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A review by zeinabali
The Brothers Karamazov: Volume 2 by Fyodor Dostoevsky
5.0
This chapter was bizarre. I haven't even finished the second volume yet, but it's practically hard for me to get through this chapter without having a little internal discussion over it. I'm listening to Hozier while having these thoughts, and I can't imagine a more ecstasy state of mind to have this chat. Let's begin, shall we?
Starting by how Ivan chose to leave out adults from the conversation at the very beginning of the chapter to demonstrate a highly delicate matter. God's judgement. He will not even speak of the adult human's suffering because he has already "eaten the apple," and he is responsible for his own deeds. He chooses to demonstrate the world's injustice by displaying accidents impacting mainly children. I was completely triggered by his discussion, not because I was unaware of the suffering of those children; in fact, I did experience it myself, but because I was taken aback by how he began the conversation with this, only to end up discussing a highly complicated flaw in human nature.
Their endless hunger for pain. Seeing others suffer, especially defenceless creatures such as animals or children. I've never had genuine empathy for an adult human being, but once a child or an animal is involved, I'll cry like a baby over minor problems, not to mention serious ones. Simply because they have no way whatsoever to protect themselves against their abusers. This highlights how the suffering of those children is an awful price to pay for greater happiness in the afterlife. He refers that God decided not to intervene in all of these children's sufferings because they would be repaid for all of their suffering in the afterlife. But what have they done to even pay the price? And if it wasn't the children who were supposed to pay the price, and they were only used to make their parents suffer over the loss of their children, why should it be them who have to suffer all of this for their parents to pay the price for their own mistakes? If, in the end, the mother will forgive the soldier who killed her child, the father will forgive the man who beaten his own child to death, and the people will forgive the parents who tortured their own children until they died, then what about all of those children? Those who were brutally murdered? How would they forgive their own parents, who were expected to protect them in life but then decided to ignore the bloodshed in order to be close to God's mercy? How can heaven be accepted knowing that this is the price of their happiness? That is when Ivan finishes by rejecting the God who will accept all of these sufferings as a price for greater happiness. And then he challenged Alyosha by putting him in a difficult position by asking him whether he would accept if he had the choice to grant all humans all over the world an unending happiness free of sorrow and suffering in exchange for letting just one child pay for this happiness with his own blood? That's when Alyosha claimed he couldn't, showing that he himself doubts God's judgement.
But God's judgement is something that a mere human being cannot possibly understand. It is beyond this world, and no amount of intellectual effort will ever bring us close. And it's pointless to try to explain any of this because we simply don't have the capacity to comprehend it. But here, Ivan begins to describe how frail a human being may become. And how God raised humans to a much greater level than they deserve. And allowing people complete freedom to choose was the worst decision because man has a very weak soul and will be willing to sell himself for someone who will simply decide for him what to do or not do. Despite the fact that certain persons have a very powerful soul and can decide and follow God blindly believing in him. But they are a small minority in comparison to the rest of humanity, who will spend eternity in hell for not making the right choice.
He then goes on to explain how God will sacrifice all of those humans for the sake of such a small group of people who will reject the devil and choose God. And how, because of the freedom that God gave to humans, he didn't comprehend human nature and how they need someone to teach them what's right and wrong, who to follow and who not to follow. Man will not want to make his own decision since it is too much for him to bear. Humans are in need to restrict their own freedom since there are no limitations or boundaries to what an individual can do if he is free of morality or religious connotations. This is the power the Inquisitor was referring to: the ability to direct humanity and shield them from their own selves. The power that humanity chose to follow rather than being forced to.
In Ivan's story, the Inquisitor, a man who thinks himself an ally of Satan, is portrayed as an honourable human being who acts against God but with humanity's best interests in mind. Ivan does not believe that God acts in the best interests of humans, but the implication that human nature is so weak that it is better to surrender to Satan's power is a radical approach to the dilemma of free will. Ivan's attitude derives from the psychology of doubt; his cynicism prevents him from seeing anything but the negative aspects of human nature. He argues that rather than making their own decisions, people would be better off under the control of even a false religious authority.
God responded by kissing him and then leaving gently. That was all he had to say in response to the Inquisitor's confession to God that he does not follow him, but rather Satan and his ways. Even after all of the accusations levelled against him, God chose to forgive and accept the inquisitor's dissection since he made this choice of his own free will after going with God's will at first and then still choosing to serve Satan. God's forgiveness is always greater than anything. He was looking at him with such merciful eyes that the Inquisitor begged him to be angry with him, but God accepted his own creation's decision to be against him, and just gently left..
Starting by how Ivan chose to leave out adults from the conversation at the very beginning of the chapter to demonstrate a highly delicate matter. God's judgement. He will not even speak of the adult human's suffering because he has already "eaten the apple," and he is responsible for his own deeds. He chooses to demonstrate the world's injustice by displaying accidents impacting mainly children. I was completely triggered by his discussion, not because I was unaware of the suffering of those children; in fact, I did experience it myself, but because I was taken aback by how he began the conversation with this, only to end up discussing a highly complicated flaw in human nature.
Their endless hunger for pain. Seeing others suffer, especially defenceless creatures such as animals or children. I've never had genuine empathy for an adult human being, but once a child or an animal is involved, I'll cry like a baby over minor problems, not to mention serious ones. Simply because they have no way whatsoever to protect themselves against their abusers. This highlights how the suffering of those children is an awful price to pay for greater happiness in the afterlife. He refers that God decided not to intervene in all of these children's sufferings because they would be repaid for all of their suffering in the afterlife. But what have they done to even pay the price? And if it wasn't the children who were supposed to pay the price, and they were only used to make their parents suffer over the loss of their children, why should it be them who have to suffer all of this for their parents to pay the price for their own mistakes? If, in the end, the mother will forgive the soldier who killed her child, the father will forgive the man who beaten his own child to death, and the people will forgive the parents who tortured their own children until they died, then what about all of those children? Those who were brutally murdered? How would they forgive their own parents, who were expected to protect them in life but then decided to ignore the bloodshed in order to be close to God's mercy? How can heaven be accepted knowing that this is the price of their happiness? That is when Ivan finishes by rejecting the God who will accept all of these sufferings as a price for greater happiness. And then he challenged Alyosha by putting him in a difficult position by asking him whether he would accept if he had the choice to grant all humans all over the world an unending happiness free of sorrow and suffering in exchange for letting just one child pay for this happiness with his own blood? That's when Alyosha claimed he couldn't, showing that he himself doubts God's judgement.
But God's judgement is something that a mere human being cannot possibly understand. It is beyond this world, and no amount of intellectual effort will ever bring us close. And it's pointless to try to explain any of this because we simply don't have the capacity to comprehend it. But here, Ivan begins to describe how frail a human being may become. And how God raised humans to a much greater level than they deserve. And allowing people complete freedom to choose was the worst decision because man has a very weak soul and will be willing to sell himself for someone who will simply decide for him what to do or not do. Despite the fact that certain persons have a very powerful soul and can decide and follow God blindly believing in him. But they are a small minority in comparison to the rest of humanity, who will spend eternity in hell for not making the right choice.
He then goes on to explain how God will sacrifice all of those humans for the sake of such a small group of people who will reject the devil and choose God. And how, because of the freedom that God gave to humans, he didn't comprehend human nature and how they need someone to teach them what's right and wrong, who to follow and who not to follow. Man will not want to make his own decision since it is too much for him to bear. Humans are in need to restrict their own freedom since there are no limitations or boundaries to what an individual can do if he is free of morality or religious connotations. This is the power the Inquisitor was referring to: the ability to direct humanity and shield them from their own selves. The power that humanity chose to follow rather than being forced to.
In Ivan's story, the Inquisitor, a man who thinks himself an ally of Satan, is portrayed as an honourable human being who acts against God but with humanity's best interests in mind. Ivan does not believe that God acts in the best interests of humans, but the implication that human nature is so weak that it is better to surrender to Satan's power is a radical approach to the dilemma of free will. Ivan's attitude derives from the psychology of doubt; his cynicism prevents him from seeing anything but the negative aspects of human nature. He argues that rather than making their own decisions, people would be better off under the control of even a false religious authority.
God responded by kissing him and then leaving gently. That was all he had to say in response to the Inquisitor's confession to God that he does not follow him, but rather Satan and his ways. Even after all of the accusations levelled against him, God chose to forgive and accept the inquisitor's dissection since he made this choice of his own free will after going with God's will at first and then still choosing to serve Satan. God's forgiveness is always greater than anything. He was looking at him with such merciful eyes that the Inquisitor begged him to be angry with him, but God accepted his own creation's decision to be against him, and just gently left..