The Heart of It

 

"What I said was absurd, but - "

"That's just the point, that 'but'!" cried Ivan. "Let me tell you, novice, that the absurd is only too necessary on earth. The world stands on absurdities, and perhaps nothing would have come to pass in it without them. We know what we know!"

"What do you know?"

"I understand nothing," Ivan went on, as though in delirium. "I don't want to understand anything now. I want to stick to the fact. I made up my mind long ago not to understand. If I try to understand anything, I shall be false to the fact, and I have determined to stick to the fact."

(page 234)

Is it our tendency as a culture to think deeply about where our underlying belief system came from? Was it formed by some past experience or upbringing, was it developed out of self-sufficiency, or was it following someone in their beliefs? Was it exhaustion with not understanding?

Is everything we know just absurd? Is it meaningless? Ivan, the middle brother of The Brothers Karamazov, is extremely intelligent, learned, cold, and filled with bitterness toward any sort of religious belief, he's an atheist who believes (ha, yes, he does have a sort of religious belief) there is no purpose. Though he is deeply disturbed by suffering and cannot grasp how little ones can suffer. He claims that he will not accept anything except the facts. The materialist to the full extent. 

In this conversation with his younger brother, Alyosha, who is living in the monastery and is deeply faithful, Ivan opens up his whole world view with a stance of certainty in his uncertainty, which is seen in this back and forth between them.

"Even if parallel lines do meet and I see it myself, I shall see it and say that they've met, but still I won't accept it. That's what's at the root of me, Alyosha; that's my creed. I am earnest in what I say."

...

"You will explain why you don't accept the world?" said Alyosha.

"To be sure I will, it's not a secret, that's what I've been leading up to. Dear little brother, I don't want to corrupt you or to turn you from your stronghold, perhaps I want to be healed by you." Ivan smiled suddenly quite like a little gentle child. Alyosha had never seen such a smile on his face before.

(page 228)

As I journey my way through this family drama and the interweaving of each brother's journey as they each face their deepest struggles, I am, as reader, witness to their decisions that impact the lives of all those who are connected to them. I follow along on the Hallow app as each session beautifully brings to light the connections of the brothers, their father, and the monk Zossima -  parallels to the Scripture story of the Prodigal Son. We are all familiar with that story, but these prayer sessions and book analysis is opening up new realms of the allusions to Scripture and it's fascinating. 

I am pondering to get my head around the ideas, and I want to explore it more - It feels like I am learning of the Prodigal Son story for the first time. Could Jesus be seen as the Prodigal Son who leaves the Father, not out of disobedience, but of total obedience, to be out in the world amidst the sinners and turmoil for a short period of time, giving away everything He has and is, before returning to the Father?

This is what I love about literature. The good kind of literature can open up new aspects of Scripture to explore from angles and ideas that create avenues that feels like opening a book for the first time. The kinds of books I want to read are the ones that have the Gospel as the heart of it, it may be disguised and creatively done, sneaking into the minds of non-Christians. Like C.S. Lewis said, an atheist can't be too careful in his reading. He may stumble upon books he engages with and is draw to, with deep Christian themes and re-telling of Scriptures, which causes him to contempate.