The secret to a happy life - courtesy of Tolstoy
Tolstoy, who was born in 1828 and died in 1910, was a member
of the Russian nobility, from a family that owned an estate and hundreds of
serfs. The early life of the young count was raucous, debauched and violent.
"I killed men in wars and challenged men to duels in
order to kill them," he wrote. "I lost at cards, consumed the labour
of the peasants, sentenced them to punishments, lived loosely, and deceived
peopleā¦so I lived for ten years."
But he gradually weaned himself off his decadent, racy
lifestyle and rejected the received beliefs of his aristocratic background,
adopting a radical, unconventional worldview that shocked his peers. So how
exactly might his personal journey help us rethink our own philosophies of
life?
1. Keep an open mind
One of Tolstoy's greatest gifts was his ability and
willingness to change his mind based on new experiences. The horrific bloodshed
he witnessed while fighting in the Crimean War in the 1850s turned him into a
lifelong pacifist. In 1857, after seeing a public execution by guillotine in
Paris - he never forgot the thump of the severed head as it fell into the box
below - he became a convinced opponent of the state and its laws, believing
that governments were not only brutal, but essentially served the interests of
the rich and powerful. "The State is a conspiracy," he wrote to a
friend. "Henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere."
Tolstoy was on the road to becoming an anarchist. He would be the first to
encourage us to question the fundamental beliefs and dogmas we have been
brought up with.