Transcription
Okay, good morning. Uh, today we are doing the Russian Empire. And to review, we've done America and Britain so far, and we've discussed the civilization. Today we'll do Russia, and then on Thursday, we'll start Germany. Um, let's simplify the differences between these three great modern civilizations that are struggling for world domination, even today.
So, as we discussed last week, um, the defining characteristics of the Anglo-American civilization is their belief in utilitarianism. Okay. They want, they want to know what is practical, what works. Um, their idea of Christianity is the supreme god is a force that elects. And what this means is that, um, not everyone will go to heaven. Only a minority will go to heaven, and this minority are those who have proven themselves the most worthy. Okay. The last idea of the Anglo-American civilization is that the meaning of life is the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Essentially, the pursuit of wealth. Okay. So, these are the, um, characteristics of the Anglo-American civilization.
Um, on Thursday, we will start the German civilization, and what you will, um, see is that the Germans are very different. Um, they are not utilitarians; they are very idealistic, very romantic. Um, for them, God is a force that demands you to be your very best. Okay? Not a few people, but everyone. And the Germans believe in the unity of will. Okay? Everyone has to work together and promote German civilization.
Today, we do the Russians, okay? And the Russians are a very different civilization. Uh, first of all, they're much more fatalistic than the Germans and the Americans. They don't believe that you have control over your life. They believe that you can only accept what is given to you and make the most out of it. Um, for them, God is a force that redeems and saves all. God is merciful. God is forgiving. Okay? This is a very different conception from both the German and the Anglo-American conception. The last concept that we will look at today is, for them, the, um, essence of life is to understand the mystery, miracle, and authority of the human heart. Okay. So, whereas the Americans and British place an emphasis on science, on mastering the world, um, uh, the material world, and whereas the Germans are extremely idealistic, they want an understanding of existence, the Russians are focused very much on the human heart. Okay. For the Russians, the greatest mystery, um, the most knowledge is within the human heart. And this is what we will focus on, uh, today. Okay.
So, um, the leading question for today's class, the question that I'm sure you're all interested in, is why did Putin invade Ukraine? What is driving the Russian invasion of Ukraine? And, um, there are lots of easy explanations. What I will show you today is the answer is actually extremely complicated. What Putin himself has said in multiple interviews is there are historical, um, sociological, philosophical issues at work here, and Westerners don't really understand what he's saying. Okay. So, what I'm going to do today is I'm going to explain to you what he really means. Okay.
So, um, if you look at the year 1300, you could not expect Moscow to eventually become the Russian Empire. At this point in history, the Mongols have controlled most of the world, and Moscow, along with other areas, um, in the, um, empire, there are vassal states. Okay? They pay taxes, they pay tribute, they provide troops to the Mongol Empire. But it's the Empire that is the, um, great power at this stage. So, but so why, but if you look at history, okay, you will see a very similar pattern where it's not really the greatest power that will eventually, uh, overwhelm everyone. It's always the marginal power. Okay.
So, going back to and reviewing what we've learned so far, remember when we discussed the Aztecs? The Aztecs were very much a poor, isolated, um, backward people. Um, but eventually, through innovation, through tenacity, for resilience, they will come to conquer most of Central America. Same thing with the Qing dynasty in China. Right at this stage in history, maybe 300, 400 B.C.E., C., you would not expect the Qing Empire, uh, the Qing dynasty to overwhelm all of China and become China's first great national empire. Maybe the Chu, maybe the Wei, Qi, they're all stronger at this point in history, but it's the marginal, uh, power that seems weak at first that will overwhelm. Same thing with Macedon. Okay. At this point in history, in the year, uh, 400, 300 B.C.E., it's Athens, Sparta, Thebes that are powers, but eventually Macedon will not only over, will not only overwhelm the great peninsula, but they will go over to Persia and conquer the Persian Empire as well. Same thing with Rome. Rome, um, at this point in history, maybe 500 B.C.E., it is the weakest of all these Italian states. Um, the, uh, Etruscans are the main power, and they are the poorest, the weakest, the smallest of all these great tribes, but eventually, over the next centuries, they will conquer everyone. Same thing with the Franks. Um, after the Roman Empire, the Franks will slowly expand from central Europe and overwhelm, uh, most of Europe to create the Holy Roman Empire. Okay? And the same thing with the Prussians. Uh, next class, we'll discuss the Prussian Empire, which becomes modern-day Germany. They start off as this landlocked, um, um, isolated central area within, uh, Europe, but eventually they will spread out to conquer all of, uh, Germany. Okay.
So, the lessons we can learn from, uh, these case studies is there are three forces that drive these marginalized powers to become the great power of the day. Okay. So, for Moscow, it's a pro constant process of creative destruction. First of all, open, cooperative competition. So, they're always surrounded by these adversaries, and because they don't really lack, and because they don't have natural defenses, they don't have mountains, rivers, um, it forces them to be tough and unified in order to feed their enemies. And it's toughness and unity that will allow Moscow to emerge as a great power, um, in Central Asia. Advantage by disadvantages. Okay? You're better off being weak because if you're weak, it forces you to be innovative and open. Okay? So, they say, "Necessity is the mother of invention." The last factor is vassalage. Okay? So, the idea that historical humiliation and subjection force reflection and resilience, because Moscow, for the longest time, was subjected, um, to vassals by the Mongols. It forced them to be humble, and humility allows you to reflect deeply on your own weaknesses, to be honest with yourself, and eventually triumph over all your adversaries. Okay. So, these are the three factors that will drive the massive expansion of Moscow. Okay. Moscow starts off as this very small principality within the Mongol Empire, and then it will eventually become the successor to the Mongol Empire. All right.
Um, so let's look at the origins of the, uh, of Russia. So, the history is, we have to go back to the Viking age, right? This, this is about the year 900, 1000, right? So, the Vikings are in, uh, Sweden, and Denmark, and Norway. And because it's so poor and because it's becoming overly populated, um, they will start to expand over to England, to Greenland, to other areas, and then, sorry, can you open the door? And then they will also move east. Okay. Why are they moving east? Because all the great wealth of, of the age is located in the Byzantine Empire, in Egypt, and as well as the Abbasid Empire, um, in Iraq and Persia. Okay. So, they're, they're here to establish trading posts, and when they establish trading posts, what will happen is that first of all, they will intermarry with the local Slavic population, as well as the, um, steppe people. Okay. They will also build an alliance with the Byzantine Empire and become basically vassals to the Byzantines. All right. Um, what will happen is, over time, their trading posts will become cities, and they will expand outwards. So, the tradition, the custom at, at this stage in history is, if you're noble, um, you must go and conquer new lands. When you conquer new lands, you can enslave the people to work for you. Okay? This is a very feudal system. Okay. So, this forces a process of constant expansion. If they don't expand, they only fight amongst themselves. So, the Kievan Rus' expands very quickly throughout this, uh, area. Um, eventually, they'll all be conquered by the Mongols, and when the Mongols leave, it leaves a vacuum of great powers. Okay. So, the great power of this age is the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Okay. Um, Novgorod is also a great power. Moscow is the weakest. But again, as I said, over time, because it is weak, it's forced to be united. It's forced to be resilient. It's forced to be innovative. And over time, what it will do is it will overwhelm, uh, Novgorod and become the Russian Empire. Okay. And as you can see, what will happen is the Russian Empire will expand really quickly until it absorbs the entire, um, Mongol Empire, as well as unify all of, um, Northern Asia. Okay. It is now the largest landmass in the world. Okay.
Um, so, um, the thing to understand about the Russians is that even though it's a very, uh, large country, most of it is not able to be cultivated. Okay? So, it has very, uh, low population. Most of the wealth is located in the, in over here. Okay? This is basically Ukraine. This is what's driving the invasion because historically, most of the wealth, uh, in Russia has been located in the Ukraine area. And if you go over here, it's basically just forest and mountains. So, why are they moving, uh, eastwards when there's very little resources here? The answer is fur. Okay? Fur. Fur is a very valuable commodity. They go and they, um, they trade fur for a living. Okay. Um, some of the great Tsars of Russian history is Ivan the Great, and his son is Ivan the Terrible, who will expand Russia, uh, greatly. Okay.
Um, the thing to understand about Russian expansion is it's really not driven by state policy. It's really driven by oppression and misery. And what this means is that because Russia is essentially a feudal state, the only way to build a better life is if you escape eastwards and you basically ethnically cleanse that area and build a new settlement. Okay? So that's what's driving this. And what will happen is as these people move further eastwards, the state will follow them in order to collect taxes. Okay? And sometimes the state will intervene in order to protect these people from, uh, their adversaries in the local areas. But it's a very brutal process that takes centuries. And the Russians win out because, uh, there's more of them, and also because they have muskets, and the local people do not have muskets. Okay. So, as you can see, the expansion is very rapid, only applies about 300 years. Um, and as I mentioned, it is an extremely brutal process. Okay. So, these are paintings of, uh, the brutality involved in this eastward expansion. It involves ethnic cleansing. It involves enslaving people. Okay. Yeah. It's a brutal process, and these paintings are meant to capture the brutality of the process, and you can see the misery involved. Okay. So, these people who are being conquered, they're either being ethnically cleansed, or they're being forced to immigrate, or they're being enslaved. Um, it's a very similar process with the Americans. And these will eventually come, become the two great empires, um, of the 20th century, as well as really the 21st century. Okay.
So, the Americans have the same situation where they're expanding westwards, and the Russians are expanding eastwards. The difference is this: the Americans are expanding westwards for better opportunities. Okay? To build up, to get wealthy, to build a better life. The Russians are expanding eastwards because they are trying to escape misery and oppression and slavery. Okay? That's a difference. And because of this difference, even though there have been many similarities, the fundamental belief systems of these two nations are very different. Americans are fundamentally optimistic. Russians are fundamentally fatalistic, pessimistic. Okay. All right.
Um, so let's summarize the differences between the Slavic East, the Russian East, and the Germanic West. Okay. Uh, Slavic gives us the word slave. Why? Because for the longest time, the Slavs in Europe, in Eastern Europe, they were pagans. They weren't Muslims. They weren't Christians. And the custom at that time is you can only enslave people who are not of your religious belief. Okay? So, the pagans were the most valuable people because they can be, they can be enslaved by everyone. So, Vikings came, the Muslims came, the Christians came to enslave the Slavic people and sell them off to the Byzantines, the Abbasids, um, and that's why we get the word slave. Okay.
So, let's look at the three major differences between Russia and Germany. The first major difference is that the Russians believe they are heir to the Byzantine Empire, which is a very top-down, centralized bureaucracy, and this is something we discussed, uh, before. The Germans, uh, believe they are heir to the Holy Roman Empire, which is a confederation. Okay? As we discussed when we discussed the Holy Roman Empire, it was impossible for anyone to conquer all of Europe. And so, um, the Holy Roman Empire was based on consensus. It was based on diplomacy. Okay? It was based on intermarriage. So, this is a much more democratic, much more, uh, independent system than the Byzantines. Second major difference is the Germans have the Catholic Church. The Russians have something called the Eastern Orthodox Church. This sounds similar, but what I will show you as we move on is it's actually night and day. Okay? These two belief systems are extremely different. Third major difference is, um, the Germanic West, the Germans, they are culturally coherent. They believe they speak the same language. They believe that they come from the same culture. Whereas the Russian Empire, it is culturally incoherent. Okay? It, uh, encompasses a vast array of different cultures, languages, uh, and belief systems. All right.
Okay. So, the Russian Empire starts with Peter the Great. And what Peter the Great does is he modernizes Russia and forces a decisive war with Sweden, which is at Europe right now, the great military power. Okay? So, for most of Russian history, the European powers didn't really take Russia seriously. And they just thought that the Russians are part of Asia. They're really not part of Europe. And it was Peter the Great who's determined to westernize, Europeanize Russia and prove Russia a European power. Okay. And he does that, um, for three reasons. All right. Let's, Oh, sorry. Sorry. For many reasons. Okay. He does it because Russia right now is an empire, and as an empire, you need a unifying ideology, a philosophy. And for the Russians, for the longest time, even Putin shares this philosophy, is they believe they are trying to restore the Byzantine Empire and be the Third Rome and save civilization. Okay. So, so what do I mean by this? All right. So, the First Rome, of course, was Rome. Second Rome was Constantinople. The Third Rome now is Moscow. And not only that, but they believe they are the true heirs to the Christian tradition. All these other Christian religions out there, Catholic, Protestant, they are corrupt forms. It's the Orthodox Church that is the true heir to the Roman, uh, Christianity. All right.
Quest for military supremacy means that right now, at this stage in history, all the great, um, militaries are in Europe. Okay? So, Eur, Russia basically needs to copy, imitate, uh, the Europeans. So, what, so what Russia does is it imports a lot, actually, German soldiers and mercenaries to learn German military technique. Quest for absolute power means that all these Tsars, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, they're in, they're interested in centralizing authority. They want to remove this feudal system and centralize power and all in their hands. Okay. Delusion of authority of church and nobility. So, uh, in Europe, the Catholic Church is above the kings. Okay? So, Peter the Great wants to subject the church to his authority, as well as the nobility. Uh, right now, the great threat, the great rival to the Russians is the Ottoman Empire. Okay. And, and last is the contempt of Asia. Okay. So, um, even though the Mongols probably influenced the Russians much more than the Vikings, the Russians believe the Vikings are their true, um, um, ancestors, not the Mongols. They try to, they try to like erase the Mongols from their own history. They're kind of ashamed of it. Okay.
So, again, um, as I mentioned, at this time in Europe, about the year 1700, Sweden is the great military power of the age, and Peter the Great and Charles XII of Sweden, they get into this major conflict, and Peter the Great, um, is not that great. Okay. Um, he, he has a lot of issues, but Charles XII is a complete disaster. And the reason why is he's a young man. He's only about 27 when he invades Russia, who fancied himself as Anton the Great. Okay? And as we discussed, Anton the Great was very problematic because he was very tyrannical, and also because he believed he was invincible. So, Charles XII decides to go invade Russia. And this is a disaster. Why? Because Peter the Great will, um, use something called a scorched-earth policy. Basically, he knows that he cannot on the battlefield defeat the Swedes. So, what the Russians do is they retreat and burn down all the fields. So, the army cannot feed itself. Okay? This is called scorched earth. And this is important because, uh, this is how the Russians will defeat Napoleon in 1812. And this is important because this is how the Russians will defeat, uh, the Germans in, uh, World War II. Okay. So, uh, this is very sim, this is a very, uh, familiar pattern in history. Um, as I mentioned, the great enemy of Russia at this time are the Ottomans. Okay. And so the Russians and the Ottomans will clash over the, um, Crimea. Okay? The Crimea. And this will lead to something called the Crimean War, uh, in 1854. Okay.
So, Peter the Great again, he wins because, uh, Charles XII, um, makes disastrous military decisions during this war. But this is, this begins the Russian Empire. Okay. For the first time, Russia is now considered a great European power because it's defeated the great military power of Europe, Sweden. Okay. So, these are paintings celebrating the great Russian victory over the Swedes. So, after this victory, Russia will expand very greatly. And then, um, after Peter the Great, the, the, the next great westernizer of the Russian Empire is Catherine the Great. Uh, what's important first to remember about, um, Catherine the Great is she's actually not Russian. She's actually German. She's, she was born in Prussia, and she married into the Russian noble family. It was very common at this stage for the European powers to intermarry with each other, and most of the, uh, Russian nobility, a lot of them actually have German blood, and they actually spoke French at home. Okay. So, so, uh, this Russianization created a process where the nobility now is very European. They speak French. They have German ancestry, and the, um, the peasants are Slavic. Okay. And so this creates a massive divide in Russia. Catherine the Great will extend, uh, Russia greatly, as you can see from this map.
The great, um, event that basically frustrates is the defeat of Napoleon in 1812. Napoleon, as we know, the great conqueror, he invades Russia in 1812, and he defeats the Russian army. But what the Russians do that no one can possibly imagine they would do is they burn down the capital, Moscow. Okay? Moscow is the cultural capital. It is the heart and soul of the Russian Empire. And they burn it down to starve Napoleon's army. And the Europeans thought this was an incredible act of barbarism. Okay? But for the Russians, they believed it was an incredible act of self-sacrifice that saved the Russian Empire. In fact, uh, the great Russian composer, he wrote a symphony dedicated to, uh, uh, celebrating the victory over Napoleon called "1812 Overture." Have you guys heard the overture? All right. Let me play it for you.
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
So, the Russians thought that by getting Napoleon, by making a sacrifice, they not only saved Russia, but they saved all of Europe. They saved Western civilization, basically.
[Music]
Okay. Okay. So, I'm sure you, you guys have heard of it, right? Okay. But this is to celebrate, uh, the freedom of Napoleon by Tchaikovsky. Okay. Um, after the defeat of Napoleon, though, the Europeans take notice of Russia, especially Britain. Remember, Britain is this great naval power that is dedicated to a divide and conquer policy of, of Europe. They basically gang up against whoever is the growing power in Europe. So, as, as Russia's, as Russia is growing, uh, the British encourage the Ottomans and the French to unite against Russia to prevent Russian expansion into the Ottoman Empire. Eventually, uh, the Russians will defeat the Ottoman Empire, but the Crimean War is a major setback for the Russians, and this creates something called the Great Game, where the Russians, um, are now being hemmed in by the, by the British. Okay. So, the British and the Russians now will now, will now fight for supremacy over Central Asia. A disaster, the next disaster for the, for the Russians is the Russo-Japanese War, where Russia gets heavily defeated by the Japanese, and this sort of instigates revolutionary settlement and fever in Russia. And of course, what follows next is the great disaster, the First World War, where the Russians are defeated mightily by the Germans. And this creates something called the 1917 Revolution, which destroys the Russian Empire and creates the, uh, Soviet Empire. Okay. Um, so this is just a brief history. We'll go into the revolution at a future date. Okay. Okay, it's a very important event, and I, I want to dedicate a whole class to it. But that's a brief background, um, of the Russian Empire.
Okay, so now let's talk about the civilization. And as, um, I discussed, westernization has been a major trend in Europe. But because of westernization, there are three major contradictions that are created within the, uh, Russian Empire. Okay. And these three contradictions will go on to create Russian civilization. Okay. These contradictions are: it's both European and Central Asian. Okay. It's both Viking and, it's both, um, Slavic as well as Tatar. Okay. So, there's a lot of ethnicities, a lot of cultures within Russia. And there's a contradiction. Second contradiction is it fancies itself as a Christian Orthodox nation, in fact, the true Christian nation, but it's also very pagan. Uh, remember, there's this massive, um, eastward expansion, um, in the process, um, there's a lot of war, there's a lot of violence. Okay? It's very pagan, and the peasantry, um, even to this day, maintain a lot of pagan rituals, a lot of pagan beliefs. And the third great contradiction is between enlightenment and empire. So, Catherine the Great, who was Prussian, she tried to see herself as an enlightened monarch. She was best friends with Voltaire. They, they never met, but they were pen pals, and she saw herself as an enlightened despot who was trying to bring reason and justice and goodness to Russia. Okay? But at the same time, it's an empire, and it's a brutal empire that, um, uh, and the Russians engage in a lot of barbarism. Okay. So, this is also a massive contradiction. And so, if you study Russian civilization, okay, it is unique because of these three major contradictions.
So, let me show you how they influence Russian arts and literature. Okay. Um, let's look at some of the major Russian cultural figures. And, um, there are too many to name, okay? There's just a lot of them, but I'll just go through the most famous. Um, this is actually Pushkin, who is considered the Shakespeare of Russia. He's the great innovator of the Russian language. He basically modernizes the language, and he's a poet, um, and a very romantic figure in Russia. He's basically the national poet of Russia. Something really interesting about him is his grandfather was an African general. Okay? Who, who, who was, uh, who became a noble in Russia. So, he's about 1/8 black, and he's very proud of it. And so, what's important for us to remember is, again, for most of, of human history, race was not a concept. Okay? People didn't really care what race you were.
Um, this is Anton Chekhov, who is considered the greatest short story writer in human history. Okay. Uh, music. Russian music is extremely, Russian music is just, it's beautiful. Okay. Where, I'll, I'll play you some, uh, some clips of Russian music. Okay. This is Glinka, who was a very famous composer. The most famous composer, of course, is Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Okay. And he is famous for three ballets that are still performed today, um, The Nutcracker, which is performed at Christmas. This is his most famous, Swan Lake. Okay.
So, let's, let's hear some music from Swan Lake, just so you can, you can appreciate the beauty, uh, and the depth of Russian music. What, what's astonishing about this music is that this music can flow into your essence, your soul. Okay? This music comes from the soul. And to create music this beautiful, your soul must suffer. Okay? Your soul must engage in misery, pain, and suffering in order to create such beauty.
[Music]
Okay. So, this is just, um, uh, hauntingly beautiful music that Tchaikovsky created. Okay. Uh, Sleeping Beauty is also a really famous play by, um, um, Tchaikovsky. Igor Stravinsky is considered the first great modern composer, and he composed something called "The Rite of Spring." Okay. This is 1913. It was first performed in Paris. It was so revolutionary that it caused a riot, uh, within the music hall. Um, this, uh, ballet, what it tries to do is it tries to fuse the pagan tradition into modernity. Okay. Uh, I'm going to play some excerpts from "The Rite of Spring," and you can see how revolutionary this music is. And, and, and I want, and what I want you to notice is this music expresses, encapsulates the contradictions within Russian civilization between the pagan and the Christian.
[Music]
You can feel the rawness, the energy, the violence, the aggression, the sensuality.
[Music] [Music]
Okay. So, this musical, this ballet, it's about the rites of spring. So, it goes back to a Slavic tradition where they celebrate the mother goddess, and it's spring. So, they, to celebrate the transition, perform games and have festivals, and what ends, what ends the festivities is the sacrifice of a maiden. Okay. She will dance until she dies, and when she dances to her death, her, her heart will explode. Okay. And this symbolizes how the mother goddess gives life to the world by making, um, by dancing and basically, um, pouring out her blood into the world in order for plants, for, uh, the seasons to change, and then her heart will, will explode. And in this world, what's important for us to understand is it's all interconnected, and it must be balanced out and harmonized. So, if the mother goddess sacrifices herself in order for there to be life, then the maiden must sacrifice herself to thank the mother goddess. Okay. All right.
So, now let's move on to Russian literature. In Russian civilization, there are two great prophets. They are Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Together, they will create, uh, modern Russian civilization, the sensibilities, the beliefs, the philosophies of modern, um, Russian civilization. And what they're trying to do is they're trying to reconcile the contradictions within Russia through their, uh, novels. Okay? These are the great novelists, uh, in the human tradition. All right.
So, Tolstoy's most famous novel is Anna Karenina, which is considered also, um, the greatest work, uh, of literature, the greatest novel ever written. Okay. And I want to first read some passages from Anna Karenina. This is the beginning. Okay. This is one of the most famous beginnings in world literature. "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Everything was confusion in the Oblonskys' house. The wife had discovered that the husband was carrying on an intrigue with a French girl. Okay. So, what Tolstoy is telling us from the first couple of paragraphs is Russianization, Europeanization, it is a process of corrupting the Russian soul. Okay? The idea that you bring in a French girl, and the husband is going to sleep with her, it's corruption. Okay. Now, this is, this is important because Oblonsky, the husband, they are now, um, engaged in a divorce, and Anna Karenina will come from St. Petersburg to try to reconcile husband and wife. And Anna Karenina herself will commit adultery. She'll fall in love with, um, a man named, uh, Vronsky. They'll have a very passionate affair, and this passionate affair will destroy, uh, both Vronsky and Anna Karenina. And Anna Karenina has a husband and a child back at St. Petersburg. She asks for a divorce. The husband won't give it to her. U, and then she slowly falls into depression, and then she commits to killing herself. Okay.
So, let's look at, look at her, the monologue that she has within herself before she decides to kill herself. Okay. So, she's trying to explain why she's unhappy. "My love keeps growing more passionate and egoistic." Okay, selfish. "While his is waning and waning, and that's why we're drifting apart." So, they've been together for a long time, but she feels that Vronsky is no longer as passionate as he used to be, while she is becoming more passionate. And there's no help for it. "He has everything for me, and I want him more and more to give him, him himself up to me entirely. He wants more and more to get away from me. We walk to meet each other up to the time of our love, and then we have been irresistibly driven in different directions, and there's no altering that. He tells me I'm insanely jealous, and I have told myself that I am insanely jealous, but it's not true. I'm not jealous, but I'm jealous, and I, sorry, I'm not jealous, but I'm unsatisfied." Okay, this is the most important word: unsatisfied. Okay? It tells us that she's a very selfish person who's using love as a way to fill the void in her heart. She feels that this relationship, this adultery will give her meaning in her life. And what she doesn't understand is when that happens, when you, um, try to possess someone, you can't love that person because love is really about, um, giving yourself all to another person. Okay? So, think, think about Dante. Dante never got anything from Beatrice, but he loved her regardless. Okay. So, this is where Anna Karenina fails. She doesn't really understand what love is. Okay? And she's very selfish. Also, a huge problem for Anna Karenina is because she betrayed her husband, she now fears that her, her husband will now betray her. Okay? So, do you see the psychology here? And that's why she can't, she can't love because she broke the fundamental condition for love, which is trust. Okay? So, this is telling us that the heart is a mystery. It's something that you cannot reason out. Something that you can never fully understand. Okay? In theory, if you find someone more attractive, if you think you're better off with him, then you should go be with him. Okay? That's Western civilization, basically, pursue your own happiness. But what Tolstoy is telling us is the heart is something you cannot master. Okay? Maybe your mind, you can master the reason, the logic, you can master, but the human heart works by its own set of logic, and you must respect the human heart. If you want to love, then you must give and not receive. If you want to love, base your love on trust. Do not betray yourself. Do not betray others. Okay? Does that make sense? All right.
So, now let's move on to really the man who, who is at the heart and center of Russian civilization. His name is Fyodor Dostoevsky. Okay. So, let me give you some background about Fyodor Dostoevsky. Um, both Tolstoy and Dostoevsky were extremely passionate Christians. They really believed in, they believed in Christianity. They, and they had deep empathy for the people around them. Um, Tolstoy was born very wealthy. He, he was of, of the nobility. He inherited a lot of money, but because he was so distraught by the suffering around him, because his wealth was basically based on the oppression of the peasantry, right? He actually wanted to give up all his money. He wanted to throw it all away and become a beggar. He wanted to become poor. And it was only at the insistence of his family that prevented him from doing what he felt, he felt his heart demanded of him. Fyodor Dostoevsky comes from the lower nobility. His father was a doctor. Um, and as a young man, he, he was a revolutionary and he participated in these, um, literary revolutionary circles. He wasn't violent, but he had these subversive ideas. So, he was, he was arrested, and he was condemned to death. He was put in front of a firing squad, uh, along with others who were part of the subversion, and at the last minute, he was, his sentence was commuted. He was spared by the Tsar, and he was sent to hard labor in Siberia for a number of years, and this was a very traumatic, but it was also an extremely enlightened experience for Dostoevsky. It made him think very deeply about the meaning of life. Okay.
So, um, he writes something called Crime and Punishment, which is really the great novel of, of, of Russian civilization. It has to do with a man, Raskolnikov, who he's young. He's brilliant. He's a university student, but he's poor. And he decides that in order to escape his circumstance, in order to control his fate, he's going to murder a woman, a pawnbroker, who has a lot of money. No one likes her. No one will miss her. And then he will, he will take her money and then build a new life for himself. Okay? And this will become a basis for his greatness. And he reasons out that, you know what, as a great individual, as a genius, I'm going to contribute so much to humanity. So, if I kill an old woman no one likes, it won't really matter. Okay? So, he's been thinking about this for like a long time, and he's all, he's got it all reasoned out. And what Crime and Punishment will show us is reason is nothing. It doesn't really matter. What matters is the heart. Okay? All right.
So, um, first, I want to talk about Dostoevsky's understanding of God, okay, which is the Russian understanding of God. So, at a bar, at the beginning of the novel, Raskolnikov meets an middle-aged man who's a drunk. Okay? He's, he's alcoholic, named Marmeladov. Okay? Marmeladov. And Marmeladov, um, is an extremely pitiful man because what he's done is he's, he's like a middle-aged bureaucrat, um, and he's been poor, and he marries a poor widow as well, and they have like four children to feed. So, the widow decides to prostitute, um, Marmeladov's daughter, Sonya, to make money. Okay? And then Marmeladov, in a fit of tremendous regret, he goes and finds a job. And this seems like it's going to resolve all problems for the family, right? But he does something that no one really can predict or expect. He decides to steal all the money, all the money within the household, quit his job, and get drunk every day. Okay? And you hear this and you're like, um, that makes no sense. But again, that's the beauty of Russian literature. It's, it's focused on what, what drives us psychologically. It's not about what is reasonable, what is logical. It's really about what we, what we do in these circumstances. Okay? And so Marmeladov, he's driven to despair because he, he feels he sacrificed his daughter. Okay? He hates the fact that his daughter has become a prostitute, and he cannot allow himself and his family to live happily ever after now that his daughter is a prostitute, and that's why he decides to become alcoholic. And then they talk about God. Okay? They talk about God and what the nature of God is. And this is very important for us to understand Orthodox Christianity. He says to Raskolnikov, "Why am I to be pitied? You say, 'Yes, there's nothing to pity me for. I ought to be crucified. Crucified on a cross, not pitied, not pitied. Crucify me, oh, judge me, crucify me, but pity me. And then I will go of myself to be crucified, for it is not merrymaking I seek, but tears and tribulation. Do you suppose you that sell that this pain of yours has been sweet to me? It was tribulation I sought at the bottom of it. Tears and tribulation, and I found it, and I have tasted it. But He will pity us who has had pity on all men. Who has understood all men in all things. He is the one. He too is the judge. He will come in that day and he will ask, 'Where's the daughter who gave herself for her consumptive stepmother and for the little children of another? Where's the daughter who had pity upon the filthy drunkard, her earthly father, undismayed by his beastliness?' And he will say, 'Come to me. I have already forgiven thee once. I have forgiven thee once. Thy sins which are many are forgiven thee, for thou hast loved much.' He will forgive my Sonya. He will forgive. I know it. I felt it in my heart when I was with her just now. He will judge, and he will forgive all the good and the evil, the wise and the meek." Okay.
So, this God that the Orthodox Christians celebrate, it's a forgiving God. It's a merciful God. It is a knowledgeable God, a wise God. Why? Because we humans cannot be trusted to be wise. We humans are, we suffer the mysteries of the heart. We do not know ourselves. We do not know our nature. And therefore, we are bound to suffer. And it's, and God understands this. And that's why God will ultimately redeem us all when the time is appropriate. Okay? So, it's fatalistic, but at the same time, it's also optimistic. Okay.
So, um, let us summarize what the differences are between the Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox religions. Okay. And again, these are different branches of Christianity, and they seem similar, but in reality, they are extremely different. Okay. So, the Protestants believe that we choose to sin. We have free will. The Catholics don't believe in free will. They say we are born in sin. And the Orthodox are fatalistic. They believe we are born to sin. We cannot control our own nature. Okay? That's the first major difference. Second major difference is only a few will be saved and redeemed. Okay? The Protestant is a very unforgiving religion. Only if you work hard and become very wealthy will you be saved. The Catholics believe that, no, everyone can be saved and redeemed. And the Orthodox believe we are beyond salvation and redemption. The human heart is so dark, so mysterious, that we are beyond salvation and redemption. And that, that is why God is great, because only God can save and redeem us, even though we are beyond salvation and redemption. Okay. Um, the third major difference is the Protestants believe that our faith in God will save and redeem us. The Catholics believe obedience to God, oh, sorry, obedience to the, to the church is what will save and redeem us. Whereas the Orthodox believe that, um, only God can forgive us, and if God forgives us, we can't really control, right? So, these are the three major differences, and this is important because the Orthodox religion is at the heart and center of Russian civilization. Okay.
So, let's see how this influences Crime and Punishment. Um, so this is a very important passage in Crime and Punishment, and we'll be discussing this a lot as we move on. Okay. So, here Raskolnikov, he's killed the old lady. He's stolen her money, but now he feels tremendous regret, and he doesn't know why. He can't sleep. He, he, he, he falls into sickness. He doesn't know why this is happening because he's already reasoned it out, right? And then he meets Sonya, who again is Marmeladov's daughter, and he, and he confesses to her what he's done, and not only that, but he tries to explain why he's done this. Okay. This is a very important passage in Western civilization. "I saw that if one waits for everyone to get wise, it will take too long." So, he's basically given up on humanity. "Afterwards, I understood that that would never come to pass. That men won't change, and that nobody can alter it, and that it's not worth wasting effort over it. Yes, that's so, that's a law of their nature, Sonya. That's so. And I know now, Sonya, that whoever is strong in mind and spirit will have power over them. And who is greatly daring is right in their eyes. He who despises most things will be a lawgiver among them. And he who dares most of all will be most in the right. So it has been till now, and so it'll always be. A man must be blind not to see it." Okay.
So, let's go back to the French Revolution. Robespierre is someone who fundamentally believes that everyone can be reasoned with, that reason exists in all of us. If we appeal to reason, then people will be good. Napoleon is someone who believes that I must lead the men. People are weak. I must be strong. Okay. So, what Raskolnikov is saying is like, I killed the old lady because I'm trying to prove that I'm Napoleon and not Robespierre. It's people like Napoleon who will change history, who will save us. Robespierre can only be sacrificed. Okay. And this is important because what Dostoevsky wants to show in Crime and Punishment is that this sort of reasoning, it sounds right, but it goes against the human heart, and when that happens, when the reason and the heart come into conflict, the heart will always triumph, and this can only lead into misery. Also, what will happen is that very important, uh, thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as Sigmund Freud, they will read this and interpret it in their own way. Okay. So, Friedrich Nietzsche will read this and think, "No, this makes sense. Okay. It's not that Raskolnikov is wrong, it's that he didn't believe this enough." All right. So, we'll talk about this next class. All right.
So, um, Raskolnikov, he's being pursued by the police, and it, it's obvious that he's the culprit. It's obvious that he's guilty. But what happens is someone else confesses to the crime, and we don't know why, but someone else confesses to the crime. And at this point, you would think that Raskolnikov is now happy. He's now free to do whatever he wants. This shows that it is God's will that he become great. It is God's will that he kill and become great. But what happens next is he decides to confess the crime. And the confession is, the confession strikes is so striking and so nonsensical that the law, the legal system doesn't know really doesn't know what to do with him. So, they basically sentence him to like hard labor in Siberia for a few years. It's, it's the lightest crime. So, it's the lightest punishment he could have ever received. Okay. And at this point, you would think that, okay, now he's happy with himself because he killed someone, he felt regret, and now he, he's doing some punishment, and then eventually he will be redeemed. Okay. But this causes even more anxiety in him. It causes more confusion in him. Okay. He did not repent of his crime. He doesn't feel guilty or remorseful for killing the landlady. Okay. At least he might have found relief in raging at his stupidity, as he had raged at the grotesque blunders that had brought him to prison. But not in prison, in freedom, he fought over and criticized all his actions again, and by no means found them so blundering and so grotesque as they had seemed at the fatal time. "In what way," he asked himself, "was my theory sterner than others that have swarmed and clashed and clash from the beginning of the world? One has only to look at the things quite independently, broadly, and uninfluenced by commonplace ideas, and my idea will by no means seem so strange. Oh, skeptics and half-witted philosophers! Why do you halt halfway?" He, he doesn't really understand what's happening. He doesn't understand what his problem is. There, there was nothing wrong with his plan. There's nothing wrong with what he did. And now he's being punished for what he did, and he, he cannot escape his own reason. All right.
Now, um, we have to go all the way back to the beginning of this course when we discuss Homer in the Iliad. Remember, Achilles had the same problem. Achilles saw the death of his friend Patroclus, and he swore vengeance against Hector, and then he killed Hector, and then he started to mutilate Hector's body. And after he did so, you would think he would have found relief and catharsis. But it only made him even more depressed, more miserable. Okay. So, this is what Homer and Dostoevsky is telling us: Don't try to reason things out. You try to reason things out, it will only make you miserable because the truth is not within reason. Okay? The truth is within the human heart. "Why does my action strike them as so horrible?" he said to himself. "Is it because it was a crime? What is meant by crime? My conscience is at rest. Of course, it was a legal crime. Of course, the letter of the law was broken, and blood was shed. Well, punish me for the letter of the law, and that's enough. Of course, in that case, many of the benefactors of mankind who snatched power for themselves instead of inheriting, ought to have been punished at their first steps. But those men succeeded. And so, they were right. And I didn't. And so, I had no..."
Right to have taken that step. It is only in that he recognized his criminality, only in the fact that he had been unsuccessful and had confessed it.
Okay, so he keeps on reasoning and he decides that the source of his misery is his weakness. Okay, he killed the lady and he felt regret for doing it. So this proves he's not great. Napoleon would have felt no regret. Julius Caesar would have laughed about it. Alexander the Great would have bragged about it. But he felt regret and therefore he is weak. Okay. And that is where his reasoning gets him, and it makes him more miserable. Okay.
But he finds salvation in redemption, and he finds salvation in redemption in the love of Sonia. So right now, Raskolnikov, he's in Siberia in prison, and Sonia comes all the way to be with him. Okay. And this, this is how the novel ends.
"How it happened, he did not know. But all at once, something seemed to seize him and fling him at her feet. He wept and threw his arms around her knees. For the first instant, she was terribly frightened and she turned pale. She jumped up and looked at him trembling. At the same moment, she understood, and a light of infinite happiness came into her eyes. She knew and had no doubt that he loved her beyond everything, and that at last the moment had come."
Okay. So this is what saves him. He loves, he surrenders himself to his love for Sonia. He surrenders himself to Sonia, and that's what ultimately saves him. So think back to the Iliad, right? What saves Achilles? What saves Achilles is Priam comes, kisses his hand, forgives him, and then Achilles surrenders himself to Priam. They weep together. Okay. So the source of salvation and redemption is in our hearts, not in reason. You have to surrender yourself to your love, either for other people like Sonia or to God. That's where salvation is. Okay.
All right. So the other great novel of Dostoevsky is called The Brothers Karamazov. Okay. Um, and it's much too long to read, but there's a very important passage within the novel. It's about a thousand pages called The Grand Inquisitor. The Grand Inquisitor, he is in charge of the Inquisition in Spain. And as you know, the Inquisition in Spain in 1492, it is horrific. Christians, um, who have who are who have their own ideas are being persecuted. They're being slaughtered. Okay? And it is a nightmare.
So, what happens is Jesus in heaven, he sees this pain. He sees his suffering, and it bothers him. So he descends to the earth, and when he, he's walking among men, and right away people recognize who he is. They, um, worship him. Then he's dragged before the Grand Inquisitor. He becomes a prisoner to the Grand Inquisitor. And at this point, you would think the Grand Inquisitor would be happy to see his God. Instead, he gets really, really angry at Jesus.
"Okay. Thou didst not love them at all. Thou who didst come to give thy life for them, instead of taking possession of man's freedom, thou didst increase it and burden the spiritual kingdom of mankind with its suffering forever. Thou didst desire man's free love, that he should follow thee freely, enticed and taken captive by thee. In place of the rich and ancient law, men must hereafter with free heart decide for himself what is good and what is evil, having only thy image before him as his guide. But didst thou not know that he would at last reject even thy image and thy truth, if he is weighed down with a fearful burden of free choice? They will cry aloud at last that the truth is not in thee, for they could not have been left in greater confusion and suffering than thou hast caused, laying upon them so many cares and unanswered, unanswerable problems."
Okay. Okay. So the idea here is this. So one question that Jesus would have for the Grand Inquisitor is, I sacrificed myself to free my people, to give people the free choice, free will, to love me freely. Instead, you guys have built this great Christian empire, the Catholic Church, to oppress everyone. Why did you do that? And the Grand Inquisitor is saying to him, it's because people don't want free choice. People don't want free will. They only want to be told what to do, and you refuse to be their king. You refuse to be their emperor. You demand of them that they reason, that they love you freely. And people don't want to, don't want to do that. So we had no choice but to oppress people, to build a church as a great oppressive empire in order to liberate people from the burden of free choice. Okay. Does that make sense? That's the argument here.
"You did come to give... Sorry. And how are the other weak ones to blame because they could not endure what the strong have endured? How's the weak sort of to blame that it is unable to receive such terrible gifts? Can you have simply come to the elect and for the elect?"
He's also saying to Jesus, listen, you tell us that only by believing in you freely can we be redeemed. But that takes power. That takes strength. What about those who cannot do such a thing? What about the weak? What about the lost? Will you condemn them to hell? That's not very merciful. Okay. Okay.
So, this is how the story ends. "When the Inquisitor sees speaking, he waited some time for his prisoner Jesus to answer him. His silence weighed down upon him. He saw the prisoner have listened intently all the time, looking gently in his face and Emily, not wishing to reply. The old man longed for him to say something, however bitter and terrible, but he suddenly approached the old man in silence and softly kissed him on his bloodless, aged lips. That was all his answer. The old man shuddered, his lips moved. He went to the door, opened it, and said to him, 'Go, and come no more. Come not at all. Never, never.' And he let him out into the dark alleys of the town. The prisoner went away, and the old man, the kiss glows in his heart, but the old man adheres to his idea."
All right. So what this is saying is this, the Grand Inquisitor, he has this novel, he has this philosophy of why Jesus is bad, of why we should worship Satan, of why we need an empire, why we need oppression. And it all makes sense. Okay. And now Jesus must respond. And Jesus responds with an act of forgiveness, with an act of charity. He kisses the Grand Inquisitor. And this is exactly like Priam kissing Achilles, right? Priam didn't go to reason with Achilles. Priam went to kiss Achilles' hand, to forgive him. Okay.
Now, what's important for us to understand is the kiss glows in his heart. The old man adheres to his idea. We can't change someone's reason ever, but we can change his heart with an act of mercy and forgiveness and love. That's the secret of humanity. Reason gets you nowhere because people are stubborn about their ideas. But the heart, even though it's a mystery, it's still loving. It's still open. So if you touch it, you change people forever. Okay.
All right. So, let's go back to the original question. Why did Putin invade Ukraine? What Putin has said over and over again is, we invaded Ukraine to save Russian civilization. And that's the answer because for the Russians, their civilization is unique. It is distinct, and it's beautiful. It's worth dying for. Okay. And the, okay.
So, um, even though the Russian Empire is gone, Putin and Russians believe they are the heirs to the empire. Okay. So let's look at the differences between the American civilization and the Russian civilization to understand why this war happened. The, okay. Sorry. Um, to be very clear, this is how the Americans, the Russians see the Americans. Okay. Does that make sense? This is how the Russians see the Americans. First of all, they see the Americans extremely materialistic. Okay. The only thing that matters is things, buying things, consuming things, obtaining things. But not only that, but the Americans believe that this is the only good in the world. It's universal. Everyone, everyone wants to buy things. So we should just let everyone buy things. And the Americans are expansionist, which means that not only is it right and good for people to buy things, but everyone should have the right to buy things. So if you are preventing people from buying things, you are a dictator. You are a tyrant. Okay? It is a responsibility to liberate the world so we can all become consumers. North Korea, Iran, they ought to be liberated so that their people can buy things from us. Okay? So that's the American civilization.
The Russians think, no, we are a spiritual people. We are unique, and we demand sovereignty. We demand the right to live the lives we choose to live. We demand the right to be who we are. Okay? And if it means fighting America, if it means our deaths, if it means sacrifice, we will do so because our civilization is the greatest in the world. Because our conception of God is the correct conception. Because our truth is the real truth. All right? So in other words, this is really a clash of civilizations. And in a clash of civilizations, um, there can only be one winner. There can be no compromise. Okay? So this war in Ukraine, it is signaling something much more devastating, much more, um, cataclysmic. All right? And so this is what's going on. All right? That's it, guys. Any questions? You guys, is this clear to you? All right. Any questions about what we discussed? So, yeah. Great. Yeah. So, right. So, you're right. So, Russian literature is very romantic, and the idea of romanticism, it's a response to the Enlightenment, right? Because in the Enlightenment, with Kant and Rousseau, the argument is that reason is the ultimate salvation. Through reason, you can save yourself and you can save civilization. Okay? If it's logical, then it's truthful. And the, and the romantics and the idealists, sorry, the romantics are saying, "No, that's not true." Okay? And what Dostoevsky is saying, is telling us that this is nonsense. Reason doesn't really get you anywhere. Okay? For reason, you can reason that it's okay to kill millions of people. Okay? Logic doesn't really get you anywhere. What, what you have to do is listen to your heart. Okay? Think about the heart. That's where the truth lies. All right? So, so it's very much a reaction against the Enlightenment in Europe at this time. Okay.
Dostoevsky is also saying like Tolstoy, Westernization of Russia is only corrupting us. What we need to do is return to our true selves, which is an Orthodox civilization. Okay? Because that's that's true Christianity. All right? Okay. So, great. Any more, any more questions? Is so pessimistic, and how can they still have? Okay, that's a great question. Okay. So the question, and it's a wonderful question, if I just said that Russians are fatalistic, then how are they so resilient? Okay. So, um, um, you can't logically figure it out. Okay. Is, I can't logically explain to you the feeling, but it's like knowing that the world is doomed. Okay, we're heading towards doom, and what we do isn't that important. It compels you to live your best life. Okay? So that's what meaning is. Meaning is, with the knowledge that the world is ultimately headed towards doom, you as a person are compelled to live your best life nonetheless. Okay? And that's a very, um, very pagan, very Viking mentality. Okay? So before Christianity, this was true for, for, for people. It's okay. The world is going to end. What matters is the life you lead today. Okay.
So, um, um, so I mean, it's problematic because I, I mean, Americanization, Westernization has such a huge impact on global culture, right? And we think that we think in very utilitarian terms. We should do something because it gets us somewhere. Okay? And Russian civilization, it's it's very much like, we should do something because we know it doesn't get us anywhere. And that's what truth is. That's what life is about. That's the meaning of life. That's the purpose of life. Even though you know it won't get you anywhere, you should still do it because that's where the meaning is. Okay. If you think about it, um, um, if you, if you go deeper, then it's also like a profound faith in God. Okay? Like you know the world is ending, but you still work hard to make it better. And that's what faith in God really is. Does that make sense? If you know, like if you do something and God rewards you, that's not faith, really. Does that make sense? Okay. So, so I, I, I understand it's really hard for us to understand, but what I'm trying to show you in this class is it's hard for us to understand because we think in a certain way. And if you think in a certain way, you have to use logic and reason and language. And what do Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are telling us is like that's very limiting. Okay. Sometimes you have to listen to your heart, and your heart knows. I know the world is doomed because because that's just reality, but nevertheless, I have a responsibility to my children. I have a responsibility to my neighbors, to the people I love, to try my best regardless. And that's what faith in God, that's what faith in each other, that's what true love really is. Does that make sense? Okay. All right. Great, great question though. And I'll be honest with you, I'm confused by this as well, okay? Because, you know, I, I'm, I'm so Western in my thinking, but I think, um, again, it's, it's, you've got, you have to train yourself not to be so logical at times, right? Okay. Any more questions? Does that make sense to you? Okay. Oh, great question. Why are the Russians so pessimistic? Okay, first of all, it's really cold in Russia. Okay. If it's cold, you're not, you're not that optimistic, right? Second of all, Russian civilization is is built on violence, right? Um, the Americans basically went over and were able to steal the continent from the natives, and they just didn't really put that much of an existence. But Russia was built on tremendous violence. Not only did the Russians have to, um, get rid of the Mongols, they had to fight the Swedes, the Germans, uh, the, uh, French, they fought everyone, basically. It was like a never-ending process of war. And then, and then their conflicts within their people. Okay. So Russia is a very violent society, and so that leads to a natural pessimism. Okay. So another way of saying this is, even though Russia is huge, it's not that many resources, and people have to fight constantly, fight over these resources, whereas America, it's huge, lots of resources, and people, if you work hard, you can obtain a lot of resources. Okay? So that leads to an optimistic attitude. So the question really isn't why Russians are fatalistic, because most people are fatalistic. The question really is why are Americans so optimistic, right? Okay. Does that make sense? Okay. Any more questions? Was this clear to you guys? Okay. I, and I, I know it's hard. Okay. But, but I, I will say like, um, Russian civilization, um, even though I personally would, would never want to live in Russia. Okay. Um, because there's a lot of racism in, in, in Russia. Um, but it's, it is a unique, beautiful civilization. Um, and, and I hope that in the future, you have a chance to read Tolstoy. Um, because they are really the best novelists ever. Okay. So, um, next class, we will start the, uh, Germans. Okay. German civilization.