IN this chapter I shall consider the behaviour and beliefs of those exceptional people whom I call saints. I had better begin by saying that, though some of them are consciously religious, others are not. Indeed many who are at least potential saints are men and women who for one reason or another have been violently repelled1 by the insincerity of conventional religion, and have come to affect a "worldly" attitude. They cannot, however, go far in self-knowledge without recognizing that their concern is not with worldly ends but with a form of relationship between individuals, namely that of mutual2 respect and mutual responsibility. This relationship they strongly feel to be right and beautiful; even though they may never formulate3 the conviction to themselves. If they do become clearly conscious of it, and if they earnestly strive to live according to its dictates4, they are true saints, whatever their doctrines6.
For one of the saint's essential characters, from which many of his other characters arise, is the constant attempt to behave with friendliness7 toward all men. Of course many who have the reputation of saintliness are not really saints at all, but plausible8 sham9 saints. By "sham saint" I mean not one who aspires10 and fails to be a real saint, but one who consciously or unconsciously imitates the appearance of saintliness without seriously trying to conform to the saintly pattern of conduct.
There seem to be three kinds of sham saint: those in whom the ruling passion is not love but hate, masquerading as righteous indignation against the wicked; those in whom not hate is dominant11 but cold self-regard, seeking to profit by the trappings of saintliness; and those would-be-saintly self-deceivers who are incapable12 of attending to the fact that their conduct gives the lie to their protestations. The three classes overlap14. Some people are at once vindictive15, coldly self-seeking and self-deceiving.
Of true saints there are many kinds. Some are intellectually simple, some subtle. Some are frail16 and inconstant in their saintliness, some constant and heroic. Some remain unknown save to a few friends; some have momentous17 effect as moral leaders of mankind. The great saints, naturally, are very rare, and one does not come across them. But saints of less exalted18 order are to be found in every social class and in most occupations; though I should be surprised and interested to find one who was an armament manufacturer.
Genuine saints, I suspect, tend not to rise very far in their trades or professions. They often lack the self-regarding drive, the pushfulness, which is needed if one is to pass beyond mere19 efficiency to spectacular success. Not that saints are necessarily self-effacing, or necessarily mediocre20 in their professional attainments21. Indeed some of them, when they secure work which they know to be in accord with their ideal, pursue it with outstanding vigour24 and brilliance25. But in general saints tend to be hampered26 professionally both by lack of self-regard and by absorption in what they sometimes call the life of the spirit.
On the whole saints tend to choose work which affords them opportunity for direct personal service of their fellow human beings. Many of them live in a continuous rush of personal contacts. But this is a strain on them, for they are so constituted that they need a certain amount of solitude27 in which to digest their experience, and (as they express it) to keep in touch with the inner source of their strength.
It is difficult to say how one knows a saint when one meets him. There is something distinctive28 in the quality of his whole behaviour, a certain quietness and simplicity29. True saints are always at once practical and contemplative. Though they are contemplative they are not necessarily thinkers. They do not as a rule contemplate30 by means of discursive31 thought, analysing and classifying in terms of well-established concepts. They contemplate rather, I believe, by attending minutely to their concrete experience, by seeking to get the true "feel" of it. In this sense they may be called scientific, since they practise accurate observation. But their interest is different from the scientist's interest. And the phenomena32 which they observe are not the same as those studied by the scientists. Though sometimes they do zestfully33 contemplate the flux35 of sensory36 objects, they have little interest in discovering physical laws. Their aim in contemplation is to get the true "feel" of being a self in relation to the universe, and particularly of being a self in a world along with other selves. This is a dangerous occupation, since it may lead men to waste their lives in the pursuit of phantoms37. But though dangerous, the saint's venture is, I believe, of great importance to his fellow men. Some Marxists may smile at this view. I shall argue, however, that their philosophy is not fundamentally opposed to it.
It is important to insist that the contemplative disposition38 of saints does not prevent them from, being mostly very practical people. I do not mean that they are addicted39 to manual activities, but that they are concerned more with practice than with theory. At any rate their essential friendliness takes practical forms. And because they are earnestly and sometimes impatiently practical, their friendliness expresses itself more readily in personal contacts than in relation to groups and organizations. This is to be expected, since all saints are deeply concerned with individuality and the quality of personal relationships. They are sometimes unimaginative about institutions and about political and social movements which treat individuals merely as members of a group or class. They are apt to believe too readily that even great public wrongs can be righted merely by the effect of kindly40 personal contacts.
Because saints are by nature unpolitical, they are often bitterly condemned42 by the less understanding kind of earnest revolutionary, who cannot realize that there is a special function for saints even in times of revolution. All the same, the saints are partly to blame. They are citizens like the rest of us; and they are sometimes ineffective in relation to large-scale economic and political forces which in our day are destructive both of individual freedom and of social harmony. Certainly we should recognize that saints have their own appropriate task, and one that is no less important than that of the revolutionaries; but when the house is on fire all hands must carry buckets. The true saint will not shun43 this humble44 labour. Instead, he will turn bucket-carrying into a medium for expressing his faith. In revolutionary times the genuine saint will contrive45 to fulfil his special work through his practical support of the revolution. But what am I saying? Who am I that I should tell the saint what he should do?
I do not suggest that all saints who have ever chosen to withdraw from the world were necessarily sham saints. There may be periods in history when what is most needed is that some men should seek complete seclusion46 in order to cultivate their "spiritual sensibility," their power of regarding their whole experience at once with insight and detachment. But this course is not justified47 when terrible wrongs need to be righted. And I doubt whether even in a healthy society it is justified unless .here is some channel by which the illumination of the recluse48 may be in some measure passed on to the world.
The defenders49 of the monastic way of life assert that the individual's first concern should be not with the ordinary world but with the perfecting of his individual spirit, or, metaphorically50, with another world, for which this world is only a preparation. Of this theory I will at the moment say only that, although it contains an important truth, it is also easily misunderstood and terribly dangerous. Paradoxically we may affirm that, though in a sense a man's first concern must be his own moral integrity, he cannot preserve this unless his attention is given mainly to service of his fellows. "He who would save his life shall lose it." Of course it is theoretically possible that the meditation52 and prayers of the spiritually mature recluse may in some telepathic manner strengthen the weaker brethren throughout the world; but, in default of cogent53 evidence, this possibility ought not to be taken as a reason for retirement54 from practical service.
The saint, however, has certainly a very different practical function from that of the politician. No doubt some saints may happen to have political genius, but these are rare. Most ordinary saints are quite equipped for politics. And I doubt whether even with good equipment the ordinary saint who is not exceptionally shrewd can ever be a whole-hearted and effective revolutionary. Vivid consciousness of the fundamental humanity of all men, even of the enemies of the revolution, is apt to snare55 him into being tolerant and conciliatory when he should be firm. On the other hand a revolution in which the saints exercise no influence is sure to degenerate56 sooner or later into a ruthless tyranny.
Perhaps it is not quite fair to say that the saints are likely to be too tolerant towards the enemies of the revolution. For, although saints are concerned primarily with individual relationships, and are therefore predisposed to be friendly toward all kinds of people, and often strangely tolerant toward particular individuals who sin rather through weakness than through wickedness, they are not at all tolerant of hatred57 and cruelty and callous58 self-seeking.
Sham saints, on the other hand, often indulge in a certain kind of tolerance59, either through canting adulation of impartiality60, or because they have no real convictions, or are morally lazy, or out of sheer stupidity. Moreover they tend to use toleration as a convenient excuse for taking no action against powerful malefactors. They reserve their righteous indignation for the sins of those who are not able to retaliate61; and for those who, in our day, begin to grow restive62 and vengeful on account of flagrant social injustice63. They wish to believe that all revolutionaries are inspired by envy and hate and the desire to produce chaos64. They dare not open their eyes to the generous kind of revolutionary ardour, the burning compassion65 for frustrated66 lives, the impatience67 to act devotedly69 that others may have the chance of happiness. I would add that, even when revolutionaries do succumb70 to hate and the sheer lust71 of destruction, they are far better men than the sham saints who censure72 them.
The men and women whom I regard as true saints have all, I believe, a strong sense of the individuality of other people; and this in spite of the fact that they may be sometimes lacking in perception of the particular character or idiosyncrasies of others. Because of this lack, some of them are easily deceived by knaves73, who trade upon their readiness to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps I had better say, not that saints have a strong sense of the individuality of others, but that they have a strong disposition to treat others as real individuals, and to respect them, even if they appear inscrutable, or alien.
The saint shows his interest in individuals not merely by talking to them and drawing them out, but more particularly in imaginatively living their lives with them, and unostentatiously helping74 them. This he does spontaneously, not merely because he has an established principle of kindliness75 (though he has such a principle), nor yet simply through warm impulses of affection (though these also he may have), but chiefly because he is interested in the lives of others as the rest of us are interested in our own lives. Although in his own way the saint is very self-conscious, the distinction between "myself" and another self is not for him a very important distinction.
Here I must be careful. There are many consistently kind-hearted people who might well be called saints in a loose sense, but in the sense in which the word is used in this book they are not really saints. They conform more to the old idea of the "angelic" than to the saintly. Because they are unconsciously and without effort virtuous76, they have never had to pass through the saint's agony of heart-searching and self-discipline. Nor have they known the desperately77 concentrated meditation which, seemingly, is the source of the saint's ultimate gentleness and strength. In the old mythology78 angels did not sin, save fallen angels. Saints, on the other hand, were sinners or potential sinners who by self-discipline and contemplation had been born again, had won for themselves a new nature. And because they knew so well what it was to sin, they were peculiarly charitable to sinners, and peculiarly gifted for helping sinners.
The account that saints give of their struggle with sin is something like this. There was a time, a saint may say, when he cared mainly for bodily or personal advancement79. On the whole he lived by rote13, without clear direction, or at least without any deep satisfaction in the aims that he pursued. His life was automatic, and a vague disgust haunted him. At last, suddenly or gradually, he began to be seriously troubled. He began to realize emotionally the difference between right living and wrong. Through the declarations of people whom he trusted, or the reports of famous saints or great men, but also through the quickening of his own sensibility, his perfunctory lip-service to morality was transformed into a vivid, overmastering sense of the triviality and baseness of his own style of life. The right way of living, he now discovered, was twofold. It involved unfailing practical friendliness toward his fellows, and it involved absolute submission80 to something "in the depth of" his own being, which apparently81 could increase his moral strength. He may say that the right way of living begins with "discovering God" in others and in himself.
According to the saint the vivid realization82 of the intrinsic beauty of right living, with its consequent sense of one's own sinfulness, is the first step toward being "born again," toward being psychologically remade on a new and better pattern. But though in this early stage the future saint sees or feels the beauty of right living and the foulness83 of sin, he cannot yet bring himself to live rightly. When he tries to do so, he fails to break the old habits. He cannot resist the temptation to continue pursuing the old seductive aims, which in his heart he has already rejected for the sake of better aims.
The saint's disposition to feel other people's interest as his own is not, then, an inborn84 or an easily acquired disposition. Unlike the "angelic" people, he attains85 it after a struggle to throw off the blinkers of the self-centred outlook. The struggle is generally long and severe, but little by little he develops a spontaneous and happy inclination86 to respect the individuality of others. Thus it comes that the true saint can be relied on never to let you down. Though in the political sphere he may sometimes seem unresponsive and unreliable, he is absolutely reliable as between man and man. To avoid hurting anyone he will sacrifice almost everything. He loathes87 to give hurt even in a good cause. And he loathes to deceive. For to deceive is to violate mutual trust, which to the saint is sacred. In his view the right relation between individuals is mutual awareness88, mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual enrichment.
Because of their disposition to respect human individuality and the community-relationship of individuals, all true saints are strongly inclined toward pacifism. Many of them condemn41 the use of violence absolutely, as morally wrong, and as spiritually damaging to the individual who uses violence. These absolutists affirm that violence can never produce good effects. In its place they advocate persuasion89 and passive resistance, between individuals, between peoples, between social classes. This view is open to question; but one need not oneself be an absolute pacifist to feel convinced that when Marxists of the harsher kind ridicule90 or revile91 absolute pacifism, they miss the point of it. These harsh revolutionaries bring revolution into discredit92. They give some excuse for the fear that if they were in power they would prove as insensitive and ruthless as their opponents.
All saints realize passionately93 the rightness of mutual kindliness and trust. They also see that these qualities are essential to any decent social life. They are convinced that people who do not feel pacifist, people who have not a strong and almost over-powering revulsion against the use of violence, are either mentally immature94 or mentally perverted95. They recognize also that in most people, though this feeling does occur, it is easily submerged by hate and fear. They insist that the main way to increase the pacific feeling in the world is by the example of kindliness and trust, carried if necessary to heroic lengths in the face of danger.
All saints, and many of us who are by no means saints, heartily96 agree with this view. But some saints, and many of the rest of us, cannot persuade themselves that this principle alone is enough. This party take what they regard as a realistic view of human nature and of human society. The disposition toward evil, they say, is so deeply ingrained in human nature that in some situations men must be restrained by violence from doing irreparable harm to their fellows.
For my part I am with bitter regret convinced that absolute pacifism springs from an obsession97 with one good principle at the expense of all others. In our tortured world many individuals have been so perverted by psychologically unfavourable conditions that they are impervious98 to the appeal of non-violence. Or, if they are not strictly99 impervious, there is at any rate not the slightest prospect100 of touching101 their hearts in time to prevent them from doing frightful102 hurt to others. The absolute pacifist is so dazzled by the light of his passion for non-violence that he sometimes fails to recognize the limitations of its power over these unfortunate and dangerous persons. Nor does he fully34 recognize the consequences of the fact that some individuals of this type, individuals who have since youth hardened their hearts with inveterate103 habits of hate or fear or lust for power, to-day wield104 prodigious105 weapons of coercion106 and propaganda.
Some absolute pacifists, no doubt, do recognize this tragic107 fact. But they deny that it should persuade us to countenance108 violence, which, they insist, is so completely debasing that it is bound to do more harm than good. In the present state of the world this view involves deep pessimism109; for there is no prospect that violence will be speedily eliminated. But it may be doubted whether violence can never produce good effects. Civilization, such as it is, could never have survived without it in the past; and it will almost certainly be necessary in one form or another for a long period to come.
Certainly, violence is always damaging to the individual who uses it, or countenances110 it. And it always breeds fear and hate and callousness111. Certainly, nothing but the courageous112 will for peace, nothing but the spirit of friendliness and understanding, can do away with war. The tradition of pacific behaviour must somehow be firmly established. But in the present condition of the world it is also extremely important to establish and enforce a tradition of just dealing113 toward all, and of mercy toward the weak. And, if necessary, violence and the threat of violence, so long as the means for it are retained, must be used in support of this principle, even though its, use may also do great mental harm.
Horrible and "soul-destroying" as violence is, the principle of non-violence must not be set up as an absolute. The possession of power brings with it a responsibility. To refrain from succouring those who are being ill-treated is to support tyranny. To retain power, and yet not use it to prevent brutality114, is base. You cannot be a pacifist with a gun in your hand. And in an armed State you cannot rightly be a pure pacifist unless you disown your citizenship115 and your share in the collective responsibility; and unless you stop paying your taxes.
But when I try to apply this force-countenancing principle to the actual plight116 of civilization to-day, I find myself faced with a grave practical doubt. Is there any serious hope that in the present international conflict and the underlying117 class conflict the threat or use of violence can restrain brigands118 and establish justice? Is it not by now obvious that in every land those who are in a position to use violence effectively are themselves to a greater or less degree tainted119 with brigandism? Are they to be trusted to use their power solely120 in support of justice and mercy?
There was a time, just after the war of 1914-18, when the pacifist spirit, if it had been conscientiously121 applied122 by Governments and the employing class, might have changed the whole course of history. The opportunity was missed. Subsequently the principle of armed Collective Security, if it had been conscientiously applied, might have established the authority of international law. That opportunity also was missed. Consequently the moral authority of Governments and of employing classes throughout the world was destroyed. Not only so, but the prestige of justice and mercy and freedom is everywhere declining. Brutality is increasingly triumphant123, not only in politics but in men's hearts.
In these circumstances, even if we reject pacifism as an absolute principle, should We perhaps argue as follows? The rot in civilization, we may say, has gone so far that any use of violence is suspect. Almost certainly its real motive124 will be base. Consequently it is hopeless to expect violence to establish trust in the principle of justice and mercy. Consequently all those who care for this principle should dissociate themselves from all attempts to persuade existing authorities to use violence in defence of justice, and should instead concentrate on propagating the feeling for justice and mercy, and for integrity and freedom.
Perhaps this is the right course. But let us realize what it involves in the way of sacrifice. In the present state of the world its first effect would certainly be to increase the scope of tyranny, and to harm still further the very values that it was meant to defend. This may be necessary. It may be that only by passing through a terrible purgatory125 can we generate the moral strength to establish the spirit of peace. But let us not forgot that tyrant126 oligarchies127 to-day control not only unprecedented128 force but also unprecedented means of propaganda for the poisoning of men’s wills. The spirit of civilization is being steadily129 destroyed. It may be that unless the peoples can contrive to wrest130 power from tyrants131 to-day their minds to-morrow will be as servile as the minds of cattle.
For me personally, the upshot is this. My first duty is to keep the pacific spirit alive in myself and to spread it. by any means in my power. But since I am a member of a community which has not discarded the use of violence, I must not withdraw myself from all responsibility for its direction. Instead I must face the fact that, in the world as it is to-day, violence must sometimes be used; and that to abjure132 it is sometimes to betray the very cause that pacifists have at heart. Recognizing this, I must also do my utmost to ensure that violence is used as little as is possible without sacrificing the security and freedom and well-being133 of the majority.
After this long digression we can return to the saints. So far as they are concerned, it is clear that they all earnestly preach the will for peace, even though some of them sometimes countenance the use of violence.
This will for peace, this deep conviction of the rightness of kindliness and reasonableness, springs from their intense self-consciousness and other-consciousness. A true saint is thoroughly134 aware of himself. He knows himself. He knows the best in himself, and the worst in himself. He abhors135 self-deception as he abhors deceiving other people. He is free from "self-consciousness" in the colloquial136 sense just because in the literal sense his self-consciousness is so clear and penetrating137. Just because he is confident that he sees through himself and beyond himself to something which he may call his God or his ideal, he is not worried about the kind of impression that he makes on other people. And so his behaviour is natural and "unself-conscious." There was a time, no doubt, when he was worried very much, not about appearances, but about his actual state. But having passed through his phase of self-searching and self-discipline, and having surrendered himself (as he might put it) into the keeping of his: God, he no longer troubles about himself. Not that he is self-satisfied. He is essentially138 modest,; aware of the gap between his attainments and his ideal. He knows his own weakness when faced with grave temptation. But by now he has almost completely conquered his evil will, and largely overcome his frailty139. Such sins as he commits are sins rather of weakness than of wickedness. For this reason, though he may often blame himself, he is fundamentally at peace. His behaviour shows all the characteristics of the man who is at heart unperturbed, unanxious.
This inner calm seems to be maintained by the saint not only when he himself is in danger or distress140 but even when he is confronted by the suffering of others. In minds that are sensitive and compassionate141, and more apt than most of us to sacrifice their own comfort, and even their lives, in service of others, this is surprising. Often the saint's behaviour betrays that there is a conflict in his mind between compassion and peace. But if he is a true saint compassion fulfils itself wholly in compassionate action, not in hate against individual malefactors, nor in indignation against the universe; and his inner peace expresses itself not in carelessness of the suffering of others but in the temper of his whole behaviour. Even in the fervour of compassion and devoted68 service he maintains his glad acceptance of the universe. This is odd, perhaps illogical; but by the test of action it is right. Historically this twofold temper has been a great civilizing142 influence.
The saint's emotional acceptance of the suffering and evil in the universe is of course connected with his discovery that in his own life suffering has been the means to the attainment23 of mental or (as he would say) spiritual maturity143. So deeply impressed is he with this fact about his own life that he cannot but feel it as a universal truth. Indeed he clings to the faith that in the universe as a whole all suffering and all evil contribute to the development of mind, or the awakening144 of spirit.
In the long run, the longest of all possible runs, this intuitive conviction may be justified. But as an intellectual statement about the universe, as a metaphysical proposition, it is in our epoch145 without adequate support. The valuable core of the saint's conviction is his own experience about suffering, not the generalization146 that he derives147 from it. Suffering certainly can in some circumstances be a means of spiritual growth; but to infer that a universe in which suffering plays a large part is therefore planned for spiritual growth is illogical.
The saint's unshakable peace expresses itself all too readily in optimistic doctrines about the nature of the universe. But the fact that many of these doctrines are conceived in terms of an outworn mythology, that some are to-day quite incredible to the typical modern mind, and that all are at least doubtful, should not make us forget that in the true saint these metaphysical "rationalizations" spring from a special and I believe a very important emotional experience, an emotional acceptance of life with all its distress and horror, an acceptance which may rise to ecstatic joy, and is reported by the saint himself to be his great source of moral strength.
That this should be so must seem to some incredible. For how can the mood which accepts evil be a source of strength to the moral will which is absolutely opposed to evil? I shall not yet discuss this problem. Perhaps it is intellectually insoluble in terms of our present culture. Perhaps it is wrongly stated, and there is really no problem at all. Here I wish merely to emphasize that in practice these two emotional activities are often found to support one another. And I implore148 the Marxist reader, if he has not already thrown this book away in disgust, to entertain the possibility that this strange peace and joy in relation to the universe may after all have an important part to play in the founding of the new world society, and in maintaining it in a wholesome149 condition.
In describing his experience the saint may say that he came to be aware of "spiritual" values. What does he mean essentially by this word "spiritual", which in our day has become so lamentably150 debased? We must beware of condemning151 him merely because some of his favourite words now "date" so badly. He contrasts the "spiritual" life with the "worldly" life, which is centred wholly on, and enslaved to, everyday mundane152 interests. The spiritual life, he claims, is fundamentally detached from everyday interests. This does not mean that it is opposed to those interests, but that it is not obsessed153 by them. Nor does it mean that to live the spiritual life is to withdraw from the world. On the contrary it involves generally that one should playa vigorous part in the world; but always without enslavement, and always, so to speak, with an ear for an ulterior significance in every event. For the spiritual life, we are told, is based on deeper insight into one's own nature, the nature of others, and the nature of the universe. This insight, it is claimed, is not an intellectual understanding; it is a direct perception. So we are told. Round about this experience the saint may weave special doctrines, such as that the individual is an "eternal spirit", or that "reality is spiritual", or that "God" is love, and so on. These are intellectual interpretations155, couched in language which, as he himself recognizes, is inadequate156.
Modern psychology157 can give a very plausible account of the saint's fundamental experience in terms of established psychological principles. It is said to be at bottom a sense of ecstatic personal' well-being or euphoria, unwittingly "projected" upon the external world. Its cause may either purely158 physiological159 and "all an affair of glands160", or it may be psycho-analytical and a case of morbid161 self-magnification, or again it may be due (we are told) to the mind's wistful creation of fantasies to appease162 its craving163 for safety.
Along with the psychologist, the philosopher may throw doubt upon the saint's contentions164. .Philosophical166 analysis can easily make the intellectual interpretations offered by the saints appear incredible or even meaningless. The statement that a way of living is objectively "right" or "beautiful" can easily be made to look intellectually disreputable; for no logically satisfactory meaning can be given to it. Even more easily one can show the intellectual meaninglessness of the saint's contention165 that by concentrating on something "in the depths of our own being" we can make contact with "God". But such philosophical analysis, though it is valuable, and though it convicts the saint of a failure to express himself satisfactorily, does not disprove the worth for human beings of the experience which he is trying to describe. It proves merely that his intellectual interpretation154 of his experience is faulty.
We cannot blame him for this. Human language and ideas have developed under the stimulus167 of practical economic needs. They are ill-adapted to express experience of a very different order.
But what of the psychological criticism of the actual emotional experience on which the intellectual constructions are based? I can well believe that very much of what passes for "religious experience" should be dismissed in the manner suggested by the psychologists. But we must distinguish between experience in which one factor in the personality morbidly168 blots169 out all other capacities and, on the other hand, experience which is an expression of the fully integrated personality, in fact between sane170 and insane experience. Consideration of the lives of the best type of saints suggests that in them integration171 is not less but more complete than in most men, and that the main integrating factor is this very experience. Further, anyone who in his own life has known anything at all like the experience described by the saints cannot but recognize that it occurs only at times when he is more than normally integrated, when he is more comprehensively and more lucidly173 aware than usual. Moreover, he will observe that it, in turn, becomes the supreme174 integrating experience of his life. Thus both objectively and subjectively175 the genuine religious feeling, far from being a symptom of insanity176, is rather an expression of abnormal sanity177. For my part I am prepared to say, if psychology denies this, so much the worse for psychology. If I must choose between this infant science and this most integrating, most lucid172, and most energizing178 experience, I must reject psychology, or at least demand that it should be modified.
What of the methods by which saints have at one time or another disciplined themselves so as to attain22 the spiritual point of view'? Ritual, self-denial, mortification179 of the flesh, "good works" (including practical undertakings180 both of kindliness and of piety), self-scrutiny, and contemplation of experience as a whole, are all regarded as means of purifying and strengthening the spirit. The saint himself admits that each of these methods has its special dangers. Anyone of them or all of them may become obsessive181, may cease to be a means, and instead become an end, distracting the mind from the true end. The most striking and the most important part of the testimony182 of the saints, both great and humble, is the claim that in the struggle for self-mastery they have little success so long as they depend only on efforts of the unaided individual will. So long as the saint's attitude is simply "I will not succumb" to these temptations, he fails. Victory, we are told, is to be gained rather by surrender of the will to the control of that "something" which is felt to reside deep within the self, and yet to be infinitely183 greater than the individual self. Contemplation of this "something" is at once the most effective means and the supreme goal of the saint's whole adventure.
The saints insist that it is by learning to direct attention toward this inner "something", which is at first unobservable, that they begin to win mastery over the unruly impulses. It is by concentrating attention on this thing, by persistently184 contemplating186 it, or rather by passively laying themselves open to its influence, that they become in time possessed187 by it. Then at last the battle is won. Henceforth they have a constant light and a constant source of strength.
What is this "something" discovered in the depth of the saint's own being, and also in the world?
To this question the saints give answers which to those whose ideas are mainly derived188 from modern science are very unconvincing. What they believe themselves to discover is "God", or the "universal spirit". And God they conceive, if they are Christians189, as in some sense an eternal but personal or "supra-personal" mind; and as the divine principle of love, which they affirm is the governing principle of the universe. They declare that the individual spirit finds union with this universal spirit, or (according to Indian saints) that it advances toward annihilation, as an individual, and absorption in the universal. They claim, too, that this discovery of God gives a man assurance that he is not ephemeral but eternal.
If the effects of the experience called "discovering God" are what the saints say they are, we had better not simply reject it out of hand as sheer delusion190. And it certainly does seem to have remarkable191 effects in the saint's life. Nevertheless it does not follow that his description of it, and the inferences that he draws from it, are necessarily true. Some of his statements, no doubt, may have important symbolical192 or metaphorical51 truth which cannot be otherwise expressed. But to those who have not first-hand acquaintance with the saint's experience the symbolization193 of it is misleading. For instance, logically I cannot conceive of a personal spirit that is also "eternal", or "outside time", for passage seems essential to personality. I cannot logically conceive how the finite individual can discover in his own depth that the universe is governed according to the principle of love. I cannot conceive how in his fleeting194 experience he can find valid195 evidence about the state of the universe as a whole, or. assurance of his own immortality196.
One possible consequence of the belief in personal immortality seems to me extremely obnoxious197. I shall call it the attitude of "other-worldliness". Or, since that name may signify to some a very different and wholly admirable attitude, I had better call the reprehensible198 attitude "self-regarding other-worldliness." According to some religious people this life is of no importance save in its bearing upon individual life "in the other world". Worldly joy is simply a snare, and worldly pain a heaven-sent means to salvation199 in the other world. I reject this doctrine5 not because I can refute it, which I cannot do, but because I find no reason to believe it; and also because, quite irrationally200 perhaps, I feel that to dismiss all the intricacy and delicacy201, all the splendour and horror, the delight and agony and infinite tedium202 of this world as mere probationary203 exercises is a. kind of sacrilege.
Nevertheless "other-worldliness", in the metaphorical sense, is a very desirable attitude of mind. Though the first task for all of us is to play an effective and right part in "this world", we cannot properly do so unless we strive to hold this world at arm's length, so to speak, and to see it and ourselves, as it were, "through the eyes of God", in detachment from all special human desires. In some moods one cannot help feeling, irrationally but not perhaps unreasonably204, that in seeing the world and ourselves in this detached way we do, in some sense and to a minute extent, participate in the universal spirit. But this is an unreliable speculation205 on which no faith should be built.
Leaving aside this speculation, what are we to conclude about the doctrines of the saints? The difficulties in them incline one to dismiss the whole matter as sheer verbiage206. But for my part, when I remember the anti-religious people and their glib207 arguments, I realize that these obscure phrases of the saints do refer, however misleadingly, to something which I myself in a halting way have known.
For sometimes, when I am more than usually awake, I do have a deeply moving experience. There is nothing mysterious, or in any way magical, about it. It is just ordinary experience of the world and oneself, only much more lucid and comprehensive. I cannot but regard it as the rightful compass-needle of my whole life. It may happen unexpectedly, in response to some particular and even insignificant208 event, which now suddenly opens up vistas209 of significance; or it may come when I try persistently to "get the feel of" being a self in relation to other selves and the rest of the universe. In either case it brings an unusually precise and poignant210 awareness both of my present surroundings and of things remote in space and in time. It seems to be simply a very comprehensive act of attention, an attending to everything at once, or to the wholeness of everything at once. And in response to all that this act of attention reveals I feel a very special emotion, which I can describe only as a tension of fervour and peace.
The experience is one which, if I were less sceptical, I might easily regard as some sort of contact with "God". But being sceptical I refrain from this interpretation. There may be a sense in which the old religious language is true, but in our day it is far less true than misleading. I am content, therefore, with the bald statement that in contemplation I sometimes have an intense exaltation about being a self in relation to other selves and the world at large. I am immensely. thankful that I and we and it exist. In spite of all the frustration211 and horror of the human world, I am at these times perfectly212 sure that all our suffering and all our baseness is somehow needed, not for our personal salvation, for of this I know nothing, but for the rightness of the universe as a whole. Though of course I know only a minute fraction of the universe, and though doubtless my knowledge of this is in many ways wildly false, yet in this state of peaceful exaltation I perceive that even in my superficial and false view there is somehow assurance of the rightness of the whole. I have at the same time a strong conviction that if I, the particular little finite timorous213 mind, could see the whole as it really is, I should not, after all, be able to recognize its rightness, but should probably be overwhelmed with horror, so alien would it be even to the most clear-sighted of my actual desires. Nevertheless, because of the tenor214 of my own immature experience, I am sure that the whole is right, with its own dread215 rightness. In saying this I mean that if I could both see the whole as it really is and also steel myself to feel it with appropriate courage and sensitivity, I should then recognize its rightness.
But what about this "something discovered in, the depth of one's own being"? This I interpret as a metaphorical way of saying that in persistent185 contemplation of myself and the world I discover, beneath all the personal desires which make up the everyday "I", another desire or will, so alien from the everyday "I" as to seem indeed another being. It is a detached will for the good, not for my good nor even for mankind’s good, but for the good of the universe, whatever that may turn out to involve. I recognize that this will ought to be the supreme determinant of my conduct, and in a fickle216 sort of way I strive to submit my normal self to it. I recognize also that in some sense this will is a potentiality of all minds. Inevitably217 the awakening of a mind must lead it to this desire, this will. Evidently, then, this will is a very important factor in the universe. But what its metaphysical status is, I do not pretend to know.
To say all this is to suggest merely my own reaction to an experience which I cannot at all clearly grasp, let alone describe. All that I can say of it is that it gives meaning to life, that it is the supreme consolation218, the supreme inspiration, and yet also, strangely, a most urgent spur to action.
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1
repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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formulate
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| v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述 | |
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dictates
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| n.命令，规定，要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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aspires
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| v.渴望，追求( aspire的第三人称单数 ) | |
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dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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rote
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| n.死记硬背，生搬硬套 | |
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overlap
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| v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠 | |
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vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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momentous
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| adj.重要的，重大的 | |
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exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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mediocre
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| adj.平常的，普通的 | |
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attainments
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| 成就，造诣； 获得( attainment的名词复数 )； 达到； 造诣； 成就 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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hampered
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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discursive
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| adj.离题的，无层次的 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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zestfully
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| adv.有辛辣味的； 有风趣的； 有风味的； 有滋味的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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flux
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| n.流动；不断的改变 | |
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sensory
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| adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的 | |
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phantoms
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| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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addicted
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| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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41
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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43
shun
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| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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45
contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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recluse
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| n.隐居者 | |
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49
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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50
metaphorically
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| adv. 用比喻地 | |
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metaphorical
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| a.隐喻的，比喻的 | |
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52
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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53
cogent
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| adj.强有力的，有说服力的 | |
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54
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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55
snare
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| n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑 | |
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56
degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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57
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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58
callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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59
tolerance
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| n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差 | |
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60
impartiality
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| n. 公平, 无私, 不偏 | |
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61
retaliate
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| v.报复，反击 | |
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restive
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| adj.不安宁的，不安静的 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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66
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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67
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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68
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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devotedly
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| 专心地； 恩爱地； 忠实地； 一心一意地 | |
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70
succumb
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| v.屈服，屈从；死 | |
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71
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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72
censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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76
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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mythology
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| n.神话，神话学，神话集 | |
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advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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80
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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82
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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83
foulness
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| n. 纠缠, 卑鄙 | |
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inborn
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| adj.天生的，生来的，先天的 | |
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85
attains
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的第三人称单数 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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86
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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87
loathes
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的第三人称单数 )；极不喜欢 | |
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awareness
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| n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智 | |
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persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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revile
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| v.辱骂，谩骂 | |
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92
discredit
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| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
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93
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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immature
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| adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的 | |
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perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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96
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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obsession
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| n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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98
impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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101
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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102
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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103
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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104
wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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105
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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106
coercion
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| n.强制，高压统治 | |
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107
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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108
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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109
pessimism
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| n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者 | |
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110
countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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111
callousness
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112
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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113
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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114
brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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115
citizenship
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| n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份) | |
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116
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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117
underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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118
brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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119
tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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120
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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121
conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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122
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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123
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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124
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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125
purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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126
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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127
oligarchies
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| n.寡头统治的政府( oligarchy的名词复数 )；寡头政治的执政集团；寡头统治的国家 | |
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128
unprecedented
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| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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129
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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130
wrest
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| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
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131
tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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132
abjure
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| v.发誓放弃 | |
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133
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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134
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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135
abhors
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| v.憎恶( abhor的第三人称单数 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰 | |
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136
colloquial
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| adj.口语的，会话的 | |
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137
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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138
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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139
frailty
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| n.脆弱；意志薄弱 | |
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140
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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141
compassionate
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| adj.有同情心的，表示同情的 | |
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142
civilizing
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| v.使文明，使开化( civilize的现在分词 ) | |
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143
maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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144
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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145
epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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146
generalization
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| n.普遍性，一般性，概括 | |
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147
derives
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| v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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148
implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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149
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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150
lamentably
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| adv.哀伤地，拙劣地 | |
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151
condemning
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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152
mundane
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| adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的 | |
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153
obsessed
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| adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
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154
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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155
interpretations
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| n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解 | |
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156
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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157
psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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158
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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159
physiological
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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160
glands
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| n.腺( gland的名词复数 ) | |
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161
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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162
appease
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| v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足 | |
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163
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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164
contentions
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| n.竞争( contention的名词复数 )；争夺；争论；论点 | |
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165
contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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166
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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167
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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168
morbidly
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| adv.病态地 | |
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169
blots
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| 污渍( blot的名词复数 )； 墨水渍； 错事； 污点 | |
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170
sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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171
integration
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| n.一体化，联合，结合 | |
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172
lucid
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| adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的 | |
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173
lucidly
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| adv.清透地，透明地 | |
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174
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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175
subjectively
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| 主观地； 臆 | |
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176
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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177
sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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178
energizing
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| v.给予…精力，能量( energize的现在分词 )；使通电 | |
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179
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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180
undertakings
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| 企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务 | |
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181
obsessive
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| adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的 | |
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182
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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183
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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184
persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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185
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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186
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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187
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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188
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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189
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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190
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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191
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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192
symbolical
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| a.象征性的 | |
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193
symbolization
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| n.象征，符号表现 | |
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194
fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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195
valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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196
immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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197
obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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198
reprehensible
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| adj.该受责备的 | |
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199
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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200
irrationally
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| ad.不理性地 | |
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201
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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202
tedium
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| n.单调；烦闷 | |
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203
probationary
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| 试用的，缓刑的 | |
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204
unreasonably
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| adv. 不合理地 | |
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205
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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206
verbiage
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| n.冗词；冗长 | |
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207
glib
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| adj.圆滑的，油嘴滑舌的 | |
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208
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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209
vistas
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| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
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210
poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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211
frustration
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| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
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212
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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213
timorous
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| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
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214
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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215
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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216
fickle
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| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
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217
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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218
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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