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210 The Gospel in Dostoyevskyin them; still others become drained of thoughts and feelingsbut still go around sneering at everything. Some people pick outfrom books nothing but the little flowers, and even then onlythose that suit them, but they still remain restless because theycould never make up their minds in the first place. And I cansee that there’s too much boredom in them. A poor man may beshort of bread, may not have enough to keep his children alive,may sleep on rough straw, may be brutal and sinful, but still hisheart may be gay and merry; while a rich man may eat and drinktoo much and sit on a pile of gold with nothing but gloom in hisheart. A man may study all the sciences and never get rid of emptinessand gloom; indeed, I think that the more intelligence hegains, the more his gloom will thicken.“Or let’s look at it this way: people have been taught and taughtever since the creation of the world, but what have they learnedin all that time to help them make the world a gayer and happierplace where man can find all the joys he’s longing for? What theylack, I tell you, is beauty. Indeed, they don’t even want it. They’reall lost and every one of them glories in what has brought himto his ruin. But they never think to face the only truth, althoughlife without God is nothing but torture. What it all comes downto is that, without realizing it, they curse the only source thatcan brighten our life. But that won’t get them anywhere becausea man cannot live without worshiping something; without worshipinghe cannot bear the burden of himself. And that goes forevery man. So that if a man rejects God, he will have to worshipan idol that may be made of wood, gold, or ideas. So those whothink they don’t need God are really just idol worshipers, andthat’s what we should call them. But there must be true atheiststoo; only they’re much more dangerous because they come to us