The old man in the station talks with Pierre about freemasonry and about the need to purify one’s inner self.
Summary:
The stranger in the train station knows who Pierre is and begins speaking to him. He knows about Pierre’s recent misfortunes, such as the duel. Pierre, noticing that the old man is a Freemason, tells him “I am afraid my way of looking at the world is so opposed to yours that we shall not understand one another. The Freemason tells Pierre he is unhappy because he does not know God and because Pierre has lived a life of riotous orgies and debauchery, leading a profligate life, receiving everything from society and giving nothing in return. Although a possessor of wealth, Pierre has done little to help others physically and morally? No! You have profited by the toil of your slaves to lead a profligate life. This, says the old man, is why Pierre is unhappy. Although in the past Pierre has been an unbeliever who ridiculed Freemasonry, the old man’s words move Pierre. Then the old man begins to leave, but Pierre, in a childlike, hesitating voice says I thank you. I agree with all you have said.” Pierre wants to learn to live better, and the old man, who we learn is a very well-known Freemason, gives Pierre the name of someone in St. Petersberg who can help him learn more about the Masons.
quote from the chapter:
For a long while after he had gone, Pierre did not go to bed or order horses but paced up and down the room, pondering over his vicious past, and with a rapturous sense of beginning anew pictured to himself the blissful, irreproachable, virtuous future that seemed to him so easy. It seemed to him that he had been vicious only because he had somehow forgotten how good it is to be virtuous. Not a trace of his former doubts remained in his soul. He firmly believed in the possibility of the brotherhood of men united in the aim of supporting one another in the path of virtue, and that is how Freemasonry presented itself to him.
Book 5, Chapter 2
The old man in the station talks with Pierre about freemasonry and about the need to purify one’s inner self.
Summary:
The stranger in the train station knows who Pierre is and begins speaking to him. He knows about Pierre’s recent misfortunes, such as the duel. Pierre, noticing that the old man is a Freemason, tells him “I am afraid my way of looking at the world is so opposed to yours that we shall not understand one another. The Freemason tells Pierre he is unhappy because he does not know God and because Pierre has lived a life of riotous orgies and debauchery, leading a profligate life, receiving everything from society and giving nothing in return. Although a possessor of wealth, Pierre has done little to help others physically and morally? No! You have profited by the toil of your slaves to lead a profligate life. This, says the old man, is why Pierre is unhappy. Although in the past Pierre has been an unbeliever who ridiculed Freemasonry, the old man’s words move Pierre. Then the old man begins to leave, but Pierre, in a childlike, hesitating voice says I thank you. I agree with all you have said.” Pierre wants to learn to live better, and the old man, who we learn is a very well-known Freemason, gives Pierre the name of someone in St. Petersberg who can help him learn more about the Masons.
quote from the chapter:
For a long while after he had gone, Pierre did not go to bed or order horses but paced up and down the room, pondering over his vicious past, and with a rapturous sense of beginning anew pictured to himself the blissful, irreproachable, virtuous future that seemed to him so easy. It seemed to him that he had been vicious only because he had somehow forgotten how good it is to be virtuous. Not a trace of his former doubts remained in his soul. He firmly believed in the possibility of the brotherhood of men united in the aim of supporting one another in the path of virtue, and that is how Freemasonry presented itself to him.
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