16Januaryянваря · 16-е января
Главная причина дурного устройства жизни — ложная вера.
The chief cause of the bad ordering of life is false faith.
1. Жизнь человека — в том, чтобы приводить неразумное в своей жизни к разумному. И для этого нужны два дела:
1) видеть во всем его значении неразумие жизни и не отвращать от него внимания.
2) сознавать во всей чистоте разумность возможной жизни.
Сознавая всю неразумность и всегда вытекающую из нее бедственность жизни, человек невольно отвращается от нее; и, с другой стороны, ясно сознавая возможность разумной жизни, человек невольно стремится к ней. Не скрывать поэтому зла неразумия и выставлять во всей ясности благо разумной жизни должно бы составлять задачу всех учителей человечества.
Но тут-то на седалище Моисеево всегда садятся те, которые не идут к свету, потому что дела их злы; и потому всегда люди, выставляющие себя учителями, не только не стараются уяснить неразумие теперешней жизни и разумность жизни, какая должна быть, а, напротив, стараются скрыть неразумие нынешней жизни и подорвать доверие к разумности той жизни, какая должна быть. С этою целью существуют и действуют и полиция, и войска, и уголовные законы, и тюрьмы, и приюты для детей, и богадельни для стариков, и воспитательные дома, и дома терпимости, и сумасшедшие дома, и больницы, и страховые общества, и все обязательные и устраиваемые на насильственно собираемые средства образовательные учреждения, и учреждения для малолетних преступников и многие другие.
Роковым образом каждое из этих учреждений, кроме скрывания зла, порождает новое зло и увеличивает неудержимо, как снежный ком, то зло, которое оно предполагает уничтожить.
Если бы только одна тысячная тех усилий, которые употребляются на устройство всего этого, имеющего целью скрыть зло и только увеличивающего его, была бы употреблена на противодействие тому, для скрывания чего служат все эти учреждения, зло это, ставшее явным для нас, быстро уничтожилось бы.
1. Our life consists in making what is irrational in our life rational. And for this two things are needed:
1) to see the unreason of life in its full significance, and not to turn our attention away from it.
2) to be conscious, in all its purity, of the rationality of the life that is possible.
Conscious of all the irrationality of life and of the misery that always flows from it, we cannot help turning away from that life; and on the other hand, clearly conscious of the possibility of a rational life, we cannot help striving toward it. Therefore, not to hide the evil of unreason, and to set out the good of a rational life in all its clarity, ought to be the task of all the teachers of humanity.
But it is just here that those who do not come to the light, because their deeds are evil, always sit down in Moses’ seat; and therefore the people who set themselves up as teachers not only never try to make clear the unreason of present life and the rationality of the life that ought to be, but on the contrary always try to hide the unreason of the life of today and to undermine trust in the rationality of the life that ought to be. To this end there exist and operate the police, and armies, and criminal laws, and prisons, and shelters for children, and almshouses for the old, and foundling homes, and licensed brothels, and madhouses, and hospitals, and insurance companies, and all the educational institutions, compulsory and set up with means collected by force, and institutions for juvenile offenders, and many others.
By a fatal necessity each of these institutions, besides hiding evil, breeds new evil and, like a snowball, irresistibly increases the very evil it proposes to destroy.
If only a thousandth part of the efforts spent on setting up all this, which aims at hiding evil and only increases it, were spent on resisting what all these institutions serve to hide, this evil, once made plain to us, would quickly disappear.
Translation note. Moses’ seat: Matthew 23:2 (KJV: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat”). Those who do not come to the light because their deeds are evil: John 3:19–20. «Неразумие» is rendered “unreason” and «неразумность» “irrationality”, to keep Tolstoy’s two words apart.
2. Мы должны с глубоким вниманием относиться к нашим общественным делам; мы должны быть готовы изменять наши мнения, отказываться от старых взглядов, усваивать новые. Мы должны бросать предрассудки и рассуждать с совершенно свободным умом. Моряк, который будет ставить одни и те же паруса, невзирая на перемены в ветре, никогда не достигнет своей гавани.
2. We must give deep attention to our public affairs; we must be ready to change our opinions, to give up old views, to take up new ones. We must cast off prejudices and reason with a perfectly free mind. A sailor who keeps setting the same sails regardless of changes in the wind will never reach his harbor.
From Social Problems · close to the original .
Henry George’s own wordsIf we would really make and continue this a government of the people, for the people and by the people, we must give to our politics earnest attention; …
… to give up old ideas and to accept new ones.
The sailor, who, no matter how the wind might change, should persist in keeping his vessel under the same sail and on the same tack, would never reach his haven.
Source text: archive.orgThe same passage in the 1898 printing… we must give to our politics earnest attention; we must be prepared to review our opinions, to give up old ideas and to accept new ones, …
We must abandon prejudice, and make our reckoning with free minds. The sailor, who, no matter how the wind might change, should persist in keeping his vessel under the same sail and on the same tack, would never reach his haven.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Social Problems (New York, 1883), ch. II 'Political Dangers', pp. 34-35, the end of the chapter.
Close. Tolstoy begins mid-sentence, after 'If we would really make and continue this a government of the people, for the people and by the people'. George's 'politics' becomes 'our social affairs' (общественные дела), 'to review our opinions' becomes 'to change our opinions', and 'and on the same tack' is left out. George's words are printed here: 'to give up old ideas and to accept new ones.' from the 1883 printing, the rest from the 1898 printing, whose scans each misread a word or a stop.
3. Рабочие и капиталисты для того, чтобы улучшить свои отношения, должны оставить древний Моисеев закон «око за око и зуб за зуб» и провести в жизнь закон любви, — поступать с другими так, как желаешь, чтобы другие поступали с тобой.
3. Before labor and capital can be rightly adjusted, capitalists and laborers will have to do away with the old Mosaic law of “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth;” and put into operation the Law of Love — do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
From The World's Advance-Thought and the Universal Republic · close to the original .
Tolstoy’s version, in EnglishTo improve their relations, workers and capitalists must give up the ancient law of Moses, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” and put into practice the law of love — to treat others as you would wish others to treat you.
Lucy Mallory’s own wordsBefore labor and capital can be rightly adjusted, capitalists and laborers will have to do away with the old Mosaic law of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth;"
… work.--Lucy A. Mallory.
Source text: iapsop.comThe same issue in the archive.org scan of vol. XIV… put into operation the Law of Love—do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. The World's Advance-Thought and the Universal Republic (Lucy A. Mallory’s journal), editorial paragraph in a run of the editor's paragraphs signed at its end '--Lucy A. Mallory' (Portland, Oregon), vol. XIV, New Series, no. 9, October 1901, p. 133, after 'Man's energy is a unit', before 'The earth arrests the electro-magnetic influence from the sun'.
Close: 'Before labor and capital can be rightly adjusted' becomes 'in order to better their relations', and 'capitalists and laborers' become 'workers and capitalists'. The paragraph is unsigned, in a run of the editor's paragraphs that ends '--Lucy A. Mallory', so Tolstoy's attribution stands. Mallory's sentence is printed here, to 'and' from the issue's PDF text, the rest from the archive.org scan.
Translation note. Tolstoy kept the author’s words closely, so the author’s own English is printed here (ruling 1); Tolstoy’s Russian, translated, is in the source panel.
4. Никакая насильственная реформа не исправит зла, пока люди останутся таковы, каковы они есть, и потому ждать исправления зла можно не от изменения формы нашей жизни, а только от распространения доброты и разумности.
4. No violent reform will correct evil so long as people remain as they are, and so the correction of evil can be looked for not from a change in the form of our life, but only from the spread of kindness and rationality.
5. Стоит прямо и просто принять учение Христа, чтобы ясен был тот ужасный обман, в котором живем все мы и живет каждый из нас.
5. We need only accept the teaching of Christ directly and simply, and the terrible deception in which we all live, and each of us lives, becomes clear.
Подчинение требованиям ложной веры — в этом главная причина бедствия людей.
Submission to the demands of false faith — in this lies the chief cause of people’s misery.
Translation note. The Jubilee text breaks the italics at the dash; the English sets the line as one.
Tolstoy TodayТолстой сегодня · tolstoytoday.org/january/16