Mixed Martial Arts?
Nope a less popular reference to MMA comes from a 19th century book by a Russian novelist. In this case MMA is an acronym for Miracle, Mystery, Authority.
“Nothing has ever been more unendurable to man and human society than freedom!”
So says Dostoyevsky in the story “The Grand Inquisitor” from his novel “The Brothers Karamazov”.
For what it’s worth, Sigmund Freud called “The Brothers Karamazov”, “The most magnificent novel ever written.”
Christ returns to this world and gets a lecture from a Jesuit Inquisitor who tells him his message is wrong because he expected too much from humans. According to the Priest, Christ was wrong to reject the devil’s temptations of “miracle, mystery and authority”.
These temptations are described in Matthew 4:1-11. They break down to this - The "miracle" is for Jesus to turn stones into bread, the "mystery" is for Jesus to cast himself from the Temple and be saved by angels, the "authority" is for Jesus to rule over all the kingdoms of the world"
Jesus rejects the temptations because he wants humans to be free to choose between good and evil not to bow down (give up their freedom) to a supernatural boss. Perhaps Jesus overestimated the capabilities of humans - you can answer that question for your homework ;-)
The Grand Inquisitor thinks humans need miracles, mysteries and authority to survive this world of inevitable suffering, sickness and death.
Who or what will you bow down to?
The book “The Brothers Karamazov” is amazing and amazingly long at 985 pages so you need copious amounts of free time and some will. to get through it.
If Dostoyevsky isn’t your cup of tea the Buddhists have some alternatives for dealing with the pain of being.
