VIII
CITIZEN AND YOGI
FROM the revolutionary turmoil and
shifting, transitory conditions that are
common to-day to both the Orient and the
Occident, something is bound to arise to
bridge the gulf that otherwise exists
between them. The backgrounds of popular
movements are different, to be sure,
but the central settings are the same. The
starting points are not identical, but the
end in view is unmistakable in both worlds.
The Oriental, under a staggering burden of
traditions, is suffering from too much
conformity; the Occidental, under an ever
increasing burden of legislation, is suffering
from too much restraint. And while
the one would reform his religion, the
other, his laws, the object sought by both
is the freedom of the individual.
But there is this difference in the aspirations of both people: the freedom of the individual is still the supreme end with the Oriental, in spite of all his present-day nationalist movements, while with the Oc-
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