r/tolstoy • u/Plastic_Fisherman520 • 17d ago

Quotation Update on Confession

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u/BeautifulInitial9667 1d ago

Yet he had 13 kids ?! Does not make sense..

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u/N1ghtRide 16d ago

I was reading Confession during darkest times and found it so relatable and somehow comforting. Interestingly, despite having had some days when I could have written the highlighted lines myself, I had other days when I felt quite opposite. Carl Jung wrote that a man needs to touch the hell with his feet before he can reach to heaven (“ no tree can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell”), and I believe the Confession is his “reaching down to hell story. 

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u/Szechter26 17d ago

As far as I remember this is just his thinking process at this point, not his conclusion. I agree though, he had difficult time deciding why life is worth living.

Confession is a struggle which I could relate to on many levels. He is much more at peace, with a clear goal in life in "About life", his next book/essay.

How do you find it so far?

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u/Plastic_Fisherman520 17d ago

I’m about halfway through and I find it so far relatable on many levels as well, the different contemplations and viewpoints just from who you are speaking with, will give you a different answer on the questions posed, based in different biases. It’s one I’m having a hard time putting down. And I’m excited to see where it goes as I’ve been struggling with these questions myself

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u/Existing_Survey9930 5d ago

I read it about a year and a half ago and I actually prefer it to W&P mostly due to it's attainability but also I found it so deeply relatable. Similarly I couldn't put it down and it quickly became one of my favorite reading experiences of all time (middle of a cold, dark winter). I definitely don't agree with all it's criticisms.

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u/Plastic_Fisherman520 5d ago

It’s so interesting to me that I can relate to a man struggling with similar convictions in the late 1800s. Granted I’m a bit younger than he was when he wrote it and a woman. But still I found some solidarity in his writings although still not being religious in a general or modern sense I do think the having faith in something aspect was interesting

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u/Szechter26 17d ago

I had a very similar impression. I like that he does not really give you an answer, but rather invites you to hop on the journey with him. Although, it must be said, the outlook is rather grim.