The Cause of the Crisis
The cause of the current critical transformation, as with every past and future revolution, is fundamentally religious in nature. Humanity has become accustomed to understanding religion as a set of mysterious concepts envisioned above the visible world, or perhaps as particular customs and rituals meant to awaken inner forces, provide comfort, offer explanations about the origins of the world, or establish moral principles sanctified by divine command.
True religion, however, is above all else the manifestation of the highest law—universal and equal among all living people. Before Christianity, many cultures adhered to a higher religious law that applied to all of humanity. This law proclaimed that for a person to achieve happiness, they must not live for themselves but for the entirety of humankind. This is the law of mutual service, as taught by Laozi, Confucius, Isaiah, Buddha, and the Stoics.
The existing order of life, however, was not based on mutual service but on power. It permeated every aspect of society so thoroughly that even those who recognized the benefits of mutual service continued to live under the law of force. They justified this law by asserting the necessity of threats and retribution. To them, it seemed impossible to coexist with evil without threatening and punishing it.
A segment of society assumed the responsibility of maintaining order and improving people through the law's commands, wielding power and force. They ruled, while others obeyed. Yet those who exercised power inevitably became corrupted by it, and this could not have been otherwise. Their corruption not only failed to reform others but instead spread their moral decay. Meanwhile, those who obeyed were degraded by the influence of power, the imitation of the powerful, and servile submission.
Nineteen hundred years ago, Christianity emerged. Christianity reaffirmed the law of mutual service with renewed strength and revealed the reasons why it had not been fulfilled. Christian teachings, with particular clarity, stated that the failure was due to a false interpretation of the law that believed in the necessity of violent retribution. It declared such retribution unlawful and fundamentally evil.
Christianity demonstrated from various perspectives how humanity's greatest afflictions stem from the practice of violent power, often carried out under the pretext of punishing others. It asserted that the only way to escape the grip of violent authority is to endure it with patience and non-resistance.
"You have heard it said: 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also."
This teaching explains that if one person acts as another's judge and responds to violence with more violence, the cycle becomes unending, perpetuating violence indefinitely. To end violence, no one must use it under any circumstances, least of all under the pretext of retribution.
This teaching affirms the simple and self-evident truth that evil cannot be destroyed by evil. The only way to diminish the malignancy of violence is to abstain from all forms of violence entirely.
Lev Tolsztoj "Az újkor vége", in Európai műhely I.", szerk. Hamvas Béla, Pannónia könyvek