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Conversations and Exhortations of Father Zossima 221unable to satisfy themselves. We see the same thing among thosewho are not rich, but the poor drown their unsatisfied needand their envy in drunkenness. And soon they will drink bloodinstead of wine – they are being led on to it. I ask you – is sucha man free? I knew one “champion of freedom” who told mehimself that when he was deprived of tobacco in prison, he wasso wretched at the privation that he almost went and betrayed hiscause for the sake of getting tobacco again! And such a man says,“I am fighting for the cause of humanity.”How can such a one fight – what is he fit for? He is capableperhaps of some action quickly over, but he cannot hold out long.And it’s no wonder that instead of gaining freedom they havesunk into slavery, and instead of serving the cause of brotherlylove and the union of humanity, they have fallen, on the contrary,into dissension and isolation, as my mysterious visitorand teacher said to me in my youth. And therefore the idea ofthe service of humanity, of brotherly love and the solidarity ofmankind, is more and more dying out in the world, and indeedthis idea is sometimes treated with derision. For how can a manshake off his habits – what can become of him if he is in suchbondage to the habit of satisfying the innumerable desires he hascreated for himself? He is isolated, and what concern has he forthe rest of humanity? They have succeeded in accumulating agreater mass of objects, but the joy in the world has grown less.The monastic way is very different. Obedience, fasting, andprayer are laughed at, yet only through them lies the way to real,true freedom. I cut off my superfluous and unnecessary desires;I subdue my proud and wanton will and chastise it with obedience;and with God’s help I attain freedom of spirit and withit spiritual joy. Who is most capable of conceiving a great idea