We Need a One-State Solution: Palesrael
IF WE ARE THE SONS OF GODS, WE CANNOT BE CAINS AND ABELS
As a Jew and as an American, I realize I can no longer be a part of any people but the whole of humanity. The world is too small to be divided into peoples, races and tribes. Sure, I could raise my kids to be Jews--but only if they are mindful of the fact that the core teaching of their tradition is the same as that of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and any other -ism of long, luminous standing. When Leo Tolstoy defined true Christianity in his 1894 book, "The Kingdom of God is Within You," he was also defining true Buddhism, Gnosticism, Sufism, Kabbala, as I understand them:
The Christian doctrine in its full significance can alone . . . [give] new meaning to life. Christianity recognizes love of self, of family, of nation, and of humanity, and not only of humanity, but of everything living, everything existing; it recognizes the necessity of an infinite extension of the sphere of love. But the object of this love is not found outside in societies of indiviudals, nor in the external world, but within self, in the divine self whose essence is that very love, which the animal self is brought to feel the need of through its consciousness of its own perishable nature.
The difference between the Christian doctrine and those which preceded it is that the social doctrine said: "Live in opposition to your nature [understanding by this only the animal nature], make it subject to the external law of family, society, and state." Christianity says: "Live according to your nature [understanding by this the divine nature]; do not make it subject to anything--neither you (an animal self) nor that of others--and you will attain the very aim for which you are striving when you subject your external self."
The Christian doctrine brings a man to the elementary consciousness of self, the divine spark, the self as the Son of God, as much God as the father himself, though confined in an animal husk. The consciousness of being the Son of God, whose chief characteristic is love, satisified the need for the extension of the sphere of love to which the man of the social conception if life has been briught. For the latter, the welfare of the personality demanded an ever-widening extension of the sphere of love; love was a necessity and was confined to certain objects--self, family, society. With the Christian conception of life, love us not a necessity and is confined to no object; it is the essential faculty of the human soul. Man loves not because it is [in] his interest to love this or that, but because love is the essence of his soul, because he cannot but love."
--Leo Tolstoy, "The Kingdom of God is Within You: Christianity Not as a Mystic religion but as a New Theory of Life (1894)," University of Nebraska Press, 1984, pages 107-8
As a Jew and as an American, I realize I can no longer be a part of any people but the whole of humanity. The world is too small to be divided into peoples, races and tribes. Sure, I could raise my kids to be Jews--but only if they are mindful of the fact that the core teaching of their tradition is the same as that of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and any other -ism of long, luminous standing. When Leo Tolstoy defined true Christianity in his 1894 book, "The Kingdom of God is Within You," he was also defining true Buddhism, Gnosticism, Sufism, Kabbala, as I understand them:
The Christian doctrine in its full significance can alone . . . [give] new meaning to life. Christianity recognizes love of self, of family, of nation, and of humanity, and not only of humanity, but of everything living, everything existing; it recognizes the necessity of an infinite extension of the sphere of love. But the object of this love is not found outside in societies of indiviudals, nor in the external world, but within self, in the divine self whose essence is that very love, which the animal self is brought to feel the need of through its consciousness of its own perishable nature.
The difference between the Christian doctrine and those which preceded it is that the social doctrine said: "Live in opposition to your nature [understanding by this only the animal nature], make it subject to the external law of family, society, and state." Christianity says: "Live according to your nature [understanding by this the divine nature]; do not make it subject to anything--neither you (an animal self) nor that of others--and you will attain the very aim for which you are striving when you subject your external self."
The Christian doctrine brings a man to the elementary consciousness of self, the divine spark, the self as the Son of God, as much God as the father himself, though confined in an animal husk. The consciousness of being the Son of God, whose chief characteristic is love, satisified the need for the extension of the sphere of love to which the man of the social conception if life has been briught. For the latter, the welfare of the personality demanded an ever-widening extension of the sphere of love; love was a necessity and was confined to certain objects--self, family, society. With the Christian conception of life, love us not a necessity and is confined to no object; it is the essential faculty of the human soul. Man loves not because it is [in] his interest to love this or that, but because love is the essence of his soul, because he cannot but love."
--Leo Tolstoy, "The Kingdom of God is Within You: Christianity Not as a Mystic religion but as a New Theory of Life (1894)," University of Nebraska Press, 1984, pages 107-8
posted by David Federman @ 5:30 AM
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