NON-ACIING 117
all labour at some work commenced long a][;o and in which it is impossible to pause to concentrate their thoughts, or to consider what they ought to be. All the irreat revolutions in men^s lives are made in thought. ^V'llen a change takes place in man's thought, action follows the direction of thought as inevitably as a ship follows the direction given by its rudder.
IV.
Vhen he first preached, Jesus did not say, ' Love one another' (he taught love later on to his disciples : to men who had understood his teaching), but he said what John the Baptist ha<l preached before : repentance, fierdfoia — that is to say, a change in the conception of life. "^UTauoe^Te — change your view of life, or you will all peribh, said he. The meaning of your life cannot con- sist in the pursuit of your personal well-being, or in that of your family or of your nation, for such happi- ness can be obtained only at the expense of others. Realize that the meaninji- of your life can consist only in accomplishing the will of him that sent you into this life, and who demands of you, not the pursuit of your personal interest^, but the accomplishment of his aims — the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven, as Jesus said.
MeTai^oelre — change your way of understanding life, or you will all perish, said he, 1,800 years ago ; and he continues to repeat the same to-day, by all the contra- dictions and woes of our time, which all come from the fact that men have not listened to him, and have not accepted the understanding of life he offered them. 'Meravoe'LTe, said he, or you will all perish. The alterna- tive remains the same to-day. The only difference is, that now it is more pressing. If it were possible 2,000 years ago, in the time of the Roman Empire, in the days of Charles V., or even before the Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, not to see the vanity — I will even say the absurdity — of attempts made to obtain per- sonal happiness, family happiness, or national happi-
