On Thursday Oct 9th, Russia
Insider published an article titled “Putin's Christian Vision”.
Russia Insider is a new website dedicated to news and politics from a
Russian perspective. If you want to read something other than the
monotone progressive indoctrination, go HERE. The article noted that
President Putin is rebuilding churches in the Kremlim, churches
destroyed during the time of the USSR. It also said that The
president has instructed regional governors to read works by three
philosophers regarding the relationship between church and state.
These three works are:
"The
Philosophy of Inequality" Nicholas Berdyaev, "Justification
of the Good," Vladimir Solovyov, and "Our Mission"
Ivan Ilyin.
In the comments, there was of course, some debate. One reply was that
a comment above it was from a Protestant perspective, and that the
commenter didn't understand the relationship between the Russian
Orthodox church and the state. I asked for a brief explanation, but
none was offered. I surmised that maybe this was a hint to
investigate the works cited for myself.
As
it turns out, an English translation of the second one is easily
available, probably the others too. I downloaded a PDF at LINK. I've
read the first few pages twice now, in different states of mind, each
with its pros and cons. The first time, I encountered what I call
compounded coffee. A day starts in a ho-hum way; which is an
illusion, mere inattentiveness. So I have three large cups of coffee,
then encounter something that reminds me how startling or exciting
life can be. Yes, I live in “interesting times”. Then all the
caffeine kicks in, and it's runaway horses harnessed to the wagon.
Someone gave me a comprehensive book on the life of William Tyndale.
When my internet connection gets slow, (right computer), then I do
graphic work on the left computer. I actually do have newer monitors,
but they're attached to the children's educational computers, along
the left wall. Besides, for me, cheap/thrifty is an art form. The
dust is voluminous, deposited by a wood burning stove a couple meters
behind me. Anyway, I didn't have any really pressing projects, so I
started to read the Tyndale book. Read, skip, read, skip, trying to
get past all the minute details which I cannot possibly see being
relevant to anything later in the man's life. Quite tiring. So I
decided to find the works cited in the article. I did, started to
read, and that's when...compounded coffee. The author, Vladimir
Solovyov, wastes no time getting to thought provoking ideas.
The
second time I read it was late at night, beyond my coffee cut-off
time, so I was able to read it without all the distractions regarding
how EXACTLY alike it is to my contemporary musings. It is related to
things I'm contemplating, but not identical. Calmer heads prevail.
Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Maxwell House.
Speaking
of binary, one of the points the author makes is that we must choose
a good path or a bad path. Those who claim to follow a third path,
something like an animal living out its natural desires, are
actually on the bad path; for the animal doesn't have the capacity of
this choice. Having left the good path for anything else, by and by
all other choices end up on the bad path. Please note that this is a
simpleton's recollection of an English translation, it would be much
better to read it for yourself.
Not
everything I read in the book is binary; here is a great and
intriguing quote:
Moreover,
it should be noted that even
when
conscious choice has been made, it cannot be observed from
outside.
The distinction of principle between the two paths has
no
empirical definiteness and cannot be practically defined. I have
seen
many strange and wondrous things, but two objects have I
never
come across in nature : a man who has finally attained
perfect
righteousness, and a man who has finally become utterly
evil.
A
caveat of sorts: The author speaks of “the Good”; and it appears
he alludes to God. Being a fundamentalist, I would be more explicit.
I'm guessing that he doesn't want to distract from the main point of
the book, which is the choice we must make. I can certainly relate to
that; I see very morally upright Christians coming close to terrible
detour by the seemingly small choices they make. At any rate, I look
forward to the remainder of the book.
______________________________________________
Now
part of what Mr. Maxwell House was thinking: making a choice reminds
me of what I contemplated earlier in the week; that some of what I
call paradoxical is really just indecisive weakness. There may well
be conflicting factors and outcomes in a given decision, but
sometimes one must sternly make a decision anyway.
What is paradoxical
is watching this country die, but continuing to teach my children
things they need to know, and being paid to make graphic art that is
to a degree for entertainment's sake. You have to be in the “zone”,
you need to be intent on making something over the top cool looking,
while other people are dying from infectious disease. Bizarre, I
guess. Hi, weird neighbor at your service.
Now about that
decision making. I was convinced that not all jobs that I'm contacted
about are worth doing; but easier said than done when you're out of
work. A guy emailed me about a large mural he was paid to design;
he's out of state and needs local artists to render the work. In the
past, I've had almost universally negative experiences when I'm the
vendor for someone else's work. The exception is Gemini Letters, that
was actually quite good. Anyway, the mural is to go in a factory, the
work would be done on weekends. That gives me at least two bosses to
answer to, not including any supervisors. That's not good, as they
usually aren't coordinated; I get caught in the middle. The designer
wants me to use a projector connected to a laptop. I have a
projector, but not digital, this would be an initial expense. Now, we
encounter the realm of file compatibility. Always something to watch
out for. The bottom of the work is twelve feet off the ground, and I
think that the floor is already occupied by factory equipment. I
tried to explain to the designer the difficulty in aligning multiple
projector images, made worse by having the projector up on a huge
A-frame ladder. Remember, I can't just put the projector at twelve
feet and angle the image upward. Too much distortion. So a twenty
foot tall ladder is in order, the base of which is big. Not easy to
precisely move, especially around factory equipment. Then there's the
issue of partial payments as I go. Who will do the approval of enough
work completed? Big companies often take three weeks to pay. These
are just the problems I could easily foresee, doubtless others would
arise. But try explaining this to people. People that think you're
making excuses while unemployed. One good thing did come of my
wrestling with the dilemma: new, clear terminology. Downright
succinct, I tell ya. The distinction is between a project and a job.
I'm calling the 'thing' above a project; other work is a job. Right
now, I need jobs. Grab hold, knock it out, get paid, repeat. So I
turned down the project. The phone keeps ringing with some really
cool work. Hasn't been like this in years. Of course, I've got
financial catch up to do, and winter is coming; but hey, the big
decision turned out alright.
I've been thinking
about how to improve a county's economy. Being that this country is
so committed to self destruction, these things won't likely be
implemented here; I must have been thinking about some other country.
Yeah so anyway, this is not the big solution, just one little part.
It might bring part of the big solution. Graduating students need an
internet presence; whether they seek employment, or to start a small
business. I estimate that three fourths of my work comes from the
internet. Give them a free website and domain name for a specified
time, like five years. At the end of that time, they could pay the
normal rates for both. This way, the data would all be theirs. They
would also learn about building and maintaining such things.
Employers could learn about the students' abilities, interests,
grades, and current projects. A popular news site in that country
could have an ongoing blog or forum dedicated to innovative ideas for
developing new products, technology, methods and more. An online
public think tank for the improvement of the country. Participants
would link back to their own sites, so that their site's SEO would be
helped, and people could learn more about this innovative person.. Of
course, if a country was put in a position where it needed to be more
self sufficient, it would need to have the big tickets items
addressed. Things like making and using lots of your own steel. Those
are God sized problems. I'll be blunt, it looks to me as though the
US started losing His help when we replaced prayer and the Bible in
schools with Darwin's abomination. Remember what Jesus said about
those who offend children: it would be better if a millstone were
hung around their neck; and they were tossed into the depth of the
sea. Ebola, falling stock exchange, huge public debt, another
predicted “solar vortex”; look at the US now. I was taught in
school for a fact that there was no God. Later, I saw science from a
creation perspective. I was a creationist before I was a Christian.
In this day, the evidence for, and the presentations available about
creation science are very strong. I wonder what would happen if
schools presented this evidence to children.
