I Reject, I Affirm. ''Raising the Black Flag'' in an Age of Devilry. - Page 43 - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15166341
@Verv , @Potemkin , @Political Interest , and others of my friends;

Part of the human experience is I think is to not only understand one's human nature, but (hopefully) understanding of human nature in general, of people that are near and those that are far away.

Some believe that human nature is basically good, and that what is bad must surely be due to ignorance or some other element of the environment around people, institutions and so forth. It's quite easy to absolve yourself and others of personal wrongdoing and responsibility that way, even though the basic belief can be a little true in a superficial way.

Others believe that human nature is flawed and distorted, that the bad that is around us comes from what is within us. This belief is of course not nearly as popular as the first one, but has the merit of following the known facts. People who do follow this opinion on human nature are often maligned as being hateful misanthropes, and while perhaps this is true of some to a degree, it seems all the more heroic that many such persons still manage to love and be merciful and patient and forgiving to the mankind they see as flawed in an inner aspect of the human self. But people don't want an honest mirror put before them very often, do they? Especially if one were to go into details, specifics of a particular event or focus on a particular person.

Recall the story of when St. Moses the Prophet killed an Egyptian man who was oppressing a Hebrew? Scripture says;

Years later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people, and took notice of their heavy burdens. He saw an Egyptian beating up a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking around and seeing no one else, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Going out the next day, Moses noticed two Hebrew men fighting right in front of him. He told the one who was at fault, “Why did you strike your companion?”
The man replied, “Who appointed you to be an official judge over us? Are you planning to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?”Then Moses became terrified and told himself, “Certainly this event has become known!” When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh, settled in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well.


I have noted that modern commentators have said and written, or at least implied, that Moses was in the wrong, which is a bit of an assumption. But, it is an assumption coming from a modern culture very favorable, very inclined, to think along the lines I mentioned of seeing people like Moses as misanthropes; much like the Hebrew in the story who was beating another Hebrew and refused Moses authority and leadership...

Nothing is really knew under the sun. Moses was rejected when he first tried to free his people, saw that he did not have support, and fled Egypt. Neither he nor the children of Israel were ready for what God wanted, and so 40 more years of slavery went by before Moses could go back and with God's power, free his kinsmen. First attempt was the workings of Politics in action. The second was the action of God through a man, by miracles and wonders.

If one has the second view of human nature, if one rejects modern politics and accepts a God-ordained worldview which places the eternal and the temporal in their proper orders, it is the end of Politics as such in any sense that would be understood by most, today or yesterday, even in the pre-modern world. The difference being that Modernity is the full working out of the possibilities expressed by the Hebrew Slave who reviled St. Moses and rejected his leadership and authority, and therefore God's.

That's why Moses only came back as he did, after 40 years of exile, to Egypt. Came back with clear signs from God (of course the Egyptians would only see him as an evil Magician).

And the Egyptians as a culture believed man is basically good and can be made so, which is yet another indication that there's no end to the possible permutations of such a belief. The irony being that those who think man as being somewhat innately flawed in this life, in his inner being, are the same people usually who tend to take people as they are, allow them some measure of liberty even if it's the liberty that inclines into license. It's why I can be more favorable towards Autocracy in the pre-modern sense while less ''Statist'' these days in the modern meaning.

I can't ''reform'' my brothers and sisters overly much, if I have an keen awareness of my own infirmities as a person.

It's hard for a person in civilization to see all this, embedded in structures which lend themselves to human tinkering and tampering and the creation of much artificial opaqueness, whereas a more ruder, more barbarous people or person usually has a pretty good idea of what people are really capable of and thus few illusions about them, not having the relative luxury of possessing such illusions.
#15166866
annatar1914 wrote:it's an interesting conversation, is it not?


It always is.

I hope you had a good Easter.

annatar1914 wrote:Historically, they haven't so far, the conservatives haven't. To be fair, look at the revolutionaries that have espoused some form or other of socialism-who would want to voluntarily share power with them, when they have only total victory as their aim? That being said, a move top down to implement socialism would deprive the revolutionaries of a powerful motive force among the masses. I suspect however that the Marxists intuit that any socialism that ever became a more permanent fixture of life in the future would probably not resemble something Marx or Engels would ever wish to recognize as being such.


The Scandinavian conservatives seem to have embraced Social Democracy and it became part of the political consensus there, just as it was in the UK before Thatcher.

Socialism or at least Social Democracy are ways of averting unrest among workers and creating a more stable society.

The conservatives in the US and UK are actually formenting social instability by not realising the natural compatability of more socialist policies with the conservatism they profess. However most modern conseratives in the West today are not really conservative as we well know, they're only interested in money and libertarian philosophy.

annatar1914 wrote:If that. Besides which their theories have to be put to the test in the actual world, where their impact can be measured in human blood and tears, as with any socio-economic system.


Time and time again we've seen that theory does not always reflect material realities.

annatar1914 wrote:You're right that it is unacceptable, in any case, to despair of the future of Europe, for our ancestors were not of the sort of persons to despair and give up. It is our lack of desire to live up to their legacy that is a huge part of the problem to begin with.


My criticism of the West is purely from a self-critical point of view. I would not be making such criticisms if I were not a Westerner. I view this as analogous to Sun Yat-sen's criticism of Qing era China of the 19th century or of the many other reformers of that time and place. Today the West is embarking on the same road that China went down which led it to civilisational decline. And like China we need reform and a change of direction if our civilisation is going to last into the future. This is not merely a question of vanity but rather of our immediate own self interest. We must reform or we're done for.

Self loathing is a particular illness of the contemporary West and we must not fall into such a trap.

annatar1914 wrote:Of this very thing I have been giving myself a lot of thought to ponder over. I have not yet reached some firm conclusions, but I will.


All negative trends that arise in the USA, Britain, France and Germany always spread eastward, and then they produce many negative influences there as well. Western ideas have always spread to the east. It is no surprise that the first Marxist state was established in Russia, inspired by a doctrine that arose from German intellectuals. It's easy to forget that Marxism was a European idea considering most of its proponents have been Asians or Africans.

annatar1914 wrote:Yes, it's not enough, concerning the Greeks, to just stop at the centuries long ''Turkocratia'' for an explanation of why they are as they are today. That is, not a Western people, but clearly quite different from the Non-Balkan Orthodox Christians. I think that it has to do with Barbarism, with Freedom. On that I should probably elaborate, as once again the inverted values of the City twist the true meanings of words like ''Freedom''.


I look forward to hearing more about this.

annatar1914 wrote:In my opinion, I think long centuries of Classical Hellenistic teaching and literature gradually having an effect, especially during the period of Papal spiritual rule via the monasteries. You'll note though that most of the lands you mentioned went Protestant, and the one that didn't (France) went through long religious wars and then the French Revolution.


Yes, as well as the very scholastic tendency within Latin Europe. The trade based civilisations which arose in a lot of European countries also created a type of civilised world within historically barbarian lands. Scotland is a very good example, the Scots were a barbarian people but during the reign of King David I of the early Middle Ages the burgh system was established. Burghs were mercantile in nature and these attracted a lot of merchants, eventually forming the basis of Scotland as we know it today. It laid the basis for the development of the Scots language and probably established the trajectory for Scotland's conversion to Presbyterianism.

This would suggest that civilised tendencies can develop even in the heart of barbarian lands.

annatar1914 wrote:Yes it will I think, and in one sense a ''short'' century (as with John Lukacs, I saw the 20th century as running from 1914 to 1989).


People thought that this would be the 21st century of unrivalled progress but it seems it will be no different to the last short century. We'll probably see a lot change very quickly and wonder where the old world went.

I suspect we will see a world war within our life time as well. I hope I'm wrong.

annatar1914 wrote:Yes, although of course I have gone too far the other way at times in this Statist pro-restraint enthusiasm of mine, I'll admit.


I don't think so.

annatar1914 wrote:This sums up Orthodoxy pretty well, I think.


Is this what the Orthodox know as Theosis?

annatar1914 wrote:Others believe that human nature is flawed and distorted, that the bad that is around us comes from what is within us. This belief is of course not nearly as popular as the first one, but has the merit of following the known facts. People who do follow this opinion on human nature are often maligned as being hateful misanthropes, and while perhaps this is true of some to a degree, it seems all the more heroic that many such persons still manage to love and be merciful and patient and forgiving to the mankind they see as flawed in an inner aspect of the human self. But people don't want an honest mirror put before them very often, do they? Especially if one were to go into details, specifics of a particular event or focus on a particular person.


It would be somewhat bold of me to say that human nature is at its very centre flawed and distorted but a lot of people are misanthropes and do not strive towards the good. We must never underestimate how terrible people have the capacity to be. This isn't cynicism but simple realism. It would even be possible to say that the majority of people are self-centred and don't care particularly care about others. The default of society these days seems to be, "Don't disturb me and I won't disturb you." People are suspicious of kindness and think there is some ulterior motive, which there often is. There are nice people in the world but the default of humanity is rugged individualism and a survival mentality. This is a far from ideal state of affairs, people shouldn't be this way but they are. One need only look at the comment section of video sharing websites, especially on political topics to see how people talk about each other or about entire nations of people. And in general life experience you always see someone being horrible to another person for no particular reason. I hate to have such a low view of humanity but we're living in a world with lots of nasty people in it.

annatar1914 wrote:I have noted that modern commentators have said and written, or at least implied, that Moses was in the wrong, which is a bit of an assumption. But, it is an assumption coming from a modern culture very favorable, very inclined, to think along the lines I mentioned of seeing people like Moses as misanthropes; much like the Hebrew in the story who was beating another Hebrew and refused Moses authority and leadership...

Nothing is really knew under the sun. Moses was rejected when he first tried to free his people, saw that he did not have support, and fled Egypt. Neither he nor the children of Israel were ready for what God wanted, and so 40 more years of slavery went by before Moses could go back and with God's power, free his kinsmen. First attempt was the workings of Politics in action. The second was the action of God through a man, by miracles and wonders.

If one has the second view of human nature, if one rejects modern politics and accepts a God-ordained worldview which places the eternal and the temporal in their proper orders, it is the end of Politics as such in any sense that would be understood by most, today or yesterday, even in the pre-modern world. The difference being that Modernity is the full working out of the possibilities expressed by the Hebrew Slave who reviled St. Moses and rejected his leadership and authority, and therefore God's.

That's why Moses only came back as he did, after 40 years of exile, to Egypt. Came back with clear signs from God (of course the Egyptians would only see him as an evil Magician).

And the Egyptians as a culture believed man is basically good and can be made so, which is yet another indication that there's no end to the possible permutations of such a belief. The irony being that those who think man as being somewhat innately flawed in this life, in his inner being, are the same people usually who tend to take people as they are, allow them some measure of liberty even if it's the liberty that inclines into license. It's why I can be more favorable towards Autocracy in the pre-modern sense while less ''Statist'' these days in the modern meaning.

I can't ''reform'' my brothers and sisters overly much, if I have an keen awareness of my own infirmities as a person.

It's hard for a person in civilization to see all this, embedded in structures which lend themselves to human tinkering and tampering and the creation of much artificial opaqueness, whereas a more ruder, more barbarous people or person usually has a pretty good idea of what people are really capable of and thus few illusions about them, not having the relative luxury of possessing such illusions.


People do not want to see the reality of the world, or that a lot of people are flawed and selfish, not inclined towards the good. Modern civilisations want to believe in many illusions. They think that they can change people or change this or that, and that if only people could be coached or the culture changed that such and such an outcome would be possible. This type of thinking in fact leads to more problems because the supposed solutions are not based on any reality. It also extends into every sphere of life, including viewpoints on foreign policy, hence why we have tremendous military adventurism in the world even in the 21st century.

We're in a world where people are consistently badly behaved and ill natured but where there is also this naive belief everyone is overall good. Well unfortunately there are many bad people among the ranks of humanity and it's terrible.

There's also a stigma attached to pointing this out, as if the one who makes such an observation is also inclined to being awful, but that's simply not the case. Just because one is aware of how a lot of people are does not mean they themselves like this state of affairs or support it. No one is perfect, but there are a lot of not very nice people who carry on doing massive wrong, knowing it to be so and simply not caring.
#15166987
It always is.


Thank you, @Political Interest , I appreciate that.

I hope you had a good Easter.


Easter, or Pascha, is on May 2nd this year, Great Lent continues, and so does the struggle. I always find more 'corners of darkness' within me and in my life, and it actually makes me pleased in a way, that I can change with God's help. But it still reminds me I have no reason to be arrogant and judge others.


The Scandinavian conservatives seem to have embraced Social Democracy and it became part of the political consensus there, just as it was in the UK before Thatcher.

Socialism or at least Social Democracy are ways of averting unrest among workers and creating a more stable society.

The conservatives in the US and UK are actually formenting social instability by not realising the natural compatability of more socialist policies with the conservatism they profess. However most modern conseratives in the West today are not really conservative as we well know, they're only interested in money and libertarian philosophy.


I seem to have read somewhere that in Peru's presidential election, Keiko Fujimori's contender on the Left, Pedro Castillo, happens to be strongly Socialist and wants to nationalize Peru's resources, but he's absolutely anti LGBTQ, pro-traditional family, and pro-life, socially conservative. He is doing increasingly well among the poorer, the indians, and rural areas, it'll be interesting to see how he does and how the electoral demographics play out for and against him and Fujimori.


Time and time again we've seen that theory does not always reflect material realities.


Especially theory that isn't grounded in love of the notion of Truth and the love of the Truth to begin with.



My criticism of the West is purely from a self-critical point of view. I would not be making such criticisms if I were not a Westerner. I view this as analogous to Sun Yat-sen's criticism of Qing era China of the 19th century or of the many other reformers of that time and place. Today the West is embarking on the same road that China went down which led it to civilisational decline. And like China we need reform and a change of direction if our civilisation is going to last into the future. This is not merely a question of vanity but rather of our immediate own self interest. We must reform or we're done for.


Absolutely. I have encountered other cultures and remnants of other civilizations, but the Western civilization is pretty much the one that has worldwide sway to a greater or lesser degree, and it's the civilization that is the reference point to which I am able to offer criticism at all.

Self loathing is a particular illness of the contemporary West and we must not fall into such a trap.


This is true, yet it seems to me that this self-loathing is at the very origin of this civilization, novelty and self loathing.


All negative trends that arise in the USA, Britain, France and Germany always spread eastward, and then they produce many negative influences there as well. Western ideas have always spread to the east. It is no surprise that the first Marxist state was established in Russia, inspired by a doctrine that arose from German intellectuals. It's easy to forget that Marxism was a European idea considering most of its proponents have been Asians or Africans.


I think the ''appeal'' of ideologies that are Western in nature come from Western conquerors or comprador elites imposed on other cultures by the West, and/or from Westernized intelligencia that are rebelling against a colonial or semi-colonial Western rule and they use ideologies like Marxism as a weapon.


I look forward to hearing more about this.


Yes, I'll post some more recent thoughts on Barbarism and Freedom that I've mulled over, soon.


Yes, as well as the very scholastic tendency within Latin Europe. The trade based civilisations which arose in a lot of European countries also created a type of civilised world within historically barbarian lands. Scotland is a very good example, the Scots were a barbarian people but during the reign of King David I of the early Middle Ages the burgh system was established. Burghs were mercantile in nature and these attracted a lot of merchants, eventually forming the basis of Scotland as we know it today. It laid the basis for the development of the Scots language and probably established the trajectory for Scotland's conversion to Presbyterianism.


Note also the cultural Anglicization of the Scottish Aristocracy during that same time period, and intermarriage with Norman lords.


This would suggest that civilised tendencies can develop even in the heart of barbarian lands.


It might just take disaffected intellectuals in order for that to happen, rulers who aspire to be like more sophisticated neighbors or even surpass them.


People thought that this would be the 21st century of unrivalled progress but it seems it will be no different to the last short century. We'll probably see a lot change very quickly and wonder where the old world went.

I suspect we will see a world war within our life time as well. I hope I'm wrong.


PersonallyI think we've already been in one ''world war'' that is ongoing, the war to contain and roll back the Iranian Islamic Revolution since 1979. The Gulf Wars were part of that, and today we see theaters of operation in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. It could merge into a larger conflict at some point, like the Sino-Japanese war that began in 1937 merged into World War Two.

On my Statism, a possible overreach;

I don't think so.


Perhaps. Or it's the perception on my part that I'd want to be the last person to be called upon to actually ever rule over others.


Is this what the Orthodox know as Theosis?


Yes, the Acquiring of the Holy Spirit of God, the indwelling of the Trinity within the Saints. Union (without identity with) with God in the Kingdom of Heaven. It cannot happen fully in this life as this is the time for refinement and testing, but can in the next life.


It would be somewhat bold of me to say that human nature is at its very centre flawed and distorted but a lot of people are misanthropes and do not strive towards the good. We must never underestimate how terrible people have the capacity to be. This isn't cynicism but simple realism. It would even be possible to say that the majority of people are self-centred and don't care particularly care about others. The default of society these days seems to be, "Don't disturb me and I won't disturb you." People are suspicious of kindness and think there is some ulterior motive, which there often is. There are nice people in the world but the default of humanity is rugged individualism and a survival mentality. This is a far from ideal state of affairs, people shouldn't be this way but they are. One need only look at the comment section of video sharing websites, especially on political topics to see how people talk about each other or about entire nations of people. And in general life experience you always see someone being horrible to another person for no particular reason. I hate to have such a low view of humanity but we're living in a world with lots of nasty people in it.


One can have this view of people and not become too distorted oneself I think, with a combination of love and mercy and forgiveness for others and humility with regard to ourselves.


People do not want to see the reality of the world, or that a lot of people are flawed and selfish, not inclined towards the good. Modern civilisations want to believe in many illusions. They think that they can change people or change this or that, and that if only people could be coached or the culture changed that such and such an outcome would be possible. This type of thinking in fact leads to more problems because the supposed solutions are not based on any reality. It also extends into every sphere of life, including viewpoints on foreign policy, hence why we have tremendous military adventurism in the world even in the 21st century.


Yes, and this is very dangerous, with increasing chances of serious miscalculations as in Europe on the eve of World War One.

We're in a world where people are consistently badly behaved and ill natured but where there is also this naive belief everyone is overall good. Well unfortunately there are many bad people among the ranks of humanity and it's terrible.

There's also a stigma attached to pointing this out, as if the one who makes such an observation is also inclined to being awful, but that's simply not the case. Just because one is aware of how a lot of people are does not mean they themselves like this state of affairs or support it. No one is perfect, but there are a lot of not very nice people who carry on doing massive wrong, knowing it to be so and simply not caring.


We need God.
#15167312
annatar1914 wrote:Easter, or Pascha, is on May 2nd this year, Great Lent continues, and so does the struggle. I always find more 'corners of darkness' within me and in my life, and it actually makes me pleased in a way, that I can change with God's help. But it still reminds me I have no reason to be arrogant and judge others.


Easter it seems is the most sacred of all times in the calendar, where the internal reform must be given special effort.

annatar1914 wrote:I seem to have read somewhere that in Peru's presidential election, Keiko Fujimori's contender on the Left, Pedro Castillo, happens to be strongly Socialist and wants to nationalize Peru's resources, but he's absolutely anti LGBTQ, pro-traditional family, and pro-life, socially conservative. He is doing increasingly well among the poorer, the indians, and rural areas, it'll be interesting to see how he does and how the electoral demographics play out for and against him and Fujimori.


That would be a winning combination in conservative pre-modern proletarian societies.

annatar1914 wrote:Especially theory that isn't grounded in love of the notion of Truth and the love of the Truth to begin with.


Yes.

annatar1914 wrote:Absolutely. I have encountered other cultures and remnants of other civilizations, but the Western civilization is pretty much the one that has worldwide sway to a greater or lesser degree, and it's the civilization that is the reference point to which I am able to offer criticism at all.


Funnily enough it is the civilisation that invites most criticism from others, but it seems in its own way the most adverse to change.

And paradoxically it is also the most revolutionary.

annatar1914 wrote:This is true, yet it seems to me that this self-loathing is at the very origin of this civilization, novelty and self loathing.


It's a self-loathing that is almost masochistic because it never invites itself to reform or look for solutions for that which it hates in itself.

annatar1914 wrote:I think the ''appeal'' of ideologies that are Western in nature come from Western conquerors or comprador elites imposed on other cultures by the West, and/or from Westernized intelligencia that are rebelling against a colonial or semi-colonial Western rule and they use ideologies like Marxism as a weapon.


Undoubtedly so. Lenin was Western educated at Kazan. Ho Chi Minh I think as well. Pol Pot went to the Sorbonne.

The global south always used Marxism as a weapon, and quite naturally so. It provided an analytical framework that explained their situation quite well at the time, and it also offered international connections to the Soviets and Chinese who could provide arms, aid and experts.

annatar1914 wrote:Note also the cultural Anglicization of the Scottish Aristocracy during that same time period, and intermarriage with Norman lords.


Normans who were themselves once barbarians.

annatar1914 wrote:It might just take disaffected intellectuals in order for that to happen, rulers who aspire to be like more sophisticated neighbors or even surpass them.


Wherever there is a scholastic tendency it is likely to happen. Rus didn't have the same social structure and that could explain why they didn't experience this on the same scale. Even Novgorod was not the same as a Western mercantile state. Western historians have wanted to see in Novgorod a proto-democracy that would have prevailed had Muscovy not become the prevailing political culture but a Russian has told me this is not so.

annatar1914 wrote:PersonallyI think we've already been in one ''world war'' that is ongoing, the war to contain and roll back the Iranian Islamic Revolution since 1979. The Gulf Wars were part of that, and today we see theaters of operation in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. It could merge into a larger conflict at some point, like the Sino-Japanese war that began in 1937 merged into World War Two.


Much like the wars to contain Russia and China, although there are fewer proxy conflicts in this case.

annatar1914 wrote:Perhaps. Or it's the perception on my part that I'd want to be the last person to be called upon to actually ever rule over others.


Leadership could not be separated from guilt. How people lead countries, any country, and sleep at night I will never understand.

annatar1914 wrote:Yes, the Acquiring of the Holy Spirit of God, the indwelling of the Trinity within the Saints. Union (without identity with) with God in the Kingdom of Heaven. It cannot happen fully in this life as this is the time for refinement and testing, but can in the next life.


Is this why some icons depict the Saints with Christ and His Mother all together, sanctified and redeemed in heaven?

annatar1914 wrote:One can have this view of people and not become too distorted oneself I think, with a combination of love and mercy and forgiveness for others and humility with regard to ourselves.


Having such a view does not say anything about the one who has it because it is a fact that the world is this way.

As I write this there are two major powers ready to blow the world to smithereens over land. What sort of people can do this? That people are willing to fight and kill for land, resources and whatever else testifies to the dire state of the human condition.

annatar1914 wrote:Yes, and this is very dangerous, with increasing chances of serious miscalculations as in Europe on the eve of World War One.


There is no need for it. A person who could see coldnesss in man would be able to read Putin very well. Biden and his cabinet can't read him because they don't see humanity in this way. Biden can call Putin a killer but he doesn't really think it. Biden doesn't seem to realise that if he starts a war in Ukraine he too would be to blame.

annatar1914 wrote:We need God.


Lord have mercy on us.

I saw this article which may interest you. It could relate to the topic somewhat. Here is an excerpt:

Archimandrite Touma (Bitar) wrote:But why doesn’t the Lord grant for all people to be believers? This is because some people have preparation to believe and others do not have preparation. This is something ordinary. If we have, for example, water, it is very basic for there to be fertile earth. But water doesn’t act and doesn’t fertilize if there is no soil. So there is a need for soil. If we pour water on the desert, we do not benefit from anything. In this manner, someone is ready for faith if he has a heart that is prepared to benefit and be fertile when the grace of God, which is the grace of faith, comes upon him. The issue here is a person’s heart, whether it is ready to believe or not. Of course, this raises the question: when is the heart ready for faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? The heart is ready for faith in the Lord Jesus Christ when a person is upright, loves the truth, says that truth is true and falsehood false. A person knows these things according to human nature when he walks in the truth. There is no person in this world who does not distinguish, albeit within certain limits, between right and wrong, between acceptable and unacceptable, between truth and falsehood. A person who does not possess this distinction is either sick or has lost his mental faculties, since every person by nature has preparation, when he is raised in his environment, to know good from evil, even if it is to a limited degree. If he has walked in uprightness and loved the true and the good, then he becomes ready to accept the grace of faith that comes to him from the Father of Lights. While the person who is hypocritical, impure, twisted and not upright… it is impossible for him to believe. For this reason the devil, for example, knows but does not believe because he is twisted and impure and at the same time hypocritical, lying and murderous. The devil has extremely broad information, but this information does him no good because his heart is not upright. The evil person who walks without uprightness, loves falsehood, is concerned with getting what he wants, does not testify to the truth in any way and is not concerned with the truth but rather is only concerned with himself and his own interests… such a person cannot believe and cannot be ready for faith. In this sense, faith isn’t for everyone!

Why do you think that the upright person who loves the true and loves the good is ready to accept faith in God? Because uprightness, truth and goodness are flashes of the Lord Jesus Christ who is truth, goodness and life. These are lights from Him, sown in the nature of man who, if he walks in them, he is drawn close to God. When the Lord God wants to reveal Himself to him, then he (that is, this person who is upright in his path, a man of truth and goodness) sees that faith is something very normal and natural and he wants to believe but he cannot because of human weakness. It is impossible for someone to believe in God by his own powers. You remember that incident when a man came with his son who had an impure spirit and the Lord asked him, “If you believe, everything is possible for the believer.” The father replied, “I believe, O Lord, help my unbelief!” (That is, my entire being is drawn to faith, but I find in myself that I am not a believer. I am too weak to be able to believe in You. I need for You to grant me to believe. As for myself, I am drawn to you and I am completely prepared to believe in You.] At that point, the Lord gave him what he wanted. The weakness within us does not absolutely deprive us of God. We are all weak. The Lord God truly wants to give Himself to weak humans, not to strong humans, since there are no strong humans. So weakness absolutely isn’t a problem. Indeed, it helps to attract divine grace, since the Spirit of the Lord settles within us in our weakness and at that point we become strong– but by God’s grace, not in ourselves. For this reason, when the Apostle Paul talks about human weakness, he says, “I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

So the condition for us to be ready to accept faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is for us to be upright in our life. Blessed is the one who bears witness to the truth even at his own expense, for there is no doubt that for God he is a chosen vessel and a blessed man. But why are there not many believers, to the degree that the Lord says, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith upon the earth?” The reason for this is that most people have come to walk in twistedness and without uprightness. They do not love the truth, but rather love their own interests. The truth, today, is equivalent to people’s interests. Very, very few people today bear witness to the truth because people look out for their own. Their basic concern is acquisition and avoiding harm. For this reason, it is very hard for them to believe and to accept God’s grace. Therefore God’s grace is not given to them because God knows the hidden things of their hearts, for He puts His grace in damaged vessels! This is a fundamental aspect of the issue of faith. He is very near to us, but at the same time He is very far from us! Uprightness is needed.


Source: https://www.pravmir.com/there-is-no-life-without-faith/
#15167743
@Political Interest , you replied;

Easter it seems is the most sacred of all times in the calendar, where the internal reform must be given special effort.


I think it helps that the process is embedded within a time cycle much in keeping with the natural cycles of life, offered as a way of life.


On the combination of traditional morality, faith and spiritualism with what is called a ''Leftist'' socio-economic policy;


That would be a winning combination in conservative pre-modern proletarian societies.


I think so too. I am thinking that part of the problem is the political labeling and branding which all too easily lends itself to a kind of tribalism. One political faction is against masks because ''liberals'' support them, for example.



On the complexities and paradoxes of a critique of western civilization;


Funnily enough it is the civilisation that invites most criticism from others, but it seems in its own way the most adverse to change.

And paradoxically it is also the most revolutionary.


It says in Scripture that a ''double minded man is unstable in all his ways'', and I believe that applies to a society of double minded men also. Many might think that I'm trying to square a number of metaphysical circles by some of my beliefs, but honestly I think that stems more from a society divorcing itself from it's roots, a society created by divorcing itself from the ''fountain of living water''.


Speaking I think to men composing this civilization, you write of their hatreds that;


It's a self-loathing that is almost masochistic because it never invites itself to reform or look for solutions for that which it hates in itself.


Look up the character of ''Aaron'' in the play ''Titus Andronicus'' by William Shakespeare; some men are just simply Satanic down to the bone, unfortunately;

''O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?
I am no baby, I, that with base prayers
I should repent the evils I have done:
If one good deed in all my life I did,
I do repent it from my very soul.''




And speaking of such men, enabled and weaponized by a Western education, you said;


Undoubtedly so. Lenin was Western educated at Kazan. Ho Chi Minh I think as well. Pol Pot went to the Sorbonne.

The global south always used Marxism as a weapon, and quite naturally so. It provided an analytical framework that explained their situation quite well at the time, and it also offered international connections to the Soviets and Chinese who could provide arms, aid and experts.


Absolutely. Any weapon will do for the purposes of some.


On the Anglicized Scottish lords;


Normans who were themselves once barbarians.


Indeed. Nobody is as fanatical as a convert in some ways, because nobody is as insecure with something to prove to themselves and to others.


Wherever there is a scholastic tendency it is likely to happen. Rus didn't have the same social structure and that could explain why they didn't experience this on the same scale. Even Novgorod was not the same as a Western mercantile state. Western historians have wanted to see in Novgorod a proto-democracy that would have prevailed had Muscovy not become the prevailing political culture but a Russian has told me this is not so.


Yes, they simply don't understand the cultural code of the Russian cultural and spiritual space. There's no people that love freedom more, in a manner as little understood by anyone from the West.


On Theosis;

Is this why some icons depict the Saints with Christ and His Mother all together, sanctified and redeemed in heaven?


Yes, they are those who are in and from ''the world to come'', while still united with the Saints in this life, part of the ''Communion of Saints''. We are never alone.

On the present state of affairs in the world today;


Having such a view does not say anything about the one who has it because it is a fact that the world is this way.

As I write this there are two major powers ready to blow the world to smithereens over land. What sort of people can do this? That people are willing to fight and kill for land, resources and whatever else testifies to the dire state of the human condition.



There is no need for it. A person who could see coldnesss in man would be able to read Putin very well. Biden and his cabinet can't read him because they don't see humanity in this way. Biden can call Putin a killer but he doesn't really think it. Biden doesn't seem to realise that if he starts a war in Ukraine he too would be to blame.


I've given a lot of thought to the very problems you're speaking about, at this point I can only pray for them.


I saw this article which may interest you. It could relate to the topic somewhat. Here is an excerpt:


''Very near but very far indeed'', it's true. The closer we get to God, the further away we sometimes feel because of our perception of His holiness and our infirmities. And some of us prefer our infirmities because we want a radical autonomy (as much as we might prefer our vices and indulge our passions) that just isn't possible.
#15170619
@Political Interest , @Verv , and @Potemkin , thought you might like this write up and speech by the Leftist running for President of Peru, Pedro Castillo, who is very Socialistic, but traditional/non-liberal on the social, moral, and spiritual issues;

https://kawsachunnews.com/pedro-castill ... -own-words

Pedro Castillo:

Our first task is to use the tool of Peru Libre, the pencil of dignity, to write the new constitution. You, my brothers ronderos, we have to push ourselves into the new constituent assembly to help form the first constitution of the Peruvian people, the real constitution of our independence.

I want to denounce publicly those media outlets with national coverage that twist reality. Those outlets that do what they want and defend the oligarchy, but they forget about the people who have no bread, no education, no healthcare. They forget about those who demand their rights and ask for justice. That’s why we’re here, if we have to give our lives for a better country then we’ll do it with dignity. We won’t back down.

We ratify our demand that in the new constitution, we rescue the strategic resources of Peru. The gas in Camisea must be for Peruvians. We have to nationalize gas, gold, silver, uranium, copper, we have to nationalize the lithium that they’ve just sold to other countries. That has to be for Peruvians, because it’s necessary that the mothers who carry their children no longer have an uncertain future.

That’s where I come from, the struggle from below. No one paid for my education, I am the one who brings bread for my children as the fruit of my labor, no one gives me handouts. That’s the same as you.

However, when we organise a struggle, what’s the first thing they tell us? ‘You’re a terrorist.’ The misery of our people is terrorism. Inequality and injustice is terrorism. Hunger is terrorism. We are ronderos, not terrorists.

Comrades, we’ve passed the first round, the second round we have to face together. Our comrades from childhood are now leading the rondas across the country. As teachers we contributed to educating these new generations. Now we’re here to carry the voice of the forgotten peoples. I want to announce here that we’ve had a meeting with the national command, and the first thing we’ll do is organise a national meeting of ronderos, to organise a structure for a defense force of the people to deliver dignity.

I want to respond to those who call you extremists, to those who say you’re in Movadef (Shining Path), to those who call you terrorist. We know that we are people who go to church, we are men of faith, we believe in the family, we believe in work. From a very young age we picked up tools, because the best fertilizer for the land is the sweat of the people.


That’s why I call on the youth to join this struggle, to also think first in their family, to not be led astray or back down from the principles and values given to them by their family. Look how they’ve left the country, we need the youth to not only defend the community, but also defend our values and defend our own.

I want to end this speech by sending my greetings to the whole country, to call on all the other candidates who didn’t make the second round to sit with me and talk. Let’s leave aside party positions, don’t get fooled by what they say on TV and in the newspapers. I will never be led by special interests.

Due to things I’ve said, there is some fear from our opponents, they know that we’ll stop the gravy train, that we’ll end the gold-plated wages. We’re going to renounce the Presidential salary and the salary for life that comes with it. We’re going to make those who owe taxes to the state pay, we’ll end corruption and force those responsible to return everything they stole. We’re going to launch a second agrarian reform and invest in agricultural workers. We’re going to reduce the salaries of lawmakers and Ministers by half and give it to the poorest families of the country.

I call on the social movements of the country, on the unions, the collectives, let’s sit down and talk. I want to express my thanks to those from other groups who have joined our side, who put aside differences because they believe in the country.

Long live Peru!


Certain emphasis in bold. What do you gentlemen think?
#15170656
annatar1914 wrote:@Political Interest , @Verv , and @Potemkin , thought you might like this write up and speech by the Leftist running for President of Peru, Pedro Castillo, who is very Socialistic, but traditional/non-liberal on the social, moral, and spiritual issues;

https://kawsachunnews.com/pedro-castill ... -own-words



Certain emphasis in bold. What do you gentlemen think?

He's got my vote! :up:
#15170834
annatar1914 wrote:@Potemkin ;

Yes, he seems like a genuine man of the people. Truly Socialistic and without the degenerate, stupid, weird, self-loathing, and sick affectations of the Western liberal bourgeoisie.

Must be why we haven't heard much about him in the Western media.

Indeed. He doesn't fit into any of the pre-defined political categories of Western 'developed' nations. But one person's 'developed' is another person's 'decadent'.
#15170837
Potemkin wrote:Indeed. He doesn't fit into any of the pre-defined political categories of Western 'developed' nations. But one person's 'developed' is another person's 'decadent'.


@Potemkin , aye, but regarding that distinction one knows one is near the exhaustion of possibilities (considering things strictly within the ambit of the Western civilization) when one encounters such hothouse flowers, such florid forms of life, as exist in the West today. One wastes time developing such creations when the creators have abandoned all seriousness, have forgotten the whole plot.

It reminds me of a creative writing class where two bad writers are assigned to take turns writing a single chapter of a story apiece in collaboration, neither one having any idea where things are headed until the end, lol.

It's obvious to me that Castillo is an leadership iteration of the Pre-Columbian world of ancient Peru, regardless of his own heritage personally one way or another, and is a return to the Pre-Modern in spirit. It will be interesting to see if he wins and why, or if he does win, what happens next.
#15170842
annatar1914 wrote:@Potemkin , aye, but regarding that distinction one knows one is near the exhaustion of possibilities (considering things strictly within the ambit of the Western civilization) when one encounters such hothouse flowers, such florid forms of life, as exist in the West today. One wastes time developing such creations when the creators have abandoned all seriousness, have forgotten the whole plot.

It reminds me of a creative writing class where two bad writers are assigned to take turns writing a single chapter of a story apiece in collaboration, neither one having any idea where things are headed until the end, lol.

It's obvious to me that Castillo is an leadership iteration of the Pre-Columbian world of ancient Peru, regardless of his own heritage personally one way or another, and is a return to the Pre-Modern in spirit. It will be interesting to see if he wins and why, or if he does win, what happens next.

Agreed. This relates, of course, to the barbarism/civilisation polarity discussed earlier. A decadent civilisation may need to be 'reset' every so often by 'barbaric' elements. This process may or may not involve the use of coercion or even violence. Marx foresaw the European proletariat playing the role of the 'barbarians' in resetting a decadent and collapsing capitalist civilisation. Central and South America, of course, have a ready-made 'barbarian' element - the dispossessed, exploited and oppressed indigenous populations.
#15171007
Potemkin wrote:Agreed. This relates, of course, to the barbarism/civilisation polarity discussed earlier. A decadent civilisation may need to be 'reset' every so often by 'barbaric' elements. This process may or may not involve the use of coercion or even violence. Marx foresaw the European proletariat playing the role of the 'barbarians' in resetting a decadent and collapsing capitalist civilisation. Central and South America, of course, have a ready-made 'barbarian' element - the dispossessed, exploited and oppressed indigenous populations.


@Potemkin , I agree, and it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.

It's kind of difficult to conduct globalized trade when resource colonies increasingly cut themselves off from the consumers of said resources, or are cut off from said consumers. And even more difficult to conduct globalized civilization at all under those circumstances, especially of the modern type that has gone on for some 500 years now.
#15172572
@annatar1914

Please excuse the delayed response.

annatar1914 wrote:I think it helps that the process is embedded within a time cycle much in keeping with the natural cycles of life, offered as a way of life.


Please explain more.

annatar1914 wrote:I think so too. I am thinking that part of the problem is the political labeling and branding which all too easily lends itself to a kind of tribalism. One political faction is against masks because ''liberals'' support them, for example.


This binary view of politics, and this epistemological obsession with an intellectually correct practice of political dogmas needs to change.

People can practice what works. Rules should not govern the organisation of political ideologies, but rather the political ideology should respond to the needs of the time and place. This is especially true when ideology is merely a means to achieve a practical end, but yet people treat it as some pseudo religion in some cases, a pseudo religion which is entirely lacking in canon and changes like the weather.

Only religion should be treated as sacred. And this is the reason I am so suspicious of invoking religion for political life.

annatar1914 wrote:It says in Scripture that a ''double minded man is unstable in all his ways'', and I believe that applies to a society of double minded men also. Many might think that I'm trying to square a number of metaphysical circles by some of my beliefs, but honestly I think that stems more from a society divorcing itself from it's roots, a society created by divorcing itself from the ''fountain of living water''.


This is very true, where there is confusion there is instability. This civilisation is perpetually confused and so we see what this is producing.

But then the world is also confused, no one really knows what is going on, even world leaders. Of all the civilisations it looks like the Confucian ones are the most grounded, but they too are not without their problems.

annatar1914 wrote:Look up the character of ''Aaron'' in the play ''Titus Andronicus'' by William Shakespeare; some men are just simply Satanic down to the bone, unfortunately;

''O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?
I am no baby, I, that with base prayers
I should repent the evils I have done:
If one good deed in all my life I did,
I do repent it from my very soul.''


In the end this will lead to misery.

annatar1914 wrote:Yes, they simply don't understand the cultural code of the Russian cultural and spiritual space. There's no people that love freedom more, in a manner as little understood by anyone from the West.


Freedom loving people indeed. From my interactions with them I have gathered that they are not a people that like indulging in nonsense, their attitude to life is that they wish to be left unmolested by anyone, they like to live undisturbed and peacefully.

annatar1914 wrote:On Theosis;

Yes, they are those who are in and from ''the world to come'', while still united with the Saints in this life, part of the ''Communion of Saints''. We are never alone.


Thank you for explaining this.

annatar1914 wrote:I've given a lot of thought to the very problems you're speaking about, at this point I can only pray for them.


At least we can pray for them if nothing else.

annatar1914 wrote:''Very near but very far indeed'', it's true. The closer we get to God, the further away we sometimes feel because of our perception of His holiness and our infirmities. And some of us prefer our infirmities because we want a radical autonomy (as much as we might prefer our vices and indulge our passions) that just isn't possible.


This is comforting to know.

I am not worthy of Him. When I have walked into an Orthodox Church in the past I saw the icon of Christ Pantocrator and thought of what He would say to me. I fear that I would be among the ones who He says He does not know.

annatar1914 wrote:Certain emphasis in bold. What do you gentlemen think?


Excellent. I like the way he speaks as a man of the people, to bring public services to the people and so people can at least live. This should be the task of any government, it's not even a question of ideology. That he comes from the people and carries with him their morality and collective folk mentality attests to his proletarian credentials.

annatar1914 wrote:Yes, he seems like a genuine man of the people. Truly Socialistic and without the degenerate, stupid, weird, self-loathing, and sick affectations of the Western liberal bourgeoisie.

Must be why we haven't heard much about him in the Western media.


Precisely, he speaks in terms of roads, infrastructure, schools and hospitals as opposed to cultural wars and debates over language. Everyone needs housing, employment and the fundamentals. These should be human rights and ensured by every state. Man should not have to worry about his physical existence in a civilised country. When there is less worry about physical existence this creates more time for inner cultivation, including of a spiritual nature. One of the problems of the runaway capitalism is that there is often not time or the security to cultivate one's soul. This is all completely feasible even in the most poor countries, certainly in the rich ones.

Potemkin wrote:Indeed. He doesn't fit into any of the pre-defined political categories of Western 'developed' nations. But one person's 'developed' is another person's 'decadent'.


I'm sure a lot of the freezing, cold and unemployed would be quite happy with someone like this. They are certainly not enjoying any decadence.

annatar1914 wrote:aye, but regarding that distinction one knows one is near the exhaustion of possibilities (considering things strictly within the ambit of the Western civilization) when one encounters such hothouse flowers, such florid forms of life, as exist in the West today. One wastes time developing such creations when the creators have abandoned all seriousness, have forgotten the whole plot.

It reminds me of a creative writing class where two bad writers are assigned to take turns writing a single chapter of a story apiece in collaboration, neither one having any idea where things are headed until the end, lol.


This is why I am such a pessimist.

Potemkin wrote:Agreed. This relates, of course, to the barbarism/civilisation polarity discussed earlier. A decadent civilisation may need to be 'reset' every so often by 'barbaric' elements. This process may or may not involve the use of coercion or even violence. Marx foresaw the European proletariat playing the role of the 'barbarians' in resetting a decadent and collapsing capitalist civilisation. Central and South America, of course, have a ready-made 'barbarian' element - the dispossessed, exploited and oppressed indigenous populations.


There are not many barbarians in the West these days, wouldn't you say?

annatar1914 wrote:It's kind of difficult to conduct globalized trade when resource colonies increasingly cut themselves off from the consumers of said resources, or are cut off from said consumers. And even more difficult to conduct globalized civilization at all under those circumstances, especially of the modern type that has gone on for some 500 years now.


The West could get these resources without any exploitative relationship.
#15173028
@Political Interest , no need to apologize for any delay in your responses, I myself have been rather busy with many worldly affairs recently.




Please explain more.


I had stated before something along the lines of a successful anti-modern life has to be embedded within a whole way of life in sync with the natural cycles of life. I guess I could make the illustration of the Orthodox Christian liturgical calendar embedded within the seasonal changes but pointing to more spiritual lessons. We're still in Pascha, after all, and we've been celebrating the myrrh bearing women in the Orthodox world;





This binary view of politics, and this epistemological obsession with an intellectually correct practice of political dogmas needs to change.

People can practice what works. Rules should not govern the organisation of political ideologies, but rather the political ideology should respond to the needs of the time and place. This is especially true when ideology is merely a means to achieve a practical end, but yet people treat it as some pseudo religion in some cases, a pseudo religion which is entirely lacking in canon and changes like the weather.


I've pretty obviously come to believe that the modern ideologies in a very real sense, are bull. They don't answer the problems of modern life because the problem stems from the life created by modern ideology itself.

Only religion should be treated as sacred. And this is the reason I am so suspicious of invoking religion for political life.


As am I. Not sure harmony can seriously exist as in the days of old, between religion and the state.


This is very true, where there is confusion there is instability. This civilisation is perpetually confused and so we see what this is producing.

But then the world is also confused, no one really knows what is going on, even world leaders. Of all the civilisations it looks like the Confucian ones are the most grounded, but they too are not without their problems.


Confucian ideals are pretty this-worldly. And insofar as that goes, it's not that bad a system, but of course there is more to life and it's meaning. Much social dis-satisfaction comes from personal dis-satisfaction, which comes from the relation between Man and His Maker.


In the end this will lead to misery.


Yes, but who is to tell them? They are determined on the course they have set.


On Russia and the Russian people;

Freedom loving people indeed. From my interactions with them I have gathered that they are not a people that like indulging in nonsense, their attitude to life is that they wish to be left unmolested by anyone, they like to live undisturbed and peacefully.


The quiet and unmolested life is all the more precious when one recalls the cost it takes to preserve it.


Thank you for explaining this.


With ''Theosis'', I do my poor best to explain. I am a pilgrim on a journey.


At least we can pray for them if nothing else.


I'm optimistic that it has it's effect.


This is comforting to know.

I am not worthy of Him. When I have walked into an Orthodox Church in the past I saw the icon of Christ Pantocrator and thought of what He would say to me. I fear that I would be among the ones who He says He does not know.


Humility, an honest appraisal of who one is in God's sight, coupled with an understanding of his Mercy and Goodness, is the best remedy for feelings of alienation from Him, I think.


On Castillo in Peru;


Excellent. I like the way he speaks as a man of the people, to bring public services to the people and so people can at least live. This should be the task of any government, it's not even a question of ideology. That he comes from the people and carries with him their morality and collective folk mentality attests to his proletarian credentials.


Indeed. I don't know what will happen, but I hope that the Poor will be heard.


Precisely, he speaks in terms of roads, infrastructure, schools and hospitals as opposed to cultural wars and debates over language. Everyone needs housing, employment and the fundamentals. These should be human rights and ensured by every state. Man should not have to worry about his physical existence in a civilised country. When there is less worry about physical existence this creates more time for inner cultivation, including of a spiritual nature. One of the problems of the runaway capitalism is that there is often not time or the security to cultivate one's soul. This is all completely feasible even in the most poor countries, certainly in the rich ones.


I totally agree, the ''leaders'' of the nations are not addressing these problems seriously, or if they are, they're on the side of the people who are just Bandits.


I'm sure a lot of the freezing, cold and unemployed would be quite happy with someone like this. They are certainly not enjoying any decadence.


Yes, the ''decadence'' is all from the seared consciences of the wealthy who cannot see the poorer people, literally. Their lives are opaque to them.


This is why I am such a pessimist.


Not sure it's pessimism, is it? When one can see that ''men plan, but God is the best of planners''.




The West could get these resources without any exploitative relationship.


Greed has a way of making people stupid with their arrogance.
#15176497
Today is the feast of the Ascension of the Lord in the Orthodox Christian calendar.

And I'm reminded again of how paradoxically prosaic and banal, so matter of fact, the story seems to be while all the same quite glorious and hopeful it appears to the Christian.

The key here is the understanding in the story that Christ actually went up, from a physical location in a physical Body, to another physical location in His Body, a place beyond our understanding no doubt, but a place nonetheless. Saying that He would leave, but also that He would return in glory. Time and Space as concrete realities in creation, conditioning Christianity as a discrete reality that cannot reasonably be easily reduced to a-historical real time-less and real location-less mythology.

(As an aside, there are a few other religions that are concrete historical realities in time and place; Mormonism and Islam come to mind. )

So is Christianity a ''waiting'' religion? To a point I'd say, although in the interim we have God the Holy Spirit preparing us. So it's a joyful and hopeful waiting. No room there for human religion's main lever of fraudulent control; fear.
#15177503
annatar1914 wrote:I had stated before something along the lines of a successful anti-modern life has to be embedded within a whole way of life in sync with the natural cycles of life. I guess I could make the illustration of the Orthodox Christian liturgical calendar embedded within the seasonal changes but pointing to more spiritual lessons. We're still in Pascha, after all, and we've been celebrating the myrrh bearing women in the Orthodox world;



As people lived before in villages and small towns before the industrial era.

annatar1914 wrote:I've pretty obviously come to believe that the modern ideologies in a very real sense, are bull. They don't answer the problems of modern life because the problem stems from the life created by modern ideology itself.


Me as well. They are based on suppositions and vast assumptions. They do not necessarily need to be based on truth, they merely need popular traction. Anyone coud create any ideology and it could gain a mass following. This is why so many of the ideologies of the 20th century ranged from mild success stories to abysmal failures. Ideology is purely theoretical, it exists in the minds of intellectuals. Ideologies are based on one man's or group of people's biased interpretation of reality. In spite of pretentions to being based in science they are as much theoretical as any other praxis.

Much of modern philosophy is also extremely pretentious. It's certainly caused us many problems, only worsened the experience of the human condition in many ways.

annatar1914 wrote:As am I. Not sure harmony can seriously exist as in the days of old, between religion and the state.


It most likely can't. Because we are no longer in the age of pre-modern empires that could rule in the name of religion without any accessories. Power and control of borderlands was the order of the day in these times. Today religion is used in all sorts of propaganda, especially in the media sphere.

annatar1914 wrote:Confucian ideals are pretty this-worldly. And insofar as that goes, it's not that bad a system, but of course there is more to life and it's meaning. Much social dis-satisfaction comes from personal dis-satisfaction, which comes from the relation between Man and His Maker.


They are by no means perfect, but the Confucian social system appears to offer worldly stability which then allows for more spiritual pursuits.

A lot of Confucian societies have also adopted other religions as well, for example Christianity in Korea and in the Chinese world.

annatar1914 wrote:Yes, but who is to tell them? They are determined on the course they have set.


I would want to tell them but I am too cowardly!

annatar1914 wrote:The quiet and unmolested life is all the more precious when one recalls the cost it takes to preserve it.


And the Russians certainly know this cost.

It's a trait I've noticed among many peoples, including even in the West, wherein those who have known hardship more greatly appreciate the value of stability and aren't easily given to indulge in vapid stupidity.

annatar1914 wrote:With ''Theosis'', I do my poor best to explain. I am a pilgrim on a journey.


It is a very good explanation from what is admittedly a limited understanding on my part.

annatar1914 wrote:I'm optimistic that it has it's effect.


God willing.

annatar1914 wrote:Humility, an honest appraisal of who one is in God's sight, coupled with an understanding of his Mercy and Goodness, is the best remedy for feelings of alienation from Him, I think.


But we should always fear such alienation should we not?

annatar1914 wrote:Indeed. I don't know what will happen, but I hope that the Poor will be heard.


It seems they have.

annatar1914 wrote:I totally agree, the ''leaders'' of the nations are not addressing these problems seriously, or if they are, they're on the side of the people who are just Bandits.


Politicians as careerists, little more.

annatar1914 wrote:Yes, the ''decadence'' is all from the seared consciences of the wealthy who cannot see the poorer people, literally. Their lives are opaque to them.


Food, work and a roof over one's head are so fundamental to existence, it would not harm the ultra wealthy to spare a few coins so that others can also live at a basic standard.

annatar1914 wrote:Not sure it's pessimism, is it? When one can see that ''men plan, but God is the best of planners''.


Indeed.

annatar1914 wrote:Today is the feast of the Ascension of the Lord in the Orthodox Christian calendar.

And I'm reminded again of how paradoxically prosaic and banal, so matter of fact, the story seems to be while all the same quite glorious and hopeful it appears to the Christian.

The key here is the understanding in the story that Christ actually went up, from a physical location in a physical Body, to another physical location in His Body, a place beyond our understanding no doubt, but a place nonetheless. Saying that He would leave, but also that He would return in glory. Time and Space as concrete realities in creation, conditioning Christianity as a discrete reality that cannot reasonably be easily reduced to a-historical real time-less and real location-less mythology.

(As an aside, there are a few other religions that are concrete historical realities in time and place; Mormonism and Islam come to mind. )

So is Christianity a ''waiting'' religion? To a point I'd say, although in the interim we have God the Holy Spirit preparing us. So it's a joyful and hopeful waiting. No room there for human religion's main lever of fraudulent control; fear.


Hopeful in the sense that we have a road to salvation, yes? Waiting for the final judgement but then hopeful because of the possibility of man's redemption.

In Islam there is a concept of existing between fear and hope.

Perhaps this is similar?
#15177867
@Political Interest ,my friend,thank you for your replies, they are greatly appreciated and reflected upon! I wanted to comment on a few of your statements, forgive me if I'm incomplete in addressing your statements (a certain re-consideration on my part is involved, I'm deep in reflection on the state of the world lately);

Concerning the cycle and rhythm of traditional Christian life, you replied to my comment that it was;

As people lived before in villages and small towns before the industrial era.


I agree, and aver that the modernist reply that all that is gone forever is too confident by far. On the contrary I do not believe society built on modernism can survive, it simply isn't sustainable norisit natural.

And the uncertain foundations of Modernism,the political religions/ideologies, they draw your ire as they do mine;

Me as well. They are based on suppositions and vast assumptions. They do not necessarily need to be based on truth, they merely need popular traction. Anyone coud create any ideology and it could gain a mass following. This is why so many of the ideologies of the 20th century ranged from mild success stories to abysmal failures. Ideology is purely theoretical, it exists in the minds of intellectuals. Ideologies are based on one man's or group of people's biased interpretation of reality. In spite of pretentions to being based in science they are as much theoretical as any other praxis.


Think of all the bloodshed of the ''Age of Revolutions'', caused by these turmoils of men with their minds on fire!

Much of modern philosophy is also extremely pretentious. It's certainly caused us many problems, only worsened the experience of the human condition in many ways.


A great deal of modern philosophy is merely sophistry, status-seeking by means of exercises in verbal or written diarrhea.

On the use of religion in today's world to bolster society, you interjected a note of caution and realism;

It most likely can't. Because we are no longer in the age of pre-modern empires that could rule in the name of religion without any accessories. Power and control of borderlands was the order of the day in these times. Today religion is used in all sorts of propaganda, especially in the media sphere.


On Chinese philosophy and it's this-worldly concerns;

They are by no means perfect, but the Confucian social system appears to offer worldly stability which then allows for more spiritual pursuits.

A lot of Confucian societies have also adopted other religions as well, for example Christianity in Korea and in the Chinese world.


Good point, perhaps I have become too jaundiced and cynical.

On the 'watchfulness' and 'waiting' expected in authentic Christian life;

In Islam there is a concept of existing between fear and hope.

Perhaps this is similar?


It is similar indeed, as is to be expected I think. I think a lot of conclusions can be extrapolated from this tension in Magian culture.
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