Many Christians support and lead movements toward localism, agrarian and craft work, and traditional cultural revival, which Fyodor Dostoevsky helps us better understand in his magnum opus Russian novel, The Brothers Karamazov.
Through the mouth of the elder Zosima, an old starets monk-priest nearing death, speaking to Madame Khokhlakov, Dostoevsky illuminates the reality and necessity of “active love” in keeping faith as opposed to “dream love.” This “lady of little faith” has such a love for mankind in her dreams that she has dreamed of leaving everything behind and serving the sick, the poor, and the oppressed as a sister of mercy, but she fears she would not be able to live such a life for long. What if a needy man she serves lovingly doesn’t love her back, not applauding her selfless philanthropy, and rather tortures her? What if no one is there to witness her great love of mankind? She exclaims, “—what then? will you go on loving or not?”
Zosima’s response begins with a story, the words of a doctor he knew long ago who suffered a similar malaise: “‘I love mankind,’ he said, ‘but I am amazed at myself: the more I love mankind in general, the less I love people in particular, that is, individually, as separate persons…As soon as someone is there, close to me, his personality oppresses my self-esteem and restricts my freedom…I become the enemy of people the moment they touch me.’”
The elder teaches Madame Khokhlakov to instead love actively, which is, “a harsh and fearful thing compared with love in dreams.” He goes on, saying, “Love in dreams thirsts for immediate action, quickly performed, and with everyone watching. Indeed, it will go as far as the giving even of one’s life, provided it does not take long but is soon over, as on stage, and everyone is looking on and praising. Whereas active love is labor and perseverance, and for some people, perhaps, a whole science.”
This short dialogue takes place in the first few chapters of the novel and is overflowing with meaning inseparable from the rest of the story. But it inspires, on its own, some reflections on pressing issues of our own day.
Zosima’s teaching is a lens through which we can see more clearly the way Christians ought to act in our economy and culture. Many Christians are drawn to various “trad,” “localist,” or “agrarian” movements for a myriad of reasons, and this is a positive and encouraging trend overall, especially among zealous youth. Perfectly acceptable reasons could be healthy living, desire for beauty, greater connection to Creation, etc. The highest reason, however, must be for desiring the good for ourselves, our families, and our neighbors. This is love: willing the good of the other, ordered to the love of God, the Summum Bonum; this love must be active, as Dostoevsky presents so well. Active love requires excellent knowledge of the object that is loved, which provides a heavenly impetus to pursue personal and intimate goods in economy and culture, something we Christians should take note of attentively.
It is not a mere aesthetic fetish to desire good, old things: relationships of flesh and blood, working side by side, and conversations eye to eye. Living with people in sustained, local communities requires a sense of belonging to others and patient longsuffering in relationships. Working hard in physical presence is more conducive to active love, which depends on knowledge of the human person in body and soul. Local food production, craft, and service are closer to this knowledge, or at least they can be more readily.
A revival in traditional cultures of music, poetry, festivals, and feasts is more fully in line with this connection to the other, this active love. Music is meant to be shared viscerally. Stan Rogers is wonderful on recording, but his songs aren’t fully alive until a friend breaks out his guitar and raises a timeless song over a glass of whiskey. The old traditional songs of Ireland, Scotland, England, and America never die when they are in the throats of a merry gathering around a roaring fire with flames in their eyes, magic in the fiddler’s hands, and friendship in their hearts. Poetry is more real when it is memorized and recited or read aloud, which allows the music in the words and the beauty of the speaker to wash over the senses of those who listen. Celebration should be a rich part of communal life full of music, song, and dancing (real dancing), and centered around shared feasts to strengthen body and soul in the bond of friendship and kinship.
Beautiful, virtuous, old things help us connect the human person to the good in community, which is something Christian culture ought to foster. As long as these great gifts on earth are ordered to the Summum Bonum, they will strengthen our walk among men and before the Lord.
There is a danger, however, in “traditionalism” or “agrarianism” as ideologies of their own with their own ends, seeking their own stage. Sweeping narratives about the state of society and ideological “solutions” verge on the edge of dream love and a disconnect from the lives of real people.. Despair may creep upon us if “getting back to the land” is difficult and the cultural revival we long for requires more than a passive enjoyment of others’ talents, much more. Improper nostalgia and ideology carry the risk of blindness to reality, losing sight of real economies, struggles, and the devastation of sin.
We would do well to remember some wisdom from Tolkien, that it is not our place to wish dark things hadn’t happened in our day, rather that, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Real life has the drama of eternity woven into it, and a dulled, dreamy worldview is liable to miss it – to miss the time we’ve been given.
A dear friend shared some wisdom with me recently: don’t let the good distract from the best. The risk of distraction is a danger of remaining in a world of dream love, not active love. Zosima’s teaching can be expanded to all, not just modern culture.
Let us be freer and happier when others are close to us, not inconvenienced or distracted. Let us become friends the moment people touch us, not enemies. Let us labor and persevere for the good of ourselves and others, for beauty, and for truth in this life we’ve been given.
