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Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) is one of the great novelists and is held in high esteem in Russia. In 19th-century Russia, a time when people had lost sight of faith in god, Dostoyevsky was ahead of his time in dealing with subjects such as “murder,” “terrorism,” and “child abuse.” His works have not lost their appeal, still tugging on the heartstrings of people today.

In Japan, the translations of Dostoevsky have been published repeatedly since the Meiji era. Roan Uchida, a novelist who translated the works of Dostoevsky into Japanese for the first time, talked about his impression when he first read “Crime and Punishment.” He said, “I felt as if the great spirit of Dostoevsky and I embraced each other.”

(an excerpt from “The Discourse with Futabatei”)

 
Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish novelist who wrote “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “Treasure Island”, highly appreciated Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”. Dostoevsky is considered to have influenced Stevenson’s works. It is also said that Dostoevsky’s way of building a plot, like how to solve a murder mystery, had a lot of influence on detective stories of later ages.

What lies behind the works of Dostoevsky? Ryuho Okawa, Founder and CEO of Happy Science, recently recorded a spiritual message from Dostoevsky to help us to answer this question.

Dostoevsky and Tolstoy Are Beings That Are More Than Just Novelists

The spirit of Dostoevsky says that he planned to be a leader of the Russian intelligentsia, and also revealed that he was born as Zoroaster in a past life.

Zoroastrianism was a religion that was founded by Zoroaster in Persia (Iran). It teaches the difference between good and evil and preaches faith in Ahura Mazda, the God of light. Zoroastrianism spread from the Middle East to Egypt, Africa, India, and even to China through trading activities, and developed into a world religion at one time.

Spiritual readings that Happy Science has conducted have revealed that Zoroaster is a great spirit of the ninth dimension that has a mission of savior along with Shakyamuni Buddha and Jesus Christ.

In 2012, Happy Science published an article describing the map of the spirit world of the literary figures, which suggested that Dostoevsky had been in hell after his death, but some corrections may be necessary. Just like in a triangulated plot, by conducting spiritual readings and receiving spiritual messages from multiple spirits, Happy Science reveals new facts about the spirit world.

The spiritual message from Dostoevsky has revealed that he was in fact born with a messianic mission.
Also, in a spiritual message from Tolstoy that was recorded in 2012, Tolstoy (1828-1910), who is known as one of the greatest Russian writers along with Dostoevsky, revealed that he was an incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Dostoevsky said, “I think that Tolstoy and I raised the level of thought, and we played a significant role in making Russia known as the source of thought that spread throughout the world.”

Then, let us consider what significance the literal activities of these two novelists had in world history.

Russian Literature Itself Was Social Reform

In order to understand the significance of Russian literature, you need to understand the historical and cultural background of Russia. Mr. Ito, who specializes in philosophy and logic, and is an associate professor of the Faculty of Human Happiness at Happy Science University (an institution of higher education managed by Happy Science), says, “In the 19th century when Dostoevsky was born, the House of Romanov ruled Russia. In that era, the term “literature” had a completely different meaning from what we think of as literature today. It went beyond the category of literature to include a broad range of social reforms like a political movement and religious reform.

At that time, under the czarism, publications were subjected to severe censorship. It was common for those who criticized the authority’s religious or political policy to be exiled or executed. So I think that people who were supposed to act as religious leaders or political thinkers disguised themselves as novelists and devoted themselves to literary activities.”

Under the reign of NicholasⅠ(1815-1855), which was called “the darkest age” after the Napoleonic Wars, the authorities intensified censorship activities. In the midst of this political oppression, Zoroastrianism and Christianity simultaneously resurrected in Russian literature, eventually leading to a political movement.

In his works, Tolstoy criticized authoritarianism and inequality caused by differences in social status. After he achieved success as a novelist, Tolstoy threw himself into social change and political activities, such as providing aid to people suffering from famine and starting the peasant movement.

In the spiritual message from Tolstoy that was recorded in 2012, the spirit of Tolstoy talked about what he had tried to realize when he lived as Tolstoy in Russia.

He said, “I felt that there had to be some sort of salvation in that differences in status and economic power had become the difference in the greatness of people,” “I wanted to create peace, as well as a sense of equality, and have people share a feeling of happiness.”

About his own works, the spirit of Dostoevsky said, “The only writing that the common people could take in their hands was novels,” and “I skillfully weaved the thoughts and the signs of Jesus into my own writings, and pretty much denounced the unreasonable society through text that was difficult to understand.” He revealed that he made his writings difficult to read because if he had written novels that were easy to understand he could have been suppressed.

Criminal Story or Criticism of Authority

The murder committed by Raskolnikov, a main character in Dostoevsky’s work, “Crime and Punishment,” symbolizes the unjustness of Russian society. Raskolnikov reasons that it is just for a promising genius to kill an old woman who is a greedy pawnbroker and steal money from her. Mr. Ito refers to this, saying, “At the time, Napoleon Ⅲ, the reactionary Emperor of the Second French Empire, said in the preface to his work “History of Julius Caesar” that the laws that mediocrities made could not judge an extraordinary genius like Napoleon Ⅰ. His opinion made the headlines in newspapers in Russia, causing a lot of heated discussion.

By describing how the lead character mends his way through faith in “Crime and Punishment,” Dostoevsky showed people the truth that a genius (emperor) and mediocrity (common people) are all equal in front of the laws of God. He implicitly criticized authoritarianism by an emperor, but he turned it into a literary work in the disguise of a private crime story. By doing so, his novel escaped censorship by the authority that was constantly keeping an eye on his movement.

Warning against Communist Revolution

Further, the subject of Dostoevsky’s satire and criticism was not limited to just the emperor’s power or the iron-fist rule by czarism. Mr. Ito says, “He also sharply denounced in his writing political dissidents that were criticizing the establishment. Many of the anti-establishment activists were also atheistic nihilists. Their ideal of overthrowing the old regime was acceptable, but they actually descended into bloody anarchists that did not care about taking people’s lives and continued to purge their opponents as a means of achieving their goals. One of his later works, “Demons”, skillfully portrays how atheistic revolutionists worked behind the scenes and faced a tragic ending, and overwhelms us with a vivid and realistic description.”

The Russian Revolution occurred after Dostoevsky and Tolstoy died, and the Soviet Union was established in 1917. However, the revolution was achieved based on communist ideology that advocated atheism and approved of violence and purges, which Dostoevsky had been warning against through his works.

In the spiritual message, the spirit of Tolstoy said, “I actually had to found a religion that would form the backbone of the Russian Revolution.” He went on to say, “Marx tried to make the world become communist and materialistic with the publication of his Communist Manifesto. So I wanted to create something different.”

If the messages of these two literary giants had been properly understood, the fate of Russia might have changed greatly.

The Cultural and Political Heights

In Dostoevsky’s final novel, “The Brothers of Karamazov,” there is a scene in which one of the characters recites a poem titled “The Grand Inquisitor.” In the poem, Jesus comes to a village in Spain and performs miracles. The Grand Inquisitor recognizes he is an incarnation of Jesus, but continues to persecute him. In fact, Tolstoy, who was an incarnation of Jesus, was excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church. The two literary figures seemed to have existed in pairs in the same period.

From the Dostoevsky’s spiritual message, you can learn the true intention he concealed in his works, which he deliberately wrote in a crabbed manner due to the historical backdrop. Learning this along with the spiritual messages from Tolstoy will make it clear that Russian literature struggled against absolutism, totalitarianism, and communism and taught what religion means to humans, which means it had a role in saving the world.