MASARYK TALKS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22515, 24 September 1938, Page 22

MASARYK TALKS

A WISE MAN’S JOURNEY Masaryk on Thought and Life. C? 1 *" venations with Karel Capek. Allen and Unwiii. 214 pp. (7/6 net.) Those who read, the recently published “Modern Man and Religion” by Masaryk will find many supplementary thoughts and speculations in his conversations with • Mr Capek. The talks were about religion and social organisation, particularly illuminating when they dealt with the rise of nationalism and the nature of Christianity. In so far as there is a conclusion,, it is this incidental remark: The strongest argument for democracy—faith in man, in his spirit and Immortal soul; that 4s true, metaphysical equality. Ethically democracy is based on the political realisation of love of one’s neighbour. The ..eternal cannot be indifferent, the eternal cannot misuse the eternal, it cannot exploit and violate it ... . , Xenophobia, intolerance, and fanaticism are not compatible with true religiousness; there is not only a national and political chauvinism but also a religious,'social, and cultural one. To which Capek rejoins: .Then in the end you see the true foundation of democracy in religion; if I may say so, you are really a theocrat. This wise old man travelled through wide extents of metaphysics, national activity, and personal experience to reach a great and simple test by which he and his .. country's adversaries may be