Tuesday, July 11, 2017

THEN THERE IS TOLSTOY


I almost never jump into my kind of prayer without scanning the many books I
have that are inspirational/devotional books. That sounds immediately sappy to me for some reason, probably because many are.  I'm both eclectic and choosy.  

So today I turned to Tolstoy.  Tolstoy the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. He put together a book of thoughts on self-improvement. He was quite the bounder when young and failed at most of what he did. But he had inherited an estate. And married a competent wife, which turned out to be a very good thing. He had a kind of spiritual conversion and took on a kind of vow of poverty.  And worked side by side with his peons. (I am being sarcastic--quite).
His wife, with 8 kids to manage and a large farm as well as poking Tolstoy to finish his books, demanded the rights to all of his books. It was an awful but enduring marriage. I'll share some of his thoughts which often inspire AND remind me of how easy it is to preach good stuff and ignore the people closest to you. Spiritual blindspots seem to come with the territory. There is a good research project in there somewhere.

So--Tolstoy from Wise Thoughts for Every Day.

—The wiser a person is, the simpler the language he will use to express his (her!!) thoughts.

—Religion does not become true just because you say yours is the only true one. Your faith is established from the inside, not the outside.

—The teaching of peace is a natural consequencIe of the teaching of love



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