The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (reading an ebook TXT) 📗

which men might be made happy.

But, fortunately, departing Thou didst hand on the work to us. Thou

hast promised, Thou hast established by Thy word, Thou hast given to

us the right to bind and to unbind, and now, of course, Thou canst not

think of taking it away. Why, then, hast Thou come to hinder us?’”

 

“And what’s the meaning of ‘no lack of admonitions and warnings’?”

asked Alyosha.

 

“Why, that’s the chief part of what the old man must say.

 

“‘The wise and dread spirit, the spirit of self-destruction and

non-existence,’ the old man goes on, great spirit talked with Thee

in the wilderness, and we are told in the books that he “tempted”

Thee. Is that so? And could anything truer be said than what he

revealed to Thee in three questions and what Thou didst reject, and

what in the books is called “the temptation”? And yet if there has

ever been on earth a real stupendous miracle, it took place on that

day, on the day of the three temptations. The statement of those three

questions was itself the miracle. If it were possible to imagine

simply for the sake of argument that those three questions of the

dread spirit had perished utterly from the books, and that we had to

restore them and to invent them anew, and to do so had gathered

together all the wise men of the earth-rulers, chief priests, learned

men, philosophers, poets-and had set them the task to invent three

questions, such as would not only fit the occasion, but express in

three words, three human phrases, the whole future history of the

world and of humanity-dost Thou believe that all the wisdom of the

earth united could have invented anything in depth and force equal

to the three questions which were actually put to Thee then by the

wise and mighty spirit in the wilderness? From those questions

alone, from the miracle of their statement, we can see that we have

here to do not with the fleeting human intelligence, but with the

absolute and eternal. For in those three questions the whole

subsequent history of mankind is, as it were, brought together into

one whole, and foretold, and in them are united all the unsolved

historical contradictions of human nature. At the time it could not be

so clear, since the future was unknown; but now that fifteen hundred

years have passed, we see that everything in those three questions was

so justly divined and foretold, and has been so truly fulfilled,

that nothing can be added to them or taken from them.

 

“Judge Thyself who was right-Thou or he who questioned Thee then?

Remember the first question; its meaning, in other words, was this:

“Thou wouldst go into the world, and art going with empty hands,

with some promise of freedom which men in their simplicity and their

natural unruliness cannot even understand, which they fear and

dread-for nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a

human society than freedom. But seest Thou these stones in this

parched and barren wilderness? Turn them into bread, and mankind

will run after Thee like a flock of sheep, grateful and obedient,

though for ever trembling, lest Thou withdraw Thy hand and deny them

Thy bread.” But Thou wouldst not deprive man of freedom and didst

reject the offer, thinking, what is that freedom worth if obedience is

bought with bread? Thou didst reply that man lives not by bread alone.

But dost Thou know that for the sake of that earthly bread the

spirit of the earth will rise up against Thee and will strive with

Thee and overcome Thee, and all will follow him, crying, “Who can

compare with this beast? He has given us fire from heaven!” Dost

Thou know that the ages will pass, and humanity will proclaim by the

lips of their sages that there is no crime, and therefore no sin;

there is only hunger? “Feed men, and then ask of them virtue!”

that’s what they’ll write on the banner, which they will raise against

Thee, and with which they will destroy Thy temple. Where Thy temple

stood will rise a new building; the terrible tower of Babel will be

built again, and though, like the one of old, it will not be finished,

yet Thou mightest have prevented that new tower and have cut short the

sufferings of men for a thousand years; for they will come back to

us after a thousand years of agony with their tower. They will seek us

again, hidden underground in the catacombs, for we shall be again

persecuted and tortured. They will find us and cry to us, “Feed us,

for those who have promised us fire from heaven haven’t given it!” And

then we shall finish building their tower, for he finishes the

building who feeds them. And we alone shall feed them in Thy name,

declaring falsely that it is in Thy name. Oh, never, never can they

feed themselves without us! No science will give them bread so long as

they remain free. In the end they will lay their freedom at our

feet, and say to us, “Make us your slaves, but feed us.” They will

understand themselves, at last, that freedom and bread enough for

all are inconceivable together, for never, never will they be able

to share between them! They will be convinced, too, that they can

never be free, for they are weak, vicious, worthless, and

rebellious. Thou didst promise them the bread of Heaven, but, I repeat

again, can it compare with earthly bread in the eyes of the weak, ever

sinful and ignoble race of man? And if for the sake of the bread of

Heaven thousands shall follow Thee, what is to become of the

millions and tens of thousands of millions of creatures who will not

have the strength to forego the earthly bread for the sake of the

heavenly? Or dost Thou care only for the tens of thousands of the

great and strong, while the millions, numerous as the sands of the

sea, who are weak but love Thee, must exist only for the sake of the

great and strong? No, we care for the weak too. They are sinful and

rebellious, but in the end they too will become obedient. They will

marvel at us and look on us as gods, because we are ready to endure

the freedom which they have found so dreadful and to rule over them-so awful it will seem to them to be free. But we shall tell them

that we are Thy servants and rule them in Thy name. We shall deceive

them again, for we will not let Thee come to us again. That

deception will be our suffering, for we shall be forced to lie.

 

“‘This is the significance of the first question in the

wilderness, and this is what Thou hast rejected for the sake of that

freedom which Thou hast exalted above everything. Yet in this question

lies hid the great secret of this world. Choosing “bread,” Thou

wouldst have satisfied the universal and everlasting craving of

humanity-to find someone to worship. So long as man remains free he

strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone

to worship. But man seeks to worship what is established beyond

dispute, so that all men would agree at once to worship it. For

these pitiful creatures are concerned not only to find what one or the

other can worship, but to find community of worship is the chief

misery of every man individually and of all humanity from the

beginning of time. For the sake of common worship they’ve slain each

other with the sword. They have set up gods and challenged one

another, “Put away your gods and come and worship ours, or we will

kill you and your gods!” And so it will be to the end of the world,

even when gods disappear from the earth; they will fall down before

idols just the same. Thou didst know, Thou couldst not but have known,

this fundamental secret of human nature, but Thou didst reject the one

infallible banner which was offered Thee to make all men bow down to

Thee alone-the banner of earthly bread; and Thou hast rejected it for

the sake of freedom and the bread of Heaven. Behold what Thou didst

further. And all again in the name of freedom! I tell Thee that man is

tormented by no greater anxiety than to find someone quickly to whom

he can hand over that gift of freedom with which the ill-fated

creature is born. But only one who can appease their conscience can

take over their freedom. In bread there was offered Thee an invincible

banner; give bread, and man will worship thee, for nothing is more

certain than bread. But if someone else gains possession of his

conscience-Oh! then he will cast away Thy bread and follow after

him who has ensnared his conscience. In that Thou wast right. For

the secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to

live for. Without a stable conception of the object of life, man would

not consent to go on living, and would rather destroy himself than

remain on earth, though he had bread in abundance. That is true. But

what happened? Instead of taking men’s freedom from them, Thou didst

make it greater than ever! 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. And behold,

instead of giving a firm foundation for setting the conscience of

man at rest for ever, Thou didst choose all that is exceptional, vague

and enigmatic; Thou didst choose what was utterly beyond the

strength of men, acting as though Thou didst not love them at all-Thou who didst come to give Thy life for them! Instead of taking

possession of men’s freedom, Thou didst increase it, and burdened

the spiritual kingdom of mankind with its sufferings for ever. Thou

didst desire man’s free love, that he should follow Thee freely,

enticed and taken captive by Thee. In place of the rigid ancient

law, man must hereafter with free heart decide for himself what is

good and what is evil, having only Thy image before him as his

guide. But didst Thou not know that he would at last reject even Thy

image and Thy truth, if he is weighed down with the fearful burden

of free choice? They will cry aloud at last that the truth is not in

Thee, for they could not have been left in greater confusion and

suffering than Thou hast caused, laying upon them so many cares and

unanswerable problems.

 

“‘So that, in truth, Thou didst Thyself lay the foundation for the

destruction of Thy kingdom, and no one is more to blame for it. Yet

what was offered Thee? There are three powers, three powers alone,

able to conquer and to hold captive for ever the conscience of these

impotent rebels for their happiness those forces are miracle,

mystery and authority. Thou hast rejected all three and hast set the

example for doing so. When the wise and dread spirit set Thee on the

pinnacle of the temple and said to Thee, “If Thou wouldst know whether

Thou art the Son of God then cast Thyself down, for it is written: the

angels shall hold him up lest he fall and bruise himself, and Thou

shalt know then whether Thou art the Son of God and shalt prove then

how great is Thy faith in Thy Father.” But Thou didst refuse and

wouldst not cast Thyself down. Oh, of course, Thou didst proudly and

well,