On Life
Leo Tolstoy
41 chapters · 6 h 25 min · English
Read by Richard Vogel, Arden, Luke Hamilton, Ian S. Carr, Tatiana Chichilla, marvinch and others
Religion · Contemporary
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What is the "good life" for us mortal beings? Two months spent recovering from a severe injury allowed Tolstoy to develop and organise his thoughts on the subject. On Life is his philosophical answer where love, religion, and morality come together to ground us in reality. - Summary by Cao Yuqing
Chapters
1 Introduction 35 min 2 Chapter 1 The essential contradiction inherent in human life 7 min 3 Chapter 2 Humanity has recognized from the earliest days the contradiction of life.. 9 min 4 Chapter 3 The errors of the Scribes 5 min 5 Chapter 4 The doctrine of the Scribes substitutes the visible manifestation of man's animal existence.. 7 min 6 Chapter 5 The false doctrines of the Pharisees and Scribes no more explain the true meaning of life.. 10 min 7 Chapter 6 The division in the consciousness of the men of our time 7 min 8 Chapter 7 The division of consciousness proceeds from the confusion of the animal life with the human 7 min 9 Chapter 8 The division and the contradiction are only apparent: they are the consequence of false doctrine 6 min 10 Chapter 9 The birth of the true life in man 6 min 11 Chapter 10 Reason is the law recognized by man, in conformity with which his life must be perfected 6 min 12 Chapter 11 False direction of knowledge 10 min 13 Chapter 12 The cause of false knowledge is the false perspective in which objects appear 9 min 14 Chapter 13 The possibility of understanding objects increases not in proportion to their manifestation in time and space.. 11 min 15 Chapter 14 The true human life is not that which is lived in time and space 9 min 16 Chapter 15 The renunciation of the wellbeing of the animal individuality is the law of human life 8 min 17 Chapter 16 The animal individuality is the instrument of life 5 min 18 Chapter 17 Birth by the Spirit 3 min 19 Chapter 18 The demands of the reasonable consciousness 11 min 20 Chapter 19 Confirmation of the demands of the reasonable consciousness 10 min 21 Chapter 20 The demands of the individuality appear incompatible with those of the reasonable consciousness 6 min 22 Chapter 21 What is required is not renunciation of our individuality but the subjugation of individuality to the reasonable consciousness 10 min 23 Chapter 22 The feeling of love is the manifestation of the activity of the individuality subjected to the reasonable consciousness 10 min 24 Chapter 23 The manifestation of the feeling of love is impossible to men who do not understand the meaning of their life 17 min 25 Chapter 24 True love is a consequence of the renunciation of the welfare of the individuality 10 min 26 Chapter 25 Love is the sole and complete activity of the true life 8 min 27 Chapter 26 The efforts of men, directed to the impossible amelioration of their existence, deprive them of the possibility of living the one true life 7 min 28 Chapter 27 The fear of death is only the consciousness of the unsolved contradiction of life 10 min 29 Chapter 28 Carnal death destroys the body limited in space and the consciousness limited in time.. 14 min 30 Chapter 29 Men fear death because they have restricted life by their false conception, taking a part of life to be the whole 7 min 31 Chapter 30 Life is a relationship to the world. The movement of life is the establishment of new and loftier relationships.. 7 min 32 Chapter 31 The life of men when they are dead does not cease in this world 12 min 33 Chapter 32 The dread of death proceeds from man's confusion of his different relationships to the world 10 min 34 Chapter 33 The visible life is a part of the infinite movement of life 12 min 35 Chapter 34 The incomprehensibility of the sufferings of earthly existence proves to man more convincingly than anything.. 21 min 36 Chapter 35 Physical sufferings constitute an indispensable condition of the life and welfare of men 12 min 37 Conclusion 3 min 38 Appendix I 5 min 39 Appendix II 4 min 40 Appendix III 4 min 41 Appendix IV Mr. H. W. Massingham on "Life" 17 min
