Therefore, the whole doctrine consists in doing the things that unite people, and avoiding the things that separate them. It is easy to believe in this doctrine, because it has been implanted in the heart of every man.
3. If a man lives only the life of his body, he imprisons himself. Living for the soul opens the door of this prison and leads man into the joyful life of freedom that is common to all.
4. The body seeks only its own blessing, though the soul be harmed. The soul seeks its own blessing, though the body be harmed. This struggle continues until man realizes that his life is not in the body, but in the soul, and that the body is only the material with which the soul must do its work.
5. If two men start on a journey from Moscow to Kieff, no matter how far they are one from the other, even if one be close to the gates of Kieff, and the other had just left Moscow, eventually they will meet in one place. But no matter how close together they be, if one start
for Moscow and the other for KiefF, they will be always apart.
Even so with the life of men. The saint, if he lives for his soul, and the weakest sinner, if he but live for his soul, live for one and the same thing and sooner or later the two must meet. But if two men dwell together, and one lives for his body, while the other lives for his soul, they will inevitably draw further and further apart.
6. It is hard for people to live without knowing wh\'7d they live. Yet there are people who are so sure that it is impossible to know this that they even boast of it.
But it IS not only possible, it is necessary to know why. The meaning of life is to make the soul more and more independent of the body and to bring it into union with the souls of others and with the principle of all—God.
People think and say that they do not know this only because they do not live in accord with the teachings of all the wise men of the world, and even with the dictates of their own reason and conscience.
V.
Love is a Natural Characteristic of Man
1. It is as natural for a man to love as it is for water to flow downward. Oriental wisdom,
2. A bee obeying the law of its nature must fly, a serpent must creep, a flsh must swim and a man must love. Therefore, if a man instead of loving injures others, he acts as unnaturally as a bird that would swim or a flsh that would fly.
3. A horse seeks safety from its enemy by the speed of its legs. It is unfortunate not when it cannot sing like
a bird, but when it has lost that which is natural to it— the speed of its legs.
The most precious possession of a dog is its scent. If it loses that, it is unfortunate, but not if it is unable to fly.
Even so man is not then unfortunate if he is unable to overpower a bear or a lion or wicked adversaries, but if he loses his most precious, gift, his spiritual nature, his capacity to love. Feel no regrets if a man die, or lose his wealth, if he be without home or estate; none of these things belong to man. But grieve if a man lose his truest possession, his supreme blessing,—his capacity to love.
Epictetus.
4. A girl who was deaf, dumb and blind was taught to read and write by the sense of touch; her teacher endeavored to explain to her the meaning of love, and the little girl answered*; "Yes, I understand, it is that which people always feel one towards another."
5. A Chinese philosopher was asked the meaning of science. He replied: "To know people." He was asked the meaning of virtue. He replied to love people.
6. There is only one unerring guide for all the creatures of the world. This guide is the Universal Spirit which impels every creature to do that which it ought to do. This spirit commands fhe tree to grow up towards the sun; this same spirit in the flower commands it to pass into seed, in the seed commands it to sink into the soil and to grow. In man this Spirit commands him to seek union with other creatures through love.
7. A Hindu philosopher said: "As a mother guards her only child, nursing it, cherishing it, educating it, so thou, Everyman, nurse, cherish and develop within thyself that which is the most precious tning in the world: love
to others and to all living creatures." All faiths teach this: the faith of the Brahmins, of the Jews, of the Buddhists, of the Chinese, of the Christians and of the Mohammedans. Therefore the most necessary thing in the world is to learn to love.
8. Among the Chinese there were three sages—Confucius, Lao-Tse and Mi-Ti, the last of whom is but little know to us. Mi-Ti taught that men should be trained to respect love alone, and not power, wealth or courage. He said: men are trained to esteem wealth and glory above all other things and they care only for the attainment of wealth and glory, but they should be trained to esteem love above all things and to care in their lives for the attainment of love for other people, and to use their utmost endeavors in order to learn to love.
No attention was paid to Mi-Ti. Mendse, a disciple of Confucius, disagreed with Mi-Ti, saying that one cannot live by love alone. And the Chinese listened to Mendse. Five htmdred years passed, and Christ taught the same doctrine as Mi-Ti. Only he brought it out more strongly and clearly. But even now, although they do not dispute the teaching of love, the followers of Christ fail to obey his teaching. But the time is coming, it is coming soon, when men will be unable to avoid obeying this doctrine, because it is implanted in the hearts of all men, and failure to obey it causes men to suffer increasingly.
9. A time must come when men will cease to fight, battle, put people to death, and when they will love one another. This time is bound to come, because the love of fellow men, and not their hatred, has been implanted in the souls of men.
Let us then do all within our power to hasten this time.
VI.
Love Alone Brings True Blessing
1. You crave that which is good? You shall attain that which you seek, if you but crave that good which is good for all. And love alone can yield it.
2. "He who would save his life shall lose it, he who would give his life for the sake of good, shall save it. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" So spake Christ, and even so spake the pagan Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius: "When, О my soul," he addressed himself, "wilt thou obtain mastery over my body? When wilt thou be delivered from all wordly desires and sorrows and cease to require that men serve thee with life or death? When wilt thou realize that the genuine good is always in thy power, that it consists in one thing only, namely, love for all people ?"
3. "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness has blinded his eyes. . . . Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." 1 John,
4. I do not know, and indeed I cannot know, whether this or that religious teacher is right, but that the best thing I can do is to increase the love within me, this I know for a certainty, and can have no doubt on that score. I can have no doubt of that because the increase of love within me immediately increases my happiness.
5. If all men were truly one, that which we understand to be our own individual life (our life apart from others) would not exist as such, because our life is a continued striving for a union of that which is disunited. In this constantly increasing union of that which is disunited is true life and the one true blessing of life.