Today’s class discussion brought up many points that I hadn’t thought about when originally reading the novel. What particularly interested me was the bit about how listening is inherently related to self-interest. I’ve never consciously analyzed the fact that people only pay attention to the things that are only important and necessary to them, yet it makes sense, even indirectly; there are many who listen to learn, but isn’t educating oneself just to benefit oneself as well?
Regarding the religion discussion, I understand that knowing everything and anything about God provides a comfort in the idea that something bigger exists. At the same time, though, I wouldn’t want to leave the room with a full belief in God; I feel that doing so would potentially drive me to do things that I wouldn’t have before out of fear or hope. In the end, the question encompasses Dostoyevsky’s argument that just knowing your entire belief system and everything you do could be dramatically altered by what he says is frightening.
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