"The whole historic existence of mankind is nothing else than the gradual transition from the personal, animal conception of life [(the savage recognizes life only in himself alone; the highest happiness for him is the fullest satisfaction of his desires)], to the social conception of life [(recognizing life not in himself alone, but in societies of men—in the tribe, the clan, the family, the kingdom, the government—and sacrifices his personal good for these societies)], and from the social conception of life to the divine conception of life [(recognizing life not in his own individuality, and not in societies of individualities, but in the eternal undying source of life—in God; and to fulfill the will of God he is ready to sacrifice his own individuality and family and social welfare)].
The whole history of the ancient peoples [even 75k+ years ago], lasting through thousands of years and ending with the history of Rome, is the history of the transition from the animal, personal view of life to the social view of life. The whole history from the time of the Roman Empire and the appearance of Christianity is the history of the transition, through which we are still passing now, from the social view to life to the divine view of life." - Leo Tolstoy, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶, Chapter Eight, “Doctrine of Non-Resistance to Evil by Force Has Been Professed by a Minority in All Times"
Not the traditional Christianity — revelation this or infallible that. One that consists of a more philosophical, objective, less supernatural interpretation of the Gospels that’s been buried underneath all the dogma. One that emphasizes the precepts of the Sermon On the Mount - Matt 5-7 (https://biblehub.com/lsv/matthew/5.htm), debately, the most publicized point of Jesus’ time spent suffering to teach the value of selflessness and virtue, thus, the most accurate in my opinion — mimicking Moses, bringing down new commandments; none of which even hint or imply anything regarding the traditional Nicene Creed interpretation. Tolstoy learned ancient Greek and translated the Gospels himself as: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧, if you’re interested. This translation I’ve found to be the easiest to read:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10382518-the-gospel-in-brief
“The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice” I think it’s a beautiful idea and maybe it’s ultimately true, but at the very least it’s not linear. The rise of Christianity seems to be a reaction against the domination of Rome over the known world, the oppression of the powerful over the weak, the rich over the poor.
Hunter gatherer societies tend to be rather egalitarian, so the rise of “civilization” would certainly be a backwards step on the path of waking to the social concept of life. Rome brought about such an extreme of the animal life that Christianity rose to balance it out, yet of course it corrupted and misused and now today it stands to be lost entirely, destroyed of any of the good in it by those that use the shield of “Christian” to restore a dominating animal life back over the world.
In my estimation we are forever caught in an endless loop with a rising and falling of our empathy and “divine awareness” as a species and we will go on and on until the race of men is ultimately extinguished.
I personally feel that this life is a hell from which we have to try and escape but that’s just my own intuition
