Dear Boston,
Your excellent essay is truly food for thought. I am humbled by its majesty.
One of the thoughts that instantly occurred to me when I read that Tolstoy had died in 1910 was, "So many millions followed."
No, of course, Tolstoy's mistaken ideas didn't cause 250 million or so people worldwide to submit passively while their governments slaughtered them. Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, and others caused the slaughter. Each individual who chose not to resist is responsible for his own choice. But the idea that Tolstoy, as a very influential writer, may have encouraged many millions of his readers to a completely mistaken and incredibly bad choice was a bit of a shudder-starter for me.
It is indeed worth remembering that what we write is often read, and what we say with conviction is taken seriously by our readers, however few or many they may be. It is something of a burden, which is, happily, less than the bursting pressure that comes from not writing at all.
The idea that private property is wrong, the idea that self defense is wrong, the idea that individual liberty is bad for the economy, or the idea that people left to themselves would not develop systems of money and exchange, are among the many ideas which I regard as basically perverse. They are as perverse as "freedom is slavery," "war is peace," or "lies are truth."
One of the things that keeps showing up as I study history is the source of a lot of truly perverse things. It seems, to me, that certain individuals are identifiably covetous. They not only want to have a lot of their own money and property, but they want to have control over the money and property (and thus labor) of others. In some instances, these people are identifiably bankers or financiers. Thus, it is not mere coincidence that Jesus was outraged by the presence of money changers demanding that Temple shekels be bought only at their tables.
Resistance and self-defense are difficult in many ways. One of the tools your essay provides is a sense of ethical conduct, of righteousness if you don't mind my saying so. Doing the right thing in earnest and accurate upholding of God's law is righteous behavior. It is much easier, in my view, to do difficult things if one feels that doing them is right. It certainly encourages me in my diet, exercise, and training programs to think it is right to be on this path.
Regards,
Jim
http://vertoro.com/