Heavenomics - To Die Is Gain
This podcast digs deep into the history of true Christianity and the documents it has produced to help believers understand the true cost of discipleship and how to be rich in God.
Heavenomics - To Die Is Gain
Tolstoy: The Unsung Protestant Reformer of Russia
What if the path to true peace and justice isn't through resistance, but through embracing the concept of non-resistance to evil? Inspired by Leo Tolstoy's profound spiritual journey and his disillusionment with institutionalized religion, we explore how his radical interpretation of "do not resist evil" redefines strength and justice. Rather than advocating passive submission, Tolstoy's philosophy calls for an inner resilience that challenges societal norms and critiques institutions like courts and governments. We unpack how his transformative ideas demand personal reflection and emphasize that real change must begin within ourselves—echoing his belief that the "kingdom of God is within you."
Join us as we reflect on Tolstoy's exploration of idealism and the often messy reality of change through the lens of his fiction. His flawed characters struggle with maintaining their principles in a complex world, mirroring our own battles with systems of violence and oppression. Tolstoy's timeless challenge invites us to examine our roles and make conscious choices that embody the change we wish to see. As we contemplate the possibilities of embracing non-resistance in our own lives, we are reminded that building a better world begins with individual transformation, one act of love and non-resistance at a time.
So you're really like diving deep into Tolstoy this time, huh.
Speaker 2:Into the deep end, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:What I believe the kingdom of God is within you. These are like heavy hitters, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those will make you think.
Speaker 1:And then like throwing war and peace and resurrection into the mix. Quite the line and even Anna Karenina, like whoa, you're not messing around.
Speaker 2:It's clear you're interested in how Tolstoy's faith and his fiction kind of intertwined.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2:And you've zeroed in on a concept that honestly consumed him non-resistance to evil.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the one that like really jumped out at me. It just seems so like radical, almost I don't know counterintuitive, like how do you even, where do you even begin with that idea?
Speaker 2:But what's so fascinating is that Tolstoy he didn't start with like a clear vision. You know he actually began in this state of like deep spiritual crisis.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, I can. I can relate to that. Sometimes you got to you know, wrestle with the big questions before you can find any answers.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and Tolstoy was wrestling with some doozies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I bet.
Speaker 2:He loved the Sermon on the Mount, the message of love and forgiveness, but he was deeply troubled by how the church, at least as he saw it at the time, seemed to like contradict those very teachings.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting. So it's like he was seeing this like huge disconnect between the words and then like the actual practice.
Speaker 2:Precisely, like huge disconnect between the words and then like the actual practice, precisely. He was frustrated, really frustrated, that the church, at least as he saw it, focused more on, you know, dogma and ritual than on the core message of Christ, like the love, humility, self-denial Right. He even questioned if the church in its current form at the time truly represented Christ's message at all.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a bold statement. What did he do with all that frustration? Did he just like walk away from faith entirely?
Speaker 2:He very well could have.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But instead he does something I think even more interesting he dies headfirst into the Gospels. Oh wow, he wanted to understand for himself. You know, going straight to the source, and that's where he has this like aha moment, you know what I mean, this moment that changes everything for him.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, I'm on the edge of my seat. What was the like? The big revelation.
Speaker 2:He fixates on the phrase do not resist evil, and this becomes like his guiding principle.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:This lens through which he begins to understand not just Christianity, but life itself.
Speaker 1:Wow, but isn't that like the opposite of what most people think? Don't we usually talk about like fighting for what's right and standing up to injustice?
Speaker 2:Exactly, and that's what makes Tolstoy so radical, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But it's important to understand what he meant by non-resistance. Okay, he wasn't advocating for like passive submission. He wasn't saying you know, be a doormat Right. It's not about seeking suffering or or letting people walk all over you.
Speaker 1:OK, good, because that's. That's kind of what I was worried about.
Speaker 2:Right, of course yeah. So how did he interpret it then? How did he, how did he understand it?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Think of it this way Imagine a father sending his son on this like dangerous journey okay the father. He doesn't want his son to suffer. Obviously yeah but he knows that hardship might come right, so he prepares him, he equips him to to face those challenges without being, without being consumed by them.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's closer to what tolstoy meant so it's more about, like, inner strength, you know and and resilience, like preparing yourself to to face whatever comes your way.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and this realization, this realization that that non-resistance wasn't about weakness, but about this inner strength.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It completely reshaped Tolstoy's worldview.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:He began to question everything the courts, the government, even something as commonplace as anger. You know he looked at all of it through this new lens of non-resistance.
Speaker 1:Oh God, let's unpack that a bit. How did he, how did he apply this idea to like concrete things, like like governments, court systems? I mean, that seems like a huge leap from like turn the other cheek.
Speaker 2:It is a leap, and that's what makes Tolstoy so so challenging, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He looked at these he saw systems that were built on violence.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Coercion, yeah, the threat of punishment.
Speaker 1:He was basically saying they're the opposite of love and forgiveness.
Speaker 2:Exactly. He argued that true justice, true peace, it couldn't come from these systems. They might maintain order on the outside right, sure, but they weren't addressing the root causes of conflict, the anger, the greed, the desire for power that fueled these systems in the first place.
Speaker 1:So if he's questioning these fundamental institutions, then what's the alternative? What did he envision taking their place?
Speaker 2:That's where we get into some really, really fascinating territory. Tolstoy believed that true change, lasting change, it had to start with the individual, it had to start with inner transformation.
Speaker 1:This is where the kingdom of God is within you comes in.
Speaker 2:Yes, the title itself is key to understanding Tolstoy's whole philosophy. It's not talking about some physical kingdom, he's talking about a spiritual one, a state of being where love and compassion, where those things reign. And he believed that achieving this inner kingdom, this was the key to transforming the outer world.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's a lot to process. We've gone from like a spiritual crisis to questioning the very foundations of society, and all because of this radical idea of non-resistance. So where do we go from here?
Speaker 2:Now we need to dive deeper into what non-resistance actually looks like in practice. Okay, because it's one thing to talk about, you know, inner transformation and all that. But how did Tolstoy see this playing out in the real world, in the messiness of human relationships and societal structures? How does that actually work?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm really curious about that because it still feels like a pretty tall order.
Speaker 2:You're telling me it's a tall order and Tolstoy knew that. He knew that better than anyone, probably.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:He wasn't just preaching from some ivory tower. This wasn't just some theory he came up with in his head.
Speaker 1:Oh, so he was actually trying to like live this out himself.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah. He grappled with these ideas in his own life and he and he wrote about those struggles you know, openly, Wow. Take the issue of like military service, for example.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:Refusing to serve in the military back then Huge, huge act of defiance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I bet that's like I don't know, refusing to pay your taxes today, or like skipping jury duty. You're basically saying I don't even recognize the authority of this system.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and Tolstoy saw this as like a key example of how non-resistance could challenge the status quo, really shake things up. He argued that true Christians, the ones who truly followed the teachings of Christ, they, couldn't in good conscience participate in violence, not even in the name of the state.
Speaker 1:Wow, but that's such a I don't know, that's a tough stance to take. You know, especially back then, Were there any like real world examples he could point to people who are actually like living this way?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, he often pointed to the Quakers.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting.
Speaker 2:And their staunch pacifism. I mean, here's a group that have been living out this principle of nonviolence for centuries, often feeling persecution for their beliefs, and Tolstoy saw them as like a powerful testament to this idea that a different way of life was possible.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's refusing to participate in war, but you said he like Applied this to all aspects of life. Like, what else did he? Did he target? Oh, everything yeah.
Speaker 2:Paying taxes, swearing oaths in court, yeah, even the whole system of land ownership. Well, he believed that true non-resistance. It meant constantly questioning, constantly questioning the structures of power and privilege that that surrounded us.
Speaker 1:So he wasn't just talking about like individual acts of pacifism, but like a whole different way of organizing society.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and that's where, that's where the kingdom of God is within you comes back in. He believed that if, if enough individuals, you know, if enough people could achieve that inner transformation, that commitment to love and nonviolence, then then it would, it would ripple outward.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, creating a society where these, these external systems of control were no longer, they were no longer necessary.
Speaker 1:I'm starting to see why people, why people called him a revolutionary. But that kind of, that kind of radical change, it doesn't come easy, does it.
Speaker 2:Not at all. And Tolstoy, he knew that, he knew that the powers that be they, they wouldn't exactly welcome these ideas, you know, with open arms. Right, he predicted that governments would, would try to silence those who who preach non-resistance. Wow Because they saw them as a threat, a threat to their authority.
Speaker 1:It's like in Anna Karenina, right Like society they shun Anna for for her affair. Yeah, it just shows how, how quickly people can like turn on those who challenge social norms, even if even if they're you know they claim to be like upholding moral values.
Speaker 2:That's a brilliant connection. Tolstoy was was keenly aware of that hypocrisy. He saw it, he saw it all around him. But he also believed that these, these attempts to suppress, to suppress non-resistance, they would backfire.
Speaker 1:Really how so Wouldn't? Wouldn't crushing dissent just make those in authority even more powerful and oppression to maintain their power.
Speaker 2:He believed that this contradiction it would become impossible to ignore and ultimately, it would fuel the movement for change.
Speaker 1:So it's like those wildfires they talk about. Sometimes you have to let the old, dead stuff burn away to make room for new growth.
Speaker 2:That's a powerful analogy and it leads us perfectly into how Tolstoy explored these complex ideas through his fiction. Okay, because he didn't just write about non-resistance in essays and treatises, he brought it to life. He brought it to life through his characters, right With all their flaws and all their contradictions.
Speaker 1:Okay, yes, let's talk about the novels, because we've been throwing around all these big ideas, but I'm dying to see how they actually play out in his stories. So give me some examples.
Speaker 2:Well, take Prince Andrei. In War and Peace, for example. He starts out ambitious, chasing glory on the battlefield, but after experiencing the horrors of war like firsthand, he undergoes this profound transformation. Right, he realizes that true fulfillment it isn't found in conquest and violence.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's found in compassion in connection.
Speaker 1:So it's like the reality of war just shattered his illusions about what truly matters.
Speaker 2:Exactly and his journey it kind of reflects Tolstoy's own, his own evolving views on violence and the emptiness of worldly ambition.
Speaker 1:It's like he went from like seeking glory to questioning the whole point of war.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and that's a question that haunts a lot of Tolstoy's characters, I think. Think of Levin and Anna Karenina.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Here's a guy wrestling with faith, trying to reconcile his own privilege with this deep desire to live a more just and compassionate life. How do you actually do that?
Speaker 1:Right. He's trying to figure out how to treat his workers fairly, how to live ethically in a world that often seems to reward self-interest above all else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah seems to reward like self-interest above all else. Yeah, yeah. He embodies that inner struggle, that tension between the world as it is and the world as Tolstoy believed it could be.
Speaker 1:And then there's Nekludov in Resurrection. He like takes this whole idea of non-resistance to a whole other level.
Speaker 2:Oh, tell me about it With that radical land redistribution plan right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean wow.
Speaker 1:That's a bold move, but I Definitely not.
Speaker 2:He faces resistance from all sides his family, his friends, even some of the peasants themselves.
Speaker 1:Really why the peasants? I feel like they'd be all for like getting some land back.
Speaker 2:Somewhere, of course. But Tolstoy was keenly aware of the complexities of social change. It's not always so simple. He understood that even well-intentioned actions they can have you know unintended consequences. Yeah, some peasants were suspicious of Nick Ludo's motives, right?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:What's he really after? Yeah, while others were just afraid, afraid of disrupting the existing order, even if it was an unjust one.
Speaker 1:That's a really important point. It's easy to get like caught up in the idealism of these ideas.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that's a really important point.
Speaker 1:It's easy to get caught up in the idealism of these ideas? Oh yeah, for sure. But real change? It's messy, it's unpredictable.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and that's the genius of Tolstoy's fiction, right, yeah, he doesn't offer these easy answers. All right, he doesn't paint some simplistic picture of what non-resistance is supposed to look like, is supposed to look like His characters are. They're complex, they're flawed, they're you know, they're individuals who stumble and they make mistakes as they try to navigate these principles in a world that often feels you know at odds with them.
Speaker 1:So it's not about achieving some like perfect state of non-resistant bliss, but rather about the struggle, the journey itself.
Speaker 2:Exactly, it's about that constant questioning, that commitment to self-reflection, you know, to growth, yeah, even when it's difficult, even when you fail. And that's what makes Tolstoy so relevant, even today, because he's not just talking about some abstract, you know, philosophical concept. He's talking about the human condition. Abstract, you know, philosophical concept. He's talking about the human condition. He's talking about this struggle that we all face to live up to, to our ideals in a world that often, you know, tempts us to compromise them.
Speaker 1:It makes me think about that quote from what I believe, where Tolstoy writes everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Speaker 2:That's the heart of it, isn't it? Yeah, tolstoy challenges us. He challenges us to look inward, to examine, to examine our own complicity in the, the systems of violence and oppression that we, that we claim to oppose. He's asking us to to do the hard work of the hard work of self-transformation, to actually embody the change that we, that we want to see in the world.
Speaker 1:So where does that? Where does that leave us? What? What are we supposed to do with all of this?
Speaker 2:I think Tolstoy would say that, that the first step is awareness.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It's about recognizing the ways in which we all resist. We resist love, we resist forgiveness.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We resist the possibility of a different way of being. And then it's about making different choices in our own lives, in our relationships and the way we engage with the world around us.
Speaker 1:It's about recognizing that the kingdom, as Tolstoy saw, isn't some far-off utopia. It's something we build.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:One act of love, one act of forgiveness, one act of non-resistance at a time.
Speaker 2:Exactly. And while Tolstoy acknowledged that achieving a truly non-resistant society it seemed like a distant dream, he believed that, that every step we take in that direction, every act of love, every act of compassion, it brings us closer to that possibility this incredible, like deep dive into Tolstoy's world.
Speaker 1:I'm left with this question what would it look like for me to embrace even just a fraction of this, this radical idea of non-resistance, in my own life? Like what would I have to change, what would I have to like let go of, and what new possibilities might open up if I had the courage to actually try?
Speaker 2:Those are the questions I think that Tolstoy would want us to grapple with. Yeah, because they're not just about, you know, understanding his work. They're about understanding ourselves and the world we want to create.