{"id":4322,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:11","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4322"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:11","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:11","slug":"13-woman-and-the-war-vol-02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02\/13-woman-and-the-war-vol-02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-13_Woman and the War.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nPart Six<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nEssays, letters, etc. written in <\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\nJapan<\/font><\/span><\/i> between 1916 and 1920<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\n
\nWoman
\nand the War <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nY<\/font><\/span>ou have asked me what I think of the feminist movement and what
\nwill be the consequences of the present war for it. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>One
\nof the first effects of the war has certainly been to give quite a new aspect
\nto the question. The futility of the perpetual oppositions between men and
\nwomen was at once made clearly apparent, and behind the conflict of the sexes,
\nonly relating to exterior facts, the gravity of the circumstances allowed the
\ndiscovery of the always existent, if not always outwardly manifested fact, of
\nthe real collaboration, of the true union of these two complementary halves of
\nhumanity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Many men were surprised to see how easily
\nwomen could replace them in most of the posts they occupied before, and to
\ntheir surprise was added something of regret not to have found sooner a real
\npartner of their work and their struggles in her whom more often they had only
\nconsidered as an object of pleasure and distraction, or at best as the guardian
\nof their hearth and mother of their children. Certainly woman is that and to be
\nit well requires exceptional qualities, but she is not only that, as the
\npresent circumstances have amply proved. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In
\ngoing to tend the wounded in the most difficult material conditions, actually
\nunder the enemy’s fire, the so-called weak sex has proved that its physical
\nenergy and power of endurance were equal to those of man. But where, above all,
\nwomen have given proof of exceptional gifts is in their organising faculties.
\nThese faculties of administration were recognised in them long ago by the Brahmanic<\/span> India of before the Mohammedan<\/span>
\nconquest. There is a popular adage there which says: \u201cProperty governed by
\nwoman means prosperous property.\u201d But in the Occident Semitic thought allied to
\nRoman legislation has… influenced customs too deeply for women to have the
\nopportunity of showing their capacity for organisation.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 143<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It
\nis true that in <\/span>France<\/span> one frequently sees the woman absolute
\nmistress of the administration of her house even from the pecuniary point of
\nview, and the proverbial riches of the French petite bourgeoisie<\/i> proves that the system has a good side. It was
\nrare however to see the feminine faculties utilised to direct undertakings of
\ngreat importance, and until now the confidential posts of public administration
\nhad always been closed to them. The present war has shown that in refusing the
\nco-operation of women the governments deprived themselves of precious help. I
\nwill cite you an event as example. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>A
\nfew months after the outbreak of the war, when the Germans had almost entirely
\noccupied the Belgian territory, the inhabitants of the invaded regions were in
\nindescribable misery. Fortunately, thanks to the initiative of several rich
\nAmerican men and women, a Society was founded to supply the most urgent needs
\nof the sorely tried populations. As the result of certain military operations a
\nfairly large group of small villages were suddenly deprived of all food. Famine
\nwas imminent. The American Society sent a message to some similar English
\nSocieties asking that five vans of the most indispensable supplies should be
\ndispatched immediately. These vans must reach their destination in three days.
\nThe men to whom this request was addressed replied that it was quite impossible
\nto comply with it. Luckily a woman heard of the matter. It seemed terrible to
\nher that in such tragic circumstances one could use the word \u201cimpossible\u201d. She
\nbelonged to a group of women who aided the wounded and sufferers of the war.
\nImmediately they promised the American Society they would satisfy it and in
\nthree days the numerous obstacles were overcome though some of the
\ndifficulties, especially those concerning transport, seemed truly unsurmountable<\/span>. A powerful organising mind, an ardent will,
\nhad done the miracle: the provisions arrived in time and the dreadful misery of
\nfamine was thus avoided. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>This is not to say that only woman’s
\nexceptional qualities have been revealed by the present war. Her weaknesses,
\nher
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 144<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

faults, her pettiness have also been given
\nthe opportunity of display, and certainly if women wish to take the place they
\nclaim in the governing of nations they must progress much further in the
\nmastery of self, the broadening of ideas and points of view, in intellectual
\nsuppleness and oblivion of their sentimental preferences in order to become
\nworthy of the management of public affairs. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It
\nis certain that purely masculine politics have given proof of incapacity; they
\nhave foundered too often in their search of strictly personal interest, and in
\ntheir arbitrary and violent action. Doubtless women’s politics would bring
\nabout a tendency to disinterestedness and more humanitarian solutions. But
\nunfortunately, in their present state, women in general are creatures of
\npassion and enthusiastic partisanship; they lack the reasoning calm that purely
\nintellectual activity gives; the latter is undoubtedly dangerous because hard
\nand cold and pitiless, nevertheless it is unquestionably useful to master the
\noverflow of sentiment which cannot hold a predominant place in the ruling of
\ncollective interests. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>These faults which would be serious if the
\nactivity of women had to replace that of men, could form, on the contrary, by a
\ncollaboration of the two sexes, an element of compensation for the opposite
\nfaults of men. That would be the best means of leading them gradually to mutual
\nperfecting. To reduce the woman’s part to solely interior and domestic occupations,
\nand the man’s part to exclusively exterior and social occupations, thus
\nseparating what should be united, would be to perpetuate the present sad state
\nof things, from which both are equally suffering. It is in front of the highest
\nduties and heaviest responsibilities that their respective qualities must unite
\nin a close and confident solidarity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Is
\nit not time that this hostile attitude of the two sexes facing one another as
\nirreconcilable adversaries should cease? A severe, a painful lesson is being
\ngiven to the nations. On the ruins piled up now, new constructions more
\nbeautiful and more harmonious <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 145<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

can be erected. It is no longer the moment
\nfor frail competitions and self-interested claims; all human beings, men or
\nwomen, must associate in a common effort to become conscious of the highest
\nideal which asks to be realised and to work ardently for its realisation. The
\nquestion to be solved, the real question is then not only that of a better
\nutilisation of their outer activities, but above all that of an inner spiritual
\ngrowth. Without inner progress there is no possible outer progress. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Thus the problem of feminism, as all the
\nproblems of the world, comes back to a spiritual problem. For the spiritual
\nreality is at the basis of all others; the divine world, the Dhammata<\/span> of Buddhism, is the eternal foundation on which
\nare built all the other worlds. In regard to this Supreme Reality all are
\nequal, men and women, in rights and in duties; the only distinction which can
\nexist in this domain being based on the sincerity and ardour of aspiration, on
\nthe constancy of the will. And it is in the recognition of this fundamental
\nspiritual equality that can be found the only serious and lasting solution for
\nthis problem of the relation of the sexes. It is in this light that it must be
\nplaced, it is at this height that must be sought the focus of action and new
\nlife, around which will be constructed the future <\/span>
\ntemple<\/span> of <\/span>Humanity<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>7
\n July 1916<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 146<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nWoman and Man
\n<\/font>
\n<\/a> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nL<\/font><\/span>et us first take for granted that pride and impudence are always
\nridiculous: only stupid and ignorant people are arrogant. As soon as a human
\nbeing is sufficiently enlightened to have a contact, however slight, with the
\nall-pervading mystery of the universe, he becomes necessarily humble. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Woman, by the very fact of her passivity,
\nhaving more easily than man the intuition of the Supreme Power at work in the
\nworld, is more often, more naturally humble. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But
\nto base the fact of this humility on need is erroneous. Woman needs man not
\nmore than man needs woman; or rather, more exactly, man and woman have an equal
\nneed of one another. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Even in the mere material domain, there are as
\nmany men who depend materially upon women as there are women who depend upon
\nmen. If humility were a result of that dependency, then, in the first case, the
\nmen ought to be humble and the women to have the authority. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Besides, to say that women should be humble
\nbecause it is thus that they please men, is also erroneous. It would lead one
\nto think that woman has been put on earth only for the purpose of giving
\npleasure to man \u2013 which is absurd. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>All
\nthe universe has been created to express the Divine Power, and human beings,
\nmen or women, have for special mission to become conscious of and to manifest
\nthat Eternal Divine Essence. Such is their object and none other. And if they
\nknew and remembered that more often, men and women would cease to think of
\npetty quarrels about priority or authority; they would not see a greater mark
\nof respect in the fact of being served than of serving, for all would consider
\nthemselves equally as servitors of the Divine, and would make it their honour
\nto serve ever more and ever better.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 147<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\n
\nImpressions
\nof <\/font> <\/a> <\/span><\/b>
\n
\nJapan<\/font><\/span><\/b> <\/font> <\/b><\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nY<\/font><\/span>ou ask me for my impressions about <\/span>Japan<\/span>. To write on <\/span>Japan<\/span> is a difficult task; so many things have
\nbeen already written, so many silly things also\u2026 but these more on the people
\nthan on their country. For the country is so wonderful, picturesque,
\nmany-sided, unexpected, charming, wild or sweet; it is in its appearance so
\nmuch a synthesis of all the other countries of the world, from the tropical to
\nthe arctic, that no artistic eye can remain indifferent to it. I believe many
\nexcellent descriptions have been given of <\/span>Japan<\/span>; I shall not then attempt to add mine,
\nwhich would certainly be far less interesting. But the people of <\/span>Japan<\/span> have, in general, been misunderstood and
\nmisinterpreted, and on that subject something worth saying remains to be said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In
\nmost cases foreigners come in touch with that part of the Japanese people which
\nhas been spoiled by foreigners, \u2013 a Japan of money-makers and imitators of the
\nWest; obviously they have proved very clever imitators, and you can easily find
\nhere a great many of those things which make the West hateful. If we judge <\/span>Japan<\/span> by her statesmen, her politicians and her
\nbusinessmen, we shall find her a country very much like one of the Powers of
\nEurope, though she possesses the vitality and concentrated energies of a nation
\nwhich has not yet reached its zenith. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>That energy is one of the most interesting
\nfeatures of <\/span>Japan<\/span>. It is visible everywhere, in everyone;
\nthe old and the young, the workmen, the women, the children, the students, all,
\nsave perhaps the \u201cnew rich\u201d, display in their daily life the most wonderful
\nstorage of concentrated energy. With their perfect love for nature and beauty,
\nthis accumulated strength is, perhaps, the most distinctive and widely spread
\ncharacteristic of the Japanese. That is what you may observe as soon as you
\nreach that land of the Rising Sun where so many people and so many treasures
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 148<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

are gathered in a narrow island.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But
\nif you have \u2013 as we have had \u2013 the privilege of coming in contact with the true
\nJapanese, those who kept untouched the righteousness and bravery of the ancient
\nSamurai, then you can understand what in truth is <\/span>Japan<\/span>, you can seize the secret of her force.
\nThey know how to remain silent; and though they are possessed of the most acute
\nsensitiveness, they are, among the people I have met, those who express it the
\nleast. A friend here can give his life with the greatest simplicity to save
\nyours, though he never told you before he loved you in such a profound and
\nunselfish way. Indeed he had not even told you that he had loved you at all.
\nAnd if you were not able to read the heart behind the appearances, you would
\nhave seen only a very exquisite courtesy which leaves little room for the
\nexpression of spontaneous feelings. Nevertheless the feelings are there, all
\nthe stronger perhaps because of the lack of outward manifestation; and if an opportunity
\npresents itself, through an act, very modest and veiled sometimes, you suddenly
\ndiscover depths of affection. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>This is specifically Japanese; among the
\nnations of the world, the true Japanese \u2013 those who have not become westernized
\n\u2013 are perhaps the least selfish. And this unselfishness is not the privilege of
\nthe well-educated, the learned or the religious people; in all social ranks you
\nmay find it. For here, with the exception of some popular and exceedingly
\npretty festivals, religion is not a rite or a cult, it is a daily life of
\nabnegation, obedience, self-sacrifice. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The
\nJapanese are taught from their infancy that life is duty and not pleasure. They
\naccept that duty \u2013 so often hard and painful \u2013 with passive submission. They
\nare not tormented by the idea of making themselves happy. It gives to the life
\nof the whole country a very remarkable self-constraint, but no joyful and free
\nexpansion; it creates an atmosphere of tension and effort, of mental and
\nnervous strain, not of spiritual peace like that which can be felt in <\/span>India<\/span>, for instance. Indeed, nothing in
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 149<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Japan can be compared to the pure divine
\natmosphere which pervades India and makes of her such a unique and precious
\ncountry; not even in the temples and the sacred monasteries always so wonderfully
\nsituated, sometimes on the summit of a high mountain covered with huge cedar
\ntrees, difficult to reach, far from the world below…Exterior calm, rest and
\nsilence are there, but not that blissful sense of the infinite which comes from
\na living nearness to the Unique. True, here all speaks to the eyes and mind of
\nunity \u2013 unity of God with man, unity of man with Nature, unity of man with man.
\nBut this unity is very little felt and lived. Certainly the Japanese have a
\nhighly developed sense of generous hospitality, reciprocal help, mutual
\nsupport; but in their feelings, their thoughts, their actions in general, they
\nare among the most individualist, the most separatist people. For them the form
\nis predominant, the form is attractive. It is suggestive too, it speaks of some
\ndeeper harmony or truth, of some law of nature or life. Each form, each act is
\nsymbolical, from the arrangement of the gardens and the houses to the famous
\ntea ceremony. And sometimes in a very simple and usual thing you discover a
\nsymbol, deep, elaborated, willed, that most of the people know and understand;
\nbut it is an exterior and learnt knowledge \u2013 a tradition, it is not living
\ntruth coming from the depth of spiritual experience, enlightening heart and
\nmind. <\/span>Japan<\/span> is essentially the country of sensations;
\nshe lives through her eyes. Beauty rules over her as an uncontested master; and
\nall her atmosphere incites to mental and vital activity, study, observation,
\nprogress, effort, not to silent and blissful contemplation. But behind this activity
\nstands a high aspiration which the future of her people will reveal. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>9
\n July 1917<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 150<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\n
\nThe
\nChildren of <\/font> <\/a> <\/span><\/b>
\n
\nJapan<\/font><\/span><\/b> <\/font> <\/b><\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nI<\/font><\/span>n my last letter\u00b9 I spoke of the sense of duty which gave to the
\nJapanese people a great self-constraint, but no joyful and free expansion. I
\nmust make an exception to this rule and this exception is in favour of the
\nchildren. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>We
\ncould quite well call <\/span>Japan<\/span> the paradise of children \u2013 in no other
\ncountry have I seen them so free and so happy. After months of residence in <\/span>Japan<\/span> I have yet never seen a child beaten by a
\ngrown-up person. They are treated as if all the parents were conscious that the
\nchildren are the promise and the glory of the future. And a wonderful thing is
\nthat, environed by so much attention, so much care, \u2013 indeed, such a devotion,
\nthey are the most reasonable, good and serious children I have ever met. When
\nthey are babies, tied up in an amusing fashion on their mothers’ backs, with
\ntheir wide open black eyes they seem to consider life with gravity and to have
\nalready opinions on the things they look at. You scarcely hear a child cry.
\nWhen, for instance, he has hurt himself and the tears burst out of his eyes,
\nthe mother or the father has but to say a few words in a low voice, and the
\nsorrow seems to be swept away. What are those magic words which enable children
\nto be so reasonable? Very simple indeed: \u201cAre you not a Samurai?\u201d And this
\nquestion is sufficient for the child to call to him all his energy and to
\novercome his weakness. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In
\nthe streets you see hundreds of children, in their charming bright \u201ckimono<\/i>\u201d,\u00b2 playing freely, in spite of
\nthe \u201ckuruma<\/i>\u201d\u00b3 and the bicycles, at
\nthe most inventive and picturesque games, pleased with little, singing and
\nlaughing. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>When older, but still very young, you may see
\nthem in the tram cars, dressed with foreign clothes, the student cap on the <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>
\nI.e.\u201dImpressions<\/font><\/span><\/span>
\nof <\/span>Japan<\/span><\/font>\u201d<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b2 <\/font> <\/span>
\nTraditional
\nwide-sleeved gown<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b3 <\/font> <\/span>
\nA
\nword applied to many vehicles, here probably a carriage or a rickshaw<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 151<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

head, the knapsack on the back, proud of
\ntheir importance, still prouder at the idea of all they are learning and will
\nlearn. For they love their studies and are the most earnest students. They
\nnever miss an opportunity of adding something to their growing knowledge; and
\nwhen the work for the school leaves them some liberty they occupy it in reading
\nbooks. The young Japanese seem to have a real passion for books. In <\/span>
\nTokyo<\/span> one of the main streets is nearly
\nentirely occupied by secondhand<\/span> book-sellers. From
\nthe beginning to the end of the year these shops are full of students, and it
\nis not often novels they are seeking for! <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>They are, as a rule, very anxious to learn
\nforeign languages and when they come to meet foreigners, though they are in
\ngeneral very timid, they make use of that acquaintance as much as they can to\u2026\u00b9
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

A country where such are the children and
\nso they are treated is a country still ascending the steps of progress and of
\nmastery. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>
\nThis sentence was left incomplete.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 152<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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