This question has puzzled man since his beginning. Philosophers have come up with systems saying that all we can be sure of is the self. Other intellectuals claim that we are gods and are constantly evolving better and better. By bringing religion into the picture, there are stories of demons, angels, monsters, dragons, and God. The universal aspect of belief in the supernatural leads one to consider if there is evidence for other worldly beings. Take a journey through the framework of the Brothers Karamazov to explore proofs for the existence of God and demons and see how much of an influence these beings play on the characters of the novel.
Before proving the thesis of there being other sentient creatures, let us explore the skeptics' objections. Doubters might say that these are forces that are part of the human psyche and have no existence outside the being of the human. Freud declared that it is the id, ego, and super-ego battling it out.
Possibly, the trials and tribulations a human being experiences are external in the sense that they brought about by societal influences via religion, economics, politics, education, etc. Being raised a Hindu, when would live so as to achieve unity with Brahman. Living in a capitalist economy, one would live so as to make as much money as possible. Being a democrat would lead one to strive for social programs. Going to college, one would have a different view of the universe then an uneducated person.
There are neural-chemical processes that fire randomly in the brain so as to cause meaningless positive and negative emotions that cover and taint the sensual experiences. Dopamine, endorphins, adrenaline, testosterone, estrogen, and a vast array of other hormone/neurotransmitters give people experiences without any choice on their part. You are born with certain genes and chemicals and thus one becomes what the chemicals make them.
Perhaps, other humans ideas and behavior influence our soul. This is a simplified version of a whole society influencing a person. At this level, the influences have greater depth and more effect on the individual. In this case, a family living on an island, would not have a government telling them what to do or a priest telling them what religion to practice, but the members would form opinions and be solely directed by their fellow human beings.
On the other side of the argument, there are people that have testimonies to there being other unseen beings living among us. Science has even come to the point of saying there are other dimensions. Spiritual beings could live in these other dimensions and come down to our dimension to interact with us. Colleges have opened paranormal majors and studies in E.T. intelligence. S.E.T.I. is a well know group that offers distributed computing software so that a network of personal computers can help find other worldly sentient life. Various world religions have a system of other worldly beings including: angels, demons, ancestor spirits, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, anthropomorphic creatures, etc.
Looking at world literature, one must turn to the Bible. This book has especially made a great impression on the western hemisphere. Being proven accurate in areas of archaeology, science, and prophecy, the Bible is like no other text. The Bible records a civilization called the Hittites that the scientific community wildly discredited until remains of the society were found. Medical practices such as washing hands under running water, identifying that the life of the flesh is in the blood (in opposition to the commonly held practice of bleeding sick people), and verses to suggest the earth being circular/ spherical. Around 300 Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in one man named Jesus Christ. The possibility of this being random chance is inconceivable. If this book is accurate in this many fields, it lends credibility to its talk on spiritual topics. The Bible is stock full of angels and demons all under the supreme power of God. This text must be considered, if it is valid in its spiritual teachings on other worldly beings.
Forces outside of people even bother people who do not want to believe in them. This shows that these believers who are conditioned to accept other beings are not the only ones being bothered by them. Atheists have been led to belief after experiencing angelic or demonic presences. Common ordinary people have seen visions of heaven or hell. Maurice Rawlings, in his documentary entitled \"To Hell and Back,\" contains interviews of people that say they have experience an afterlife with beings they have never seen before.
The processes in the brain, when seen from a close up perspective, may seem random, but there is beautiful harmony when looked at as a whole. Mozart, Abe Lincoln, and other brilliant people who are extremely talented can be bothered by experiences of mania and depression and still retain their brilliance. If the processes are random, where does the intelligence come from? If the processes are ordered, where does the madness come from? Surely external beings could bare on the case of fully functioning people having occasional torments.
When someone commits a sin, they can attest to being lured and tempted to go deeper into sin by some other being than their own heart.
The Brothers Karamazov provides literary pictures of this cosmic struggle throughout the text. Father Ferapont, Fyodor, and Evan, can be seen being pulled downward into desperate insanity and a complete disregard for morals. Aloysha and Zossima, and other characters, can be seen being pulled up by a higher force. Dmitri is saved by Grace from killing his father. Aloysha is given a divine revelation. This points to two definite sources of power in this universe, even if one side only has temporal, miniscule power.
Alyosha plainly states, \"I want to live for immortality, and I reject any halfway compromise\"(Pg.26). This young man firmly decided the afterlife was his prize. Alyosha's true dream is that \"all will be like children of God, and the true kingdom of Christ will come\"(Pg.31). His deep heart desire is for all to know God as a father knows his child. Alyosha's respect for his elder was extremely high. \"His greatest concern was for the elder: he trembled for him, for his glory; he feared any insult to him\"(Pg. 33). This young man knew the love of God and the love of man.
Furthermore, Zossima taught that \"A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him\"(Pg.44) The bible also talks of a man who pretends to love God and is proved wrong in his love of God because he does not love his brother. It is of utmost importance that we above all be true to thyself. The monk also taught that \"The more you succeed in loving, the more you'll be convinced of the existence of God and the immortality of the soul\"(Pg. 56). Many characters in BK doubt and then believe in the existence of God. If they all had more active love, this doubt in God would more quickly vanish. These doubts of God could also be caused by demons planting seeds of doubt or more properly stealing the seeds of life. For the devil has come \"only to steal, and kill, and destroy\"(John 10:10) Zossima was aware of the problem of evil spirits and fully believed that \"If demons raise their heads, recite a prayer\"(Pg. 77) and they would flee.
An example of demon possession is seen in the story of a woman coming to Zossima.
\"One crazy woman was led up to him. As soon as she caught sight of the elder she began shrieking and writhing as though in the pains of childbirth. Laying the stole on her forehead, he read a short prayer over her, and she was at once soothed and quieted\"(Pg. 47)
The church also had ceremonies were demons were exorcized. They did this by the body and blood of Christ. \"When the sacrament was carried in and they were led up to it, at once the “possession” ceased\"(Pg. 47) God's power was revealed in His sacraments.
The buffon was well filled with nasty spirits.\"But the silly devil...snatched up Fyodor Pavlovich\"(Pg. 88). Fyodor wondered if he would be dragged down to hell with hooks. He did not seem to care too much about going to hell and was fully expecting to go to gehenna when he died. Demons throughly controlled his life and brought out every imaginable sin--alcoholism, gluttony, lust, adultery, lieing, greed, envy, pride, blasphemy, and numerous others.
Dmitri was torn in different directions by spiritual sources. He prayed \"Let me be following the devil at the same time, but still I am also your son, Lord, and I love you, and I feel a joy without which the world cannot stand and be\"(Pg. 107) This man was constantly buffeted with devils and lovingly tugged by angels. Silly, but possibly profound thoughts, entered his head. Dmitri wonders, \"Can there be beauty in Sodom?\"(Pg. 108)
Aloysha felt that in the monastery he was safe. He thought in his heart that \"Here was quiet, here was holiness, and there-- confusion, and a darkness in which one immediately got lost and went astray...\"(Pg. 157). Alyosha thirsted for righteousness and was worried that the world would tarnish his soul. He knew that every evil lurked \"out there,\" but easily forgot that evil was in every human heart. This blackness was also in the monastery.
When he was feeling run down, Aloysha \"thirsted for joyful tenderness, the same tenderness that always visited his soul after praising and glorifying God, of which his prayer before sleep usually consisted\"(Pg. 158). Alexi knew that true joy comes from God and that the soul longs for communion with the divine.
Zossima preached a love that did \"not hate atheists, teachers of evil, [or] materialists\"(Pg 164). His doctrine of active love encompassed care for the whole human race. He constantly prayed for the needs of humans and preached the truth to all seeking for it. He lived a simple live in honor and worship of God. This great man of God led by example, in word and deed.
On the other hand, the mushroom eating Ferapont has a revealing dialogue with another monk:
\"[I am] in constant communication with the Holy Spirit. He flies down. He does. How does he fly down? In what form? As a bird. The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove? There is the Holy Spirit, and there is the Holispirit. The Holispirit is different, he can descend as some other birds--a swallow, a goldfinch, a tomtit. He speaks. Human language\"(Pg. 169)
Ferapont has forgotten to test the spirits to see whether they are of God. Has he ever asked this holispirit if Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? It seems more probable that these could be demons. Ferapont has harbored resentment and hatred in his heart against Zossima. This gives the forces of evil legal right to his life. He also could be seeing illusions from his lack of food or ingestion of psychedelic mushrooms.
For all his strength, even Alyosha has his moment of doubt. \"Maybe I don't even believe in God\"(Pg. 220). Alyosha confesses this to Lise; He is profoundly saddened by the inevitable death of his elder. Zossima is his life and his love, he has no idea how to carry on in this world without him. The real kicker is that his elder commanded him to leave the comfort of the monastery. Alyosha is stirred to the core about the temporality of life.
Evan declared that \"I believe in order, in the meaning of life, I believe in the Word for whom the universe is yearning, and who himself was 'with God,' who himself is God, and so on, and so on and so forth, to infinity\"(Pg. 235) This \"atheist\" at times seems to be a full theist. This would be accepted as a full confession of faith in some churches. Evan also spoke that \"I have a childlike conviction that the sufferings will be healed and smoothed over, that the whole offensive comedy of human contradiction will disappear like a pitiful mirage\"(Pg. 235) It seems that his trouble of reconciling a holy, good, perfect God with the suffering of innocent children has been solved. Evan also makes an insightful statement. \"I think that if the devil does not exist, and man has therefore created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness\"(Pg. 239). Evan can see the brew of evil in the heart of humankind.
Scholars hold widely varies opinions on whether or not other beings are among us. Looking at the view of internal components battling in the mind, it is interesting to note that Dostoevsky had explored the psychological complexes before Nietzsche. Janko Lavrin admits how two great minds can come to two entirely different philosophies about life over the same issues. \"The fact remains that most of the vital problems which Dostoevsky had projected into the characters of his own novels were also probed by the philosopher Nietzsche, however different his final conclusions may have been\"(Lavrin 161). Lavrin also looks into the role that society plays on people. \"In short, their[ Dostoevsky's and Nietzsche's] psychological and spiritual findings were due to their personal experience in the world they lived in\"(Lavrin 161).
William Hamilton sees \"the theme or problem of the novel [being] the existence of God\"
(Hamilton 245). Hamilton throughly explores how the character relate to the question of the existence or non-existence of God. \" He takes each character in turn and looks at their relationship with the Divine. He also represents the novel in two main characters. Evan and Aloysha represent the pinnacles of believer and unbeliever; yet they both raise the question of God. Aloysha after a death and Evan about the world. The novel as a study in Dostoevski's struggle with God has its focus in the tension between Ivan and Alyosha. But this is not just a tension between Alyosha as believer and Ivan as unbeliever. Each of the brothers is himself a divided man\"(Hamilton 246).
Michael Stoeber explains how \"Dostoevsky's exposition of the devil in action has been a focal point for various commentators\"(Stoeber 27). Serge V. Gregory relates how \"Dostoevsky created a work in which nihilism as a manifestation of the moral cynicism of secular culture would be dramatized as a palpable, believable evil, incarnate\"(Gregory 444). Temira Pachmuss undertakes an exploration of \"Moral nihilism, with its endeavor to replace traditional beliefs and deities with reason as the supreme guide for human behavior\"( Pachmuss 25). Gary L. Browning looks into active love and how \"experience teaches that most people cannot accept this heavy and alien responsibility unless they understand clearly why they should\"( Browning 516). Richard C. Miller dissects \"he large role which literary allusion plays in The Brothers Karamazov\"( Miller 653). Richard L. Chapple defines the that \"what has been taken from Dostoevsky and perceived as his essence by modern psychologists, religious thinkers,social scientists, and writers too often minimizes the Christian basis of his work\"( Chapple 94). Harry Hill Walsh looks into how \"Fyodor Dostoevsky suffered more than most\"( Walsh 161). Mark G. Pomar takes a look into how Aloysha's \"spiritual rebirth-appears especially challenging for the literary exegete\"( Pomar 47). Carl E. Purinton investigates \"that of Christian eschatology,[ and how it] is certainly one of contemporary interest and importance\" (Purington 48). R. W. Hepburn extends his knowledge into understanding \"evidence and argument for and against God's existence\"( Hepburn 312).
Tons of brilliant minds believe and debate about the existence of spiritual beings living among us. These scholars all have theories about the unseen and look to logic and personal experience to verify these findings. From levitating objects to monks in super meditation, to moonlight spell castings to sunday church ceremonies, from ignoring God to being fascinated with angels, there are all types of interactions with the divine and demonic. Even Aristotle believed that there most be some type of Unmoved Mover. Aristotle concludes, \"We say therefore that God is a living being, eternal, most good, so that life and duration continuous and eternal belong to God; for this is God\" (phamen dê ton theon einai zôion aïdion ariston, hôste zôê kai aiôn sunechês) (Metaphysics 12.7; 1072b 28-29).
Bibliography
The Biblical Story of Joseph in Dostoevskii's The Brothers Karamazov
Richard C. Miller
Slavic Review, Vol. 41, No. 4. (Winter, 1982), pp. 653-665.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6779%28198224%2941%3A4%3C653%3ATBSOJI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
Slavic Review is currently published by The American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.
Aleša Karamazov's Epiphany: A Reading of \"Cana of Galilee\"
Mark G. Pomar
The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 27, No. 1. (Spring, 1983), pp. 47-56.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6752%28198321%291%3A27%3A1%3C47%3AAKEARO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4
The Slavic and East European Journal is currently published by American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East
European Languages.
Dostoevsky, Eschatology, and the Moral Law
Carl E. Purinton
Journal of Bible and Religion, Vol. 12, No. 1. (Feb., 1944), pp. 48-50.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0885-2758%28194402%2912%3A1%3C48%3ADEATML%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B
Journal of Bible and Religion is currently published by Oxford University Press.
Zosima's \"Secret of Renewal\" in The Brothers Karamazov
Gary L. Browning
The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 33, No. 4. (Winter, 1989), pp. 516-529.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6752%28198924%291%3A33%3A4%3C516%3AZ%22ORIT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J
The Slavic and East European Journal is currently published by American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East
European Languages.
The Book of Job and the Dialectic of Theodicy in \"The Brothers Karamazov\"
Harry Hill Walsh
The South Central Bulletin, Vol. 37, No. 4, Studies by Members of the SCMLA. (Winter, 1977),
pp. 161-164.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0038-321X%28197724%2937%3A4%3C161%3ATBOJAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C
The South Central Bulletin is currently published by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Dostoevsky's Devil: The Will to Power
Michael Stoeber
The Journal of Religion, Vol. 74, No. 1. (Jan., 1994), pp. 26-44.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4189%28199401%2974%3A1%3C26%3ADDTWTP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
The Journal of Religion is currently published by The University of Chicago Press.
-A Note on Nietzsche and Dostoevsky
Janko Lavrin
Russian Review, Vol. 28, No. 2. (Apr., 1969), pp. 160-170.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0036-0341%28196904%2928%3A2%3C160%3AANONAD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X
Russian Review is currently published by The Editors and Board of Trustees of the Russian Review.
A Catalogue of Suffering in the Works of Dostoevsky: His Christian Foundation
Richard L. Chapple
The South Central Bulletin, Vol. 43, No. 4, Studies by Members of SCMLA. (Winter, 1983), pp.
94-99.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0038-321X%28198324%2943%3A4%3C94%3AACOSIT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I
The South Central Bulletin is currently published by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Prometheus and Job Reincarnated: Melville and Dostoevskij
Temira Pachmuss
The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1. (Spring, 1979), pp. 25-37.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6752%28197921%291%3A23%3A1%3C25%3APAJRMA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R
The Slavic and East European Journal is currently published by American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East
European Languages.
Review: [Untitled]
Reviewed Work(s):
Atheism and the Rejection of God: Contemporary Philosophy and The Brothers Karamazov.
by Stewart R. Sutherland
R. W. Hepburn
Mind, New Series, Vol. 88, No. 350. (Apr., 1979), pp. 312-314.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-4423%28197904%292%3A88%3A350%3C312%3AAATROG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W
Mind is currently published by Oxford University Press.
\"Banished from the Land of Unity\": A Study of Dostoevski's Religious Vision
Through the Eyes of Ivan and Alyosha Karamazov
William Hamilton
The Journal of Religion, Vol. 39, No. 4. (Oct., 1959), pp. 245-262.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4189%28195910%2939%3A4%3C245%3A%22FTLOU%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U
The Journal of Religion is currently published by The University of Chicago Press.
Dostoevsky's The Devils and the Antinihilist Novel
Serge V. Gregory
Slavic Review, Vol. 38, No. 3. (Sep., 1979), pp. 444-455.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6779%28197909%2938%3A3%3C444%3ADTDATA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
Slavic Review is currently published by The American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.
Before proving the thesis of there being other sentient creatures, let us explore the skeptics' objections. Doubters might say that these are forces that are part of the human psyche and have no existence outside the being of the human. Freud declared that it is the id, ego, and super-ego battling it out.
Possibly, the trials and tribulations a human being experiences are external in the sense that they brought about by societal influences via religion, economics, politics, education, etc. Being raised a Hindu, when would live so as to achieve unity with Brahman. Living in a capitalist economy, one would live so as to make as much money as possible. Being a democrat would lead one to strive for social programs. Going to college, one would have a different view of the universe then an uneducated person.
There are neural-chemical processes that fire randomly in the brain so as to cause meaningless positive and negative emotions that cover and taint the sensual experiences. Dopamine, endorphins, adrenaline, testosterone, estrogen, and a vast array of other hormone/neurotransmitters give people experiences without any choice on their part. You are born with certain genes and chemicals and thus one becomes what the chemicals make them.
Perhaps, other humans ideas and behavior influence our soul. This is a simplified version of a whole society influencing a person. At this level, the influences have greater depth and more effect on the individual. In this case, a family living on an island, would not have a government telling them what to do or a priest telling them what religion to practice, but the members would form opinions and be solely directed by their fellow human beings.
On the other side of the argument, there are people that have testimonies to there being other unseen beings living among us. Science has even come to the point of saying there are other dimensions. Spiritual beings could live in these other dimensions and come down to our dimension to interact with us. Colleges have opened paranormal majors and studies in E.T. intelligence. S.E.T.I. is a well know group that offers distributed computing software so that a network of personal computers can help find other worldly sentient life. Various world religions have a system of other worldly beings including: angels, demons, ancestor spirits, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, anthropomorphic creatures, etc.
Looking at world literature, one must turn to the Bible. This book has especially made a great impression on the western hemisphere. Being proven accurate in areas of archaeology, science, and prophecy, the Bible is like no other text. The Bible records a civilization called the Hittites that the scientific community wildly discredited until remains of the society were found. Medical practices such as washing hands under running water, identifying that the life of the flesh is in the blood (in opposition to the commonly held practice of bleeding sick people), and verses to suggest the earth being circular/ spherical. Around 300 Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in one man named Jesus Christ. The possibility of this being random chance is inconceivable. If this book is accurate in this many fields, it lends credibility to its talk on spiritual topics. The Bible is stock full of angels and demons all under the supreme power of God. This text must be considered, if it is valid in its spiritual teachings on other worldly beings.
Forces outside of people even bother people who do not want to believe in them. This shows that these believers who are conditioned to accept other beings are not the only ones being bothered by them. Atheists have been led to belief after experiencing angelic or demonic presences. Common ordinary people have seen visions of heaven or hell. Maurice Rawlings, in his documentary entitled \"To Hell and Back,\" contains interviews of people that say they have experience an afterlife with beings they have never seen before.
The processes in the brain, when seen from a close up perspective, may seem random, but there is beautiful harmony when looked at as a whole. Mozart, Abe Lincoln, and other brilliant people who are extremely talented can be bothered by experiences of mania and depression and still retain their brilliance. If the processes are random, where does the intelligence come from? If the processes are ordered, where does the madness come from? Surely external beings could bare on the case of fully functioning people having occasional torments.
When someone commits a sin, they can attest to being lured and tempted to go deeper into sin by some other being than their own heart.
The Brothers Karamazov provides literary pictures of this cosmic struggle throughout the text. Father Ferapont, Fyodor, and Evan, can be seen being pulled downward into desperate insanity and a complete disregard for morals. Aloysha and Zossima, and other characters, can be seen being pulled up by a higher force. Dmitri is saved by Grace from killing his father. Aloysha is given a divine revelation. This points to two definite sources of power in this universe, even if one side only has temporal, miniscule power.
Alyosha plainly states, \"I want to live for immortality, and I reject any halfway compromise\"(Pg.26). This young man firmly decided the afterlife was his prize. Alyosha's true dream is that \"all will be like children of God, and the true kingdom of Christ will come\"(Pg.31). His deep heart desire is for all to know God as a father knows his child. Alyosha's respect for his elder was extremely high. \"His greatest concern was for the elder: he trembled for him, for his glory; he feared any insult to him\"(Pg. 33). This young man knew the love of God and the love of man.
Furthermore, Zossima taught that \"A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him\"(Pg.44) The bible also talks of a man who pretends to love God and is proved wrong in his love of God because he does not love his brother. It is of utmost importance that we above all be true to thyself. The monk also taught that \"The more you succeed in loving, the more you'll be convinced of the existence of God and the immortality of the soul\"(Pg. 56). Many characters in BK doubt and then believe in the existence of God. If they all had more active love, this doubt in God would more quickly vanish. These doubts of God could also be caused by demons planting seeds of doubt or more properly stealing the seeds of life. For the devil has come \"only to steal, and kill, and destroy\"(John 10:10) Zossima was aware of the problem of evil spirits and fully believed that \"If demons raise their heads, recite a prayer\"(Pg. 77) and they would flee.
An example of demon possession is seen in the story of a woman coming to Zossima.
\"One crazy woman was led up to him. As soon as she caught sight of the elder she began shrieking and writhing as though in the pains of childbirth. Laying the stole on her forehead, he read a short prayer over her, and she was at once soothed and quieted\"(Pg. 47)
The church also had ceremonies were demons were exorcized. They did this by the body and blood of Christ. \"When the sacrament was carried in and they were led up to it, at once the “possession” ceased\"(Pg. 47) God's power was revealed in His sacraments.
The buffon was well filled with nasty spirits.\"But the silly devil...snatched up Fyodor Pavlovich\"(Pg. 88). Fyodor wondered if he would be dragged down to hell with hooks. He did not seem to care too much about going to hell and was fully expecting to go to gehenna when he died. Demons throughly controlled his life and brought out every imaginable sin--alcoholism, gluttony, lust, adultery, lieing, greed, envy, pride, blasphemy, and numerous others.
Dmitri was torn in different directions by spiritual sources. He prayed \"Let me be following the devil at the same time, but still I am also your son, Lord, and I love you, and I feel a joy without which the world cannot stand and be\"(Pg. 107) This man was constantly buffeted with devils and lovingly tugged by angels. Silly, but possibly profound thoughts, entered his head. Dmitri wonders, \"Can there be beauty in Sodom?\"(Pg. 108)
Aloysha felt that in the monastery he was safe. He thought in his heart that \"Here was quiet, here was holiness, and there-- confusion, and a darkness in which one immediately got lost and went astray...\"(Pg. 157). Alyosha thirsted for righteousness and was worried that the world would tarnish his soul. He knew that every evil lurked \"out there,\" but easily forgot that evil was in every human heart. This blackness was also in the monastery.
When he was feeling run down, Aloysha \"thirsted for joyful tenderness, the same tenderness that always visited his soul after praising and glorifying God, of which his prayer before sleep usually consisted\"(Pg. 158). Alexi knew that true joy comes from God and that the soul longs for communion with the divine.
Zossima preached a love that did \"not hate atheists, teachers of evil, [or] materialists\"(Pg 164). His doctrine of active love encompassed care for the whole human race. He constantly prayed for the needs of humans and preached the truth to all seeking for it. He lived a simple live in honor and worship of God. This great man of God led by example, in word and deed.
On the other hand, the mushroom eating Ferapont has a revealing dialogue with another monk:
\"[I am] in constant communication with the Holy Spirit. He flies down. He does. How does he fly down? In what form? As a bird. The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove? There is the Holy Spirit, and there is the Holispirit. The Holispirit is different, he can descend as some other birds--a swallow, a goldfinch, a tomtit. He speaks. Human language\"(Pg. 169)
Ferapont has forgotten to test the spirits to see whether they are of God. Has he ever asked this holispirit if Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? It seems more probable that these could be demons. Ferapont has harbored resentment and hatred in his heart against Zossima. This gives the forces of evil legal right to his life. He also could be seeing illusions from his lack of food or ingestion of psychedelic mushrooms.
For all his strength, even Alyosha has his moment of doubt. \"Maybe I don't even believe in God\"(Pg. 220). Alyosha confesses this to Lise; He is profoundly saddened by the inevitable death of his elder. Zossima is his life and his love, he has no idea how to carry on in this world without him. The real kicker is that his elder commanded him to leave the comfort of the monastery. Alyosha is stirred to the core about the temporality of life.
Evan declared that \"I believe in order, in the meaning of life, I believe in the Word for whom the universe is yearning, and who himself was 'with God,' who himself is God, and so on, and so on and so forth, to infinity\"(Pg. 235) This \"atheist\" at times seems to be a full theist. This would be accepted as a full confession of faith in some churches. Evan also spoke that \"I have a childlike conviction that the sufferings will be healed and smoothed over, that the whole offensive comedy of human contradiction will disappear like a pitiful mirage\"(Pg. 235) It seems that his trouble of reconciling a holy, good, perfect God with the suffering of innocent children has been solved. Evan also makes an insightful statement. \"I think that if the devil does not exist, and man has therefore created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness\"(Pg. 239). Evan can see the brew of evil in the heart of humankind.
Scholars hold widely varies opinions on whether or not other beings are among us. Looking at the view of internal components battling in the mind, it is interesting to note that Dostoevsky had explored the psychological complexes before Nietzsche. Janko Lavrin admits how two great minds can come to two entirely different philosophies about life over the same issues. \"The fact remains that most of the vital problems which Dostoevsky had projected into the characters of his own novels were also probed by the philosopher Nietzsche, however different his final conclusions may have been\"(Lavrin 161). Lavrin also looks into the role that society plays on people. \"In short, their[ Dostoevsky's and Nietzsche's] psychological and spiritual findings were due to their personal experience in the world they lived in\"(Lavrin 161).
William Hamilton sees \"the theme or problem of the novel [being] the existence of God\"
(Hamilton 245). Hamilton throughly explores how the character relate to the question of the existence or non-existence of God. \" He takes each character in turn and looks at their relationship with the Divine. He also represents the novel in two main characters. Evan and Aloysha represent the pinnacles of believer and unbeliever; yet they both raise the question of God. Aloysha after a death and Evan about the world. The novel as a study in Dostoevski's struggle with God has its focus in the tension between Ivan and Alyosha. But this is not just a tension between Alyosha as believer and Ivan as unbeliever. Each of the brothers is himself a divided man\"(Hamilton 246).
Michael Stoeber explains how \"Dostoevsky's exposition of the devil in action has been a focal point for various commentators\"(Stoeber 27). Serge V. Gregory relates how \"Dostoevsky created a work in which nihilism as a manifestation of the moral cynicism of secular culture would be dramatized as a palpable, believable evil, incarnate\"(Gregory 444). Temira Pachmuss undertakes an exploration of \"Moral nihilism, with its endeavor to replace traditional beliefs and deities with reason as the supreme guide for human behavior\"( Pachmuss 25). Gary L. Browning looks into active love and how \"experience teaches that most people cannot accept this heavy and alien responsibility unless they understand clearly why they should\"( Browning 516). Richard C. Miller dissects \"he large role which literary allusion plays in The Brothers Karamazov\"( Miller 653). Richard L. Chapple defines the that \"what has been taken from Dostoevsky and perceived as his essence by modern psychologists, religious thinkers,social scientists, and writers too often minimizes the Christian basis of his work\"( Chapple 94). Harry Hill Walsh looks into how \"Fyodor Dostoevsky suffered more than most\"( Walsh 161). Mark G. Pomar takes a look into how Aloysha's \"spiritual rebirth-appears especially challenging for the literary exegete\"( Pomar 47). Carl E. Purinton investigates \"that of Christian eschatology,[ and how it] is certainly one of contemporary interest and importance\" (Purington 48). R. W. Hepburn extends his knowledge into understanding \"evidence and argument for and against God's existence\"( Hepburn 312).
Tons of brilliant minds believe and debate about the existence of spiritual beings living among us. These scholars all have theories about the unseen and look to logic and personal experience to verify these findings. From levitating objects to monks in super meditation, to moonlight spell castings to sunday church ceremonies, from ignoring God to being fascinated with angels, there are all types of interactions with the divine and demonic. Even Aristotle believed that there most be some type of Unmoved Mover. Aristotle concludes, \"We say therefore that God is a living being, eternal, most good, so that life and duration continuous and eternal belong to God; for this is God\" (phamen dê ton theon einai zôion aïdion ariston, hôste zôê kai aiôn sunechês) (Metaphysics 12.7; 1072b 28-29).
Bibliography
The Biblical Story of Joseph in Dostoevskii's The Brothers Karamazov
Richard C. Miller
Slavic Review, Vol. 41, No. 4. (Winter, 1982), pp. 653-665.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6779%28198224%2941%3A4%3C653%3ATBSOJI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
Slavic Review is currently published by The American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.
Aleša Karamazov's Epiphany: A Reading of \"Cana of Galilee\"
Mark G. Pomar
The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 27, No. 1. (Spring, 1983), pp. 47-56.
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http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6752%28198321%291%3A27%3A1%3C47%3AAKEARO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4
The Slavic and East European Journal is currently published by American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East
European Languages.
Dostoevsky, Eschatology, and the Moral Law
Carl E. Purinton
Journal of Bible and Religion, Vol. 12, No. 1. (Feb., 1944), pp. 48-50.
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http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0885-2758%28194402%2912%3A1%3C48%3ADEATML%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B
Journal of Bible and Religion is currently published by Oxford University Press.
Zosima's \"Secret of Renewal\" in The Brothers Karamazov
Gary L. Browning
The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 33, No. 4. (Winter, 1989), pp. 516-529.
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The Slavic and East European Journal is currently published by American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East
European Languages.
The Book of Job and the Dialectic of Theodicy in \"The Brothers Karamazov\"
Harry Hill Walsh
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The South Central Bulletin is currently published by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Dostoevsky's Devil: The Will to Power
Michael Stoeber
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http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4189%28199401%2974%3A1%3C26%3ADDTWTP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
The Journal of Religion is currently published by The University of Chicago Press.
-A Note on Nietzsche and Dostoevsky
Janko Lavrin
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A Catalogue of Suffering in the Works of Dostoevsky: His Christian Foundation
Richard L. Chapple
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The South Central Bulletin is currently published by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Prometheus and Job Reincarnated: Melville and Dostoevskij
Temira Pachmuss
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The Slavic and East European Journal is currently published by American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East
European Languages.
Review: [Untitled]
Reviewed Work(s):
Atheism and the Rejection of God: Contemporary Philosophy and The Brothers Karamazov.
by Stewart R. Sutherland
R. W. Hepburn
Mind, New Series, Vol. 88, No. 350. (Apr., 1979), pp. 312-314.
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Mind is currently published by Oxford University Press.
\"Banished from the Land of Unity\": A Study of Dostoevski's Religious Vision
Through the Eyes of Ivan and Alyosha Karamazov
William Hamilton
The Journal of Religion, Vol. 39, No. 4. (Oct., 1959), pp. 245-262.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4189%28195910%2939%3A4%3C245%3A%22FTLOU%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U
The Journal of Religion is currently published by The University of Chicago Press.
Dostoevsky's The Devils and the Antinihilist Novel
Serge V. Gregory
Slavic Review, Vol. 38, No. 3. (Sep., 1979), pp. 444-455.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6779%28197909%2938%3A3%3C444%3ADTDATA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
Slavic Review is currently published by The American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.
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