Page:Tolstoy - Essays and Letters.djvu/322

 306 ESSAYS AND LETfERS

a Supreme, Eternal, All-powerful Being who created the universe, the world, the animals, man, etc., and who has promised to patronize His people if they will keep His law — did not believe in anything irrational or incompatible with his knowledge, but, on the contrary, this faith explained to him many things in life which without such a faith would have been inexplicable to him.

In the same way, a Hindu who believes that our souls have lived in animals, and that, according to the good or evil life led, they pass into higher or lower animals — by the help of this faith explains to himself many things that without it would be inexplicable to him.

It is the same with a man who considers life an evil, and the aim of life to be peace attainable by the annihilation of desire. He believes in nothing un- reasonable, but, on the contrary, in something that makes his outlook on life more reasonable than it was without that faith.

It is the same with a true Christian who believes that God is the spiritual Father of all men, and that the highest human blessedness is attainable by man when he acknowledges his sonship to God and the brotherhood of all mankind.

All these faiths, if they cannot be demonstrated, are in themselves not irrational, but, on the contrary, give a more rational meaning to occurrences in life which without them seem irrational and contradictory. More- over, all these beliefs, by defining man^s position in the universe, inevitably demand conduct in accord with that position. And therefore, if a religious teaching asserts irrational propositions which explain nothing, but only help to confuse man^s understanding of life — then it is not a faith, but only a perversion of faith, which has already lost the chief characteristic of true faith, and instead of demanding anything from men has become their pliant tool. One of the chief distinc- tions between true faith and its perversion, is that in a perverted faith man demands that God, in return for sacrifices and prayers, should fulfil his wishes and serve