[annatar1914]

@Verv :

No prophet, my friend, rather I'm surely among the worst of sinners and sinners buried in sin do not recognize the insights from God that He sends them, much less prophesy.

What I do think I understand is that the Satanic forces of darkness hate the Israel of God His Church, and fear the conversion of the faithless Jews, who the forces of darkness hate anyway despite Jewish blindness. True anti semitism, it is a sure external sign of an inner reality that such anti semites hate Jesus Christ and His Mother and all the saints too.

That's Who they really hate. The King of the Jews and His blood kin in temporary rebellion against Him, and the Katehon that restrains the Antichrist, the Orthodox Christian Commonwealth and it's Christ Adoring Armies of His Saints who are faithful to Him.

So that being said, I suspect who will turn against God, and who will return to Him, collectively speaking.

@Verv , @Potemkin , @Tainari88 , @Godstud , and @Political Interest :

I came across this article, and I thought about what I have been saying earlier, about Russia and Israel, and about the rest of the world:

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/is ... red-guest/

Some we all know, who propagandize or make excuses for Neo Nazis who admire Hitler and want to destroy Russia, and those who make excuses for those Jihadis (who also admire Hitler!) who likewise do the same and wish destruction upon Israel, I just don't understand.

I believed that it's only natural and even perhaps inevitable that fighting the same kind of monsters and having history to draw upon might bring these nations together.

But history shows that gratitude is rare in history, for one thing. It's a mystery, related maybe to the mystery of iniquity itself.

[annatar1914]

@Verv , @Potemkin , @Tainari88 , @Godstud :

Recent events have made me think more about what might be called the metaphysics of war. When opponents lob missiles at each other, make drone strikes, call each other up to clear out, etc.... it means to me that at least one side has no conception of war, or even metaphysics either. No apparent clear objectives and a decline in the idea of the State hide a deeper level of meaning going on. After all, with the decline of the idea of the State and the privitization of it's functions over time, the strategy becomes that of making the most money at the least risk, does it not?

Each civilization tends to have its own idea of war except seemingly the Western. The Aztec waged war for the objective of seizing prisoners for sacrifice to their gods, to help maintain their perceived order of the cosmos, for example. Reality didn't care what they thought and so their way of war proved useless, not because the Spanish were so technically superior as the Aztecs, so much as the Spanish way of war was simply more immediately lethal.

The Western way of war used to be von Clausewitz, imposing one's will in a decisive manner, but the Modern West doesn't know it's own will anymore, is cowardly and merely minimally reactive to events. Bereft of ideas.

Spiritually i know however that God Is " A Man of War" and the warrior ethos is fully aligned with the Faith of God. Ultimately an empty container will be filled again or be broken. Events will be out of the hands of either Oligarchs or Politicians.

[annatar1914]

@Verv , @Potemkin , @Tainari88 , @Godstud :


I found myself rereading Alexander Pushkin's " Ode to Liberty" and have some thoughts:

"Listless Cytherean princess, sing
No more. Begone out of my view!
But you, great scourge of tsar and king,
Proud Muse of Freedom, where are you?
Come rip my laurels off. Bring stones
And crush this coddled lyre. Let me
Sing to the world of Liberty
And shame that scum upon the thrones.

Reveal to me the noble path
Where that exalted Gaul once strode,
When you in storied Days of Wrath
Inspired in him a dauntless Ode.
Now, flighty Fortune's favored knaves,
Tremble, O Tyrants of the Earth!
But ye: take heed now, know your worth
And rise as men, ye fallen slaves!

I cannot cast my gaze but see
A body flayed, an ankle chained,
The useless tears of Slavery,
The Law perverted and profaned.
Yea, everywhere iniquitous
Power in the fog of superstition
Ascends: Vainglory's fateful passion,
And Slavery's gruesome genius.

Heavy on every sovereign head
There lies a People's misery,
Save where the mighty Law is wed
Firmly with holy Liberty,
Where their hard shield is spread for all,
Where in a Nation's faithful hand
Among mere equals in the land
The sword can equitably fall

To smite transgression from on high
With one blow, righteously severe
In fingers uncorrupted by
Ravenous avarice or fear.
O Monarchs, ye are crowned by will
And law of Man, not Nature's hand.
Though ye above the people stand,
Eternal Law stands higher still.

But woe betide the commonweal
Where it is blithely slumbering,
Where Law itself is forced to kneel
Before the Masses, or the King.
Here is the Man: witness he bears
To his forebears’ infamous error
And in the storm of recent Terror
Laid down royal neck for theirs.

King Louis to his death ascends
In sight of hushed posterity,
His crownless, beaten head he bends:
Blood for the block of perfidy.
The Law stands mute, the People too.
And down the criminal axe-blade flies
And lo! A ghastly purple lies
Upon a Gaul enslaved anew.

You autocratic psychopath,
You and your throne do I despise!
I watch your doom, your children's death
With hateful, jubilating eyes.
Upon your forehead they descry
The People’s mark of true damnation.
Stain of the world, shame of creation,
Reproach on earth to God on high!

When on the dark Neva the star
Of midnight makes the water gleam,
When carefree eyelids near and far
Are overwhelmed with peaceful dream,
The poet, roused with intellect,
Sees the lone tyrant's statue loom
Grimly asleep amid the gloom,
The palace now a derelict,

And Clio's awesome call he hears
Behind those awesome walls of power.
Vivid before his sight appears
The foul Caligula's last hour.
In stars and ribbons he espies
Assassins drunk with wine and spite
Approaching, furtive in the night
With wolfish hearts and brazen eyes.

And silent stands the faithless guard,
The drawbridge downed without alarm,
The gate in dark of night unbarred
By treason’s mercenary arm.
O shame! O terror of our time!
Those Janissary beasts burst in
And slash, the Criminal Sovereign
Is slaughtered by unholy crime.

Henceforward, Monarchs, learn ye well:
No punishment, no accolade,
No altar and no dungeon cell
Can be your steadfast barricade.
The first bowed head must be your own
Beneath Law's trusty canopy
Then Peoples' life and liberty
Forevermore shall guard your throne."

Got him in a bit of trouble in 1817.

But it's quite true, that Russian people have no problem with absolute authority, as long as it's through said authority that one man acts for the law and for the liberty of the people, working for the common good.

See, Lord Acton was wrong, with his modern Western conception that " power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".

The truth instead is, is that weakness, dithering and stupid cowardly weakness, is what truly corrupts. History is proof of this.

[Potemkin]

It is my firm belief that Pushkin was murdered, as was Lermontov. And by the same hand - the Russian autocracy. This is why I think that Tyutchev was always very careful not to present himself as a poet but as a faithful civil servant - he didn’t want to share their fate. Hence the famous scene when he burned one of his own poems in front of Nekrasov’s eyes rather than allow him to publish it. Pushkin had spoken out too openly, he had cultivated the wrong friends, and he had been too honest with Nicholas I. Pushkin had a more nuanced view of the Russian autocracy than most of his liberal friends did, but that nuance didn’t save him in the end. Russia doesn’t do nuance. Pushkin’s life and death was a tragedy of the highest order, a founding moment in Russian culture.

[annatar1914]

It is my firm belief that Pushkin was murdered, as was Lermontov. And by the same hand - the Russian autocracy. This is why I think that Tyutchev was always very careful not to present himself as a poet but as a faithful civil servant - he didn’t want to share their fate. Hence the famous scene when he burned one of his own poems in front of Nekrasov’s eyes rather than allow him to publish it. Pushkin had spoken out too openly, he had cultivated the wrong friends, and he had been too honest with Nicholas I. Pushkin had a more nuanced view of the Russian autocracy than most of his liberal friends did, but that nuance didn’t save him in the end. Russia doesn’t do nuance. Pushkin’s life and death was a tragedy of the highest order, a founding moment in Russian culture.

@Potemkin :

I agree, and I include Lomonosov on your list as well. Petrine Romanov Autocracy, insecure and Germanic Western overlords occupying Russia, that did Pushkin and these others in: it wasn't an Stalin nor a Tsar Ivan Grozny though, you must admit.

Resistance takes many forms, but the bold resistance, forceful and intrepid, is what wins the day:

On the death of the Poet

"He fell, a slave of tinsel-honour,
A sacrifice to slander's lust;
The haughty Poet's head, the noblest,
Bowed on his wounded breast in dust.
No longer could his free soul suffer
The vulgar world's low infamy;
He rose against the world's opinion,
And as a hero, lone fell he.
He fell! To what avail the sobbing--
The useless choir of tears and praise?
Wretched the stammering excuses!
The Fates have spoke,--no power allays!
Have ye not at all times together
His sacred genius baited sore,
The silent fury fanned to flaming,
Delighted in your work before?
O be triumphant! Earthly torment
The Poet soul did fully bear,
Extinguished are the lights inspired,
The laurel crown lies leafless there!
The murderer contemptuous gazing
Did stedfastly his weapon aim,
No swifter beat his heart, Assassin!
Nor shook his lifted hand for shame.
No wonder; from a distance came he
As an adventurer unknown,
For worthy title, star of order--
Stood but his mad desire alone.
Sneering and self-complacent mocked he
The rights and customs of our land,
He could not understand our glory,
Against which he has raised his hand.

'Hence is he, hence! His song out-rung,
The Singer even as the song he sung;
Who of a hot, heroic mood,
In death disgraceful shed his blood!'

Why did he leave his home life tranquil,
To seek the envious market place,
Where each free flame is suffocated,
Expose him to the assassin base?
The human breed, who had known better
Since earliest years of youth, than he--
Why did he trust the false pretending
Of malice and hypocrisy?
Ah, of his laurel wreath you robbed him,
Gave him a martyr's crown instead,
And now the cruel thorns have pierced him
E'en to the blood of his proud head!
His last days were for him envenomed--
Through senseless fools' contempt aggrieved,
He died revenge a'thirst, accusing
That every hope his heart deceived!

Mute evermore the magic echoes,
That ne'er shall wonders more reveal,
The Poet's home is dark and narrow--
Upon the Singer's lips a seal.

But ye, sons insolent and shameless--
Defamers, faithless fathers, ye!
Who trod the pure soul of another
Beneath your feet, who zealously
Press to the Tsar's throne with your driveling
For fame and freedom, hatred steeled!
Well may you sneer at truth and justice,
The law provides you screen and shield,
Only a higher law shall sentence!
A mighty Judge beyond assail
Avenge the Poet's death on his slayers,
The Highest Judge who does not fail!
So then calumniate with brazen courage,
Your hatred's fury nought restrains--
Since your dark blood could ne'er atone for
One drop within the Poet's pure veins."

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov

@Potemkin , forgive me for adding onto my original statement, Pushkin is a special subject to me, as is the sinister D' Anthes and some of the more esoteric elements of this complex of stories.

[annatar1914]

@Potemkin :

I recommend:

Edit: I mentioned " esoteric aspects" so I can't help but to note a short story from Pushkin himself:

" Queen of Spades"

[Verv]

Oh dear, now I have the itch to read Russian literature again...

I actually do not do this very often because every time I open one of these books I have to put nearly everything else in my life on pause while I devour them, and my mind is just burnt through with the content like some kind of after-image there...

Which makes me immediately think of the ending of the Devils by Dostoyevsky -- just the way he describes the deaths of people, particularly how a man's entire bloodline was wiped out... It felt so visceral and real to me (because it was real for many whose stories do not end up on pages).

He really has a way of telling a tale so that even in the end you are left with profound sympathy for the villains.

And you just know this is a very basic skill that every celebrated Russian writer has -- even when reading the short stories of Anton Chekhov, the guy could make you feel profound melancholy in 7-8 pages...

Just let me get on my gear and pull out some Russian lit.

[annatar1914]

@Verv , @Potemkin , @Godstud , @Tainari88 :

Some time ago, I made the prediction that both Russia and Israel would be made pariah nations, and at some future point ally against common enemies. Certainly, it may seem to many in the West that Russia is perceived as such a nation now, but it's happening to Israel as well. Article pushes the idea of Israel as a pariah:

https://www.voltairenet.org/article220413.html

And the signs are there that Israel is in serious trouble.

For the two, Russia and Israel, to make a virtue out of necessity and join forces, the West and the Islamic/" Global South"/BRICS world would have to drop them both, collectively speaking.

And I can see that too.

[Tainari88]

I've met some atheists that are into the ideas of transhumanism and achieving some kind of artificial immortality because, ultimately, they fear death. I think it is also likewise what propels people towards extreme and senseless competitive behavior, trying to develop some kind of name so that they can "live on."

But who was the richest man in 17th century England? Who was the greatest equestrian? Who was the best artist? Of course, some people will know this, and some imprint is put on the world through these people, but who thinks about these people on a daily basis? ... When we read about them or study them, do we actually get to know them, in some way? Only superficially.

Life really does seem to be in vain if we view it as anything but the gift that it is on earth, as well as our relationship with God, which is reflective of the eternal...

And to try to fill life with anything but God - including politics - is fruitless.

We should even think of our relationships with other people in light of this religious perspective. If we do not, we could be destroyed by the deaths of family members and companions, and driven towards nihilism.

I think it is easy to dismiss others who are different than us as being somehow less human than we are. For us? The idea of reality is often distorted through our own experiences. That is our world. The ones outside of that experience are seen as alien to us.

That is the big mistake. To think that something outside of ourselves and our own small, flawed existence is somehow so alien as to cut us off from each other.

The reality is that if we live in society we never are alone. And if we take our egos out of the way of our connection and our ability to connect to each other as human beings and as spiritual beings we gain everything.

Have you wondered why people often have similar thoughts and experiences if they are living similar conditions? It is because the human quality in our lives are very very similar. We share a lot. Yet, we choose to divide ourselves.

I think we are scared of our own selves and what we truly can become. We are scared of our own light.

Be courageous. Let your own human light shine and believe in yourselves strongly in your ability to be a reflection of the divine or what you believe is the reflection of the divine in all people and in all living organisms.

If you want to be really human. Learn to respect fully all living things and love all living things. You will never be alone if you do that.

An experiment:

Plants respond to gentle treatment and nutrition and water and nurturing. Animals the same. Humans too.

Why do we think by ignoring, hating or mistreating any living thing that somehow we are gaining an end to fear or worry or anxiety about our attachment to our positions in society. Our egotistical need to control others and force power.

True power is that lovely response we get from a life form that knows they are loved and respected.

Nothing gets the same commitment to unity than that.

And if you are a religious person that is the definition of God in this world eh?

[Tainari88]

@Verv , @Potemkin , @Godstud , @Tainari88 :

Some time ago, I made the prediction that both Russia and Israel would be made pariah nations, and at some future point ally against common enemies. Certainly, it may seem to many in the West that Russia is perceived as such a nation now, but it's happening to Israel as well. Article pushes the idea of Israel as a pariah:

https://www.voltairenet.org/article220413.html

And the signs are there that Israel is in serious trouble.

For the two, Russia and Israel, to make a virtue out of necessity and join forces, the West and the Islamic/" Global South"/BRICS world would have to drop them both, collectively speaking.

And I can see that too.

I do not see Israel being dropped by the USA at all.

I do see Russia making new alliances.

I see the Global South trying to be as independent of this Russia/PRC vs USA and Western World confrontation being avoided by not wanting to align at all and hopefully making a third column of nations who do not want to be in another Cold War Style Sandwich.

[Tainari88]

@Verv , @Potemkin , @Tainari88 , @Godstud :


I found myself rereading Alexander Pushkin's " Ode to Liberty" and have some thoughts:

"Listless Cytherean princess, sing
No more. Begone out of my view!
But you, great scourge of tsar and king,
Proud Muse of Freedom, where are you?
Come rip my laurels off. Bring stones
And crush this coddled lyre. Let me
Sing to the world of Liberty
And shame that scum upon the thrones.

Reveal to me the noble path
Where that exalted Gaul once strode,
When you in storied Days of Wrath
Inspired in him a dauntless Ode.
Now, flighty Fortune's favored knaves,
Tremble, O Tyrants of the Earth!
But ye: take heed now, know your worth
And rise as men, ye fallen slaves!

I cannot cast my gaze but see
A body flayed, an ankle chained,
The useless tears of Slavery,
The Law perverted and profaned.
Yea, everywhere iniquitous
Power in the fog of superstition
Ascends: Vainglory's fateful passion,
And Slavery's gruesome genius.

Heavy on every sovereign head
There lies a People's misery,
Save where the mighty Law is wed
Firmly with holy Liberty,
Where their hard shield is spread for all,
Where in a Nation's faithful hand
Among mere equals in the land
The sword can equitably fall

To smite transgression from on high
With one blow, righteously severe
In fingers uncorrupted by
Ravenous avarice or fear.
O Monarchs, ye are crowned by will
And law of Man, not Nature's hand.
Though ye above the people stand,
Eternal Law stands higher still.

But woe betide the commonweal
Where it is blithely slumbering,
Where Law itself is forced to kneel
Before the Masses, or the King.
Here is the Man: witness he bears
To his forebears’ infamous error
And in the storm of recent Terror
Laid down royal neck for theirs.

King Louis to his death ascends
In sight of hushed posterity,
His crownless, beaten head he bends:
Blood for the block of perfidy.
The Law stands mute, the People too.
And down the criminal axe-blade flies
And lo! A ghastly purple lies
Upon a Gaul enslaved anew.

You autocratic psychopath,
You and your throne do I despise!
I watch your doom, your children's death
With hateful, jubilating eyes.
Upon your forehead they descry
The People’s mark of true damnation.
Stain of the world, shame of creation,
Reproach on earth to God on high!

When on the dark Neva the star
Of midnight makes the water gleam,
When carefree eyelids near and far
Are overwhelmed with peaceful dream,
The poet, roused with intellect,
Sees the lone tyrant's statue loom
Grimly asleep amid the gloom,
The palace now a derelict,

And Clio's awesome call he hears
Behind those awesome walls of power.
Vivid before his sight appears
The foul Caligula's last hour.
In stars and ribbons he espies
Assassins drunk with wine and spite
Approaching, furtive in the night
With wolfish hearts and brazen eyes.

And silent stands the faithless guard,
The drawbridge downed without alarm,
The gate in dark of night unbarred
By treason’s mercenary arm.
O shame! O terror of our time!
Those Janissary beasts burst in
And slash, the Criminal Sovereign
Is slaughtered by unholy crime.

Henceforward, Monarchs, learn ye well:
No punishment, no accolade,
No altar and no dungeon cell
Can be your steadfast barricade.
The first bowed head must be your own
Beneath Law's trusty canopy
Then Peoples' life and liberty
Forevermore shall guard your throne."

Got him in a bit of trouble in 1817.

But it's quite true, that Russian people have no problem with absolute authority, as long as it's through said authority that one man acts for the law and for the liberty of the people, working for the common good.

See, Lord Acton was wrong, with his modern Western conception that " power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".

The truth instead is, is that weakness, dithering and stupid cowardly weakness, is what truly corrupts. History is proof of this.

Try to find leaders who are about liberty and fighting for the common person then? It is rare. Most are a bunch of psychopathic egomaniacs Annatar.

And I wish I knew Russian. Nothing does a disservice to a poem than translation. Poetry is the highest artistic form of a language. In its original language it retains a lot. Most of the power of it is lost in translation. Only truly gifted translators know how to do it. They are the ones who get paid the most of all. The ones who do poetry well.

[Godstud]

I think it is easy to dismiss others who are different than us as being somehow less human than we are.

Oh, PLEASE! You don't believe actually believe this shit, do you? No one is doing that. It is a false perception, perpetuated by the government and media. While rare occurrences do happen, these are rare, and society is mostly non-racist and does not discriminate against people in action or policy.

People are claiming victimhood these days without actually being victimised, and these people are less than tolerant of anyone who doesn't believe what they want to believe. This is the biggest part of the problem in Western countries right now, with gender ideology and "diversity equity inclusion" politics.

There are no laws against these people and there is no discrimination(no more than against anyone else). They parade it out on social media and only make it appear as though it is happening.

USA is one of the best countries in the world and the only reason people are complaining about things, is that they have the freedom to do so, and too much damned time on their hands.

[Tainari88]

Oh, PLEASE! You don't believe actually believe this shit, do you? No one is doing that. It is a false perception, perpetuated by the government and media. While rare occurrences do happen, these are rare, and society is mostly non-racist and does not discriminate against people in action or policy.

People are claiming victimhood these days without actually being victimised, and these people are less than tolerant of anyone who doesn't believe what they want to believe. This is the biggest part of the problem in Western countries right now, with gender ideology and "diversity equity inclusion" politics.

There are no laws against these people and there is no discrimination(no more than against anyone else). They parade it out on social media and only make it appear as though it is happening.

USA is one of the best countries in the world and the only reason people are complaining about things, is that they have the freedom to do so, and too much damned time on their hands.

Godstud, what the fuck is wrong with you lately?

Why are you so defensive all the time?

What has happened to you?

Who is claiming victimhood?

Have you gotten a bug up your butt lately with crazy stuff?

Racism is eradicated? Where?

Think about what you are implying there for a second?

Racism existed before in human society. It exists today. Why did it get better in certain ways? People protesting it and fighting the government to change law and policies. Why do you have to fight what should be people on their own changing unjust shit? Because humans got problems with power.

All humans.

That means Thai humans, Chinese humans, South African humans, Canadian humans, American humans. All kinds of humans.

Everything that exists in the past, and the present is a human experience. No way you can dismiss what is already here.

Victims....who are you accusing of being a victim Godstud? Me?

You better tell me exactly how I am playing the victim and why?

Are you pissed at liberals in the USA who are into becoming women when they were born men? I mean what is your beef Godstud?

BTW, this victim has to go and do some interpreting in person for her income. So she can put food on her table and clothes on her son's back. because you know, it costs a lot to be a victim waiting for someone else to be responsible for how to earn a living. In capitalism.

Victim....fuck!

[Godstud]

Godstud, what the fuck is wrong with you lately?

There is nothing wrong with me. What's wrong with you?

Who is claiming victimhood?

All the claims of racism and such are claims of victimhood in a country where actually racism and victimhood is rare or non-existent. I am calling a spade a spade.

Racism is eradicated? Where?

Racism is very rare in the USA. That's objective truth. I have never claimed it did not exist anymore. When you think about race when doing something, however, you are perpetuating racism by still considering it a thing.

People are free to believe what they want(USA has this freedom more than most others), but that does not make it true. Believe you are a goat or in God, or Buddha, or whatever. You don't need to push that onto others.

Your post shows that you still consider victimhood a thing in the USA. Being in a capitalist society doesn't make you a victim. it makes you lucky.

[Tainari88]

There is nothing wrong with me. What's wrong with you?

All the claims of racism and such are claims of victimhood in a country where actually racism and victimhood is rare or non-existent. I am calling a spade a spade.

Racism is very rare in the USA. That's objective truth. I have never claimed it did not exist anymore. When you think about race when doing something, however, you are perpetuating racism by still considering it a thing.

People are free to believe what they want(USA has this freedom more than most others), but that does not make it true. Believe you are a goat or in God, or Buddha, or whatever. You don't need to push that onto others.

Your post shows that you still consider victimhood a thing in the USA. Being in a capitalist society doesn't make you a victim. it makes you lucky.

@Godstud have you been paying attention to the changes recently to the laws of the USA? Back in Bush Jr administration times the Patriot Act was implemented. That meant the government retains the right to detain you indefinitely without just cause and throw you in a cell and not have to give you access to a lawyer right away or a speedy trial or even have charges filed against you detailing the crime you have supposedly committed. You are basically held without any real rights. Why?

Find out what the legal justification for that is. It means if you allow a parallel legal framework to exist within the US government without any accountability to a third neutral party? In the future you plant the groundwork for a two system reality for a government.

It already exists with the system I lived under in my youth in my native land. We do not have full constitutional rights. I explained the reason for that in some posts I did in answering wat0n. The reason for that has to do with creating a legal precedent in which you have to compensate people who never agreed to be part of your government at all. Yet, you basically took away their right of consent and imposed it in order to take their land or property away without paying for it. It is illegal to do that. So if you acknowledge that it means you have to right the wrong under current law. If you agree to do that? You lose tremendous power and money. In order to not lose the money or the power you deny rights that contradict your foundational document. The US Constitution.

So if you betray that document what kind of effect over time does that have on the internal structure of an entire government system over time if you do not rectify it? Rot. Collapse. It is systemic rot. That happens if you study the Fall of Empires in every single incident. The bedrock principles of governments in the past of human history through time and contradictions gets betrayed due to lack of ability to rectify in time. They lose the foundational principles in wars, and lies and contradictions. It creates dissent, mistrust and lack of faith in the institutions. It creates a snowball effect. You have a chance to rectify in time. But it means acknowledging where the error happened and being open and then in the present? Fixing it.

If you don't do that? Loss of trust and eventual violent rebellion and collapse. It is very consistent in patterns throughout human history.

I differ from you Godstud. I do not have the same experiences with the system of the US that you have had darling.

Not at all. It would be wrong of me to not be true to my own experiences and to the history I have studied for many years and the many people of many cultures I have had the privilege to get to know.

Including you. You are a Canadian living abroad in Thailand. With a child. And a new family. You live in a society that is not your native society. It means you are not a closed minded man. You are not really a racial purist. What you write for me is not sexist at all. I think you just wanted justice.

I do not know your entire life story Godstud. I did read briefly some anger you had about something in your marriage. But we all go through that if we are married so I do not presume to know what happened.

All I know that you are passionate in your beliefs and you are also very involved in being true to your interests in life.

In the end what defines us is how much love and trust we were able to build with those humans we care about the most. In politics we often are products of our own programming. We might be right, or wrong or both at the same time.

I only care about the quality of the heart and the ability to care about the many. If you have both? You will be living a good life. Not a wasted one.

I never doubted you will be living a full life.

But you and I have very different positions for very valid reasons.

I do not feel that capitalism is about being lucky to live in it. I think I have been lucky because the people who I was born to were great strugglers in life and really very intelligent people and very caring people. And they were able to overcome a lot of obstacles that many others never were able to conquer.

To each according to their ability and to each according to their need is the creed.

I was born to people who had great abilities, and were able to get their needs met through the force of their characters and their wills.

Something few can do in the capitalist system. Because the system tests your will to remain true to good values. The bad values are much easier to do within that system. It is not much better than slavery. One step above slavery is what capitalism is.

As human beings with astounding potential I feel that capitalism is not the end of all what can be accomplished with the human mind, the human will and the human spirit. We only just scratched the surface.

Of what good we are all capable of doing.

But it requires being curious, questioning it all, and being diligent in creating new ideas to address difficult challenges. Those challenges won't be overcome by being satisfied with the status quo without a struggle.

That is how we all start off in life. Struggling to live every day. And making sure we get our needs met. By being of service to the many in an honest and respectful and loving way.

We do that? We lived a good life.

It won't matter which political philosophy you back. Only good actions, good thoughts and good attitudes will make good things happen. Like the experiment above with the rice video.

Love preserves life. Hate kills it. And ignoring the problems makes it get worse.

That is what is reality.

[Potemkin]

I've met some atheists that are into the ideas of transhumanism and achieving some kind of artificial immortality because, ultimately, they fear death. I think it is also likewise what propels people towards extreme and senseless competitive behavior, trying to develop some kind of name so that they can "live on."

Wittgenstein once said that, “To see one’s life as a completed whole - that is the mystical.” To wish to live forever is to wish to live without mysticism, without spirituality. Just the unending sameness of everyday life, forever. What would be the point of such a life? It is the fact of our own mortality, that fundamental limit, which gives spiritual meaning to our lives, which paradoxically connects us with eternity. Eternity is not within us; it is a light which shines upon us. Everyday life must be seen in the light of eternity, which means that it must end some day.

But who was the richest man in 17th century England? Who was the greatest equestrian? Who was the best artist? Of course, some people will know this, and some imprint is put on the world through these people, but who thinks about these people on a daily basis? ... When we read about them or study them, do we actually get to know them, in some way? Only superficially.

Life really does seem to be in vain if we view it as anything but the gift that it is on earth, as well as our relationship with God, which is reflective of the eternal...

And to try to fill life with anything but God - including politics - is fruitless.

We should even think of our relationships with other people in light of this religious perspective. If we do not, we could be destroyed by the deaths of family members and companions, and driven towards nihilism.

Precisely. Our lives are finite and must end some day. The acceptance of this end and the acceptance of its inevitability, the ability to see our lives as a completed whole, is what breaks us open to the divine, which finally allows us to see the world in the light of eternity. As a wise man once said, “He who would save his life must first lose his life….”

[Tainari88]

Wittgenstein once said that, “To see one’s life as a completed whole - that is the mystical.” To wish to live forever is to wish to live without mysticism, without spirituality. Just the unending sameness of everyday life, forever. What would be the point of such a life? It is the fact of our own mortality, that fundamental limit, which gives spiritual meaning to our lives, which paradoxically connects us with eternity. Eternity is not within us; it is a light which shines upon us. Everyday life must be seen in the light of eternity, which means that it must end some day.


Precisely. Our lives are finite and must end some day. The acceptance of this end and the acceptance of its inevitability, the ability to see our lives as a completed whole, is what breaks us open to the divine, which finally allows us to see the world in the light of eternity. As a wise man once said, “He who would save his life must first lose his life….”

It also means that time is a precious resource and the clock is ticking for all of us. We need to be true to what we want to become and love the people we want to love. Seize the Day.

It also means our decisions have a profound effect on who we want to become.

We have free will. At the same time, we also are limited by many factors. Like our responsibilities, our duties to others and to society, and to our own confidence in who we are in that world.

What never fades and never fails to be beautiful @Potemkin is being loved. That rice was still going strong when the other types of rice were just mold.

It sends us a message. You want to live forever? Love someone deeply and make sure they know it.

[Potemkin]

It also means that time is a precious resource and the clock is ticking for all of us. We need to be true to what we want to become and love the people we want to love. Seize the Day.

We are each given one real chance in life to be happy. We must seize that chance when it comes to us, because it will never come again.

It also means our decisions have a profound effect on who we want to become.

We have free will. At the same time, we also are limited by many factors. Like our responsibilities, our duties to others and to society, and to our own confidence in who we are in that world.

But our first duty is to love, and to return love. And to be true to the love that we feel within us.

What never fades and never fails to be beautiful @Potemkin is being loved. That rice was still going strong when the other types of rice were just mold.

It sends us a message. You want to live forever? Love someone deeply and make sure they know it.

Yes querida. Love is the only eternal thing. The light of eternity is love.

[Tainari88]

Love is the eternal flame. For all of us. @Potemkin mucho amor siempre.

It is a really great motivation factor for living your life always.

[annatar1914]

@Potemkin , @Godstud , @Verv :

I've been mulling considerably over a deed which had bothered me ever since it happened:

Airman Aaron Bushnell setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC.

Greatness is not goodness, nor evil, but it can be one or other of these things and yet remain Great, transcending the mundane and the everyday humanity of life.

But self murder for any reason is still murder, and points out the inhuman trajectory of the West. I note this for your examination:

Self immolation and suicide bombings, a cult of martyrdom that fights the craven Western fear of death with an even more sinister exaltation of the war between Dar ul Harb and Dar ul Islam. A war in which the stream of the remnants of the once-Left merge with the river of militant Islam. Annihilation of the human person into pure Act, in a drama complete with a theater and actors, but without a being behind the actor's mask.

Seeing Bushnell's holocaust is one of those 9-11 moments forcing profound reflection at least on my part. The Sign that merges in my mind Antifa/BLM with ISIS and Hamas.

It's not MAGA protesting Biden wherever he goes calling him " Genocide Joe". Much more alliteration than " Let's Go Brandon"...

The same mongrels who cheer on the closing of the Red Sea:

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/03/left ... no-sailors

After Bushnell and Biden Liberalism will be impossible. The future belongs to this coalition in the West.