El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-03-11
THE GREEN STAFF.
BY Count Leo Tolstoy.

If person, after a long sleep dur
ing which he forgot all he had ever
known, should awaken in new,
strange house, a house inhabited by
creatures similar to himself, by men
and beasts, always busy tormenting
and hunting each other, the first thing
such a person would do would be to
try to understand why he had been
put in such q new strange place and
by whom, what he was to do in that
place. how he was to use the powers
given him and how to satisfy his
craving for activity. The answer to
this question IS what we call religion.
Without this answer we cannot lead a
good life.
Who has brought me to this strange
place? I do not know and cannot
know. but L do know that somebody
has done it, that somebody has put
me into this world / do know this
because 1 cannot have come into this
world by my own will. because I
have never wanted it, nor been able
to want 1T, because I did not exist un-
til 1 came into this world, or at least
I do not know. If did exist. When I
ask, when my real Self began, I re-
ceive an even less satisfactory an
swer. am told that I came from my
mothers womb certain number of
years ago. but what did come from
my mothers womb was only my body,
this body which for long time knew
nothing about its own existence and
could know nothing about It, and
which very soon. perhaps tomorrow.
will be buried and become dust.
What I call my. real Self appear
ed simultaneously with my body and
this Self has not its offspring from
my mothers womb; it did not begin to
five when was born. nor when was
weaned. nor when I began to talk I
know that this Ego has begun some
time. and. at the same time, that it
has existed always I cannot find my
own Ego within the limits of time.
whether I seek near or far It is as
If I never began, but always existed,
and only forgot my former existence.
Thus I cannot say definitely what
am. All do know is that 1 and my
body are not identical.
The second question: What is the
world to which I came to conscious
ness and found mvself?''
This world is-not my family and
my home. Komilyn's or Tolstoy's
Poljana, nor Bauer's house and farm in
Bavaria. nor Smiths IN England. or
Robinson's in Ohio or To-Hang-
Tschis in Chinese village or in Pek-
ing-it is the whole wide world of all
men. who live in Siam or Iceland or
Madagascar or in all places 1 know
or do not know Of And to this world
belong not only the 1900 million men
I am told are now living here. but
also all the millions Of people who
have lived before throughout the times
of which / know and during many
thousands of other years Of which I
know nothing. and all the men who are
now born and grow I'D and live for an
endless number of wears after every
trace of me has disappeared. All these
human beings and q great number of
animals Of all kinds and an equally
great number Of plants and lifeless
bodies. not only on the earth but also
on the other planets and suns and mil
lions of distant stars. all this IS the
world, into which I have come and
which I observe since I have awakened
to consciousness.
Into this in time and space. endless
world I have come Yesterday or ac-
cording to our way of expressing our
selves TO- 90. 80 40. so years ago. as
am told by other people. The cause of
my appearance was the marriage of
my father and mother, and as far as I
know from others, I was first an en-
bryo. then a child. youth. a man. But
when / have come, the Ego that is con-
scious of it's own existence, I cannot
tell It appears to me that I always
did exist When I am going to end,
do not know either. But from my
observa lions of other people. and Of
everything that happens around me, I
know for sure than in 20, 80 years I
will die. that I may die at any mo-
ment But though 1 know this and
see 1T in all other people do not be-
lieve that there is to be an end to my
Ego.
But even II this be so. I was not al