Barun Pradhan
What even is this.
Timshel.
"Am I my brothers' keeper?" is a constant refrain throughout Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. It is when individuals fail to recognize that they must be "brothers to everyone," utilizing their God-given free will to harm the "ocean" of human beings, that suffering emerges. Ivan, perceiving the horrible effects of free will, rebels against God; however, as is displayed in the narrative, it is the same free will that provides an answer to suffering. For just as ideas become incarnate in Dostoevsky's novel, providing a narrative response to the problem of evil, so must incarnate love be the tangible response to evil and suffering in this world. Each human being is a keeper of all mankind, and suffering can only be truly combated when this responsible, all encompassing love becomes realized in each individual. For all are brothers and sisters Karamazov, all are "black smears" upon the face of the earth, and all are meant to be incarnate love to one another, a tangible kiss upon the lips of a suffering world.
- Taken from "Incarnate Love and Other Embodied Truths: Dostoevsky's Response to Suffering in The Brothers Karamazov" by Callaghan R. McDonough
"Am I my brothers' keeper?" is a constant refrain throughout Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. It is when individuals fail to recognize that they must be "brothers to everyone," utilizing their God-given free will to harm the "ocean" of human beings, that suffering emerges. Ivan, perceiving the horrible effects of free will, rebels against God; however, as is displayed in the narrative, it is the same free will that provides an answer to suffering. For just as ideas become incarnate in Dostoevsky's novel, providing a narrative response to the problem of evil, so must incarnate love be the tangible response to evil and suffering in this world. Each human being is a keeper of all mankind, and suffering can only be truly combated when this responsible, all encompassing love becomes realized in each individual. For all are brothers and sisters Karamazov, all are "black smears" upon the face of the earth, and all are meant to be incarnate love to one another, a tangible kiss upon the lips of a suffering world.
- Taken from "Incarnate Love and Other Embodied Truths: Dostoevsky's Response to Suffering in The Brothers Karamazov" by Callaghan R. McDonough
Timshel.
