The regard for truth displays itself not only in the condemnation of falsehood, but in the idea that, under certain circumstances, it is a person’s duty to inform others of the truth, although there is no deception in withholding it. This duty is limited by utilitarian considerations, and it is less insisted on than the duty of refraining from falsehood; positive commandments, as we have seen, are generally less stringent than the corresponding negative commandments.[143] But to disclose the truth for the benefit of others, when it is attended with injurious consequences for the person who discloses it, can hardly fail to evoke moral approval, and may be deemed a merit of the highest order.
[143] Supra, [i. 303 sqq.]
The regard for truth goes a step further still. It may be obligatory or praiseworthy not only to spread the knowledge of truth, but to seek for it. The possession of knowledge, of some kind or other, is universally respected. A Wolof proverb says, “Not to know is bad, not to wish to know is worse.”[144] In the moral and religious systems of the East knowledge is one of the chief pursuits of man. Confucius described virtue as consisting of knowledge, magnanimity, and valour.[145] The ancients, he says, “wishing to rectify their hearts, … first desired to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.”[146] Knowledge is to be pursued not for theoretical, but for moral purposes; the Master said, “It is not easy to find a man who has learned for three years without coming to be good.”[147] The Hindus maintain that ignorance is the greatest of evils, and that the sole and ultimate object of life should be to give and receive instruction.[148] It is said in the Laws of Manu, “A man is not therefore considered venerable because his head is gray; him who, though young, has learned the Veda, the gods consider to be venerable.”[149] According to the Mahabharata, it is by knowledge that a creature is liberated, by knowledge that he becomes the Eternal, Imperceptible, and Undecaying.[150] Buddhism regards sin as folly and delusion as the cause of crime;[151] “the unwise man cannot discover the difference between that which is evil and that which is good, as a child knows not the value of a coin that is placed before him.”[152] And the highest of all gifts, the source of abiding salvation, is the knowledge of the identity between the individual and God, in whom and by whom the individual lives, and moves, and has his being.[153] According to one of the Pahlavi texts, wisdom is better than wealth of any kind;[154] through the power of wisdom it is possible to do every duty and good work;[155] the religion of the Mazda-worshippers is apprehended more fully by means of the most perfect wisdom, and “even the struggle and warfare of Irân with foreigners, and the smiting of Aharman and the demons it is possible to effect through the power of wisdom.”[156] A strong dash of intellectualism is a prominent feature in the Rabbinic religion. The highest virtue lies not only in the fulfilment but in the study of the law. There is a special merit bound up in it that will assist man both in this world and in the world to come; and it is said that even a bastard who is learned in the law is more honoured than a high-priest who is not.[157] Among Muhammedans, also, great respect is shown to men of learning.[158] Knowledge, the Prophet said, “lights the way to Heaven”—“He dies not who gives life to learning”—“With knowledge the servant of God rises to the heights of goodness and to a noble position”—“The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr.”[159]
[144] Burton, Wit and Wisdom from West Africa, p. 6.
[145] Chung Yung, xx. 8. Douglas, Confucianism and Taouism, p. 105.
[146] Tâ Hsio, 4.
[147] Lun Yü, viii. 12. Cf. Faber, Digest of the Doctrines of Confucius, p. 60; de Lanessan, La morale des philosophes chinois, p. 27.
[148] Percival, Land of the Veda, p. 263.
[149] Laws of Manu, ii. 156.
[150] Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, v. 327.