A Confession

Leo Tolstoy's essay on his religious beliefs A Confession depicts the great author as he searches for the answers to two important questions ""What will become of my life?"" and ""What is the point of life?"" Tolstoy required an answer to each of these queries without fail. Tolstoy illustrates many attempts to come up with solutions throughout the essay by using examples from science philosophy eastern knowledge and his fellow novelists' viewpoints. Tolstoy acknowledges that people's strong religious beliefs hold the secret to the real solutions because he was unable to discover a practical remedy in any of these. The first effort at publication was made in 1882 (Russkaya Mysl No 5) but due to Orthodox Church censorship Tolstoy's work was essentially omitted from the entire edition of the journal. Later versions of the text were released in Geneva (1884) and Russia as late as 1906. (Vsemirnyj Vestnik No 1).