Dostoevsky, A Writer's Diary

Spiritualism. Something about Devils. The Extraordinary Cleverness of Devils, If Only These Are Devils.

What would happen to people then, I ask? Oh, of course, everyone would be in raptures at first. People would embrace one another in ecstasy; they would rush off to study these revelations (and that would take time); they would suddenly feel themselves overcome by happiness and up to their necks in material blessings; perhaps they would walk or fly through the air, covering immense distances ten times faster than they now do by railway; they would extract fabulous harvests from the earth, create new organisms through chemistry; and there would be beef enough to supply three pounds per person, just as our Russian socialists dream--in short, eat, drink, and be merry. "And now," all the lovers of humanity would cry, "now that human needs are taken care of, now we will reveal our true potential! There are no more material deprivations, no more corrupting environment, once the source of all flaws; now humans will become beautiful and righteous! There is no more ceaseless labor to try to feed oneself, and now everyone will occupy himself with sublime, profound thoughts and with universal concerns. Now, only now, has life in the higher sense begun!" And what clever and good people, perhaps, would give voice to such words, and the novelty of it all might attract still others until, at last, they would raise their voices in common hymn: "Who can be likened unto this beast? Praise be to him who has brought fire down from the heavens!"

But such rapturous outpourings would scarcely be enough for even one generation! People would suddenly see that they had no more life left, that they had no freedom of spirit, no will, no personality, that someone had stolen all this from them; they would see that their human image had disappeared and that the brutish image of a slave had emerged, the image of an animal, with the single difference that a beast does not realize that it is a beast, but a human would realize that he had become a beast. And humanity would begin to decay; people would be covered in sores and begin to bite their tongues in torment, seeing that their lives had been taken away for the sake of bread, for "stones turned into bread." People would realize that there is no happiness in inactivity, that the mind which does not labor will wither, that it is not possible to love one's neighbor without sacrificing something to him of own's own labor, that it is vile to live at the expense of another, and that happiness lies not in happiness but only in the attempt to achieve it. People would be overcome by boredom and the sickness of the heart: everything has been done and there is nothing more to do; everything has become known and there is nothing more to discover. There would be crowds of people seeking to end their lives, but not as they do now, in some obscure corner; masses of people would gather, seizing one another's hands, and suddenly destroy themselves by the thousands through some new method that they discovered along with all their other discoveries. And then, perhaps, those who remained would cry out to God: "Thou art right, O Lord: man does not live by bread alone!" Then they would rise up against the devils and abandon witchery....Oh, never would God send down such torments on humanity! And the kingdom of the devils would collapse! No, the devils won't make such a grave political error. They are sophisticated politicians and move toward their goal by a most subtle and logical route (I repeat: that is, if devils indeed do exist!).

The fundamental principle of their kingdom is discord; that is, they want to found it on discord. Why do they specifically need discord here? Why, it's obvious: just remember that discord itself is a dreadful force; discord, after a long period of strife, drives people to folly; it dulls and distorts their reason and their feelings. In discord he who gives offense, once he realizes what he has done, does not go to be reconciled with the one he has offended, but says: "I offended him, and so I must take revenge on him." But the main thing is that the devils have the most thorough knowledge of the history of the human race and particularly remember all those things on which discord has been based. They know, for instance, that if in Europe sects exist that have broken away from Catholicism and continue up to now as religions, then this is only because blood was spilled because of them at one time. Should Catholicism, for example, come to an end, then all the Protestant sects would inevitably collapse as well: what would be let for them to protest against? Even now they are almost inclined to move into some sort of "humanism," or even simply to atheism, and people have remarked on that for some time now. And if these sects still continue to cling to life as religions, then it is because they still continue to protest. They protested even last year, and what a protest it was! -- they took on the pope himself.

Oh, of course in the final analysis the influence of the devils will prevail and they will crush humanity like a fly with their "stones turned into bread." That is their principal goal, but they will undertake to fulfill it only after having first ensured that their future kingdom will be safe from human rebellion and so guarantee its longevity. But how can humans be subdued? Of course: divide et impera (divide the enemy and you will conquer him). And for this they need discord. On the other hand, people will get tired of the stones turned into bread, and so something must be found for them to do so they won't get bored. And isn't discord a fine occupation for human beings!

And what if the devils, having prepared the ground and planted sufficient discord, suddenly want to broaden the sphere of their activities and turn to something genuine and serious? They're an unpredictable lot with a strong sense of irony and could do something of that sort. For instance, what if they suddenly burst into the midst of the People, along with literacy, say? And our People are so defenseless, so given to ignorance and debauchery, and there are so few who can guide them in this sense, it seems! The People might put their faith in these new phenomena with a passion. Then how their spiritual development would be delayed! What damage might be done, and for what a period of time! What an idolatrous worship of materialism, and what discord; discord a hundred, a thousand times worse than before; and this is exactly what the devils need. And discord certainly will ensue, especially of spiritualism manages to provoke restrictions and persecution (and persecution would inevitably follow from the rest of the People who do not believe in spiritualism). Then it would spread in an instant, like burning kerosene, and set everything ablaze.

I have been most definitely joking and having fun from the first word to the last; but this is what I would like to express in conclusion: if we regard spiritualism as something that bears within it some sort of new religion (and almost all, even the most sober-minded among the spiritualists, are inclined to share even a little of that view), then something of what I have said above might be taken seriously. And therefore, may God grant speedy success to the free study of the question from both sides. This alone will help to eradicate quickly the nasty spirit that is spreading about, and will, perhaps, enrich science by some new discovery. But to shout at one another, to heap scorn on one another and ostracize one another for spiritualism, means, in my view, only to strengthen and disseminate the idea of spiritualism in its worst sense. This is the beginning of intolerance and persecution. That's just what the devils want!