Mrs. General Epanchin was a proud woman by nature. What must her feelings have been when she heard that Prince Muishkin, the last of his and her line, had arrived in a beggar’s guise, a wretched idiot, a recipient of charity-all of which details the general gave out for greater effect! (Excerpt from The Idiot, page 59.)
His fits were so frequent then, that they made almost an idiot of him (the prince used the expression “idiot” himself). (Excerpt from The Idiot, page 35.)
The month of January, for most of us, is the month we part ways with our New Year’s resolutions. One of my resolutions was to finally reread Dostoevsky’s masterpiece The Idiot. I had first read it when I was a ninth grade student. In an attempt to impress my English teacher I found an old paperback of this story and wrote an essay about it. Dostoevsky was over my head but the novel gave me great training as I was an aspiring bull sh*t*er. I practiced that inglorious trait throughout my formal education. If I remember correctly, I got a B minus on the book report. That was too kind of a grade! My teacher created a plethora of red comments scarring my feeble written attempt. His red notes and corrections made the essay look like it was the subject of a murder. It surprised me he took the time to change pens to grade it in blue ink.
I love great authors who create characters that stand the test of time. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s character, Prince Myshkin in The Idiot, appears to be a naive soul. Right from the beginning of the story the Prince s describes himself as an idiot. His back story immediately unfolds and the Prince displays his honesty in describing his “fits” and his after “fit” struggles. To his new found audience Prince Myshkin shared how he struggled to come back to a reality and behavior that was somewhat normal compared to his lack of normal behavior a recent fit had “clothed ” him in. Naively, he trusts people he has just met with details of his mental state following past “fits”. ( May be not a surprise for many, but it was a surprise for me to discover, as I took time to study Dostoevsky’s biographical notes, that he too was an epileptic. And his fictional character(s) reflected Dostoevsky’s condition in some of his stories and novels. An old adage employed here: Write what you know! )
At the risk of repeating myself, I explained in earlier posts of my page turnings of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, I read his novels with attention to his masterful word smithing and his character’s interwoven conversations.
Naturally my pace of reading Dostoevsky slows down. I attempt to compare this slower pace of reading his writings to my memories, as a youngster, of riding in a car and watching the scenery pass by. I discovered that the sights, landscapes farther away from my point of view moved past much slower than the scenery situated closer to my car window. Reading Dostoevsky at the pace of a broad horizon unfolding out of my window helps me ascertain how his commas and exclamation points clarify the unwritten mood of a scene. With that verbose needless explanation out of the way, I simply find it easier to read two or three other stories while savoring a slower pace reading a Dostoevsky story.
This month I have also been reading Yandall Woodfin’s text in philosophy, With All Your Mind A Christian Philosophy. Why am I reading this? If you have followed me over the past few years, you know I am very comfortable with my faith, my spirituality, and my acquaintances with Jesus, Buddha and Kabbala’ s mysticism. I am intrigued with the discipline Woodfin’s 1980 text displays as he builds and layers philosophical insights buttressing walls of science supporting the roofs of the world religions while attempting to lock the doors and windows to the universal problem of evil.
As I stated earlier, seven decades into my life I am reading The Idiot -again. No, I am really reading it for the first time with adult sensibility focusing on the author’s genius at developing characters that are still alive 150 plus years after he first gave birth to them in his imagination. And I am also reading Yandall Woodfin’s, With All Your Mind, written in 1980. Have you ever felt the desire to make sense of your life especially as it relates to the question of how your life fits into the greater mosaic or puzzle of the current times you happen to be living in?
This month has been bitter cold here in New England. As we finish the month, the temperature hovers either side of 0 degrees Fahrenheit. The two feet of snow that added to our snow pack, almost a week ago, is still being moved by plows and pay loader tractors attempting to create space for all our oversized vehicles to move around. The ocean is angry as a Nor’easter comes close to our shoreline! My prayers are with the 7 fishermen of the lost fishing trawler, Lily Jean. They apparently sunk 25 miles off the coast of Gloucester a couple of days ago. My prayers are also with their family and friends and all the people of Gloucester.
All my life the ocean, the ebb and flow of her tides, the bounty that she raises from her bosom has fed me and my family. The courage of the men and women who harvest her bounties has held a warm place in my heart. My lighthouse shines the light that helps me answer that puzzle question I just asked. The lighthouse keepers this month are Dostoevsky and the Christian philosopher, Yandall Woodfin. The latter weaves the philosophical questions of other great minds and philosophers such as Blaise Pascal, a Frenchman from the 1600’s who stated, the heart has its reasons, which reason does not know. We feel it in a thousand things. On page 24 Woodfin shares: Knowledge is not possible unless this intuitive channel, within its proper limits, can be trusted. His text goes on building walls of insights as stated by poet Eunice Tietjens, educator John Dewey, theologian, Dr. Daniel Fuller, philosophers John B. Cobb, Jr. and Paul Tillich. More to follow as you turn the pages of the text With All Your Mind. One person’s story resonated with me as I reflect this month on the protests in Minnesota. A Justin Martyrd, in 165 AD, stood up to the powers that were in Rome. He championed truth over falsehood. He lost his head! History is still rhyming! As many in our Country demonstrate publicly while demanding truth over the falsehood of Government pretending they nurture democracy while dictating endless distractions as the shallow leaders proclaim, “Thou dost protest too much!” I ask the question to my lighthouse keepers, “Just what are they distracting us from?” One word, repeated three times, rides the back of the reflected light off our angry waves.- Epstein, Epstein, Epstein!
Thank you for reading!
Be at peace and joy!
Mark