Three parables. The best parables

L.N. Tolstoy

THREE PARABLES

THE FIRST PARABLE

Weeds have grown in a good meadow. And, in order to get rid of it, the owners of the meadow mowed it, and the weeds only multiplied from this. And so the kind and wise owner visited the owners of the meadow and, among other teachings that he gave them, he said that there was no need to mow the weeds, since this only caused them to grow more, but that they should be pulled out by the roots.

But either because the owners of the meadow did not notice, among other instructions of the good owner, the order not to mow the weeds, but to pull them out, or because they did not understand it, or because, according to their calculations, they did not want to fulfill this, but It turned out that the order not to mow the weeds, but to pull them out, was not fulfilled, as if it had never existed, and people continued to mow the weeds and multiply them. And although in subsequent years there were people who reminded the owners of the meadow of the order of the kind and wise owner, they did not listen to them and continued to act as before, so that mowing down the weeds as soon as they appeared became not only a custom, but even a sacred tradition , and the meadow became more and more littered. And it came to the point that the meadow was full of weeds, and people cried about it and came up with all sorts of means to improve the situation, but did not use only one that had long been offered to them by their kind and wise owner. And so it happened in Lately one person who saw the pitiful situation in which the meadow was located, and who found in the forgotten instructions of the owner the rule that not to mow the weeds, but to pull them out by the roots, this man happened to remind the owners of the meadow that they were acting unreasonably and that this folly had long been pointed out by a kind and wise master.

And what? Instead of checking the validity of this man’s reminder and, if he is faithful, stop mowing the weeds, or if he is unfaithful, prove to him the injustice of his reminder, or recognize the instructions of a kind and wise owner as unfounded and unnecessary for themselves, the owners of the meadow did neither one nor the other, not a third, but were offended by that person’s reminder and began to scold him. They called him a mad, proud man who imagined that he alone of all understood the instructions of his master, others a malicious false interpreter and slanderer, others, forgetting that he did not say his own thing, but only recalled the instructions of the wise master revered by all, called him a malicious man, those who want to spread bad grass and deprive people of their meadows. “He says that we shouldn’t mow the grass, and if we don’t destroy the grass,” they said, deliberately keeping silent about the fact that the man was not saying that we shouldn’t destroy the weeds, but that we shouldn’t mow, but to pull it out, the weeds will grow and will completely destroy our meadow. And why then were we given a meadow if we must raise weeds in it?" And the opinion that this man was either a madman, or a false interpreter, or intended to harm people, was established to such an extent that everyone scolded him and everyone laughed at him. And no matter how much this man explained that he not only does not want to grow weeds, but, on the contrary, believes that the destruction of bad grass is one of the main activities of a farmer, as the kind and wise owner understood this, whose words he only recalls, - No matter how much he said this, they did not listen to him, because it was finally decided that this man was either a mad proud man, misinterpreting the words of a wise and kind master, or a villain, calling on People not to destroy weeds, but to protect and restore them.

The same thing happened to me when I pointed to the injunction of the Gospel teaching about non-resistance to evil through violence. This rule was preached 1000 times by Christ and after him at all times and by all his true disciples. But whether because they did not notice this rule, or because they did not understand it, or because the fulfillment of this rule seemed too difficult to them, the more time passed, the more this rule was forgotten, the more and more the warehouse moved away people's lives from this rule, and finally things came to what they have reached now - to the point that this rule began to seem to people something new, unheard of, strange and even crazy. And the same thing happened to me that happened to the man who pointed out to people the long-standing instruction of a kind and wise owner that weeds should not be mowed, but should be pulled out by the roots.

How the owners of the meadow, deliberately keeping silent about the fact that the advice was not not to destroy bad grass, but to destroy it in a reasonable way, said: let's not listen to this man - he is a madman, he orders us not to mow bad herbs, but orders them to be separated, - and in response to my words that, in order to destroy evil according to the teachings of Christ, we must not resist it with violence, but destroy it from the roots with love, they said: we will not listen to him, he is a madman: he advises us not to resist evil, so that evil will crush us.

I said that according to the teachings of Christ, evil cannot be eradicated by evil, that any resistance to evil by violence only increases evil, that according to the teachings of Christ, evil is eradicated by good: “bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, do good to those who hate you, love your enemies, and you will have no enemy" [Teaching of the XII Apostles. (Note by D.N. Tolstoy.)]. I said that according to the teachings of Christ, a person’s whole life is a struggle against evil, resistance to evil with reason and love, but that of all the means of resisting evil, Christ excludes one unreasonable means of resisting evil with violence, which consists in fighting evil with evil.

And these words of mine were understood in such a way that I say that Christ taught that one should not resist evil. And all those whose life is built on violence and to whom violence is therefore dear, willingly accepted this reinterpretation of my words and with it the words of Christ, and it was recognized that the teaching of non-resistance to evil is an incorrect, absurd, godless and harmful teaching. And people calmly continue, under the guise of destroying evil, to produce and increase it.

Leo Tolstoy's legacy is enormous. He didn't leave his pen until last days life. And this one lived outstanding man 82 years old. Complete collection his works number more than a hundred volumes, including letters and. At the end of his life, Tolstoy almost stopped writing works of art, devoting all his strength to journalism. And yet he is dear to readers precisely as an artist of words, as the author of “Childhood” and “ Sevastopol stories", "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina".

The spiritual biography of Tolstoy is a separate topic for discussion. Until the age of fifty, he remained an atheist, which he admitted more than once. Then a change in consciousness occurs. However, it is at this age that many of us truly come to God. Youth passes in search of itself, its place in life, a social circle develops, economic independence comes, and a family of its own appears. And only over the years do you begin to understand that you should not fuss over trifles, but do what you love, that you should bring goodness, peace and light to people - something that is lacking at all times.

Having settled in family estate Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy unfolded an extensive educational activities. A school was opened for peasant children, where Count Tolstoy himself taught. He did not disdain heavy physical labor. And, of course, new works of art continued to come out from his pen.

Tolstoy's attitude towards the Christianity that developed over many centuries was negative. The Church has moved very far from original Christianity. The “Church Fathers,” priests and theologians, willingly or unwillingly, did a lot to distort the teachings of Christ. Tolstoy's entire passionate nature rebelled against this.

Recognizing the Bible as the primary source, Tolstoy warned against reading this book from cover to cover, and even in at a young age. The fact is that Old Testament quite different from the New Testament. What the Jewish god Yahweh commands to do, and what Jesus teaches, is heaven and earth. The first one says: “Let him please himself fair man with vengeance, may he wash his hands with the blood of his enemy,” the second calls not to respond to violence with violence. And these covenants are irreconcilable in essence.

It is no coincidence that many theologians and secular scientists tend to consider Christ the first philosopher. His speech is figurative and aphoristic, as well as parable-like. Parable – typical genre for the Gospel. What kind of genre is this?

A short story with a moralizing ending - this is the definition of a classic parable. Moreover, the main content of the parable can be of an everyday, mundane nature - so that the material is closer and more understandable to readers or listeners. Close to the parable literary genre fables.

In the second half of his life, Tolstoy seemed to “awaken” as a moralist. And this moralist began to press the writer. Tolstoy decided that his job was to teach, enlighten, instruct, and introduce socially useful ideas into the minds. He has done a lot in this field. And the works did not pass without a trace. Every word of Tolstoy instantly scattered throughout the country and the world. This word was expected and feared. IN Yasnaya Polyana Numerous petitioners and pilgrims arrived. It has become one of the centers of spiritual life in Russia turn of XIX-XX centuries

Moving away from large epic forms, ceasing to write stories and novels, Tolstoy focused on “small” genres, parables and short stories. It may seem that he was wasted on trifles. This is wrong. Talentedly written short story can be etched into the memory much deeper than a book of several hundred pages in volume. It is easier to attract attention on a narrow “patch” of a story or parable readership, make her empathize and reflect.

Fortunately, the moralist did not kill the writer in Tolstoy. When he composed "Reading Circles", expounded the teachings of Christ for children, he did not limit himself to a simple retelling biblical stories. In all of Tolstoy's plots, Tolstoy was interested in the moral background. “Man is weak,” reminds Tolstoy. But a person can also be strong. Strong in spirit, faith, hope and love for one's neighbor. It was precisely these characters that Tolstoy tried to choose for his new works.

Parable is a “small” genre. Its main content can fit on a page. Let's turn to a specific work - "Apostle John and the Thief". The action dates back to the time after the death of Christ. The prologue talks about the disciples-apostles who, after the death of Jesus, went to preach his teachings in different lands. The main character is introduced - Christ's beloved disciple John. Plot plot - John draws attention to a young man from the crowd. His verdict: “his soul is warm, but he has no faith.” John entrusts the young man to the care of the local bishop. And he treats questions of faith too formally: he baptized and forgot. And the young man goes astray. The story of his fall from grace is briefly told. But for John he remains a “treasure”. This is a metaphorical representation of the lost soul that he decided to save. Having learned that the young man is now the chieftain of the robbers, the apostle searches for and finds him. And he returns to the fold of the church and faith, even risking his life. And may God grant each of us such a guide! The syntax of the parable is simple. Dialogue, non-direct speech and narration are organically combined. Tolstoy avoids using epithets and adjectives. Instead, verb beginnings predominate. Thanks to them, one picture quickly replaces another. Therefore, the possible reader or listener has no opportunity to get tired or distracted. Everything in the parable works towards the end result - to convey a moralizing message to the peasant audience. All psychology is removed into the subtext. On the surface is only the outer outline of events. However, in the texts of the canonical Gospel it is exactly the same.

Tolstoy was far from idealizing the peasantry. But he knew perfectly well what language he should speak to a simple man. And what language to write for this audience. He served as material for the author's parables folk legends and apocrypha, as well as everyday incidents, which he himself often witnessed. In a circle children's reading such Tolstoy miniatures as "Filippok" And "Bone" and also a parable "Father and Sons".

They are even shorter than those texts where Tolstoy still tries to follow the sacred primary sources. For example, in “Father and Sons” there are almost no adjectives at all. Some verbs: “ordered”, “ordered”, “untied”, “ordered to break”. Contrasting characters are taken, although they are members of the same family. Consequently, the parable is built on antithesis (opposition). Kinship by blood does not always mean kinship in spirit. The father has to resort to everyday examples in order to convey to his adult sons simple truth: Only those who stick together cannot be broken and separated. Perhaps it is in vain that Tolstoy explains the truisms where the reader himself is able to reach main idea own mind, but this is the nitpicking of a man of our time. It should be noted that the peasants were not oriented towards reading literary works, and on practical activities, on the agricultural calendar.

The worldview of the late Tolstoy is a motley kaleidoscope of Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism and many other currents of religious and ethical thought. Therefore, one should not be surprised that in parables Tolstoy brings out not only sinners and righteous people, but also eastern kings and their slaves, as, for example, in parable “The enemy’s things are molded, but God’s things are strong”. As in Holy Scripture, Tolstoy removed all psychology from the subtext. On the surface there is only a series of events. Inner work the mind and heart of this or that character remains unknown to the reader. But such is the parable as a genre - it has a plot of an everyday nature, a development of action outlined in several sentences, a climax and a final moral lesson. It may seem simple and even primitive to us, modern readers. And it is difficult to understand how effective and accessible it was to the illiterate masses, to the younger generation. And so it was!

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich

Three parables

L.N. Tolstoy

THREE PARABLES

THE FIRST PARABLE

But either because the owners of the meadow did not notice, among other instructions of the good owner, the order not to mow the weeds, but to pull them out, or because they did not understand it, or because, according to their calculations, they did not want to fulfill this, but It turned out that the order not to mow the weeds, but to pull them out, was not fulfilled, as if it had never existed, and people continued to mow the weeds and multiply them. And although in subsequent years there were people who reminded the owners of the meadow of the order of the kind and wise owner, they did not listen to them and continued to act as before, so that mowing down the weeds as soon as they appeared became not only a custom, but even a sacred tradition , and the meadow became more and more littered. And it came to the point that the meadow was full of weeds, and people cried about it and came up with all sorts of means to improve the situation, but did not use only one that had long been offered to them by their kind and wise owner. And so it happened recently to one person who saw the pitiful situation in which the meadow was, and who found in the forgotten instructions of the owner the rule that not to mow the weeds, but to pull them out by the roots - this man happened to remind the owners of the meadow about that that they acted unreasonably and that this unreasonableness had long been pointed out by their kind and wise master.

How the owners of the meadow, deliberately keeping silent about the fact that the advice was not not to destroy the bad grass, but to destroy it in a reasonable way, said: let’s not listen to this man - he is a madman, he orders us not to mow the bad grass, but he orders them to be separated, - and in response to my words that in order to destroy evil, according to the teachings of Christ, we must not resist it with violence, but destroy it from the roots with love, they said: we will not listen to him, he is a madman: he advises do not resist evil so that evil will crush us.

SECOND PARABLE

People traded in flour, butter, milk and all kinds of food supplies. And one before the other, wanting to get more profits and get rich faster, these people began to mix more and more various cheap and harmful impurities into their goods; Bran and lime were poured into flour, margarine was added to butter, and water and chalk were added to milk. And as long as these goods reached consumers, everything went well: wholesalers sold to retailers and retailers sold to small traders.

There were many barns and shops, and trade seemed to be going very successfully. And the merchants were happy. But for urban consumers, those who did not produce their own food and therefore had to buy it, it was very unpleasant and harmful.

The flour was bad, and butter and milk were bad, but since the markets in the cities had no other goods other than mixed goods, urban consumers continued to take these goods and blamed themselves and bad cooking for their bad taste and their ill health, and merchants continued to mix more and more foreign cheap substances into food supplies.

This went on for quite some time; The city residents were all suffering, and no one dared to express their discontent.

And it happened to one housewife, who always ate and fed her family with household supplies, to come to the city. This housewife had been cooking all her life, and although she was not a famous cook, she knew how to bake bread and cook delicious dinners well.

This housewife bought supplies in the city and began to bake and cook. The bread was not baked, but fell apart. The cakes made with margarine butter turned out to be tasteless. The hostess put in milk, but the cream was not steeped. The hostess immediately realized that the supplies were not good. She examined them, and her guess was confirmed: she found lime in flour, margarine in butter, chalk in milk. Seeing that all the supplies were fraudulent, the hostess went to the market and began to loudly denounce the merchants and demand from them either that they keep good, nutritious, unspoiled goods in their shops, or that they stop trading and close their shops. But the merchants did not pay any attention to the hostess and told her that their goods were of the first quality, that the whole city had been buying from them for many years and that they even had medals, and they showed her the medals on the signs. But the hostess did not calm down.

“I don’t need medals,” she said, “but healthy food, such that it doesn’t make my and my children’s stomachs hurt.”

It’s true, mother, you haven’t even seen real flour or real butter,” the merchants told her, pointing to white-looking, pure flour poured into varnished bins, to the yellow likeness of butter lying in beautiful cups, and to the white liquid in shiny transparent cups. vessels,

“It’s impossible for me not to know,” answered the hostess, “because all my life I did nothing but cook and eat with the children.” Your goods are damaged. Here’s your proof,” she said, pointing to the spoiled bread, the margarine in the flatbreads and the sediment in the milk. - Your goods should all be thrown into the river or burned and replaced with good ones! - And the hostess, standing in front of the shops, kept shouting the same thing to the approaching customers, and the customers began to feel embarrassed.

The father gave his son property, bread, cattle and said:

Live the way I do, and you will always feel good.

The son took everything from his father, left his father and began to live for his own pleasure. “My father told me to live like him. He lives and rejoices, and I will live like that.”

He lived like this for a year, two, ten, twenty years, and lived through all his father’s estate, and he had nothing left. And he began to ask his father to give him more, but his father did not listen to him. Then he began to cajole his father and give his father what he had best, and ask him. But his father did not answer him. Then the son began to ask his father for forgiveness, thinking that he had offended his father in some way, and again asked to give him more, but the father did not say anything.

And then the son began to curse his father. He said:

If you don’t give now, why did you give and give to me before, and promised that I would always live well? All my previous joys, when I lived on the estate, are not worth one hour of present torment. I see that I am dying, and there is no salvation. And who is to blame? - You. You knew that I wouldn’t have enough property, but you didn’t give me more. You only told me: live like me, and you will be fine. I lived like you. You lived for your pleasure, and I lived for your pleasure. You left more for yourself. You still have it, but I didn’t have enough. You are not a father, but a deceiver and a villain. My life is damned, you are also damned, villain, tormentor, I don’t want to know and I hate you.

The father gave the property to his second son and said only:

Live like me and you will always feel good.

The second son was not as happy about the name as the first. He thought he should. But he knew what happened to his elder brother, and therefore began to think about how not to live through all the property in the same way as the first. He understood one thing: that his elder brother misunderstood the words “live like me,” and that he should not live only for his own pleasure. And he began to think what it means: “Live like me.” And he came up with the idea that he should, like his father, start all the property that was given to him. And he began to start again the same estate as the one his father gave him.

And he began to figure out how he could again do everything that his father had given him. And he began to ask his father what to do, but his father did not answer him. But the son thought that his father was afraid to tell him, and began to take apart all his father’s things in order to understand from them how everything was done. And he spoiled and destroyed everything that he received from his father, and everything that he made new, it was all of no use. But he didn’t want to admit that he had ruined everything, and he lived and suffered, and told everyone that his father never gave him anything, and he did everything for himself. “And we can all do everything ourselves better and better, and we will soon get to the point where everything will be wonderful.” This is what the second son said while he still had something of his father's, but when he broke the last and had nothing to live with, he laid hands on himself and killed himself.

The father gave the same property to his third son, and said the same:

Live the way I do, and you will always feel good.

And the third son, just like the first and second, was delighted with the name and left his father. But he knew what happened to his older brothers, and began to think about what it means: “Live like me, and you will always feel good.”

The elder brother thought that to live like his father meant to live for his own pleasure, and he lived everything and disappeared. The second brother thought that living like his father meant doing everything himself that his father had done, and he also despaired. What does it mean: “Live like your father”?

And he began to remember everything he knew about his father. And no matter how much he thought, he knew nothing else about his father except that before there was nothing, and he himself did not exist; and that the father gave birth to him, gave him drink, fed him, taught him and gave him every good thing, and said; live the way I do, and you will always feel good. The father did the same with the brothers. And no matter how much he thought, he could find out nothing more about his father. All he knew about his father was that his father did good to him and his brothers.

And then he understood what the words mean: “Live as I do.” He realized that living like his father means doing what he does, doing good to people.

And when he thought this, his father was already next to him and said:

Here we are again together, and you will always feel good. Go to your brothers, to all my children, and tell them what it means to “live like me,” and that the truth is that those who live like me will always have a good time.

And the third son went and told his brothers everything, and from then on all the children, when they received property from their father, rejoiced not because they had a lot of property, but because they could live just like their father, and that they would have always good.

The Father is God; sons are people; estate is life. People think that they can live alone, without God. Some of these people think that life is given to them in order to enjoy this life. They have fun and waste their lives, and when the time comes to die, they do not understand why such a life was given, the fun of which ends in suffering and death. And these people die cursing God and calling him evil, and are separated from God. This is the first son.

Other people think that life is given to them in order to understand how it is made and to make it better than the one that was given to them by God. And they are fighting about making another one, better life. But while they are improving this life, they are ruining it, and thereby depriving themselves of their own lives.

Still others say: “All we know about God is that he gives people good, tells them to do the same as he does, and therefore we will do what he does - good for people.”

And as soon as they begin to do this, God himself comes to them and says: “This is exactly what I wanted. Do with me what I do, and as I live, so you will live.” (

Three parables
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Stories

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Three parables

First parable

But either because the owners of the meadow did not notice, among other instructions of the good owner, the order not to mow the weeds, but to pull them out, or because they did not understand it, or because, according to their calculations, they did not want to fulfill this, but It turned out that the order not to mow the weeds, but to pull them out, was not fulfilled, as if it had never existed, and people continued to mow the weeds and multiply them. And although in subsequent years there were people who reminded the owners of the meadow of the order of the kind and wise owner, they did not listen to them and continued to act as before, so that mowing down the weeds as soon as they appeared became not only a custom, but even a sacred tradition , and the meadow became more and more littered. And it came to the point that the meadow was full of weeds, and people cried about it and came up with all sorts of means to improve the situation, but did not use only one that had long been offered to them by their kind and wise owner. And so it happened recently to one person who saw the pitiful situation in which the meadow was, and who found in the forgotten instructions of the owner the rule that not to mow the weeds, but to pull them out by the roots - this man happened to remind the owners of the meadow about that that they acted unreasonably and that this unreasonableness had long been pointed out by their kind and wise master.

And what? Instead of checking the validity of this man’s reminder and, if he is faithful, stop mowing the weeds, or if he is unfaithful, prove to him the injustice of his reminder, or recognize the instructions of a kind and wise owner as unfounded and unnecessary for themselves, the owners of the meadow did neither one nor the other, not a third, but were offended by that person’s reminder and began to scold him. They called him a mad, proud man who imagined that he alone of all understood the instructions of his master, others a malicious false interpreter and slanderer, others, forgetting that he did not say his own thing, but only recalled the instructions of the wise master revered by all, called him a malicious man, those who want to spread bad grass and deprive people of their meadows. “He says that we shouldn’t mow the grass, and if we don’t destroy the grass,” they said, deliberately keeping silent about the fact that the man was not saying that we shouldn’t destroy the weeds, but that we shouldn’t mow, and if we pull it out, the weeds will grow and will completely destroy our meadow. And why then were we given a meadow if we must raise weeds in it?” And the opinion that this man was either a madman, or a false interpreter, or intended to harm people, was established to such an extent that everyone scolded him and everyone laughed at him. And no matter how much this man explained that he not only does not want to grow weeds, but, on the contrary, believes that the destruction of bad grass is one of the main activities of a farmer, as the kind and wise owner understood this, whose words he only recalls, - no matter how much he said this, they did not listen to him, because it was finally decided that this man was either a mad proud man, misinterpreting the words of a wise and kind master, or a villain, calling on People not to destroy weeds, but to protect and restore them.

The same thing happened to me when I pointed to the injunction of the Gospel teaching about non-resistance to evil through violence. This rule was preached by Christ and after him at all times and by all his true disciples. But whether because they did not notice this rule, or because they did not understand it, or because the fulfillment of this rule seemed too difficult to them - the more time passed, the more this rule was forgotten, the more and more the warehouse moved away people's lives from this rule, and finally things came to what they have reached now - to the point where this rule began to seem to people something new, unheard of, strange and even crazy. And the same thing happened to me that happened to the man who pointed out to people the long-standing instruction of a kind and wise owner that weeds should not be mowed, but should be pulled out by the roots.

How the owners of the meadow, deliberately keeping silent about the fact that the advice was not not to destroy the bad grass, but to destroy it in a reasonable way, said: let’s not listen to this man - he is a madman, he orders us not to mow the bad grass, but orders them to be separated, - and in response to my words that, in order to destroy evil according to the teachings of Christ, we must not resist it with violence, but destroy it from the roots with love, they said: we will not listen to him, he is a madman: he advises do not resist evil so that evil will crush us.

I said that according to the teachings of Christ, evil cannot be eradicated by evil, that any resistance to evil by violence only increases evil, that according to the teachings of Christ, evil is eradicated by good: “bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, do good to those who hate you, love your enemies, _and_you_will_not_have_an enemy." I said that according to the teachings of Christ, a person’s whole life is a struggle against evil, resistance to evil with reason and love, but that of all the means of resisting evil, Christ excludes one unreasonable means of resisting evil with violence, which consists in fighting evil with evil.

Second parable

This went on for quite some time; The city residents were all suffering, and no one dared to express their discontent.

“I don’t need medals,” she said, “but healthy food, such that it doesn’t make my and the children’s stomachs hurt.”

“It’s true, mother, you have never seen real flour or real butter,” the merchants told her, pointing to the white-looking, clean flour poured into varnished bins, to the yellow likeness of butter lying in beautiful cups, and to the white liquid in shiny transparent vessels,

“It’s impossible for me not to know,” answered the hostess, “because all my life I did nothing but cook and eat with the children.” Your goods are damaged. Here’s your proof,” she said, pointing to the spoiled bread, the margarine in the flatbreads and the sediment in the milk. “Your goods should all be thrown into the river or burned and replaced with good ones!” “And the hostess, standing in front of the shops, kept shouting the same thing to the approaching customers, and the customers began to feel embarrassed.

Then, seeing that this impudent mistress could harm their trade, the merchants said to the buyers:

- Look, gentlemen, how crazy this woman is. She wants to starve people to death. Orders all food supplies to be drowned or burned. What will you eat if we listen to her and don’t sell you food? Don't listen to her: she is a rude hillbilly and doesn't know much about supplies, and attacks us only out of envy. She is poor and wants everyone to be as poor as she is.

This is what the merchants said to the gathered crowd, deliberately keeping silent about the fact that the woman did not want to destroy the supplies, but to replace the bad ones with good ones.

And then the crowd attacked the woman and began to scold her, and no matter how much the woman assured everyone that she did not want to destroy the food supplies, that, on the contrary, all her life she had been doing nothing but feeding and feeding herself, but that she only wanted that so that those people who take care of food for people do not poison them with harmful substances under the guise of food; but no matter how much she spoke and no matter what she said, they did not listen to her, because it was decided that she wanted to deprive people of the food they needed.

The same thing happened to me in relation to the science and art of our time. All my life I ate this food and - for better or worse - I tried to feed others whom I could with it. And since this is food for me, and not an item of trade or luxury, then I undoubtedly know when food is food and when it is only similar to it. And so, when I tried the food that has begun to be sold in our time in the mental bazaar under the guise of science and art, and tried to feed my loved ones with it, I saw that most of this food is not real. And when I said that the science and art that are sold in the mental bazaar are margarine, or at least with large admixtures of substances alien to true science and true art, and that I know this because the products I bought at the mental bazaar turned out to be inconvenient for me or for the people close to me, not only inconvenient, but downright harmful, then they began to shout and hoot at me and convince me that this was happening because I was not learned and did not know how to handle such lofty objects. When I began to prove that the merchants of this mental product themselves constantly accuse each other of deceit; when I reminded that at all times, under the name of science and art, many harmful and bad things have been offered to people, and that is why in our time the same danger awaits, that this is not a joke, that spiritual poison is many times more dangerous than bodily poison, and that therefore we must study with the greatest attention those spiritual products that are offered to us in the form of food, and diligently reject everything that is counterfeit and harmful - when I began to say this, no one, no one, not a single person in any article or book objected to these arguments. , and from all the shops they shouted, like at that woman: “He’s a madman! he wants to destroy science and art, what we live by. Be afraid of him and don't listen to him! Come to us, to us! We have the latest foreign goods,”

Third parable

The travelers were walking. And they happened to lose their way, so that they no longer had to walk on level ground, but through a swamp, bushes, thorns and dead wood that blocked their path, and it became harder and harder to move.

Then the travelers divided into two parties: one decided, without stopping, to go straight ahead in the direction in which it was now walking, assuring themselves and others that they had not strayed from the real direction and would nevertheless reach the goal of the journey; the other party decided that since the direction in which they were now going was obviously wrong - otherwise they would have already reached the goal of the journey - they must look for the road, and in order to find it, they must move as quickly as possible without stopping. in all directions. All the travelers were divided between these two opinions: some decided to go straight, others decided to go in all directions, but there was one person who, not agreeing with either opinion, said that before going in that direction, along which we have already walked, or start moving quickly in all directions, hoping that we will find the present in this way, we must, first of all, stop and think about our situation and then, having thought it over, do one thing or another. But the travelers were so excited by the movement, they were so frightened by their position, they so wanted to console themselves with the hope that they were not lost, but only a short time they had lost their way and now they would find it again, so, most importantly, they wanted to drown out their fear with movement, that this opinion was met with general indignation, reproaches and ridicule of people of both the first and second directions.

“This is advice for weakness, cowardice, laziness,” some said.

- A good way to reach the goal of the journey is to sit still and not move! - said others.

“That’s why we are people and that’s why we were given the strength to fight and work, defeating obstacles, and not cowardly submit to them,” said others.

And no matter how much the person who separated from the majority said that, moving in the wrong direction, without changing it, we are probably not getting closer, but moving away from our goal, and that in the same way we will not achieve the goal if we rush from side to side that the only means of achieving the goal is to figure out from the sun or the stars which direction will lead us to our goal, and having chosen it, go along it, but that in order to do this, we must first stop, stop not in order to stand, but then in order to find the real path and then steadily walk along it, and that for both of them you first need to stop and come to your senses - no matter how much he said this, they did not listen to him.

And the first part of the travelers went forward in the direction in which she was walking, the second part began to rush from side to side, but neither one nor the other came closer to the goal, but also did not get out of the bushes and thorns and are still wandering .

Exactly the same thing happened to me when I tried to express doubt that the path along which we wandered into the dark forest of the labor question and into the swamp of peoples who cannot have an end to the armaments of nations that are sucking us in, is not quite the path along which we need to go, which may very well be that we have lost our way, and
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