more and more from the simple joys of life. Thirdly, he is always afraid of aggression on the part of others, and struggles incessantly to keep and augment what he has procured, and so, while spending all his life in anxiety for the future, he loses his present life. 325. Such are the consequences of the sin of avarice for the man who yields to it. For those around him the result is want, caused by their being dispossessed. 326. Almost impossible as it is to de- stroy within one's self the inclination to retain for one's exclusive use the necessary articles of clothing, tools or a piece of bread for the morrow, it is possible to greatly reduce this tendency, and this reduction constitutes the struggle against the sin of avarice. 327. Therefore, in order to free one's self from it, a man must clearly under- stand and remember that every insurance for the future by the acquirement and protection of property, diminishes rather than increases the welfare of his separate The Christian Teaching. 175 being, and also inflicts great and unne- cessary injury on those among whom the property is acquired and protected. 328. One must commence the struggle with the habit of this sin by refraining from increasing the property one already possesses, whether it be millions of pounds, or a dozen bags of rye for a year's consumption. If men were only to understand that their welfare and life — even their animal life — cannot be in- sured by the possession of property, and if they cease to augment their property at the expense of others, then most of the calamities from which men suffer would vanish. 329. A man can successfully begin to free himself from his possessions only when he can abstain from augmenting his property. Not until he has liberated himself from the traditional sin of avarice can he commence to strive against the innate sin, i. e., give to others that which is regarded as indispensable to the main- tenance of life itself. LVII. STRIVING AGAINST THE SIN OF AMBITION. 330. " The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them : not so shall it be among you ; but whosoever would become great among you shall be your servant " ; such is the Christian teaching. According to this teaching man is sent into the world to serve God ; and this service is accomplished by the manifestation of love. Love can be manifested only in the service of mankind ; therefore, when- ever a man who has awakened to rea- sonable consciousness strives with his fellow-man, i. e., commits violence, desir- ing to make another act contrary to his will, he fails to fulfil his destiny, and in- jures his true welfare. 176 The Christian Teaching. 177 331. But the man awakened to reason- able consciousness, who enters into conflict with others, not only deprives himself of the welfare of true life, but even fails to attain that welfare of the separate being for which he strives. 332. The man who is still living only an animal life, contends with other beings like a child or an animal only so long as his animal instincts demand this contest ; he robs another only when he is hungry, drives another away only when he needs his place ; for this contest he employs only physical force, and conquering or being conquered, ceases the strife. Acting thus he attains the highest welfare accessible to him as a separate being. 333. But it is quite otherwise when a man with awakened reason enters into contest. This man employs his reason in the strife, makes it his aim, and therefore never knows when to cease. Being vic- torious, he is carried away by the desire of further victories, and excites hatred in the conquered which poisons his life ; whereas, being conquered, he himself suffers from 1/8 The Christian Teaching. humiliation and hatred. So that a man with awakened reason who contends with others, not only fails to increase the wel- fare of his separate being, but even dimin- ishes it, and replaces it by the sufferings he has himself produced. 334. Firstly, the man who avoids strife, who humbles himself, is free, and can em- ploy his powers upon that which attracts him. Secondly, by loving others and humbling himself before them, he calls forth a responding love from them, and is thus enabled to profit by those ad- vantages that fall to his lot which are connected with this life. Whereas, when a man with awakened reason enters into conflict, he inevitably surrenders his whole life to the effort; and by exciting resistance and hatred in others, prevents the possibility of peaceably enjoying the advantages obtained, as it is necessary to incessantly defend them. 335. Such are the consequences of the sin of ambition for the man who commits it. For those around him the conse- quences are sufferings of every kind, de- The Christian Teaching. 179 privations of the conquered and, still worse, feelings of hatred which replace the natural loving feeling of brotherhood. 336. Never as long as he lives will man altogether free himself from the conditions of strife; but the more he succeeds in liberating himself from them according to his powers, the more true welfare will he attain, the more earthly welfare will be added to him and the more will he contribute to the welfare of the world. 337. Thus, in order to liberate himself from the sin of ambition or strife, man must clearly understand and remember that both his true spiritual welfare and his temporal animal welfare will increase in proportion as he diminishes his strife with men and all other creatures, in proportion to his submission and humility and to his habit of offering the other cheek to the smiter and giving his coat to him who would take his cloak. 338. To avoid falling into the habit of this sin, a man must begin by not increas- ing it ; if already in conflict with men or animals and his corporeal life is thus sus- i8o The Christian Teaching. tained by this conflict, even if he continue the struggle, let him not increase it ; let him avoid entering into conflict with yet more beings, and he will already have ac- complished much towards freeing himself from the sin. If men would only avoid increasing the strife it would gradually disappear, as there are always those who refrain more and more from strife. 339. If a man has attained that stage in which he no longer augments his con- flict with other beings, let him then set to work to diminish and weaken that state of traditional strife in which every man finds himself on entering upon life. 340. When he has succeeded in freeing himself from the conditions of struggle in which he has been educated, let him then endeavour to free himself also from that tendency to strife innate in every man. LVIII. STRIVING AGAINST SEXUAL SIN. 341. The object of man's life is to serve God through the manifestation of love to man and all other beings ; but he who yields to sexual lust weakens his powers and diverts them from that service, and thus deprives himself of the welfare of true life. 342. But the man who is addicted to sexual lust, in whatever form, besides de- priving himself of true welfare, fails to attain even that welfare which he seeks. 343. If a man lives an orderly married life, entering into sexual intercourse only when there can be children, and fulfils the responsibility of educating these children, the inevitable result for the mother is suf- fering and cares, for the father anxiety 181 1 82 The Christian Teaching. about the mother and children and for both mutual abatement of affection and frequent quarrels between man and wife and between parents and children. 344. If, on the other hand, a man en- ters into sexual intercourse without the object of fostering and educating the children, if he try to avoid having them or, having them, neglects them, and changes the object of his love, then the welfare of the individual becomes still less possible. The man inevitably undergoes sufferings which are crueller the more he yields to sexual lust; there ensues quarrels, dis- eases and the weakening of the physical and spiritual powers ; and there is not the consolation enjoyed by those living an orderly married life — that of the family, with all its help and joy. 345. Such are the results of sexual sin for the man who commits it; whereas with regard to others, firstly, the person with whom it is committed undergoes the same natural consequences of the sin — loss of both true and temporal welfare, and the same sufferings and diseases ; sec- The Christian Teaching. 183 ondly, there result destruction of child- ren in the germ, infanticide, neglect of children and that appalling evil which ruins the souls of men — prostitution. 346. No animal is able to destroy within itself the tendency towards satisfying the sexual lust ; neither can man, except in rare cases. Nor could it be otherwise, for the instinct which insures the existence of the human race will continue as long as the race is needed by the Higher Will. 347. Yet this lust may be reduced to very small dimensions, and by some even replaced by entire chastity. This diminu- tion and reduction, in some cases even to the extent of chastity, constitutes the struggle against sexual sin, as we are told in the Gospel. 348. Therefore if a man would free himself from sexual sin, he must under- stand and remember that the satisfaction of sexual lust is the necessary condition of the life of every animal, and of man as an animal — but that reasonable conscious- ness, when awakened in man, demands the opposite, i. e., complete abstinence, 1 84 The Christian Teaching. complete chastity. He must understand that in proportion as he addicts himself to sexual lust, he will fail to acquire, not only true, but even temporal, animal wel- fare, and will cause suffering both to him- self and others. 349. To overcome the habit of this sin, a man must first of all refrain from in- creasing it. If he be chaste, let him not infringe his chastity; if he be married, let him be true to his partner; if he have sexual intercourse with many, let him not invent unnatural forms of vice. Let him refrain from augmenting his sexual sin. If men would do this, many of their suffer- ings would come to an end. 350. When a man has succeeded in re- fraining from fresh sin, then let him labour to diminish that sexual sin to which he is still subject; let the exter- nally chaste strive against the unchaste thoughts ; let the married strive to dimin- ish and regulate sexual intercourse; let the person who knows many of the oppo- site sex become true to his or her chosen partner. The Christian Teaching. 185 351. And if a man has been able to free himself from those habits of sexual lust in which he has hitherto lived, then let him aspire to liberation from the innate tend- ency to sexual lust common to all. 352. Although only in rare cases are men able to be altogether chaste, still everyone should understand and remem- ber that he can always be more chaste than he formerly was, or can return to the chastity he has lost, and that the nearer he approaches to perfect chastity accord- ing to his powers, the more true welfare will he attain, the more earthly welfare will be added to him and the more will he contribute to the welfare of mankind. PART SEVENTH. PRAYER. 187 LIX. SPECIAL MEANS OF STRIVING AGAINST SINS. 353. If one would avoid deception, one must trust to no one, and to nothing but to reason alone. In order to escape snares one must avoid justifying those actions which are contrary to truth — to life. To avoid falling into sin, one must clearly understand that sin is an evil, causing much harm to man, and de- priving him not only of his true welfare, but also of personal welfare, and besides that, one must know the consecutive order in which it is necessary to contend with sins. 354. But even when men know all this, they still fall into sin. The reason is that men either do not clearly know or else 189 I go The Christian Teaching. forget who they are — what constitutes their true " self." 355. There is one powerful means by which man may more and more clearly know himself, and remember who he is. This means is prayer. LX. PRAYER. 356. From the earliest times it has been acknowledged that prayer is necessary to man. 357. For the majority of men prayer was, and still is, an appeal made to a God, or Gods, with the object of propitia- tion — an appeal made under certain cir- cumstances, in certain places and in special words or acts. 358. The Christian teaching knows nothing of such prayers, but regards prayer as indispensable, not for avoiding material disasters and acquiring material welfare, but for strengthening man in his conflict with sins. 359. If a man would successfully strive against sins, he must understand and re- 191 192 The Christian Teaching. member his position in the world ; he must also weigh every act before commit- ting it. For both, prayer is necessary. 360. Christian prayer is therefore of two kinds : that which elucidates for man his position in the world — occasional prayer; and that which accompanies his every action, bringing it to God's judg- ment, weighing it — continual prayer. LXI. OCCASIONAL PRAYER. 361. Occasional prayer is that by means of which a man in his best moments, ab- stracting himself from all worldly influ- ences, evokes within himself the clearest consciousness of God, and of his relation to God. 362. It is to such prayer that Christ refers in the sixth chapter of Matthew, in contradistinction to the many -worded and public prayers of the Pharisees, and for which he taught that solitude is an indis- pensable condition. His words in this passage show men how they should not pray. 363. The prayer " Our Father," on the other hand, as well as Christ's prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, shows us how 193 194 The Christian Teaching. we should pray, and what should consti- tute that true occasional prayer which, by clearing man's consciousness of true life, his relation to God and his duty in the world, strengthens his spiritual powers. 364. Such prayer may be the expres- sion in his own words of a man's relation to God ; but it has also consisted, and will always consist for all men, in the repetition of the utterances and thoughts of men who have lived in former times and expressed their relation to God ; as well as in spiritual union with these men and with God. So Christ prayed, using the words of the Psalm, and we truly pray in repeating the words of Christ — and not of Christ only, but also of Socrates, Bud- dha, Lao-Tze, Pascal and others, if we enter into that same spiritual state in which they lived, and which they ex- pressed in certain words that have come down to us. 365. True occasional prayer is, there- fore, not that which is uttered at certain stated times, but that only to which man gives expression in moments of the great- The Christian Teaching. 195 est spiritual realisation. Such moments, which are experienced by all, are some- times called forth by suffering or the ap- proach of death, and sometimes come without any external cause. They should be valued by man as his greatest treasure, and used for the greater and greater en- lightenment of his consciousness ; for it is only in these moments that our progress and approach to God is accomplished. 366. Such prayer requires neither meet- ings nor any external influences, but only complete solitude and freedom from all distractions. 367. This prayer raises men from a lower to c higher plane of life — from the animal to the human, from the human to the divine. 368. It is by means of such prayer only that man comes to know himself — his divine nature, — feels those limits which confine his divine nature and, feeling them, strives to rend them asunder, and thus expands them. 369. This prayer, by clearing man's consciousness, renders it impossible for 196 The Christian Teaching. him to commit the sins into which he formerly fell, and reveals to him as sin that which he did not formerly so recog- nise. LXII. CONTINUAL PRAYER. 370. In his progress from the animal life to the true spiritual life, in his birth to new life, in his conflict with sin, every man's relation to sin is always of three different kinds. Some sins are overcome by man ; they are chained like captured beasts, and only from time to time remind one by their growling that they still live. These sins are left behind. There are other sins which man has only just dis- covered, actions he has been performing all his life without regarding them as sins, the sinfulness of which he has only just perceived in consequence of the clearing of his consciousness by occasional prayer. Man now sees the sinfulness of these ac- tions ; but he is so accustomed to perform 197 198 The Christian Teaching. them, he has only so lately and as yet so indistinctly understood their sinfulness, that he does not at present even attempt to overcome them. There is a third kind of action, the sinfulness of which man clearly sees, against which he already strives, which he at times commits — yield- ing to sin, — while at other times he avoids it, thus conquering sin. 371. It is for the conquest of this last species of sin that continual prayer is necessary. Continual prayer consists in reminding man at every moment of his life, during all his actions, what consti- tutes his life and welfare; and therefore in those cases in which inan has the power to conquer his animal nature by spiritual consciousness this prayer helps him to do so. 372. Continual prayer is the perpetual consciousness of the presence of God, the ambassador's continual consciousness, during his mission, of the presence of Him by Whom he was sent. 373. Birth into new life, liberation from the fetters of the animal nature, emanci- The Christian Teaching. 199 pation from sin, are accomplished only by slow effort. Occasional prayer, by en- lightening the consciousness of man, re- veals his sin to him. Sin at first appears unimportant, supportable, but the longer a man lives, the more urgent becomes the necessity of freeing himself from it. And if a man only avoid the snare which con- ceals it, he inevitably enters into conflict with sin. 374. But from the very first attempt to overcome sin, man feels his impotence. Sin allures him with all the attractiveness of habit, whereas man can oppose nothing to the sin except his consciousness that it is evil ; and so, knowing what he is doing to be evil, he yet continues to commit this evil. 375. There is only one way out of this position. Some religious teachers see a way of escape through a power called grace, which sustains man in his conflict with sin and which is acquired through certain performances called sacraments. Others see a way of escape through faith in the redemption accomplished for man 200 The Christian Teaching. by the death of the Christ-God. Others again see a way through petitionary prayer to God for the strengthening of man's powers in the conflict with sin. 376. But none of these means really facilitates man's conflict with sin. Not- withstanding grace acquired through sac- raments, faith in the redemption and petitionary prayer, no man who has sin- cerely commenced the conflict with sin can help feeling his utter weakness in the face of the power of sin, and the hope- lessness of striving against it. 377. The apparent hopelessness of the contest arises especially from the fact that man, understanding the falsity of sin, desires immediate freedom from it, in which he is encouraged by various errone- ous teachings about redemption, sacra- ments and so forth, and that, feeling the impossibility of immediately liberating himself, he neglects those humble efforts which he might make to gradually free himself from sin. 378. But as all great changes in the material world are accomplished, not sud- The Christian Teaching. 201 denly, but by slow and gradual growth and shedding off, so also in the spiritual world liberation from sin and advance towards perfection are accomplished only by steady opposition to sin — by the de- struction, one by one, of its minutest particles. 379. It is not in man's power at once to free himself from sins, the habits of which have been accumulating for many years, but it is in his power to refrain from those actions which draw him into sin, to diminish the attractiveness of sin, to deprive himself of the possibility of committing it, to cut off the hand or pluck out the eye which causes him to offend. It is possible to do this every day and every minute, and, in order to be able to do so, continual prayer is neces- sary. LXIII. WHAT DOES THE CHRISTIAN LIFE OFFER IN THE PRESENT ? 380. There are religious teachings which promise men full and complete welfare, not only in the future life, but also in the present. Some even understand the Christian teaching in this way. These men say that one need only follow the teaching of Christ — deny himself and love others — in order to render his life one of unceasing happiness. Other religious teachings see in human life endless unavoidable suffer- ings, which man must bear, hoping for compensation in the future. The Christian teaching is understood in this way also. The former see in life continual happiness, the latter continual suffering. 381. Neither of these views is correct. The Christian Teaching. Life is neither happiness nor sufferiV It may appear to be happiness or suffa ing to the man who regards his separaft being as his self ; but only for this selK can there be happiness or suffering. Life, according to the true Christian teaching, is neither happiness nor suffer- ing, but the birth and growth of the true spiritual self of man, which knows neither happiness nor suffering. 382. According to the Christian teach- ing the life of man is the continual in- crease of his consciousness of love. And as the growth of man's soul — the increase of love-^is in continual progress, and as the work of God which is attained by this growth is continually being accomplished, the man who understands his life, accord- ing to the Christian teaching, as consisting in the increase of love, for the establish- ment of the kingdom of God, can never be unhappy or unsatisfied. 383. He may encounter on his way through life pleasures and sufferings for his animal personality of which he cannot help being conscious — pleasures which he 204 The Christian Teaching. can but enjoy, and sufferings which he cannot but feel ; but he can never experi- ence complete happiness (and should not therefore desire it), and he can never be wholly unhappy (and therefore should not fear sufferings nor desire to avoid them, if they stand in his path). 384. He who lives the Christian life does not attribute great importance to his pleasures, does not look upon them as the fulfilment of his desires, but regards them as merely casual experiences to be met with on his way through life — as that which is added unto him who seeks the kingdom of God and His truth. And his suffering he regards not as something that ought not to be, but as experiences as inevitable in life as friction in work ; he knows also that as friction is the sign that work is being accomplished, so also are sufferings a sign of the accomplish- ment of the work of God. 385. He who lives the Christian life is always free, because that which consti- tutes the meaning of his life — the removal of the obstacles which hinder love, and The Christian Teaching. 205 the consequent increase of love and es- tablishment of the kingdom of God — is precisely that which he always desires and which is inevitably being accom- plished in his life. He is always at peace, because nothing can happen to him which he does not desire. 386. It must not be supposed that a man who lives the Christian life always realises this freedom and peace, always accepts pleasures without being captivated by them, as something casual which he does not desire to retain, or sufferings as the indispensable condition of progress in life. A Christian may be temporarily captivated by pleasures, and try to pro- duce and retain them ; he may be tempo- rarily troubled by sufferings, regarding them as something unnecessary, some- thing that might have not happened ; but while enduring the loss of pleasures and the fear and pain of sufferings a Christian recalls to mind his Christian dignity, his mission; and then both pleasures and sufferings assume their right place, and he again becomes free and peaceful. 2o6 The Christian Teaching. 387. So that, even in a worldly sense, the position of a Christian is not worse, but better, than that of the non-Christian. Seek ye first His truth and all the rest will be added unto you " signifies that the earthly joys of life are not shut off from the Christian, but are quite acces- sible to him, only with this difference, — that whereas the joys of the non-Christian may be artificial and pass into satiety, and his sufferings appear to be unnecessary and without escape, for a Christian, joys are more simple and natural, and there- fore more intense and never productive of satiety, and sufferings can never be so painful nor appear so meaningless as they do to the non-Christian. Such is the position of a Christian in the present life. But what can he expect in the future ? LXIV. WHAT AWAITS MAN IN THE FUTURE ? 388. Man cannot, while living in this world in a bodily form, picture life to himself otherwise than in space and time ; he therefore naturally asks where he will be after death. 389. But this question is wrongly put. When the divine essence of the soul, which is spiritual, independent of time and space, enclosed in the body in this life — when this divine essence leaves the body it ceases to be conditioned by time or space, and therefore one cannot say of this essence that it will be. It is. As Christ said, " Before Abraham was, I am." So also with us all. If we are, we always have been, and shall be. We are. 207 2o8 The Christian Teachinsf. £>• 390. It is precisely the same with the question, U'/u-rf shall we be ? When we say zi-'here, we speak of a place. But the idea of place is only caused by that con- dition of separation from all else, in which we have been placed. At death this separation will cease, and thus, for those still living in this world, we shall be every- where and nowhere. For us locality will not exist. 391. There have been many different conjectures as to what we shall be and where we shall be after death. But none of these conjectures, from the coarsest to the most refined, can satisfy reasonable man. The voluptuous bliss of iNIohammed is too coarse and is evidently incompatible with the true idea of man and God. The ecclesiastical representation of heaven and hell is also incompatible with the idea of a God of love. The transmigration of souls is less coarse, but it also retains the idea of the separateness of individual ex- istence; the common conception of Nir- vana removes all the coarseness of this representation, but transgresses the de- The Christian Teaching. 209 mand of reason — the reasonableness of existence. 392. Therefore, no representation of what will be after death gives such an answer as will satisfy a reasonable man. 393. Nor can this be otherwise. The question is wrongly formulated. Human reason, which can work only in the con- ditions of time and space, seeks to give an answer concerning that which is out- side of these conditions. One thing only is known to reason : that the divine es- sence does exist, that it has been growing while in this world and that, having at- tained a certain extent of growth, it has passed out of these conditions. 394. Will this essence still continue its functions in a separate form ? Will the increase of love produce a new accumula- tion ? These are but guesses, and of such guesses there may be many; but none of them can give certainty. 395. One thing alone is certain and in- dubitable, that which Christ said when he was dying: " Into Thy hands I commend my spirit " — that is to say, at death I re- 2IO The Christian Teaching. turn whence I came. And if I believe that from which I have emanated to be reason and love (and these two realities I know), then I shall joyously return to Him, knowing that it will be well with me. Not only have I no regret, but I re- joice at the thought of the passage which awaits me. THE END. iVOV 20 IW .m