Constructive Living, Session 1: Are We Lying to Ourselves?
"The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lies reaches a point where he cannot recognize any truth in himself or in anyone surrounding him."
Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov is perhaps the greatest polyphonic novel ever written. A polyphonic novel fleshes out each character by giving each a unique voice. A more modern way to say the same thing is that there are no NPCs (non-player characters) in The Brothers Karamazov. Dostoevsky provides us with rich philosophical and spiritual insights into the human condition. We see parts of ourselves in both his more noble characters and the more villainous ones.
Early in the novel, the often drunk buffoon Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, the father of the titular brothers, asks a monastery elder, Father Zosima, for advice. Zosima says, “You’ve known for a long time what you must do; you have enough intelligence: don’t give way to drunkenness and intemperate speech; don’t yield to lust, and especially to the love of money; close down your taverns.”
But above all, the Elder advises, “Don’t keep telling lies.”
Fyodor thinks the Elder is talking about lying to a specific person.
Elder Zosima explains his advice is not about a specific person but the lies Fyodor tells himself: “The main thing is, stop telling lies to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lies reaches a point where he cannot recognize any truth in himself or in anyone surrounding him, and so he loses all respect for himself and for others.”
Dostoevsky warns that a person who lies to himself “stops loving.” He explains, “To occupy and distract himself, he yields to passions and coarse inclinations and ultimately sinks to bestiality in all his vices, and all this comes from incessant lying to himself and to others.”
If you are not yet convinced that being more honest with yourself leads to a more meaningful life, David Reynolds and Dostoevsky have rich insights to consider.