About fanatism

Atharkhat to the followers

Greetings and good wishes.

1. The world is large and very complex. There are innumerable ways to innumerable purposes in it; every phenomenon may have more than one or two sides; and it is often difficult to understand the place of something really simple. A human being is complex; and it can be difficult for him to understand even something about himself, and it can be difficult for him to see himself clearly. Thus the complex exists in the complex, and the complexities of both are intertwined, compounding each other. What can we say when one person, who is complex and does not understand everything about himself, looks through the prism of his complex world and himself at another person who is complex and tries to understand something about him? There is room for misinterpretations and misconceptions, there is room for mistakes, sometimes unfortunate, sometimes tragic. And it can also happen that it is advantageous for someone to be deluded, or there is some other reason why he does not want to understand that he is deluded and does not want to get rid of his delusion, even though he could. It happens that a delusion about oneself leads to a delusion about another person, and vice versa; and it is not always possible to understand which is the cause and which is the effect. In such a matter one must have sober judgement and a great desire to understand. But those who are satisfied with their delusions are far from such a desire, and even fear it; as for their intellect, it is more comfortable for it to be half-blind. You may blame them for it, or you may pity them and consider it their misfortune; but delusions remain delusions, and their consequences cannot be erased from the tablets of life. What has happened – happened, whether good or bad. Though good or bad, there is always one undoubted benefit in it: one can draw experience and learn something from what has happened. Such opportunities should not be missed. Even from a bad or sad example, it is possible to learn good things. Many wise people will tell you this, for this is the experience that a sound mind draws from life’s misfortunes, its own and those of others. Every particle of such experience is like a precious pearl or a healing potion that can cure someone of delusion. Yes: I will liken delusion to an affliction. An affliction of the soul, which can be merely painful, but which is often devastating. Not only for the one who is sick but also for his surroundings. This is not what is called “mental illness”, meaning madness or other such things. It is something through which bad qualities are often nurtured in people.
2. Men live among men, – and therefore the bad qualities of some are a misfortune to others. One of the worst calamities of this kind is enmity. It can arise from anything: selfishness, differences between people, fear, envy, and so on. And delusion always feeds it, one way or another. And what is enmity? What becomes its fruit? Injustice, hatred, lies, suffering, death, destruction. All that which constitutes the worst part of humanity’s life, what the darkest pages of its history are filled with. When people are cured of their enmity and no longer rise against each other, then the ocean of their troubles will be so shallow that one can hardly get one’s feet wet in it. There will surely be those who will say that such times will not come and that it is naive and ridiculous to hope for them. I will answer: yes, such times will not come – if we do not try to bring them closer, if we take bad things for granted, if we accept them and do not fight against them if we do not try to cure the ailments of the soul. How will something good for men appear, and whence, if they do not nurture it themselves? And if one does not believe that better times can come, then what joy is there in a life that will be a hopeless road from darkness to darkness? Not believing in a better future is also a kind of delusion. To prevent it from turning into reality, we need to fight other delusions. And there are so many of them that it is impossible to enumerate; and quite a few of them lead to enmity. Some of them are more dangerous, others less so; some of them only mar human life, and others can cut it off. I will not go into detail here as to which belong to the former and which to the latter, especially as it is not always possible to make such a distinction, for lesser evils can grow into greater ones, depending on the epoch, the circumstances, and the people to whom they are attached. I will say here only about one of the misconceptions fraught with enmity and all the misfortunes arising from it. This is one of those misconceptions which are doubly dangerous because they prevent one from seeing clearly not only other people, but also oneself, and may therefore aggravate one evil by another evil.
3. It often happens that someone calls another a fanatic, wishing to indicate that he is insane or aggressive, and thus dangerous to society. This was not uncommon in former times; nowadays it is heard more and more often. The reason for this is a delusion fuelled by hostility and fear. It is not that fanaticism does not exist, but that it is what it is. Yes: it exists, and it is a great evil that stands between people like a wall of darkness and blinds them. But it often happens that this wall is invented by the wicked, and attributed to their enemies for its erection, when in fact it does not exist. Or it is seen by those who are seized with fear. And the worst of all is when someone erects it himself, and attributes it to another. It is as if a madman considers someone who is not mad and wants to protect himself from him. What will the madman do in his blindness? He is the one who can be truly dangerous. If there are many such madmen, we must expect great calamities. The world has seen such troubles. And it may see them again, and at any time they may return, for men have changed little since then, and prejudice, malice, and fear are still strong in them. Various prejudices and accusations, designed to make the undesirable person appear in a worse light, are still in use. They are like an arrow flying at him, like poison poisoning his life, like mud thrown in his face and turning his true features into a terrible or vile mask. Fanaticism is one of the worst among the accusations, for it affects the spiritual and moral side of life. This is what I shall here speak of.
4. In our time fanatics are more and more often called those who steadfastly adhere to their views. This is absurd in itself; but the detractors usually do not notice this absurdity. Those of them who do notice it, hope that others will not notice it – the people before whom they endeavour to vilify their enemies. And these hopes are very often rewarded with success. Today, selfless adherence to principles is not honour; and many people no longer understand what it means to have certain views and to hold them. But it is views that make a man what he is. They tell him what the world is and what he ought to be, they show him his goals, show him the way to them, and teach him the right way to go. What is a man without all this? Is he much different from an animal, who has only the simplest desires and his mind does not go beyond their fulfilment? And even if his views are wrong, they still form the basis on which the life of a person is built and give this life meaning. For man cannot live an animal existence, otherwise, he would not be a man. Some realise this, others do not. And now there are more and more of them who do not realise it. Their minds are as if in a fog, fever or delusion. Even a good thought is like poison to such minds, for it becomes distorted in them, taking on a chimerical and sinister appearance. Here is one of the saddest examples of what we are talking about here. In recent centuries, it has been said more and more how precious human life is. Many atrocities have indeed been committed at all times, and the life of others has sometimes been valued less than a small coin. Therefore, those who speak of its value are doing a good deed. Indeed, it is a great gift and should be honoured and cherished. But there is a measure for everything. And it is true that the offence of measure in good turns good into evil. The same can be said about the value of life. It is difficult to violate the measure in it when you piously preserve the life of others; but when you value your own life above all, then selfishness, cowardice, meanness and other vices grow on it. People understand everything differently, even such a simple truth as that life is precious. One uses all his strength to protect and save other people’s lives, while the other is ready to trample and, if necessary, take them away to save his own. Therefore, even such a good seed as words about the value of human life may sprout weeds or produce poisonous fruit.
5. Those to whom this has happened place their lives above fidelity to their views, and are always ready to depart from them as far as circumstances require, or to renounce them altogether, if necessary to save themselves. And they do not understand those who are different. When they see someone who will not give up his convictions, and will go to his death to be true to them, they say of him, “What a fanatic. ” They regard him as a man without a sound view of things, or as a madman, or as a blind instrument of someone else, and they despise him and even fear him. They do not realise that life without meaning and purpose is empty, and that simply living, making it the main purpose of life, is not enough for man. The real meaning and purpose of life is given to it by beliefs. If you deny them, you have lost the essence of life. And this is also a kind of death, and this death is more painful than death under torture. No: they cannot understand that. And they blaspheme those who understand it, call them fanatics, and say that they are to be feared. In reality, such people are worthy of all respect. They do not exchange conscience for life, nor do they go to lowly acts for salvation, nor do they sacrifice their souls to fear. Their example is truly great. Look at the history of mankind: how many of them there have been – who perished, but did not give up! At all times they have been deeply honoured, their strength of spirit and fortitude have always served as an example, inspiring many and many, nurturing courage, loyalty, steadfastness and honesty. This is a great good, for in this way there are less bad and insignificant things and more better and strong things. And if someone did not do anything significant in his life, but died like this, and by his death he nurtured in the souls of other people the good things I have said, then he did not live in vain, and he did not die in vain. This is true even if the beliefs he held were wrong. If he did not make the world a better place by his beliefs, he made people better by his example. That is worth living and dying for.
6. Such are like lights that illuminate the way for others who are walking. Though there have always been those who could not understand this and scolded them as fanatics. But now such blasphemers are more numerous, for faith and devotion to the chosen path are waning in men. Before, too, some believed in one thing and others in another, and though they often fought among themselves, they could at least understand each other what concerns devotion to the chosen path and could respect the said devotion even in their enemies. But how can present-day people respect something in others if they do not know within themselves? The path they choose is the path of survival. Such people are becoming more and more numerous because egoism is blossoming more and more in people. It is undeniable that our world is a dangerous place, where it is easy to be threatened, suffer and even die. But people have made it like this, haven’t they? And those who care less about themselves and more about them make it better, don’t they? And those who do the opposite make it worse, don’t they? These unhappy people give up the best, trying to survive in a dangerous world, and do not see that with every such act, it becomes more dangerous, for the good weakens and the bad grows in strength; and they do not realise that it will be even more difficult for them and their children to survive. Those who see and understand, who live and die differently, they call fanatics. Those who live and die for the sake of their religion, or the sake of some social ideas, or for the sake of their principles prompted by conscience. They say: “What does a dead man need religion or ideas or principles for? All these things are not worth suffering for; only fools or downright madmen die for them.” I will put it this way. Everyone will die someday. He who has spent his life running away from death, lying, betraying and denying himself for an extra day of life, will die too. And in this world, he will be followed by a trail of filth and decay; where he has passed, stench and decay will remain like sores on the living body of the world. Religion, an idea, or personal principles, all aim in one way or another to make man and the world a better place. And even if many of these things turn out to be delusions, the conviction of their good and devotion to it makes man better. Even if he does not do as much good as he wanted to do, he will still try. And that enlightens the soul. He will also die, but not in pursuit of an unfulfilled desire to go on and on with life indefinitely, but for the sake of striving for the good, whatever it may seem to him. Therefore, the trail will remain a different one. Even a bad man indeed has something to honour if he was truly true to his path – since he left behind him not only the bad but also the good. And if he died for his beliefs, his death will be worth the lives of those who survive by constantly betraying them.
7. However, the cause of such betrayal is not only fear of death, and it is not the worst of the causes. Betrayal out of fear is an unworthy thing; but at least it can be understood. The root of such fear is the survival instinct, which is ahead of the other instincts, because it keeps man for them, and which is therefore very strong. It is difficult to overcome this fear. Fighting with it – is a truly great struggle, which can turn into a field of persistent and difficult battle in the soul of man. Not everyone can win such a battle. But it is much worse when betrayal is committed out of greed, out of the desire for convenience or pleasure. How many have abandoned their principles or disregarded what their religion teaches them, as soon as an opportunity to profit by stealing, by deceit, or by meanness, or by some other low deed, or simply by something inconsistent with their beliefs presents itself? They are innumerable. Once again, there have been some in the past. But in our time there are more of them than ever before. Anyone who is not blind and whose mind is awake can see that the spiritual is being sacrificed to the material more and more often. The cult of money, things and pleasures has taken on an unprecedented scale; it occupies the mind, subjugates the soul, and deprives the conscience of language. Many honourable people speak about it, sound the alarm, point out the ruinousness of this path and, as much as they can and as strongly as they can, oppose the said cult. Those who adhere to it serve it faithfully and fervently, giving themselves entirely to it and sacrificing their humanity for its sake. And those who do not serve it, who are ready to give up the opportunities and blessings it promises for the sake of their convictions, do not serve it with devotion and fervour. And those who do not serve it, who are ready to give up the opportunities and benefits promised to them for the sake of their beliefs, they call fools or fanatics. They call those who cannot and will not betray that which is invaluable in man: conscience and morality. Such people are both dangerous to them, for they hinder them in their outrageous deeds, and simply unpleasant, for they serve as a living reproach to them. It is a truly sad, and at the same time frightening, sight: betrayal of principles, elevated to valour and merit, and reviled for honesty and fidelity to principles. A man who will not, for the sake of profit or convenience, act contrary to his religion or other doctrine which he follows, is on this ground declared a fanatic and is regarded as dangerous. Nowadays this is seen everywhere. But are not those dangerous who consider principles unnecessary and are always ready to discard them? Aren’t they the first to expect evil from them? And one of their evils is to vilify those who are not, to accuse them of bigotry. This is not fanaticism, but perfectly normal for every human being: loyalty to beliefs. What is there to have convictions for if not to follow them? And what is the worth of someone who renounces them for the sake of profit or base motives? What will he bring to the world but defilement and destruction? What will he give to others? At the very least, an example of selfishness, weakness of heart, and venality; at the very most, violence and woe. Those whom he calls fanatics are an example of what a man should be.
8. It also happens that one desires to convert another to his religion or another doctrine which he follows, and if he does not yield, he calls him a fanatic, blind and deaf to the Truth. This is worthy of sorrowful astonishment. There is a great multitude of all kinds of religions and other doctrines in the world, and the adherents of any of them honour it as true. Can we condemn them for this? And can one be condemned who is unwilling to abandon a doctrine which he holds to be true? The opposite is worthy of condemnation. Even if one has left his doctrine and adopted another’s, not out of profit, but out of compulsion, wishing to avoid torture or death, he has still done wrong, betraying what he regards as the Truth, and hypocritically calling what he does not regard as the Truth. Such a thing emasculates the soul and makes it barren. He who understands will not do such a thing, for it is worse than death. And how can one not regret the one who seeks such a thing from another man? It is not enough that he does evil; what is more grievous is that he does evil, which is one of the worst evils, in the belief that he does great good. He sincerely believes that by forcing another to renounce his views, he saves him. In reality, he is ruining him. If he persists, he calls him a blind and stubborn fanatic. But isn’t that what he is? People are different, and they have different views. It is necessary to understand that one person sees one thing as the Truth and another one sees another. Everyone believes that the worldview he holds is true. There is nothing outrageous in this. You may regard another’s views as wrong, you may pity him for them or argue with him, you may criticise his views and deplore the bad things in them, but it must be understood that your views may appear to him not only wrong but equally worthy of censure and that each of you has an equal right to hold his views. I will put it this way: you can censure the views themselves, but not the person for adhering to them. If it is the Truth for him, then loyalty to it is a great virtue, not a vice. And if someone can be called a fanatic – it is a person who denies the right of another person to believe in the truth of his views and forcibly imposes his views on him. One holds on to his views because he believes them to be true; another person, for the same reason, forcibly imposes his views on someone else. Which of the two is more like a fanatic, which of the two is more intolerant and dangerous? It is not the one who believes in the truth of his views, but the one who is unwilling to recognise the same right in the other person, isn’t it? This is an example of what I said above: when someone ascribes his vice to another, and because of this he develops dislike and direct hostility towards him.
9. So, what I have spoken of here is not fanaticism. On the contrary: steadfast adherence to what is honoured as Truth is dignity and virtue. It is called fanaticism by those who are hindered by it in gaining an advantage, or by cowards, or by those who are hindered by it in enforcing their views, or by those who have been led to believe that they should not hold fast to their convictions. But then what is fanaticism? I will put it this way. As has already been said, every good, even a great and undoubted good, turns to evil if its due measure is transgressed. It is the same in adherence to views. Devotion to them should not be an obstacle to respect for other views, other principles and doctrines. Everyone has the right to follow what he honours as Truth, and everyone is equal to others in this right. The views of some may appear to others as wrong, immoral, or harmful; and there may be a struggle between the views of both. This is the way of humanity’s origins, and it is normal for the way of knowing the world and oneself. However, it is one thing to fight against other people’s views and their influence on society, and quite another to deny their right to exist and the right of others to follow them. But some people are so committed to their views that they lose respect for the views of others, and believe that they have no right to exist. And they put those who hold different views below themselves and consider them second-class people. That is fanaticism. Not adherence to one’s views, even to the point of death, but adherence where respect for other people’s views is replaced by hostility. This can be in teachings religious, philosophical, social and other. Fanatics have no respect for other people’s teachings. They are convinced that since these teachings are not true, their followers should not have equal rights with them, the adherents of the Truth. Hence arise contempt and hostility, – from which, in turn, they have a great deal to fear. Fanatics oppress dissenters at every opportunity or take up arms against them, not even because they believe in something specific that seems wrong, abominable or dangerous, but because they believe otherwise.
10. Fanatics are not those who die for their views, but those who are hostile to dissenters, who despise them, who oppress and kill them for the sake of their views. There is no counting of those who have fallen at the hands of fanatics. How many times have some have gone to war against others, wishing to plant their faith among them? How many times in a certain country or village have some killed or expelled others for believing differently? How many bonfires have burned in former times, devouring human flesh? On them died those who would not renounce their views, and they were called fanatics. But they were not. Fanatics were those who condemned them to death. These murderers were truly terrible: they put men, women, old people, and even children in the flames. The same thing happened in wars. Well, wars are driven by other causes besides religion. For example, one or another social doctrine can breed fanatics, and they oppress and persecute dissenters in every possible way, and incite wars, in which they are as ruthless as the burners of former times. And it happens that they kill without war, as do religious fanatics. Neither of them seeks to serve evil and do it for its own sake. They all seek the good. This is the great danger of fanaticism: it obscures reason and causes those who strive for good to do wrong. They become like blind men who cannot see what they are doing. Truly, this is one of the worst afflictions of the human soul, like madness in all things. The fanatics of the cult of money, things and pleasures are not so dangerous at first sight. They despise and insult those who are different, make their lives more miserable – but they do not exterminate them on purpose. However, they are also killers – killers of all that is good and noble that is inherent in man. By tearing good qualities out of human souls, they plant bad qualities in their place. Thus, altruism is replaced by selfishness, honesty by meanness, generosity by greed, the ability to rejoice for others by envy, courage by cowardice; and many other things, which I do not name here, are defiled in the same way, turning from good to bad. Such fanatics are like poisoners, pouring poison into the soul of all mankind. And what good can await them in the future if their souls are full of poison? For all these bad qualities are the soil on which enmity grows irresistibly. The more of them there are, and the less good there is in people, the more hatred and all kinds of violence become; and from this, there is a short way to murder. Even now people kill for money, things and pleasures; what will happen if such fanaticism grows in all souls? Will there not be a widespread massacre, when everyone will rise against everyone else, putting their lives below their comforts and pleasures? It is the same with our planet, already suffering from such evildoers. Will mankind destroy it and die by rotting itself? This is what said bigotry is, and this is what it is fraught with for our world.
11. This is what I wanted to say here. Fanaticism exists, and it is very dangerous; but one must be able to distinguish between a fanatic and one who is simply devoted to his views. To get it wrong is like confusing rotten fruit with good fruit. And this in itself is unfortunate; since we are talking about people, it is possible to cultivate enmity against a good man and to support a bad man in doing evil. This should be guarded against as much as possible, for such mistakes are very costly both to the one in error and to others. All the more we should beware of our own falling into fanaticism. It happens imperceptibly, and such a person does not consider himself a fanatic, but in reality, he becomes a monster. In fanaticism, the path from contempt for dissenters to murder is much shorter than it seems; one step and you have already crossed the bloodline. Once you have done evil, it is too late to be horrified, for there is no turning back. Therefore, it is necessary to be exacting in such things. It is necessary to avoid contempt for other people’s views and cultivate respect for them. From time immemorial, different people have honoured different things as Truth: this is natural for mankind. The time will come when it will see the true Truth, which is the same for all; until then, everyone goes to it as he can, and it is necessary to respect other people’s ways. Even if another’s way is wrong in your eyes, your way is wrong in another’s eyes. If we fight because of this, then we will find that almost all are enemies of each other. And that is the way to the destruction of all. Let every man hold his own as long as he deems it necessary, and respect the ways of others. Let him disagree, and let him argue if he wishes, but let him not sow enmity or oppress those who follow other paths just because they differ from his own. Everyone has the right to prefer his own; but the right of some must not be a misfortune for others. It cannot be denied, however, that there are paths on which those who follow them do evil. All evil should be fought with words and deeds. But it is the evil done by man that must be fought, not the right of man to choose his way. And this is the same evil that fanatics do: nurturing enmity and hatred, perpetrating violence, shedding blood. All this must be fought properly so that in the heat of the struggle we do not lose the understanding of the good and do not become a perpetrator of evil. It should be remembered that there is a law to fight crime. And for any person who wants to fight against evil ways, the most important means are the right word and good deeds. By sticking to this and respecting other people’s views, one will not fall into fanaticism and become a multiplier of evil. It is true: in due time people will come to the one Truth. Let the way to it not be filled with enmity and grief. Let it be full of mutual respect – and even if there be rivalry between different views, let it be a peaceful rivalry, in wise words and honourable deeds.

Have a good journey.

Translated by Amradkhari