The Coffehouse of Surat by Leo Tolstoy

""So on matters of faith," continued the Chinaman, the student of
Confucius, "it is pride that causes error and discord among men. As
with the sun, so it is with God. Each man wants to have a special
God of his own, or at least a special God for his native land. Each
nation wishes to confine in its own temples Him, whom the world
cannot contain.

"Can any temple compare with that which God Himself has built to
unite all men in one faith and one religion?

"All human temples are built on the model of this temple, which is
God's own world. Every temple has its fonts, its vaulted roof, its
lamps, its pictures or sculptures, its inscriptions, its books of
the law, its offerings, its altars and its priests. But in what
temple is there such a font as the ocean; such a vault as that of
the heavens; such lamps as the sun, moon, and stars; or any figures
to be compared with living, loving, mutually-helpful men? Where are
there any records of God's goodness so easy to understand as the
blessings which God has strewn abroad for man's happiness? Where is
there any book of the law so clear to each man as that written in
his heart? What sacrifices equal the self-denials which loving men
and women make for one another? And what altar can be compared with
the heart of a good man, on which God Himself accepts the sacrifice?

"The higher a man's conception of God, the better will he know Him.
And the better he knows God, the nearer will he draw to Him,
imitating His goodness, His mercy, and His love of man.

"Therefore, let him who sees the sun's whole light filling the world,
refrain from blaming or despising the superstitious man, who in his own
idol sees one ray of that same light. Let him not despise even the
unbeliever who is blind and cannot see the sun at all."

So spoke the Chinaman, the student of Confucius; and all who were
present in the coffee-house were silent, and disputed no more as to
whose faith was the best."

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Tolstoy was acquainted with extremely high spiritual thought- this complex concept is rarely to be seen, especially in the age he lived in. The fact that the closer one is to God, the closer he wants to imitate him is practically foreign even in today's age. What exactly does it mean to be close to God? To enjoy God's presence...which today, especially with the current evangelical movement, is extremely shallow and dejected. To enjoy God can be the hardest and yet the most satisfying thing. And then of course we would want to be like Him, for we find spiritual pleasure in Him.

Also, I love how Tolstoy doesn't discriminate all Christian denominations... how each can have some sort of truth from the "one ray of the same light". No matter what angle one looks at it- if one truly and sincerely believes in God then they cannot but have the truth.