''Confession'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform ), or ''My Confession'', is a short work on the subject of

melancholia Melancholia or melancholy (from ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval, and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly depressed mood, bodily complain ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

by the Russian novelist

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

. It was written in 1879 to 1880, when Tolstoy was in his early fifties.

Content

The book is a brief autobiographical story of the author's struggle with a mid-life existential crisis. It describes his search for the answer to the ultimate philosophical question: "If God does not exist, since death is inevitable, what is the meaning of life?" Without the answer to this, for him, life had become "impossible". The story begins with the Eastern fable of the dragon in the well. A man is chased by a beast into a well, at the bottom of which is a dragon. The man clings to a branch inside the well that is being gnawed on by two mice (one black, one white, representing night and day and the relentless march of time). In this hopeless situation the man looks for and finds a few drops of honey which stick to a leaf on his branch. In the original fable the man drinks them and delights. Tolstoy on the other hand is no longer able to enjoy that which these drops represent for him: The love of his family and his writing. The certainty of death drains any joy out of his life. Tolstoy goes on to describe four possible attitudes towards this dilemma. The first is ignorance. If one is oblivious to the fact that death is approaching, life becomes bearable. The problem with this for him personally is that he is ''not'' ignorant. Having become conscious of the reality of death, there is no going back. The second possibility is what Tolstoy describes as

Epicureanism Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded 307 BCE based upon the teachings of Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher. Epicurus was an atomist and materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to religious s ...

. Being fully aware that life is ephemeral, one can enjoy the time one has. Tolstoy's problem with this is essentially moral. He states that Epicureanism may work fine and well for the minority who can afford to live "the good life", but one would have to be morally empty to be able to ignore the fact that the vast majority of people do not have access to the wealth necessary to live this kind of life. Tolstoy next states that the most intellectually honest response to the situation would be suicide. In the face of the inevitability of death and assuming that God does not exist, why wait? Why pretend that this vale of tears means anything when one can just cut to the chase? For himself, however, Tolstoy writes that he is "too cowardly" to follow through on this most "logically consistent" response. Finally, Tolstoy says that the fourth option, the one he is taking, is the one of just holding on; living "despite the

absurdity Absurdity is the state or condition of being unreasonable, meaningless, or so unsound as to be irrational. "Absurd" is the adjective used to describe absurdity, e.g., "Tyler and the boys laughed at the absurd situation." It derives from the Lat ...

of it", because he is not willing "or able" to do anything else. So it seems "utterly hopeless"—at least "without God". So Tolstoy turns to the question of God's existence: After despairing of his attempts to find answers in classic philosophical arguments for the existence of God (e.g. the

Cosmological Argument In the philosophy of religion, a cosmological argument is an argument for the existence of God based upon observational and factual statements concerning the universe (or some general category of its natural contents) typically in the context of ...

, which reasons that God must exist based on the need to ascribe an original cause to the universe), Tolstoy turns to a more

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight ...

, intuitive affirmation of God's presence. He states that as soon as he said "God is Life", life was once again suffused with meaning. Tolstoy's original title for this work indicates as much, and his own personal "conversion" is suggested by an epilogue that describes a dream he had some time after completing the body of the text, confirming that he had undergone a radical personal and spiritual transformation.

History

The book was originally titled ''An Introduction to a Criticism of Dogmatic Theology'', as the first part of a four-part work that also included ''A Criticism of Dogmatic Theology'', ''The Four Gospels Harmonized and Translated'' (the basis for ''

The Gospel in Brief ''The Gospel in Brief'' () is a 1892 synthesis of the four gospels of the New Testament into one narrative of the life of Jesus by Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Included in a larger volume in 1892, the 1896 account published as ''The Gospel in Bri ...

''), and ''What I Believe'' (also published in English as ''My Religion'' and ''My Faith''). The first attempt at its publication took place in 1882 (''

Russkaya Mysl ''Russian Mind'' (; French – ''La Pensée Russe'') is a pan-European sociopolitical and cultural magazine, published on a monthly basis both in Russian and in English. The modern edition follows the traditions of the magazine laid down in 1880 ...

'', No 5), but Tolstoy's work was removed virtually from the whole edition of the journal (i.e. periodical magazine) by

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

censorship. The text was later published in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

(1884), and in Russia as late as 1906 (''Vsemirnyj Vestnik'', No 1). The book is discussed at length and quoted from in

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...

' ''

The Varieties of Religious Experience ''The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature'' is a book by Harvard University psychologist and philosopher William James. It comprises his edited Gifford Lectures on natural theology, which were delivered at the University of ...

'' and also in

Maurice O'Connor Drury Maurice O'Connor Drury (3 July 1907 – 25 December 1976) was an Irish psychiatrist, best known for his accounts of his conversations, and close friendship, with the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Early life and education 'Con' Drury (as ...

's ''The Danger of Words''. It has also been commented by Jonathan Birch and discussed in length in Agnes Callard's ''Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life''.

Content

History

References

External links