Work While Ye Have the Light

by Leo Tolstoy

Overview

‘Work while ye have the light,’ is Tolstoy in teaching mode. The opening scene is an aristocratic dinner party, at which all the guests declare themselves dissatisfied with their dissolute and useless lives; but find a thousand different reasons why nothing should change. There follows a moral tale, set in the 1st Century AD, when the new Christian sect was just getting noticed by the prevailing Roman Empire. It tells the story of two school friends, Pamphylius and Julius, who take different paths in life; but whose paths keep crossing. Pamphylius joins the Christians, living poor in community, while Julius acquires status and power. Here Tolstoy gives us his picture of authentic Christianity; and gives Julius a choice.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940013702165
Publisher:	White Crow Productions Ltd
Publication date:	01/04/2012
Series:	Free Age Press Edition , #10
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	112
File size:	150 KB

About the Author

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, better known as Leo Tolstoy, is rightly regarded as one of the greatest writers in the history of literature and his masterpieces, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are considered by many to be two of the most important novels ever written. He was born in 1828 in Yasnaya, Polyana, in what was then the Russian Empire, into a noble family with old and established links to the highest echelons of the Russian aristocracy.

War and Peace, published in 1869, and Anna Karenina, published in 1878, were universally recognised as great works, but not long after the publication of the latter Tolstoy suffered an Existential crisis and dismissed them.
Later, the culmination of his 30 years of religious and philosophical thinking was “The Kingdom of God is Within You”, which was published in 1894. In the book he outlined the abuses of those in power in both the church and the government and this would eventually lead to his excommunication from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1901. Tolstoy’s main point derived from Jesus’ teachings to ‘turn the other cheek’ and Tolstoy believed that this was the key to Christ’s message which can be found in the Gospels and the Sermon on the Mount in particular. This theory of ‘non-violence’ that dominated the book would make a profound impact on Mahatma Gandhi who read it as a young man while living in South Africa.

In 1908, Tolstoy wrote A Letter to a Hindu, in which he told the Indian people that only through non-violent reaction and love could they overcome their British colonial masters. The letter was published in an Indian paper and Gandhi not only read it but also wrote to Tolstoy to ask permission to translate it into his own native Gujarati. “The Kingdom of God is Within You” and A Letter to a Hindu solidified Gandhi’s non-violent idea of rebellion which he implemented and which came to fruition in 1947 when British rule came to an end and India became independent. Gandhi and Tolstoy would continue their correspondence up until Tolstoy’s death in 1910.

Date of Birth:

September 9, 1828

Date of Death:

November 2, 1910

Place of Birth:

Tula Province, Russia

Place of Death:

Astapovo, Russia

Education:

Privately educated by French and German tutors; attended the University of Kazan, 1844-47