The Underground Man - Fyodor Dostoevsky's Warning to The World
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- čas přidán 16. 05. 2024
- Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote Notes from Underground in 1864 which is considered to be one of the first existentialist works, emphasising the importance of freedom, responsibility and individuality. It is an extraordinary piece of literature, social critique and satire of the Russian nihilist movement as well as a novel with deep psychological insights on the nature of man.
Dostoevsky’s most sustained and spirited attack on the Russian nihilist movement is voiced by one of the darkest, least sympathetic of all his characters - the nameless narrator and protagonist known as the Underground Man, revealing the hopeless dilemmas in which he lands as a result.
Notes from Underground attempts to warn people of several ideas that were gaining ground in the 1860s including: moral and political nihilism, rational egoism, determinism, utilitarianism, utopianism, atheism and what would become communism.
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📚 Recommended Reading
▶ Notes from Underground (1864)
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▶ Crime and Punishment (1866)
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▶ The Idiot (1869)
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▶ Demons (1872)
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▶ The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
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⌛ Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
0:54 Notes from Underground: Historical Context and Themes
7:26 Notes from Underground: Introduction
10:38 Man of Action vs Man of Acute Consciousness
15:39 Irrational Pleasure in Suffering
17:05 Critique of Rational Egoism and Utopianism
23:48 The Value of Suffering
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📝 Sources
Frank, J. (1961). Nihilism and "Notes from Underground". The Sewanee Review, 69(1), 1-33
Scanlan, J. P. (1999). The Case against Rational Egoism in Dostoevsky's" Notes from Underground". Journal of the History of Ideas, 60(3), 549-567.
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Thanks for watching, I appreciate it!
#dostoevsky #undergroundman #existentialism
*“I did not know how to become anything; neither spiteful nor kind, neither a rascal nor an honest man, neither a hero nor an insect."* - Dostoevsky
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Note: Dostoevsky is not wholly to be confused with The Underground Man, whom he used to embody the nihilism of his age, in order to criticise it. However, he also agreed with many of The Underground Man's philosophical contemplations, using him as a mouthpiece for his own ideas. This is one of Dostoevsky's writing techniques, of giving a voice to the opposite views that he himself holds.
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It's absolutely him or he couldn't write how he does. He used the guise of fiction to tell the truth like a comedian uses humor. Even Christ spoke in parables because he needed the time to get it all out before his time was to come. Speak the truth plainly and kiss your as goodbye before your time.
Okay, You hooked me. I am resigned to read the book. Could not stand Crime and Punishment. Ayn Rand was a proponent of rational egoism. I roomed with a guy in college who lived by her code. He was truly disgusting.
@@crct2004 > It's not him or else he couldn't write like he does.
But Nabokov said that when he wrote Lolita, Humbert was nothing like him and in fact, he basically wrote him as the exact opposite of the author. So it's entirely possible for a writer to write from the perspective of a character who is nothing like him.
@@yossarianmnichols9641 TOP THREE FAVORITE BOOKS.
1) "Verbal Behavior" by Dr. B. F. Skinner
2) "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
3) "Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev
I don't call the Bible a book to be ranked with other books since it has so many authors, but obviously the King James Version from the 60s would beat these three.
If true, that's a little disappointing, as I recognise some of myself in this character, to the point where I might think he's been spying on me.
This book helped me put into words some things I always knew about myself: that I am full of lies. So many lies, subtle, strange lies that only I would know are lies. Untruths so deeply embedded into my own mind that to separate them is a profound undertaking. I know I have put on such dramatic shows of insult and suffering, found offense where there was none and leaned into it until I hated a person for a reason they did not know, and that fact infuriated me; that I am not worth paying attention to. How much of the image of this world have I twisted, knowingly, just for sympathy, attention, a chance for someone to know how "brilliant" I am. Foolishness. Utter folly. Do not live like this, someday it will entrench you, and you'll realize too late you have lost a battle with your own mind.
From my mind to your mind
Brilliant spot on 🕯️🔥
I've just finished reading it and your comment is simply spot on. That's precisely what I've felt throughout all of it
i respect you for acknowledging and recognizing it in the first place. often that is the first and most important step to becoming better, and is the step that most people fail to get past. i wish you luck if you want to better yourself and fix your situation. you can do it, it just takes time and effort, and you've already started off strong.
That’s some heavy shit/truth right there. I’m debating whether to read this book. I’m already identifying with the protagonist from this video and thinking it’s probably not in my long term interests to immerse myself in the full text. In the end though, curiosity usually kills the cat.
Thank you for your candor.
Peace, x & gratitude to All...
"The best way to keep a prisoner from ever escaping is by making sure that he never knows he's in a prison in the first place . that he never feels he is in one. " - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Bingo
Literally big government socialism.
I wrote that when realized where we are exactly, it seems he knew too
Late stage capitalism be like
Ba Da Bing
Dostoevsky was uncanny he seems to know from beyond the grave that you are reading one of his novels and he includes a character who you recognize as yourself and then he makes sure you don't like what you see
I felt the same when i was reading "the idiot", it stroked me when i saw the resemblance in one of the characters named "gania" with myself, it was like Dostoevsky was criticizing and showing me my dark side, my shadow way before i knew anything about it myself.
Lol
We are human. Not everyone feels this, but for those that do, hiding behind a face of happiness is not acceptable.
And I love that. Lol
He understood human nature. Ecclesiastes 7:29, 9:3b, and Jeremiah 17:9.
"Which is better : cheap happiness or sublime suffering?" this honestly brutally opened my eyes towards myself and my actions, thank you for this video.
Same here. I'm glad channels like this exist, to explain my condition.
As long it's in my budget lol 😆
@Chip Belori every time
Thats a rationalization of Christian cowardly death-worship, an evasion of mans responsibility for sublime happiness.
Madame de Staël: “We must choose in life between boredom and suffering.”
This was definitely one of the hardest books I've read. I had to slow down to interpret the philosophy which would result in me forgetting where I was in the story. He must have been utterly brilliant.
I have all his books and he is utterly brilliant.
@@wendybusby9415 the best part about books is after Armageddon they will be easy to use pages an a magnifying glass 🍸 to make fire
I'm going to get the book, this is fascinating. I expect I'll have to read much of it repeatedly to wrap my head around it.
Agree. One of my favorite books and every time I read it I still have to slow down and analyze. Amazing book
Dosteovsky had epilepsy. Right before an epileptic attack occurred he would experience an altered state of consciousness where he gained his insights. His feeling would grow in intensity until he felt like he understood everything, and then at that moment he would have a seizure. He said he’d trade the entire rest of his life just for those moments of intense clarity.
He’s the GOAT.
When I was 14, I read this. At first, I thought it was a personal attack.
When I was 25, after I went through trauma, I realized the first half was a dismantling of the fundamental societal need to achieve something greater, whilst not actually acting upon such moral convictions. Everybody in society wants to say they'll help further the cause until duty necessitates the action, in which case selfish acts often prevail. I think the point is that society works better when there's the necessity to have something better than them to strive towards, while the greater whole does not have to hold themselves to such high moral standards.
The book was a warning about what today is.
Wow, I read it with 14 and I'm here now with 25, also. When I read it, I never felt so... understood. I was passing through immense suffering and alienation, and it helped me to reflect on it. It lead me to the extreme: but instead of extreme actions, to extreme reflection. I ended up refusing the world and society as it were, isolating myself, trying to be as empty as possible. I tried to scour these evil inclinations, the "inclinations from the underground" from me.I saw myself as an empty vessel in an ocean of chaos. I tried to purify everything through rationality, and, eventually, I had to try to purify even my methods themselves, the very rationality I held so high. And I ended up finding that reason is just one of many constructs of humanity, and, as such, fallible. Reason fails because it can never describe with absolute precision reality itself, as every abstraction destroys part of it's object; more than that, but the very way we perceive reality is, for logic standards, flawed, for it is contaminated by our personal perspective. If absolute truth is impossible, absolute reason also is. And I realised that there is no purity, that every single thing is corrupted, for every single thing that is real, is real by measure of someone's perspective. It forced me to shift my gaze from what should be, for there is no final answer to a corrupted equation; to what actually is. And I realised that we are animals, with animal needs. Instead of fighting to supress myself and striving for purity, I finally used reason not to deny myself of the things I so naturally craved, but to weigh them in a way wich it wouldn't affect people or society negatively. Since then, I have had the simplest, most fulfilling times of my life. I have found that meaning is a product of will rather than logic. Since then, I don't have to prove mathematically that love, compassion, hope, and every phenomenon born from these feelings is pure or correct. Purity doesn't matter anymore. What matters now is the simplicity of my heart and the dreams that I now deserve, for reason could and will never define my value. In a sense, I could say that I found God in myself; for I'm an atheist, but I believe that this is what faith strives for, be it on yourself or on an external being. Dostoyevsky, this monolith of brilliancy in human history, found it on God. Although I have no faith, I don't think that what we believe on is very different; I would even say that a christian would interpret my perspective as the grace of God. I don't know. What I just wish I knew, although my journey and suffering were necessary to reach where I am now, is that you aren't worth more or less than anyone, and that value can never be defined. Go easy on yourself, learn to love yourself, to tend to your necessities. You don't need a reason, a motive to do the things you want to, just take care not to hurt others or yourself. Go out, investigate, satiate your curiosity and imagination, and don't regret it, for there is nothing wrong in doing what you want to just because you want to. Your mind may be complicated, but the heart is simple and pure. Learn to domesticate it's darkness, be true to yourself, and you will finally find joy in a simple life, for it seems to be the only happinness there is.
Man it was very insightful and resonated with my own thoughts.
That's a very solid reading of it.
He was able to follow and piece together the picture of our next Endgame. The pieces and arrangements that would be moved and played to lull and then deceive a populace.
@@gustavogoesgomes1863 holy shit did you nail this. I’d say as of late I’ve been trying to mix the underground man in me with the fool because clearly the world is a disaster and as I’ve gotten older it truly seems to worsen. Things become more expensive, politicians become more corrupt, the church itself is corrupted, the people we know to somewhat are corrupted in a sense. Everything varies there is no true answer, there is no purity and there is no evil especially if evil is subjective which I’d say some cultures may think something we do is an insult to their God and vise versa.
I apologize if I ramble because I’ve been trying to figure this out my entire life and there’s so much to unpack in this type of subject. I’ve realized that you have to learn to play the fool while yet somewhat holding on your intelligence and consciousness of knowing that shit sucks so I intend to do good for me and if it benefits others by all means but limiting oneself by believing that there is no true end goal, that the fool can always perform before then the conscious underground man. Do good for yourself, be humble yet hold pride in your accomplishments, if you can lend a hand to others by all means do so but never give them more than the hand because more often than not altruism has always seemed to be self destructive in my personal life. Prioritizing and catering to others more than you do yourself is damning. Anyway, love your best life friend and that’s all we truly can ask for. Take care of yourself and good luck out there in the chaos and the noise
I read "Notes from Underground" in the 80's. I was impressed by how contemporary the author's sensibility was. I'm still impressed 40 years later.
Some will say that Dostoevsky is outdated or not relevant or as relevant as he used to be. I think the exact opposite is true. The relevance and importance of his ideas in the current intellectual and spiritual climate that we are seeing in all of the Western world has never been greater.
And so what?
@@croissants1280and so what what?
_Notes From Underground_ doesn't seem to have been read by very many psychotherapists, at least not here in the US. If all a client had to do at the beginning of the first session was say, "I'm like the Underground Man", it would save a lot of time.
Jordan Peterson recommanded it
Yes! Exactly! I was thinking to talk about this video to my psychologist, so he could understand my situation.
Most of them seem to suit the opposite, but most of these works end up being misquoted and misrepresented. Such as Nietzsche and nihilism, quite sadly.
Many of them push the pills to enable and enact Huxley-Darwin (their families married in together) driven and based bull.
Mind you, the one Huxley chided Berkeley students over calling Brave New World a warning, and told them to their face - it's a playbook and guide. Huxleys founded eugenics societies.
Stay wise, keep sharpening.
Hi I've rejected therapy and am at wits end so here to confide in random youtuber comment says the underground man.
@@jairoukagiri2488 SSRI'S I dont reccomend for it brought back my anger while "absolving" my sadness to think there would be no repercussion is certifiably madness-2022 underground man
Notes from Underground helped me in one of my worst periods of life. I'll never forget this novel and I am forever grateful to Dostoyevsky.
Same! When I first read it many many years ago when I was a young adult it was like my gospel. I had never read anything so relatable to my experience, and it helped me deeply just knowing someone had experienced and written down what I was going through.
@@williamkoscielniak7871 Care to share a few points? What did you feel related to you?
Same here.
Same
@@arbiter8246 I would like to hear how the other person relates to the underground man
But in my case its all about the overwhelming self awareness to call himself ugly,talentless and sick. So much so that he chooses to keep hiding his face by living underground
Also the thing that nailed it in the head for me was the realisation that he takes pleasure in forming his own personal hell and that he dosent set a goal for the objective but enjoys the struggle for it
One of the best novels i have ever read. It literally shakes your world.
You tell no lies.
…yet dont know how to proper use “literally” (unless you read it on top of your washing machine)
@@brunovasconcelosmontoni9706 While i appreciated your joke (it was kinda funny, although not hilarious) i have to answer your message. I meant my mental world, internal world, my presuppositions, my perspektiv on things. Also i am not a nativt speaker so english is not my first language. Also, youre a kunt (I know its supposed to be with a C).
@@Barushia hahaha still got offended. no worries, english is not my mother tongue neither...but yeah, fuck you too ;)
An earthquake literally shakes your world. This work of figuratively shakes your world.
Fascinating.. I listened to this while walking with my dog last night. I'm inspired to read some Dostoyevsky. .
Same… ❤
Finding gems like these is what makes me prefer CZcams above anything else.
Yes
> Finding gems like these is what makes me prefer CZcams above anything else.
I think you're confusing something here. You 'prefer' CZcams, because a PERSON uploaded-to-CZcams something you enjoyed. If that same person uploaded the same content to another site, and you found that content there, would you prefer that other site? Do you see what I am saying? You indicate preference for the WEBSITE, not the creator's creation.
@@rabbitcreative “gems LIKE these”
Your a gem
@@GREGZILA3000 and so are you.
Reading Crime and Punishment in September shook me to my core. None of the ideas championed in today's political climate are novel. Humanity is entirely predictable in regard to it's horrific nature.
The Bible says , “there is nothing new under the sun”
“The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history”
Hegel
The Bible quote is way catchier 😊
Can you imagine what _Crime and Punishment_ would be like if it were a short, fast-moving comedy about a adolescent who begins the story by inheriting a huge amount of money? Also featuring a con-artist who dresses as a priest and claims to be raising money to rescue the Pope, who (he claims) has been kidnapped by Freemasons and replaced with an impersonator?
There is a book like that. It's called _Les Caves du Vatican_ ("The Vatican Cellars", sometimes sold in USA with the title "Lafcadio's Adventures") by Andre Gide.
I came to that realization independent of this, there are no new ideas. Only higher technology to enable a deeper totalitarian servitude.
@@tensevo There are plenty of new ideas, but most of them don't have much bearing on our personal or professional lives.
“… a mediocre writer with wastelands of literary platitudes.” -Nabokov, writing about Doestoevsky, in _Lectures on Russian Literature_
I took an existentialism class my sophomore year at a college prep school in the early 70s and read notes from underground. Even at that young age I could fully identify with the underground man and still do. No novel has impacted me so deeply as this one.
Dostoevsky is the "Simpsons did it" of the human condition. Today we talk about narcissism this, narcissism that when Dosto had already not only pinpointed the nature of the condition, but also wrote a character that colorfully displays and expresses all the symptoms
Human nature has never changed.
Wish I could remember my college professor who had us read this in his course. Forever in debt to him and Dostoevsky. Mind boggling wisdom...
I bet your school kept a list of teachers. Receiving a note of thanks about this would probably make their week.
@@theterminaldave 'a list of teacher'? Sounds like he was homeschooled by a single parent.
The Russians know the intensity of suffering. Milllions killed in both wars, intense long winters.
And the agony of many possessing minds like this writer.
@@shirleytimura2721the Russians have killed millions
Why can’t you remember him?
If my depression and cynicism had a “hold my beer” moment, it would be listening to this. Cheers 🍻
Yes CHEERS....from Alaska.....not Russia but Freezing Cold....very majestic mountain ! Dark nights of the soul. ....happy Solstice is coming
Amen to that lol
Just made me laugh out loud. ❤️🔥
@@ginajones2328 Mmm, breath that fresh air! YAHsome! 💙
One could probably sell it, in a bottle! 😘
I lasted 39 seconds
Dostoevsky is my favorite writer and it is incredible how succinctly he illuminates the crisis of the modern world. If you like Dostoevsky, I'd also recommend Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
In my darkest moments I feel like I am the underground man. It scares me and fills me with despair
then bask in the recognition of your own folly and work on yourself. what else is there to do? Rot? no, we must fight despite our self imposed manacles.
@@magoochitofight for what ... Evolution social hierarchy of even tho I belong in middle of the heirhchy but suffering never ends .. and god doesnt exist
To avoid pain. It is easy to give up. @@AshikurRahmanRifat
@@AshikurRahmanRifat A particles wave function collapses only when observed by a consious being. Before you say that the measurement is what causes this, the measurement is taken in the double slit experiment even when an observer is not present. Quantum random number generator experiments also display a measureable effect from human thought itself. This data can only suggest that our consiousness itself has a fundemamental role in our reality. If it by itself has a measurable effect on the material realm, what, then upholds the material realm that our consiousness has effect on? The only true and rational answer to that question is God, the creator of both us and the material. Sub-atomic particles in this reality even exist between 0 and 1, non existence and existence, resembling how a computer works.
I was an agnostic since the age of 11 or 12, for 14 years, up until a few months ago when I realized how quantum physics itself implies through rationality that our universe is a creation. Shortly after this, not even a week later I came to know Christianity as truth, and immediately supernatural experiences became a part of everyday life. Both demonic and good. God is real, and his only begotten son, Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world and was raised three days later. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one gets to The Father except through him.
Trust me man, life is both meaningless and irrational without him, and through Jesus Christ your life can have a deeper meaning than any of the perishable things of this world. Your true purpose awaits you, and that goes for all reading this comment. Read the new testament and pray to God with sincerety and recognize prayers are not always answered immediately. Sometimes they are, but God's timing is perfect, as time itself is a creation of his.
I am an underground man, but not filled with spite or anger - just sadness. No point in being mad about the human condition - you have to accept it. No point in thinking things could have been better - if they could, they would. We are currently living in a world that is the direct result of 200,000 years of human history, and this is the result. When you think about it, it's a surprise we managed to get here with such a primitive mind.
If you often wonder about the primitive mind I recommend Leroi-Gourhans volumes on technique and technology. He speaks about the evolution of tools and systems and how they are beginning to be out of our biological nature and control.
I look at it the other side, look at where we could be without arrested development.
Is it that the human condition is primitive? Or is that the global ruling class controls and manipulates humans through propaganda and mass formation? I think humans can be and are amazing, as is the world we live in, but the fate of humanity has been in the hands of powerful, greedy and objectively wicked people, especially since the post WW2 period.
@@JP-vj7fp Interesting comment because it is well written BUT....has a "whiff" of "tin-foil-hat-wearing" conspiracy theory. I'm not sure if that was intentional or inadvertent on your part though. I myself do not like to consider myself a "tin-foil-hat-wearer" (never mind an "underground man"), but I DO consider myself a tin-foil-hat-wearing SYMPATHIZER if you can dig what I'm saying here.
NOTE: In case you're NOT aware of it, I'm utilizing the term "tin-foil-hat" as a rhetorical device, or rather taking poetic licence with it.
@@JP-vj7fp human condition. We’ve progressed as far as we have as a species only thanks to a select few throughout history that were able to break the chains of human instinct and the ego. We have to be honest with ourselves, the vast majority aren’t very bright.
I think we can all relate to the underground man, in some form or another. Even the most spiritual people among us have at least felt the deep and dark recesses of the human psyche, even though they may have not indulged in it to a self destructive degree as the underground man did.
Underground Man is written that way, like almost all Dostoyevsky characters. They all have something that can connect with the reader.
I guess the more spiritual you are the more you feel and realize it. The Underground Man was spiritual, not only intelligent and intellectual. Similar to the author.
You actually have to plumb the depths of darkness within the self to merit much, to a full, grasp of the spirit - collectively or of the self. It is there, regardless, and in spite of, 'only seeing one side of things "enlightenmnent" '.
Absolutely!! I just finished this novel at the exact time I needed it.And it has shaken me. It really was the darkest most brutal exposition of my darkest thoughts- and I have lost many years in my mind’s labyrinth- chilling to read.
The soul at battle with the intellect
@@dotendit Absolutely agree.
I feel uneasy hearing this description of myself through such a pitiful character. Thank you so much for the upload, this is going to be the first book I've read in years
I read it twice. The only Dostoyevsky book ive read so far. It looks like he was focused on specific ideas for his works that were reflected in notes from the underground. Everything from self defeat to an obsession with negativity and high conflict. Greek tragedies actually captured this reaffirming redeeming quality.
Man, you've gotta read Crime and Punishment.
read the Devils, it will be like you read about today's world
The Brothers Karamazov is one of the best
@@andrewternet8370 Was it really that good? I found it tough going, and when I say that, I mean it was turgid, prolix reading; not that the ideas it contained were beyond me. The Idiot was a bit better. I don't know are these classics all they're cracked out to be; then again maybe a lot is lost in translation.
The Possessed is considered the greatest political novel ever written - I couldn't even get through Crime and Punishment. My favorite quote from The Possessed:
"All men of brilliance live slovenly lives while binging on chemical substances."
I used to believe that we were rational beings, or at least we must aspire to become more rational, but that comes with a sort of guilt evertime I decided something based on an impulse rather than a rational conclusion, I still believe that we should become more rational but somehow reading Dostoevsky makes me feel less dogmatic about that, he's becoming one of my favorites writers
I think Jung can contribute a lot to this. I believe that our essence is more complex than we think and that part of our motivations are animalistic, and we don't recognise them and don't see our true intentions. Denial can turn us into shadow possessed operating in automatic mode. I don't believe we are rational. I don't see the evidence in how we move, how we react and how we act. Working on what we are, on what motivates us, seems to me to be the only thing that drives us up.
@S L I agree
Philosophy 101 will point out that your statement is proof that we are rational beings. You are using rationality to assert that we are not rational. In philosophy, this is called a self denying statement. In other words, you are using reason to justify that we do not have reason.
God bless, Michael
@@Goodkidjr43 Is that really true though? In our essence we are irrational, behaving in ways that we ourselves do not understand sometimes. Nontheless, we leverage rationality to make sense of it, rationalize it.
@gatherington well said my friend
This was quite brilliant. Love the narration and the art. Thanks!
If you ever wondered what alcoholism feels like, this is a pretty good description. However, with alcoholism, when it seems as if it couldn't get any worse, it gets worse.
“As far as I myself am concerned, I have merely carried to an extreme in my life what you have not dared to carry even halfway, and, what's more, you've taken your cowardice for good sense, and found comfort in thus deceiving yourselves. So that perhaps, after all, there is more life in me than in you.”
Listening to this synopsis, I saw so much of myself, my thoughts, the truth of how I could (and have) indulged myself in spitefulness. Finding balance in the opposing forces of timid intellectualism and foolhardy recklessness is a more universal theme than I had imagined. I need to read this book.
You really cannot miss with Dostoyevsky! Don't let it be the only work of his you pick up.
This theme is present in many russian literature of the 18th, 19th century.
Also noticed it in some classical Greek works and works of stoicism
Wow. First time I have been aware of “The Underground Man”, although I have been in relations with that man, personally, for all of my existence 💯👍. So much to relate too here in this video 🙏🙌
I love this. So much of this echos things I have come to think of/ponder often. I really want to read some of his works.
this is one of the deepest novels on the human condition
Remember being a child playing with cars. Driving on my to scale roads, I found it boring after awhile...then accidents, disasters would "happen."
😉
Excellent description by this philosopher of Underground man with relevance to the mentality of intellectuals both in the foreground and those behind, not forgetting the quiet observers. Top marks!
That was SUCH a good video. You do such great work. Thanks
This man was a prophet, he just described today's world
You should find out where the Antichrist spirit came from which desires to overthrow
He described much more than that, he described man.
czcams.com/video/7ElUNYp22KE/video.html
No, he described history, and its just repeating itself.
What he describes is the basis for the book "The Fourth Turning". We create institutions for the benefit of all. However over time we dig holes into them for our selfish interests until they're destroyed in a bought of rage and spite and replaced with new ones. Rinse and repeat every 80-100 years.
First Dostoevsky book I purchased (from an underground bookstore at NYC Penn station), read every other Dostoevsky book after that.
Of course. It was an UNDERGROUND bookstore
You should now read EVERYONE since before you only read EVERY OTHER ONE.
This is so relevant today. It basically explains the callousness of the rich, and the suffering of those smart enough to understand, but not enough power to effect his own destination.
I found your channel and I found myself, got to know myself, addressed myself, confronted myself, understood myself, understood who I was not, understood who I need to be, and even confirmed what I did not like about myself. This is fenomenal. I am blown away someone is able to put together videos like this. Seriously mind blowing. I'll be forever in debt to you.
Notes from the Underground was one of the most profound books I'd ever read. Truly a life-changing book for me. I think everyone needs to read this book and understand what it says, because we've seen what happens when people don't. I actually made a video talking about the influence of this book upon SpongeBob, lol. Needless to say, it's pretty influential.
Omg, I would love to see that video! Yup, once you start reading Dostoevsky you can't go back to who you were before. His books are so amazing that I have read most of them, some twice but get so immersed I couldn't tell you much about any of them and feel like when I read them again, and I will, it will be like a whole new and yet wonderfully familiar experience.
@@crct2004 Yeah, Dostoevsky was a great writer! Very astute when it came to both philosophy and psychology. Incredibly insightful! The video, if you wanna watch it, is called "SpongeBob and Philosophy: Notes from Squidville". I really didn't realize until years later just how well some of Dostoevsky's ideas lined up with that episode of SpongeBob, lol. XD
I must read this now
@@TH3F4LC0Nx there are a lot of videos like that but I couldn't find one with that particular title
@@crct2004 If you click on his username you can go to his channel and track the video down that way. Hope this helps!
Excellent. Takes the reader on a journey inwardly so that he or she might discover the vanity outwardly. One may not find of necessity a totality of seclusion in order to preserve human freewill and individualism; isolation from the world can literally force one into a state of self-examination; such examination can only be beneficial if one can come to terms with his or her own failures and weaknesses, confess them as an integral part of the reality which he or she is a part, and progress forward from then on. Having faith in one's self and in one's own abilities can be the catalyst for the taking of action; courage and confidence will take anyone anywhere they want to go.
Well said.
Thank you, everybody, for your comments. So much honesty here!
I did know how to become a kind and honest person. I remember wanting to become just that.
When I read Crime and Punishment as a young person (must have been years before age 27, as I emigrated then), I was amazed when I found myself on the side of the "bad" person, due to his extreme poverty..... I have been to the Underground myself, suffering, allowing myself to feel it all; then observe and engage in spontaneous art work, writing, and healing. My Underground may not have been as horrific as that of others. I don't know.
I will read this book.
Amazing commentary of this extraordinary book, It was hard for me to understand it even at 10 pages a day pace, perhaps I should've contemplated more while reading it, but I did get the crucial bits from it, it feels like as if the recent years I've been an underground man myself, seeking for a challenge even if it's not rational while still believing that humans are rational, and much more then that, that I'm extremely blind and were even blinder. I've paid a price for this blindness multiple times, harsh payments, things I would've never thought would happen, it's astonishing.
Brilliantly illustrated with choice paintings by some of our most complex artists. Encountering this surely means I must reread Underground again. This is a remarkable find on youtube.
18:47 would you happen to know the artist who painted this?
@@alloutwar650 That must be by William Blake. As for the initial portrait of Dostoyevsky shown here, I don't find that a very good painting. The much better and well known portrait of Dostoyevsky is by Vasily Perov, and conveys some of the real depth and profundity of the great author.
@@KpxUrz5745 thank you for the help and i will check it out appreciate it
@@KpxUrz5745 I don't think it is Blake. I am also on the search for this artist.
@@ElanaEarthsea Actually it is by Blake. (the image in question at 18:47). I was sure based on the style, and just looked it up to confirm. This is one of Blake's monotypes of "Nebuchadnezzar" from the book of Daniel.
This book made a big impact in my life.
This book highlights the ugliness of angst. I end up shifting endlessly between empathy and disdain for the Underground Man, but never at one moment envy him.
Maturity is on the other side of the false prison of intellect.
That was similar to my recollection of reading this novella nearly 30 years ago. Dude disappeared up his own ass because he didn't know how to relate to other human beings so in order to compensate for his lack of personal development he tries to convince us as well as himself that he's some kind of intellectual and spiritual ubermensch. Dude was just a tragically master bullshitter, kind of like a Russian holden Caulfield. Folks need to read Kierkegaard, now that dude was as deep as Dostoevsky even if you don't dig his overtly Christian beliefs
1:25 Negators of Everything, Utilitarians, Relativists, Egoists, Passion Maximizers.
5:00 Utopia Crystal Palace
6:40 Lenin, Stalin, Blood 🩸
“We learn from history that we don’t learn from history” - Hegel
8:05 Liver Sickness. Internal Chaos. Detachment.
• Hidden Thoughts
Man of Action
Man Paralyzed By Thoughts
12:25 Too much thought is a disease
13:39 Little Mouse 🐭
“Buried alive with spite.”
15:40 Pleasure in Pain, Masochistic
18:00 Irrational Man, Deviating from The Moral Order
19:28 Personality, Impulse, Act out of feelings
21:38 Man Driven to Insanity
Siberian Camp
I believe individualism is the greatest enemy of civilization.
Incredible. Truly understand some of these emotions, reasonings, and have felt very similar if I am not currently lying to myself, I may feel some of these thing still. As long as this man's work exist I have no need to try and expound upon what seems to be genuine and very articulate. So I may concur here and defer there. I loved hearing a raw soul speak, and what comes from the heart reaches the heart. If there is no comprehension from but a handful of individuals. Truly their appreciation for this work could possibly outweigh, even more commonly accepted work with a larger following. It is even possible that to people who give more concern by and large, feel a deeper understanding and connection to the phrase to whom it may concern.
Best analysis of this book I've ever seen, thank you so much!
Great video man I just read a different translation and I didn't quite understand the book I read it the entire way through and then I read the first half again and then I came and saw your video and wanted to say that I think that you nailed a lot of the key points and cleared up some things for me and you blew my mind at the very last second which was awesome thanks for making this video
Haven't been here for a while.
Absolutely excellent presentation Eternalised. Thank you.
I hope that following the golden thread that your conscience and interests compelled you to follow brings you the sense of purpose necessary for you to move ahead, virtual friend. Your videos are of high quality, the way you expose and try to play with these ideas is refreshing. In this 21st century where everything has been getting easier and easier, and as the great existential philosopher Kierkegaard pointed out remarkably, seeking difficulty and challenge will be one of the only ways out of the hopeless, daunting and creeping feeling of meaninglessness that has plagued us all at one point or another.
Your videos are valuable, and what you do also is. I love it, I hope that you are well, that you will continue to be and may what's highest guide our visions, despite our flaws, weaknesses, and inadequacies. You are inspired my friend. We can smell it in the air of your videos, and that is what's inspiring. I love it.
"We're all gonna make it brahs"- zyzz
The underground man strike a chord as an adhd his struggles and shames are very relatable
Excellent Timing! ;D
Thanks.
Dostoevsky convinced me of the irrationality of man.
I often meet people who have a childish hope that technology will save us, or that people are getting 'better' or are 'different' from previous generations.
We aren't.
Technology is and will enslave us as a result.
So true, it’s naive to believe that
Evolution constant and colosseum days comparison no?
We have just become better at hiding it or pretending to be good
Its getting worse, just look at these made up genders.
Read some of his works. Love it.
The characters he is able to create and the stories around them, you simply get sucked into his world.
Absolutely, it’s interesting to read him and Tolstoy.
Thanks for the summary! I found The Underground Man uncomfortably hard to read as I saw way too much of myself in the character - at the time anyway. I still think of this every now & then. The book gave me a clearer picture of where I don't want to be at least.
Notes from Underground is still essential reading. It is almost hard to believe that it even exists. Thank you for this well-done presentation. You chose good quotations and good artwork. I hope that this will lead viewers to the actual book itself. I am going to go back and re-read it now.
I'm happy to have found your channel, and thanks for the subtitles in Spanish!
Thank you! This is still so relevant now in 2021-22.
Hey, we have been waiting for your video. Will watch it now.
A masterpiece.
Thank you.
🤜🤛💪👍
Thank you for this. Dostoevsky one of the great Russian writers. Deep. ❤️
This is incredibly dark, and sounds very 'appropriate' coming from Russia. I really think that's a very difficult place to live at times, but clearly a very powerful sense of philosophy is borne of this.
To me, Dostoyevsky explores the conflict between the rational mind and the irrational mind. On the one hand, over time there is desire for sensibility in a humans creativity, but it also puts constraints on this creativity.
There must be a balance between the normal, mundane, rational world, and the extraordinary, miraculous and supernatural world. Neither is more important than the other.
Man in general will prefer his own designs rather than be manipulated. Sometimes this looks like spite, but often it's actually rejection of unnatural circumstances of manipulation. Man becomes destructive rather than abide willingly with manipulation, even if it's in his self interest.
I can confirm that myself.
Everywhere is a very difficult place to live.
most of russian history can be summed up with the phrase "and then it got worse"
Yeah when we sense ourselves programmed, we balk, sometimes in spite of agreeing with the program.
That is incredibly profound. Self destruction is a strange thing to be sure.
Your opening sentence caused me to think about a quote from Socrates, "By all means marry - if you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher." The idea that struggle can be of value if used. I find that in my struggles, once I gain understanding, the pain is no longer there. The work of dealing with the struggle is still there, but the pain is gone, or at least lessened.
Good video. Very complex work. Thanks for making your insights available to us.
This channel deserves way more views. Keep up the great videos.🙏
Crazy how deep and dark ...just read notes of the underground for the first time. ...great book !
I love this book. In my opinion it is very underrated. Part of the reason I love it is because of how complex it is and the more I read it the more it makes sense to me. This video is the same way in a way. It is complex but you explain it well and I will probably end up watching it multiple times
It's pure pleasure walking in the thought-caves of Dostoijevski deep down in the underground. 🍷🎃
Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground.
It is a very strange book, as strange as the man was. Just notes - fragmentary, on the surface unrelated to each other, but really related with an undercurrent of aliveness. It has to be meditated upon. I cannot say anything more than this. It is one of the most ignored great works of art. Nobody seems to take note of it, for the simple reason that it is not a novel, just notes, and they too seem to the unmeditative to be unrelated
Jorden Peterson does and speaks about it. He directly impacts hundreds of millions of people.
Great balance for the music in the background. It goes unnoticed, but so many videos fail on this aspect and makes the whole experience unpleasant. You did a great job. I enjoyed your video
I really appreciated this. Thank you!
I'm going to read this book. I have problems concentrating but I feel a strange closeness to a lot of the quotes and passages that you selected. Also from the comments. I'm gonna try to finish this book! thank u for making this video and explaining complex texts in an understandable way
That was heavy..sounds like soon as the underground man started writing his thoughts he became a man of action..SALUTE!
Love this channel. Always such intelligence and this one is no exemption. You have chosen the images with care and they are all congruent with what's being discussed. Have liked and subscribed. We need more content like this on CZcams. Thanks from London.
A nice analysis of an important work, with good use of quotations. Thanks!
Brilliant book. He captures well much constant themes of human psychology. These can be applied throught the ages and peoples of the world.
You're killing it. Great Channel.
Maybe he is raising it?
Brilliant summary and analysis. Thank you!
I like the way nihilist are dealt with in Big Lebowski the Cohen Brothers movie
I've found the key to unlock peace and harmony is unconditional love, and the first steps to this are complete forgiveness and humility. I attained this only because of the Holy Spirit. And when I started to pay attention to this world, I lost my way again. Those few months walking in the Spirit are the best days of my life. Thank you Father 🙏
This book is for me his greatest.
It's just one day of the most enpleased post worker you could imagine.
Real master piece for me.
Excellent video, narrative, and art work. Now I want the book.
Very appropriate for today. Thank you for the presentation!
_"We learn from history, that we do not learn from history."_
Dostoevsky is a novelist who helps me to have a more positive view on sufferings. Suffering sometimes is not that bad.
his work is telling you to avoid it because theres nothing to gain, and to resist your manly impulse that doesnt benefit you, it tells to not pick suffering and be miserable like he is
This was a very very deep analysis wow. I need to listen to this a few more times to grasp it. Thank you
You’re really good at this. Please continue. 🙏🏼🤝
'The Underground Man' really changed me. Reading it felt like looking at a mirror at times. Gazing at the abyss, if you will. I really began changing my behaviour after that.
This is a great book and very well done in breaking down the key points, great work. Thank you.
Not sure how I got here, but I'm glad I did. Thanks for the video!
WOW. Think about world events of the last few years and then come back to this. Explains everything
Another great video
What I liked most in Notes from Underground is the narrator's self-criticism. He thinks one thing, then dissects that thinking, to think something else, and then dissect that as well. It's frustrating in a way, but also fascinating.
Thank you for this presentation.
I am, and have been, the underground man. Without pain there can be no true learning. Without bleak despair there can be no inspiration. This is true(for me)😶
Not true for everyone. In fact it is very often not true.
@@marcomoreno6748 i would say well good for you but you cannot have the concept of good w0ut bad . 🤘😌👌💨
@@loneranger9485the concept of good and bad is what society decide, you dont need to keep hitting your head againts the wall just like what this video said, 2+2 is 4
To this day, this is one of my favourite by Dostoevsky! Side-note: I believe this was very much a semi-autobiography regarding his own “self.” Much regarding his epilepsy & his own aspects of his own views & actualisations? And also his views of the outside world. Truly brilliant and likely not even Intentional, however simply necessary in his mind to put pen to paper & express his own soul. Amazing & ty for this coverage!
Language has the ability to be as beautiful as music and you Sir breath life into these words creating a magical resonance with what's being said. Thank you
I am glad that i was not educated to a high level not that im completly uneducated i would like to allow my own opppinions mature at their own pace .mr dotoeesky was after such a small taste a crash course in every emotion rhe fact that at one time held christanity in high esteem i found encouraging as i do myself so to continue to discover the dept of Gods love is the only safe coursd for me and i do love to have like minded brothers and sisters
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"when *they* want us to hate.
I learned in the dephts of God's love that if one loves not one's own God, one is not able to love God in the neighbore in truth. It's harder to love oneself than the neighbore.