[CHAPTER IX]
THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE-CONCEPTION DELIVERS MEN FROM THE MISERIES OF OUR PAGAN LIFE
The external life of Christian nations remains pagan, but they are already penetrated by the Christian life-conception—The issue from this contradiction is in the acceptance of the Christian life-conception—In it alone is every man free, and it alone frees him from all human authority—This deliverance is brought about, not by a change of external conditions, but only by a change in the conception of one's life—The Christian life-conception demands the renunciation of violence, and, in delivering the man who accepts it, it frees the world from all external authority—The issue from the present apparently hopeless position consists in every man accepting the Christian life-conception and living accordingly—But men consider this method too slow, and see their salvation in change of the material conditions of life made with the aid of the authority of the State—This method will have no issue, because men themselves cause the evil from which they suffer—This is especially evident in regard to the submissive acceptance of military duty, for it is more advantageous for a man to refuse than accept—Human freedom will be brought about only through the liberation of each individual man, and already there are signs of this liberation, which threatens to destroy State organization—The repudiation of the un-Christian demands of governments undermines their authority and makes men free—Therefore instances of such refusals are feared by governments more than conspiracies or violence—Instances, in Russia, of refusals to take the oath of allegiance, to pay taxes, to accept passports or positions in the police, to take part in courts of law, or to be drafted as soldiers—Similar instances in other countries—Governments know not how to dispose of men who refuse to obey their requirements because of the Christian doctrine—These men destroy without a struggle the foundations of governments from the inside—To punish them would mean for governments to deny Christianity themselves, and to contribute to the diffusion of that consciousness from which such refusals spring—Hence the position of governments is a desperate one, and men who preach the uselessness of personal deliverance only arrest the destruction of the existing system of government founded on violence.
The Christian nations of the present day are in a position no less cruel than that of pagan times. In many respects, especially in the matter of oppression, their position has grown worse.
A contrast like that of modern and ancient times may be seen in the vegetation of the last days of autumn as compared with that of the early days of spring. In the autumn the outward decay and death correspond to the interior process, which is the suspension of life; in the spring the apparent lifelessness is in direct contradiction to the real vitality within, and the approaching transition to new forms of life.
And thus it is as regards the apparent resemblance between pagan life and that of the present day. It exists only in appearance. The inner lives of men in the times of paganism were quite unlike those of the men of our days.
In the former the external aspect of cruelty and slavery corresponded with the inner consciousness of men, a conformity which only increased as time went on; in the latter the external condition of cruelty and slavery is in utter contradiction to the Christian consciousness of men, a contradiction which grows more and more striking every year.
The misery and suffering resulting therefrom seem so useless. It is like prolonged suffering in child-labor. Everything is ready for the coming life, and yet no life appears.
Apparently the situation is without deliverance. It would indeed be so were it not that to men, and therefore to the world, there has been vouchsafed the capacity for a loftier conception of life, which has the power to set free, and at once, from all fetters, however firmly riveted.
And this is the Christian life-conception presented to men 1800 years ago.