War And Peace полностью

‘About life. About the destiny of man. It can’t be like that. I used to think that way but I found salvation – do you know where? In freemasonry. No, please don’t smile. Freemasonry – it’s not just a religious sect with lots of ceremonies, as I used to think. Freemasonry is the best expression, the only expression of mankind’s noblest, eternal aspirations.’ And he launched into a full account of freemasonry as he saw it.

Freemasonry, he claimed, was Christian doctrine freed from the bonds of politics and organized religion, the doctrine of equality, fraternity and love.

‘Our holy brotherhood is the only thing that gives a true meaning to life. Everything else is a dream,’ said Pierre. ‘You must understand, my dear fellow, that outside this fraternity it’s all lies and deceit, and I agree there’s nothing left for an intelligent and kind man like you to do but go through the motions of living and try not to hurt anybody. But – accept our basic beliefs, enter into our brotherhood, give yourself to us, let us guide you, and straightaway you’ll feel what I did, that you are part of a vast, unseen chain which starts in heaven,’ said Pierre.

Prince Andrey listened to Pierre in silence, looking ahead. Once or twice he missed something because of the rumbling wheels and asked Pierre to repeat what he had said. Noting a peculiar glint in Prince Andrey’s eyes and also his reluctance to speak, Pierre could see that his words were not falling on stony ground and Prince Andrey was not going interrupt or laugh at anything he said.

They came to a river that had burst its banks, making it necessary for them to cross by ferry. While the men saw to the carriage and horses they walked on to the ferry-boat. Prince Andrey leant his elbows on the rail and gazed silently over the flood-water, which gleamed in the setting sun.

‘Well, what do you think?’ asked Pierre. ‘Why don’t you say something?’

‘What do I think? I have been listening. What you say is all right,’ said Prince Andrey. ‘But you say, come into our brotherhood and we’ll show you the meaning of life and the destiny of man, and the laws that govern the universe. But who are we? Just people. How do you come to know it all? Why am I the only one who can’t see what you see? You see the earth as a kingdom of goodness and truth. I don’t.’

Pierre interrupted him. ‘Do you believe in the after-life?’ he asked.

‘Oh, the after-life,’ repeated Prince Andrey.

But Pierre gave him no time for a proper answer, taking his response as a negative, especially in view of Prince Andrey’s atheistic views, which he knew from the past. ‘You say you can’t see the earth as a kingdom of goodness and truth. Neither can I. Nobody can, not if you see our life as the end of everything. Here on earth, this earth here,’ (Pierre pointed to the open country) ‘there is no righteousness – it’s all false and wicked. But in the universe, the whole vast universe, there is a kingdom of truth, and we are two things – children of earth here and now, and children of the universe in eternity. Don’t I feel in my soul that I’m a part of that vast, harmonious whole? Don’t I feel that I represent one link, one step on the ladder that runs from lower forms of existence to higher ones in that vast creative infinity which gives token of a Godhead, a Higher Power – call it what you will. If I can see, clearly see, a ladder rising from plants to men, why should I assume that this ladder, with its bottom end invisible, lost in the plant world, breaks off with me and doesn’t keep on going up until it reaches higher forms of existence? I feel I can never disappear because nothing disappears in the whole universe, and more than that, I always shall be and always have been in existence. I feel that other spirits exist, far above me, and it’s in their world that you will find truth.’

‘Yes, this is Herder’s doctrine,’¹¹ said Prince Andrey. ‘But I’m not convinced by it, my dear fellow. I’m convinced by life and death. I’m convinced by seeing a creature dear to me, bound up with me, that I’ve treated badly . . . and just when I’m hoping to make it up to her,’ (his voice shook and he turned away) ‘suddenly she’s in pain, she goes through agony and she ceases to be . . . Why? There must be an answer. And I believe there is one . . . That’s what I find convincing. It convinced me,’ said Prince Andrey.

‘Yes, yes, of course’ said Pierre, ‘isn’t that just what I’m saying?’

‘No. My point is – you might be persuaded there is an after-life not by arguments, but by going through life hand-in-hand with somebody, and all at once that somebody vanishes there, into nowhere, and you are left standing over the abyss, staring down into it. And I have stared down into it . . .’

‘Well, that’s it then! You know there is a there and there is a somebody. There is the after-life. That somebody is God.’