Review of “Confessions” by Lev Tolstoy or, Why Religion Matters
By: Tanyo Gochev
Tags: Religion, Book Review, Books, Personal Development, Meaning Of Life

Review of “Confessions” by Lev Tolstoy or, Why Religion Matters

This is the best purchase under $5 that I’ve ever made.

I watched plenty of Jordan Peterson’s videos in the last couple of weeks. I’m a big fan of his, and every time he says something, I listen.

And he talked a lot about Tolstoy.

I don’t remember what exactly he said that made me go out and buy “Confessions.”

Maybe it’s the fact that it is a short book (only 100 pages long) and can read it in one day.

And I can tell you that it was worth it.

I struggled a lot with nihilism, the idea that life essentially has no meaning because one day, all that you have cared for and work for will be gone.

So what’s the point?

I started reading the book, and Tolstoy was saying how at the age of 51, he became severely depressed.

This is after he has written Anna Katerina and War and Peace.

His answer to the question, “What’s the meaning of life?” didn’t really hold up.

Until that point, he taught that progress is the name of the game; the meaning of life is to become better and acquire more for yourself.

However, this answer didn’t satisfy him, so he went on a search to find what’s the meaning of life. After contemplating suicide, he looked at religion.

He was never a religious person, and in his youth, he was mocking people who believed in God. He didn’t like the whole idea of having one being that created all of us.

However, when he was depressed, he started to wonder why so many people are religious.

As a writer, he was part of the intelligent elite, people who taught that they are above the average folks. They had the money, fame, and, most importantly, the intelligence to create something unique.

All they cared about was acquiring more for themselves. After all, they have earned, right?

And then Tolstoy realized his problem. The problem wasn’t that life was hard or depressing. Make no mistake, life can be that. The problem was that Tolstoy’s life was depressing. He had a family and success but didn’t have anyone who can struggle for.

He then taught about the average people. How so many of them were living a hard life but aren’t depressed? How can they go to work day in and day out without ever thinking of suicide?

His realization was profound.

The reason so many people kept working even when life is hard is that they had someone they struggled for. They didn’t do it for themselves. They did it for people they cared about.

But Tolstoy still wondered how they could find meaning in their deaths. After all, when they die, all they have worked for will disappear.

This is when religion comes in.

Tolstoy realized that no matter how flawed religion and religious beliefs are, they have one advantage over atheism — it gives people meaning after their death. It gives them hope, a hope that the future after them will be better.

After that realization, Tolstoy started regularly going to church and doing all the rituals that came with that. However, he was surprised that many of the so-called “religious” people didn’t practice what they preached.

He wondered how the idea of caring for other people didn’t apply when an orthodox met a catholic. They would all disagree on what really happened in the Bible and won’t be able to find common ground.

Tolstoy concluded that there is some truth in religion, it wouldn’t be that popular if it’s full of falsehoods, but he didn’t know which part of it was a truth and which wasn’t.

I highly recommend you check out this book if you have struggled with nihilism like me.

I learned that to have a meaningful life, you have to struggle for someone other than yourself.

Tolstoy goes into great detail, exploring all the possible answers to the question, “What’s the meaning of life?”

If you want to know more, check out “Confessions” by Lev Tolstoy (you can find the Amazon link below the picture).

Thank you for taking the time to read this.