Quest of the Spirit: From Suffering to Acceptance

5.3 Finding Courage from Within:Turgenev,Toynbee,Russell, Cervantes

  1.   Literature embodies the dreams and ideals of individual man, and from its pages, we realize the most fundamental of humanity's truths: that man's purpose derives solely from the depths of the human heart where love, hope, and compassion abide; it is these qualities that encourage man to delve within the darkness of his own soul where truth resides and to commence the transformation process toward spiritual and emotional rebirth, not a senseless subservience to a  cruel and and godless creed like communism. For both individual and collective man, the values of human dignity, freedom, and autonomy reign supreme in the consciences of man's noblest heroes; for it is from their concern for man's spiritual well being that their words admonish us to love and care for one another. Philosophers, theologians, scientists, and scholars alike suggest the need for greater tolerance, compassion and understanding. The principle that the needs of humanity should supersede the goals of progress must rank foremost among worldly priorities; clearly above communism, capitalism, socialism, or any collective body. In a similar respect, the principle of spiritual or emotional growth should depend upon individual faith, trust, and obedience to the divine will, not those of national or international collectives that easily succumb to the influences of materialism, the desire for power, and the exploitation of the weak. Cervantes expressed a similar sentiment in Don Quixote when he said: "The end and object of learning—I am not speaking now of theology, whose goal is to aid souls on the way to Heaven; for no other aim can be compared to a purpose so infinite as that—I am speaking of the humanities, whose aim is to maintain impartial justice, to give every man his rights, to make good laws, and to see that they are kept" (Cervantes 340). Ivan Turgenev expressed a similar idea when he said, "The people who bind themselves to systems are those who are unable to encompass the whole truth and try to catch it by the tail; a system is like the tail of truth, but truth is like a lizard; it leaves its tail in your fingers and runs away knowing full well that it will grow a new one in a twinkling."  From the humor of Turgenev and absurdity of Quixote's seemingly senseless ramblings, truth and meaning unexpectedly emerge, reuniting lost loves and inspiring new understandings. Just as the events in daily life often appear inconsequential, so are the conflicts in Quixote's life. The power resides within man himself to define or ascribe an existential purpose, even if he must superimpose it upon the random events that comprise his daily experiences. Despite the condition of his mind, Quixote's heart remains true to the standards of truth, virtue, and goodness. Ironically, his errors in judgment would normally place a person in irrevocable straits; however, his faith in God and purity of heart protect him. Just as God judges men not for their misperceptions but for the sincerity of their motives, so do Quixote's adversaries. In essence, Cervantes' conservatism, like Dostoyevsky's, attempts to re-establish traditional spiritual and social principles in a society of materialism and misplaced values. In this way, Quixote truly represents an archetypal hero struggling in a world of transition. The fight must begin within the human heart, not within collectives or institutions. Writing in Why Men Fight (1916), Bertrand Russell calls for a comparable application of social justice when he says, "Our institutions rest upon injustice and authority: it is only by closing our hearts against sympathy and our minds against truth that we can endure the oppression and unfairness by which we profit" (Russell 19). In Quest of the Spirit, this principle of moral or ethical justice is clearly addressed by noted personalities such as Conrad, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Jung, Moyers,Salisbury,White,Whitehead, Paterson, Rauschenbusch,Weber, Veblen, LernerJohnson, Carpernter, Roosevelt, Lash, Wright, Carter, Albright, Galbraith,  Lawrence, Schweitzer, Einstein, Niebuhr, Toynbee, Schopenhauer, Barth, Jaspers, Frankl, Born, Buber, Tillich, Heidegger, Spengler, and Lewis, to name a few.

 2.      Unfortunately, the United States is the most affluent nation on earth, yet its people suffer from poverty, rising healthcare costs, insurmountable debts from credit agencies, corporate outsourcing, and job-related pressures that rob them of their quality of life. The psychological effects associated with these problems, plus sociological issues stemming from broken families, drug addiction, and the mounting quest for materialistic possessions have left them in a quandary of despair and isolation. Associated with these social inequities are the problems of spiritual and emotional estrangement that leave them feeling alienated and impotent in comparison to the government and corporate giants that dominate their lives and determine the policies of international affairs. Similarly, higher education, once considered by many to be the panacea for social growth and mobility, is rapidly becoming too expensive for even middle class Americans. Although these problems paralyze millions of American households, even worse situations exist among Third-World countries whose struggle for basic needs in war-torn regions jeopardizes their health and security on a daily basis. These people cry out for guidance, not for Western capital or markets, but for ways of developing their own unique solutions, a means of development free from the debts and obligations associated with American and European banks. Nations should not suffer at the hands of more powerful countries who exploit their wealth. Resources can be shared without inciting the fear of socialism or threatening the fabric of capitalism. The first step of ethical growth involves understanding and tolerance qualities that arise from within the psyche of the individual, not from the consensus of collectives. War is not necessary to ensure peace, and neither is a materialistic way of life. This profit-at-all-costs perspective has induced many people to resent an American presence in their countries. Leaders should be able to choose the path that their country takes. Today ethics is a practice which has unfortunately become a guise for the promotion of corporate self-interest in otherwise inaccessible countries. Most nations resent this form of intervention as a disguised form of imperialism. Today, as in the Cold War, the threat of atomic war looms on the horizon as one country after another secretly acquires materials and equipment to perform their own clandestine nuclear tests, Thus, arms proliferation continues, and the weaker, less advanced countries suffer the loss of freedom and autonomy. Our founding fathers came to America to govern themselves, and this should be the case for other nations as well. No people should be deprived of the right of self-determination. As historian Arnold J. Toynbee suggests in Civilization on Trial (Oxford University Press 1948), "This second, more unpleasant, alternative has been made a very practical possibility by mankind's unfortunately having discovered how to tap atomic energy before we have succeeded in abolishing the institution of war. Those contradictions and paradoxes in the life of the world in our time . . . also look like symptoms of serious social and spiritual sickness, and their existence—which is one of the portentous features in the landscape of contemporary history—is another indication that we ought to take the more unpleasant of our alternatives as a serious possibility, and not just as a bad joke" (Toynbee 161). Although Toynbee's concerns centered upon U.S. –Soviet relations as the time, his fears and concerns still remain in the international politics of the twenty-first century.

 3.     What can western civilization do to alter this tragic course of history? Public awareness must come first. For many prominent political and religious leaders, identifying these issues constitutes the initial step toward a clearer understanding. The Quest of the Spirit examines the thoughts and ideas of these famous individuals, taken from their landmark works in their respective fields. It also provides book reviews reflecting the ethical concerns of noted scholars regarding man's spiritual and emotional estrangement in an age of materialism, technological pre-eminence, and exploitation. Foremost among these concerns is the conflict between faith and reason. In his novel The Devils, Fyodor Dostoyevsky expresses the inability of science and reason to achieve an ethics of fairness: "No nation has ever existed without religion, and although countries worship different gods, each nation recognizes the principle of good and evil. Science and reason do not possess this particularly discerning faculty. Reason has never been able to define good and evil, or even to separate good from evil, not even approximately; on the contrary, it had always mixed them up in a most pitiful and disgraceful fashion; as for science, its solutions have always been based on brute force" (Dostoyevsky 257). Initially, The Quest of the Spirit laments the plight of developing nations in their struggle against the exploitation of superpowers. Americans must take an active role in improving social conditions in Third-World countries. Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer refers to this participation in relations as Reverence for Life: "By playing an active role, man enters into a spiritual relationship with this world that is quite different; he does not see his existence in isolation. On the contrary, he is united with the lives that surround him; he experiences the destinies of others as his own. He helps as much as he can and realizes that there is no greater happiness than to participate in the development and protection of life" (Schweitzer 233). In essence, Quest of the Spirit examines literary works from a spiritual and moral perspective.