Measure is above all. Purpose and meaning of life
Civilization will end,” but he justified this by the fact that humanity cannot leave the Earth. However, how wrong he was, at least least, in argumentation! But besides going into space, there is also a path to the microworld, which is probably inexhaustible in depth... if you really want to have tomatoes on a pine tree. Thus, cyclicality is not partly excluded, but rather Total, it will have to be maintained artificially. Having once begun its activity, the mind is forced to maintain previous natural achievements. Inaction...
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“My police are protecting me”... This proverb, known from the so-called “stagnant” times, has long sunk into oblivion. It would be more accurate to say: “My police are taking care of themselves.” And our life today increasingly convinces us that people in uniform and with weapons are no longer very similar to those guardians of peace and security of citizens, which were the well-known Uncle Styopa and Aniskin. There is no need to repeat this, and facts of police lawlessness are regularly revealed in the media. In history, ...
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Stop pestilence, improve soil fertility, but their main task is to wash away the veil of illusions. But it all came down to their feeling measures and eligibility. Sometimes wisdom is replaced by the wisdom of Maya. We slowly and reverently entered the temple. I looked back - the girls were no longer... they had taken the stone with them. They wanted to exchange the crystal for pieces of paper, which they called money, which they valued above Total. The child was playing on the floor with a spinning top. He looked and laughed. The child looked and was not surprised that the multi-colored...
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... MEASURES,.. - numerical and others,.. - I set myself with WEAPONS,.. - against the Planet... “Conquering” it,.. removing from its depths ALL that is useful... Necessary,.. however, for the planet itself.. Your measuredness, always and everywhere consumerist... prevents the emergence of every true Spirituality in the soul!.. In the long-established practice of earthlings: ... that which is measured and measured out... is no longer subject to spiritualization. QUANTITY,.. - above Total... Profit, gain,.. and war,.. - above Total earthly, in consciousness... THE POWER of Dimensions...
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Carlos Castaneda
Through space, into infinity. *** When a person chooses the path of a warrior, he becomes completely awake, in full least realizing that ordinary life is forever left behind. The means of the ordinary world are no longer shields for him,... five quails, but one. Don't damage plants just to make a roasting pan. Do not expose yourself unnecessarily to the force of the wind. AND, above Total, - under no circumstances exhaust yourself and others. Don't take advantage of people, don't squeeze every last bit out of them...
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My life. Part 141. At Aunt Anya's
Among these people and thanks to them, it was tolerable, and perhaps it did not hinder me from subsequently fulfilling what God entrusted to me, so that everyone would find themselves in their own place. measure patient, understanding and gave more, knowing and not knowing about it, and for me to give to them, knowing and not knowing about who... yes, with imported products, and a river, and old people, and drunken revelry, for vodka, and moonshine revered here above Total. The children grew up one after another, in extreme need, almost without parental supervision, looking at each other as...
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New Ark Planetary Colonizer Introductory Course
Many people believe. But this is a “quota” for almost a medium-sized country. But this instrument will not last forever... By least the way local residents form a “picture of the world” - it’s becoming increasingly difficult to come up with the next “sunken” continents... Peter: So what... ” - everything was done quite primitively. This, of course, is a costly matter – keeping the planet “hidden”. But once they decided - “safety above Total”, so let it be so... Peter: But this is all, only in terms of reflected signals, the planet itself is not...
Purpose and meaning of life
Famous historian ancient philosophy Burnet considered only the work of Democritus “On Euthymia” to be authentic, which literally means “On a good state of mind.” Democritus considered such a “good” state to be a calm, even mood, which is established as a result of the uniform movement of atoms human soul. That’s why we translate the title: “On an even mood of spirit” (13, CXV). Achieving it, according to Democritus, is happiness and good, and this is the purpose of life. According to Diogenes Laertius, an even mood of spirit is “a state in which the soul is calm and balanced, not disturbed by any fears, superstitions or other experiences. He ( Democritus) calls such a state euesto and many other names” (ibid., 735). According to Democritus, writes Cicero, “peace of soul is the happiest life.” “Even if he believed that a happy life lies in knowledge (itself), he, however, wanted the benefit for the soul to flow from the study of nature; therefore he calls the highest good eutumia, often atambia, that is, a soul free from fear” (ibid., 741).
Almost everything was new here, starting with the very word “euthymia.” A person’s happiness, according to Democritus, did not depend on a happy coincidence of circumstances (tyche) and the goddess Tyche (hence the name of happiness “eutychie”). It did not depend on the whim of the deity - the demon (where the word “eudemonie” came from). It also did not mean happiness from wealth and pleasures, that is, it did not mean hedonism, which was later introduced by the founder of the Cyrenaic school, Aristippus. “...A good state of mind... is not identical with pleasure, as some have misunderstood” (ibid., 735). “He who with joy in his soul strives for just and lawful deeds, rejoices both in dreams and in reality, is healthy and carefree; the one who neglects justice and does not do what is necessary, when he remembers this, experiences troubles, fear and scolds himself” (ibid., 740).
F. Engels in his book “Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of the German classical philosophy" writes about how the average man, the philistine, usually understands materialism: this is "gluttony, drunkenness, lust, carnal pleasures and vanity, greed, stinginess, greed, the pursuit of profit and stock exchange scams, in short - all those dirty vices to which he himself indulges secretly" (2, 21 , 290). Such accusations were often addressed to Democritus and even more so to his successor Epicurus due to the fact that the ethics of Democritus were materialistic and deeply different from the religious-idealistic ethics of Socrates - Plato (and then Christianity). Democritus saw the source of morality not in the “divine voice”, like Socrates, not in the “idea of good”, like Plato, not in the commands of the gods, but in the earthly life of people. Need taught people to communicate with each other and contributed to the organization of their feelings, mind and soul, which consist of atoms mixed in a certain proportion (see 13, 460). This is what Theophas testifies, and this is consistent with the ethical fragments about peace of mind, which depends on the “equilibrium of the soul” (see ibid., 735; 737; 739). The goal of life, according to Democritus, is happiness, but it is by no means reducible to bodily pleasures and narrow selfishness, which idealists of all stripes still attribute to his ethics (see ibid., 776-790).
"Euthymia" in Democritus includes pleasure. Democritus recognized man as a natural being with a natural desire for pleasure and a natural instinct that tells him to avoid displeasure and grief. This person has the right to happiness. But feelings of pleasure and displeasure, according to Democritus, are “the boundary between what is related to our spirit and unrelated” (ibid., 734), these are like signals that indicate to a person what to strive for and what to avoid in order to achieve normal and a joyful state of mind. Happiness is precisely in this state: it is not only euthymia, but also evesto (internal stability), as well as harmony, regularity (symmetry) and ataraxia (serenity, which, however, for Democritus did not mean inactivity), and atambia (fearlessness). And here, in ethics, as well as in the theory of knowledge, feelings are the source of information about good and evil, but reason decides. It is the mind that helps a person observe the most important condition for happiness - moderation.
The concept of measure, which was organically connected with the concepts of order, rhythm and harmony, was traditional in ancient Greek philosophy(see 44, 35-43). It was used by philosophers both in the doctrine of existence and in explaining the inner world of man. Compliance with moderation was an important norm in Hesiod's moral code. The concept of measure related the philosophy of Heraclitus and the Pythagoreans; among the latter it was developed as a numerical category. Finally, it played an important role in modern medicine to Democritus. From the concept of measure, the orderliness of all human desires, which was considered the key to beauty and goodness, grew the ideal of a harmonious person, which found its vivid expression in Greek art.
The requirement to maintain a sense of proportion is heard in the old Greek saying attributed to seven more sages, in particular the reformer Solon: “Meden agan!” - “Nothing too much!”, i.e. nothing beyond measure. For Democritus, this became a whole teaching, combining atomistic theory and ethics.
The atom is invisible because it is too small. The essence and qualities of a thing depend on which form, arrangement and order of atoms predominate in it; the measure is passed - and the thing turns into something else. The life of animals and humans depends on the balance of inhaled and exhaled atoms of fire; the measure of those that a person can hold is passed - and the person dies. Life itself depends on the concentration of fiery atoms in matter. And moderation in a person’s lifestyle is a condition for his health and happiness.
Let us present a number of fragments according to the publication of S. Ya. Lurie (13): “If you exceed the measure, then the most pleasant will become the most unpleasant” (753). “Unreasonable pleasures give rise to grief” (755, cf. 34 and 750). “Joys are most satisfying when they are rare” (757). “People with a balanced character have an orderly life” (752, cf. 739).
“To desire excessively is appropriate for a child, not a husband” (754). “The middle is beautiful in everything: I don’t like either excess or lack” (749, cf. 748; 750-761). It is the mind that recognizes the measure and regulates the “wisdom” of a person. Here's what Democritus also said: “The sage is the measure of all existing things. With the help of the senses he is the measure of perceptible things, and with the help of reason he is the measure of intelligible things” (97).
A person should also be moderately active in both personal and public affairs; nothing good will come of it either for him or for others if he takes upon himself what is beyond his strength and natural abilities; one should not accept too many benefits and riches if fate sends them, for this can lead to grief, that is, evil (see 13, 737; 738; 750). “Both need and abundance are prone to change and cause great emotional disturbances. And souls agitated by great changes can be neither balanced nor well-disposed” (ibid., 739). Democritus demanded abstinence and moderation in all areas of personal life, for “courageous... is the one who is stronger... than his passions” (13, 706).
People who indulge in excessive pleasures and do not observe measures are classified by Democritus as fools and unreasonable, who themselves are to blame for their troubles and cannot bring happiness to themselves and others (see 13, 799; 798).
The advice to be moderate in business caused disapproval and misinterpretations among many both ancient and modern authors. However, Democritus’s advice was practically reasonable and directed, on the one hand, against the greed and acquisitiveness of businessmen who put their private interests above all else; and on the other hand, against the ambitions of leaders and demagogues who took upon themselves much “beyond their abilities,” which led them to failures and defeats. He also testified that Democritus did not have a “cult of the state,” which, according to Marx, was the “true religion” of the ancients (2, 7, 99); He had a positive, but critical attitude towards the laws of the policy, as established by people.
The name of Democritus was known in the Middle Ages in the Arab East. In the book of the Muslim theologian and philosopher of the 12th century. Muhammad al-Shahrastani's “Kitab al milal wa-n-nihal” (“Book of religions and sects”) also contains information about the schools of Greek philosophy. Here are 15 “Sayings of the Wisdom of Democritus” with an introduction and explanation. Until recently, all these sayings were considered spurious and were not translated in the publications of Democritus even as “pseudo-Democritus literature.” At the same time, the testimony of Shahrastani was considered quite applicable to Empedocles and Porphyry, and was also considered a valuable source of the teachings of other philosophers. German scientists from the GDR, F. Altheim and R. Stihl, drew attention to this “injustice.” They confirmed and supported one previously made observation: some sayings in Shahrastani coincide with the “Roman of Ahikar”, the same one from which, according to Clement of Alexandria, Democritus “copied” his ethical sayings.
On 11 pieces of papyrus from Elephantine, an Aramaic version was found (there are 8 more in different languages) of a novel about the wise vizier of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, who, in addition to forcing the Egyptian pharaoh to pay tribute to his king, also left moral teachings. The Aramaic version by Altheim and Shtil is considered original and dates back to the 5th century, the time when Democritus lived and may have been in the East. They paid attention to one saying, which coincides with Shahrastani and Ahikar completely verbatim. It just touches on measure, only it teaches about it in an oriental way:
Don't be too sweet so you don't get swallowed
And not too bitter that you won't be spat out.
And the following dialogue says about the meaning of reason in behavior: “To him (Democritus. - B.V.) said: Don't look! - He closed his eyes. They told him: Don't listen! - He covered his ears. They told him: Don't talk! - He put his hand on his mouth. They told him: Don't know! - He replied: I can’t do that. - He wanted to express by this that internal things are not subject to free decision. He pointed out the necessity in the internal and the free decision in the external... There is a second explanation for this statement. By this he thought about the difference between reason and feelings...” (67, 569).
Perhaps this is a retelling of the saying of Democritus. And in his explanation, the author touches on the relationship between necessity and free will, as well as two types of knowledge that played an important role in the teachings of Democritus. Only four sayings of Shahrastani and Ahikar actually agree word for word; this is not enough to prove the authenticity of all 15 sayings. The first Soviet publisher of fragments of Democritus, G. K. Bammel, knew about these coincidences back in 1935, but considered both sayings to be pseudo-Democritus (see 110, 345). F. Jurss, editor of the Greek Atomists (Leipzig, 1973), included only three passages. All of them have ethical content. We present them on p. 151 and 154.
From the book Problems of Life author Jiddu KrishnamurtiTHE PURPOSE OF LIFE The road began in front of the house and went down to the sea, zigzagging past various shops, large residential buildings, garages, temples and an abandoned garden covered in dust. Near the sea it turned into a wide, busy highway with taxis, rattling buses and other noise.
From the book MAN AND HIS SOUL. Life in the physical body and the astral world author Ivanov Yu M5. MEANING AND PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE ON A GLOBAL SCALE The purpose of human life is disclosure, development, spiritual growth souls. We are in eternity now and will always be in it. Our souls can exist both outside the physical body and in the physical body, although the bodily
From the book of Sri Chaitanya Shikshamrita author Thakur Bhaktivinoda1. THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE IN THE PHYSICAL BODY As was said above, life in the physical body is a certain fate, like a certain task that needs to be completed. If a person successfully completed the tasks assigned to him, he moved faster in his evolution;
From the book Philosophy author Lavrinenko Vladimir Nikolaevich From the book Conversations with Krishnamurti author Jiddu Krishnamurti6. The meaning and purpose of life Philosophical anthropology cannot ignore the question of the meaning and purpose of life. Different philosophical teachings answer it differently. Representatives of materialism turn to the consideration of objective reality and the real life of people,
From the book The Meaning and Purpose of History (collection) author Jaspers Karl TheodorThe meaning of life The road in front of the house descended to the sea, making its way past many small shops, apartment buildings, garages, temples and past a dusty, abandoned garden. Having reached the sea, it turned into a large roadway with taxis rumbling
From the book The Soul of Man by Frank Semyon2. Unity as the meaning and purpose of history If the diverse facts testifying to the presence of unity or pointing to it are not enough to constitute the unity of history, then perhaps another starting point should be found. Unity is not factual
From the book Purpose and Meaning of Life author Tareev Mikhail MikhailovichI. The so-called “non-extension” of mental life and its true meaning: the immeasurability of mental life Having outlined the area of mental life and having clarified its relationship to the area of consciousness, we will now try to peer into mental life and determine the main features inherent in this
From the book of Democritus author Vits Bronislava BorisovnaCHAPTER FIVE. Purpose of life I “The purpose of human life,” writes Archbishop. Paul, - cannot lie in the person himself, neither in his moral perfection, nor in his happiness. Only the glory of God can be the true goal of human life.” What's the purpose human life in glory
From the book Ethics author Apresyan Ruben GrantovichThe purpose and meaning of life The famous historian of ancient philosophy Burnet considered authentic only the work of Democritus “On Euthymia,” which literally means “On a good state of mind.” Democritus considered such a “good” state to be a calm, even mood, which
From the book History of World Culture author Gorelov Anatoly AlekseevichThe meaning of life In efforts to get out of a deep spiritual crisis L.N. Tolstoy thought about a) why, for what reasons, a person faces the question of the meaning of life and b) what its content is. On the first point, he came to the conclusion that man
From the book The Meaning of Life author Papayani FedorThe meaning of life and the meaning of death All branches of culture have a structure that gives them higher meaning: through sacrifices - to eternity. Consciousness was needed for the awareness of death, awareness for the emergence of fear, fear for overcoming it through sacrifice, sacrifice for development
From the book 50 golden ideas in philosophy author Ogarev Georgy From the book Philosophy as a way of life author Guzman Delia Steinberg44) “THE DESIRE FOR WISDOM IS THE GOAL OF HUMAN LIFE” (PLATO) Plato outlined his teaching about philosophy as the love of wisdom in famous dialogues, the number of which, according to scientists, reaches fifty. Plato's dialogues are literary
From the author's book47) “PLEASURE IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE” (CYRENAICIANS) This statement was proclaimed by ancient philosophers, who were part of a single school and were called Cyrenaicians. Their postulate is very pleasant to the ear, which is why it was taken as a basis for the origin and development of many other
From the author's bookThe meaning of life If we agree that we are in an evolutionary stream, then every circumstance should be useful to us. H. P. Blavatsky To go on your own or to let yourself be pulled It’s one thing to let yourself be pulled, but quite another thing to go on your own. The latter means if
It is believed that the term "philosophy" appeared in Ancient Greece in the 6th century BC. It was first used by a thinker named Pythagoras, familiar to readers from a geometry textbook. The word φιλοσοφια in Greek means “I love wisdom.” This word indicates the next thought. Complete and perfect wisdom is possible only for God. Only God possesses complete and definite truth, and man only strives for truth. (Referring to the gods of the Greek pantheon).
The word σοφια means "wisdom". And the word σοφος is sage, wise.
In ancient Greece, before the advent of philosophers, there were people who were considered sages. They lived in the first half of the 6th century BC. These were the so-called “seven wise men”. Here are their names and some of their sayings.
Solon of Athens (1):
“In great things it is difficult to please everyone right away.”
"Nothing too much."
"There is no limit to wealth."
Pittacus (2):
“Whatever angers you in your neighbor, do not do it yourself.”
"Most people are evil."
“I carry everything that’s mine with me.”
Periander (4):
“Pleasures are mortal, virtues are immortal.”
Cleobulus (5):
“Measure is above all.”
"Think about the end of life."
“Give a guarantee - and trouble is right there.”
Generally speaking, these sayings of the sages summarize everyday life experiences. Philosophers (amateurs, seekers of wisdom) set themselves a broader task: to go beyond the limits of all possible experience. The word φιλοσοφος (philosopher) is translated as follows: “lover of wisdom,” seeker of wisdom.
For example, the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) believed that the subject of philosophy is that which is not given and cannot be given in experience.
This is the world as a whole, the soul and God.
From the moment of its inception, philosophy appears as the unity of three components:
A) Content: philosophy explains totality things, reality in all parts without exception. The word “totality” and “total” come from the Latin word totus – whole, complete, entire. We find this Latin root in the words “totalitarianism” and “total” (for example, “total mobilization”). So, one of the main tasks of a philosopher is to answer the question “What is everything?” (“What is all this?”)
B) Method of philosophy(“method” - literally, “the path to something”, figuratively - “way”): rational explanation. Only reasonable arguments, logical motivation, “logos”, as philosophers say, are recognized.
The Latin word RATIO means reason. The word "rational" means "based on reason."
In addition, philosophy is sometimes defined as a type of theoretical reflection. The word "theoretical" comes from the word "theory". And theory (θεωρια) literally means “contemplation”, “observation”, and in a figurative sense - “research”, as well as “the search for truth for the sake of truth itself”.
The word “reflection” is of Latin origin (REFLEXIO).
The Latin prefix RE- corresponds to the Russian prefix re- .
The word FLEXIO means “bending”, “bending”. Accordingly, reflection is re - bend, reflection, reflection.
We can say that “reflection is turning thoughts back on themselves.”
That is, philosophy is a search for truth that, firstly, is conducted for the sake of truth itself, and secondly, during this search one must constantly monitor HOW it is being conducted. This means that philosophy develops stable features (criteria) by which one can determine whether a given philosophical argument is reasonable.
To do this, philosophy must evaluate and consider its own content. That is why they say that philosophy is a type of theoretical reflection.
This reflection includes, firstly, a precise definition of concepts. This moment is traditionally called “analytics”. ANALYSIS is DISSECTION. Secondly, this reflection includes assessing the truth of judgments and conclusions. This assessment is traditionally called “dialectics.” (We would now call this logic).
IN) The purpose of philosophy: pure contemplation of truth, pure desire to achieve it. The great philosopher Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) wrote: “When people philosophize, they seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself, and not for the sake of any practical benefit.” He wrote about philosophy: “All other sciences are more necessary, but none is better.”
Besides philosophy, other forms of reflection are art, science and religion.
Art, like philosophy, poses so-called “universal questions”. For example: “Why do I live?”, “What is a person?”, “Why is everything there, although there could be nothing?” To answer these questions, art uses sensory representations. That is, ideas about something that can be perceived by the senses. (Sensory idea is what arises in the mind of a person when he perceives external objects through the senses).
And philosophy uses abstract concepts.
The Russian words “abstract” and “abstraction” go back to the Latin verb ABSTRAHO. It means “tear off”, “distract”, “drag away”, “scatter”. Therefore, “abstract” literally means “abstracted”, “distracted”.
Abstract is separate, simple, one-sided, particular.
Concrete is connected, complex, multifaceted, holistic.
The science does not pose universal questions to itself, but, like philosophy, uses abstract concepts, although at the same time it relies on experience and experiment. The term “experience” in philosophy means a set of sensory perceptions. The term “experiment” means the organization of observation in artificial conditions, involving active intervention in nature, with a predictable result.
But philosophy, in principle, goes beyond all experience.
Religion, like philosophy, it goes beyond the limits of all possible experience, but if philosophy during such exits relies on reason, then religion relies on irrational (unreasonable) faith.
The religious worldview was clearly expressed by the Christian writer Tertullian (about 160 - about 220). The following words are attributed to him:
CREDO, QUIA ABSURDUM.
“I believe because it is absurd.”
Philosophy and worldview
Worldview is a system of principles, views, values, ideals and beliefs. They determine the attitude to reality, the general understanding of the world, life positions, and people’s attitudes. The subject (= bearer) of a worldview is an individual, social groups, professional groups, national communities, and religious communities. The worldview of an individual is spontaneously or purposefully formed under the influence of society or a social group. A worldview always has a personal identity. This happens due to the specific life experiences of each person. The elements that make up a worldview: knowledge and beliefs. Knowledge is usually the content of a worldview, answers to the questions: How? What is this? Why is this?
Beliefs are an emotionally charged attitude towards both knowledge and reality itself. These are answers to the questions: Why is this? What is this all for? What's the point of this? Is it good or bad? When they want to emphasize the emotional side of their worldview, they often say “worldview.” Optimistic worldview, tragic worldview, and so on. The worldview does not include all the knowledge that the subject has, but only the most important and significant knowledge. Philosophy is one of the types of worldview. Any philosophy is a worldview, but not every worldview is a philosophy. Philosophy is aware of worldviews, expresses them in the form of rational concepts, and critically examines, in the light of reason, those views and values on which the everyday worldview is based.
Philosophy includes the following large sections:
Ontology (from the Greek word τοον, in the genitive case -τουοντος - existing and λογος - word, concept, doctrine) is the doctrine of being, of being in general, independent of its particular types.
Epistemology is the study of knowledge and its boundaries, of truth and its criteria. Main categories of ontology: rationalism, irrationalism, empiricism, sensationalism, agnosticism
Ethics is the doctrine of good and evil, moral norms and moral ideals. The main categories of ethics: good, evil, asceticism, hedonism, eudaimonism, natural inclination, duty.
Subject of philosophy. Depending on the era, the subject of philosophy shifts. As we will see later, for Plato the subject of philosophy is predominantly ontology, for Epicurus - ethics, for medieval thinkers - ontology again, for Immanuel Kant - epistemology, for existentialists - ethics.
Functions of philosophy: critical, prognostic, integrating, methodological.
“Golden Cliché” is a prize from the Union of Italian Journalists awarded to A. Solzhenitsyn for his activities in the USSR. The award ceremony took place on May 31 in Zurich, where Solzhenitsyn delivered this short Word. It was written in May 1974 in Sternenberg (Zurich highlands). In it, the author wanted to go beyond the political statement expected of him and look at the East and West together, as a single arena for the development of civilization.
1974 The word was published in translations into Italian, German and French. The first Russian book publication is in the author’s collection “Peace and Violence” (Frankfurt: Posev, 1974). In the USSR it was first published in the Riga Russian-language magazine “Rodnik”, 1989, N°3. Here the text is given according to the edition: Solzhenitsyn A.I. Journalism: In 3 volumes. T. 1. - Yaroslavl: Verkh.-Volzh. book publishing house, 1995.
Having become familiar with the principles according to which your prize has been awarded by the Union of Italian Journalists for the 11th year and today to me, I, of course, not only express gratitude to you, but I am not free from a feeling of pride, seeing such worthy and courageous people among my predecessors , including the entire Prague youth of 1968. Those who give this award today, and the one who receives it today, lived their lives as if in different halves of the planet, different worlds, different systems, which are said to be separated by an abyss, are opposite in everything and exclude each other. However, if this were so, then there would not be common values between us that would give you the idea to award me this prize. And if such values are found, then perhaps we can develop a common view of what is happening in the world today and even discover in each other a similar direction of our aspirations and efforts.
The primitive division of the world into two systems is a political judgment, and therefore of a very mediocre level.
All political methods in general are operations with ready-made moral (or immoral) givens, they lie at a low level of human consciousness and existence, they break off and change in short periods, with every change of situation. We are more misled by passionate political labels than we are by understanding the state of the world today. If we want to grasp the true essence of the situation of humanity today, the degree of hopelessness and the degree of hope - and the press, in its highest tasks, also cannot but have this goal in mind - we cannot avoid rising much higher than political characteristics, formulations and recipes .
And then we will see, perhaps, although it will not be more gratifying, that the main danger is not that the world is split into two alternative social systems, but that both systems are affected by a vice, and even a common one, and therefore neither of the systems, with its current worldview, promises a healthy outcome. Through all the accidents of the specific development of individual countries and over several centuries, this vice has organically grown into modern humanity, and long distance we can trace it. We - all of us, all of civilized humanity - placed on the same rigidly connected carousel, have completed a long orbital journey. Like kids on carousel horses, it seemed endless to us - and everything forward, everything forward, not at all sideways, not at all crooked. This orbital path was: Renaissance - Reformation - Enlightenment - physical bloody revolutions - democratic societies - socialist attempts.
This path could not fail to take place, since the Middle Ages once did not restrain humanity, because the construction of the Kingdom of God on Earth was introduced by force, with the taking away of essential individual rights in favor of the Whole. We were pulled, driven into the Spirit - by violence, and we rushed, dived into Matter, also without limit. Thus began a long era of humanistic individualism, and thus began to build civilization on the principle: man is the measure of all things, and man is above all. This entire inevitable path has greatly enriched the experience of mankind, but before our eyes it has come to an end: errors in fundamental principles, not appreciated at the beginning of the path, are now avenging themselves.
Having placed man, with all his shortcomings and greed, as the highest measure of all things, having surrendered to Matter immoderately, unrestrainedly, we have come to contamination, to an abundance of garbage, we are drowning in earthly garbage, this garbage fills and clogs all spheres of our existence.
In the material sphere, this garbage is already too noticeable to everyone, it has poisoned the air, water, the developed part of the earth’s surface, and is already littering the undeveloped part; it has rewarded our mighty production efforts as disgracefully as in the lives of individual people every day the most tempting advertisements, packaging and plastics turn into abundant urban garbage. But even in the so-called spiritual sphere, this garbage clogs us, crushes us - with heavy volumes that cannot fit into our eyes, ears, chests, with the pushing of ringing universal, seemingly clear to everyone, but in fact helpless flat ideas, false science, cutesy art , - everything that does not know a responsibility higher than a Man, that is, you, me and people according to our inclination.
The thundering civilization has completely deprived us of concentrated inner life, pulled our souls to the market - party or commercial.
In the social sphere, our centuries-old path has led us in some cases to the brink of anarchy, in others to stable despotism. Between these two terrible outcomes, before our eyes, democratic governments one after another are becoming weak and powerless - because small and large groups of people do not want to limit themselves in favor of the Whole. This understanding that there must be something Whole, Higher, somewhere scattered by us, which once set a limit to our passions and irresponsibility - this understanding is sensitively guarded by modern cruel tyrannies and is presented in time under the name of Socialism. But - the deception of the sign, the unexplored nature of the term: half a century has sufficiently shown that even there we en masse manure the prosperity of small groups of people - and, moreover, the most insignificant, trash ones.
That is why the path turned out to be orbital, because we escaped from the power of violence and returned to the power of violence - not everything yet, but soon it threatens everyone, with the general disease of weakened will and lost perspective. The orbit threatens to close humiliatingly. As we see it, civilized humanity has now approached a turning point in world history (life, way of life and worldview), the same in significance as from the Middle Ages to the New Time - unless through carelessness and loss of spirit we miss this turn. It was your country, Italy, that was once the first country in the world to reveal to us the previous historical turn. Perhaps now you are the first to sense the abyss of our current situation and, through your sensitivity, will help us find those forms that would make it easier for us to move into the orbit of a higher level, in which we will learn to maintain a decent harmony between our physical nature and nature spiritual.
Let us find within ourselves the spiritual height to rediscover that man is not the crown of the universe, but that there is a Supreme Spirit above him.
Given the alarming pace of today's life, we have incomparably less time to comprehend and implement this turn than we had in the leisurely flow of the 14th or 16th centuries. And with all the bloody experience of the past centuries, the very choice of forms of transformation should be subtler and higher: we have already learned that the physical shaking of states, that violent coups open the way not to a bright future, but to worse destruction, to worse violence. That if we are destined to have saving revolutions ahead, then they must be moral revolutions, that is, some new phenomenon that we have yet to discover, discern and implement.