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One reader has complained that "The Idiot," by Doestoevsky, is too tedious to complete.
Sometimes, reading certain literature is like mining for gold in a mountain of ore. The ore looks like a boring and ponderous mountain of soil. Digging through the ore only becomes attractive to us when we have seen a hint or glint of gold. We must first understand what gold is, and then we must have faith that it is there to be discovered. Once we see what it is that we truly want, then the labor of digging through all that seemingly commonplace becomes attractive to us, even exhilarating in our anticipation of every nugget that we uncover. But what if we could just read someone’s essay or study notes and have all those nuggets and pearls laid out before us? Would we appreciate them as much as if we had found them ourselves? Would we be motivated to return to the book and read it through ourselves to appreciate the pearls in the context of their original setting? Conversely, had we read the book through on our own, without aid of essay or critique, would we necessarily have spotted and understood all that is in the work?
I once saw an exhibit of the Romanov Collection. I saw a huge, long necklace of enormous, perfectly matched, natural pearls. The plaque explained that during the entire lifetime of a single diver, he might be fortunate to find only four such pearls. This necklace contained something like 48 pearls. The necklace symbolized the lifetime and suffering of twelve or more divers. Each novel is like that necklace in a way, is it not? Each novel conceals the pearls of many lives, and much labor and suffering.
Our English words "cosmetic" and "cosmic" are related to the single ancient Greek word, "Kosmos," which can mean "adornment" or it can also mean "world." There is a world in a word. We must only be properly equipped and trained and exercised to enter into that world.
In Chapter 7, verse 7 of the Bhagavad-Gita ("Song of God"), God says to Arjuna, "There is nothing whatsoever higher than Me, O Arjuna.. All these many universes are strung upon Me, as clusters of pearls on a thread."
The word "thread" is "sutra" from which we get the medical word "suture," which closes wounds, as well a the thread of a line of thought or conversation at a message board. I suppose one might even mention "string theory" in physics as it now strives for a "grand theory of everything."
As I browse through my copy of the Bhagavad-Gita, a translation by Winthrop Sargeant, I see a footnote in chapter 7 citing Ramanuja, an Indian theologian of the middle ages: "God has two natures, a lower and a higher one. The lower nature is comprised of the "stuff", "things", "noumena" of this physical world which conscious beings experience and with which they interact. The higher nature of God is constituted by the "noetic" activity of those conscious beings themselves.
So, our mountain of soil and ore is the "stuff," the "noumena" of the physical world. But the "noetic" activity of us, the readers, is what brings that spiritual world, that higher nature, into existence. "Noetic" is a wonderful word which comes from the ancient Greek word "nous," meaning "mind."
Early Christian theologians speak of the angelic hosts as the "bodiless noetic" beings.
Here are some excerpts from sparknotes which caught my eye.
What happens when the ideal human being comes into the real world? In Dostoevsky's view, the ideal man does not bring good, but rather his own goodness is inverted and manipulated, leading to the destruction of both himself and his ideal. The world that Prince Myshkin enters is one of moral corruption and decay, with money as the object of principal importance. In this world, money not only makes one a better human being (Ganya, for example, believes it can cure his mediocrity), but it can also obtain one a beautiful bride (the various men bid for Nastassya Filippovna). No one deems Prince Myshkin a good husband for Aglaya, while nearly everyone considers Ptitsyn—an emblem of mediocrity who has enriched himself through usury—la most respectable match. Beautiful, intelligent women such as Nastassya Filippovna, are dishonored and consequently destroyed.
Though Myshkin is infinitely morally superior to the world he enters, his effect on this world is ultimately zero—a mix of positive and negative. Though Myshkin attempts to help those around him, he drives several of them—General Ivolgin, Nastassya Filippovna, Aglaya—to destruction. The failure of Myshkin's compassion to save those about whom he cares most, especially Nastassya Filippovna, drives him to insanity.
Prince Myshkin is a Christ figure, though Dostoevsky adds what he believes to be a Russian element to this messiah. Myshkin describes religion as an immensely strong feeling similar to the joy God feels for his creation—a feeling he recognizes when he sees a young mother joyously nursing her baby. Much like the idea that religion is a feeling rather than a set of rules that one follows, Myshkin Christ-like character can also be reduced to a feeling: his immense compassion and love for others.
Pervading the novel is a sort of spiritual beauty to the character of Prince Myshkin and to the love he displays toward all the other characters. Indeed, such beauty is an enigma because it is a feeling and, therefore, impossible to define. Significantly, by the end of The Idiot, all the examples of beauty in the novel, including Nastassya Filippovna, Aglaya, and Myshkin, are ruined.
"Full of pure love and always true To his one exquisite dream, N.F.B.—these letters he drew In blood upon his shield."
In Part II, Chapter 7, Aglaya Yepanchin recites Pushkin's poem "The Poor Knight" in front of her family, Myshkin, and a few other people. The poem is about a medieval knight who dedicates his love to the vision of perfect beauty, Mother Mary. He fights in her name and finally, dies, alone and insane, in his castle. Aglaya suggests that Myshkin is very much like the poor knight, except that the prince's ideal is Nastassya Filippovna and not Mother Mary. Therefore, Aglaya exchanges the initials A.M.D. (Ave Mater Dei) for N.F.B.—Nastassya Filippovna Barashkov. Aglaya begins reciting the poem in a mocking tone, but soon her tone changes to a serious one. Later, she tells the prince that in reading the poem she was attempting to show him that she understood his feelings for Nastassya Filippovna. The poem invites us to consider how well the model of the "poor knight" fits the character of the prince. Perhaps Aglaya has come close to guessing the essence of Myshkin's character. In reality, however, she has not entirely succeeded. The prince is idealistic, but his ideal is his selfless love for others, not merely Nastassya Filippovna. Myshkin's relationship toward Nastassya Filippovna is merely an expression of that ideal. In addition, unlike the knight who fights the Muslims with his ideal expressly in mind, the prince is not consciously aware of his ideal. He lives it in his every word and action because he feels it, because it is at the core of his being.
"I don't understand how one can walk by a tree and not be happy at the sight of it! Or to speak with a man and not be happy in loving him? There are so many things at every step so beautiful."
During the engagement party at the Yepanchins' in Part IV, Chapter 7, Prince Myshkin speaks about his feelings on life and religion. He expresses his infinite joy of seeing the products of nature, namely the earth and men. He loves these examples of God's creation and he delights in their ultimate beauty. In addition to characterizing the prince in his love for nature and humanity, this quotation emphasizes Dostoevsky's exploration of beauty. In his compassion toward others and his humble joy, which he derives from people and from love, Myshkin exemplifies spiritual beauty. Hippolite mentions that the prince once told him that he believes that beauty can save the world. Indeed, if more people performed such beautiful actions as helping a friend or forgiving an enemy, perhaps the world could be cured of its corruption. By attempting to create Myshkin as a truly beautiful individual, Dostoevsky gives us an ideal that can serve as an example for the kinds of feelings and actions that can combat the moral corruption of the world and ultimately make it a better place.
The world is transformed with words, one person at a time.
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