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Sean Berube Profile picture
@SeanBerube4
Aug 30, 2024 • 12 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
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You never want to make a deal with the devil - but if you do, pray for a loophole!

Goethe’s Dr. Faust is the story of a man who sold his soul to the devil, and lived to tell the tale

Here’s what it can teach you about life, happiness, and outwitting Satan himself…🧵Image
The story begins in Heaven where the Devil makes a bet with God:

I bet I can corrupt your favorite human being - Dr. Faust

God takes this bet, believing that Faust’s soul will remain righteousImage
On Earth, Dr. Faust is a scholar who is dissatisfied with life

He’s well educated but unfulfilled, yearning for true happiness

Searching for a solution, he turns to studying the dark arts

Not much later Mephistopheles (Satan) appears, offering a deal... Image
Satan’s terms are simple:

I give you power, BUT if you find happiness, I get your soul

Faust accepts this deal, desperate to escape his meaningless lifeImage
Faust first searches for happiness in romantic love

With Satan’s help, he seduces a beautiful woman named Gretchen

The affair brings great scandal, however, leading Gretchen to her ruin

Faust regrets the affair, and realizes romance cannot bring true happinessImage
Faust then turns to larger ambitions

He seeks happiness through politics - becoming advisor to the Emperor

With Satan’s help, he saves the country from a crash, wins wars, and proves a wise statesmen…

Yet he laments a life of glory isn’t fulfilling eitherImage
Finally, Faust uses Satan to enjoy a life of mysticism

He meets many Greek mythological heroes, and even fathers a son with Helen of Troy...

Yet Faust laments not even mysticism and unworldly bliss can make him happy

Distraught, his heart grows wickedImage
In old age, Faust rules over land bestowed to him by the emperor

His heart now hardened, Faust asks Satan to steal more land owned by two peasants

Satan obliges - murdering the peasants to Faust’s despair

Overrun with guilt, Faust has an epiphany of what true happiness is...Image
Seeking to repent, Faust meditates on his last ambition:

Build a utopian society that frees mankind from suffering

He envisions such a society, and sighs, finding a moment of true happiness

On cue, Satan leaps in to steal Faust's soul…Image
However, God intervenes and saves Faust… but why?

Faust lost his bet to Satan, but Satan lost his bet to God - he couldn’t truly corrupt Faust

Though Faust lived a life of debauchery, his heart never truly abandoned The Good:

He died wishing for the good of others...Image
Thus Faust teaches that true happiness is the redemption of a pure heart

Coincidentally, this is how you "outwit," Satan:

Not with a clever head, but a loving soul

Redemption and happiness is possible for all, even the wicked, but only if you never stop striving for The GoodImage
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More from @SeanBerube4

Sean Berube Profile picture
Sep 5
Dostoevsky’s best writing isn’t his fiction

It’s a letter to his brother — written 30 minutes after a gun was pressed to his head

He explains how cheating death flipped his understanding of life’s meaning:

In a flash he found God, and a fire that fueled his writing career:🧵 Image
As a young adult, Dostoevsky was a radical socialist

He was a member of the Petrashevsky Circle:

A revolutionary group that sought to tear down Russia’s Regime

Many members were extremists. Some even advocated terrorism

Soon, the government caught on… Image
Their circle was raided and arrests were made, including Dostoevsky

The Tzar considered the group a serious threat and sentenced them to death:

Dostoevsky had one month left to live Image
Read 20 tweets
Sean Berube Profile picture
Sep 3
Alexander Solzhenitsyn was the “writer who took down an empire”

His work Gulag Archipelago details the horrors of life in the USSR, and made a global mockery of the evil regime

Here are some excerpts from Gulag that explain how to destroy an evil empire...🧵 Image
“The object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul.”

Solzhenitsyn learned this in prison: tyrants can take everything from you but your soul...

Being virtuous is the ultimate rebellion

You fix the world by fixing yourself Image
“the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

Spiritual maturity is painful:

You have evil inside of you, but true growth comes from sacrificing the bad habits that harm your soul Image
Read 14 tweets
Sean Berube Profile picture
Aug 29
Tolstoy had it all — fame, fortune, and stardom — but it nearly killed him:

He realized he had wasted his life, and wanted to die

Instead, he wrote a little known masterpiece:

It reveals the truth about human nature, the soul, and how to live a life that truly matters…🧵 Image
Tolstoy shared his insights in his novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”

It follows the lucrative career of a lawyer, Ivan Ilyich, who on his death bed, regrets that his life was a waste

The story uses his death to ask, “what does a meaningful life look like?” Image
The story begins by tracking Ivan’s life

He had a good up-bringing and was well-educated, prospering in his studies

He was praised for his ambitions, but this same praise was dangerous for his young, impressionable mind… Image
Read 20 tweets
Sean Berube Profile picture
Aug 21
Samson is the worst hero of the Bible — an impious warlord ensnared by lust

Yet his fatal flaw was worse than sexual sin

He fell for a timeless snare that has destroyed men throughout history

Here’s the root of Samson’s downfall, and how to avoid the same fate…🧵 Image
Samson was a judge, or military leader of Israel

His birth was providential, preceded by an angel’s announcement:

“You will conceive and give birth to a son…

the boy is to be a Nazirite to God from the womb” (Judg. 13:3–5) Image
A Nazirite vow meant:

- No wine
- No touching the dead
- No cutting of the hair

This vow made you holy, or literally “set apart,” to God

As such, Samson was destined for holiness since birth Image
Read 16 tweets
Sean Berube Profile picture
Aug 20
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas is the most inspiring man you’ve never heard of

Born a slave, he went on to become France’s greatest general alongside Napoleon… and that wasn’t even his best achievement!

He actually inspired France’s all time greatest novel, written by his own son…🧵 Image
Dumas was born in Haiti, 1762, of mixed descent

His Father had big ambitions for him to succeed in life, but there was a problem:

Due to his African mother, Dumas was a slave and denied rights

To free him, his father devised the unlikeliest of plans… Image
His father sold Dumas to a fellow Frenchman

How was this helpful?

The Frenchman would take Dumas to France:

Slavery was illegal there, so he would be free by default

His father, meanwhile, used the proceeds of the sale to accompany his son in France Image
Read 16 tweets
Sean Berube Profile picture
Aug 13
The French Revolution was a bloody disaster

Mobs ruled, cities burned, and guillotines roared — how could anyone fight back against such horrors?

Charles Dickens had the answer, and wrote a book all about it:

Here’s his advice on how to stop a Reign of Terror… 🧵 Image
Charles Dickens writes on France’s Reign of Terror in his novel A Tale of Two Cities (spoilers)

Paris was wrought with revolutionary violence:

One false accusation could label you an “enemy of the revolution,” and send you to the guillotine

But what drove this hysteria? Image
The Reign of Terror was driven by wrath:

The “oppressed” were “eating the rich”

This spirit of wrath led to a perpetual cycle of violence:

Victims become oppressors, violence begets violence, bloodshed multiplies, heads begin to roll... Image
Read 16 tweets

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