Page:Tolstoy - Essays and Letters.djvu/162

 140 ESSAYS AND LEITERS

pliquee, as the French say) in religion. Every religion is an answer to the question : ' 'liat is the meaning ot" my life.^ And the religious answer involves a certain moral demand, which may follow or may precede the explanation of the meaninti: of life. To the question, ' i'nat IS the meaning of life ?' the reply may be : * The meaning of life lies in the welfare of the individual, therefore make use of all the advantages within your reach'; or, 'The meaning of life lies in the welfare ot a certain group of people, therefore serve tl>at group with all your strength '; or, 'The meaning of life lies in fultilling the will of Him that sent you, therefore try with all )'our strength to knuwthat will and to fultil it.' Or the same (juestion may he answered in this way : 'The meaning of your life lies in your personal enjoy- ment, for that is the ohject of man's existence'; or, 'The meaning of your life lies in serving- the group of which you consider your>elf a member, for that is your destiny'; or, 'The meaning of your life lies in the ser- vice of (lod, for that is your destiny.'

Morality is included in the explanation of the mean- ing of life that religion gives, and can tiierefore in no way be separated from religion. This truth is particu- larly evident in the attempts of non-Christian pliilo- sophers to deduce a doctrine of the highest morality from their philosophy. Such nhilosophers see that Christian morality is indispen>ahle, that we cannot live without it ; they even see that it is an already existing fact, and they want to find some way to attich it to their non-Christian philosophy, and even to put things in such a way that Christian morality may seem to result from their pagan social philosophy. That is what they attempt, but their very efforts show, more clearly than anything else, that Christian morality is not merely independent of pagan philosophy, but that it stands in complete contradiction to that philosophy of individual welfare, or of liberation from individual suffering, or of social welfare.

The Christian ethics, which, in accord with our religious conception of life, we acknowledge, demand