I understand now that true welfare is possible for me only on condition
that I recognize my fellowship with the whole world. I believe this, and
the belief has changed my estimate of what is right and wrong, important
and despicable. What once seemed to me right and important--love of
country, love for those of my own race, for the organization called the
State, services rendered at the expense of the welfare of other men,
military exploits--now seem to me detestable and pitiable. What once
seemed to me shameful and wrong--renunciation of nationality, and the
cultivation of cosmopolitanism--now seem to me right and important.
When, now, in a moment of forgetfulness, I sustain a Russian in
preference to a foreigner, and desire the success of Russia or of the
Russian people, I can no longer in lucid moments allow myself to be
controlled by illusions so destructive to my welfare and the welfare of
others. I can no longer recognize states or peoples; I can no longer
take part in any difference between peoples or states, or any discussion
between them either verbal or written, much less in any service in
behalf of any particular state. I can no longer co-operate with measures
maintained by divisions between states,--the collection of custom
duties, taxes, the manufacture of arms and projectiles, or any act
favoring armaments, military service, and, for a stronger reason,
wars,--neither can I encourage others to take any part in them.
I understand in what my true welfare consists, I have faith in that, and
consequently I cannot do what would inevitably be destructive of that
welfare. I not only have faith that I ought to live thus, but I have
faith that if I live thus, and only thus, my life will attain its only
possible meaning, and be reasonable, pleasant, and indestructible by
death. I believe that my reasonable life, the light I bear with me, was
given to me only that it might shine before men, not in words only, but
in good deeds, that men may thereby glorify the Father. I believe that
my life and my consciousness of truth is the talent confided to me for a
good purpose, and that this talent fulfils its mission only when it is
of use to others. I believe that I am a Ninevite with regard to other
Jonahs from whom I have learned and shall learn of the truth; but that I
am a Jonah in regard to other Ninevites to whom I am bound to transmit
the truth. I believe that the only meaning of my life is to be attained
by living in accordance with the light that is within me, and that I
must allow this light to shine forth to be seen of all men. This faith
gives me renewed strength to fulfil the doctrine of Jesus, and to
overcome the obstacles which still arise in my pathway. All that once
caused me to doubt the possibility of practising the doctrine of Jesus,
everything that once turned me aside, the possibility of privations, and
of suffering, and death, inflicted by those who know not the doctrine of
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