He did it his way...

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"The concept of infinite God, the the divinity of the soul, of the link between the affairs of man and God, the concepts of moral good and evil, are concepts involved in the distant history of man's life that is hidden from our eyes, and those concepts without which life and I myself would not be, and rejecting all this labor of mankind, I wanted to do everything by myself, alone, anew, and in my own way." -- Leo Tolstoy, Confession

Comments

  1. Unknown12:26 PM

    Gene, I hope I'm not missing the obvious (that has happened more than a few times, of course, hyuick hyuick) but what is Tolstoy getting at here? Maybe I've read too many analytical phil papers, but I'm finding it difficult to follow the meaning of his prose.

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  2. Unknown11:25 AM

    Nevermind, Gene; I think that I understand where he is coming from.

    In fact, this suggests a connection with the Ego and Rationalism - and, perhaps more insidiously, the connection between the (demonic?) impulse to do things completely 'anew' and by ourselves. Sounds rather... Luciferian.

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    Replies
    1. gcallah1:37 AM

      Right: he is saying that in his past he ignored all of this tradition, and wanted to work things out anew all by himself, as though he were wiser than thousands of years of tradition.

      Delete
    2. gcallah1:39 AM

      And this is a stance he comes to admit is foolish, in the course of his Confession.

      Delete

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