As to the dogmatic and mystical elements of Christianity, which he treats as mere additions to the real teaching of Christ, he considers them so noxious that even he makes the following remark: “It is terrible to say so (but sometimes I have this thought): if the teaching of Christ, together with the teaching of the Church that has grown upon it, did not exist at all--those who now call themselves Christians would have been nearer to the teachings of Christ--that is, to an intelligent teaching about the good of life--than they are now. The moral teachings of all the prophets of mankind would not have been closed for them.”[21] Putting aside all the mystical and metaphysical conceptions which have been interwoven with Christianity, he concentrates his main attention upon the moral aspects of the Christian teaching. One of the most powerful means--he says--by which men are prevented from living a life in accordance with this teaching is “religious deception.” “Humanity moves slowly but unceasingly onward, towards an ever higher development of consciousness of the true meaning of life, and towards the organisation of life in conformity with this development of consciousness;” but in this ascendant march all men do not move at an equal pace, and “the less sensitive continue to adhere to the previous understanding and order of life, and try to uphold it.” This they achieve mainly by means of the religious deception which consists “in the intentional confusion of faith with superstition, and the substitution of the one for the other.” (_Chr. Teach._, §§181, 180.) The only means to free one’s self from this deception is--he says--“to understand and to remember that the only instrument which man possesses for the acquisition of knowledge is reason, and that therefore every teaching which affirms that which is contrary to reason is a delusion.” Altogether, Tolstóy is especially emphatic upon this point of the importance of reason. (See _The Christian Teaching_, §§206, 214.) Another great obstacle to the spreading of the Christian teaching he sees in the current belief in the immortality of the soul--such as it is understood now. (_My Belief_, p. 134 of Tchertkoff’s Russ. ed.) In this form he repudiates it; but we can--he says--give a deeper meaning to our life by making it to be a service to men--to mankind--by merging our life into the life of the universe; and although this idea may seem less attractive than the idea of individual immortality, “though little, it is sure.” (_Chr. Teaching._)