Page:Tolstoy - Essays and Letters.djvu/346

 330 ESSAYS AND LETTERS

binding and inviolable, as the belief in the sanctity of the Sacraments, or of images, etc., now is to men whose faith is founded more on credulity than on any <jlear inward consciousness.

The truths of the religion common to all men of our time are so simple, so intelligible, and so near the heart of each man, that it would seem only necessary for parents, rulers and teachers to instil into children and adults — instead of the obsolete and absurd doc- trines, in which they themselves often do not believe : about Trinities, virgin-mothers, redemptions, Indras, Trimurti, and about Buddhas and Mohammeds who fly away into the sky — those clear and simple truths, the metaphysical essence of which is, that the spirit of God dwells in man ; and the practical rule of which is, that man should do to others as he wishes them to do to him — for the whole life of humanity to change. If only — in the same way that the belief is now instilled into children and confirmed in adults, that God sent His son to redeem Adam^s sin, and that He established His Church vhich must be obeyed ; as well as rules deduced from these beliefs : telling when and where to pray and make offerings, when to refrain from such and such food, and on what days to abstain from work — if only it were instilled and confirmed that God is a spirit whose manifestation is present in us, the strength of which we can increase by our lives : if only this and all that naturally flows from this, were instilled in the same way that quite useless stories of impossible occur- rences, and rules of meaningless ceremonies deduced from those stories, are now instilled — then, instead of purposeless strife and discord, we should very soon (without the aid of diplomatists, international law, peace-congresses, political economists, and Socialists in all their various subdivisions) see humanity living a peaceful, united, and happy life guided by the one religion.