As
found in
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Fyodor Dostoevsky
[1812 – 1881] and translated by Andrew R. MacAndrew
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Dostoevsky, arguably the most complex novelist of the 19° Century, was a Utopian Socialist activist during his young adult years before he was arrested for political agitation in 1849. He spent 8 months in jail under conditions that today would be considered more severe than solitary confinement. The prisoner was sentenced to death by firing squad and eventually publicly led to the place of execution holding his own shroud. Only at the last moment (after the noose had been tightened around his throat), was the condemned man given a “reprieve.” His death sentence was commuted to 20 years hard labor in Siberia. The entire execution scenario was part of a twisted Tsarist terror and torture punishment. Strangely, this horrific experience was the catalyst for some sort of Reactionary Religious Epiphany for the author. He came to completely reject his former “Liberal” views, and fervently embraced the Russian Orthodox Church. In consequence he promoted Russian Nationalism and Chauvinism, and repeatedly denounced Roman Catholicism, European “Westernizing” (i.e. the various Protestant religions that were competing in Russia at the time) and Jews.
Be that as it may, Dostoevsky also penned such a profoundly simple insight as: “You must first love life before loving the ‘meaning’ of life.”
Dostoevsky was also a master craftsman of letters with a brilliant gift for characterization based on intricate psychological motivation.
For a view of the novelist’s political milieu, click his portrait above.
The excerpt below From THE GRAND INQUISITOR section of THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV [1879-80] forms the central moral thesis of that rather bizarre tale of Rape, Patricide and (and an extraordinarily convoluted sense of eventual) "Salvation" (based upon an equally extraordinary and convoluted World Vision).
Nonetheless, in the Grand Inquisitor’s speech can be seen foreshadowing of historic events to come, including those of the present time.
The scene is set in Seville, Spain at the height of the Inquisition. Christ has returned (as promised), and just as the common people are being drawn to him by his spiritual influence and miracles, the State (in the form of the Roman Church and The Grand Inquisitor) step in and have Christ arrested and thrown into prison.
The Grand Inquisitor (who is depicted as an extremely dignified and still vigorous man aged 90-something) represents the corruption of religion by Establishment secularism and political pragmatism. We leave further comment and interpretation up to the Reader. We particularly invite our friends in the INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST MOVEMENT to at least try to understand the spiritual view of Dostoevsky, even though it flies in the face of dialectical materialism and socialism. Granted Leon Trotsky made it clear that communism and/or socialism were not created to solve humanity’s spiritual dilemma, but only to address the fundamental physical needs (and obviously today this is extended to include environmental protection). However, INTERNATIONAL SOCIALISM MUST PROGRESS BEYOND THIS LIMITED MANDATE—OR IT WILL FAIL. Gnostic Communications disagrees with both Dostoevsky’s Nationalist religious assertions and their conclusions. However, we do affirm that human psychology cannot and should not be confined to a single materialistic imperative. We all do not have the same needs and universal view. International Socialists must overcome their 19° limited view of materialism in order to improve their communication skills and ability to relate honestly and effectively with the more sophisticated “Masses” of the 21°.
WE NEED BREAD AND SPIRIT (& ROSES too!)
Since the Prisoner/Christ never speaks, The Grand Inquisitor chapter of the book is basically a monologue and is presented edited here for length in that format.]
†††
The Grand Inquisitor
Suddenly, in the complete darkness (of Christ’s cell –Ed.),
the iron gate…opens and there stands the Grand Inquisitor himself, holding a
light in his hand. The old man enters the cell alone and, when he is inside,
the door closes behind him. He stops and for a long time…he looks at Him. At
last he sets the light down on the table and says:
INQUISITOR.
You? Is it really You?
[Receiving no answer, he continues in great haste:]
You need not answer me. Say nothing…You have no right to
add anything to what You said before. Why did you come here, to interfere and
make things difficult for us?
…
Do you think You have the right to reveal even a single
mystery of the world from which You come…? No, You do not, for You may not add
anything to what has been said before and You may not deprive men of the
freedom You defended so strongly when You were on earth…For fifteen hundred
years we were pestered by that notion of freedom, but in the end we succeeded
in getting rid of it, and now we are rid of it for good. You don’t believe that
we got rid of it, do You? You look at me so gently, and do You not even
consider me worthy of your anger? I want You to know…men are convinced that
they are freer than they have ever been, although they themselves brought us
their freedom and put it meekly at our feet…but was this the freedom you wanted
to bring them?
…
Man is a rebel by nature and how can a rebel be happy?
You were warned. There was no lack of warnings and signs, but You chose to
ignore them. You spurned the only way that could have brought happiness to men.
Fortunately, though, You allowed us to take over from You when You left. You
made commitments to us. You sealed them with Your word. You gave us the right
to loosen and to bind their shackles…You cannot think of depriving us of that
right now. Why then have you come to interfere with us?
…
The wise and dreaded spirit of self-destruction and
non-existence spoke to You in the desert…and he tried to tempt You. Was he
really trying to tempt You? Could anything be truer than what he
revealed to You in his three questions that You rejected, questions that were
called “temptations” in the books…And it was precisely in those three questions
that the miracle lay…in three brief human sentences, the whole future history
of the world and of man…and they offer three symbols that reconcile all the
irreconcilable strivings on earth which derive from the contradictions of human
nature…now, fifteen centuries later, we can see that in those questions
everything was perfectly foreseen and predicted and has proved so true that
there is nothing we can add or subtract anymore.
Judge for Yourself, then: who was right, You or the one
who questioned you? Do you remember the first question? It was worded
differently, but this is its purport: You wanted to come into the world, but
you came empty-handed, with nothing but some vague promise of freedom…which…in
their innate irresponsibility, men cannot even conceive and which they fear and
dread, for there has never been anything more difficult for man and for human
society to bear than freedom!
And now you see those stones in this parched and barren
desert? Turn them into loaves of bread and men will follow you like cattle,
grateful and docile, although constantly fearful lest You withdraw Your hand
and they lose Your loaves. But You did not want to deprive men of their
freedom…You thought, what sort of freedom would they have if it was bought with
bread?
Do You know that more centuries will pass and men of
wisdom and learning will proclaim that there is no such thing as crime, that
there is therefore no sin either, that there are only hungry people. Feed us
first, then ask for virtue”—that will be the motto on the banner of those who
will oppose You, of those who will raze Your temple and build in its place a
new terrifying tower of Babel. And although they will never complete it…You
could have prevented men from making this second attempt to build the tower,
and thus shortened their sufferings by a thousand years, for in the end it is
to us they will come…and they will beg us: “Give us food, for those who
promised us fire from heaven have not given it to us!” And that will be the day
when we shall finish building their tower for them, for the one who feeds them
will be the one who finishes building it, and we will be the only ones capable
of feeding them.
…
They will marvel at us and worship us like gods, because,
by becoming their masters, we have accepted the burden of freedom that they
were too frightened to face…that is how terrifying freedom will have become for
them finally! We shall tell them…we rule over them in Your name. We shall be
lying, because we do not intend to allow You to come back.
…
There is nothing a free man is so anxious to do as to
find something to worship. But it must be something unquestionable, that all
men can agree to worship communally. For the great concern of these miserable
creatures is not that every individual should find something to worship that he
personally considers worthy of worship, but that they should find something in
which they can all believe and which they can all worship in common.
And it is precisely that requirement of shared worship that has been the
principal source of suffering for individual man and the human race since the
beginning of history. In their efforts to impose universal worship, men have unsheathed
their swords and killed one another. They have invented gods and challenged
each other: “Discard your gods and worship mine or I will destroy both your
gods and you!”
…
There is something about which You were right. For the mystery
of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to
live for. Without a concrete idea of what he is living for, man would refuse to
live…And yet, instead of giving them something tangible…You offered them
something that was quite beyond them…You increased their freedom (of
choice—Ed.), and You imposed everlasting torment on man’s soul…In the end they
will shout that You did not bring them the truth, because it is impossible to
have left them in greater confusion and misery than You did, leaving them so
many anxieties and unsolved problems…was this the best you could offer them?
…
There are three forces…on this earth that can overcome
and capture once and for all the conscience of these feeble, undisciplined
creatures, so as to give them happiness. These forces are miracle, mystery, and
authority. But You rejected…these forces and set up your rejection as an
example to men. When the wise and dreaded spirit placed You on the pinnacle of
the temple and said, “If You would know whether you are the Son of God then
cast Yourself down, for it is written: The angels shall hold Him up lest He
fall and bruise Himself…and shall prove how great is Your faith in Your
Father”; You heard him out, then rejected his advice, withstood the temptation,
and did not plunge from the pinnacle…You acted proudly and
magnificently…But…how many people are like You…Did you really expect that man
would follow Your example and remain with God without recourse to miracles?
Didn’t You know that whenever man rejects he rejects God, because he seeks not
so much God as miracles? And since man cannot live without miracles, he will
provide himself with miracles of his own making. He will believe in witchcraft
and sorcery, even though he may otherwise be a heretic, an atheist, and a
rebel.
…
You did not come down from the cross when they shouted,
taunting and challengingly You, “Come down from the cross and we will believe
that You are He.” You did not come down, again because You did not want to
bringman to You by miracles, because You wanted their freely given love rather
than the servile rapture of slaves subdued forever by a display of power. And,
here again, You overestimated men, for they are certainly nothing but slaves,
although they were created rebels by nature…I swear that man is weaker and
viler than You thought! How could he possibly do what You did? By paying him
such respect, You acted as if You lacked compassion for him…Had You respected
him less, You would have demanded less of him and that would have been more
like love, for the burden You placed on him would not have been so heavy.
…
Why should the rest of mankind, the weak ones, suffer
because they are unable to stand what the strong ones can? Why is it the fault
of a weak soul if he cannot live up to such terrifying gifts? Can it really be
true that You came only for the chosen few? If that is so, it is a mystery that
we cannot understand; and if it is a mystery, we have the right to preach to
man that what matters is not freedom of choice or love, but a mystery that he
must worship blindly, even at the expense of his conscience. And that is
exactly what we have done. We have corrected Your work and have now founded it
on miracle, mystery, and authority.
…
Our work is only beginning, but at least it has begun.
And, although its completion is still a long way off and the earth will have to
face much suffering until then, in the end we shall prevail, we will be
Caesars, and then we shall devise a plan for universal happiness. But You, You
could have taken Caesar’s sword when you came the first time. Why did you
reject that last gift? Had you accepted the third offering of the mighty
spirit, You would have fulfilled man’s greatest need on earth. That is, the
need to find someone to worship, someone who can relieve him of the burden of
conscience, thus enabling him finally to unite into the harmonious ant-hill
where there are no dissenting voices, for the unquenchable thirst for universal
unity is the third and last ordeal of man.
…
Under us they will all be happy and they will not rise in
rebellion and kill one another all the world over, as they are doing now with
the freedom You gave them. Oh, we shall convince them that they will only be
free when they have surrendered their freedom and submitted to us…for they will
remember the horrors of chaos and enslavement that Your freedom brought
them…Ah, they will value all too highly the advantages to be derived from
submitting to us once and for all…The herd will be gathered together and tamed
again…and this time for good.
…
And everyone will be happy, all the millions of beings,
with the exception of the hundred thousand men who are called upon to rule over
them. For only we, the keepers of the secret, will be unhappy. There will be millions
upon millions of happy babes and one hundred thousand sufferers who have
accepted the burden of the knowledge of good and evil. They will die peacefully
with Your name upon their lips, but beyond the grave they will find nothing but
death. But we shall keep the secret and, for their own happiness, we shall
dangle before them the reward of eternal, heavenly bliss. For we know that,
even if there is something in the other world, it is certainly not for such as
they. They say and prophesy that You will come again with Your proud, strong
chosen ones and that you will be triumphant. But our answer will be that those
around You have saved only themselves, whereas we have saved all mankind. It is
said that the whore who rides the beast and holds the mystery in her
hands will be put to shame, that the weak will rise and rend her royal robes
and expose her vile naked body. But I will rise then and show You the millions
upon millions of happy babes who have known no sin. And we, who have taken
their sins upon us to give them happiness, will stand up and say to you: “Judge
us if You can and if You dare!” Know that I am not afraid of you; know that I,
too, lived in the wilderness, fed upon roots and locusts, that I, too, blessed
the freedom which You bestowed upon men, and that I, too, was prepared to take
my place among the strong chosen ones, aspiring to be counted among them. But I
came to my senses and refused to serve a mad cause. I turned away and joined
those who were endeavoring to correct your work. I left the proud and
turned to the meek, for the happiness of the meek. What I have told You will
happen and our kingdom will come. I repeat, tomorrow You will see the obedient herds,
at the first sign from me, hurry to heap coals on the fire beneath the stake at
which I shall have You burned, because by coming here, You have made our task
more difficult. For if anyone has ever deserved our fire, it is You, and I
shall have you burned tomorrow!
[END]
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