Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is not known to have written much about his epic, and often painful, travels – to Kazakhstan and his years in the gulag, to Germany when exiled and made stateless by the Soviet authorities, later around the world as a celebrated Nobel laureate, and eventually back to Mother Russia. But he did write about travels of spirit and mind. In especially poignant lines in ‘Gulag Archipelago’ he discloses a transforming insight, a souvenir of his spiritual ventures:
It is only when I lay there (in the gulag) on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties, either, but right through every human heart – and through all human hearts.
– Gulag Archipelago
photo credit: Vitaly Lipatov
If travels confer any wisdom at all, none could be more humanizing, none more powerful for advancing the cause of understanding, than this insight.
Thanks Jonathan for this poignant insight of Solzhenitsyn. Easter Blessings to you, Mary Kay and wider family. Love, Frances Boston
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Deep and stirring pondering, thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Jonathan. I’m glad you keep this up and I’m happy that in this edition you lift up Solzhenitsyn. The Lord be with you in this Holy Week and the coming Easter season.
Greetings to Mary Kay. Chad Founder of Urban Recipe wwww.urbanrecipe.org
Author of Forgive Us This Day Our Daily Bread
chadhale@bellsouth.net (c) 404-698-6545
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Wonderful!
That quote from Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago has stuck with me ever since I first read it back in the 80’s. It often comes to mind when I find myself veering towards becoming overly critical of those who think/act differently than me (basically when I begin to ‘other’ people). That ‘line separating good and evil’ runs through my heart, just as it does through everyone I meet. Thus, the need for both incredible grace and abundant wisdom.
Hello, Bryan! I’m gratified to know that someone else has discovered and appreciated this quote. Solzhenitsyn left us a treasury of piercing story and insight, but this flash of self-understanding born of his own suffering is a brilliant jewel. I suspect it was also necessary for surviving the gulag without being consumed by resentment and rage. I think of it as native to maturer years when the simplicities of youth have been overtaken by many shades of in-betweenness. It is also central to the slippery business of peacemaking, especially the humility it entails. One of those things that deserve unhurried hours of give-and-take over some rooibus. Very best!