Leo Tolstoy
Circle of Reading
Translated by Dmitry Fadeyev

April 12

At a certain stage of deep self-reflection, a human being discovers something superhuman within himself.

1

The fact that we exist is already proof of the existence of God. Whether you call it God or something else, there is undoubtedly life within us that was not created by us, but gifted to us. And it is up to you whether you call its source God or something else.

— Mazzini

2

Imagination creates phantoms and is afraid of them—this is forgivable because it is imagination. But for the mind to obey and fear the reasonings that are its own creations is unforgivable because it cannot and must not be deceived. And meanwhile, the superstition of magnitude is a deception of the mind, which has created the notion of space. The creation, however, cannot be greater than the creator, the son cannot be greater than the father. This requires a correction. The mind must liberate itself from space, which gives it a false understanding of itself. But this liberation is possible only when we learn to see space within our mind, instead of seeing the mind in space. How is this possible? By returning space to its fundamental essence. Space is a condition for the activity of the mind.

That is why God is everywhere, neither taking up billions of cubic miles, nor a hundred times less, nor a hundred times more.

Within the consciousness, the world has no space, but when we reason about it we need heavens in heavens.

Time and number are likewise unnecessary for the consciousness and are located only in the mind; this is why the human being is not smaller, but greater than the vastest space and infinite time and number.

— Amiel

3

As I stand over the insect crawling amid the pine needles on the forest floor, and endeavoring to conceal itself from my sight, and ask myself why it will cherish those humble thoughts, and bide its head from me who might, perhaps, be its benefactor, and impart to its race some cheering information, I am reminded of the greater Benefactor and Intelligence that stands over me the human insect.

— Thoreau

4

There is no God only for the one who is not searching. Start searching for him, and at once he is within you, and you are within him.

5

To search for God is the same thing as to scoop water with a net. While you are scooping, the water is in the net. Pull it, and it is empty.

While you are searching for God with thought and deed, God is within you. The moment you think you have found God and relax, you have lost him.

— Fyodor Strakhov

6

I find it surprising how in the past I did not see the doubtless truth that behind this world and our life in it there is someone or something knowing, for which this world exists, and in it we are like bubbles in boiling water, jumping out, bursting and disappearing.

7

In this great unity of beings, where everything speaks softly of God, the unbeliever sees only eternal silence.

— Rousseau


A person’s inability to perceive God does not give him the right to conclude that God does not exist.