There is another thing that strikes one very soon. These Oriental
religions have little or no organisation. Here in Europe there is
nothing so organised as religion. Consider the Catholic faith and the
organisation of Rome. It is a marvel of government, of very strict
government indeed. And the other forms of Western Christianity are not
much behind. The Greek Church is organised as a branch of Government.
So, too, to a lesser extent is the Anglican Church, and if the
Dissenting bodies, as we call them, are not connected with the State,
they have nevertheless a strong system of government.
These organisations are not now, of course, so strong as they were. They
used to drag the men into religion by force, by State aid, they used to
insist on conformity and punish laxity of observance. That is now gone,
but a strong and continuous pressure still exists, exerted by the
Churches in many ways. All Churches in Europe are always having
"missions." Our great cities are full of them, and the country is not
free of them. There has to be a continual shepherding of the flock or
the Church might dwindle sadly. Men have to be preached at and caught
one way or another. All through Europe immense sums are spent yearly in
Christianising the poor.
In the East nothing of this exists. There is no head of Hinduism; that
of the Sultan in Mahommedanism is merely nominal; how slight the
organisation is of Buddhism those who have read my former book will
know.
Hindus are guided by the race of Brahmins, who in turn are guided by no
one. They are a great community themselves, without any organisation or
binding authority. They need no Pope, no Acts of Uniformity. They are
Brahmins because they are so. And so it may be said in general. Faiths
in the East require no strong organisations to hold them together.
Religion is innate in the believers. It seems wonderful. And they have
no missions. If a man feels the need of faith he will seek it and obtain
it. It is there for him if he will come. And all do come. How many
millions in Europe, even in England, have no religious usages? Can you
in the East find one man?
When you think of Europe and its faiths you seem to be in a garden where
the hedges are carefully clipped and the flowers are trained and pruned,
and where you may not walk on the grass. It is all order, and method,
and restriction, for the flowers are exotics and would die without the
tending, they would vary if they were not kept true to type. But the
East is Nature's garden, where the flowers grow wild everywhere; no one
tends them or cares for them, but each grows his own way, developes his
own power and strength, from the lowest grasses to the gorgeous orchid
or the poison lily.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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