Probably the most celebrated chapter in Fyodor Dostoevsky's masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov, is the one in which we are introduced to the Grand Inquisitor in the poem composed by Ivan Karamazov to his brother Aloysha. In the poem Jesus returns to the world during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Though he comes down 'softly' and 'unobserved', it is not long before he is recognised by the people, and taken prisoner by the Grand Inquisitor. Jesus is locked up in the ancient palace of the Holy Inquisition, he is questioned, but refuses to answer, only to say that he has come down to give mankind back his freedom.
The Grand Inquisitor laughs in Jesus's face and tells him that humanity is too weak to bear and appreciate the gift of freedom. He say's that man does not seek freedom but bread. People will worship whoever gives them bread - for the cravings of the stomach are staunchest of all. And that humanity needs its rulers to be gods, or if not gods, then at least, to be put there by the blessings of gods. The Grand Inquisitor tells Jesus that his teachings have been amended to deal with the reality of man's true nature: 'We have corrected Thy work and have founded it on miracle, mystery and authority. And men rejoiced that they were again led like sheep, and that the terrible gift of freedom that brought them such suffering was, at last, lifted from their hearts.'
The Grand Inquisitors assertion that men want bread not freedom is closer to the truth than you might want to believe. Man will always demand miracle, mystery and authority. Look at the world we live in today. Today, man gets his sense of the miraculous from science and technology: television, mobiles, the Internet, jumbo jets, artificial fabrics, non-stick pans. These things nourish man's sense of the miraculous as magic did in the past...Dostoevsky's diagnosis of human nature rings true and is unanswerably correct: man will always submit to tyranny and authority. Man does not want to be free. But to be led, because...man is too weak and stupid to make up his own mind about the things that matter. Just look at the film at the top of the charts this week, Paranormal Activity, about...yes, ghosts - look at the Iraq War Inquiry - look at Afghanistan - look at the quagmire in Pakistan - just look at Burma - just look, and you will see, that man prefers to be led by politicians, than the fruits of his own reasoning's.
For some, science is the know-all and answer-all of our problems. But here too we must be careful. Science promises that our most ancient needs will be met. That sickness and ageing and poverty and disease will be eradicated; that the human species will become immortal. But to believe that science alone can and will transform our lot into universal happiness is a myth of gigantic proportions. Science cannot help with ultimate meanings because, their are none. That is not a criticism of science. That is a fact of reality.
The truth that Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor teaches us is that humankind has never sought freedom, and never will. We are told by secular religions today that humans yearn to be free; and it is true they find restraint of any sort irksome. Yet, it is rare that individuals value their freedom more than the comfort and repose and non-thinking numbness that comes with servility. It is much easier and more comfortable to be servile and have guaranteed bread than to be critical and worry about whether there will be any bread.
To think that, just because a few people sometimes seek freedom, that all human beings want it, is like thinking that, just because there are flying fish, it is in the nature of all fish to fly.
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