7Julyиюля · 7-е июля
Отрицать бога — значит отрицать себя как духовное, разумное существо.
To deny God is to deny oneself as a spiritual, rational being.
1. Бога и душу я знаю не путем определения, но совершенно другим путем. Определение разрушает во мне это знание. Я несомненно знаю, что есть бог и что моя душа есть. Но это знание несомненно для меня потому только, что я неизбежно приведен к нему. К несомненности знания бога я приведен вопросом: откуда я? К знанию души я приведен вопросом: что я такое?
Откуда я?
Я родился от своей матери, а та от бабушки, от прабабушки, а самая последняя от кого? И я неизбежно прихожу к богу.
Кто такой я?
Ноги — не я, руки — не я, голова — не я, чувства — не я, даже мысли — не я. Что же я?
Я — я, — моя душа.
С какой бы стороны я ни пришел к богу, будет то же самое: начало моей мысли, моего разума — бог; начало моей любви — он же; начало вещественности — он же.
То же и с понятием души. Обращусь ли я к своему стремлению к истине, я знаю, что стремление к истине есть невещественная основа меня — моя душа; обращусь ли я на чувство своей любви к добру, я тоже причину этой любви нахожу в своей душе.
1. I know God and the soul not by way of definition, but in an entirely different way. Definition destroys this knowledge in me. I know beyond doubt that God is and that my soul is. But this knowledge is beyond doubt for me only because I am inevitably led to it. To the certainty of the knowledge of God I am led by the question: Where do I come from? To the knowledge of the soul I am led by the question: What am I?
Where do I come from?
I was born of my mother, and she of my grandmother, of my great-grandmother; and the very last of them, of whom? And I inevitably come to God.
Who am I?
My legs are not I, my arms are not I, my head is not I, my feelings are not I, even my thoughts are not I. What, then, am I?
I am I — my soul.
From whatever side I come to God, it will be the same: the origin of my thought, of my reason, is God; the origin of my love is he as well; the origin of materiality is he as well.
The same is true of the notion of the soul. If I turn to my striving for truth, I know that the striving for truth is the immaterial foundation of me — my soul; if I turn to the feeling of my love for the good, I likewise find the cause of this love in my soul.
2. Самый неверующий человек, хочет он или не хочет этого, признает бога. Он не может не признавать того, что есть закон его жизни, — закон, которому он может подчиняться или от которого может уклоняться. Вот это-то признание высшего, недоступного человеку и известного ему закона своей жизни и есть бог или хотя проявление его.
2. The most unbelieving of people, whether they want to or not, acknowledge God. They cannot help acknowledging that there is a law of their life — a law they may obey or may evade. It is this very acknowledgment of a higher law of their life, inaccessible to human beings and yet known to them, that is God, or at least a manifestation of him.
3. Бог проявляется в лучших мыслях, в правде речи, в искренности поступка и духом своим дает благоденствие и вечность миру.
3. God manifests himself in the best thoughts, in the truth of speech, in the sincerity of deeds, and by his spirit gives the world prosperity and eternity.
From Yasna 47 · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedAhuramazda becomes “God,” and it is God, where Haug has the beneficent spirit, who “manifests himself in the best thoughts”; “perfection and immortality” become “prosperity and eternity,” and “wealth and devotion” are dropped.
In English · Martin Haug, Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsis, 2nd ed., ed. E. W. West (London, Trübner, 1878), 1878Ahuramazda gives through the beneficent …
… appearing in the best thought, and in rectitude of action and speech, to this world (universe), perfection (Haurvatat) and immortality (Ameretat), wealth (Khshathra) and devotion (Armaiti).
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Yasna 47 (Gatha Spenta Mainyu), Yasna 47.1; Haug, Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsis (2nd ed., 1878), p. 167, 'The Last Three Gathas'.
The opening verse of the Gatha Spenta Mainyu, Yasna 47.1, in Martin Haug's English: 'Ahuramazda gives through the beneficent spirit, appearing in the best thought, and in rectitude of action and speech, to this world (universe), perfection (Haurvatat) and immortality (Ameretat), wealth (Khshathra) and devotion (Armaiti).' Tolstoy's sentence follows Haug's reading: 'to this world' gives «миру», and 'appearing in the best thought' gives «проявляется в лучших мыслях». He names God for Ahuramazda and makes God, where Haug has the spirit, the one who appears; 'rectitude of action and speech' becomes two phrases, «в правде речи, в искренности поступка» (in truth of speech, in sincerity of deed); 'perfection and immortality' become «благоденствие и вечность» (welfare and eternity); 'wealth and devotion' are dropped. L. H. Mills's English (Sacred Books of the East 31, 1887), in which Ahura Mazda gives 'Universal Weal and Immortality' 'to this (man, His chosen saint)', is further from Tolstoy's wording. What Tolstoy read was not identified: the verse is not in Conway's Sacred Anthology, Fluegel's The Zend-Avesta and Eastern Religions (1898), or Thoughts of Wise Men (1903). Haug's wording, or a book quoting it, is probable. The Avestan text is not given: the standard's table of languages has no code for Avestan.
4. Бог есть. Мы не должны и нам не нужно это доказывать. Всякая попытка доказать его бытие есть уже кощунство; всякое же отрицание его есть безумие. Бог живет в нашей совести, в сознании человечества, в окружающей нас вселенной. Наше сознание, наша совесть взывает к нему во все наиболее торжественные минуты горя и радости. Отрицать бога под сводом звездного неба ночи, у гроба дорогих людей или при казни мученика может только или очень жалкий, или очень преступный человек.
4. God is. We must not, and we need not, prove it. Every attempt to prove his existence is already blasphemy; and every denial of him is madness. God lives in our conscience, in the consciousness of humanity, in the universe around us. Our consciousness, our conscience cries out to him in all the most solemn moments of sorrow and joy. Only a very pitiful or a very criminal man can deny God beneath the vault of the starry night sky, beside the coffin of those dear to him, or at the execution of a martyr.
From Doveri dell'uomo · shortened by Tolstoy .
Original · ItalianNoi non dobbiamo nè vogliamo provarvelo: tentarlo, ci sembrerebbe bestemmia, come negarlo, follia.
Dio vive nella nostra coscienza, nella coscienza dell’Umanità, nell’Universo che ci circonda. La nostra coscienza lo invoca nei momenti più solenni di dolore e di gioia.
Colui che può negar Dio davanti una notte stellata, davanti alla sepoltura de’ suoi più cari, davanti al martirio, è grandemente infelice o grandemente colpevole.
Source text: it.wikisource.orgIn English · Emilie Ashurst Venturi, 1862God exists. I am not bound to prove this to you, nor shall I endeavour to do so. To me the attempt would seem blasphemous, as the denial appears madness.
Our conscience invokes Him in our most solemn moments of grief or joy.
He who can deny God either in the face of a starlight night, when standing beside the tomb of those dearest to him, or in the presence of martyrdom, is either greatly unhappy or greatly guilty.
Source text: archive.orgTolstoy’s own version · Путь жизниБог есть. Нам не нужно этого доказывать. Доказывать бога — кощунство; отрицать его — безумие.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Doveri dell'uomo (The Duties of Man), chapter II, «Dio», Chapter II (Doveri dell'uomo, London 1860, p. 18); Venturi's English, chapter II, pp. 30–31.
The opening of Mazzini's chapter on God, condensed: 'Dio esiste, perchè noi esistiamo' (God exists because we exist), the sentences on mankind and the universe bearing witness to his name, and 'Non vi sono atei fra voi' (there are no atheists among you) are left out. 'Noi non dobbiamo nè vogliamo provarvelo' (we must not and do not wish to prove it to you) becomes «Мы не должны и нам не нужно это доказывать» (we must not and need not prove it); 'grandemente infelice o grandemente colpevole' (greatly unhappy or greatly guilty) becomes «очень жалкий, или очень преступный» (very pitiful or very criminal); 'davanti al martirio' (before martyrdom) becomes «при казни мученика» (at a martyr's execution). The Russian has «в окружающей нас вселенной» (in the universe around us), which Mazzini's Italian has and Venturi's English leaves out, so it was not made from Venturi; the Jubilee commentary to «Одумайтесь!» names a Russian «Об обязанностях человека» (Moscow, 1902), not found online. Tolstoy shortened the thought further in На каждый день (March 4, «По Мадзини») and The Path of Life.
5. Жизнь мира совершается по чьей-то воле, — кто-то этою жизнью всего мира и нашими жизнями делает свое какое-то дело. Тот, кто это делает, и есть то, что мы называем богом.
5. The life of the world goes on by someone’s will — someone is doing some work of his own with this life of the whole world and with our lives. The one who is doing it is what we call God.
Люди не верят в бога только тогда, когда они верят лжи, выдаваемой за бога.
People disbelieve in God only when they believe a lie passed off as God.
Tolstoy TodayТолстой сегодня · tolstoytoday.org/july/7