The ethics of wine-drinking and tobacco-smoking / [Leo Tolstoi].

  • Leo Tolstoy
Date:
[1889?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ethics of wine-drinking and tobacco-smoking / [Leo Tolstoi]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    former eats, drinks, rests, sleeps, perpetuates itself, and moves about just like a machine duly wound up for a definite period; the seeing, spiritual being, which is linked to the sensuous, does nothing itself, but merely weighs and appreciates the conduct of the sensuous being, actively co-operating when it approves, and holding aloof when it dis¬ approves the actions of the latter. We may liken the being endowed with sight to the needle of a compass, one extremity of which points to the north and the other to the south, and the entire length and breadth of which is covered by a layer of some opaque substance. The needle thus remains in¬ visible so long as the ship or vehicle that carries the compass is moving in the direction towards which the needle is pointing; nor does it move or become visible until the vessel or vehicle deviates from that direction. In like manner, the seeing, spiritual being, whose manifestations we are wont in the language of every-day life to term conscience, always points with one extremity to good, and with the opposite one to evil, nor do we perceive it until such time as we swerve from the direc¬ tion it indicates—viz., from good to evil. But no sooner have we performed an action contrary to the direction of our conscience than the consciousness of the spiritual being manifests itself, indicating the degree of the deviation from the direction pointed out by con¬ science. And as the mariner who has discovered that he is not moving towards the port for wrhich he is bound cannot continue to work with his oars, his engines, or his sails until he either rights the vessel and steers her in accordance with the indications of the com¬ pass, or else succeeds in shutting his eyes to the fact that there is a deviation, so also the man who discerns the discord between his conscience and his sensual activity cannot continue to exercise that activity until he either brings [it once more into harmony with the dictates of his conscience, or else hides from himself the testimony borne by his conscience to the irregularity of his animal life. All human life may be truly said to be made up of one of two kinds of activity ; (1) The bringing of one’s conduct into harmony with the dictates of conscience ; or (2) the concealing from oneself the mani¬ festations of conscience, in order to make it possible to continue to live as one is living. Some people are engaged in the former occupation, others in the latter. There is but one way to accomplish the former: moral en¬ lightenment, increase of light within ourselves, and of attention to what the light reveals. There are two methods of attaining the second object—that of concealing from ourselves the manifestations of con¬ science : an external and an internal method. The former leads us to engage in occupations calculated to withdraw our attention from the
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