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A Confession
Describing Tolstoy's crisis of depression and estrangement from the world, A Confession is an autobiographical work of exceptional emotional honesty. It describes his search for 'a practical religion not promising future bliss but giving bliss on earth'. Although the Confession led to his excommunication, it also resulted in a large following of Tolstoyan Christians springing up throughout Russia and Europe. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves – and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives – and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.
102 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 31, 2013
10 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Leo Tolstoy
7,982 books28.6k followersLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 12, 2020
A parte da fé eu não consigo me identificar, mas tudo o resto está excelente. Tolstoy is one of the best 🧡
May 1, 2021
Do not read if you like War & Peace
A bit disappointing to read thus after making it through War & Peace. It is interesting to read the perspective of a clearly very smart person doing the mental gymnastics required for religious belief. I find it curious such a great author and father of 10+ did not find enough meaning in that alone. I actually think this is a great essay on the perils of ideology and also on why we should respect religion, so for that I give it four stars.
Tolstoy outlines his own despair at the “for what?” question of existence, and resigns himself to religion out of necessity. In a good comment on Orthodoxy very much applicable today, “Nowadays, as before, the public declaration and confession of Orthodoxy is usually encountered among dull-witted, cruel and immoral people who tend to consider themselves very important. Whereas intelligence, honesty, straightforwardness, good-naturedness and morality are qualities usually found among people who claim to be non-believers.” I think this as true as pertains to believers in all manner of ideology. Tolstoy writes about his circle of cronies who thought they would outthink and outwrite everyone who had ever attempted to do so without having hardly lived any life at all, “At the time we were all convinced that we must talk and talk and write and publish as quickly as possible, and as much as possible, and that this was all necessary for the good of mankind. And thousands of us, contradicting and abusing one another, published and wrote with the aim of teaching others. Failing to notice that we knew nothing, that we did not know the answer to the most basic question of life – what is good and what is evil – we all spoke at the same time, never listening to one another.” This last part, like Twitter. Tolstoy began to feel the ideology of progress was not good, and how for him morality came to be about what he himself felt, “...judgements on what is good and necessary must not be based on what other people say and do, or on progress, but on the instincts of my own soul.” All early activities, “‘Vanity of vanities,’ says Solomon, ‘all is vanity.’” For me, sheds eyes on thinking that not everyone could experience happiness in an increased understanding; indeed, Nietzsche points out in the Religious Disposition that many people do not want to know. “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” (Sorrow for some). In the face of this sorrow and despair, for Tolstoy, “faith provided the meaning of life and the possibility of living.” “In order for mankind to live and to perpetuate life, instilling it with meaning,” “I had come to faith because apart from it I had found nothing, absolutely nothing, other than destruction; it was therefore impossible to give up the faith, and so I submitted.” On why people cannot acknowledge what is, they do not want to say bad things about themself, “The truth has always been the truth, just as 2 × 2 = 4, but I had not admitted it, because in acknowledging that 2 × 2 = 4 I would have had to admit that I was a bad man. And it was more important and necessary for me to feel that I was good than to admit that 2 × 2 = 4.” Tolstoy points out that many “"will never stop to ask why he is there,” many will never say “This is water.” On one faith vs. another, “the assertion that you live in falsehood and I in truth is the most cruel thing that one man can say to another and secondly, because a man who loves his children and his brothers cannot help feeling hostile towards those who want to convert his children and his brothers to a false belief... I was struck by the fact that theology was destroying the thing it should be advancing.” On the inevitabilities of orthodoxy, “...it has always been necessary to use force in carrying out human duties. Just as it has always been applied, so it is now, and always will be. If two religions each consider that they hold the truth and the other a lie, then in order to convert their brothers to the truth they will each preach their own doctrines. And if a false doctrine is taught to the inexperienced sons of the Church which holds the truth, then that Church will have no choice other than to burn the books and banish the person who is leading his sons into temptation.” This is why, in a Democracy, we should not be subscribing to ideology, but should carefully consider with critical thinking.
A bit disappointing to read thus after making it through War & Peace. It is interesting to read the perspective of a clearly very smart person doing the mental gymnastics required for religious belief. I find it curious such a great author and father of 10+ did not find enough meaning in that alone. I actually think this is a great essay on the perils of ideology and also on why we should respect religion, so for that I give it four stars.
Tolstoy outlines his own despair at the “for what?” question of existence, and resigns himself to religion out of necessity. In a good comment on Orthodoxy very much applicable today, “Nowadays, as before, the public declaration and confession of Orthodoxy is usually encountered among dull-witted, cruel and immoral people who tend to consider themselves very important. Whereas intelligence, honesty, straightforwardness, good-naturedness and morality are qualities usually found among people who claim to be non-believers.” I think this as true as pertains to believers in all manner of ideology. Tolstoy writes about his circle of cronies who thought they would outthink and outwrite everyone who had ever attempted to do so without having hardly lived any life at all, “At the time we were all convinced that we must talk and talk and write and publish as quickly as possible, and as much as possible, and that this was all necessary for the good of mankind. And thousands of us, contradicting and abusing one another, published and wrote with the aim of teaching others. Failing to notice that we knew nothing, that we did not know the answer to the most basic question of life – what is good and what is evil – we all spoke at the same time, never listening to one another.” This last part, like Twitter. Tolstoy began to feel the ideology of progress was not good, and how for him morality came to be about what he himself felt, “...judgements on what is good and necessary must not be based on what other people say and do, or on progress, but on the instincts of my own soul.” All early activities, “‘Vanity of vanities,’ says Solomon, ‘all is vanity.’” For me, sheds eyes on thinking that not everyone could experience happiness in an increased understanding; indeed, Nietzsche points out in the Religious Disposition that many people do not want to know. “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” (Sorrow for some). In the face of this sorrow and despair, for Tolstoy, “faith provided the meaning of life and the possibility of living.” “In order for mankind to live and to perpetuate life, instilling it with meaning,” “I had come to faith because apart from it I had found nothing, absolutely nothing, other than destruction; it was therefore impossible to give up the faith, and so I submitted.” On why people cannot acknowledge what is, they do not want to say bad things about themself, “The truth has always been the truth, just as 2 × 2 = 4, but I had not admitted it, because in acknowledging that 2 × 2 = 4 I would have had to admit that I was a bad man. And it was more important and necessary for me to feel that I was good than to admit that 2 × 2 = 4.” Tolstoy points out that many “"will never stop to ask why he is there,” many will never say “This is water.” On one faith vs. another, “the assertion that you live in falsehood and I in truth is the most cruel thing that one man can say to another and secondly, because a man who loves his children and his brothers cannot help feeling hostile towards those who want to convert his children and his brothers to a false belief... I was struck by the fact that theology was destroying the thing it should be advancing.” On the inevitabilities of orthodoxy, “...it has always been necessary to use force in carrying out human duties. Just as it has always been applied, so it is now, and always will be. If two religions each consider that they hold the truth and the other a lie, then in order to convert their brothers to the truth they will each preach their own doctrines. And if a false doctrine is taught to the inexperienced sons of the Church which holds the truth, then that Church will have no choice other than to burn the books and banish the person who is leading his sons into temptation.” This is why, in a Democracy, we should not be subscribing to ideology, but should carefully consider with critical thinking.
July 30, 2017
This is my first experience with Tolstoy, and I'm astounded. I was swept away by his insight, and consistently intrigued by what he had to say about faith and the role it has in our lives. His prose were astoundingly straightforward, and besides going in circles sometimes when he was relating all his musings back to his own life, I found it very easy to read. It goes without saying this is an incredible (long) essay, and I'd recommend it to anyone. I'm still in rapture over the last couple pages; in particular the last sentence.
September 3, 2018
Tolstoy's questions of life and faith mirror some of my own, albiet many people's questions I am sure. I enjoyed the journey it took my mind on and the thought of faith through love and unity. I was a little dissapointed in the lack of answers I feel I have but I suppose that is for me to find on my own.
October 4, 2023
While Tolstoy's writing is extremely clear, it makes little sense to me.
It's easy to point out passages about his declinging mental health and his struggle with everyday life but simultaneously it's just as contradictory. He talks about all of the points that give him joy and reason in life before completely annihilatin his argumentations with a simple negation.
I didn't like it.
It's easy to point out passages about his declinging mental health and his struggle with everyday life but simultaneously it's just as contradictory. He talks about all of the points that give him joy and reason in life before completely annihilatin his argumentations with a simple negation.
I didn't like it.
October 21, 2020
not finding much time to read at the moment, so these small great ideas series books are great, and this one was such an interesting read, in the form of a very extended essay about Tolstoy's relationship with his faith, which was very much reflected in Pierre's journey in War and Peace.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews