In “How Much Land Does a Man Need”, Tolstoy tells the story of a man who is turned over to the devil to be tempted. Throughout the story, the man seeks a bigger and bigger plot of land.
Spoiler Alert: I am going to reveal the answer to the question, ‘How much land does a man need?’ However, reading the response without reading the story will profit you nothing. Reading the story brings the fullness of understanding the response. A man needs only enough land wherein he may be buried.
In “The Coffee-House of Surrat”, Tolstoy tells the story of a group of people in a coffee house, who overhear a theologian speaking to his slave. “Tell me, wretched slave,” said he, “do you think there is a God, or not?”
Various individuals from different religions, who are in the coffee shop, enter the conversation. It is the Chinaman who ends the dispute.
Spoiler Alert: I am going to reveal the response given by the Chinaman. However, reading the response without reading the story will profit you nothing. Reading the story brings the fullness of understanding the Chinaman’s response.
“So on matters of faith,” continued the Chinaman, the student of Confuscious, “it is pride that causes error and discord among men. As with the sun, so it is with God. Each man wants to have a special God of his own, or at least a special God for his native land. Each nation wishes to confine in its own temples Him, who the world cannot contain.
“Can any temple compare with that which God Himself has built to unite all men in one faith and one religion?
“All human temples are built on the model of this temple, which is God’s own world. Every temple has its fonts, its vaulted roof, its lamps, its pictures or sculptures, its inscriptions, its books of the law, its offerings, its altars and its priests. But in what temple is there such a font as the ocean; such a vault as that of the heavens; such lamps as the sun, moon, and stars; or any figures to be compared with the living, loving, mutually-helpful men? Where are there any records of God’s goodness so easy to understand as the blessings which God has strewn abroad for man’s happiness? Where is there any book of the law so clear to each man as that written in his heart? What sacrifices equal the self-denials which loving men and women make for one another? And what altar can be compared with the heart of a good man, on which God Himself accepts the sacrifice?
“The higher a man’s conception of God, the better will he know Him. And the better he knows God, the nearer will He draw to Him, imitating His goodness, His mercy and His love of man.
“Therefore, let him who sees the sun’s whole light filling the world, refrain from blaming or despising the superstitious man, who in his own idol sees one ray of that same light. Let him not despise even the unbeliever who is blind and cannot see the sun at all” (Tolstoy).
In “Three Questions”, Tolstoy tells the story of a king on a quest to find the answer to three questions. The king believed if he knew the answers to these questions, he would never fail in his role.
1st Question: When is the right time to begin in every situation?
2nd Question: Who are the right people to listen to?
3rd Question: What is the most important thing to do?
Spoiler Alert: I am going to reveal the answers given to the king. However, reading the lessons learned without reading the story will profit you nothing. Reading the story brings the fullness of understanding the answers to the questions.
1st answer: Now is the most important time, because it is the only time we have any power.
2nd answer:The “necessary man is he with whom you are”.
3rd answer: The most important thing to do is to good in the current moment to the person who is in that moment with you.
In “What Men Live By” Tolstoy tells the story of a fallen angel sent to earth by God to learn three lessons:
1st Lesson: Learn what dwells in men
2nd Lesson: Learn what is not given to men
3rd Lesson: Learn what men live by
Spoiler Alert: I am going to reveal the lessons the angel learned. However, reading the lessons learned without reading the story will profit you nothing. Reading the story brings the fullness of understanding the lessons.
1st Lesson: In man dwells love
2nd Lesson: It is not given to man to know his own needs
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