chapter 2

百度搜索 The Spirit of the Chinese People 天涯 或 The Spirit of the Chinese People 天涯在线书库 即可找到本书最新章节.

    Now in a because we ese have the Religion of good citizenship a man does not feel the need of using physical force to pr></a>otect himself; he has seldom the need even to call in and use the physical force of the poli, of the State to protect him. A man in a is protected by the sense of justice of his neighbour; he is protected by the readiness of his fellow men to obey the sense of moral obligation. In fact, a man in a does not feel the need of using physical force to protect himself because he is sure that right and justice is reised by every body as a force higher than physical ford moral obligation is reised by every body as something which must be obeyed. Now if you  get all mankind to agree tnise right and justice, as a force higher than physical force, and moral obligation as something which must be obeyed, then the use of physical force will bee unnecessary; then there will be no militarism in the world. But of course there will be in every try a few people, criminals, and in the world, a few savages who will not or are not able tnise right and justice as a force higher than physical ford moral obligation as something which must be obeyed. Thus a-gainst criminals and savages a certain amount of physical or police ford militarism will always be necessary in every try and in the world.

    But people will say to me how are you to make mankind reise right and justice as a force higher than physical force. I ahe first thing you will have to do is to vince mankind of the efficacy ht and justice, vihem that right and justice is a power; in fact, vihem of the power of goodness. But then a-gain how are you to do this? Well, _in order to do this, the Religion of good citizenship in a teaches every child as soon as he is able to uand the meaning of words, that the Nature of man is good. *

    Now the fual unsoundness of the civilisation of Europe to-day, it seems to me, lies in its wrong ception of human nature;

    its ception that human nature is evil and because of this wrong ception, the whole structure of society in Europe has always rested upon force. The two things which the people of Europe have depended upon to maintain civil order are Religion and Law. In other words, the population of Europe have bee in order by the fear of God and the fear of the Law. Fear implies the use of force. Therefore in order to keep up the fear of God, the people of Europe had at first to maintain a large number of expensive idle persons called priests. That, to speak of nothing else, meant so much expehat it at last became an unbearable burden upon the people. In fa the thirty years war of the Reformation, the people of Europe tried to get rid of the priest. After having got rid of the priests who kept the population in order by the fear of God, the people of Europe tried to maintain civil order by the fear of the Law. But to keep up the fear of the Law, the people of Europe have had to maintain another class of still more expensive idle persons called poli and soldiers. Now the people of Europe are beginning to find out that the main-tainence of poli and soldiers to keep civil order, is still more ruinously expehahe maintainence of priests. In fact, as ihirty years war of the Reformation, the people of Europe wao get rid of the priest, so in this present war, what the people of Europe really want, is to get rid of the soldier. But the alternatives before the people of Europe if they want to get rid of the poli and soldier, is either to call back the priest to keep up the fear of God or to find something else which, like the fear of God and the fear of the Law, will help them to maintain civil order. That, to put the question broadly, I think, everybody will admit, is the great problem of civilisation before the people of Europe after this war.

    Now after the experience which they have had with the priests, I do not think the people of Europe will want to call back the priests. Bismarck has said, &quot;We will never go back to ossa.&quot; Besides, even if the priests are now called back, they would be useless, for the fear of God is gone from the people of Europe. The only other alternative before the people of Europe therefore, if they ></a>want to get rid of the poli and soldier, is to find something else, which, like the fear of God and the fear of the Law,  help them to maintain civil order. Now this something, I believe, as I have said, the people of Europe will find in the ese civilisation. This something is what I have called the Religion of good citizenship. This Religion of good citizenship in a is a religion which  keep the population of a try in order without priest and without poli or soldier. In fact with this Religion of good citizenship, the population of , a, a population as large, if not larger than the whole population r of the ti of Europe, are actually and practically kept in pead order without priest and without poli or soldier. In a, as every one who has been in this try knows, the priest and the , poli or soldier, play a very subordinate, a very insignifit ( part in helping to maintain public order. Only the most ignorant class in a require the priest and only the worst, .the criminal class in a, require the poli or soldier to keep them in order. Thus I say if the people of Europe really want to get rid ion and Militarism, of the pries<tt></tt>t and soldier which have caused them so much trouble and bloodshed, they will have to e to a to get this, what I have called the Religion of good citizenship.

    In short what I want to call the attention of the people of Europe and America to, just at this moment when civilisatioo<big>.９9ｌiｂ.</big> be threatened with bankruptcy, is that there is an invaluable and hitherto unsuspected asset of civilisation here in a. The asset of civilisation is not the trade, the railway, the mineral wealth, gold, silver, iron or coal in this try. The asset of civilisation of the world today, I want to say here, is the aman,_the unspoilt real aman with his Religion of good citizenship. The real aman, I say, is an invaluable asset of civilisation, because he is a person who costs the world little or nothing to keep him in order. Indeed I would like

    here to warn the people of Europe and Ameriot to destroy this invaluable asset of civilisation, not to ge and spoil the real aman as they are n to do with their New Learning. If the people of Europe and America succeed iroying the real aman, the ese type of humanity; succeed in transf the real aman into a European or Ameri, i.e., to say, a person who will require a priest or soldier to keep him in order, then surely they will increase the burdeher ion or of Militarism of the world, _this last item at this moment already being a danger and meo civilisation and humanity. But oher hand, suppose one could by some means or other ge the European or Ameri type of humanity, transform the European or Ameri into a real aman who will then not require a priest or soldier to keep him in order,;_just think what a burden will be taken off from the world.

百度搜索 The Spirit of the Chinese People 天涯 或 The Spirit of the Chinese People 天涯在线书库 即可找到本书最新章节.