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

like God; but the weak, unruly race of men, are they gods? Oh,

Thou didst know then that in taking one step, in making one movement

to cast Thyself down, Thou wouldst be tempting God and have lost all

Thy faith in Him, and wouldst have been dashed to pieces against

that earth which Thou didst come to save. And the wise spirit that

tempted Thee would have rejoiced. But I ask again, are there many like

Thee? And couldst Thou believe for one moment that men, too, could

face such a temptation? Is the nature of men such, that they can

reject miracle, and at the great moments of their life, the moments of

their deepest, most agonising spiritual difficulties, cling only to

the free verdict of the heart? Oh, Thou didst know that Thy deed would

be recorded in books, would be handed down to remote times and the

utmost ends of the earth, and Thou didst hope that man, following

Thee, would cling to God and not ask for a miracle. But Thou didst not

know that when man rejects miracle he rejects God too; for man seeks

not so much God as the miraculous. And as man cannot bear to be

without the miraculous, he will create new miracles of his own for

himself, and will worship deeds of sorcery and witchcraft, though he

might be a hundred times over a rebel, heretic and infidel. Thou didst

not come down from the Cross when they shouted to Thee, mocking and

reviling Thee, “Come down from the cross and we will believe that Thou

art He.” Thou didst not come down, for again Thou wouldst not

enslave man by a miracle, and didst crave faith given freely, not

based on miracle. Thou didst crave for free love and not the base

raptures of the slave before the might that has overawed him for ever.

But Thou didst think too highly of men therein, for they are slaves,

of course, though rebellious by nature. Look round and judge;

fifteen centuries have passed, look upon them. Whom hast Thou raised

up to Thyself? I swear, man is weaker and baser by nature than Thou

hast believed him! Can he, can he do what Thou didst? By showing him

so much respect, Thou didst, as it were, cease to feel for him, for

Thou didst ask far too much from him-Thou who hast loved him more

than Thyself! Respecting him less, Thou wouldst have asked less of

him. That would have been more like love, for his burden would have

been lighter. He is weak and vile. What though he is everywhere now

rebelling against our power, and proud of his rebellion? It is the

pride of a child and a schoolboy. They are little children rioting and

barring out the teacher at school. But their childish delight will

end; it will cost them dear. Mankind as a whole has always striven

to organise a universal state. There have been many great nations with

great histories, but the more highly they were developed the more

unhappy they were, for they felt more acutely than other people the

craving for world-wide union. The great conquerors, Timours and

Ghenghis-Khans, whirled like hurricanes over the face of the earth

striving to subdue its people, and they too were but the unconscious

expression of the same craving for universal unity. Hadst Thou taken

the world and Caesar’s purple, Thou wouldst have founded the universal

state and have given universal peace. For who can rule men if not he

who holds their conscience and their bread in his hands? We have taken

the sword of Caesar, and in taking it, of course, have rejected Thee

and followed him. Oh, ages are yet to come of the confusion of free

thought, of their science and cannibalism. For having begun to build

their tower of Babel without us, they will end, of course, with

cannibalism. But then the beast will crawl to us and lick our feet and

spatter them with tears of blood. And we shall sit upon the beast

and raise the cup, and on it will be written, “Mystery.” But then, and

only then, the reign of peace and happiness will come for men. Thou

art proud of Thine elect, but Thou hast only the elect, while we

give rest to all. And besides, how many of those elect, those mighty

ones who could become elect, have grown weary waiting for Thee, and

have transferred and will transfer the powers of their spirit and

the warmth of their heart to the other camp, and end by raising

their free banner against Thee. Thou didst Thyself lift up that

banner. But with us all will be happy and will no more rebel nor

destroy one another as under Thy freedom. Oh, we shall persuade them

that they will only become free when they renounce their freedom to us

and submit to us. And shall we be right or shall we be lying? They

will be convinced that we are right, for they will remember the

horrors of slavery and confusion to which Thy freedom brought them.

Freedom, free thought, and science will lead them into such straits

and will bring them face to face with such marvels and insoluble

mysteries, that some of them, the fierce and rebellious, will

destroy themselves, others, rebellious but weak, will destroy one

another, while the rest, weak and unhappy, will crawl fawning to our

feet and whine to us: “Yes, you were right, you alone possess His

mystery, and we come back to you, save us from ourselves!”

 

“‘Receiving bread from us, they will see clearly that we take

the bread made by their hands from them, to give it to them, without

any miracle. They will see that we do not change the stones to

bread, but in truth they will be more thankful for taking it from

our hands than for the bread itself! For they will remember only too

well that in old days, without our help, even the bread they made

turned to stones in their hands, while since they have come back to

us, the very stones have turned to bread in their hands. Too, too well

will they know the value of complete submission! And until men know

that, they will be unhappy. Who is most to blame for their not knowing

it?-speak! Who scattered the flock and sent it astray on unknown

paths? But the flock will come together again and will submit once

more, and then it will be once for all. Then we shall give them the

quiet humble happiness of weak creatures such as they are by nature.

Oh, we shall persuade them at last not to be proud, for Thou didst

lift them up and thereby taught them to be proud. We shall show them

that they are weak, that they are only pitiful children, but that

childlike happiness is the sweetest of all. They will become timid and

will look to us and huddle close to us in fear, as chicks to the

hen. They will marvel at us and will be awe-stricken before us, and

will be proud at our being so powerful and clever that we have been

able to subdue such a turbulent flock of thousands of millions. They

will tremble impotently before our wrath, their minds will grow

fearful, they will be quick to shed tears like women and children, but

they will be just as ready at a sign from us to pass to laughter and

rejoicing, to happy mirth and childish song. Yes, we shall set them to

work, but in their leisure hours we shall make their life like a

child’s game, with children’s songs and innocent dance. Oh, we shall

allow them even sin, they are weak and helpless, and they will love us

like children because we allow them to sin. We shall tell them that

every sin will be expiated, if it is done with our permission, that we

allow them to sin because we love them, and the punishment for these

sins we take upon ourselves. And we shall take it upon ourselves,

and they will adore us as their saviours who have taken on

themselves their sins before God. And they will have no secrets from

us. We shall allow or forbid them to live with their wives and

mistresses, to have or not to have children according to whether

they have been obedient or disobedient-and they will submit to us

gladly and cheerfully. The most painful secrets of their conscience,

all, all they will bring to us, and we shall have an answer for all.

And they will be glad to believe our answer, for it will save them

from the great anxiety and terrible agony they endure at present in

making a free decision for themselves. And all will be happy, all

the millions of creatures except the hundred thousand who rule over

them. For only we, we who guard the mystery, shall be unhappy. There

will be thousands of millions of happy babes, and a hundred thousand

sufferers who have taken upon themselves the curse of the knowledge of

good and evil. Peacefully they will die, peacefully they will expire

in Thy name, and beyond the grave they will find nothing but death.

But we shall keep the secret, and for their happiness we shall

allure them with the reward of heaven and eternity. Though if there

were anything in the other world, it certainly would not be for such

as they. It is prophesied that Thou wilt come again in victory, Thou

wilt come with Thy chosen, the proud and strong, but we will say

that they have only saved themselves, but we have saved all. We are

told that the harlot who sits upon the beast, and holds in her hands

the mystery, shall be put to shame, that the weak will rise up

again, and will rend her royal purple and will strip naked her

loathsome body. But then I will stand up and point out to Thee the

thousand millions of happy children who have known no sin. And we

who have taken their sins upon us for their happiness will stand up

before Thee and say: “Judge us if Thou canst and darest.” Know that

I fear Thee not. Know that I too have been in the wilderness, I too

have lived on roots and locusts, I too prized the freedom with which

Thou hast blessed men, and I too was striving to stand among Thy

elect, among the strong and powerful, thirsting “to make up the

number.” But I awakened and would not serve madness. I turned back and

joined the ranks of those who have corrected Thy work. I left the

proud and went back to the humble, for the happiness of the humble.

What I say to Thee will come to pass, and our dominion will be built

up. I repeat, to-morrow Thou shalt see that obedient flock who at a

sign from me will hasten to heap up the hot cinders about the pile

on which I shall burn Thee for coming to hinder us. For if anyone

has ever deserved our fires, it is Thou. To-morrow I shall burn

Thee. Dixi.’”*

 

* I have spoken.

 

Ivan stopped. He was carried away as he talked, and spoke with

excitement; when he had finished, he suddenly smiled.

 

Alyosha had listened in silence; towards the end he was greatly

moved and seemed several times on the point of interrupting, but

restrained himself. Now his words came with a rush.

 

“But… that’s absurd!” he cried, flushing. “Your poem is in

praise of Jesus, not in blame of Him-as you meant it to be. And who

will believe you about freedom? Is that the way to understand it?

That’s not the idea of it in the Orthodox Church…. That’s Rome,

and not