Suffering and Community in "The Brothers Karamazov"

   In my article about Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy¹ I spoke about the fact that one of the things which distinguish Orthodox culture from Western culture is the understanding of the importance of family and relationships.  From my earliest days in school, I was raised to be a completely autonomous human being.  My father, in particular, told me repeatedly that I should never have to rely upon anyone and since both of my parents are only children the day would come that I would have no one left to turn to, so I need to become completely self-sufficient. 

   This notion of personal autonomy and complete self-sufficiency is a product of the Enlightenment and a uniquely Western idea.  Complete self-sufficiency does not involve only our relationships with others, but with God as well.  As a child I was fascinated with religion and religious ideas.  When I presented these ideas to my parents, my father would say, “God is too busy to be bothered with what is going on in our lives.”  Therefore, I should not even consider turned to God because He will not help me.

    What I was told as a child was certainly not unique to me or my family. Since the period of the Enlightenment, which began in the late seventeenth century, these ideas have been alive in the West and finally made their way to Russia at the time that Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was writing.  In his most famous novel, The Brothers Karamazov, we are introduced to three brothers who are each living out their lives in accord with a particular idea and personal philosophy.

     In one particular scene in the novel, two of the brothers, Alyosha and Ivan, are having a discussion about God. Ivan is the embodiment of Enlightenment ideas.  He does not believe in God and sees himself as a completely autonomous person who does not have to rely upon anyone. However, he also deeply resents his father because he realizes that he is dependent upon his father, to a certain extent, and this dependence goes against his notion of personal autonomy.  Alyosha is a novice at a local monastery. He believes that we are completely dependent upon God and finds a sense of belonging and purpose for his life by being a member of a religious community. 

    Ivan tells Alyosha a story about Jesus which has comes to be known as the legend of “The Grand Inquisitor”.  Ivan’s main struggle is with God’s world.  He cannot make sense of the fact that little children suffer or why, if God is seen as a source of order in the universe there appears to be such randomness and absurdity. 

    Yet before his “rebellion” against God's world, Ivan exclaims to Alyosha, “you are trying to save me, but perhaps I am not lost,” and appeals to the Karamazov “thirst for life regardless of everything,” or regardless of what logic might conclude. Ivan invokes Dostoevsky's “Ridiculous Man”; he speaks of his capacity for irrational love, “loving with one's insides, with one's guts,” and proclaims,

   “Even if I didn't believe in life, if I lost faith in the order of things, were convinced in fact that everything is a disorderly, damnable and perhaps devil-ridden chaos, if I were struck by every horror of man's disillusionment – still I would want to live, and, having once tasted the cup, I would not turn away from it till I had drained it.”

     At the end of his poem; however, Ivan determines to “escape the cup” once aged past his youth, appealing to the other, darker, “bug-like” side of the “thirst for life” – the “Karamazov baseness.”  Thus, the Karamazov “thirst for life” can be seen to correlate to the contrasting forces within Ivan.

     The Grand Inquisitor himself, as Ivan's creation, embodies this same inner struggle; he too was once a genuine believer in the Christian faith. “I too have been in the wilderness, I too lived on roots and locusts, I too prized the freedom with which Thou hast blessed us, I too was striving to stand among Thy elect, among the strong and powerful…But I awakened and would not serve madness.” The Grand Inquisitor has also rejected God's world; he is a reflection of Ivan's own wishes to reconstruct the world in a manner devoid of the misery and suffering at the source of his rejection.

      The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor finds Christ on the steps of the Seville Cathedral during the Spanish Inquisition, restoring sight to an old man and bringing a little girl back from the dead. Discovered by the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor, he is arrested and sentenced to be burned at the stake. The Grand Inquisitor views Christ's presence as a step backwards in his own work; in Christ's rejection of the Devil's three temptations, he sees a rejection of happiness for mankind for the sake of freedom. The Grand Inquisitor, noting Christ's error, asks, “Didst Thou forget that man prefers peace, and even death, to freedom of choice in the knowledge of good and evil? Nothing is more seductive for man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering.” The Grand Inquisitor and his church have “corrected Thy work, and founded it upon miracles, mystery, and authority” – corresponding to the three temptations of the Devil – under the false guise of Christ himself.”  Humanity can never be free, for it is “weak, vicious, worthless, and rebellious.” Thus, members of the church – the few “wise men” - sacrifice themselves for the happiness of others, while deprived of the very freedom Christ wished to provide them. ²

    Despite declaring the Inquisitor to be an atheist, Ivan also has the Inquisitor saying that the Catholic Church follows "the wise spirit, the dread spirit of death and destruction," i.e. the Devil, Satan. He says "We are not with Thee, but with him, and that is our secret! For centuries have we abandoned Thee to follow him?" He, through compulsion, provided the tools to end all human suffering and for humanity to unite under the banner of the Church. The multitude then is guided through the Church by the few who are strong enough to take on the burden of freedom. The Inquisitor says that under him, all mankind will live and die happily in ignorance. Though he leads them only to "death and destruction," they will be happy along the way. The Inquisitor will be a self-martyr, spending his life to keep choice from humanity. He states that "Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can take his freedom away from him."

    The Inquisitor advances this argument by explaining why Christ was wrong to reject each temptation by Satan. Christ should have turned stones into bread, as men will always follow those who will feed their bellies. The Inquisitor recalls how Christ rejected this saying, "Man cannot live on bread alone," and explains to Christ "Feed men, and then ask of them virtue! That's what they'll write on the banner they'll raise against Thee." Casting himself down from the temple to be caught by angels would cement his godhood in the minds of people, who would follow him forever. Rule over all the kingdoms of the Earth would ensure their salvation, the Grand Inquisitor claims.

     The segment ends when Christ, who has been silent throughout, kisses the Inquisitor on his "bloodless, aged lips" instead of answering him. On this, the Inquisitor releases Christ but tells him never to return. Christ, still silent, leaves into "the dark alleys of the city." Not only is the kiss ambiguous, but its effect on the Inquisitor is as well. Ivan concludes, "The kiss glows in his heart, but the old man adheres to his idea." ³

      Throughout the rest of the novel Ivan struggles with the idea of human cruelty and the role that he plays in perpetuating such cruelty.  In fact, he is driven to the point of insanity when he appears at his brother, Dmitry’s trial and professes that it was he, and not Dmitry, who responsible for the death of their father.  Ivan did not physically kill his father, but becomes convinced that his desire that his father would die was the impetus which set everything in motion and lead to the death of his father at the hands of the family cook, who is also the illegitimate half-brother of these three men. 

    It is in this exchange with his brother that Ivan is showing his need for relationship.  Even though his views are not completely accepted by Alyosha, Ivan still wants to know that his younger brother does not reject him because of his views and asks him that directly.  Alyosha tells Ivan that he does not reject him and this can be seen as a source of comfort to Ivan.

    The importance of this dialogue between Alyosha and Ivan is two-fold.  It helps to gain insight into Ivan’s thought process and to be able to understand his world-view, which impacts how he interacts with others, and it gives the reader an opportunity to understand how important the role of dialogue is in regard to Dostoevsky’s personal philosophy and writings.

    While we might, and I use the phrase loosely, want to think of ourselves as autonomous human beings who do not need the approval of others and can operate independent of the rest of the world, the fact is that this is not true.  The Ancient Greek philosophers, particularly Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, wrote about the important of dialogue and the fact that we are “political animals” by nature.  We do not exist in a vacuum and we not only desire, but truly need the approval and support of others, even if we do not want to admit it.

    The Grand Inquisitor is Dostoevsky’s way of showing what Utilitarianism would look like if it were accepted as a lived philosophy.  Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) proposed a philosophy called Utilitarianism which taught that ethical principle to be followed was “the greatest good for the greatest number.”  If more people benefit from a particular action than are hurt by it, then it is permissible and, in fact, encouraged. 

    Ivan’s Grand Inquisitor has set himself up as the judge to determine who would suffer and whether or not this suffering in the greatest public interest. He believes that suffering is inevitable, so he might as well use it to his advantage. This includes burning people at the stakes that he considers heretics and even burning Jesus at the stake.  Such philosophical ideas may have some immediate positive emotional appeal; however, once the consequences of these ideas are taken into consideration they often lose their appeal. 

    Fyodor Dostoevsky, a deeply religious man, believed that we are created in the image and likeness of God and are therefore connected to one another at a very profound level.  This idea was not accepted by many people who became proponents of Enlightenment ideas in Russia and it is not accept by many people today. 

    What was the patriarch of this family like?  Fyodor Karamazov is portrayed as a rather self-absorbed man who believes in the notion that he is an autonomous human being; however, he too craves the attention of others.  However, instead of receiving such attention in a positive way, he chooses to act like a clown.  It has been said that there is no such thing as “negative attention” because any attention at all is better than no attention for someone who craves it so badly.

     Dmitry is very much like his father; however, instead of taking on the role of a clown, he takes on the role of a scoundrel.   Throughout the novel, the only thing that is important to Dmitry is his own well-being and happiness.   However, everything changes for him while he is in prison. 

     After being convicted of the murder of his father, Dmitry is sent to prison and one evening he has a dream in which he encounters a little child who is suffering.  Dmitry is moved with pity for this child and wants to find a way to relieve his suffering, but, instead, the little child kisses Dmitry on the head and comforts Dmitry instead.

     Dmitry tells his dream to Alyosha and declares that he is willing to suffer in prison if it means that others can be happy.  Dostoevsky is asking a profound question.  Does someone’s happy have to come at the expense of someone else’s suffering?   Dmitry has spent his life thinking only about himself and now he is prepared to offer himself as a “martyr for happiness”. 

     Alyosha, moved by his brother’s new found compassion, said that there is an alternative to this idea.  The novel ends at the grave site of Illyusha Snegiryov, a child who had been mistreated and emotionally abused by his classmates.  Illyusha’s father, Captain Snegiryov, had earlier been publicly humiliated by Dmitry and this brought shame on the entire family. 

     IlIyusha was excluded from any “community” developed by the other boys in his village and his suffering became a source of amusement for them.  All of these things contributed to Illyusha becoming more and more ill. 

     At one point, Illyusha becomes convinced that he had killed a little dog.  His caretaker, who knew the truth, refused to tell Illyusha that the dog had recovered.   However, as Illyusha was close to death the other boys in the village experienced a sense of conversion.  Instead of excluding Illyusha, they chose to include him in their “community” and his caretaker brought the little dog to him.  Seeing how happy this made Illyusha was a source of joys to these little boys.

     While at the gravesite, Alyosha tells these boys that they will never forget IIlyusha.  Illyusha was a fine, caring, loving, young boy who wanted to be happy. He tells the boys that they should love each other and that they will always remember when they were at the grave stone.  The twelve boys, now in tears, take each other by the hand and return to the Snegiryov family home. 

    The issues discussed by Dostoevsky in this novel are very profound.  Written in the 1870s, this novel could just have easily been written in 2000.   His last, and perhaps greatest, novel raises many important questions which will be asked by generations to come.  How we answer these questions will determine whether we choose to live in isolation from each other and treat others as a means to an end or in community and see each other sources of support and encouragement as we continue the journey of life.

     Another major point that Dostoevsky made was the need for forgiveness.  The Grand Inquisitor does not see any value in forgiveness and this is true of many people today.  Forgiveness is the only thing that restores relationships and allows us to live in harmony.   Suffering is part of human life and it is important that we not only avoid becoming a source of suffering for others, but that we join with others in their suffering and share their burden with them.

                                                  End Notes

1)                                                                                      “Things Done in the Name of Love” http://heideggerm1.blogspot.com/2011/08/things-done-in-name-of-love.html

2) “The ‘Legend of the Grand Inquisitor’:  Moral Transformation in Brother Karamozov” (accessed 8/17/11)

http://www.lurj.org/article.php/vol3n2/karamazov.xml

3)”The Grand Inquisitor”  (accessed 8/17/11)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Inquisitor

Things Done in the Name of Love

     In an earlier article I wrote about power that love has over people.¹ Such power has inspired people to do many things in the name of love that they might not otherwise do.  People have killed, stolen, abandoned their families, given up their career, and even moved to a completely different part of the world, all in the name of love.  The media is replete with stories of politicians and other prominent people who have engaged in adulterous affairs, given up their marriage, and began a new life with this other person out of love.

      The more prominent the couple is, the more we begin to believe that we actually “know them”. The reality is that we can never really understand anyone’s relationship as an outside observer. We can know some of the details regarding a couple’s public life, but when it comes to their intimate relationship this is something that we can never fully know.  Such figures are not only known to us through television or film, but through literature as well.

      Let us take examine the life of a woman of prominent social standing, in fact she is a member of an aristocratic family.  This woman, Anna, grows up and marries a man, Alexei, who is a prominent government official in her area.  From the world’s standpoint, these two have a very happy life.  They have prominent social standing, a child, do not have to struggle as most people do simply to put food on the table and provide shelter for their family.

       This woman goes on a trip to a distant city to visit her brother, Stiva, and sister-in-law, Dolly. Prior to Anna’s arrival, Dolly had discovered that Stiva was having an affair with the family’s governess and the entire home is in turmoil.  While Anna in on the train on her way to visit her brother and his family, she meets a lady, Countess Vronskaya, from another aristocratic family and these two women begin to converse on the train. The countess’ son, Count Vronsky, is romantically interested in Dolly’s younger sister, Kitty. ²

         While at the train station, Stiva bumps into Count Vronsky who is there to greet his mother.  As the two women leave the train, Stiva introduces Anna to Count Vronsky for the first time and become completely infatuated with her. Anna is very concerned about the fact that she is away from her son, Seryozha, for the first time and begins to talk with Dolly about Stiva’s affair.  Dolly is so moved by Anna’s words that she decides to forgive Stiva for his infidelity.

       This brief account would be well known to anyone who has ever read Anna Karenina by Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910). It is considered by many to be one of the greatest novels ever written.  Anna Karenina is more than a simple love story. It introduces the Western reader to Orthodox culture and presents him or her with a worldview which is completely contrary to what is present in the United States. 

      Concepts such as personal autonomy, individuality, and independence are accepted as virtues by people in the United States. Ideas such as community are important to many Americans only to the extent that they support him or in their effort to be a free, independent human being. We might come together as a community in order to worship, socialize, or for some business purpose, but most Americans would not find their identity in being a part of a particular community. The exact opposite is true in traditional Orthodox culture.  In this culture, one finds their identity as a result of being a member of a particular community. Family bonds are very important and there is much less focus on personal autonomy. 

     Here is one very simple example. In Orthodox culture family is a priority over work. Many people strive to build up their family life before building up their career. In the West, we have been very heavily influenced by the Protestant work ethics which teaches that one’s ability to enter into Heaven is directly connected to their financial success.  Therefore, career often becomes a priority over family life. This is not true in Slavic culture.  Neither the Orthodox nor the Catholic Church teach the “virtues” of the Protestant work ethic and even though religion does not have the same strong impact on Slavic culture that it did prior to the Soviet Union, Orthodox values are still important in this part of the world. 

     In the West there is such a priority placed on developing a person’s career that very often they unable to take part in special events when their children are young and the person begins to feel like his or her children are growing up without them.  Work should not be a priority over family; however, it is difficult to preach this message when the culture presents those who promote family as a priority as being lazy and unwilling to work.  This is particularly true of the people who come to the US from Mexico and Central America.  The former residents of these areas were raised in a Catholic culture which does promote such a work ethic.

      Anna’s should have been able to find her identity in her family or community, but this was not entirely true.  While visiting Stiva and Dolly, Anna attends a ball with Kitty. Kitty believes that it is at this ball that Count Vronsky will finally propose to her so that they can be married. However, it was not meant to be.  Instead, she spends the entire evening paying attention to Anna and completely ignores Kitty.  Kitty is devastated by this. There was another man who was interested in Kitty.  His name is Konstantin.  Konstantin is a childhood friend of Stiva.  He is a passionate, but shy landowner who chose to live on a farm instead of in the city with his friends. Konstantin proposed to Kitty, but she turned him down because she believed that she would marry Count Vronsky.  After being rejected by Kitty, Konstantin returns to his farm and gives up any idea of ever being married. 

       Count Vronsky tells Anna of his feelings for her and she somewhat troubled by this. She is flattered by the attention that the Count has given her, but she is married and has a family back home.  She returns to her home and is greeted at the train by her husband and son.  Instead of feeling joy upon seeing them, she feels a sense of disgust when seeing her husband.  He is twenty years old than her and their marriage appears to be based upon social standing.  In America we would refer to this as a “love less” marriage, which is very sad. 

       Anna is a rather interesting person.  She appears to believe that no one understands her.  This sense of isolation can inspire people do things that they might never do otherwise in order alleviate this feeling.  She feels no love for her husband and no connection to the people around her, but begins to think that perhaps Count Vronsky will understand her. Anna becomes friends with Princess Betty, a local socialite and gossip who is related to Count Vronsky.  The Count continues to pursue Anna and even though she initially rejects his advances, eventually she succumbs to them. 

      Her husband, Alexei, begins to become concerned that Anna is spending too much time with Count Vronsky and this may become a public scandal.  At one point, Alexei and Anna are at a steeple chase when she sees Count Vronsky fall from his horse. Unable to control her feelings she runs to the Count comforts him and tells him that she is pregnant with his child.  Anna then confesses this affair to her husband.  Alexei, concerned about a public scandal, encourages her to end this affair so they could return to the way things were before. 

      The problem is that there is no returning to the way things were before.  Anna has no intention of ending this affair, so Alexei decides to speak with a lawyer about obtaining a divorce. At this point in Russian history, only the person who was being cheated on could ask for a divorce and would only be granted if one of two conditions were met. Either the cheating spouse had to confess their infidelity or the other spouse had to obtain evidence of this affair.  Alexei forces Anna to give him some of the letters which Count Vronsky has written her as proof.  Anna’s brother, Stiva, intervened and suggested to Alexei that he speak with Dolly before going through any divorce proceedings.

      Dolly speaks with Alexei, but she appears to be unsuccessful in talking him out of his plan.  However, Alexei’s plan does change after he receives news that Anna is dying as a result of a difficult childbirth.  While at Anna’s bedside, Alexei forgives Count Vronsky for the affair.  Count Vronsky becomes so distraught over Alexei’s forgiveness that he attempts suicide by shooting himself.  His attempt is unsuccessful, but Count Vronsky is badly wounded. 

       Anna gives birth to a daughter, whom she names “Annie”, and fully recovers. Even though Alexei has forgiven her and has become attached to Annie, Anna no longer wants to live with him.  She receives news that Count Vronsky is about to leave for a new military post.  Anna’s brother, Stiva, pleads with Alexei to free Anna by giving her a divorce.  Anna runs to be with Count Vronsky and the two of them leave for Europe, leaving her son behind with Alexei, before she is ever granted a divorce.

        While all of this is going on, Kitty has been having various medical problems stemming from the fact that she was ignored by Count Vronsky and the fact that she was rather mean to Konstantin in regard to the way she rejected his marriage proposal. Kitty goes with her mother to Germany in order restore her health.  While they are there, they meet a very pious woman and her adopted daughter.  Kitty ends up becoming very pious as a result of meeting these two women.  Her newfound piety does not appeal to her father. Konstantin has since returned to his country estate and is struggling to understand the falseness of other people.  He turns to agriculture, which is a very important part of his life and spirituality, as a way of coming up with answers.

       Konstantin then pays a visit to Dolly, hoping that she might be able to help him understand what had happened.  Instead of receiving support and consolation, Konstantin becomes very annoyed with Dolly and she her as being false also.  He returns to his estate, abandons any hope of marrying Kitty, and considers marrying a local peasant woman. However, when Konstantin happens to see Kitty drive by in her carriage, he realizes that he still loves her.

        Stiva realizes that his childhood friend still loves Kitty, so be begins to play matchmaker.  He arranges a meeting between Konstantin and Kitty.  This meeting results in their reconciliation and eventual betrothal.  Konstantin and Kitty are married and immediately begin a new life on Konstantin’s estate.  Like many couples, they love each other, but their marriage has begun with some difficulties as these two people begin to get to know each other.  Konstantin is concerned because he does not feel that Kitty is paying too much attention to domestic matters and not enough attention to him. This seems incompatible with his understanding of romantic love.

      A few months after they are married, Konstantin receives news that his brother, Nikolai, is dying of consumption.  Most men would be delighted that their wife wants to accompany them to see their dying brother, but not Konstantin.  He has placed Kitty on a pedestal and does not believe that she should get involved with people from a lower class. 

      Placing a loved one on a pedestal can create many problems. First, it is almost impossible for Kitty to live up to his ideal.  Kitty might be the most wonderful wife in the world, but she is a human being and so has her own faults and failings.  Placing her on a pedestal makes her into a god and when these faults and failings become evident it is difficult for him to deal with.

      Konstantin is presented as an almost comic contrast to Anna.  He deals with hay and piglets, with farming and peasants.  While other “gentleman farmers” are enjoying the fruit of their ownership, Konstantin is not quite content.  He observes the simple faith of the peasants and of his wife and, identifying with them he asks, “Why can’t I believe?”

       Meanwhile, Anna is off touring around Europe with Count Vronsky.  She does some “patio gardening” and utterly charms everyone she meets. She has everything---social standing, attention, and adventure.  In contrast, if Konstantin gets what he wants, he seems not quite sure that he deserves it.  These are two completely different characters.  Anna seems to be “finding herself” while Konstantin seems to be “losing himself”. 

      Having attained everything she wanted, Anna finds herself tormented by greed, jealousy, and doubt. What if Count Vronsky loved another woman the way he loved her? What is he wanted her only for her body and he eventually loses interest in her?  How can she cling to those things she has found through her self-assertion? Ultimately she determines that death, in Tolstoy’s words is, “the only way of restoring his love for her in his heart, of punishing him, and of gaining the victory in the fight which an evil spirit was waging in her heart against him.”  Thus, Anna life of self-affirmation and fulfillment ends as she throws herself under a train.

       This tragic end to Anna’s life would be the end of most novels, but Tolstoy takes us back to the country estate where we encounter Konstantin again.  We find Konstantin wrestling with idea of his love for Kitty and their son, Mirya.   Why, he is wondering, do I not feel such intense caring for my son?  Was something wrong with him?  Konstantin has invested himself, lost himself, and denied himself for his family and his servants, but he still questions himself. 

       Suddenly, a terrible thunderstorm comes up.  Kitty and Mirya are not in the house. Lightning strikes and their favorite oak tree comes crashing down. Suddenly he feels himself utterly a desperate prayer, “Dear Lord, dear Lord, not on them!”  Tolstoy’s words: “Though he thought, at once, how senseless was his prayer that they should not be killed by that already fallen tree, he repeated it for he knew that he could do nothing better than to utter that senseless prayer.” They are safe. However, Konstantin remains deeply moved, for in that moment he came to understand both his love them, and his ultimately dependency upon God. ³

      Love can cause people to things that they might never do under any other circumstances. It was the attention paid to her by Count Vronsky and the belief that she had finally met found someone who understood her which inspired Anna to turn her back on her son and her marriage and be with the Count.  Anna had often felt a sense of isolation from others. She never really believed that anyone truly understood her and these feelings plagued her even her “ideal” relationship with the Count.  She became so distraught over the idea of possibly losing the love she had found that she was willing to take her own life.

      Konstantin had everything that he wanted once he married Kitty, but he was not content.  Based upon his notion of ideal romantic love, he placed his wife on a pedestal and then became distraught when she wanted to walk around with “mere humans”.  His deeply reflexive nature caused him to question everything: his love for his wife, his son, and even his relationship with God. 

      The Lord Jesus told us, “He who finds his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it.”  (Luke 9: 24).  In this wonderful novel by Leo Tolstoy we have the example of someone who found her life, but lost it and someone who has lost his life, but found it.  From the world’s standpoint, Anna had everything she could be possibly want, but true genuine lasting happiness.  Konstantin did not have the glamorous life that Anna had, but he had something even more important.  He finally came to the realization that what was most important in his life was his love for this family and his relationship with God.

                                                                End Notes

1)    “The Power of Love in Our Lives” http://heideggerm1.blogspot.com/2011/06/power-of-love-in-our-lives.html

2)    Anna Karenina http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Karenina

3)    Rodney L. Hunter (ed.) Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling (TN: Abingdon Press, 1999), p. 164