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yive

yive

life is evil
Nov 6, 2020
696
This is what the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy said about ways to solve the problem of life.
This is an excerpt from his work, which he called «A Confession».

I think many of us will find these feelings familiar, so I decided to share them with you.
P. S. You can also send here your quotes about the problem of life, which seem interesting to you.

Here is his quote:
«I found that for people of my circle there were four ways out of the terrible position in which we are all placed.

The first was that of ignorance. It consists in not knowing, not understanding, that life is an evil and an absurdity. People of this sort — chiefly women, or very young or very dull people — have not yet understood that question of life which presented itself to Schopenhauer, Solomon, and Buddha. They see neither the dragon that awaits them nor the mice gnawing the shrub by which they are hanging, and they lick the drops of honey. but they lick those drops of honey only for a while: something will turn their attention to the dragon and the mice, and there will be an end to their licking. From them I had nothing to learn — one cannot cease to know what one does know.

The second way out is epicureanism. It consists, while knowing the hopelessness of life, in making use meanwhile of the advantages one has, disregarding the dragon and the mice, and licking the honey in the best way, especially if there is much of it within reach. Solomon expresses this way out thus: "Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: and that this should accompany him in his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun".

"Therefore eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity... for this is thy portion in life and in thy labours which thou takest under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is not work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."


That is the way in which the majority of people of our circle make life possible for themselves. Their circumstances furnish them with more of welfare than of hardship, and their moral dullness makes it possible for them to forget that the advantage of their position is accidental, and that not everyone can have a thousand wives and palaces like Solomon, that for everyone who has a thousand wives there are a thousand without a wife, and that for each palace there are a thousand people who have to build it in the sweat of their brows; and that the accident that has today made me a Solomon may tomorrow make me a Solomon's slave. The dullness of these people's imagination enables them to forget the things that gave Buddha no peace — the inevitability of sickness, old age, and death, which today or tomorrow will destroy all these pleasures.

So think and feel the majority of people of our day and our manner of life. The fact that some of these people declare the dullness of their thoughts and imaginations to be a philosophy, which they call Positive, does not remove them, in my opinion, from the ranks of those who, to avoid seeing the question, lick the honey. I could not imitate these people; not having their dullness of imagination I could not artificially produce it in myself. I could not tear my eyes from the mice and the dragon, as no vital man can after he has once seen them.

The third escape is that of strength and energy. It consists in destroying life, when one has understood that it is an evil and an absurdity. A few exceptionally strong and consistent people act so. Having understood the stupidity of the joke that has been played on them, and having understood that it is better to be dead than to be alive, and that it is best of all not to exist, they act accordingly and promptly end this stupid joke, since there are means: a rope round one's neck, water, a knife to stick into one's heart, or the trains on the railways; and the number of those of our circle who act in this way becomes greater and greater, and for the most part they act so at the best time of their life, when the strength of their mind is in full bloom and few habits degrading to the mind have as yet been acquired.
I saw that this was the worthiest way of escape and I wished to adopt it.

The fourth way out is that of weakness. It consists in seeing the truth of the situation and yet clinging to life, knowing in advance that nothing can come of it. People of this kind know that death is better than life, but not having the strength to act rationally — to end the deception quickly and kill themselves — they seem to wait for something. This is the escape of weakness, for if I know what is best and it is within my power, why not yield to what is best?..
I found myself in that category».

— Leo Tolstoy, «A Confession».
 
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GoodPersonEffed

GoodPersonEffed

Brevity is my middle name, but my name was TL
Jan 11, 2020
6,728
I would gladly be at number two if I had more welfare than hardship. I am currently at number four, I so felt it. Working toward number three.
 
Nimbus

Nimbus

Hanging on is hard
Dec 2, 2019
211
I appreciate much of Tolstoy's work, especially his perspectives on nonviolence. I can certainly relate to his "fourth category" here.

HOWEVER, I have to admit that as a woman I found it difficult to get past his view of the ignorant "first category" as "chiefly women, or very young or very dull people." It's hard to reconcile an author of such profound work with this narrow, prejudiced perspective.
 
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GoodPersonEffed

GoodPersonEffed

Brevity is my middle name, but my name was TL
Jan 11, 2020
6,728
Sorry to be pedantic, but didn't Tolstoy in that writing go on to decide that God is life and then embrace life, his existential crisis resolved? And if so, did he step away from that circle of people with their four ways?
 
E

esse_est_percipi

Enlightened
Jul 14, 2020
1,747
It's hard to reconcile an author of such profound work with this narrow, prejudiced perspective.
The same kind of thing is true of Nietzsche.
 
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Nimbus

Nimbus

Hanging on is hard
Dec 2, 2019
211
Sorry to be pedantic, but didn't Tolstoy in that writing go on to decide that God is life and then embrace life, his existential crisis resolved? And if so, did he step away from that circle of people with their four ways?
He sure did! And since he went on to live until age 82, I'd wonder if he moved into the second category, but I honestly don't know enough about his life to opine.
 
less than

less than

not important
Jul 25, 2019
195
I appreciate much of Tolstoy's work, especially his perspectives on nonviolence. I can certainly relate to his "fourth category" here.

HOWEVER, I have to admit that as a woman I found it difficult to get past his view of the ignorant "first category" as "chiefly women, or very young or very dull people." It's hard to reconcile an author of such profound work with this narrow, prejudiced perspective.

I guess his sight at women in category one of his writing was due to the time the author was living in. At that time, women were considered to be underdeveloped people. But of course that's not an excuse.
 
GoodPersonEffed

GoodPersonEffed

Brevity is my middle name, but my name was TL
Jan 11, 2020
6,728
He sure did! And since he went on to live until age 82, I'd wonder if he moved into the second category, but I honestly don't know enough about his life to opine.

He renounced his wealth and became an ascetic, so I don't think he embraced Epicureanism.

He became a peaceful anarchist and a church-rejecting Christian. He inspired Gandhi in non-violence.
 
VisionsOfHell

VisionsOfHell

Experienced
Oct 31, 2020
259
Wow, what a clear minded man. I knew him before but never read his works which I deeply regret now.

I wish the second one was an option for me but fortuna was not on my side so the tiny bit of honey I get to lick does not make up for the dragon, who is already so close to me that his breath is burning my skin.

The example of solomon is a bit extreme, since there are many disadvantaged people who still find something or someone that makes life worth living. The thing is, if you are healthy and doing well there is no rational reason to not simply ignore the dragon. Many philosophers got to this point where the only logical conclusions are accepting irrationality or suicide. Anything else is weakness.
 
laeloth

laeloth

Member
Nov 24, 2020
97
The third escape is that of strength and energy. It consists in destroying life, when one has understood that it is an evil and an absurdity. A few exceptionally strong and consistent people act so. Having understood the stupidity of the joke that has been played on them, and having understood that it is better to be dead than to be alive, and that it is best of all not to exist, they act accordingly and promptly end this stupid joke, since there are means: a rope round one's neck, water, a knife to stick into one's heart, or the trains on the railways; and the number of those of our circle who act in this way becomes greater and greater, and for the most part they act so at the best time of their life, when the strength of their mind is in full bloom and few habits degrading to the mind have as yet been acquired.
I saw that this was the worthiest way of escape and I wished to adopt it.


I keep this quote. Thank you, I did not know her @yive
 
pthnrdnojvsc

pthnrdnojvsc

Extreme Pain is much worse than people know
Aug 12, 2019
1,691
This is what the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy said about ways to solve the problem of life.
This is an excerpt from his work, which he called «A Confession».

I think many of us will find these feelings familiar, so I decided to share them with you.
P. S. You can also send here your quotes about the problem of life, which seem interesting to you.

Here is his quote:
«I found that for people of my circle there were four ways out of the terrible position in which we are all placed.

The first was that of ignorance. It consists in not knowing, not understanding, that life is an evil and an absurdity. People of this sort — chiefly women, or very young or very dull people — have not yet understood that question of life which presented itself to Schopenhauer, Solomon, and Buddha. They see neither the dragon that awaits them nor the mice gnawing the shrub by which they are hanging, and they lick the drops of honey. but they lick those drops of honey only for a while: something will turn their attention to the dragon and the mice, and there will be an end to their licking. From them I had nothing to learn — one cannot cease to know what one does know.

The second way out is epicureanism. It consists, while knowing the hopelessness of life, in making use meanwhile of the advantages one has, disregarding the dragon and the mice, and licking the honey in the best way, especially if there is much of it within reach. Solomon expresses this way out thus: "Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: and that this should accompany him in his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun".

"Therefore eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity... for this is thy portion in life and in thy labours which thou takest under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is not work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."


That is the way in which the majority of people of our circle make life possible for themselves. Their circumstances furnish them with more of welfare than of hardship, and their moral dullness makes it possible for them to forget that the advantage of their position is accidental, and that not everyone can have a thousand wives and palaces like Solomon, that for everyone who has a thousand wives there are a thousand without a wife, and that for each palace there are a thousand people who have to build it in the sweat of their brows; and that the accident that has today made me a Solomon may tomorrow make me a Solomon's slave. The dullness of these people's imagination enables them to forget the things that gave Buddha no peace — the inevitability of sickness, old age, and death, which today or tomorrow will destroy all these pleasures.

So think and feel the majority of people of our day and our manner of life. The fact that some of these people declare the dullness of their thoughts and imaginations to be a philosophy, which they call Positive, does not remove them, in my opinion, from the ranks of those who, to avoid seeing the question, lick the honey. I could not imitate these people; not having their dullness of imagination I could not artificially produce it in myself. I could not tear my eyes from the mice and the dragon, as no vital man can after he has once seen them.

The third escape is that of strength and energy. It consists in destroying life, when one has understood that it is an evil and an absurdity. A few exceptionally strong and consistent people act so. Having understood the stupidity of the joke that has been played on them, and having understood that it is better to be dead than to be alive, and that it is best of all not to exist, they act accordingly and promptly end this stupid joke, since there are means: a rope round one's neck, water, a knife to stick into one's heart, or the trains on the railways; and the number of those of our circle who act in this way becomes greater and greater, and for the most part they act so at the best time of their life, when the strength of their mind is in full bloom and few habits degrading to the mind have as yet been acquired.
I saw that this was the worthiest way of escape and I wished to adopt it.

The fourth way out is that of weakness. It consists in seeing the truth of the situation and yet clinging to life, knowing in advance that nothing can come of it. People of this kind know that death is better than life, but not having the strength to act rationally — to end the deception quickly and kill themselves — they seem to wait for something. This is the escape of weakness, for if I know what is best and it is within my power, why not yield to what is best?..
I found myself in that category».

— Leo Tolstoy, «A Confession».
The first was that of ignorance. It consists in not knowing, not understanding, that life is an evil and an absurdity .
Wow! This is awesome truth! Thanks for posting this . I didn't know Tolstoy was this wise. I need to get to the third escape. This will help me.
I might read the whole thing:
 
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