The condition of Christian humanity, with its fortresses, cannon, dynamite, rifles, torpedoes, prisons, gallows, churches, factories, custom houses and palaces, is really terrible. But neither the fortresses nor the cannon nor the rifles will attack anyone of themselves, the prisons will not of themselves lock anyone up, the gallows will not of themselves hang anyone, nor will the churches delude anyone or the custom- houses hold anyone back, and the palaces and factories do not build themselves or maintain themselves. All this is done by people. And if they once understand that there is no necessity for all these things, these things will disappear.
And the men already begin to understand. If they do not understand, the leaders among them do-those whom the rest will follow. And what the leaders have understood the rest of mankind not only can, but inevitably must understand too.
So that the prediction that a time will come when men will be taught of God, will ceas to learn war any more, and will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks( which translated into our own tongue means that all the prisons, fortresses, barracks, palaces, and churches, will remain empty, and that all the gallows, guns and cannon will remain unused), is no longer a dream but a definite new form of life, to which humanity is approaching with ever-increasing rapidity.
But when will this be realized?
Nineteen hundred years ago Christ replied to this question, that the end of the present age ( the end , that is, of the pagan organization of the world) would come when the calamities of mankind had increased to the utmost, and when the possibility of the Kingdom of God (that is, the possibility of a new system of live free from violence) had been proclaimed throughout the world. (Matt. xxiv. 3-28)
“of that day and hour knoweth no man, but my Father only”( Matt. Xxiv. 36), said Christ then. For it can come at any minute, even when least expected.
To the question when that hour will come, Christ replied that “we cannot know that, but for that very reason should always hold ourselves in readiness to meet it, as the Goodman must be ready who guards his home, and as the virgins with their lamps must be ready to meet the bridegroom, and that we, too, must work for the coming of that hour with all the powers given to us, as the servants worked with the talents entrusted to them”.
In reply to the question when the hour would come, Christ exhorted people to devote all their energies to hasten its coming. And there can be no other reply. Men cannot possibly know at what day and hour the Kingdom of God will come, for its coming depends only on themselves.
The reply is like that which the sage gave when asked whether it was far to the town: ‘Walk on!’
How can we tell whether it is far to the goal to which humanity aspires when we do not know how humanity will advance towards it-whether it will choose to move onwards or to stand still, to slacken its peace or increase it?
All we can know is what we ( who constitute humanity) must do and must not do to bring about the kingdom of god. and we all know that. Each of us has only to begin to do what he ought to do and cease the contrary. We need only each of us living according to the light that is in us to bring about the promised Kingdom of God towards the heart of every man* aspires. ( *man stands for all of us male and females)
By: Leo Tolstóy
Born: Yásnaya Polyána, Tula 28 August (Old style)=9 September (New style) 1828
Died: Astápova, Riazán 7 November (Old style)=20 November (New style) 1910
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The Kingdom of God is Within You was first published in 1893 and was banned by the governments. The Essays between 1894 and 1909. |
riginally posted by autopilot disengaged:
). But yes, please don't not post just because you've pissed people off - if we all did that there'd be no-one here...