What is commonly known about Leo Tolstoy besides that he was a Russian writer and wrote these two famous novels – War and peace and Anna Karenina… Not much. But as a matter of fact, he also created 2 other big novels, 10 plays, 15 novellas, over 65 short stories, more than 300 articles and on top of that a few philosophical essays. His letters and diaries are well known as a source of wisdom, all of his work is filled with challenging moral dilemmas.
Tolstoy’s contribution to Russian and world literature is absolutely priceless, but he was not just an incredibly talented writer, but also was a remarkable individual.
All of his life Tolsoty was seeking wisdom and the right path. In his pursuit, he was heavily influenced by various ideological and religious movements such as brahmanism, buddhism, daoism, confucianism, islam, quakerism, works of Socrates, Kant, Shoppenhauer. He was trying to understand how he himself could be the best human being and what he could do to better the lives around him – and not just people’s lives.
Do not believe when people preach that This life is a foundation for the next life. It’s very clear to me, an 80 year old man, that I am just a tiny instrument of God to serve his mission.
Even as a young man, he had a lot of self discipline. At 18 he already had a set of rules he tried to follow to become a better man:
1. Every morning create a list of things you want to accomplish throughout the day, and do everything you planned.
2. Have as little sleep as possible.
3. Bear all physical sufferings without external expressions.
4. If you start something, don’t leave it without finishing.
5. Don’t care about the approval of the people you either don’t know or despise.
6. Every evening, repeat everything you have learned during the day. Every week, every month and every year, quiz yourself on everything you have done and learned. And if you found out you forgot something – start it again from scratch.
7. Don’t change your lifestyle even if you become ten times richer.
8. Do not allow yourself expenses that feed vanity.
9. Use any additions to your wealth for society, not for yourself.
10. Come up with as many tasks and activities for yourself as you can.
11. Don’t ask for help if you can finish the task yourself.
12. The worse things are, the more active you should be.
13. Be content with the present.
14. Look for chances to do good.
15. Try to make the lives of people connected to you, pleasant.
As you can see, even at 18, Tolstoy was already seeking the willpower development and tried to improve his memory, intelligence, and overall a better person – trying to tame conceit and greed.
He did advise himself and others that it’s necessary to fulfill everything one promises to themselves. And I really like it, at least because when we consistently honor our own promises, it helps maintain our personal self respect and a satisfying feeling of integrity.
And what a great idea to care less about the approval of people you despise or especially don’t know? Good point, Leo, we should all remember that one. The advice about quizzing yourself on the things you have learned every week, month and a year? What an amazing way of making sure that you are on top of your knowledge and skill!
Do I need to even point out that all of Leo Tolstoy’s personal rules are so universal, that they are still relevant and applicable to us in the 21st century?
Tolstoy witnessed 2 of the Russian revolutions and although he had criticized societal inequality in general and the violence and force of governments of his time, he was also not in favor of revolutionary movements because he could only see multiplying violence in them.
He also had his own views on christianity and refused dogmatism of any organized church, religious hierarchies and rituals. He refused authorities, and although he considered himself a Christian, his brushes with the official church and lack of willingness to follow dogmatic religious rules, resulted in him being banned from it. Tolstoy, however, deeply respected the core Christian morals and values, and bowed to the commandments.
Towards his later days, Tolstoy got disappointed in religion completely, and set to follow his own set of views that he established for himself. He gave his own specific meaning to the concept of God. For him, it signified the unknown beginning of life, its endless foundation. Tolstoy was passionately preaching a principle of not responding to evil with violence which he called “nonresistance to evil”.
Everything I know, I know because of love
For Tolstoy, Family always came first. He was very respectful of his marriage with Sofia Bers. Most of his most serious works were written after he got married. She was 18, and he was 34. He loved his wife very much and she always helped him with his work and was a good friend, adviser and a loyal wife. Even when they ran into some troubles around differences in principles and core values, they still remained together and their marriage lasted for 48 years.
Tolstoy was fond of any kind of labor including physical labor, – and worked a lot. He loved it, he encouraged everyone to work and despised laziness. He owned and personally cared for a few horses, made his own shoes, worked alongside farmworkers and was a passionate beekeeper.
Tolstoy did not believe in wealth as a goal for personal happiness. In his early 50’s he became a vegan and practiced minimalism. His meals consisted mostly of oatmeal, but he also sometimes ate wheat bread, potato or cabbage soup, roast potatoes and watery fruit or berry drinks. He mentioned that his health greatly improved after he adopted the diet, and especially after he stopped consuming milk, eggs, tea, coffee and sugar. But the main reason for him becoming vegan was his total refusal of any kind of violence. He believed that ending any form of violence is the first step on a path of spiritual growth. As he became older, his lifestyle could be called even ascetic – he almost never wore shoes, and hated dealing with money. He wanted to be close to the simple life that farmworkers led.
Remarkable life and views of Tolstoy inspired many people who saw purity and light in the thoughts of this very wise man. While he still was alive, a few of his followers even started a movement, – Tolstoyan Movement, – keeping a few principles that Tolstoy believed truth for himself and taught others to
1. Do not fight evil with evil, but return evil with good
2. Love everyone and everything
3. Purify your soul
4. Live simple life
5. Adopt Christian values (Such as don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t bear false witness, and don’t lust)
Till the very end of his life, Tolstoy was hoping that any kind of societal issues and world problems could be fixed by the power of Consciousness, good will, energy of inspiration, even if it seems that everything is lost. His ideas about humanity and human growth and happiness were outside of the concept of countries, economies, or religions. He envisioned this world as a wonderful place where all people following their personal and spiritual awakening would love each other and unite in beautiful harmony.
His views, influenced by the most progressive ideas of american humanitarians and with the support of christian philosophy were documented as a proposal for non governmental ways of unity of people, that could be called “Christian fellowship” or using the language of political culture, a prototype of non-political unity where cornerstones of the fellowship would be main living routines focused on the celebration of common humanitarian values, and not on power.
We hear the echo of this wonderful idea in vegetarian and vegan movements, pacifism, end of discrimination, abolishment of capotal punishment, and many others.
Ultimately, Tolstoy’s ideas of personal happiness were simple –
“Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly.”
He truly believed that the most important condition of being happy is the believe that happiness is possible.
This video could be found here: https://youtu.be/r-F5MNizgUM
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