[Peace-discuss] Moon eclipse

[John W.]

At 12:31 PM 2/22/2008, David Green wrote:

>Even though my fate was not to be a Christian, I've found it interesting 
>to read from and about Tolstoy, discovering once gain why we don't read 
>what we don't read in school.
>
>DG

Very inspiring and thought-provoking, Mr. Green.  Thanks for sharing 
this.  Who wrote the words immediately below, if I may ask?  The part not 
attributable to Tolstoy himself, I mean.

John Wason



>In the last fifteen years (1895-1910) of his life Tolstoy wrote numerous 
>articles and letters promoting the philosophy of nonviolence and the 
>method of civil disobedience. He expressed his gratitude to several 
>American writers who especially influenced him, namely, Garrison, Parker, 
>Emerson, Ballou, and Thoreau. He repeated the basic principle that murder 
>is wrong and that killing one's fellow human beings in any circumstances 
>is murder. Thus the simple truth is that war and executions are murder, 
>even though people try to justify them. The essential solution to war is 
>for people to realize what it really is and call it by its right name.
>
>It should be understood
>that an army is an instrument of murder,
>that the recruiting and drilling of armies
>which Kings, Emperors, and Presidents carry on
>with so much self-assurance are preparations for murder.9
>
>Therefore a Christian cannot be a soldier, that is, a murderer, and a man 
>with any sense will not enslave himself to a master whose business is 
>killing. The way to end war, then, is for those who recognize that it is 
>wrong, to refrain from fighting and even to cease supporting warlike 
>governments by refusing to pay their taxes. Those who are not hypnotized 
>into the wrongdoing must refuse; those who do follow reason, conscience, 
>and God will always attain the best results for themselves and for the 
>world. They say something like this: we realize that the danger they are 
>so anxious to guard against is a fraud. All nations claim they want peace, 
>but at the same time they are all arming themselves against others. We 
>recognize the law that all people are of the same family, and it does not 
>matter if one belongs to this country or that. Thus we are not frightened 
>by the danger that other nations will attack. The law of God is more 
>important than the requirement to participate in killing because our duty 
>is not only not to kill but not to violate at all. Therefore we will not 
>prepare for murder nor give money for that purpose. We will not attend 
>your meetings designed to pervert people's minds and consciences in order 
>to transform them into instruments of violence to obey any bad man 
>choosing to use them.
>
>Now the real struggle is between those who use violence and those who 
>refuse to be violent. Thus Tolstoy urged both officers and soldiers to 
>resign. He exposed the cruel punishments the army uses to turn men into 
>less than animals, into machines, which perform deeds most repulsive to 
>human nature. He exhorted men to obey God rather than the shameful 
>commands of men.
>
>We must learn to see through the perverted rationalizations that 
>governments use to justify war. In 1894 Tolstoy wrote Christianity and 
>Patriotism, warning against the dangerous sentiment of patriotism, which 
>he defined as "the preference for one's own country or nation above the 
>country or nation of any one else." He found it aptly illustrated in the 
>German patriotic song, Deutschland, Deutschland über Alles. This sentiment 
>he regarded as immoral because it violates the golden rule by trying to 
>benefit oneself at the expense of others. For Tolstoy patriotism "is 
>nothing but an instrument for the attainment of the government's ambitious 
>and mercenary aims, and a renunciation of human dignity, common sense, and 
>conscience by the governed, and a slavish submission to those who hold 
>power."10 Patriotism must inevitably yield to universal brotherhood.
>
>Tolstoy proposed that the most important changes in the life of humanity 
>are not brought about by armies nor machines nor exhibitions nor labor 
>unions nor revolutions nor inventions but by a change in public opinion. 
>We need only to stop lying to ourselves and realize that strength is not 
>in force but in truth. Oppressive governments fear the clear expression of 
>thought more than anything else; spiritual force is free and always 
>accessible in the depths of human consciousness. We must learn to use the 
>consciousness of truth by expressing what we know is right. By expressing 
>the truth the new public opinion will become enlightened. This truth is 
>found in our consciences and is given to us by God. Christ gave us his 
>peace, but it is up to us to bring it into realization.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/attachments/20080222/cca76024/attachment.html