From Romain Rolland's Preface to The Life of Shri Ramakrishna
I have dedicated my whole life to the reconciliation of mankind. I have striven to bring it about among the peoples of Europe, especially between those two great Western peoples, who are brethren and yet enemies. For the last ten years I have been attempting the same task for the West and the East. I also desire to reconcile , if it is possible, the two antithetical forms of spirit for which the West and East are wrongly supposed to stand.- reason and faith - or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, the diverse forms of reason and faith; for the West and the East share them both almost equally although few suspect it.
An absurd separation has been made between these two halves of the soul and it is presumed that they are incompatible.
The first qualification for knowing, judging and if desirable, condemning religion or religions is to have made experiments for oneself in the fact of religious consciousness. Even those who have followed a religious vocation are not qualified to speak on the subject; for, if they are sincere, they will recognise that the fact of religious consciousness and the profession of religion are two different things. Many very honourable priests are believers by obedience or from interested or indolent motives, and have either never felt or have shrunk from gaining it because they lack sufficient strength of character. As against these may be set many souls who are or who believe they are free from all religious belief, but who in reality live immersed in a state of superrational consciousness, which they term Socialism, Communism, Humanitarianism, Nationalism, and even Rationalism. It is the quality of thought and not its object which determines its source and allows us to decide whether or not it emanates from religion. If it turns fearlessly towards the search for truth at all costs with single-minded sincerity prepared for any sacrifice, I should call it religious...Scepticism itself, when it proceeds from vigorous natures true to the core, and an expression of strength, not of weakness, joins the march of the army of the religious soul........
......The tragic words used of Christ--that He will be in agony to the end of the world --are well-known : Pascal: Pensees; Le Mystee de Jesus : "Jesus sera en agonie jusqu'a la fin du monde : il ne faut pass dormir pendant ce temps-la."
I have dedicated my whole life to the reconciliation of mankind. I have striven to bring it about among the peoples of Europe, especially between those two great Western peoples, who are brethren and yet enemies. For the last ten years I have been attempting the same task for the West and the East. I also desire to reconcile , if it is possible, the two antithetical forms of spirit for which the West and East are wrongly supposed to stand.- reason and faith - or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, the diverse forms of reason and faith; for the West and the East share them both almost equally although few suspect it.
An absurd separation has been made between these two halves of the soul and it is presumed that they are incompatible.
The first qualification for knowing, judging and if desirable, condemning religion or religions is to have made experiments for oneself in the fact of religious consciousness. Even those who have followed a religious vocation are not qualified to speak on the subject; for, if they are sincere, they will recognise that the fact of religious consciousness and the profession of religion are two different things. Many very honourable priests are believers by obedience or from interested or indolent motives, and have either never felt or have shrunk from gaining it because they lack sufficient strength of character. As against these may be set many souls who are or who believe they are free from all religious belief, but who in reality live immersed in a state of superrational consciousness, which they term Socialism, Communism, Humanitarianism, Nationalism, and even Rationalism. It is the quality of thought and not its object which determines its source and allows us to decide whether or not it emanates from religion. If it turns fearlessly towards the search for truth at all costs with single-minded sincerity prepared for any sacrifice, I should call it religious...Scepticism itself, when it proceeds from vigorous natures true to the core, and an expression of strength, not of weakness, joins the march of the army of the religious soul........
......The tragic words used of Christ--that He will be in agony to the end of the world --are well-known : Pascal: Pensees; Le Mystee de Jesus : "Jesus sera en agonie jusqu'a la fin du monde : il ne faut pass dormir pendant ce temps-la."
