Chapter 16 Section 16: Code of Ethical Conduct

Now, we find revelation, living emotion, in religion.And this revelation or living emotion in religion is not found only in religion -- I mean church religion.Every human being who has ever felt an urge that takes him beyond his self-interested thoughts or fears has felt this revelation or living emotion.In fact, this revelation or living emotion in religion can be found in any human behavior that is not motivated by self-interest or fear, but by a sense of duty and honor.I would say that this revelation or living emotion in religion is not found only in faith.The value of religion lies in this revelation or living emotion which is not found in the moral codes of philosophers and moralists in the words about moral conduct left behind by the founders of all great faiths, as Matthew Arnold said , which illuminates the code and makes it easy for people to follow.And the revelation or living emotion in the moral code of conduct of religion can not only be found in faith.All literary greats, especially poets, are also full of inspiration or living emotion in their writings.For example, the words of Goethe that I once quoted also have this kind of inspiration or living emotion.Unfortunately, the words of the great men of literature cannot reach the mass of mankind, because all great men of literature speak the language of educated people, which is incomprehensible to the mass of mankind.The founders of all the great religions of the world have had the advantage that most of them were not educated men, and therefore they spoke the plain language of the uneducated, so that they could be understood by the masses of mankind.So the true value of religion, of all the great religions of the world, lies in its ability to communicate to the mass of humanity the revelation or living emotion it contains.To understand how discrimination or living emotion enters into religion, into all the great religions of the world, let us see how religion enters into the world.

The founders of all the great religions of the world, as we know, were men of a peculiar, even extraordinary, emotional nature.This extraordinary emotional nature makes them feel the strong emotion of love or human emotion which, as I have said, is the source of revelation, the soul of religion.This strong emotion or emotion of love or human affection makes them see what I call right and wrong or the indeterminate absolute nature of justice, what they call the righteous soul of justice.This vivid understanding of the absolute nature of justice allowed them to see the unity of the law of right and wrong, or moral law.Because of their very strong emotional nature, they possess a powerful imagination, which inadvertently personifies the unanimity of the moral law as an all-powerful supernatural being.This supernatural omnipotent being, the unity of the moral law they imagined as a personification, they called God, from which they believed that the intensity of love they felt or the emotion or passion of human emotion came.Thus enters into religion the revelation, or living emotion, that is in religion; the revelation illuminates the religious code of moral conduct, and provides emotion and impetus for the mass of mankind to advance along the straight and narrow path of moral conduct.But now, the value of religion is not just his code of moral behavior with discrimination or living emotion to illuminate these codes so that people follow them.The value of religion, all the great religions of the world, is that they have an organization that awakens, encourages, and lights up this revelation or living emotion in people so that they may observe a code of moral conduct.This organization in all the great religions of the world is the church.

Many people believe that churches are built to teach people to believe in God.But this is a big mistake.This great mistake of the modern Christian church makes honest people like the late Mr. Froude(29) sick to the modern Christian church.Mr. Froude said: "I have heard hundreds of sermons in England, about faithful secrets, about the sacred mission of the clergy, about the papal succession, etc., and I honestly don't have a single one that I can recall honestly, plainly. Commandment, Thou shalt not lie, Thou shalt not steal." I have great respect for Mr. Froude, but I think he is wrong when he says that the Church, the Christian Church, should teach morality.The purpose of the establishment of the church is undoubtedly to make people moral, and let people abide by moral codes of conduct such as "don't lie" and "don't steal".But the function, the real function, of the churches of the great religions of the world is not to teach morality, but to teach faith, as I have explained to you, not rigid and square dogmas such as "Thou shalt not lie," "Thou shalt not steal," but revelation, A living emotion that keeps people in line.In other words, the church of all the great religions of the world is an organization that, as I said, awakens and ignites the revelation or living emotion of men to obey a code of moral conduct.So how does the church awaken and lighten the enlightenment of people?

It is well known that the founders of all the great religions of the world not only gave inspiration or living emotion to the moral code of conduct they taught, but inspired their immediate followers to treat themselves with boundless admiration, love, and fanatical emotion.When great teachers die, their immediate disciples, in order to maintain the boundless admiration, love, and ecstasy of their teachers, establish a church.This is the origin of the churches of all the great religions of the world as we know them.The Church awakens and ignites the revelation or living emotion necessary in man to obey the code of moral conduct by maintaining, motivating, and encouraging this unlimited in the personality and individuality of the teacher and founder of religion, first experienced by the disciple. Compliments, love and wild emotions.It is not only rightly called faith in God, but also a faith, a trust in religion; and trust in whom?Trust in the Guru and Founder of their religion, the Prophet in Islam, the Christ in Christianity.If you ask a decent Muslim why he believes in God and obeys the code of moral conduct, he will correctly answer you that he does so because he believes in the prophet Muhammad.If you ask a competent Christian why he believes in God and follows the code of moral conduct, he will rightly tell you that he does so because he loves Christ.So, you see, faith in Muhammad, love for Christ, in fact what I call infinite admiration, love, and fanatical emotion for the guru and founder of the religion, is used by the church to keep, motivate, Encouragement is the source of revelation, the true power of all the great religions of the world, through which man, the mass of mankind, observes a code of moral conduct.Mencius, speaking of two of the purest and most Christian figures in Chinese history, said: "The people have heard of the spirit of Boyi and Shuqi, the dissolute villain is no longer selfish, and the cowardly man has courage."(30)