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Copyright 2011 Greg Baenziger

In preparation for the book review that follows (originally from the NC Blog), the following bible text is provided from the King James Version of the Bible.  The excerpt is Matthew 5:1 through 7:29, which represents the text of the Sermon on the Mount.  The book being reviewed is: "The Kingdom of God is Within You" by Leo Tolstoi.

Sermon on the Mount (King James Version, Mathew 5:1 through 7:29)

{5:1} And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: {5:2} And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, {5:3} Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. {5:4} Blessed [are] they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. {5:5} Blessed [are] the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. {5:6} Blessed [are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. {5:7} Blessed [are] the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. {5:8} Blessed [are] the pure in heart: for they shall see God. {5:9} Blessed [are] the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. {5:10} Blessed [are] they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. {5:11} Blessed are ye, when [men] shall revile you, and persecute [you,] and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. {5:12} Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great [is] your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

{5:13} Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. {5:14} Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. {5:15} Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. {5:16} Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

{5:17} Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. {5:18} For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. {5:19} Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them,] the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. {5:20} For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

{5:21} Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: {5:22} But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. {5:23} Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; {5:24} Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. {5:25} Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. {5:26} Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

{5:27} Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: {5:28} But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. {5:29} And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell. {5:30} And if thy right hand offend thee, cut if off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell. {5:31} It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: {5:32} But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

{5:33} Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: {5:34} But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: {5:35} Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. {5:36} Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. {5:37} But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

{5:38} Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: {5:39} But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. {5:40} And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have [thy] cloke also. {5:41} And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. {5:42} Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

{5:43} Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. {5:44} But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; {5:45} That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. {5:46} For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? {5:47} And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others?] do not even the publicans so? {5:48} Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

{6:1} Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. {6:2} Therefore when thou doest [thine] alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. {6:3} But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: {6:4} That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

{6:5} And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites [are:] for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. {6:6} But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. {6:7} But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do:] for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. {6:8} Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. {6:9} After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. {6:10} Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven. {6:11} Give us this day our daily bread. {6:12} And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. {6:13} And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. {6:14} For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: {6:15} But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

{6:16} Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. {6:17} But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; {6:18} That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

{6:19} Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: {6:20} But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: {6:21} For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. {6:22} The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. {6:23} But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great [is] that darkness!

{6:24} No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. {6:25} Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? {6:26} Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? {6:27} Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? {6:28} And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: {6:29} And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. {6:30} Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, [shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith? {6:31} Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? {6:32} (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. {6:33} But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. {6:34} Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof.

{7:1} Judge not, that ye be not judged. {7:2} For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. {7:3} And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? {7:4} Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye? {7:5} Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

{7:6} Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

{7:7} Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: {7:8} For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. {7:9} Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? {7:10} Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? {7:11} If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? {7:12} Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

{7:13} Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: {7:14} Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

{7:15} Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. {7:16} Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? {7:17} Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. {7:18} A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. {7:19} Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. {7:20} Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

{7:21} Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. {7:22} Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? {7:23} And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

{7:24} Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: {7:25} And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. {7:26} And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: {7:27} And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. {7:28} And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: {7:29} For he taught them as [one] having authority, and not as the scribes.

In the review that follows, quotes from the book are often included along with commentary.  In general, all quotes begin and end with quotation marks and are presented in italics font.  In the NC Blog this seemed sufficient.  In this Review web-page form, I had hoped to make the quotes stand out more by making the quotes bold-italics font.  I liked the look, but the website editor software did not seem to agree, so occasionally paragraphs are in italics font, but not bold-italics font.  I have tried to correct this, but changes do not seem to stick.  I apologize for the current state of the presentation.  I am considering what to do about the problem.

Review: The Kingdom of God is Within You - Part 1

In the past, I have been frustrated with certain aspects of my own education. Although I consider myself moderately well educated, I have often thought that I have been unable to find what I needed to find in the vast reservoir of available knowledge. The internet is possibly the reason for some recent success. Here at last I have found a significant text that my searches had failed to unearth. A great expose’ and description of a philosophy that is in harmony with other philosophies that I have discussed relating to a Natural Christian on the web site naturalchristian.org. The following review and analysis is of the book as provided in the title work by Leo Tolstoi. The work strikes me as exactly what I needed to read and that which others need to read as well, as a stepping stone, demonstrating a “true believer’s” point of view of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Hopefully this text will help to allow a reader to gain an understanding that enables either a correct step toward the path that Jesus wanted us all to walk or the reader to develop their own philosophy or religious beliefs. The book, written in 1893, is available in the public domain, in Wikipedia, and at the following links: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4602, http://www.kingdomnow.org/withinyou.html, and http://www.archive.org/details/kingdom_of_god_1004_librivox.

The title suggests much of what I would profess is the truth and the assertion of Natural Christians, however, the title was not intended to be as literal as I would take it to be. The statement is, however, that which this reviewer believes to be the literal truth. Rather the author suggests that we are creatures that have both an animal nature and a divine nature, the details of which are not clearly defined, and that we have it within us to find The Kingdom of God by following the teachings of Jesus, and perhaps specifically the Sermon on the Mount.

What peaked my interest in the book was the title, but I quickly found common ground in my interest in Tolstoi’s connection and approbation with Quaker beliefs and others supporting the Doctrine of NON-RESISTANCE TO EVIL BY FORCE. Much of the Quaker beliefs and the initial “Declaration of Sentiments Adopted by Peace Convention,” in Boston 1838, that are discussed at the beginning of the book suggest that we should act by prostrating ourselves before violence, or perhaps not to act at all in the face of violence, allowing meekness and peaceful intentions to stand as the banner to all, as a response to violence. Although logic is the basis of the author’s doctrine to support NON-RESISTANCE TO EVIL BY FORCE as meek and loving disciples of the words of Jesus Christ, I believe logic is not necessarily equal to the task. Tolstoi provides us with a rich description of the issues, however, which often, if not logical, provides a clear understanding of the problems that we face from Tolstoi’s and others’ views. I am respectful of and sympathetic of their approach to peace, the behavior of man and the interpretation of and observance of the teachings of Jesus. The teachings are often held to be in conflict with the reality that we see, and as the author states, this is the approach that most Christian religions use to dismiss the words of the Sermon on the Mount.

The logical adaptation of the correct motivation discussed in the book hopefully follows easily from the coincident similarities between Tolstoi’s descriptions and many of the writings on the Natural Christian web site, the context of the Natural Christian beliefs. Although I do not feel that I am as vehement in my NON-RESISTANCE TO EVIL BY FORCE, as Tolstoi’s writings, my preference for nonviolence and my disparity for the waste and the insanity of violence and the greed that causes it, has increased over the years to the point that I read the words of the book with delight.

From the point of view of the Natural Christian, the violent actors in our world’s drama, whether Christian or not, or Christian in name only, are as much a part of God as the meek and peaceful “True Believer” Christians. A Natural Christian would even say that the evil and violence was perfect in God. God in general or each of as a facet of God is carrying out God’s will perfectly, even if our actions are characterized as evil by others. Given this view, the belief that totally passive behavior will have any effect on the greedy and violent is almost completely misguided. The truth is that the idea of the meek and the passive self discipline and approach to the world is for our own self-direction and not for the direction of others. The humble beginnings of choosing to act in the correct manner towards others and on the basis of our own ethical and disciplined beliefs forms the starting point to finding the Kingdom of Heaven first inside ourselves. We must first know what Heaven and the Kingdom of God are before we can seek them. Through training of our minds and through curbing (disciplining) our own behavior and thence expanding our minds to grasp the enlightened reality of our situation, we may first find the Kingdom of Heaven within ourselves or around us in nature, and then work toward expanding that to others and the world around us, by teaching, by example, by disciplined behavior, and by creative development of conditions that are suitable for that expansion.

Much of the declaration of the Peace Convention proves useful as a program and means to develop the discipline of behavior that we require, but the declaration leaves all chance of success in the hands of a separate God and the unproven statement that it is only the meek who shall inherit the earth, without any of the realization that we are part of God and the only enforcers of goodness against evil that we shall see on this earth. I do not propose to oppose evil with evil. On the contrary, behavioral discipline must be maintained in the opposition of evil, by not applying the incorrect standard of an eye for an eye. The true understanding of evil as a construct of the mind of the beholder to provide a means of recognizing danger from that which is construed as evil, is necessary to realize that the concept of evil is a means for our minds to tell us to be careful to avoid danger from the alleged source of evil. To carry out evil in response to other evil is a mindless act. I do not propose inaction, either, but instead propose acting as firemen in putting out the fire of violence and evil. We must attempt to prevent evil by any practical “good” means at our disposal, using the ability to understand what evil is, as the most basic of prevention tools, a warning system. Teaching and preaching are one tool at our disposal. There is a whole repertoire and range of behaviors that would not fall under the classification of evil that we may consider as tools without supporting evil and violence. I do not doubt that merely opposing greed in all its forms might be sufficient to eliminate most of what we consider evil. Unfortunately, greed is the banner of capitalism and also of the great American Dream.

If a crazy man is moving toward his own death, do we not restrain him so that we can work toward his cure? If a man is threatening violence do we not try to stay his hand, first with words of wisdom and warning? Should not entreaty follow and suggestions of alternate realities? May we not place a hand on a man’s shoulder to give comfort and steady him in his ravings? The next step, that of restraining an attacker, is of another order of magnitude, but this act is not considered evil, as long as, the act is of good will and does no injury. The important part is our behavior. As we offer the other cheek or our cloak, we should not remain silent or still. By being positive loving beings, who choose to love our enemies as part of the same God, we may moderate behavior, demonstrate our empathy, diffuse the situation, avoid injury, and work to build a constructive relationship. Some would call this appeasement, but one of my favorite sayings places the behavior in the correct perspective. “If we all give what we can, then nobody will need to take.”

The NON-RESISTANCE declaration does suggest that the signatories would, in a moral and spiritual sense, assail iniquity. Here logic and reason return and our outward goals originate. Once we are on the road to Heaven within, then can we turn to Heaven with-out, and the external physical plane. I do not agree that men shall not learn the art of war any more. War is part of what our species is, who we have been, and is part of our history. We should not let the concepts, behaviors and results of war lapse from our memories. It is in the understanding of war and our repugnance to its cruel effect that we may see the contrast between the way we were and the ideal we pursue that may avoid war in the future. It is the forgetting and ignorance of new generations that provide fertile ground for further wars. We must be prepared for others to bring the face of violence to our doors at any moment. Only by being so knowledgeable, prepared and vigilant can Heaven be maintained if we achieve it. Perhaps the moderate approach is not so much “NON-RESISTANCE”, but instead “GOOD-RESISTANCE”. Evil is to be avoided with our own self-discipline, but Good is to be pursued just as vehemently.

Subsequent parts to the review will contain some extensive quotes interleaved with review to provide an appropriate frame of reference for these and subsequent comments. This reviewer still recommends that the reader seek out and read the book.

Comments:

As a correction in the 4th paragraph of the text above, the word disdain should be substituted for the word disparity, as in:

Although I do not feel that I am as vehement in my NON-RESISTANCE TO EVIL BY FORCE, as Tolstoi’s writings, my preference for nonviolence and my disdain for the waste and the insanity of violence and the greed that causes it, has increased over the years to the point that I read the words of the book with delight.

The issue of the spelling of Leo Tolstoy's name has been brought to my attention. My understanding is that both Tolstoy and Tolstoi are acceptable and common transcriptions of the name. I used the latter, because the book being reviewed used the latter transcription in the translation of the book from Russian to English.

Review: The Kingdom of God is Within You - Part 2

Use of the term Master, King and Kingdom are used throughout Christianity and are particularly troublesome words for me, because they reflect the institutional greed and harsh pursuit of power and domination that are often characteristically evil. I believe these terms need to be replaced by Teacher or Brother, God and Heaven, as the case may be. Please, bear with me if I often use other terms than those that Tolstoi uses in the book, or approach the discussion of the excerpts, which follow, from the Natural Christian point of view. I have placed the quotes from the book in italics to distinguish the author’s words from my own.

Tolstoi provides an apt description of his view of the limitations of the philosophies of our world in the fourth chapter of the book. A key quote characterizes the conditions of people:

“This faculty of foreseeing the path along which humanity must move, is common in a greater or less degree to all men. But in all times there have been men in whom this faculty was especially strong, and these men have given clear and definite expression to what all men felt vaguely, and formed a new philosophy of life from which new lines of action followed for hundreds and thousands of years.

Of such philosophies of life we know three; two have already been passed through by humanity, and the third is that we are passing through now in Christianity. These philosophies of life are three in number, and only three, not because we have arbitrarily brought the various theories of life together under these three heads, but because all men's actions are always based on one of these three views of life--because we cannot view life otherwise than in these three ways.

These three views of life are as follows: First, embracing the individual, or the animal view of life; second, embracing the society, or the pagan view of life; third, embracing the whole world, or the divine view of life.

In the first theory of life a man's life is limited to his one individuality; the aim of life is the satisfaction of the will of this individuality. In the second theory of life a man's life is limited not to his own individuality, but to certain societies and classes of individuals: to the tribe, the family, the clan, the nation; the aim of life is limited to the satisfaction of the will of those associations of individuals. In the third theory of life a man's life is limited not to societies and classes of individuals, but extends to the principle and source of life--to God.”

Natural Christianity belongs to the last of these theories. Perhaps not the only possible approach, because as the author suggests, the true Christianity (not Christian religions) is the original of the third theory of life. The magnitude of the scope of the philosophy belies the objective nature of the view of life. The lack of prejudice and the absence of personal gain demonstrate the greatness of the third class of theories. The fundamental improvement of the third class of theories is that they provide for a way of life that is universal and independent of the world’s petty squabbles, a way of life that many of us are longing for. The third theory of life provides a way of life and a way of looking at things that may lead to a better world or at least a life where we may find peace within ourselves, in part by finding our place and purpose as part of God.

I believe the first two theories are what I have called “Jungle Rule” and “Gang Theory”, respectfully. I suppose these names reflect my tendency to be a bit disappointed with the way people behave. Although a majority of the people on the planet follow the first two theories of life, I have great hope that someday the savages will be civilized and the clics will become passé. I have often thought that we all need to belong to gangs, groups, and society as a whole, but these lead to an entirely new set of problems from the savage greed of the individual. This is largely the reason Natural Christianity needs to be a personal religion – to avoid group pressure, but at the same time Natural Christians should rise above the individuality to the Christian ideals such as delineated by Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is the initial focus and basis of the selflessness of the true Christian belief that makes it transcend to the higher level of the third set of theories of life.

“The fulfillment of Christ's teaching consists in moving away from self toward God. It is obvious that there cannot be definite laws and rules for this fulfillment of the teaching. Every degree of perfection and every degree of imperfection are equal in it; no obedience to laws constitutes a fulfillment of this doctrine, and therefore for it there can be no binding rules and laws.

From this fundamental distinction between the religion of Christ and all preceding religions based on the state conception of life, follows a corresponding difference in the special precepts of the state theory and the Christian precepts. The precepts of the state theory of life insist for the most part on certain practical prescribed acts, by which men are justified and secure of being right. The Christian precepts (the commandment of love is not a precept in the strict sense of the word, but the expression of the very essence of the religion) are the five commandments of the Sermon on the Mount--all negative in character. They show only what at a certain stage of development of humanity men may not do.

These commandments are, as it were, signposts on the endless road to perfection, toward which humanity is moving, showing the point of perfection which is possible at a certain period in the development of humanity.

Christ has given expression in the Sermon on the Mount to the eternal ideal toward which men are spontaneously struggling, and also the degree of attainment of it to which men may reach in our times.

The ideal is not to desire to do ill to anyone, not to provoke ill will, to love all men. The precept, showing the level below which we cannot fall in the attainment of this ideal, is the prohibition of evil speaking. And that is the first command.

The ideal is perfect chastity, even in thought. The precept, showing the level below which we cannot fall in the attainment of this ideal, is that of purity of married life, avoidance of debauchery. That is the second command.

The ideal is to take no thought for the future, to live in the present moment. The precept, showing the level below which we cannot fall, is the prohibition of swearing, of promising anything in the future. And that is the third command.

The ideal is never for any purpose to use force. The precept, showing the level below which we cannot fall is that of returning good for evil, being patient under wrong, giving the cloak also. That is the fourth command.

The ideal is to love the enemies who hate us. The precept, showing the level below which we cannot fall, is not to do evil to our enemies, to speak well of them, and to make no difference between them and our neighbors.

All these precepts are indications of what, on our journey to perfection, we are already fully able to avoid, and what we must labor to attain now, and what we ought by degrees to translate into instinctive and unconscious habits. But these precepts, far from constituting the whole of Christ's teaching and exhausting it, are simply stages on the way to perfection. These precepts must and will be followed by higher and higher precepts on the way to the perfection held up by the religion.”

Although I am far from agreeing with all that the author states (I still apply my razor to cut out that which I disagree with), and although the author resorts initially to tearing down what most of the world seems to value, naively, there is a breath of fresh air in the clarity and honesty of the description of the teachings of Jesus Christ and how the world has been misled and distracted from true Christianity.

“The Christian doctrine in its full significance can alone solve it, by giving a new meaning to life. Christianity recognizes love of self, of family, of nation, and of humanity, and not only of humanity, but of everything living, everything existing; it recognizes the necessity of an infinite extension of the sphere of love. But the object of this love is not found outside self in societies of individuals, nor in the external world, but within self, in the divine self whose essence is that very love, which the animal self is brought to feel the need of through its consciousness of its own perishable nature."

What is our divine nature? Tolstoi suggests that it is our metaphysical side, our soul perhaps. To a Natural Christian it is literally our divine nature, our part in God, God acting through us, and as part of our nature.

“The Christian doctrine brings a man to the elementary consciousness of self, only not of the animal self, but of the divine self, the divine spark, the self as the Son of God, as much God as the Father himself, though confined in an animal husk. The consciousness of being the Son of God, whose chief characteristic is love, satisfies the need for the extension of the sphere of love to which the man of the social conception of life had been brought. For the latter, the welfare of the personality demanded an ever-widening extension of the sphere of love; love was a necessity and was confined to certain objects--self, family, society. With the Christian conception of life, love is not a necessity and is confined to no object; it is the essential faculty of the human soul. Man loves not because it is his interest to love this or that, but because love is the essence of his soul, because he cannot but love.

The Christian doctrine shows man that the essence of his soul is love--that his happiness depends not on loving this or that object, but on loving the principle of the whole--God, whom he recognizes within himself as love, and therefore he loves all things and all men.”

The essence of life is love. Love is not the often mistaken carnal or sexual concept of many, but rather the more extensive domain that encompasses the basic function of our brains to associate ourselves with our own person, our behavior, and our close families or partners. In addition, though perhaps less intensely, we also associate with our environment, things, property, those gangs we join, and further all of the world. From the Natural Christian ideals this also includes the understanding of being associated with God, as part of God, and surrounded by God in the persons of everyone we meet and in everything that we see and touch.

Having made clear thus what the Christine doctrine is, Tolstoi goes on to make clear what it is not. This is in some senses a repetition or summary of the prior criticisms of most of the organized Christian religions.

“…Such are the two principal misunderstandings relating to the Christian religion, from which the greater number of false reasonings about it proceed. The first consists in the belief that Christ's teaching instructs men, like all previous religions, by rules, which they are bound to follow, and that these rules cannot be fulfilled. The second is the idea that the whole purport of Christianity is to teach men to live advantageously together, as one family, and that to attain this we need only follow the rule of love to humanity, dismissing all thought of love of God altogether.

The mistaken notion of scientific men that the essence of Christianity consists in the supernatural, and that its moral teaching is impracticable, constitutes another reason of the failure of men of the present day to understand Christianity.”

Common to the theme of Tolstoi’s work is that humanity is in transition between the three theories of life that he describes, in a quote above. He is an optimist that believes that we have already started down the path to the third level of theories of life. I have my doubts about this view. There is much in the current world, that follows the time of Tolstoi, that provides evidence of backsliding or at least provides reason for questioning the assessment. My coining of the word “crassilization” is an indication of my own opinion on the subject, which I define to mean the loss of civilization due to the loss of morality and ethics and trends away from just what Tolstoi wants us to move toward. I would suggest that Tolstoi is correct in the judgment of many current day religions and it is in their weakness and inability to educate, to convince, or even to exercise influence over the morality and ethics of man that is allowing the backsliding. How can religions and churches be trusted to enlighten us or lead us to the correct standard of behavior when they do not even teach and hold their own priests to acceptable standards, as they clearly have not?

Review: The Kingdom of God is Within You - Part 3

The most critical transition for humanity that Tolstoi envisions is due to the recognition of and the correction of our behavior that is in conflict with our own internal sense of moral perfection. Tolstoi suggests that only when people realize that this internal conflict and the hypocrisy of their behavior is the cause of their own suffering and the reason why violence and war continue to destroy that which we value, will they be driven to the Christian ideal and the NON-RESISTANCE TO VIOLENCE BY FORCE.

“All the material improvements that religious and scientific men can dream of may be accomplished; all men may accept Christianity, and all the reforms desired by the Bellamys may be brought about with every possible addition and improvement, but if the hypocrisy which rules nowadays still exists, if men do not profess the truth they know, but continue to feign belief in what they do not believe and veneration for what they do not respect, their condition will remain the same, or even grow worse and worse. The more men are freed from privation; the more telegraphs, telephones, books, papers, and journals there are; the more means there will be of diffusing inconsistent lies and hypocrisies, and the more disunited and consequently miserable will men become, which indeed is what we see actually taking place.

All these material reforms may be realized, but the position of humanity will not be improved. But only let each man, according to his powers, at once realize in his life the truth he knows, or at least cease to support the falsehoods he is supporting in the place of the truth, and at once, in this year 1893, we should see such reforms as we do not dare to hope for within a century--the emancipation of men and the reign of truth upon earth.

Not without good reason was Christ's only harsh and threatening reproof directed against hypocrites and hypocrisy. It is not theft nor robbery nor murder nor fornication, but falsehood, the special falsehood of hypocrisy, which corrupts men, brutalizes them and makes them vindictive, destroys all distinction between right and wrong in their conscience, deprives them of what is the true meaning of all real human life, and debars them from all progress toward perfection.”

The times they are a changing. These are words we have heard many times before and we hope that the change is the kind that ends the violence, greed and oppression. We grudgingly wait, hoping that they are the truth. Tolstoi believes in these words and sees that the world is changing.

“The time will come--it is already coming--when the Christian principles of equality and fraternity, community of property, non- resistance of evil by force, will appear just as natural and simple as the principles of family or social life seem to us now.

Humanity can no more go backward in its development than the individual man. Men have outlived the social, family, and state conceptions of life. Now they must go forward and assimilate the next and higher conception of life, which is what is now taking place. This change is brought about in two ways: consciously through spiritual causes, and unconsciously through material causes.”

I would agree that some have moved beyond the state conceptions of life, but they often fall back into that social system with the slightest disruption of their environment. The conscious spiritual cause is self-explanatory, given Tolstoi’s text, but the material causes are left unexplained. Material causes are nowhere mentioned again in the text. The best match that I can find in subsequent paragraphs is the following, where material events and losses, such as due to war, or corruption affect the lives of men.

“The time has come when the ever-growing abuse of power by governments and their struggles with one another has led to their demanding such material and even moral sacrifices from their subjects that everyone is forced to reflect and ask himself, "Can I make these sacrifices?"

The alternative, to conscious spiritual search, is perhaps to allow some optimism for the majority of the population, which are not inclined or capable of understanding the spiritual side of life. I reiterate throughout this review that the words of Tolstoi and even the teachings of Jesus Christ are beyond or are unacceptable to most, but rather for the individual mind that is ready to pursue and understand the teachings. Tolstoi sees the transition as inevitable and social or cultural. I would agree that social or cultural changes and advancements may increase communication and the chance of understanding.

Nowhere do the words of the Sermon on the Mount state that all mankind will be changed by the message, but rather that the message describes the path for those who are ready to learn and understand the path toward righteousness and to finding God and Kingdom of God within them. It is in the process of revelation of the light of the message that those that see the beauty of their goal, but do not yet understand the difficulty of following the path, provide the false prophecy that all men shall see the light and that all men can be true Christians. I believe this to be a slow and gradual process that will likely result in multitudes not seeing the light prior to the expiration of all of those that currently begin to understand. The following, though not intended to illustrate this idea, illustrates the issue and problem better than if I had tried to do so.

“The laborer of the present day would not cease to suffer even if his toil were much lighter than that of the slave of ancient times, even if he gained an eight-hour working day and a wage of three dollars a day. For he is working at the manufacture of things which he will not enjoy, working not by his own will for his own benefit, but through necessity, to satisfy the desires of luxurious and idle people in general, and for the profit of a single rich man, the owner of a factory or workshop in particular. And he knows that all this is going on in a world in which it is a recognized scientific principle that labor alone creates wealth, and that to profit by the labor of others is immoral, dishonest, and punishable by law; in a world, moreover, which professes to believe Christ's doctrine that we are all brothers, and that true merit and dignity is to be found in serving one's neighbor, not in exploiting him. All this he knows, and he cannot but suffer keenly from the sharp contrast between what is and what ought to be.

"According to all principles, according to all I know, and what everyone professes," the workman says to himself. "I ought to be free, equal to everyone else, and loved; and I am--a slave, humiliated and hated." And he too is filled with hatred and tries to find means to escape from his position, to shake off the enemy who is over-riding him, and to oppress him in turn. People say, "Workmen have no business to try to become capitalists, the poor to try to put themselves in the place of the rich." That is a mistake. The workingmen and the poor would be wrong if they tried to do so in a world in which slaves and masters were regarded as different species created by God; but they are living in a world which professes the faith of the Gospel, that all are alike sons of God, and so brothers and equal. And however men may try to conceal it, one of the first conditions of Christian life is love, not in words but in deeds.

The man of the so-called educated classes lives in still more glaring inconsistency and suffering. Every educated man, if he believes in anything, believes in the brotherhood of all men, or at least he has a sentiment of humanity, or else of justice, or else he believes in science. And all the while he knows that his whole life is framed on principles in direct opposition to it all, to all the principles of Christianity, humanity, justice, and science.

He knows that all the habits in which he has been brought up, and which he could not give up without suffering, can only be satisfied through the exhausting, often fatal, toil of oppressed laborers, that is, through the most obvious and brutal violation of the principles of Christianity, humanity, and justice, and even of science (that is, economic science). He advocates the principles of fraternity, humanity, justice, and science, and yet he lives so that he is dependent on the oppression of the working classes, which he denounces, and his whole life is based on the advantages gained by their oppression. Moreover he is directing every effort to maintaining this state of things so flatly opposed to all his beliefs.

We are all brothers--and yet every morning a brother or a sister must empty the bedroom slops for me. We are all brothers, but every morning I must have a cigar, a sweetmeat, an ice, and such things, which my brothers and sisters have been wasting their health in manufacturing, and I enjoy these things and demand them. We are all brothers, yet I live by working in a bank, or mercantile house, or shop at making all goods dearer for my brothers. We are all brothers, but I live on a salary paid me for prosecuting, judging, and condemning the thief or the prostitute whose existence the whole tenor of my life tends to bring about, and who I know ought not to be punished but reformed. We are all brothers, but I live on the salary I gain by collecting taxes from needy laborers to be spent on the luxuries of the rich and idle. We are all brothers, but I take a stipend for preaching a false Christian religion, which I do not myself believe in, and which only serve's to hinder men from understanding true Christianity. I take a stipend as priest or bishop for deceiving men in the matter of the greatest importance to them. We are all brothers, but I will not give the poor the benefit of my educational, medical, or literary labors except for money. We are all brothers, yet I take a salary for being ready to commit murder, for teaching men to murder, or making firearms, gunpowder, or fortifications.

The whole life of the upper classes is a constant inconsistency. The more delicate a man's conscience is, the more painful this contradiction is to him.

A man of sensitive conscience cannot but suffer if he lives such a life. The only means by which he can escape from this suffering is by blunting his conscience, but even if some men succeed in dulling their conscience they cannot dull their fears.

The men of the higher dominating classes whose conscience is naturally not sensitive or has become blunted, if they don't suffer through conscience, suffer from fear and hatred. They are bound to suffer. They know all the hatred of them existing, and inevitably existing in the working classes. They are aware that the working classes know that they are deceived and exploited, and that they are beginning to organize themselves to shake off oppression and revenge themselves on their oppressors. The higher classes see the unions, the strikes, the May Day Celebrations, and feel the calamity that is threatening them, and their terror passes into an instinct of self-defense and hatred. They know that if for one instant they are worsted in the struggle with their oppressed slaves, they will perish, because the slaves are exasperated and their exasperation is growing more intense with every day of oppression. The oppressors, even if they wished to do so, could not make an end to oppression. They know that they themselves will perish directly they even relax the harshness of their oppression. And they do not relax it, in spite of all their pretended care for the welfare of the working classes, for the eight-hour day, for regulation of the labor of minors and of women, for savings banks and pensions. All that is humbug, or else simply anxiety to keep the slave fit to do his work. But the slave is still a slave, and the master who cannot live without a slave is less disposed to set him free than ever.”

Though a bit dated, the characterization of the behavior of people in the world is still apt. The slavery still exists, as most of us are oppressed by the slavery of an imbalanced and “vampiric” economic system, in which profits go mostly to the people of power and craft in the economic and social game of capitalism. Lately, the game has expanded further into the political world and so is affecting us greatly and more than in the past. Some may take exception to the class distinctions and the almost Marxist descriptions of workers, but all we need to do is look at the organization for power and control in the modern day corporation to see that communism won the cold war and not the reverse. Capitalism has been adapted and is the new direction of the communist battle for domination and control, with the corporation as the new tool, made in the image of the communist regimes of old. Just look at China to see the truth of the statement.

I would qualify my own opinion, which is in favor of social programs and cooperation, by saying that most socialism is not communism. It is not clear who fought communism and for what reason. Some were fighting socialism in fear of the loss of their ability to dominate and grab their profit from others. Although socialism was often described as poor system for the distribution of wealth, and reason should clearly tell them that they have nothing to fear from a poor system, the problem was that socialism was a poor system for the distribution of wealth to them personally. Socialism exists in many forms throughout the world and can be a good and functional system or a graft-filled and morally bankrupt system depending on its implementation. The same can be said of democracy, in which unrecognizable versions exist in the world that can barely be considered democracy.

Many were fighting communism, perhaps correctly, because of the oppression and corruption of the governments that were one party (gang) dictatorships, though the two party version that exists in the United States would not be considered much better, except for its partial ability to avoid the corruption that have led other democracies to level of puppet systems for fascist governments. Clearly we can see from recent experience and by looking at the two greatest communist countries that have now converted to capitalism that it was not the socialism that was the problem, but rather the near fascist control by a small group of people (still communists) over the masses. It will not be until those countries develop a true democratic approach that those countries will cease to be the threat that they were to many, during the cold war.

There is much to learn from recent developments. The best form of government is a democracy with the greatest and most uniform distribution of power to the people. The new trend toward referendums and toward all people voting for laws, rather than a few representatives voting for laws, representatives who may be bought or who have their own agenda. Direct democracy (fewer intermediaries) seems like the direction we should be moving toward and away from communism. Socialism is not the enemy, but rather the enemy is the possibility of fascism creeping into how that socialism is controlled. Socialism, is common in many aspects of American society, as in public works, education, firemen, police and the common defense. Communism is more characteristic of the one party political state and the power the system wields to control and oppress the people, who are given little or no standing in the one party. Each corporation is a one party system to control its workers and ensure that the real wealth that it takes from the society goes to those of significant party status (the wealthy investors and directors).

“Still there are people who believe in this process of personal expression and participation in government to end war, busy themselves over peace congresses, read addresses, and write books. And governments, we may be quite sure, express their sympathy and make a show of encouraging them. In the same way they pretend to support temperance societies, while they are living principally on the drunkenness of the people; and pretend to encourage education, when their whole strength is based on ignorance; and to support constitutional freedom, when their strength rests on the absence of freedom; and to be anxious for the improvement of the condition of the working classes, when their very existence depends on their oppression; and to support Christianity, when Christianity destroys all government.”

Tolstoi disdains all government as a contradiction to Christianity, and this may be true in the future ideal world with a majority of the people being the ideal true Christians, but what of during the long path to that ideal. Perhaps there are forms of government that may function better than any government that we have known during that transition, undeveloped and unrecognizable by our culture. The closest form of government to the ideals of Christianity is the ideal versions of democracy and economics based on socialism, “From each according to his ability and to each according to his need.” This is close to offering your cloak to the one who would take your coat by force.

“But men were not ready to accept the solution given by Christ, and the old definitions of evil, which ought to be resisted, continued to be laid down by means of making laws binding on all and enforced by forcible means. The authority who decided what ought to be regarded as evil and resisted by force was at one time the Pope, at another an emperor or king, an elective assembly or a whole nation. But both within and without the state there were always men to be found who did not accept as binding on themselves the laws given out as the decrees of a god, or made by men invested with a sacred character, or the institutions supposed to represent the will of the nation; and there were men who thought good what the existing authorities regarded as bad, and who struggled against the authorities with the same violence as was employed against them.

The men invested with religious authority regarded as evil what the men and institutions invested with temporal authority regarded as good and vice versa, and the struggle grew more and more intense. And the longer men used violence as the means of settling their disputes, the more obvious it became that it was an unsuitable means, since there could be no external authority able to define evil recognized by all.”

The reason that people or groups of people often can not agree on what is evil is that the interpretation of what is evil is, more often than not, an emotional and subjective judgment, that is, the judgment is made only from a personal perspective and does not consider carefully other perspectives, such as the true perspective of the people being judged. The subjective nature of the evaluation of evil, left to a primitive intellect, will invariably include the negative feelings and emotions developed from envy, greed and fear. The evil seen is mostly seen in others and is often the result of our knowledge that the actions of others can injure us. For whatever reason, the others do not see that their actions hurt us and thus do not hesitate to act the way they will, and furthermore do not consider themselves evil. In the more extreme cases some people have had their views of reality so distorted by their environment, past experiences, or insanity that evil is now good. As a result there will always be a multitude of people on either side of the good/evil divide.

The reality is that good and evil are products of our minds to help us to seek what we want or need (good) and to avoid the various possible dangers and pitfalls of life (evil), and many do not realize that what they have convinced themselves is evil, is not, from the view of God’s creation. If these thoughts of what is evil are considered real then their minds are in essence creating the reality of evil outside of themselves rather than understanding the true reality. Both the others that we consider evil, and ourselves are acting out God’s will. A Natural Christian believes that all that we see as evil is God’s will and is God’s hand acting through other vessels. This is a hard lesson to learn, but the reality is that God created those we are judging, that God is all-powerful and has vested those others with the power and the responsibility to act as they will, and that it is in our failure to understand why they act and why we are judging them as evil, as a result, which leads to our misdirected judgment that they are evil. The same misdirection also results in our continued fear of them.

The way to look at evil is to see it as something to study and understand so that we can correct it, change the behavior or circumstances that produce it, learn to deal with it, or avoid it. An example is an obvious evil – the untimely death of a loved one. This negative event in our life is something that whole industries have been developed to fight. We have learned how death happens and do as much as we find convenient to avoid it. Most of us have yet to learn that death is part of life and, even though we may need to delay it, we need to find ways of preparing for and taking that next step of our life with dignity and treating death as the important part of the cycle of life that it is. The misdirected strategy of inducing people to believe that there is a better world beyond, in the form of heaven, that they must die to reach does not work. This is not the meaning of Jesus Christ’s Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God, Heaven, is on earth, here and now, and not later after we die.

The argument that is the center theme of Tolstoi’s work is thus that the non-resistance of evil by force is the only means of solving the contradiction between conscience and behavior of the people, and thus the means of moving toward the Kingdom of God here on earth. The argument is based on a moral judgment about our own behavior rather than the misconception that evil truly exists as a reality, rather than merely as an interpretation created by our minds to help us avoid danger. The interpretation of evil should not be ignored for it tells us that danger may exist, that we may need to avoid it, to understand it better, or to resist it. The mistake arises from reacting with behavior on our own part that we know is also evil, such as by force or violence. This is what Tolstoi is talking about. We make the mistake of acting in contradiction to our conscience and moral being. Non-Resistance of evil by force is the means of solving or avoiding this contradiction. This is the goal to be achieved or at least worked toward for us to find peace and The Kingdom of God, also known as Heaven or divine peace.

The work does not suggest that the Non-Resistance of evil by force will eliminate evil, even if we mistakenly accept that what we call evil does actually exist. The work does not suggest that the Non-Resistance of evil by force will eliminate violence. To read these into the work would be a mistake, for it does not necessarily follow that the pacifism would accomplish these other goals in the face of the massive misunderstanding of the population. Instead, the elimination of the contradiction between the natural moral self and the individual’s behavior, would allow the individual person to find the inner peace necessary to begin seeing God in each of us and to begin understanding God, and our own self and our position in the world.

Review: The Kingdom of God is Within You - Part 4

As much as I have provided much approbation for Tolstoi’s views and descriptions of the world, I believe that there are several problems with Tolstoi’s work, which I list here without justification, as my opinion only, for what it is worth. The first three are issues of presentation and the last three are issues of a more serious nature:

•First, there is a ranting nature to his argument that is unnecessary. The book is difficult to read for any length of time, because of this fact, even if the reader is in general agreement with the author.

•Second, there is an absolutism to his arguments that is not reflected in reality. For Tolstoi there is no room for argument about the nature of this or the behavior of that. There is a political confrontation with all religions and all governments that does not allow for distinction. As a result the arguments appear to be the worst kind of propaganda.

•Third, there is a tendency to use analogies that are extreme and not always wholly reasonable or relevant, to make his point. Where this is so, the analogy does not help his case, but rather alienates the reader.

•Fourth, there is an inherent contradiction in his presentation that in one description human kind are beyond contempt and nonredeemable, and in the next human kind have an irrepressible goodness that will save them all in the end. The contrast in the author’s statements is at times sufficient to make them unbelievable. Both extremes are obviously incorrect, but the author does not put the arguments in any kind of real perspective.

•Fifth, the trend that Tolstoi saw as arising at the end of the 19th century still has made little progress toward his revolution of Christian Spirit.

•Sixth, further, a new trend has arisen as a popular and powerful new force opposing the good will of Christians, namely corporate capitalism that transcends political boundaries, but maintains the power and greed that oppresses as much as through state-political force.

Even though I make these assessments whole-heartedly, this does not make Tolstoi wrong. The kernel of what Tolstoi writes and the weight of truth behind most of Tolstoi’s arguments is sufficiently damning to carry across his points. The most important kernel of Tolstoi’s writing, that seems to be the truth, to this reviewer, is that there is a level of philosophy and a view of life that extends to the divine, beyond the individual and state perception of life and the ramifications of the possibility of an emerging predominance of that view are profound, to say the least. If there is any truth in Tolstoi’s prediction that people are moving beyond the problems that have dragged them down into misery, evil and hell, then it is in this new divine view of life. Tolstoi believed that the divine view is becoming universal, and if so, then I am delighted, but even if not, then there is still the definite emergence of the individual finding salvation through the divine view, as they are able.

What the assessments listed above should convey is that the style and nature of the writing makes the author seem to be an extremist without the appearance of full reason behind all his arguments. Tolstoi needs to have toned down the rhetoric and to have continued on to the next step including additional logical conclusions, rather than to be misled by his own rhetoric and extremism.

The progress of man toward the Kingdom of God is meant to be a gradual or at least one based on the condition and rate of the individual development of the necessary understanding to move in the correct direction. For all that, the believer is to adopt the ultimate conclusion that the NON-RESISTANCE TO VIOLENCE is the single requirement to all his problems and the behavior of Jesus Christ is to be adopted and maintained, and that this will change the world.

I find that the idea of NON-RESISTANCE TO VIOLENCE and the behavior of Jesus Christ are admirable and necessary components of our behavior, however, I disagree with some of Tolstoi’s other conclusions, as in the following.

RELIGION

Tolstoi spends a great deal of time ranting about the wrongs done by religion towards humanity and blames religions (all of them, as I interpret his writings) for the failing of mankind to learn and follow the teachings of Jesus. This is stated as being due to a variety of distortions of the truth, including the attribution of a supernatural and miraculous nature to Jesus and his teachings. I would suggest that whenever anyone discusses God, except perhaps atheists, they too are suggesting that a supernatural and miraculous situation exists. Jesus did not limit himself to some esoteric philosophy. He plainly stated that we were to devote ourselves to God and through that devotion that we would find salvation. The sermon on the mount is the description in part of how to do that and what our lives would become if we did devote ourselves to God rather than to the petty human behaviors, greed and evil.

The concept of a supernatural God may be a strategic issue for religions, but the importance of the concept of a greater God to Jesus must be plain to see and although characteristics of Jesus may not be as significantly supernatural, the characterization of God as magnificent, as can be seen in any true understanding of Nature, the creation, should not be considered anything less than supernatural. Thus, one could make the claim that as part of God we are all supernatural, and I would redefine the word as: bigger than the nature of their parts. Nature is like that, with our world and then our universe as being much more significant than its parts.

I do not believe that we can blame religion for our failing to follow the appropriate teachings. The teachings are there plainly to see if we are able to winnow out the chaff. The Kingdom of God does not come from without, but from within. What does that mean? It means that we must seek the answers and the meaning in the teachings of Jesus in our own hearts and minds. We must understand what the Kingdom of God is and therefore more importantly what God is. Tolstoi does not deal with what God is or what the Kingdom of God is, but merely accepts traditional views, the same as the religion he condemns, and in this even Tolstoi fails. God is not outside of us, but within us, and Jesus is not God’s only son, but we all are God’s sons and daughters. We do not find God above us, but all around us, within us, and in those who do evil. The Kingdom of God will not come later when we die. The Kingdom of God is at hand. It is in the flower that grows in the field, now. It is in our minds and our actions, now. It is in the evil that we fear, now, and in the evil that we do, now. It is in the angelic voices of a choir, now. It is in a beautiful evening sunset, now. What is more, each thought we think, each word we say, and each action we take is God’s action.

The failing to follow the teachings of Jesus is not the fault of religion alone, but the failing in each of us not to think, not to study, and not to understand. People take a lackadaisical approach to life. They seek what they want and not what is good for them. Perhaps, it is the great American dream, the golden calf, the golden goose, and the easy way. People are lazy thinkers and most would not of their own free will choose a difficult course of study to find the truth. As with the failure of our justice system that moderates between opposing sides rather than seeking the truth, human society, government, and civilization fall short of our most important goal, that is, understanding. How can we know what Jesus was teaching if we do not even understand what God is? Natural Christianity provides one approach to that understanding.

VIOLENCE AND EVIL

“EVIL CANNOT BE SUPPRESSED BY THE PHYSICAL FORCE OF THE GOVERNMENT--THE MORAL PROGRESS OF HUMANITY IS BROUGHT ABOUT NOT ONLY BY INDIVIDUAL RECOGNITION OF TRUTH, BUT ALSO THROUGH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PUBLIC OPINION.”

This title is a good example of Tolstoi’s convictions. Moral progress by recognition of truth – yes, by public opinion - not so much, evil suppressed by physical force – never. Public opinion is as much the application of force, the force of social intimidation, and is one of the forces that Tolstoi disdains. The dominance of Christian public opinion, as seen by a true believer, will not occur either, because the nature of the anti-christian propaganda will always drown out the meek and humble teachings of the believers.

Christianity will never eliminate violence or evil either, only thinking and understanding can do this, and perhaps only for the thinker. This is not the imposition of thinking and understanding, but the choice of thinking, and understanding in individuals. God is the creator of evil and violence, through us and through outside forces beyond our control, so that these will never be gone from our world, but they may be lessened first in the realization and understanding that evil is our mental attribution for those things and behaviors that hold the possibility of danger and harm for us, and second in the choice of more and more people to avoid what is evil for their own benefit and for the benefit of others.

GOVERNMENT

The dissolution and resulting absence of government in my opinion, as a result of all men abstaining from violence, is not only unnecessary, but also unwarranted. What is wanted is not the absence of government, but instead the complete change in the nature of government. Citizens are not a part of a country or government, but rather a country or government is a grouping of and a product of people, by people, and for people. Perhaps it is the word government that is the problem, as it contains the root govern, which implies control over some by others. Even the word society has its own connotations, and for a lack of a better word I will use the word civilization in the following discussion.

The nature of civilization (rather than government) is characteristic of the nature of the people (rather than citizens) of that civilization. This is not an acceptable possibility under Tolstoi’s absolute view of a state government, as an organization of the people, in other words, the organization of their civilization, but neither is that civilization necessarily a state government. Presumably the eventual fate of government would be a universal and stateless civilization, though I do not see mankind abandoning all aspects of their individual cultures with the advent of enlightenment. Universality is not required, nor is an overall civilization required, but rather it is possible to have a pocket or even diffuse civilization in the midst of a world of evil. Tolstoi comes close to the mark at times, but then continues to rant against some form of civilization.

“It is the same with the question whether the time has come to do away with the governmental type of society and to replace it by a new type. If a man, through the growth of a higher conscience, can no longer comply with the demands of government, he finds himself cramped by it and at the same time no longer needs its protection. When this comes to pass, the question whether men are ready to discard the governmental type is solved. And the conclusion will be as final for them as for the young birds hatched out of the eggs. Just as no power in the world can put them back into the shells, so can no power in the world bring men again under the governmental type of society when once they have outgrown it.”

Under Jesus there was a very open, easy handed, and free organization of disciples and their behavior that constitutes a civilization, probably characteristic of the form of education of the time. The wise brought those who were interested in learning together and expounded their beliefs and teachings for their disciples or apprentices to learn. The hierarchy then continued down to the disciples to repeat the process themselves to educate others. The true believers and understanding followers, as Tolstoi describes them, became in their own right a civilization in the midst of a world of evil. Though loosely organized and hierarchical at that time, there was an order and organization of a sort.

One may have a difficulty with imagining what aspects of government would still exist if the society would consist of a multitude of Jesus Christs, but I would expect there would be an organization of communication, resources, labors, and education (many of which Tolstoi does not preclude in his writing) that would allow the functioning of the teachers and their disciples to bring the knowledge and understanding to the young and those that had not found their way. It is true that there would be no seizing of power and no exercising of control by the believers and those who understand the teachings.

BEYOND REDEMPTION

I would suggest that the ideal society, a society of heaven, would forever study God and nature and develop means to deal with all issues that arise from that understanding. As a brotherhood of people who understood the full import of the teachings of Jesus and who had found or were near enlightenment, the government would be of a free and open organization of equals, but would not be absent of organization and purpose. Power and control would be distributed equally to all with an emphasis on individual benevolence, creativity, and functionality, rather than conformity, uniformity, order or groups of any kind. The presence of the use of force would be a measure of the lack of understanding of the user and the failing to truly find the Kingdom of God and know what God is, as is true, now.

Famines and plagues would still be struggled against (using nonviolent means). Ignorance, mistakes, misinterpretations and prejudice would still be struggled against (using nonviolent means). Hate and violence would be resisted (using nonviolent means), and there would be no war, violence or retribution to make it necessary for the citizens to abstain from public service or from contributing to the society. After all, once one has found the Kingdom of God (Heaven), one does not fade away or just lay down and die. One continues to teach others and help the society raise its youth and help people to see the truth and understand what Jesus understood. Understanding and enlightenment are not the end of life, but rather the beginning of the true observance and participation in the perfection that is God and the creation.

“Let a man only understand his life as Christianity teaches him to understand it, let him understand, that is, that his life belongs not to him--not to his own individuality, nor to his family, nor to the state--but to him who has sent him into the world, and let him once understand that he must therefore fulfill not the law of his own individuality, nor his family, nor of the state, but the infinite law of him from whom he has come; and he will not only feel himself absolutely free from every human power, but will even cease to regard such power as at all able to hamper anyone.”

This is the power of realizing that we are part of God and that we act out God’s will. We need to go beyond that, though, and realize that we, as part of God, are capable of thinking, planning and acting according to our abilities and skills, which are also acts of God’s will. Thus we may use any means that we can imagine and that we do not find to be evil (TO OURSELVES), which of course must include our educated and responsible consideration of dangers or threats of danger to others.

“Let a man but realize that the aim of his life is the fulfillment of God's law, and that law will replace all other laws for him, and he will give it his sole allegiance, so that by that very allegiance every human law will lose all binding and controlling power in his eyes.

The Christian is independent of every human authority by the fact that he regards the divine law of love, implanted in the soul of every man, and brought before his consciousness by Christ, as the sole guide of his life and other men's also.

The Christian may be subjected to external violence, he may be deprived of bodily freedom, he may be in bondage to his passions (he who commits sin is the slave of sin), but he cannot be in bondage in the sense of being forced by any danger or by any threat of external harm to perform an act which is against his conscience.

He cannot be compelled to do this, because the deprivations and sufferings which form such a powerful weapon against men of the state conception of life, have not the least power to compel him.

Deprivations and sufferings take from them the happiness for which they live; but far from disturbing the happiness of the Christian, which consists in the consciousness of fulfilling the will of God, they may even intensify it, when they are inflicted on him for fulfilling his will.

And therefore the Christian, who is subject only to the inner divine law, not only cannot carry out the enactments of the external law, when they are not in agreement with the divine law of love which he acknowledges (as is usually the case with state obligations), he cannot even recognize the duty of obedience to anyone or anything whatever, he cannot recognize the duty of what is called allegiance.

For a Christian the oath of allegiance to any government whatever --the very act which is regarded as the foundation of the existence of a state--is a direct renunciation of Christianity. For the man who promises unconditional obedience in the future to laws, made or to be made, by that very promise is in the most, positive manner renouncing Christianity, which means obeying in every circumstance of life only the divine law of love he recognizes within him.”

This is a hard path to follow, because the whole world appears to be against the believer, but the price of stepping from the path is failure. The basis that we are part of God is even less acceptable to those who do not understand and believe. The only means of staying on the path is understanding and the overall divine view of Nature as the Kingdom of God, and us as part of God.

Review - The Kingdom of God is Within You - Part 5

Tolstoi continues to describe the problems of the world and the hypocrisy of mankind and the Christian churches until well into the last chapter, where the book takes on a new tone. The chapter with an archaic but symbolic title, “CONCLUSION--REPENT YE, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND”, points the way to what must be done. Tolstoi is caught up – to a degree – in the classical biblical approach, but the greatest part of his discussion is new and insightful.

“The condition of Christian humanity with its fortresses, cannons, dynamite, guns, torpedoes, prisons, gallows, churches, factories, customs offices, and palaces is really terrible. But still cannons and guns will not fire themselves, prisons will not shut men up of themselves, gallows will not hang them, churches will not delude them, nor customs offices hinder them, and palaces and factories are not built nor kept up of themselves. All those things are the work of men. If men come to understand that they ought not to do these things, then they will cease to be. And already they are beginning to understand it. Though all do not understand it yet, the advanced guard understand and the rest will follow them. And the advanced guard cannot cease to understand what they have once understood; and what they understand the rest not only can but must inevitably understand hereafter.

So that the prophecy that the time will come when men will be taught of God, will learn war no more, will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into reaping-hooks, which means, translating it into our language, the fortresses, prisons, barracks, palaces, and churches will remain empty, and all the gibbets and guns and cannons will be left unused, is no longer a dream, but the definite new form of life to which mankind is approaching with ever-increasing rapidity.”

“But when will it be?”

“To the question when this hour cometh Christ answers that we cannot know, but just because we cannot know when that hour is coming we ought to be always ready to meet it, just as the master ought to watch who guards his house from thieves, as the virgins ought to watch with lamps alight for the bridegroom; and further, we ought to work with all the powers given us to bring that hour to pass, as the servants ought to work with the talents intrusted to them. (Matt. xxiv. 43, and xxvi. 13, 14-30.) And there could be no answer but this one. Men cannot know when the day and the hour of the kingdom of God will come, because its coming depends on themselves alone.”

Only within themselves can people find the Kingdom of God. It is not an external thing to be given or bestowed, it is not a thing that is earned by following a catechism, by praying or calling oneself a Christian. It is not even a matter of doing good deeds, though the understanding of what is good and the need for the deeds may be more apparent to someone who is on the path, and the doing of the good deeds is the logical outcome of having found God. It is found by understanding the truth about life and finding the way of life that is consistent with that understanding.

“And just as the dreamer need only make a moral effort and ask himself, "Isn't it a dream?" and the situation which seemed to him so hopeless will instantly disappear, and he will wake up to peaceful and happy reality, so the man of the modern world need only make a moral effort to doubt the reality presented to him by his own hypocrisy and the general hypocrisy around him, and to ask himself, "Isn't it all a delusion?" and he will at once, like the dreamer awakened, feel himself transported from an imaginary and dreadful world to the true, calm, and happy reality.

And to do this a man need accomplish no great feats or exploits. He need only make a moral effort.

But can a man make this effort?

According to the existing theory so essential to support hypocrisy, man is not free and cannot change his life.

"Man cannot change his life, because he is not free. He is not free, because all his actions are conditioned by previously existing causes. And whatever the man may do there are always some causes or other through which he does these or those acts, and therefore man cannot be free and change his life," say the champions of the metaphysics of hypocrisy. And they would be perfectly right if man were a creature without conscience and incapable of moving toward the truth; that is to say, if after recognizing a new truth, man always remained at the same stage of moral development. But man is a creature with a conscience and capable of attaining a higher and higher degree of truth. And therefore even if man is not free as regards performing these or those acts because there exists a previous cause for every act, the very causes of his acts, consisting as they do for the man of conscience of the recognition of this or that truth, are within his own control.

So that though man may not be free as regards the performance of his actions, he is free as regards the foundation on which they are performed. Just as the mechanician, who is not free to modify the movement of his locomotive when it is in motion, is free to regulate the machine beforehand so as to determine what the movement is to be.

Whatever the conscious man does, he acts just as he does, and not otherwise, only because he recognizes that to act as he is acting is in accord with the truth, or because he has recognized it at some previous time, and is now only through inertia, through habit, acting in accordance with his previous recognition of truth.

In any case, the cause of his action is not to be found in any given previous fact, but in the consciousness of a given relation to truth, and the consequent recognition of this or that fact as a sufficient basis for action.

Whether a man eats or does not eat, works or rests, runs risks or avoids them, if he has a conscience he acts thus only because he considers it right and rational, because he considers that to act thus is in harmony with truth, or else because he has made this reflection in the past.”

The truth that we are part of God and act as a part of God is a difficult truth to recognize and adopt, but it is a necessary one to help us avoid the hypocrisy that we face each day and perhaps have lived with for much of our lives. Only when we are responsible for our own acts and we face the truth about why we carry out those acts, can the hypocrisy be lifted from our shoulders.

“Every man during his life finds himself in regard to truth in the position of a man walking in the darkness with light thrown before him by the lantern he carries. He does not see what is not yet lighted up by the lantern; he does not see what he has passed which is hidden in the darkness; but at every stage of his journey he sees what is lighted up by the lantern, and he can always choose one side or the other of the road.

There are always unseen truths not yet revealed to the man's intellectual vision, and there are other truths outlived, forgotten, and assimilated by him, and there are also certain truths that rise up before the light of his reason and require his recognition. And it is in the recognition or non-recognition of these truths that what we call his freedom is manifested.

All the difficulty and seeming insolubility of the question of the freedom of man results from those who tried to solve the question imagining man as stationary in his relation to the truth.

Man is certainly not free if we imagine him stationary, and if we forget that the life of a man and of humanity is nothing but a continual movement from darkness into light, from a lower stage of truth to a higher, from a truth more alloyed with errors to a truth more purified from them.

Man would not be free if he knew no truth at all, and in the same way he would not be free and would not even have any idea of freedom if the whole truth which was to guide him in life had been revealed once for all to him in all its purity without any admixture of error.

But man is not stationary in regard to truth, but every individual man as he passes through life, and humanity as a whole in the same way, is continually learning to know a greater and greater degree of truth, and growing more and more free from error.”

We move toward God, the Kingdom of God, heaven and a state of grace by learning what God is, by acting in harmony with God, by seeing good and evil for what they are, by developing the philosophy and way of life that reminds us of the understanding, and by acting consistently with that way of life. There are many steps along the path and at each step we may not be to the error free divine vision of truth, but with each step we are hopefully better people, we find peace within ourselves, and find the moral hypocrisies less of a struggle.

Tolstoi suggests that one possible path involves the extreme step that Tolstoi proposes next, which is I believe very similar to the path promoted by Jesus. I believe the result that he describes follows from the pursuit of and further understanding of God’s truth. The difference in approach, between Tolstoi’s and my own approach, being that in the one case adopting the behavior that is believed to be harmonious will lead to recognition of the truth, versus, deciding the goal is understanding and recognition of truth and using those in seeking harmony with God and learning to behave in the correct manner. Each approach may be better for different people. The important thing may be to be actually seeking a path that works best for each of us.

“Men need only understand this, they need only cease to trouble themselves about the general external conditions in which they are not free, and devote one-hundredth part of the energy they waste on those material things to that in which they are free, to the recognition and realization of the truth which is before them, and to the liberation of themselves and others from deception and hypocrisy, and, without effort or conflict, there would be an end at once of the false organization of life which makes men miserable, and threatens them with worse calamities in the future. And then the kingdom of God would be realized, or at least that first stage of it for which men are ready now by the degree of development of their conscience.

Just as a single shock may be sufficient, when a liquid is saturated with some salt, to precipitate it at once in crystals, a slight effort may be perhaps all that is needed now that the truth already revealed to men may gain a mastery over hundreds, thousands, millions of men, that a public opinion consistent with conscience may be established, and through this change of public opinion the whole order of life may be transformed. And it depends upon us to make this effort.

Let each of us only try to understand and accept the Christian truth which in the most varied forms surrounds us on all sides and forces itself upon us; let us only cease from lying and pretending that we do not see this truth or wish to realize it, at least in what it demands from us above all else; only let us accept and boldly profess the truth to which we are called, and we should find at once that hundreds, thousands, millions of men are in the same position as we, that they see the truth as we do, and dread as we do to stand alone in recognizing it, and like us are only waiting for others to recognize it also.

Only let men cease to be hypocrites, and they would at once see that this cruel social organization, which holds them in bondage, and is represented to them as something stable, necessary, and ordained of God, is already tottering and is only propped up by the falsehood of hypocrisy, with which we, and others like us, support it.”

Many would think humans incapable of creating anything other than a cruel social organization, but a world filled with those who have honestly adopted the best beliefs of Jesus Christ, and who have endeavored to dedicate their efforts and lives to holding true to them would have a much better chance at engineering a society that would not make most of the mistakes that we are most familiar with. Starting with nonviolence, tolerance and love, combined with a pursuit of and dedication to openness, truth and knowledge, then a real change might begin in the society that moves in the correct direction. There are many issues that arise that can not be so easily dealt with for most of us, unfortunately it is these that make many fall into the trap of hypocrisy that Tolstoi is talking about, but at least adopting those I have mentioned will give people a vision and chance to break away.

“It is clear now from the very simplest, most commonplace point of view, that it is madness to remain under the roof of a building which cannot support its weight, and that we must leave it. And indeed it is difficult to imagine a position more wretched than that of the Christian world to-day, with its nations armed against one another, with its constantly increasing taxation to maintain its armies, with the hatred of the working class for the rich ever growing more intense, with the Damocles sword of war forever hanging over the heads of all, ready every instant to fall, certain to fall sooner or later.”

The greatest problem arises from the transition from one society to the next. Such changes tend to be difficult, with blood and violence often the primary result, even if we choose nonviolence for our behavior. Perhaps, the process needs to be through a subculture of nonviolence not unlike the Quaker Society of Friends, the pursuit of a vegetarian diet in a world of flesh-eaters, or pushing environmental concerns in a capitalist economic system. These are significant social changes that do not provide more than a moderate challenge to those in power, but there will always be those who wish to fight the change for their own interest, power and commonly for greed. Perhaps, this was the reason for Jesus suggesting in the Sermon on the Mount that these views and beliefs should be practiced in secret, without flaunting them or making them an issue for those who do not understand. A closed circle of believers has a much better chance of surviving than those who proselytize or are missionaries in their approach, though, openness and the absence of secrecy is far better, especially if the audience is tolerant.

The best way to avoid problems in the transition is perhaps to pace oneself in the steps along the path to change. The hypocrisy, that we recognize, must be stopped immediately to allow truth to dominate, but the goal of nonviolence toward others is not inconsistent with a nonviolent carefully planned process toward the goal. Even if we could change our behavior in an instant of revelation, those around us will think our transition to be into insanity, as Tolstoi characterizes the reactions of the nonbelievers toward the true message of Jesus. It might be better, even if we understand everything that needs to be changed right now, that we start with the most understandable changes and proceed carefully toward the full insight that we have obtained.

First, we must state that we have decided that there are problems with the world that people and societies do not know how to solve. I am mixing reviews here. This is the proposition of “The New Revelations, A Conversation with God”, by Neale Donald Walsch, that the approach that people have taken is not working. The biggest of the problems is the violence and killing. Second, we suggest that we have developed an understanding of the problem and believe that the violence will continue unless we unilaterally profess nonviolence and refuse to respond to violence with force. This is Tolstoi’s Christian credo. Third, we find the next most offensive and hypocritical behavior and describe that problem and refuse to participate in that behavior.

This process is continued over time and at a pace that satisfies ourselves until we get to the point at which our acquaintances begin to look at us as if we are crazy, a point that I personally found many years ago. At that point, rather than forcing our transcendent point of view on others, we profess our views to those who are sympathetic or inquiring, and behave in the manner that we should, and act as if everyone should be doing the same. If the issue of our behavior comes up, then it should be made clear through the expression on our faces and in our words that there are multitudes of people who believe the same as we believe, who behave the same as we behave, and that we believe everyone should behave in the same manner. We may provide explanations of why to any willing audience.

“Hardly could any revolution be more disastrous for the great mass of the population than the present order or rather disorder of our life, with its daily sacrifices to exhausting and unnatural toil, to poverty, drunkenness, and profligacy, with all the horrors of the war that is at hand, which will swallow up in one year more victims than all the revolutions of the century.”

“Even if you are told that all this is necessary for the maintenance of the existing order of things, and that this social order with its pauperism, famines, prisons, gallows, armies, and wars is necessary to society; that still greater disasters would ensue if this organization were destroyed; all that is said only by those who profit by this organization, while those who suffer from it--and they are ten times as numerous--think and say quite the contrary. And at the bottom of your heart you know yourself that it is not true, that the existing organization has outlived its time, and must inevitably be reconstructed on new principles, and that consequently there is no obligation upon you to sacrifice your sentiments of humanity to support it.”

“Your duties as a citizen cannot but be subordinated to the superior obligations of the eternal life of God, and cannot be in opposition to them. As Christ's disciples said eighteen centuries ago: "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye" (Acts iv. 19); and, "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts v. 29)."

To a Natural Christian, this is to act in harmony with God through harmony with Nature. Not to accept the credos jungle rule, might makes right, or dominance of power and wealth over the absence of these things, but rather through each person acting according to his own conscience in a humble and empathic manner toward the rest of humanity. This is the preservation of the environment for subsequent generations rather than the plundering of resources for the wealth of a few. This is not acting in violence, which merely promotes violence, but rather acting in moderation to diffuse anger and defend against violence (still not with violence) with reason and understanding. This is not much different than blocking blows by an attacker in martial arts. The attacker is being violent. The blocks are obstacles placed in the path of violence. The blocks merely delay, reduce or limit the damage of the violence. At the same time a rational negotiation ensues to dissuade the violent player of their goal or behavior.

“It is asserted that, in order that the unstable order of things, established in one corner of the world for a few men, may not be destroyed, you ought to commit acts of violence which destroy the eternal and immutable order established by God and by reason. Can that possibly be?”

God is pacifism and violence all mixed up together with a balance established based on a complex miracle of physical and psychological parameters. As part of God we help to decide the order of nature at our level and help to support and apply the reason to those who have lost reason. Just as the unstable order of things is created in one corner of the world by and for a few, by acting appropriately and in conjunction with others, we can create stable and more prevalent good and loving actions through reason, planning and most importantly our Christian behavior.

The most significant flaw in many existing religions, as an extension of Tolstoi’s discussion, is that the religions are based on the love of a miraculous and perfect God, which dominates the lesser and contemptible creatures of an imperfect creation. But how can the creation of a perfect God be imperfect? The reality is that God and the creation are the same and are both perfect. The lesser and contemptible creatures are just as miraculous and perfect as their image of God. If we do not see each other as equal parts of God, then we can not love each other as the brothers and sisters that we are, and we can not see past the incorrect presumption that we are lesser and contemptible. Without the correct understanding, we begin to mistake the behavior of others as evil, rather than realizing that their behavior is based on a different understanding, whether correct, incorrect or just different.

There can be great sickness in the psychological makeup of many people, but the problem is usually a lack of true understanding and short-sightedness, which distorts the balance of reason and emotion. This can be an immaturity, fear from ignorance, distorted reasoning, or a sickness in the mind, any of which can lead to the hypocrisy Tolstoi describes, though in extreme cases these can lead further to the diseases of immorality, depravity, murder and insanity. The cure is openness, honesty, education, thinking, love (the associative kind) and guidance. Many, however, are beyond hope of being cured. God is miraculous, as are we and as well as those who are sick, but the sickness is as much part of God as are the tools of the cure. As part of God it is in part up to us to learn and to understand the afflictions that plague us to discover which ailments are actually bad for us and to help to find ways of curing them.

“There is one thing, and only one thing, in which it is granted to you to be free in life, all else being beyond your power: that is to recognize and profess the truth.”

The tasks that fall to us are both difficult. The recognition of truth has eluded most of mankind for most of recorded history. With the advent of technology and our ability to look beyond our basic senses, we can see much that is true that our predecessors could not. Yet with all the knowledge we have gained, people still believe the things that they choose and not those that they do not. It is important to be careful in what to believe and that is why people should make the decision for themselves, and not take on the beliefs of others without thinking for themselves. We must learn how to think, how to investigate to find the truth, and how to reason and solve the questions and problems that we encounter.

I believe the Natural Christian ideas provide a kernel of truth on which to base an understanding of God and a set of beliefs to embrace. God is not a separate being, but rather a spirit (a driving force and direction) that is pervasive in all of nature and in us. We can not exist without God creating us and we can not act without doing so in accord with God’s will. We are part of God and what we do is to act according to own ideas of what God is and to act out what we think that we should do, as part of God, to create our own heaven or hell on this earth.

Professing the truth in the face of those who would kill you for it is an even more daunting task. History has provided us with much evidence of people dying for having stated or having tried to live by their beliefs. In religion, it is at the hands of the inquisitor, the crusader, or the religious extremists in the struggle for religious domination. If not death, then a person’s life may be ruined by those who disagree with or hate the truth that the person recognizes and professes. The same is true in the politics of life or the pursuit of freedom, death at the hands of fascists or ruination at the hands of people or organizations that abhor the truths that we see.

Tolstoi finishes the work with this memorable interpretation of the meaning of life and quote from Luke:

“The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity by contributing to the establishment of the kingdom of God, which can only be done by the recognition and profession of the truth by every man.

"The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke xvii. 20, 21.)”

This is the end of my review and analysis. I would recommend, as I do on the Natural Christian website, that each person should read this and any other literature to find their own understanding and ideas of religion. Religion should be personal and based upon the individual believer. There are many paths through the field of life and each person may find a different path to follow that suits their own being.

Please, feel to make comments and to discuss Tolstoi’s work, this review, or the Natural Christian beliefs through the various facilities on the website.

Greg Baenziger (GP)