Chapter 2 Chapter two

"If I'm not mistaken, I have the honor of talking to Count Bezukhov," said the passerby calmly and loudly.Pierre was silent, and gazed questioningly at his interlocutor through his spectacles. "I've heard of you for a long time," continued the passer-by, "and I've also heard that your excellency has suffered misfortune," he seemed to emphasize the last word, as if he had said: "Yes, misfortune, whatever you say, I know, What happened to you in Moscow was a great misfortune," "I deeply regret this, Your Excellency." Pierre blushed, hurriedly put his feet down from the bed, bent over the old man, and smiled awkwardly and timidly.

"Your Excellency, I did not mention this matter to you out of curiosity, but for a more important reason." He was silent for a while, staring at Pierre, sitting on the sofa and moving forward. Germany, widespread in Western Europe and the United States around the time of World War II, used this gesture to ask Pierre to sit down beside him.Pierre was very reluctant to talk to the old man, but he could not help obeying him, went over and sat down beside him. "Your misfortune, sir," he went on, "you are young, and I am old. I will do my best to help you." "Oh," said Pierre with an unnatural smile, "I thank you very much... Where are you from?" And the face has a strong charm for Pierre.

"However, if the conversation between us is for some reason unpleasant to you," said the old man, "then, sir, "an object is a collection of sensations." Matter, which is the cornerstone of materialism, is only one. Say." So he suddenly and unexpectedly revealed a gentle fatherly smile. "Oh, it's not like that, it's not like that at all, on the contrary, I'm very happy to be your friend," said Pierre, casting another glance at his new acquaintance's hand, and looking more closely at it. Glancing at his ring, he saw a skull engraved on it—the symbol of the Freemasonry.

"Permit me to ask," he said, "are you a Mason?" "Yes, I belong to the Masons," said the passer-by, looking more and more affectionately into Pierre's eyes. "I extend my hand of friendship to you on behalf of myself and on their behalf." "I'm afraid," said Pierre, smiling, vacillating between his personal confidence in him and his habit of ridiculing his beliefs, "I'm afraid that I'm too simple-minded to Understood, how should I put it, I am afraid that my view of the whole universe is quite different from yours, and we cannot understand each other."

"I am familiar with your point of view," said the Mason, "that the point of view you speak of seems to you to be a product of mental activity, the point of view of the majority, that is, the same result of pride, laziness, and ignorance. .Your Excellency, I beg you to forgive me, if I were not familiar with it, I would not be talking to you. Your point of view is a sad fallacy." "As far as I can deduce, you too have fallen into error," said Pierre, smiling. "I dare not say that I see the truth," said the Mason, who surprised Pierre more and more with his clear and firm words. "No one can obtain the truth alone. From our ancestor Adam to our present, only by relying on the joint participation of millions of generations can we build a temple that is worthy of being called the seat of the great God." Freemason After finishing speaking, he closed his eyes.

"I must tell you that I do not believe, I do not... believe in God," said Pierre with regret and difficulty, feeling compelled to tell the whole truth. The mason looked carefully at Pierre and smiled, as a millionaire smiles at a poor man who wants to tell the rich man that he lacks the five rubles that would make him happy. . "Yes, sir, you don't know him," said the Mason, "you can't know him. You don't know him, so you are unlucky." "Yes, yes, I am unlucky," admitted Pierre, "but what shall I do?" "You don't know him, sir, so you're unlucky. You don't know him, but here he is, he's in my heart, he's in my words, he's in your heart, even in the blasphemy you just said words," said the Masonic in that serious, quivering voice.

He was silent for a moment, sighed, and seemed to be trying to calm down. "If he didn't exist," he said softly, "you and I wouldn't be talking about him, sir. What are we talking about? Who are we talking about? Who are you denying?" he said suddenly, his voice tinged with excitement majestic meaning. "Since he doesn't exist, who conceived it? Why is there a hypothesis in you; there is such an incomprehensible inner world? Why have you and the world already speculated about this incredible inner world-with omnipotence, The existence of an inner world with such qualities as eternity and infinity?..." He paused and remained silent for a long time.

Pierre could not and did not want to break this silence. "He exists, but it is difficult to understand him," the Mason began again, looking not toward Pierre's face but toward himself, and the two old hands were writhing The pages, the hands could not stand still because of the inner agitation. "If he is a person, and you doubt the existence of this person, I can bring him to you, grab his hand, and show you. But how can I, an insignificant mortal, ask that blind, or turning a blind eye? What about showing His omnipotence, eternity, and kindness to someone who doesn't understand Him and who has eyes, eyes, and blindness, and who doesn't understand his own dirty deeds and flaws? He was silent for a moment, "Who are you?what are you?You're pompous and think you're a sage because you utter such blasphemy," he said with a dark sneer. "You're more stupid and unreasonable than a child who, when he's playing with Seiko clock parts, has the impertinence to say He does not trust the master clock maker because he does not understand the purpose of the clock.Knowing God is difficult.We have worked for this understanding for many centuries, from the first Adam to our day, but we have fallen far short of the goal, and we all believe that not understanding God is only our weakness and his greatness...”

Pierre, extremely nervous, looked into the Mason's face with his bright eyes, and listened to him without interrupting or asking questions, but sincerely believed what the stranger told him.Does he believe in the sound arguments of a Mason's speech, or in the tone, conviction, and zeal of a Mason's speech as a child, in the quivering of the voice that sometimes almost interrupts a Mason's speech, or in the old man's speech? Of the shining eyes that grow old with faith, or with the composure and firmness of faith that shines from the whole inner world of a Masonic, and the awareness of one's mission; contrasted with Pierre's dejection and despair Pierre, who was so astonished by these characteristics of the Freemasons, sincerely wished to establish his faith, and in doing so, felt a joy of euthanasia, renewal, and resurrection.

"God is not to be understood by wisdom, but to be understood in life." said the Freemason. "I don't understand," said Pierre, feeling terrified that doubts had arisen in him.He was afraid of his interlocutor's vague and unconvincing arguments, he was afraid of not believing him, "I don't understand," he said, "how human intelligence cannot comprehend the knowledge you speak of." The Masonic smiled with a fatherly docility. "Supreme wisdom and truth seem to be the cleanest water we have to absorb," he said. "Can I put this clean water into an unclean vessel and then judge its cleanliness? Only by washing from the heart Only by yourself can the absorbed water reach a certain degree of cleanliness.”

"Yes, yes, that's exactly it!" said Pierre cheerfully. "The foundation of the supreme intelligence is not only reason, nor is it the secular physics, history, chemistry and other divisions of rational knowledge. The supreme wisdom is unique. The supreme wisdom contains a science, which is the all-encompassing science, the explanation The science of the entire universe and of man's place in it. In order to imbue oneself with this science, one must cleanse and refresh one's heart. Therefore, one must have faith and transform oneself before acquiring knowledge. In order to achieve For this purpose, we house in our souls the light of God called conscience." "Yes, yes." Pierre admitted that what he said was true. "Look into your heart with your spiritual eyes and ask yourself, are you satisfied with yourself? What have you achieved with wisdom alone? What kind of person are you? Your Excellency, you are very young, you are very rich, You are very clever and learned. What have you done with the wealth bestowed upon you? Are you satisfied with yourself and your own life?" "No, I hate my life," said Pierre, frowning. "You hate life, then change it, you purify yourself, and when you purify you will know wisdom. Look at your life, sir. How do you live? In a life of prostitution, you get everything from society, but don't contribute anything to it. You get wealth. How do you spend it? What do you do for others? Do you think about tens of thousands of slaves? Are you in Helped them mentally and physically? Nope. You enjoyed their labor and lived a lewd life. That's what you did. Have you chosen a place of service where you can bring Good? No. You lived a life of idleness. You married, sir, and took it upon yourself to teach young women. What did you do? Instead of helping her find the way of truth, you led her into hypocrisy and The abyss of unhappiness. You beat someone to death for insulting you. You say you don't know God. You hate your own life. There's nothing difficult to understand, my lord!" After saying these words, the Masonic, who seemed tired from the incessant chatter, rested his elbows on the back of the sofa and closed his eyes again.Pierre gazed at the serious, motionless, almost dead face of the old man, his lips trembling silently.He wanted to say: yes, it was a disgusting, lascivious, idle life—he dared not break his silence. The masonic coughed hoarsely and old, cleared his throat, and called out to the servant again. "How is the stage-horse?" he asked without looking at Pierre. "The post-horse is brought," replied the servant, "do you not rest anymore?" "No, go and order the horse." "Is he really going to go away and leave me here alone without finishing his speech and promising to help me?" thought Pierre, getting up, bowing his head, and sometimes looking at the Masons. , and began to pace up and down the room. "Yes, I never thought of it, but I lead a life of contemptuous lasciviousness, but I don't like it and I don't want it," thought Pierre. "This man knows the truth." He will reveal the truth to me if he pleases." Pierre wanted to say this, but dared not speak it to the Masons.Passers-by packed up their things with the old man's accustomed hands and buttoned up their leather jackets.Having done these things, he turned to Bezukhov and said to him in that cold respectful tone: "Sir, where are you going now?" "Me? . . . I'm going to Petersburg," answered Pierre in a childish, uncertain voice. "I thank you. I agree with you in every way. But don't think me a bad person. I sincerely wish to be what you want me to be, but I've never been helped by anyone... In fact, the first thing I want to say is that I myself am at fault in every way. Help me, teach me, maybe I will be..." Pierre could not go on, he uttered through his nose. Panting, turned around. "Only God can help," he said, "but God has given you, sir, the help that we Freemasons have the right to bestow. Go to Petersburg and deliver this to Count Wilarsky ( He took out a briefcase and wrote a few words on a large sheet of origami paper). Please allow me to give you a piece of advice. After arriving in the capital, you should live in seclusion at the beginning, and reflect on yourself. It is not suitable to embark on the previous life path .And I wish you good fortune and success in your career... Your Excellency." He said these words after he noticed his servant entering the room. Pierre learned from the postmaster's passenger book that the passing visitor was Osip Alexeyevich Bazdeyev.Bazdeyev was the most famous Freemason and horseworker mystic as early as Novikov's time.A long time after he left, Pierre did not go to bed, nor went to change horses, but paced up and down in the room on the post station, thinking (his own voluptuous past, and the innovative the joy of imagining what he thought would be a comfortable, comfortable, flawless, virtuous future. It seemed to him that he misbehaved only because he occasionally forgot how good it is to be a virtuous human being. .. his mind no longer bears the vestiges of the old doubts. He firmly believes that it is practical for people to help each other in the way of virtue. His imagined Freemasonry is such .