One of the more interesting, and unusual, Dostoevsky stories is ‘the dream of a ridiculous man’. It seems to be one of his lesser known works, so let me tell you about it. 1/ (thread)
In it, we find a ‘ridiculous man.’ He is a nihilist, in the strong sense. To him, nothing in life is of any value, and life itself is of no value. 2/
And thus, he plans to commit suicide. But on the night he wants to shoot himself, he mysteriously falls asleep before he has the chance to kill himself. He has a dream. 3/
In the dream, he is carried away to a foreign planet, inhabited by a foreign people. These people are human, and they look just like us. But nonetheless, they are very different. 4/
These people are all, simply, happy. They live in perfect harmony, they know no conflict, no internal turmoil. Even the slightest tendency of nihilism, is foreign to these people. They have no wars, and they have never known wars in the past. 5/
These people never lie, and they never get sick. When they die, they die a natural death at old age, crying no tears of regret, but only tears of joy for a life well lived. Paradise. 6/
Roaming this planet, the ridiculous man speaks:
“A sweet, thrilling feeling resounded with ecstasy in my heart: the kindred power of the same light which had given me light stirred an echo in my heart and awakened it, and I had a sensation of life.” 7/
“A sweet, thrilling feeling resounded with ecstasy in my heart: the kindred power of the same light which had given me light stirred an echo in my heart and awakened it, and I had a sensation of life.” 7/
For the first time, the man’s nihilism subsides, and life is given meaning again. Life feels valuable, life feels alive again. It is not so much the sight of these people and their harmonious way of living, but the mere quality of feeling that the dream affords: 8/
"I gave up caring about anything, and all the problems disappeared. And it was after that that I found out the truth.” 9/
Through the visions in the dream, the man is reminded that the mere feeling of living, the mere fact of being alive, when un-occluded by the problems and thoughts of daily life, is all it takes to know paradise. 10/
When the man wakes, the dream is gone. But the feeling of ‘life’ that the dream reminded him of, remains with him. Life is wonderful again, and worth living.
It is like a cliché fairy tale this story. 11/
It is like a cliché fairy tale this story. 11/
He realizes that all that prevents us to know this Truth, is the belief that “Knowledge is higher than feeling, consciousness of life is higher than life... a knowledge of the laws of happiness is higher than happiness” 12/
What happens next? The man proceeds to spend his days preaching on the streets, speaking what he has come to know; if we were all to just be reminded that the mere fact of living is a gift, ... 13/
... if we were all to bathe in this wonderful feeling of being alive, we could live in paradise, like the people of the dream. 14/
It is interesting what happens next. When he preaches, of course, he is mocked. No one listens to him, he is ridiculed. ‘It was only a dream, grow up’, people tell him. The man answers: 15/
"But does it matter whether it was a dream or reality, if the dream made known to me the truth? If once one has recognized the truth and seen it, you know that it is the truth and that there is no other and there cannot be, whether you are asleep or awake. 16/
Let it be a dream, so be it, but that real life of which you make so much I had meant to extinguish by suicide, and my dream, my dream--oh, it revealed to me a different life, renewed, grand and full of power!” 17/
Through the ridiculous man, Dostoevsky speaks of a type of truth that is indubitable, and of a whole other sort than what we regularly call ‘truths.’ Much can be read in this short story. Some thoughts: 18/
A truth that is indubitable, subjective, something that cannot be shown to other men. I see it mainly as Dostoevsky’s attempt to speak about a type of knowledge that is not known through objectivity. 19/
It cannot be seen as an object, something we can all recognize as existing. Cannot be known through science. Not to be discovered in the world. Only to be recognized internally. 20/
It is a truth that must be felt by the person, innerly. Yet this is not about mere feelings, emotions, and the like. It is much more powerful, much deeper. The objective within the subjective. In which we all share, not outwardly, but as our shared essence. 21/
The ridiculous man seems like the anti-thesis, and solution, to Dostoevsky’s Underground Man. The latter cannot find certainty or meaning anywhere. Endless questioning, endless critique. 22/
He believes himself the smartest man around, and because he knows more, he sees that all is meaningless. Progress is an illusion, the ‘crystal palace’ is a lie, the increase of knowledge, will never save us. It will only make us see more clearly the insignificance of all.
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What I believe Dostoevsky means to say through these characters: there is no value to be found in this world, except in the heart. The two sides of Dostoevsky; the raw nihilism of the underground man, and the conviction that only God can save us. Very Russian: 24/
“The true man is the heart in man. Deep is that heart and knowable only by God. It is the bottomless abyss of our thought; to say it simply, the soul, that is, the true being, the existing truth, the very essence” (Skovoroda) 25/ continued...
These two stories: Underground man and Ridiculous man, are like two extremes of all the positions portrayed in Dostoevsky’s novels. If you would never read anything else, but want to know the problems the author is struggling with. Read these two. 26/
The ridiculous man, in very few pages, offers some major themes of Dostoevsky.
It sums up his criticism of modernity & science: objective knowledge is not significant, it cannot afford meaning. Joy and connection is not to be found through consciousness, but through feeling. 27/
It sums up his criticism of modernity & science: objective knowledge is not significant, it cannot afford meaning. Joy and connection is not to be found through consciousness, but through feeling. 27/
What ties a people together is not shared knowledge, but a shared feeling.
What gives meaning to both an individual life and a community, is not knowledge, but an Ideal. 28/
What gives meaning to both an individual life and a community, is not knowledge, but an Ideal. 28/
A grand vision, that cannot be seen with the naked eye, but acts as a driving force that, through its presence in us as a feeling, drives us to reach for something higher.
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The ridiculous man reacts against the idea that “Knowledge is higher than feeling, consciousness of life is higher than life... a knowledge of the laws of happiness is higher than happiness” 30/
This is also the essence of Dostoevsky's conservative critique of progress. When visiting Europe, he laments the 'progress' he sees. These people think they can find meaning through science. These people think they can find unity through shared abstract values, 31/
, but unity can only be found in a shared inner harmony. A recognition of the heart, not a recognition by the mind. He laments, how the Russian intelligentsia flock to the West to learn about its sciences, to become like it, 32/
And in doing so, they forget the most important thing of all. Their own personality, their own heart. And they become disconnected from their own people, the common man at home. Thinking they are crazy, to believe in anything else than what can be seen with the eye. 33/
The more knowledge they gain, the more bitter becomes their heart. They think an increase in knowledge will bring harmony, but it is an illusion, it will only lead to nihilism, as the underground man clearly sees. 34/
Shestov writes: “If Darwin had seen in life what Dostoevsky saw, he would not have talked of the law of the preservation of species, but of its destruction.”
Only God can save us. 35/
Only God can save us. 35/
There is also the theme of the ‘holy fool.’ From the ordinary nihilist in the beginning of the story, the ridiculous man seems to almost transform into a ‘fool for Christ.’ (yurodivy), an important theme in Eastern Orthodox asceticism. 36/
Dostoevsky’s novels are filled with these ascetics. I mentioned these in a thread I did on Idiocy, see:
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We find it hard to believe, that there is a different way of knowing truth. That there is a way of making decisions, that doesn't rely on calculation, that doesn't have material gain as its sole interest. We no longer believe in a soul, we no longer believe in Ideas 38/
And like the people who see the ridiculous man preaching, we mock those who do. They are 'backwards'. But perhaps they know something, that we do not. 39/ End
If you want to know more about this 'opposition' between Dostoevsky's ridiculous man and his underground man, I did a text on it: tolma.substack.com
This text can also be read in print, as part of a collection of essays I published: amazon.com
This text can also be read in print, as part of a collection of essays I published: amazon.com
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