The Brothers Karamazov
history of man which were unthinkable ten years before they appeared!
Yet when their destined hour had come, they came forth and spread over
the whole earth. So it will be with us, and our people will shine forth
in the world, and all men will say: “The stone which the builders
rejected has become the corner-stone of the building.”
And we may ask the scornful themselves: If our hope is a dream, when
will you build up your edifice and order things justly by your
intellect alone, without Christ? If they declare that it is they who
are advancing towards unity, only the most simple-hearted among them
believe it, so that one may positively marvel at such simplicity. Of a
truth, they have more fantastic dreams than we. They aim at justice,
but, denying Christ, they will end by flooding the earth with blood,
for blood cries out for blood, and he that taketh up the sword shall
perish by the sword. And if it were not for Christ’s covenant, they
would slaughter one another down to the last two men on earth. And
those two last men would not be able to restrain each other in their
pride, and the one would slay the other and then himself. And that
would come to pass, were it not for the promise of Christ that for the
sake of the humble and meek the days shall be shortened.
While I was still wearing an officer’s uniform after my duel, I talked
about servants in general society, and I remember every one was amazed
at me. “What!” they asked, “are we to make our servants sit down on the
sofa and offer them tea?” And I answered them: “Why not, sometimes at
least?” Every one laughed. Their question was frivolous and my answer
was not clear; but the thought in it was to some extent right.
(_g_) _Of Prayer, of Love, and of Contact with other Worlds_
Young man, be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your
prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it,
which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer
is an education. Remember, too, every day, and whenever you can, repeat
to yourself, “Lord, have mercy on all who appear before Thee to-day.”
For every hour and every moment thousands of men leave life on this
earth, and their souls appear before God. And how many of them depart
in solitude, unknown, sad, dejected that no one mourns for them or even
knows whether they have lived or not! And behold, from the other end of
the earth perhaps, your prayer for their rest will rise up to God
though you knew them not nor they you. How touching it must be to a
soul standing in dread before the Lord to feel at that instant that,
for him too, there is one to pray, that there is a fellow creature left
on earth to love him too! And God will look on you both more
graciously, for if you have had so much pity on him, how much will He
have pity Who is infinitely more loving and merciful than you! And He
will forgive him for your sake.
Brothers, have no fear of men’s sin. Love a man even in his sin, for
that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth.
Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love
every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the
plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the
divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to
comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the
whole world with an all-embracing love. Love the animals: God has
given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble
it, don’t harass them, don’t deprive them of their happiness, don’t
work against God’s intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to
the animals; they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile
the earth by your appearance on it, and leave the traces of your
foulness after you—alas, it is true of almost every one of us! Love
children especially, for they too are sinless like the angels; they
live to soften and purify our hearts and as it were to guide us. Woe to
him who offends a child! Father Anfim taught me to love children. The
kind, silent man used often on our wanderings to spend the farthings
given us on sweets and cakes for the children. He could not pass by a
child without emotion. That’s the nature of the man.
At some thoughts one stands perplexed, especially at the sight of men’s
sin, and wonders whether one should use force or humble love. Always
decide to use humble love. If you resolve on that once for all, you may
subdue the whole world. Loving humility is marvelously strong, the
strongest of all things, and there is nothing else like it.
Every day and every hour, every minute, walk round yourself and watch
yourself, and see that your image is a seemly one. You pass by a little
child, you pass by, spiteful, with ugly words, with wrathful heart; you
may not have noticed the child, but he has seen you, and your image,
unseemly and ignoble, may remain in his defenseless heart. You don’t
know it, but you may have sown an evil seed in him and it may grow, and
all because you were not careful before the child, because you did not
foster in yourself a careful, actively benevolent love. Brothers, love
is a teacher; but one must know how to acquire it, for it is hard to
acquire, it is dearly bought, it is won slowly by long labor. For we
must love not only occasionally, for a moment, but for ever. Every one
can love occasionally, even the wicked can.
My brother asked the birds to forgive him; that sounds senseless, but
it is right; for all is like an ocean, all is flowing and blending; a
touch in one place sets up movement at the other end of the earth. It
may be senseless to beg forgiveness of the birds, but birds would be
happier at your side—a little happier, anyway—and children and all
animals, if you were nobler than you are now. It’s all like an ocean, I
tell you. Then you would pray to the birds too, consumed by an
all-embracing love, in a sort of transport, and pray that they too will
forgive you your sin. Treasure this ecstasy, however senseless it may
seem to men.
My friends, pray to God for gladness. Be glad as children, as the birds
of heaven. And let not the sin of men confound you in your doings. Fear
not that it will wear away your work and hinder its being accomplished.
Do not say, “Sin is mighty, wickedness is mighty, evil environment is
mighty, and we are lonely and helpless, and evil environment is wearing
us away and hindering our good work from being done.” Fly from that
dejection, children! There is only one means of salvation, then take
yourself and make yourself responsible for all men’s sins, that is the
truth, you know, friends, for as soon as you sincerely make yourself
responsible for everything and for all men, you will see at once that
it is really so, and that you are to blame for every one and for all
things. But throwing your own indolence and impotence on others you
will end by sharing the pride of Satan and murmuring against God.
Of the pride of Satan what I think is this: it is hard for us on earth
to comprehend it, and therefore it is so easy to fall into error and to
share it, even imagining that we are doing something grand and fine.
Indeed, many of the strongest feelings and movements of our nature we
cannot comprehend on earth. Let not that be a stumbling-block, and
think not that it may serve as a justification to you for anything. For
the Eternal Judge asks of you what you can comprehend and not what you
cannot. You will know that yourself hereafter, for you will behold all
things truly then and will not dispute them. On earth, indeed, we are
as it were astray, and if it were not for the precious image of Christ
before us, we should be undone and altogether lost, as was the human
race before the flood. Much on earth is hidden from us, but to make up
for that we have been given a precious mystic sense of our living bond
with the other world, with the higher heavenly world, and the roots of
our thoughts and feelings are not here but in other worlds. That is why
the philosophers say that we cannot apprehend the reality of things on
earth.
God took seeds from different worlds and sowed them on this earth, and
His garden grew up and everything came up that could come up, but what
grows lives and is alive only through the feeling of its contact with
other mysterious worlds. If that feeling grows weak or is destroyed in
you, the heavenly growth will die away in you. Then you will be
indifferent to life and even grow to hate it. That’s what I think.
_(h) Can a Man judge his Fellow Creatures? Faith to the End_
Remember particularly that you cannot be a judge of any one. For no one
can judge a criminal, until he recognizes that he is just such a
criminal as the man standing before him, and that he perhaps is more
than all men to blame for that crime. When he understands that, he will
be able to be a judge. Though that sounds absurd, it is true. If I had
been righteous myself, perhaps there would have been no criminal
standing before me. If you can take upon yourself the crime of the
criminal your heart is judging, take it at once, suffer for him
yourself, and let him go without reproach. And even if the law itself
makes you his judge, act in the same spirit so far as possible, for he
will go away and condemn himself more bitterly than you have done. If,
after your kiss, he goes away untouched, mocking at you, do not let
that be a stumbling-block to you. It shows his time has not yet come,
but it will come in due course. And if it come not, no matter; if not
he, then another in his place will understand and suffer, and judge and
condemn himself, and the truth will be fulfilled. Believe that, believe
it without doubt; for in that lies all the hope and faith of the
saints.
Work without ceasing. If you remember in the night as you go to sleep,
“I have not done what I ought to have done,” rise up at once and do it.
If the people around you are spiteful and callous and will not hear
you, fall down before them and beg their forgiveness; for in truth you
are to blame for their not wanting to hear you. And if you cannot speak
to them in their bitterness, serve them in silence and in humility,
never losing hope. If all men abandon you and even drive you away by
force, then when you are left alone fall on the earth and kiss it,
water it with your tears and it will bring forth fruit even though no
one has seen or heard you in your solitude. Believe to the end, even if
all men went astray and you were left the only one faithful; bring your
offering even then and praise God in your loneliness. And if two of you
are gathered together—then there is a whole world, a world of living
love. Embrace each other tenderly and praise God, for if only in you
two His truth has been fulfilled.
If you sin yourself and grieve even unto death for your sins or for
your sudden sin, then rejoice for others, rejoice for the righteous
man, rejoice that if you have sinned, he is righteous and has not
sinned.
If the evil-doing of men moves you to indignation and overwhelming
distress, even to a desire for vengeance on the evil-doers, shun above
all things that feeling. Go at once and seek suffering for yourself, as
though you were yourself guilty of that wrong. Accept that suffering
and bear it and your heart will find comfort, and you will understand
that you too are guilty, for you might have been a light to the
evil-doers, even as the one man sinless, and you were not a light to
them. If you had been a light, you would have lightened the path for
others too, and the evil-doer might perhaps have been saved by your
light from his sin. And even though your light was shining, yet you see
men were not saved by it, hold firm and doubt not the power of the