The Soul of Man Under Socialism | Page 6

is that man reaches his perfection, not through what he has, not
even through what he does, but entirely through what he is. And so the
wealthy young man who comes to Jesus is represented as a thoroughly
good citizen, who has broken none of the laws of his state, none of the
commandments of his religion. He is quite respectable, in the ordinary
sense of that extraordinary word. Jesus says to him, 'You should give
up private property. It hinders you from realising your perfection. It is a
drag upon you. It is a burden. Your personality does not need it. It is
within you, and not outside of you, that you will find what you really
are, and what you really want.' To his own friends he says the same
thing. He tells them to be themselves, and not to be always worrying
about other things. What do other things matter? Man is complete in
himself. When they go into the world, the world will disagree with
them. That is inevitable. The world hates Individualism. But that is not
to trouble them. They are to be calm and self-centred. If a man takes
their cloak, they are to give him their coat, just to show that material
things are of no importance. If people abuse them, they are not to
answer back. What does it signify? The things people say of a man do
not alter a man. He is what he is. Public opinion is of no value
whatsoever. Even if people employ actual violence, they are not to be
violent in turn. That would be to fall to the same low level. After all,
even in prison, a man can be quite free. His soul can be free. His
personality can be untroubled. He can be at peace. And, above all
things, they are not to interfere with other people or judge them in any
way. Personality is a very mysterious thing. A man cannot always be
estimated by what he does. He may keep the law, and yet be worthless.
He may break the law, and yet be fine. He may be bad, without ever
doing anything bad. He may commit a sin against society, and yet
realise through that sin his true perfection.
There was a woman who was taken in adultery. We are not told the
history of her love, but that love must have been very great; for Jesus
said that her sins were forgiven her, not because she repented, but
because her love was so intense and wonderful. Later on, a short time
before his death, as he sat at a feast, the woman came in and poured
costly perfumes on his hair. His friends tried to interfere with her, and
said that it was an extravagance, and that the money that the perfume

cost should have been expended on charitable relief of people in want,
or something of that kind. Jesus did not accept that view. He pointed
out that the material needs of Man were great and very permanent, but
that the spiritual needs of Man were greater still, and that in one divine
moment, and by selecting its own mode of expression, a personality
might make itself perfect. The world worships the woman, even now,
as a saint.
Yes; there are suggestive things in Individualism. Socialism annihilates
family life, for instance. With the abolition of private property,
marriage in its present form must disappear. This is part of the
programme. Individualism accepts this and makes it fine. It converts
the abolition of legal restraint into a form of freedom that will help the
full development of personality, and make the love of man and woman
more wonderful, more beautiful, and more ennobling. Jesus knew this.
He rejected the claims of family life, although they existed in his day
and community in a very marked form. 'Who is my mother? Who are
my brothers?' he said, when he was told that they wished to speak to
him. When one of his followers asked leave to go and bury his father,
'Let the dead bury the dead,' was his terrible answer. He would allow
no claim whatsoever to be made on personality.
And so he who would lead a Christlike life is he who is perfectly and
absolutely himself. He may be a great poet, or a great man of science;
or a young student at a University, or one who watches sheep upon a
moor; or a maker of dramas, like Shakespeare, or a thinker about God,
like Spinoza; or a child who plays in a garden, or a fisherman who
throws his net into the sea. It does not matter what he is, as long as he
realises the perfection of the soul that is within him. All imitation