The Light Shines in Darkness

“But how is one to live, if one give everything away?”

“Each one of us has to save his own soul, and has to do God's work himself, but instead of that we busy ourselves saving other people and teaching them. And what do we teach them? We teach them now, at the end of the nineteenth century, that God created the world in six days, then caused a flood, and put all the animals in an ark, and all the rest of the horrors and nonsense of the Old Testament. And then that Christ ordered everyone to be baptized with water; and we make them believe in all the absurdity and meanness of an Atonement essential to salvation; and then that he rose up into the heavens which do not really exist, and there sat down at the right hand of the Father. We have got used to all this, but really it is dreadful! A child, fresh and ready to receive all that is good and true, asks us what the world is, and what its laws are; and we, instead of revealing to him the teaching of love and truth that has been given to us, carefully ram into his head all sorts of horrible absurdities and meannesses, ascribing them all to God.”

“We can't do without faith. Not, however, faith in what other people tell us, but faith in what we arrive at ourselves, by our own thought, our own reason ... faith in God, and in true and everlasting life.”

I happened to discover this play in my vast e-library of Tolstoy. To begin with, it's a tale of a guy called Nicholas Ivánovich who has read the gospels and has his own interpretations of it. About how he tries to follow his interpretations and behave accordingly, sacrificing his entire private property and living for the poor. And how it ruins his family and the people who love him. The play seems like an an allegorical take on religion, communism, capitalism, Christianity and even spirituality. The most interesting thing about this book is that it can be interpreted in so many ways! Like some people might end up sympathizing with Nicholas while some may detest him for his spiritual pride and balderdash. It's very beautifully written play which unfortunately Tolstoy couldn't finish off. I so want the Tolstoy to come back from the dead just to finish this off!

Overall, it's a wonderful book and a must-read for Tolstoy fans!