Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

In the evening, Prince Andrei and Pierre drove to Bald Mountain in a four-wheeled carriage.Prince Andrew watched Pierre from time to time, and sometimes broke the silence by saying a few words to prove that he was in a good mood. Pointing to a field, he told Pierre about the improvements he had made in the business.Pierre said nothing, and answered him briefly, with a sad face, as if lost in thought. It occurred to Pierre that Prince Andrew was very unhappy, that he was going astray, that he did not know the light of truth, and that Pierre must help him, enlighten him, cheer him up.But as soon as Pierre thought of how and what he was going to say, he had a premonition that Prince Andrei's one word, one argument, would belittle everything in his doctrine, so He is afraid to speak, afraid of mockery of the sacred teachings he loves.

"No, why do you think so?" Pierre lowered his head and spoke suddenly, pretending to be a cow. The ideological representative of the German bourgeois liberalism.The main representatives are Strauss and Boo, "Why do you think like this? You shouldn't think like this." "What am I thinking?" asked Prince Andrew in surprise. "Thinking about life, about man's mission. Not really. I used to think the same way. Do you know what saved me? Freemasonry. No, don't laugh. Freemasonry is not what I used to imagine. The sect of rites; Freemasonry is the sole expression of the eternal virtues of mankind." And he began to describe to Prince Andrew what he knew about Freemasonry.

The point of view of Freemasonry, he said, was the teaching of Christ freed from the yoke of state and religion, the teachings of equality, brotherhood, love. "Only our holy brotherhood has the real meaning of life, all the rest is a dream," said Pierre, "you will see, my friend, that everything outside Freemasonry is full of hypocrisy and lies, I agree with you that there is no other way for a wise and good man to live his own life as much as you can. But you have to accept our basic beliefs, join our fraternity, and Leave it to us yourself, let us guide you, and at once you will feel, as I did before, that you are part of this great invisible chain, whose head is hidden in heaven." Pierre Er said.

Prince Andrei, looking ahead, listened silently to what Pierre had to say.Owing to the rattling of the carriage, he had missed several times, and asked Pierre again for the words he had missed.From the peculiar gleam in Prince Andrey's eyes, from his silence, Pierre saw that what he said was not in vain, that Prince Andrey would no longer interrupt him, would no longer laugh at him. remarks. They approached the flooded river, and while the wagon and horses were settled, they boarded the ferry. Prince Andrei leaned his elbows on the railing and looked silently at the surface of the water rising out of the river bank, glistening in the light of the setting sun.

"Well, what do you think of this matter?" asked Pierre. "Why don't you say anything?" "What am I thinking? I listen to you. It's all right," said Prince Andrew, "but you said to me: join our brotherhood, and we will show you the purpose of life and the The mission and the laws that govern the world. Who are we? People. Why do you see everything? Why do I alone see what you see? You see the kingdom of truth and good on earth, but I do not see it .” Pierre interrupted him. "Do you believe in an afterlife?" he asked. "Believe in an afterlife?" repeated Prince Andrey, but Pierre did not allow him time to answer, taking his repetition as a negative sign, since he knew that Prince Andrey had The view of atheism.

"You said that you can't see the kingdom of truth and goodness on the earth, and I haven't seen it. If you regard our life as the ultimate of all, you can't see it. On the earth, It is on this earth (Pierre points to the field) that there is no truth—everything is false and evil, but in the universe, in the whole universe, there is the kingdom of truth, and now we are children of the earth, forever and ever On the whole, we are children of the whole universe. Don't I feel in my heart that I am a part of this vast harmonious whole? Don't I feel that I am in this infinite number of beings who embody God (you can do whatever you want, God is the supreme power), a link, a rung, from the lowest to the highest being? If I see, clearly see this ladder of evolution from plants to man, why should I assume that this ladder begins with me Instead of going somewhere farther and farther? I feel that, just as nothing in the universe disappears, I not only do not disappear now, but also exist forever in the past and in the future. I feel that, except Outside of me, gods exist in the sky above me, and truth exists in this universe.”

"Yes, that is Herder's doctrine," said Prince Andrei, "but, my heart, it is not this that convinces me, but life and death, which are the facts that convince me. You see A person whom you value, whom you are connected with, before whom you have committed a fault and wish to prove your innocence (Prince Andrei's voice trembles and he turns his face away), this person suddenly feels pain , tormented, no longer exists... Why? No answer, impossible! I am convinced that the answer exists... This is what convinces me, this is what convinces me. ’ said Prince Andrew. --------

① Johann Gottfried Herder (1714-1803), a great thinker during the German bourgeois Enlightenment in the 18th century. "Yes, yes," said Pierre, "isn't that what I said?" "No, I'm just saying that it's not arguments that convince me of the necessity of an afterlife, but the following example, when you're walking hand in hand with someone in the realm of life, and that person suddenly disappears there, out of nowhere disappeared, and you yourself stopped in front of this abyss, and then you looked there. So I glanced..." "Oh, so what? Do you know there is a place where someone exists? There is the afterlife, and someone is God."

Prince Andrew made no answer.The carriages and horses had already landed on the other side, and the horses were harnessed to the carts. The sun was already halfway down in the west, and the cold air of the evening came. The ferryman was surprised that Pierre and André were still standing on the ferry talking. "If there is a God and an afterlife, then there will be truth and virtue, and the supreme happiness of man lies in the pursuit of truth and virtue. To live, to love, to have faith," said Pierre, "We are not only Live today on this little piece of land, and have lived, and will live there forever, in all realms (he pointed to heaven)."

Prince Andrew, leaning his elbows on the railing of the ferry, perched there, listened to Pierre, and watched intently the red rays of the setting sun reflected on the blue water that rose from the banks.Pierre was silent.There was silence all around.The ferry had already docked, and there was only the faint sound of waves beating against the bottom of the boat.It seemed to Prince Andrew that the splashing of the water echoed Pierre's words: "Honestly, believe that." Prince Andrei sighed, and looked at Pierre's flushed face with childish, tender, shining eyes, excited but still shy in the presence of his best friend.

"Yes, if only so!" he said, "let's go ashore and take the carriage," added Prince Andrei, and he stepped out of the boat, glanced at the sky Pierre had shown him, and in the After the battle of Austerlitz, he saw for the first time the eternal high sky that he saw while lying on the battlefield of Austerlitz, and the beautiful feelings that had been dormant in his heart for a long time suddenly joyfully, Youth overflowed in his soul.As soon as Prince Andrei returned to his accustomed surroundings, this feeling disappeared, but he knew that it remained in him, which he was not good at developing.For Prince Andrei, the meeting with Pierre marked an epoch in which, although outwardly he lived the old life, in his inner world a new life had begun.