6. It is possible to lose by degrees that compassion to living creatures which is natural to all men. It is particularly noticeable in hunting. Otherwise kindly people grow accustomed to the chase and learn to torture and kill animals without noticing their own cruelty.
7. "Thou shalt not slay"—does not mean man alone, but all that is living. This commandment was inscribed in the heart of man before being graven on the tablets of the law.
8. Men think it right to eat animals, because they are led to believe that God sanctions it. This is untrue. No matter in what books it may be written that it is not sinful to slay animals and to eat them, it is more clearly written in the heart of man than in any books that animals are to be pitied and should not be slain any more than human beings. We all know this if we do not choke the voice of our conscience.
9. If only all men who eat animals had to slay them in person, the greater portion of human beings would refrain from eating meat.
10. We marvel that there should have been men, that there still should be men who slay human beings in order to eat their flesh. The time will come when our grandchildren will marvel that their grandfathers had been in the habit of killing millions of animals every day in order to eat them, although they could satisfy their hunger both wholesomely and pleasantly with the fruits of the earth and without killing.
11. It is possible to lose little by little the habit of compassion even with human beings, and it is also possible to accustom oneself to have compassion even with insects.
The more compassion fills the heart of man, the better it is for his soul.
12. We are all vividly conscious of the fact that there is some one, identical thing in all of us human beings, but that this same thing is also in animals we realize less vividly. Yet if we give a little thought to the life of even these little creatures, we cannot help but realize that the same principle dwells in them also.
13. "But surely we can slay flies or fleas"? "Unwittingly we slay with each movement creatures whom we
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THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 69
even cannot notice in ordinary life." This is commonly said by those who seek to find excuses for the cruelty of men to animals. Those who speak thus forget that man cannot attain perfection. Even so in the matter of compassion with animals. We cannot live without destroying other creatures, but we can be more or less compassionate. The more compassionate we are with animals, the better it will be for our own souls.
III.
The Better a Man's Life the More Clearly He Realizes
the Oneness of the Divine Principle that
Dwells Within Him
1. It seems to people that they are all separated one from another. Yet if every man lived only his life apart from the others, human life could not continue. Human life is only possible because it is one and the same spirit of God that lives in all men and because they realize it.
2. Others think that only they live truly, and that they are everything, and that all others are as nothing. There are many such people. But there are also reasonable and good men who realize that the life of others, even of animals, is in itself as important as their own. Such men do not live in their "Г* alone, but also in other beings, human and animal. It is easy for such men to live, and it is easy to die. When they die, only that passes away whereby had lived in themselves; that whereby they lived in others remains. Those, however, who live in their own self alone, have a narrow life and a grievous death, for when they come to die, such people think that all whereby they lived is passing away. Schopenhauer.
as in your own self, and for this reason venerate as a holy thing not only your own soul, but also the soul of every man.
4. Why do we feel blest in our soul after all works of love ? Because all works of love demonstrate to us that our true self is not only within our own personality, but also in all things living.
If you live for yourself alone, you live with only a minute particle of your true self. But if you live for others you feel that your "I" is expanding.
Living for self alone, you will feel yourself among enemies, you will leel that the happiness of others obstructs your own happiness. If you live for others, you will feel among friends, and the happiness of everybody else will be your own happiness. Schopenhauer.
5. Man finds his happiness only in serving others. And he finds happiness in serving others because in serving others he unites with the spirit of God that dwells within them.
6. That divine spirit wherel^ we live becomes fully comprehensible to us only if we love our neighbor.
7. All truly good works, in which man forgets himself and thinks solely of the needs of another are wonderful and would be incomprehensible, if they were not so natural and habitual to us. Why, indeed, should a man deprive himself of anything, worry and struggle for some other human being whom he may not know, while there are so many such people in the world ? It can be explained only in this way, that he who benefits another knows that he whom he benefits is not a being separate from himself, but the same being by which he himself lives, only in another form. Schopenhanir.
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THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 71
8. All that we know we perceive either through our five senses, that is we see, hear or touch things, or by transporting ourselves into other creatures, that is, living their life. If we were to perceive things only through our five senses, the world would be incomprehensible to us. What we know of the world we know because through love we can enter into other creatures and live their lives. People are separated by their bodies and cannot understand one another. But love unites them all. And therein is great blessedness.
9. If you live the life of the spirit all disunion among men causes you spiritual suffering. Why this suffering? Just as bodily pain points to a danger menacing the life of the body, even so spiritual suffering points to a danger menacing the spiritual life of man.
10. An Indian philosopher remarked: "In you and in me, as well as in all creatures, dwells the identical spirit of life, and yet you are ang^ with me, you do not love me. Remember that you and I are one. Whatever you are, you and I are one."
11. No matter how evil, unjust, stupid, or disagreeable a man may be, remember that in ceasing to respect him you break connection not only with him alone, but also with the entire spiritual world.
12. In order to live at peace with all men think of the common bond uniting you, and not of that which separates you from them.
13. It is considered a great and an unpardonable sin to treat with indignity objects of the external worship of men, but it is not considered a sin to treat human beings with indignity. And yet in the most depraved man there dwells something far superior to any objects of external worship, which are only the work of human hands.
14. It is easy to bear sorrows that are not caused by people, but by disease, conflagration, inundation or earthquake. But it is very painful to suffer by reason of the acts of people, one's brothers. We know that people ought to love us, but instead of that they torture us. "All people are the same as I. Why do they cause me pain?" We think. For this reason it is easier to bear sorrows from illness, conflagrations, drouths than those caused by human unkindness.
IV.
Effects of Realizing the Oneness of the Soul in
All Human Beings
1. Do we realize our spiritual brotherhood? Do we realize that one and the same divine principle exists in the souls of all men as in our own? No, we do not yet realize it. And yet this is the one thing that can give us true liberty and happiness. Liberty and happiness cannot be until men realize their oneness. And yet if men were to recognize this basic truth of Christianity, the oneness of the spiritual principle in man, the whole life of man would be changed and such relations would be established among men as we cannot even imagine at the present time. Insults, abuse and oppression which we inflict upon our fellow men would arouse our indignation more than do the greatest crimes of the present day. Yes, we need a new revelation, not of heaven and hell, but of the spirit that dwells within us. Charming.