In-Person Forum: Leo Tolstoy: Nonviolence and Magnanimity

Leo Tolstoy’s Message on Opening Doors through Nonviolence and Magnanimity
In Person Forum and : Saturday, May 7, 2022   2-4 PM PDT
Institute of World Culture, Concord Hall, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara
Speaker: Marcia Warrecker and her “Troupe”

This year’s IWC theme of “Opening Doors through Nonviolence and Magnanimity” rings true with the compassionate, heart centered philosophy of Leo Tolstoy. These closely related themes permeated his literary outpourings, offering up on page after page the means to resolve the problem of human conflict, which appeared to Tolstoy to be the fundamental problem of all time. The solution, for Tolstoy, didn’t come easily. It was the result of an intense and agonizing search for a meaning to life. As his philosophy of nonviolence evolved, it became, for him, the basis of an explanation of life’s purpose; a necessary faith, a guide to living. The particular value of Tolstoy’s understanding of nonviolence, which is by no means a new idea, being the essence of the teachings of many religions, is that Tolstoy held that conflicts of every sort could best be resolved by adhering to the clear moral goals and rules of behavior provided by this ideal. The unique gift of Tolstoy was his devotion to his craft, his hours, days, years at his writing table, working relentlessly to tell stories that would illumine the spiritual values and traits of character that universally serve mankind as the foundation for all of our actions and as guides for realizing all that we strive to be.

Tolstoy’s great literary genius lay in his ability to create “real life” events and multi-faceted, believable characters – both masculine and feminine – drawn from all levels of Russian society. More so, Tolstoy created people like us and painted scenes of conflict and courage that are our reality, too, whatever our station in life. He wrote his magnificent, intricately woven novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, for the Russian aristocracy who would read them – or be read to – in their opulent Moscow and St. Petersburg salons where he, himself, had once sat. He crafted stories based on traditional oral folk epics for his beloved fellow countrymen, so that they could be amused and delighted by the antics and travails of imps, fools, and wise men at the end of a long day of heavy toil as they sat around their table.

Well known stories such as “What Men Live By,” “The Three Hermits,” “Two Old Men,” and “Esarhaddon, King of Assyria,” each with historical significance, will be taken up. These, along with selected passages from his novels, will be read aloud at this lively IWC forum by a “troupe” of friends.  After the stories are read, there will be a Question and Answer session.  Consideration might be given to what doors need to be opened.  What is the value of magnanimity in propelling us forward?  Is this practice worth a try?  Why?

You may attend this event in-person, or watch a simultaneous webcast. If attending in person, there is no need to register. Masks are optional. To view the Webcast, which starts at 2:00 pm, or to watch the webcast after the event, log on to the Institute of World Culture YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/user/iwcinsantabarbara/live