Man's Search for Himself

by Rollo May

Christ’s mistake, says the Inquisitor, was that “in place of the rigid ancient law,” he placed on man the burden of having “with free heart to decide for himself what is good and what is evil,” and “this fearful burden of free choice” is too much for men. Christ respected man too much, argues the Inquisitor, and forgot that actually people want to be treated as children and be led by “authority” and “miracle.” He should have merely given them bread, as the devil suggested in the temptation, but “thou wouldst not deprive man of freedom and didst reject the offer, thinking, what is that freedom worth if obedience is bought with bread? . . . But in the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, ‘Make us your slaves, but feed us.’ . . . Didst thou forget that man prefers peace and even death, to freedom of choice in the knowledge of good and evil?”