Reaction

            Last week, Mr. Shapiro said that the first section of NFTU is the foundation for the rest of Dostoyevsky’s work. After finishing the first section, I am not exactly sure what principles or ideas are included in this foundation. I know that man’s inherent desire is to destroy, all of society’s established rules and laws are in defiance to the laws of nature, and that men are either contemplative and reflect on every aspect of their lives or very direct and literal in their actions. Yet, every person deceives himself or herself from the complete truth. They want to feel safe and secure thinking that they know every mechanism of life and that there are none unknown truths. We are certain of everything because we have distorted the way we look at life. Rather than asking questions and challenging ourselves to learn more, we busy ourselves with formulas and routine processes that figuratively make us slaves to falsehood and lies. Unfortunately, I feel like I just made all of this up.