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's Personal Journey from Nihilism to Bornagain Believer
Could the teachings of Leo Tolstoy hold the key to transforming our world? Join us as we unpack the radical Christian philosophy of one of literature's greatest minds, revealing ideas that challenge societal norms and provoke deep reflection on personal beliefs. Tolstoy's journey from celebrated author to spiritual seeker led him to articulate five revolutionary commandments that push us to rethink everything from anger and lust to national divisions. Despite being considered blasphemous by many during his time, Tolstoy's insights into the contradictions between Jesus's teachings and church interpretations continue to resonate, offering a blueprint for peace that begins with compassion and non-violence.
In this episode, we explore the profound implications of living out Tolstoy’s radical beliefs. By examining the disconnect between our actions and inner values, we're encouraged to embrace authenticity and intentionality in our daily lives. This conversation invites you to reflect on the potential power of individual commitment in fostering global change. Rather than seeking grand societal revolutions, could our world be transformed by the simple act of courageously living our truths? Tune in to find out how Tolstoy's philosophy challenges us to imagine and create the world we long to see, starting from within.
Welcome to a deep dive, One that just might turn your world upside down. You know we're exploring the ideas of Leo Tolstoy. Oh, tolstoy yeah someone you probably know as the literary giant behind War and Peace.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And Anna Karenina.
Speaker 2:Classics.
Speaker 1:But get ready for a twist, because we're going way beyond those epic novels today into some seriously radical territory.
Speaker 2:Okay, I like it Radical. Yeah, I like it Radical. Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 1:Tolstoy's explosive and unconventional some might say heretical views on Christianity.
Speaker 2:You're not kidding about explosive. Tolstoy really shook things up with how he interpreted Christian doctrine. We're talking controversial.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Deeply controversial, even considered like blasphemous by some people. Wow, and the thing is over a century later. Yeah, his writings still have this power to make you question, like everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know Wild, right, it's wild.
Speaker 2:Because this wasn't just some ivory tower philosopher.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Spouting off these abstract theories. Right Tolstoy lived through this profound personal crisis that led him to these radical conclusions.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So imagine, yeah, going from, like the celebrated author, right Basically literary royalty.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:To a self-proclaimed nihilist Whoa Questioning, like, the very meaning of existence.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that period of nihilism, yeah, that's key to understanding Tolstoy, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:For him it wasn't just about like rejecting religion, it was rejecting all established values.
Speaker 2:Everything.
Speaker 1:Beliefs everything. He was in a dark place. Wow, Doubting everything.
Speaker 2:So like, how does someone climb out of that?
Speaker 1:Right that existential abyss. Yeah, how do you do it? For Tolstoy, it was by diving headfirst into the source of his turmoil. Okay, the Bible.
Speaker 2:The Bible Okay.
Speaker 1:But this wasn't your typical Sunday school reading.
Speaker 2:Right, right.
Speaker 1:Tolstoy was wrestling with what he saw as these profound contradictions.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Especially between the life of Jesus.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And the way that the church was interpreting his teachings.
Speaker 2:He was fixated on the gospels.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like zeroing in on the actual words of Jesus and get this. One of the biggest contradictions that haunted him was like the church's emphasis on rituals and hierarchy, which he saw as completely opposed to like the core message of Christ's teachings.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, wading through this sea of contradictions, he emerges with what he considers the true essence of Christianity. And it's not about these ornate cathedrals or complex theological debates. Right, he boils it all down to five. Okay, five deceptively simple commandments.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, yeah, and, and these aren't just like guidelines for for personal piety, right Tolstoy saw them as the blueprint.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:For this radical transformation of society itself. Wow, like he firmly believed that if we truly lived by these five principles, it would change everything.
Speaker 1:Everything.
Speaker 2:Our relationships, our institutions, even the world at large.
Speaker 1:Wow, ok, I'm hooked. What are these five game-changing commandments?
Speaker 2:Okay. So Tolstoy, he lays them out pretty clearly Okay, do not be angry, do not lust, Do not swear oaths. Okay, do not resist evil and do not make distinctions among nationalities. Okay, and you know what? Even reading those today, they feel so radical, so counter to the way we're often conditioned to think, you know?
Speaker 1:especially that whole like resist not evil thing Right it feels. It feels so counterintuitive, especially in a world that often feels very chaotic and and unfair.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Didn't Tolstoy himself struggle to to kind of reconcile this principle he did with the realities of life?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and and he wrestled with it publicly. There's this incredible story where, tolstoy, he witnesses a soldier brutally abusing a beggar in the street. Oh, wow. And instead of just walking by or offering these empty platitudes, tolstoy, he confronts the soldier like head on. Wow, he asks him point blank have you read the gospel? It says to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.
Speaker 1:Wow, talk about putting your beliefs on the line. That takes that takes some real courage to like stand up to violence and injustice like that, especially when it's like happening right in front of you.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But I imagine this principle of non-resistance probably raised a lot of eyebrows back then too.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. People struggled with it then and we still grapple with it today. Yeah, it's easy to misunderstand non-resistance as like passivity or weakness Right. But for Tolstoy it was. It was the ultimate act of faith, this radical commitment to breaking the cycle of violence. He believed that violence, even in the name of justice, only breeds more violence.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He argued that true security, true peace comes from within, from aligning ourselves with God's will.
Speaker 1:So instead of meeting force with force, tolstoy is calling for something more like meeting force with compassion, or maybe even with truth, like he did with the soldier and the beggar Right. That's such a different way of looking at conflict, even on like a personal level.
Speaker 2:It is, and it requires a complete shift in perspective. Yeah Tolstoy, he extends this principle of non-resistance to all areas of life.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:He questions the validity of courts. Oaths of allegiance, even war itself Wow, oaths of allegiance even war itself. It's this radical consistency that made his ideas so challenging, even dangerous to the status quo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, so I get how resist, not evil, might lead to a more peaceful world. Okay, theoretically, yeah, but it also sounds incredibly difficult to put into practice. Right, especially on a large scale. Yeah, and honestly, if we're always resisting the urge to like fight back against injustice.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Especially on a large scale and, honestly, if we're always resisting the urge to like fight back against injustice Right.
Speaker 2:Wouldn't that lead to a pretty joyless existence? Yeah, like. In fact, he actually believed that the modern world with its relentless pursuit of wealth and status was making people miserable.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He felt like this constant striving for more, more, more was actually disconnecting people from the things that truly matter Meaningful work, genuine human connection, a deep connection to nature, the simple pleasures of life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can. I can definitely relate to that. It does often feel like we're all on this, this treadmill, yeah, just chasing after external validation and material possessions.
Speaker 2:Right, and it's exhausting. It is, it's exhausting.
Speaker 1:But Tolstoy is saying that that true happiness.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Real fulfillment, it it comes from somewhere else entirely.
Speaker 2:Exactly. He believed that lasting happiness comes from aligning our lives with God's will.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Finding joy in simplicity, in honest labor, in loving relationships. He even used the parable of the vine dressers to illustrate his point.
Speaker 1:You know, you're talking about parables.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's making me realize I probably haven't cracked open a Bible since I was a kid.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 1:Could you give us a quick refresher on that particular parable?
Speaker 2:Of course. So in the parable of the vinedressers, these workers. They're entrusted with caring for a vineyard. They're given clear instructions, but instead of following them, they get greedy. They decide they want the vineyard for themselves and try to seize it from the rightful owner, but their greed ends up destroying the vineyard and they're ultimately cast out.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a pretty powerful metaphor.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So how did, how did Tolstoy connect that back to to his whole philosophy of of finding happiness?
Speaker 2:Well, he saw the vinedressers as a perfect example of how humanity often misunderstands its purpose.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:We get so caught up in pursuing our own selfish desires, chasing after wealth and power, that we end up destroying the very things that bring us true joy Our connection to God, to nature, to each other, even to the work we do.
Speaker 1:So it's almost like we're working against our own best interests, sabotaging our own happiness by chasing after the wrong things. It's like we're so busy chasing this illusion of happiness Right that we miss out on the real thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The kind of deep, lasting fulfillment that comes from, like aligning our lives with something bigger than ourselves, but knowing this intellectually.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And actually living it. Yeah Are two very different things. Right For sure. I mean Tolstoy's vision of a society based on non-resistance, on simple living, on radical compassion.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It sounds beautiful in theory it does. But is it really possible to live that way in our modern world?
Speaker 2:That's the million dollar question. Yeah, Right to live that way in our modern world. That's the million dollar question, right Like can we actually bridge that gap between the ideals that Tolstoy lays out and the messy realities of everyday life? It's a question that continues to fascinate me and challenge me, even Tolstoy himself. He acknowledged the immense challenges of fully implementing his ideas on a societal level. I mean, imagine, like trying to convince an entire nation to embrace non-resistance in the face of conflict.
Speaker 1:I know it seems almost impossible.
Speaker 2:It's a tough one.
Speaker 1:But maybe that's that's not really the point. Maybe maybe Tolstoy's true legacy isn't about like achieving some kind of utopian society overnight but rather about kind of offering each of us a different way of being in the world, a different way of approaching conflict, of finding meaning, of pursuing happiness.
Speaker 2:I think you've hit on something really important there, because even if, even if we don't agree with, with all of Tolstoy's conclusions, or even if we struggle to like fully embody his teachings in our own life. Yeah, there's something, there's something undeniably powerful about his like his invitation to examine our own contradiction, to ask ourselves like how often do do our actions align with our, our deepest values? Where, where are we falling short?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What? What would it take for us to to close that gap?
Speaker 1:It's like he's like he's holding up a mirror Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Challenging us us to be more honest with ourselves.
Speaker 1:Yes, right, more intentional about the choices we make every day. And maybe that's where the real revolution begins you know, Not with, like some grand societal upheaval.
Speaker 2:Right right.
Speaker 1:But with a quiet commitment to living more authentically, more truthfully, more compassionately.
Speaker 2:I love that you know yeah To living more authentically, more truthfully more compassionately.
Speaker 1:I love that, you know, yeah. So as we kind of wrap up this deep dive into the heart of Tolstoy's radical Christianity, we're left with this provocative question. Okay this provocative question. Okay, what if the key to changing the world isn't about imposing our beliefs on others, but about having the courage to truly live them ourselves? It's something to ponder, you know, something to wrestle with as you navigate your own journey, absolutely Because, in the end, the most radical act might just be living a life that reflects the world we want to see.
Speaker 2:Beautifully said.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us for this deep dive.
Speaker 2:My pleasure.