The Karamazov Brothers - Spiritual Lessons - 1

The Brothers Karamazov is a novel written by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It has some profound spiritual messages which should be understood as the main theme of the novel. Fyodor Dostoevsky is an existentialist Christian. He is a Russian and therefore orthodox in his leanings. The story is set in Russia. It is about a family of three brothers and their relationship with their father, among themselves and their important females and the society at large. It also deals with their relationship with God and immortality and this idea or the lack of it makes the difference in how they live.

The story starts with Father Karamzov marrying a lady and then having a son, Dimitry Fyodorovich Karamzov. The lady leaves him and then he marries again and has two more sons, Ivan and Alexey Karamazov. His second wife dies. Then a lady on a rainy night gives birth to a Child in his cattle shed which the people suspect might be his illegitimate son. His name is Smerdyakov.

Dimitry is joins the army, returns home and starts arguing with his father so that he can get his inheritance. Dimitry is a man of passions, worldliness. He drinks regularly and gets into fights in the tavern. He also claims to have debauched many girls. He is a man who is not ruled by reason or higher spiritual principles. He is ruled by his passions.

Ivan the second son, turns out to be a intellectual. He is ruled by reason and common sense. He does not believe in God and writes a famous article in which he claims that 'Everything is lawful because there is no God". That is his guiding principle.

Alexey the third son in order to escape from the world of sin, becomes a monk in the Russian Orthodox Church. He lives in a monastary with an elder monk named Zossima, who is gifted with ability to perform miracles especially healings. Alexey becomes closes to him and he becomes the greatest influence in his life. Alexey is the spiritual man.

Spiritual lesson: In each one us there are three aspects which battle each other. The emotional dimitry, the intellectual Ivan and the spiritual Alexey. The relationship between them and who controls whom and who serves whom determines who we are how we live.
The carnal side of us represented in the novel by Dimitry if allowed to dominate will make us no better than animals and will cause great problems in our lives and in the lives of others.
The Soulish side as depicted by Ivan , the intellectual if allowed to dominate will make us look polished on the outside but reason unaided by the Spirit of God and faith in God will deny God and will make all things permissible and lawful. This is the main theme of the story as this is subtle and this causes even greater damage to the self and others as we shall see at the end of the story.
The Spiritual side, depicted in the story by Alexey if allowed to dominate will help us get closer to God, will make us do good to others without any selfish expectation from them and will also help us attain immortality.

Who are you? What is your predominant trait? Are you Carnal, Soulish or Spiritual?  How has each of these aspects in you interacted with one another? What was the result when each one of them predominated in a particular circumstance?