by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn –
I have done many things in my life that conflicted with the great aims I had set for myself—and something has always set me on the true path again.
An acquaintance with Russian history might long ago have discouraged any inclination to look for the hand of justice, or for some higher cosmic meaning, in the tale of Russia’s woes, but I had learned in my years of imprisonment to sense the guiding hand, to glimpse that bright meaning beyond and above my self and my wishes.
I had not always been quick to understand the sudden upsets in my life, and often, out of bodily and spiritual weakness, had seen in them the very opposite of their true meaning and their far-off purpose. Later the true significance of what had happened would inevitably become clear to me, and I would be numb with surprise.
I have done many things in my life that conflicted with the great aims I had set for myself—and something has always set me on the true path again.
I have become so used to this, come to rely on it so much, that the only task I need set myself is to interpret as clearly and quickly as I can each major event in my life.
(V. V. Ivanov came to the same conclusion, though life supplied him with quite different material to think about. He puts it like this: “Many lives have a mystical sense, but not everyone reads it aright. More often than not it is given to us in cryptic form, and when we fail to decipher it, we despair because our lives seem meaningless.
The secret of a great life is often a man’s success in deciphering the mysterious symbols vouchsafed to him, understanding them and so learning to walk in the true path.”)
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Excerpts from the book The Oak and the Calf by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. (Minor organizational edits to optimize readability and emphasize key points made by Chris Banescu.)
