"If only people freed themselves from their beliefs in all kinds of Ormuzds, Brahmas, Sabbaoths, and their incarnation as Krishnas and Christs, from beliefs in Paradises and Hells, in reincarnations and resurrections, from belief in the interference of the Gods in the external affairs of the universe, and above all, if they freed themselves from belief in the infallibility of all the various Vedas, Bibles, Gospels, Tripitakas, Korans, and the like, and also freed themselves from blind belief in a variety of scientific teachings about infinitely small atoms and molecules and in all the infinitely great and infinitely remote worlds, their movements and origin, as well as from faith in the infallibility of the scientific law to which humanity is at present subjected: the historic law, the economic laws, the law of struggle and survival, and so on--if people only freed themselves from this terrible accumulation of futile exercises of our lower capacities of mind and memory called the 'Sciences', and from the innumerable divisions of all sorts of histories, anthropologies, homiletics, bacteriologics, jurisprudences, cosmographies, strategies--their name is legion--and freed themselves from all this harmful, stupifying ballast--the simple law of love, natural to man, accessible to all and solving all questions and perplexities, would of itself become clear and obligatory." - Leo Tolstoy
So spoke Tolstoy, in his 'Letter to a Hindu' one of the inspirations for Mahatma Gandhi and the movement he then spawned. Tolstoy speaks so easily of freedom from dogmas, to let go of all that one has grown up with, the thoughts and experiences that bind families and communities together. It hits me like the anthem of a hippy, like "All You Need is Love" blasting in a concert hall. So completely illogical. How do we reconcile the peace and love that religions preach with the wars that they have inspired throughout history? We cannot stop drawing morals and teachings from them, from visiting centres of prayer and speaking of God in awe inspiring terms. And for the non-believers, there is always some belief that they will fight for. A person can love but a people cannot. A person cannot make war on his own but a people can, and do so all the time. The fact is that humanity thrives off anger and violence. It allows us to scare off rivals, fight for what is ours and what we believe is ours. Humanity just got lucky when Gandhi managed to pull off a peaceful independence movement. It is an aberration because the love that Tolstoy speaks off is for an evolved species to practice, one that we are not and cannot practice sustainably.
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ReplyDeleteIf you say that a person can love but a people cannot, it suggests to me that society we live in is responsible for the violence and hate we see today, rather than the individual. By society, I mean any social construct, even organized religion. Truly, if you separate the person from the people, you will see that the founders of today's religions were indeed highly evolved people, as was Gandhi. It is true that we don't see many people like this today, but that is only because we don't know about them. The way our institutions have evolved, the majority of these individuals fade into obscurity without shining their light on the world. In that sense, Gandhi was lukcy, although he did make his own luck to some extent.
ReplyDeleteWhile emotional evolution does come into the picture some, and I agree that we can still go a long way, we, as a species certainly do not have the emotional maturity of a newt!
The founders of religions were great men but can you be so sure about all their practitioners? Tolstoy clearly felt that they only aid in creating divides that crystallize over time. I agree to a large extent with what you say and Gandhi truly was exceptional. He did make his own luck with how he helped craft society around him. However, the fact we have to highlight examples like him, MLK Jr. or Mandela shows how few and far in between such men are found. I did not name a single instance of violence because I would not know where to start.
ReplyDeleteHow we evolve remains to be seen though I can't see the trend altering drastically in the near future. And lets leave the newts out of this. Poor creatures. May they learn from our mistakes.