Leo Tolstoy
Circle of Reading
Translated by Dmitry Fadeyev

July 1

The human soul is divine.

1

The origin of every truth is God. Its being expressed in the human being does not show that it comes from the human being, only that the human being has the property of being transparent enough to express it.

— Pascal

2

When rainwater flows through the gutters, it seems to us that it comes from them, when in reality it falls from the sky. It is the same with the sacred teachings communicated to us by holy people. It seems that they come from them, but in reality they come from God.

— Ramakrishna

3

According to Laozi, to think that one’s own spiritual powers are independent of heavenly power is to believe that the bellows is not a device that merely lets air pass through it, but is an independent source of air, capable of producing and blowing air in a vacuum.

4

I feel especially strongly that in everything a human being does or can do that is beautiful, great or good, he is only a tool of something or someone higher than him. This feeling is faith. A believer trembles with sacred joy at being present at the miracles being performed through him and not from him, which happen within him. He yields his will to them, trying to respectfully erase himself so as to distort as little as possible the highest work of the power which uses him for a moment to perform its task. He depersonalizes and destroys himself; he feels that his self must disappear when the Holy Spirit speaks, when God acts. This is how a prophet hears his call, this is how a young mother feels when the fetus moves in her womb. While we still feel our self, we are limited, selfish, imprisoned; but when, in harmony with the life of the world, we respond to the voice of God, our self disappears.

— Amiel

5

If we were to renounce for a moment our little self, we would have no bad thoughts, we would become clear glass, reflecting light—what would we not reflect! The whole universe would unfold in radiant splendor around us.

— Thoreau

6

True wisdom teaches us that the foundations of a person’s thoughts live in his humbler brothers and that the qualities that a scientist displays in making his deepest discoveries are exactly the same as those used by ordinary people in their everyday work.

The true understanding of great individuals consists in the fact that they are only examples and manifestations of our common nature, showing what is inherent in all souls, despite it being revealed only in a few. The light emanating from them is nothing but a faint revelation of the force that lies hidden in every human being. They are not wonders or miracles, they are a natural development of the human soul.

— From “The World’s Advance Thought”

7

The true work of the human being on earth is to maintain his being in harmony with the eternal; only then can the almighty power of love and reason flow through him, as through a clear channel.

— From “The World’s Advance Thought”

8

Life is given to us as a child is given to a nanny: in order to raise him. This is what the Parable of the Talents speaks of. (Matthew 25:14–30)


Keep yourself free from evil so that the power of God may flow through you. The flow of God’s power is a great blessing.