2Augustавгуста · 2-е августа

1. 1. Наше тело ограничивает то божественное, духовное начало, которое мы называем душою. И это-то ограничение, — как сосуд дает форму жидкости или газу, заключенному в нем, — дает форму этому божественному началу. Когда разбивается сосуд, то заключенное в нем перестает иметь ту форму, которую имело, и разливается. Соединяется ли оно с другими веществами? получает ли новую форму? — мы этого ничего не знаем, но знаем наверное то, что оно теряет ту форму, которую оно имело в своем ограничении, потому что то, что ограничивало, разрушилось, но не можем знать ничего о том, что совершится с тем, что было ограничено. Душа после смерти становится чем-то другим, — таким, о чем мы судить не можем.

   1. Our body limits that divine, spiritual principle which we call the soul. And it is this very limitation — as a vessel gives form to the liquid or gas enclosed in it — that gives form to this divine principle. When the vessel breaks, what was enclosed in it ceases to have the form it had, and spills out. Does it unite with other substances? Does it take on a new form? — of this we know nothing; but we know for certain that it loses the form it had in its limitation, because what limited it has been destroyed; yet we can know nothing of what will happen to what was limited. After death the soul becomes something else — something of which we cannot judge.

2. 2. Эмерсона, утверждавшего свое бессмертие, спросили: «Ну, а как же, когда мир кончится?» Он отвечал: «Для того, чтобы не умереть, я не нуждаюсь в мире».

   2. Emerson, who affirmed his immortality, was asked: “Well, and what about when the world comes to an end?” He answered: “To keep from dying, I have no need of the world.”

3. 3. Смирение нужно не только для жизни, но нужно и для смерти. Надо сделаться малым перед людьми, перед собою, чтобы войти в дом бога. Отрекись от себя, и ты сольешься с ним. Чем больше отречения, тем ближе к нему, тем легче смерть.

   3. Humility is needed not only for life, but for death as well. You must become small before people, before yourself, to enter the house of God. Renounce yourself, and you will merge with him. The more renunciation, the nearer to him, the easier death.

4. 4. Смерть есть только один шаг в нашем непрерывном развитии. Таким же шагом было и наше рождение; с той лишь разницей, что рождение есть смерть для одной формы бытия, а смерть есть рождение в другую форму бытия.

   Смерть — это счастье для умирающего человека. Умирая, перестанешь быть смертным. Я не могу смотреть на эту перемену с ужасом, подобно некоторым людям. По-моему, смерть есть перемена к лучшему. Разве мы не безумны, когда говорим о приготовлении к смерти? Наше дело — жить. Тот, кто умеет жить, сумеет и умереть. Я хочу жить, душа наша никогда не говорит нам, что мы умрем. Чувства умирают, а чувства-то и создали смерть. Так стоит ли беспокоиться о ней разумным людям?

   Теодор Паркер.

   4. Death is only one step in our continuous development. Our birth was just such a step, with this difference only: that birth is death to one form of being, and death is birth into another form of being.

   Death is happiness for the dying man. In dying, you will cease to be mortal. I cannot look on this change with horror, as some people do. To my mind, death is a change for the better. Are we not mad when we talk of preparing for death? Our business is to live. He who knows how to live will know how to die as well. I want to live; our soul never tells us that we will die. The senses die, and it is the senses that created death. So is it worthwhile for reasonable people to trouble themselves about it?

   Theodore Parker.

   From Two letters of Theodore Parker, as printed in O. B. Frothingham, Theodore Parker: A Biog… · joined by Tolstoy from several places (more).

   Theodore Parker’s own words

   Death is always a blessing to him who dies : the man ceases to be mortal.

   Are we not foolish in talking about preparing to die ? Our business is to live.

   I want to live ; for the soul never tells you or me that we shall die. The senses die ; and so death is an affair of the senses, — too sensual a matter for wise men to concern themselves much about.

   Death is one step in our progress.

   Source text: archive.org

   John Weiss, Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker, vol. I

   Death is one step in our progress ; birth was a step once. But birth was a death to one form of being, and death is a birth into another form of being.

   Source text: archive.org

   Details

   The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Two letters of Theodore Parker, as printed in O. B. Frothingham, Theodore Parker: A Biography (Boston, 1874), Second paragraph: a letter quoted in ch. 'The Ferment of Thought', pp. 144–145; first paragraph: letter to Robert White, Jun., New York, Boston, 15 March 1853, ch. 'Specimens of Correspondence', pp. 283–284.

   Joined from two letters. The first paragraph is from Parker's letter of 15 March 1853 to Robert White, Jun., on the death of White's relative: 'Death is one step in our progress; birth was a step once. But birth was a death to one form of being, and death is a birth into another form of being' becomes 'Death is only one step in our continuous development. Our birth was such a step too, with the one difference that birth is death for one form of being, and death birth into another': 'progress' becomes 'continuous development' (непрерывном развитии). The second paragraph is from an earlier letter that Frothingham quotes without its date or recipient. 'Death is always a blessing to him who dies: the man ceases to be mortal' becomes 'Death is happiness for the dying man. Dying, you cease to be mortal'; 'this change which takes place in the animal system' becomes 'this change'; 'To me it is a change which is always made for the better' is kept; Parker's likening of death to a boy's first change from baby clothes to trousers, with Swedenborg's dead who forgot they had died, is left out. 'Are we not foolish' becomes 'Are we not mad' (Разве мы не безумны); 'He that is prepared to live, and fit to live, is fittest to die: is he not?' becomes 'He who knows how to live will know how to die' (Тот, кто умеет жить, сумеет и умереть); 'the soul never tells you or me' becomes 'our soul never tells us'; 'and so death is an affair of the senses' becomes 'and it is the senses that created death' (а чувства-то и создали смерть); 'too sensual a matter for wise men to concern themselves much about' becomes 'So is it worth reasonable people's troubling about it?'. What Tolstoy read is not known: neither letter is in Albert Walkley's selection in Unity's Church-Door Pulpit (16 October 1885), which gave Tolstoy his Parker in April and June.

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   Translation note. «Чувства» means both the senses and the feelings; it is read here as the senses.

5. 5. Последний день несет нам не уничтожение, а только перемену.

   Цицерон.

   5. The last day brings us not annihilation, but only a change.

   Cicero.

   From Tusculanae disputationes · reworded by Tolstoy (more).

   What changed

   Cicero’s supposition, “if that last day does not occasion an entire extinction, but a change of abode only,” becomes an assertion, “The last day brings us not annihilation, but only a change,” and his other branch, that death “absolutely puts an end to us,” is left out.

   Leo Tolstoy as Editor: A different point ›

   Original · Latin

   … nam si supremus ille dies non extinctionem, sed commutationem adfert loci, quid optabilius?

   … sin autem perimit ac delet omnino, quid melius quam in mediis vitae laboribus obdormiscere et ita coniventem somno consopiri sempiterno?

   Source text: thelatinlibrary.com

   In English · C. D. Yonge, 1877

   For if that last day does not occasion an entire extinction, but a change of abode only, what can be more desirable?

   And if it, on the other hand, destroys, and absolutely puts an end to us, what can be preferable to the having a deep sleep fall on us, in the midst of the fatigues of life, and being thus overtaken, to sleep to eternity?

   Source text: gutenberg.org

   Details

   The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Tusculanae disputationes, I.117.

   Cicero argues near the end of Tusculan Disputations I that death is no evil either way: "For if that last day does not occasion an entire extinction, but a change of abode only, what can be more desirable? And if it, on the other hand, destroys, and absolutely puts an end to us, what can be preferable to ... sleep to eternity?" Tolstoy keeps the first branch as an assertion, «Последний день несет нам не уничтожение, а только перемену» (the last day brings us not annihilation but only change): Cicero's "if" (si) and his second branch are dropped, and "commutationem ... loci" (a change of place) becomes «перемену» (a change). The intermediary was not found; the line is not in Ramage's Latin Authors (searched: extinctionem, commutation, supremus, last day) or the English anthologies saved.

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6. 6. Жизнь есть освобождение души (духовной, самобытно живущей сущности) от тех условий телесной личности, в которые она поставлена.

   6. Life is the liberation of the soul (a spiritual essence, living in its own right) from those conditions of bodily personality in which it has been placed.

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