THEOSOPHY
Theosophical Society,
A First World War Munitions Factory
Powell Works, Wrexham,
Theosophy and the Great War
Christ and War
By
Annie Besant
First Published January 15th 1915
Theosophy and The Great War Index
MUCH distress
is felt by some good Christian people from their difficulty in harmonising war with the doctrines of the Sermon on the
Mount. Dr Alfred Salter has voiced this difficulty in a very honest and
outspoken way, and comes to the conclusion at which Tolstoi
arrived, and comes thither by the [23] same road. The teaching of the Christ is
clear and direct. He forbids any appeal to violence, any resistance of evil, Dr
Salter says:
"I do
not base my position on logic or worldly wisdom. I base it simply on the
command of God and the teaching of Christ. Christ's teaching applies as much to defensive as offensive wars; in fact, His precepts are
directed mainly to the method of defence. 'Render not
evil for evil', 'Overcome evil with good', 'Love your enemies', 'Unto him that smiteth you on the one cheek', are all commands which imply
antecedent offence on the part of the enemy, and specify the method of defence on the part of the Christian. To the great majority
of the people all this sounds utter foolishness in face of the present
situation, but the divine sense has always been hidden from the wise and
prudent, and has only been revealed to the babes of simple faith and childlike
heart.
I will not
stain my conscience with blood by going to war myself or by urging anyone else
to go. I will, therefore, take no part in recruiting, not even to resist an
invasion of
What is the
result of such a policy? If I refuse to fight or support measures of defence, then I may get shot by the enemy as an act of war,
or I may be shot by the authorities of my own State as guilty of treason. Very well. I say deliberately that I am prepared to be shot
rather than kill a German peasant with whom I have no conceivable quarrel. I
will do nothing to kill a foe, directly or indirectly, by my own hand or by
proxy. So help me God. Never."
The position
is quite logical and manly, and we think that Dr Salter is right in saying that
it is the teaching of the Christ. This is the fatal weakness of Christianity as
a national religion. Under this view of national morality, there must be no defence against attack from abroad, no protection against
violence at home. To the man who steals your coat, you must give your cloak.
Robbery and murder must stalk unchecked within the land, until a neighbour comes in and seizes power, re-establishing law
and order. Most Christians shut their eyes to the dilemma, or boldly say,
seizing one horn, like the late Bishop of Peterborough, that a nation that
lived by the Sermon on the Mount could not exist for a week. Dr Salter accepts
the other horn, and says:
"There
is a great place waiting in history for the first nation that will dare to save
its life by losing it, that will dare to
base its national existence on righteous dealing and not on force, that will
found its conduct on the truths of primitive Christianity, and not on the power
of its army and navy. And there is a great place waiting in history for the
first political party that will dare to take the same stand, and will dare to
advocate the Christian policy of complete disarmament and non-resistance to
alien force."
We fancy the
place will wait long, and rightly wait; for, though peace be
the goal, there are many weary steps to be trodden before the world is ready
for it. The Inner [25] Ruler Immortal must have become enthroned in our hearts
ere the compulsion of outer law can be wholly cast aside. Else would the lowest
in evolution exterminate the highest, even as the Jewish mob did to death the Christ.
Dr Salter
makes a tremendous challenge
"If in
my bottommost heart I want to know what I should do under any given
circumstances, I must ask myself what is God's command on the subject and what
would Christ do in my place. In the matter of this war I must try and picture
to myself Christ as an Englishman, with
"Look!
Christ in khaki, out in France, thrusting His bayonet into the body of a
German workman. See! The Son of God with a machine-gun,
ambushing a column of German infantry, catching them unawares in a lane and
mowing them down in their helplessness. Hark! The Man of Sorrows in a
cavalry charge, cutting hacking, thrusting, crushing, cheering.
No! no! That picture is an impossible one, and we all
know it.
"That
settles the matter for me. I cannot uphold the war, even on its supposedly
defensive side, and I cannot, therefore, advise anyone else to enlist or to
take part in what I believe to be wrong and wicked for myself. A country, as an
individual, must be prepared to follow Christ if it is to claim the title of
Christian."
The
conception of the Christ as warrior is not impossible to those who have studied
the lives of Shri Rama and
of Shri Krishna. The Christian world has thought only
of the Christ as the patient, gentle Saviour, and so
the other view looks revolting. But if Dr Salter believes in Him, he must also
remember another aspect, when He comes "in flaming fire taking
vengeance", when he sends His enemies, as "Ye cursed", to
company with devils in the bottomless pit, into everlasting torture. The Good
Shepherd is an exquisite picture, but the angry and destroying Judge is equally
Scriptural.
The truth is
that the problem lies deeper than war, in a fact that sentimental religionists
ignore. Dr Salter regards Christ as God incarnate. Then what of natural
catastrophes, of earthquakes, of avalanches, of tidal waves, of cyclones, of
whirlwinds, of all the destructive agencies of "Nature"? What of a
Titanic, sunk by an iceberg; of the endless tragedies of the seas? What of
deadly and torturing diseases - of the swift bayonet-like agony of cholera, and
the long-drawn anguish of consumption? Who is behind all these?
There is one
answer that leaves men sane and joyous, unterrified,
undismayed, and it is given by Hinduism: that "evil" as well as
"good", death as well as life, pain as well as, joy, come to man
under a Will that is wisdom as well as love, and works unwaveringly through
storm and sunshine to a foreseen end - the unfolding of divinity in man. That
man, an eternal spirit, wears these bodies as his garments, enjoys and suffers,
is happy and miserable, smiles and weeps, to learn the varied lessons that make
him gradually strong, and wise and loving; experience is his food; he gathers
it, assimilates it, transforms it, growing from life to life, an ever-unfolding
spirit. "Every pain that I suffered in one body was a power that I wielded
in the next", says Edward Carpenter. And that is true. These heroic deeds,
these lives offered up for a great ideal, whether in German, British, French,
or any other bodies - they are not lost. The bodies die; the spirit passes on
with the jewels he has created, and returns, wiser, better, nobler, to wear
another body for yet greater service. For the anguished body, death; for the
spirit, birth; and then return to labour once again on earth. When Dr Salter realises this, he will be able to see the Christ beside
Krishna on the battle-car, and to know that the same Will worketh
in war as in all other struggles, and guides the world unfalteringly towards a
higher and diviner life.
New India,
January 15,
1915.
Theosophy and The Great War Index
Theosophical Society,
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