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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
I cannot fathom why I find Tolstoy so contemptible all throughout this book. Perhaps I project anger onto his noncommital tendencies. Regardless, the book doesn’t put forward a lot of original content. The journey from rich asshole to faithful commonman is a tale as old as the good book itself. In fact, as a man who proclaimed to have judiciously surveyed the scriptures as a youth, I cannot believe he ignored the parallels of many parables to his own life much earlier. Perhaps we wrestle with the abyss too frequently in these times, but I found this infuriating and repetitive in none of the good ways.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Feels weird giving a star rating to such a deeply personal essay. This one offers insight into Tolstoy's thought processes during the most difficult phase of his life, and despite the heavy sense of existential despair, manages to find a bright spot of hope to leave off on.
Tolstoy se cansó de la joda y se volvió cristiano ¿católico? No sé, muy bueno el narrador (escuché el audiolibro) pero discúlpame Tolstoy sos re vueltero. De todas formas este tipo de obras son más para leer que para escuchar pero me pareció un bodrio bárbaro.
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Second read through. Understood it way more and accordingly enjoyed it way more. Also, sometimes books just find you at the right time. His description of "faith" is beautiful and complex. I can't sum it up too well but will lay down first some thoughts I had a week ago and some thoughts I had once he started to describe his "faith."
Before hand:
""Agnostic existentialism is a type of existentialism which makes no claim to know whether there is a "greater picture"; rather, it simply asserts that THE GREATEST TRUTH IS THAT WHICH THE INDIVIDUAL CHOOSES TO ACT UPON."
Importantly, all of this leaves the possibility for an individual to act upon an apparent truth that there is a greater picture and meaning to existence. To me, this ability to recognize the apparent absurdity of having knowledge of the ultimate why but refusing to fall into nihilism, while also attempting to act as if you have knowledge of the ultimate why and that it is good is conceptually what I consider to be God. God to me is the ideas or truth that I can without hypocrisy act as if there is a greater meaning to life and that it is good while fully acknowledging my own apparent impossibility of actually knowing it to be so."
During and after:
"To think of God as a being means nothing to me and and as such serves no purpose. What serves me it is to think of God as being meaning and as such a purpose."
This book is amazing.
Before hand:
""Agnostic existentialism is a type of existentialism which makes no claim to know whether there is a "greater picture"; rather, it simply asserts that THE GREATEST TRUTH IS THAT WHICH THE INDIVIDUAL CHOOSES TO ACT UPON."
Importantly, all of this leaves the possibility for an individual to act upon an apparent truth that there is a greater picture and meaning to existence. To me, this ability to recognize the apparent absurdity of having knowledge of the ultimate why but refusing to fall into nihilism, while also attempting to act as if you have knowledge of the ultimate why and that it is good is conceptually what I consider to be God. God to me is the ideas or truth that I can without hypocrisy act as if there is a greater meaning to life and that it is good while fully acknowledging my own apparent impossibility of actually knowing it to be so."
During and after:
"To think of God as a being means nothing to me and and as such serves no purpose. What serves me it is to think of God as being meaning and as such a purpose."
This book is amazing.
dark
reflective
fast-paced
A super relatable and honest description of a man who materially has everything and more, spiralling at the possibility that there may not be meaning out there, and desperately searching so he can live.
Particularly relevant to many including myself in the modern, western world, with enough to get by, but this feeling is not exclusive to the middle class either (and Tolstoy gives the peasants as an example of this)
It's fascinating that this account is echoed through the ages. Even now in an era where societal focus has shifted from striving toward a common purpose for outward good (e.g. winning a war), to rampant individualism and neglect for the need of a transcendental being. It's interesting to know that regardless of this distraction, there is still a huge collective desire for meaning, and many are still turning to God for it
Particularly relevant to many including myself in the modern, western world, with enough to get by, but this feeling is not exclusive to the middle class either (and Tolstoy gives the peasants as an example of this)
It's fascinating that this account is echoed through the ages. Even now in an era where societal focus has shifted from striving toward a common purpose for outward good (e.g. winning a war), to rampant individualism and neglect for the need of a transcendental being. It's interesting to know that regardless of this distraction, there is still a huge collective desire for meaning, and many are still turning to God for it
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
"I no longer had any doubts and was firmly convinced that the teachings of the faith with which I had associated myself were not all true. At one time I would have said that all of it was a lie; but now it was impossible to say this. There could be no doubt that all of the people had a knowledge of the truth, for othewise they would not be living. Moreover, this knowledge of the truth was already accessible to me; already I was living by it and could feel that this was indeed the truth; but in these teachings there was also a lie. There was no doubt about it. And everything that had previously repelled me was now vividly before me."
Book 178 out of 200 books
"A Confession" by Leo Tolstoy
Less than a hundred pages in length depending on the editions, "A Confession" is an autobiographical essay by Leo Tolstoy, written from the years 1879-1880, but not published until the year 1882. It is Leo Tolstoy's confession on becoming a Christian once, then renouncing the faith in his youth because of other matters of war, womanizing and other wimps of Tolstoy's youthful time. Being in a moral and identity crisis around the same time writing "War and Peace", Tolstoy then wanted religion once more in his life, becoming a Christian again by the time he was in his 40s and starting a family.
MY THOUGHTS:
A great short work by Leo Tolstoy. I decided to download this work alongside Baudelaire's "The Flowers of Evil", then the Children's tale "The Story of Napoleon" and finally "The Song of Roland"- the First and early French epic, all for my vacation reading.
This book took me 2 hours to read but it was alright. Well, I must admit myself that I grew back to liking only a bit of Tolstoy, but an efficient supplement is this book to my reading on spiritual and religious works.
"A Confession" by Leo Tolstoy
Less than a hundred pages in length depending on the editions, "A Confession" is an autobiographical essay by Leo Tolstoy, written from the years 1879-1880, but not published until the year 1882. It is Leo Tolstoy's confession on becoming a Christian once, then renouncing the faith in his youth because of other matters of war, womanizing and other wimps of Tolstoy's youthful time. Being in a moral and identity crisis around the same time writing "War and Peace", Tolstoy then wanted religion once more in his life, becoming a Christian again by the time he was in his 40s and starting a family.
MY THOUGHTS:
A great short work by Leo Tolstoy. I decided to download this work alongside Baudelaire's "The Flowers of Evil", then the Children's tale "The Story of Napoleon" and finally "The Song of Roland"- the First and early French epic, all for my vacation reading.
This book took me 2 hours to read but it was alright. Well, I must admit myself that I grew back to liking only a bit of Tolstoy, but an efficient supplement is this book to my reading on spiritual and religious works.