The latter in some respects are
peculiar; but the melancholy presents two characters which make
it a typical document for our present purpose. First it is a
well-marked case of anhedonia, of passive loss of appetite for
all life's values; and second, it shows how the altered and
estranged aspect which the world assumed in consequence of this
stimulated Tolstoy's intellect to a gnawing, carking questioning
and effort for philosophic relief. I mean to quote Tolstoy at
some length; but before doing so, I will make a general remark on
each of these two points.
First on our spiritual judgments and the sense of value in
general.
It is notorious that facts are compatible with opposite emotional
comments, since the same fact will inspire entirely different
feelings in different persons, and at different times in the same
person; and there is no rationally deducible connection between
any outer fact and the sentiments it may happen to provoke.
These have their source in another sphere of existence
altogether, in the animal and spiritual region of the subject's
being. Conceive yourself, if possible, suddenly stripped of all
the emotion with which your world now inspires you, and try to
imagine it AS IT EXISTS, purely by itself, without your favorable
or unfavorable, hopeful or apprehensive comment.
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