Category: Tolstoy

To people who do not comprehend life, the emotion of love does not appear as the essence of human life but as a transitory mood—as independent of his will, just like all those other moods that a person is prone to. One often reads and hears the opinion that love is some false, tormenting mood,…

At the edge of the road stood an oak. Probably ten times the age of the birches that formed the forest, it was ten times as thick and twice as tall as they. It was an enormous tree, its girth twice as great as a man could embrace, and evidently long ago some of its…

Towards evening he ceased moaning and became quite still. He did not know how long his unconsciousness lasted. Suddenly he again felt that he was alive and suffering from a burning, lacerating pain in his head. ‘Where is it, that lofty sky that I did not know till now, but saw today?’ was his first…

“Why do you torment me?’‘On the contrary, I see you are in distress.…’But Kitty in her excitement did not listen to her.‘There is nothing for me to grieve for or seek comfort about. I have enough pride never to let myself love a man who does not love me.’‘But I am not suggesting it…. Only,…

“She questioned him about his health and his work, persuading him to take a rest and to move out to her in the country. She said all this lightly, rapidly, and with peculiarly sparkling eyes; but Karenin did not now attach any importance to this tone of hers. He only heard her words, and gave…

It was already the beginning of June when on his return journey he drove into the birch forest where the gnarled old oak had made so strange and memorable an impression on him. In the forest the harness-bells sounded yet more muffled than they had done six weeks before, for now all was thick, shady…

From “The Kingdom of God is Within You” This transition from one organization of life to another is not accomplished by degrees like the sand running through the hourglass grain after grain. It is more like the water filling a vessel floating on water. At first the water only runs in slowly on one side,…

Nikolai Rostov turned away and, as if searching for something, gazed into the distance, at the waters of the Danube, at the sky, and at the sun. How beautiful the sky looked; how blue, how calm, and how deep! How bright and glorious was the setting sun! With what soft glitter the waters of the…

Here are excepts from a discussion with ChatGPT about the parallels between Tolstoy’s works and the best films of Woody Allen Yes, Hannah and Her Sisters strongly echoes themes from A Confession, particularly in how Mickey Sachs’s existential crisis mirrors Tolstoy’s own search for meaning in the face of mortality. Woody Allen, a filmmaker obsessed…

‘What’s this? Am I falling? My legs are giving way,’ thought he, and fell on his back. He opened his eyes, hoping to see how the struggle of the Frenchmen with the gunners ended, whether the red-haired gunner had been killed or not, and whether the cannon had been captured or saved. But he saw…

Pierre interrupted him. ‘Do you believe in a future life?’ he asked. ‘A future life?’ Prince Andrei repeated, but Pierre, giving him no time to reply, took the repetition for a denial, the more readily as he knew Prince Andrei’s former atheistic convictions. ‘You say you can’t see a reign of goodness and truth on…

“The place was unoccupied, and when in imagination he tried to put one of the girls he knew there, he felt that it was quite impossible. Moreover, the memory of her refusal, and the part he had played in it, tormented him with shame. However much he told himself that he was not at all…

CHRISTIANITY MISUNDERSTOOD BY MEN OF SCIENCE. Now, I will discuss the other perspective on Christianity that impedes its true comprehension—the scientific view. Church leaders replace Christianity with the interpretation they’ve crafted for themselves, and they believe this version is the infallible one. Scientists view Christianity solely as the beliefs held by various churches throughout history…

In trying to extract some lasting meaning from Leo Tolstoy’s “The Kingdom of God is Within You,” I first have to sidestep an enormous amount of religious argumentation. It’s not that Tolstoy’s refutations of Christian theology aren’t interesting —they are fascinating, in their own way—but, it just seems ridiculous for me to engage them as…

A Brief Philosophical History Throughout Western philosophy, from ancient Greece to the 19th century, numerous thinkers have argued that the key to a better society lies in the moral and intellectual growth of individuals rather than in sweeping political reforms. Figures like Michel de Montaigne and Leo Tolstoy, who embodied this outlook, prioritized personal virtue…

📖 The Logos as the Foundation of God’s Kingdom Understanding the Word, the Number, and the Struggle for Divine Revelation (as defined by ChatGPT) I. The Logos: The Word as Divine Revelation 📖 John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” ✔…

Introduction: In theological symbolism (notably the Book of Revelation), “The Beast” represents a force of deception and oppression – an anti-logos (anti-truth) that corrupts and dominates. Philosophically, it can be viewed as any system (external or internal) that distorts reality and undermines genuine meaning. This analysis explores “the Beast” as a multifaceted metaphor: a distortion…

In this alternate history, the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917 gives rise not to Bolshevik rule but to a Tolstoyan Revolution. Followers of Leo Tolstoy – devout Christian pacifists and anarchists – unexpectedly take the helm of the post-revolutionary state. This is a profound divergence, as Tolstoyans traditionally viewed all state institutions as…