deed blinded; while you, though sightless, believe that you see clearly, and that you know everything, and no one has the right to give you counsel. Your blindness is like that of Balaam, who did not see the angel of God that stood armed with a flaming sword in the path before him, while the ass that he was riding perceived it distinctly. I am the ass; and you, who are Balaam, have ridden upon my back since my childhood.
166. From all that has been said, we see, as in a mirror, that man learns to read, not that he may do good, but evil. The proverb is not without reason which says: "If educated people should lose their eyes [and I, BondarefF, as well as they], and their horses should founder, we should then be the better."
I did not formerly believe in proverbs, but now I see that it is as though God himself had given them to us.
167. The world has a thousand religions, while there should be but one faith, even as there is but one God.
The first commandment, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou knead bread," would unite all religions. When men shall have comprehended all its import, and shall have it graven upon their hearts, then, in one century, perhaps even in less time, all the world, from east to west, from north to south, will be united in one
the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door."
