"The only way to be happy is to love, to love self-denyingly, to love everybody and everything, without any rules; to throw out from oneself on all sides, like a spider, an adhesive web of love to catch in it all that comes: an old woman, a child, a peasant, or a policeman," wrote Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910), the author of such classics as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. The pieces in this paperback in the Orbis Books' Modern Spiritual Masters Series have been selected by Charles E. Moore, a member of the Bruderhof Community in Albany, New York.

In the introduction, Moore characterizes Tolstoy not only as a literary genius but also as a visionary who had "an uncanny capacity to disturb, unsettle, and upset those around him, while at the same time attracting thousands because of his efforts to live out his unorthodox beliefs. His targets were many: the government, the church, the Westernizing liberals and the literary establishment of his day, the 'experts' and intellectuals of all kinds, scientists and theologians." He salutes Tolstoy as a pacifist, prophet, and saint who tried to live out his ideals of love, simplicity, and peace in a very confused and contradictory world.

Again and again, this Russian genius circled around the importance of meaning and happiness in life. A character called Olenine in The Cossacks, says:

"Happiness consists in living for others, that is clear. Man aspires to happiness; therefore it is a proper desire. If he tries to get it in a selfish way, in seeking wealth, glory, love, he may not succeed, and his wishes remain unsatisfied. Then it must be selfish desires that are wrong, and not the wish to be happy. What are the dreams that may be realized irrespective of our outward circumstances? Only love and self-sacrifice."

Sections of this volume cover The Quest for Meaning, The Law of Love, Prophetic Forays, The Life of Faith, and Maxims and Musings. Whether writing about love, conscience, the significance of Christ, the futility of violence, or the illusionary quest for security, Tolstoy sharpens the subject for us and gives us plenty to consider. Here is a sampler of his maxims and musings:

• It is far easier to write ten volumes of philosophy than to put a single precept into practice.

• The state of the soul of a person who hates even one of his brothers is terrible; but what must be the state of the soul of a person who hates an entire class?

• The simplest and shortest rule of morality consists in compelling as little service as possible from others, and serving others as much as possible. It involves demanding as little as possible from others, and in giving others as much as possible.

• Love is the essential faculty of the human soul. We love not because it is our interest to do so but because love is the essence of who we are, because we cannot but love.

• Love of your neighbor without love of God is a plant without roots.

• The worst thief is not the one who takes what he needs but the one who keeps what he does not need when others need it.

• Either be silent or say things that are worth more than silence.

• We dislike people not because they are evil; we think they are evil because we dislike them.

• We can only really understand ourselves when we can see ourselves in everyone else.