Leo Tolstoy, What I Believe: Just like the winegrowers, who, living in a garden not cultivated by them, had to understand and feel that they were in immeasurab

Leo Tolstoy, What I Believe: Just like the winegrowers, who, living in a garden not cultivated by them, had to understand and feel that they were in immeasurable debt to the landlord, people must also understand and feel that from the day of their birth until their death, they are always in immeasurable debt to someone: to those who lived before them, to their contemporaries, and to those yet to come; to that which was, is, and will be the beginning of everything. They must understand that with every hour of their life, as they accept life, they reinforce this obligation that binds them to life and its origin, and that therefore, the person who denies this obligation and lives for themselves, in trying to preserve their personal life, ultimately destroys it. This is precisely what Christ repeated many times. The true life is only that which continues the past life and contributes to the salvation of the present and future life.