The Way, The Truth, The Life

Extract

Is it fanciful to see in these three titles combined the summing up of past history, the salving and transforming of the ancient glimpses of Truth; It may be fanciful, but it has an aptness suitable for our purposes. And even if more symbolic than real, the titles apart, Christ did in his Person and teaching sum up the past, even the pagan past.

The world in ancient times seems, speaking broadly, to have been four parted: the Greek world fumbling for truth, the East finding a path to tread, a Way, and the rest seeking survival, the mystery religions; then, quite apart, the little people of the Jews. Christ called himself the Way. The Buddhists and the Confucianists were seeking ways to peace of mind; the first by progressive annihilation of the all or by one's absorption in the All, the beyondnothing; the second by a concentration on manners, on social peace. These Eastern religions or philosophies were concerned with the art of living. They each seem to have begun through the agony of s°ul rising from intense suffering.