Tolstoy eventually turned to the ascetic morality advocated in Schopenhauer’s The World as Will and Representation as the appropriate spiritual path for the upper classes after reading that work. He writes in 1869: “Do you realize the significance of this summer for me? No student has ever studied as much on his course and learnt as much as I have this summer. I am in constant raptures over Schopenhauer and have experienced a whole host of spiritual delights that I have never before “.
Tolstoy cited Schopenhauer’s closing sentence in Chapter VI of A Confession. It illustrates how a complete rejection of oneself only results in a seemingly meaningless nothingness. The idea that the ascetic renunciation practiced by Christians, Buddhists, and Hindus was the way to holiness struck Tolstoy. The Russian nobleman decided to live in poverty and formally deny his will after reading passages like the ones that follow, which are abundant in Schopenhauer’s ethical chapters:
But the Savior’s statement in Matthew 19:24, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” also expresses the necessity of forced suffering (by the poor) for eternal redemption. Therefore, individuals who were really concerned about their eternal salvation and had been born into money by fate chose voluntarily to live in poverty. Thus, Francis of Assisi, the founder of the mendicant orders, was asked as a young boy at a ball where the daughters of all the notables were seated together, “Now Francis, will you not soon make your choice from these beauties,” and he replied, “I have made a far more beautiful choice!” Buddha Sakyamuni was born a prince but voluntarily took to the mendicant’s staff. “Whom?” “La povert (poor)” prompted him to quickly give up everything and begin wandering the countryside as a mendicant.
Tolstoy freely acknowledged his Christian convictions in a book he authored titled What I Believe in 1884. The Sermon on the Mount and the instruction to turn the other cheek, which he interpreted as a “commandment of non-resistance to evil by force” and a concept of pacifism and nonviolence, were particularly influential on him. He maintained his conviction in Jesus Christ’s teachings. He reveals in his book The Kingdom of God Is Within You that he thought the Church’s philosophy was flawed since they had “perverted” Christ’s teachings. Aside from letters from American Quakers, Tolstoy also learned about the nonviolent writings of Quaker Christians like George Fox, William Penn, and Jonathan Dymond through these letters. Tolstoy thought that in order to be a Christian, one had to be a pacifist; as a result, he is regarded as a philosophical anarchist because he believed that governments will inevitably wage war.
Later, different editions of “Tolstoy’s Bible” were released, highlighting the verses on which the author most frequently relied, particularly the purported statements of Jesus.