Friday, January 9, 2009

Do we acquire faith?

Towards the beginning of my blogging days (waaaaaaaaaaaay back) I posted a quote from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina on marriage. Our time in the States has afforded me the opportunity to finally read the whole thing. Just yesterday I was getting towards the end, after the drama with the "main" character had finished and was so happy to find that some of the best stuff of the novel is at the very end. In fact, I would say the meat and potatoes of the whole book is in the last 20 pages. Let me share with you a few excerpts of Levin's revelations. Don't worry, this won't spoil the story at all:

'I sought an answer to my question. But the answer to my question could not come from thought, which is incommensurable with the question. The answer was given by life itself, in my knowledge of what is good and bad. And I did not acquire that knowledge through anything, it was given to me as it is to everyone, given because I could not take it from anywhere.'

'Where did I take it from? Was it through reason that I arrived at the necessity of loving my neighbor and not throttling him?...(No) Reason could not discover love for the other , because it's unreasonable.'

'Yes! What I know, I do not know by reason, it is given to me, it is revealed to me and I know it by my heart...'

'Can this be faith?' he wondered, afraid to believe his happiness. 'My God, thank you!' he said, choking back the rising sobs and with both hands wiping away the tears that filled his eyes.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Finally you have blogged...
I was getting ready to send you a "gentle" reminder: POST OR I WILL SHOOT YOUR NEIGHBOR.

:)

GOOD BRAINSTORMING QUOTES