Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote about two brothers, Ivan and
Alyosha. Ivan is telling Alyosha about a poem that he wrote. He describes Christ
visiting Seville during the most intense period of the Inquisition. Many people
gather around him but the Grand Inquisitor comes, captures the Jesus, and takes
him away for questioning. He then interrogates the Jesus. He goes on to talk
about the freedoms that humans possess, primarily the freedom of religion and
how the church has taken the freedoms of the people and enforced Christianity. Ivan
then describes the three temptations of Christ as being the three fundamental temptations
and flaws of all humanity. Man’s freedom, Ivan says, leads to a need to worship
something. However man desires more than to just worship something; man must
have unity in worship and is always seeking for community. He also says that
God desires man to have this freedom because to be loved out of free will is
far greater than to be loved by coercion.
This concept of freedom is expressed well by Dostoevsky. He
shows humans as being slaves and rebels, but also as having been given freedom
by God. There is some validity to this statement. Additionally, Dostoevsky is
almost condemning the church for its actions. The church has eliminated that
basic freedom of man by forcing man to worship Christ. The Inquisitor thinks
that it is for the service of Christ but it is truly just taking away his
pleasure.
Sigmund Freud had a personal correspondence with Albert
Einstein concerning the causes of World War I. He answers Einstein’s question by
saying that although war is so hated and despised, it is necessary because it
is conflict is the essential nature of man. The mind, as seen by Freud although
not in this work, is always fighting between the two conflicting parts of the
Id and the Superego. He gives a psychological history of man that shows its longing
to avoid conflict, but that conflict will always exist. His conclusion to
Einstein’s question is that war is natural, but it should be avoided because it
ends hopeful human lives and it forces men to murder.
Freud correctly analyzes the fundamental aspect of human
nature as possessing conflict. In his own terms, there is a sinful side of us,
the Id, which is always in conflict with our new nature, the Superego. While it
was not a perfect analysis, there are many correct perceptions in his theory. He
also identifies man’s desire for community as being essential.
Dostoevsky and Freud both describe the same basic nature
of man as being in conflict. Dostoevsky’s approach is more spiritual, as he
illustrates the slavery and freedom of the soul. Freud rejects the idea of a
soul and the conflict he describes is mental, between the Superego and the Id,
with the Ego mediating. Man’s nature is not essentially conflictual, although
the ensuing effect is. Calvin shows that man’s nature is depravity. However, in
Christ we have been given a new nature that is like Christ. These two natures
come into conflict which is beautifully expressed by Paul in Romans 7 where he
says that “For I do not do what I want, but I do the
very thing I hate.” Paul had recognized that his new nature wanted to live
justly, but his sinful nature, the thing he hates, triumphed over his Christ
nature. However, Dostoevsky’s and Freud’s views were based on a Godless, or at
least non-Christian, philosophy. Therefore they did not see any redemption in
the eternal conflict of man. After the rejection of God in the Enlightenment, the
optimism of man gradually fell towards pessimism and despair. Why would a human
want to live their entire lives in conflict? Especially with themselves? Dostoevsky
admitted that man desires peace. However this peace will never be found solely
by man’s efforts, it can only be found in Christ.
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