The Kingdom of God is Within You

PREFACE

The book I have had the privilege of translating is, undoubtedly, one of the most remarkable studies of the social and psychological condition of the modern world that has appeared in Europe for many years, and its influence is sure to be lasting and far-reaching.  Tolstoy’s genius is beyond dispute.  The verdict of the civilized world has pronounced him as perhaps the greatest novelist of our generation.  But the philosophical and religious works of his later years have met with a somewhat indifferent reception.  They have been much talked about, simply because they were his work, but, as Tolstoy himself complains, they have never been seriously discussed.  I hardly think that he will have to repeat the complaint in regard to the present volume.  One may disagree with his views, but no one can seriously deny the originality, boldness, and depth of the social conception that he develops with such powerful logic.  The novelist has shown in this book the religious fervor and spiritual insight of the prophet; yet one is pleased to recognize that the artist is not wholly lost in the thinker.  The subtle intuitive perception of the psychological basis of the social position, the analysis of the frame of mind of oppressors and oppressed, and of the intoxication of Authority and Servility, as well as the purely descriptive passages in the last chapter – these could only have come from the author of War and Peace.

The book will surely give all classes of readers much to think of, and must call forth much criticism.  It must be refuted by those who disapprove of its teaching, if they do not want it to have great influence.

One cannot of course anticipate that English people, slow as they are to be influenced by ideas, and instinctively distrustful of all that is logical, will take a leap in the dark and attempt to put Tolstoy’s theory of life into practice.  But one may at least be sure that his destructive criticism of the present social and political regime will become a powerful force in the work of disintegration and s…