Page:Tolstoy - Essays and Letters.djvu/160

 144 ESSAYS AND LEITERS

ality always sacrifices itself for society, and also the Chinese morality. From this relation flows also the Jewish morality — the subordination of one's own wel- fare to that of the chosen people — and also the Church and State morality of our own times, which demands the sacrifice of tiie individual for the good of the St^ite. From this relation to the universe flows also the morality of most women, who sacrifice their whole jiersonality for the benefit of their family, and espe- cially for their children.

All ancient history, and to some extent medieval and modern history, teems with descriptions of deeds of just this family, social, or State morality. And the majority of i)eople to-day — tliou«?h they think their morality is Christian because they profess Christianity — really hold this family, State, pjujan morality, and hold it up as an ideal when educating^ the young generation.

From the third, the Christian, relation to the universe — which consists in man's considering himself to be an instrument of tlie Supreme >'ill, for the accomplishment of its ends— flow tlie moral teachings which correspond to that understanding of life, elucida- ting man's dependence on the Supreme W, and defining its demands. From that relation of man to the universe flow all the highest moral teachings known to man : the Pytliagorean, the Stoic, the Buddhist, the Brahminical, and the Taoist, in their highest manifesta- tions, and the Christian teaching in its real meaning, demanding renunciation of one's personal will — and not only of one's own welfare, but even of that of one's family, society, and country — for the sake of fulfilling the will of him who sent us into life — a will revealed by our conscience. From the first, the second, or the third of these relations to the infinite universe or to its source, flows each man's real, unfeigned morality, no matter what he may profess or preach as morality, or in what light he may wish to appear.

So that a man who considers the reality of his rela- tion to the universe to lie in obtaining the greatest