About objectivity and venality
Article 122
If I had to express and consolidate one word the essence of modern world unrest, then I would say the word venality. The more this turmoil deepens and takes root, the more people become unaccustomed to service and the more often and shamelessly they think about. The most important issue of his life becomes other personal and everyday gain. or profit Once, having become infected with this, a person gradually gets used to focusing not on the Business and not on the Object, but to be interested in his personal “benefit”, his material prey. success, your “increment”, your< /span>“what good does this do me?”... prosperity. Sometimes he covers up this concern, the main concern of his existence, with words about “class interest”, or “party success”, or “successful deeds” , there are corresponding doctrines, ranging from “economic materialism” (the most important thing is the possession of the instruments of production and the class interest of the proletariat) and ending with “mercantilism” (the most important thing is the favorable situation and commercial prosperity of the country). But doctrine is for the majority an unnecessary luxury or burden: this majority does not theorize, but simply “practices,” asking to themselves,
Whatever a person does, whatever he does, wherever he serves, he is guided by his internal motives, and cannot help but be aware of the goal for the sake of which he does his job. And so, in every good deed there is some higher, super-personal task, an objective goal, giving the highest meaning That which constitutes the very essence of Christianity. or if we remember Suvorov’s exclamation: “Gentlemen officers, what a delight!”... in Suvorov’s mouth, this word “delight” was by no means an exaggeration or affectation: it accurately expressed what he understood and experienced himself, and what he wanted to convey to others... - Inspired elation a soul contemplating perfection inspires him, He carries an idea in his heart and knows what ideological pathos is, i.e. inspiration that lifts personal strength and expands personal capabilities. He will immediately understand if we say that service. What he does turns out to be no longer service, but upcoming, responsible, involved and included in a certain objective “frame” and “front”. everything that Pushkin denoted with the words “life is a mouse’s scurry,” and shows a person what and how he should do. This is the Cause that is truly worth living for, for which it is worth fighting even to death, and for which it is worth dying. A person imbued with this meaning, working in the name of this Cause, feels himself
It is in vain to think that “perfection” is an idle word, that it is not feasible in earthly life and only testifies to the naivety of the person who pronounces it and takes it seriously. “What can we say about perfection? We are all weak, sinful, passionate people, and for this reason alone we are easily converted to evil... There are no perfect people, there never were and there never are. And whoever considers himself perfect has fallen into the temptation of pride and self-exaltation.”... I have heard such speeches more than once in Western Europe, and moreover, precisely from the lips of heterodox clergy. And every time I asked the pastor who instructed me in surprise: “Why does it say in the Gospel - be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect?” (Matt. 5.48, cf. Luke 6.35-36). And each time this was followed by a confused pause.
My objector clearly did not understand something most important and profound, namely: the fullness of perfection, of course, is available to the only Lord; but the will to perfection but the demand for the “best” from oneself - at every single moment of one’s service - is that very precious Gospel sun that was left to us by the Son of God and from whose rays the human conscience was renewed and became a Christian conscience. Of course, it’s like this: there are no perfect people, there never were and there never are. But conscientious will tirelessly calls a person to search, find and realize the best , perfect mental order and the best possible outcome from every situation in life. She calls for you to see the highest meaning of your life, to find yourself a super-personal task, your objective goal, to transform “deeds” into “Business” and “service” into Service; and that inspired elation of the soul that is given to it precisely from the contemplation of perfection. ideological pathos to always feel responsible and forthcoming, included and included in the spiritual-objective “frame” and “front”; to join in the happiness of
This means that a person’s religiosity does not end with Sunday worship, but unfolds in life and takes over all his activities. And the first thing it does is it renews internal motives, i.e. the driving forces of his life. It contrasts the psychology of objective service with the psychology of personal success and extraction. It makes a person unsaleable, but holistically objective.< /span>
Corruption and corruption should not be understood at all as betrayal of an idea for money. Such betrayal is only the grossest form of corruption: a person forgets about service and betrays his soul for personal money profit. This is what is called “bribe” or “extortion” in the service, and in Western Europe and America - “corruption,” which the new President Eisenhower, with evidence in hand, spoke so often and directly in his speeches recently. A person has certain public legal powers and duties; and instead of doing his duty of service - or, as they said in Rus' in the old days, “to conduct Tsarevo’s business honestly and formidably” - he acts as it is more profitable for him at the moment. This vicious attitude was slowly being eliminated; slowly but steadily. Already by the beginning of the 20th century, pre-revolutionary Russia did not know bribes - neither in court, nor in administration, and especially in diplomacy or in school (isolated cases of depravity were the exception). And it was completely in vain for foreigners to tell each other that “everything in Russia is for sale.” the “feeding system.” Countless Russian proverbs, sharp and true, never tire of branding corrupt governors, judges, clerks and clerks. For abuses, extortion, extortions and bribes, Peter the Great taught his closest nobles - with a baton, which has survived to this day (in the Narva Petrovsky Palace). But in Russia this was a remnant or relic of an era of national difficulties (endless defensive wars!), when the treasury could not pay proper salaries and resorted to
But now... Now that we have experienced the revolution in Russia with its elements of selfish betrayal and almost general corruption; when we saw revolutionary turmoil spreading throughout the world; when the skating rink of right-wing totalitarianism rolled through our lives, and then the even more difficult and terrible skating rink of the Second World War, we must understand and pronounce that the thirst for personal prey lurks in all peoples both at the bottom and at the top; that the disease of corruption is spreading throughout the world like a real epidemic and that “personal prey”, attracting, corrupting and corrupting, is not only gold and “currency”, but also personal success, personal career, all kinds of political and magazine “promotion”, honor, power and behind-the-scenes influence. In a word, everything that lifts a person above the crowd, giving him the opportunity to “figure”, rise and enjoy. For all this, the modern man is too often ready to forget his silent conscience, to break with his spiritual dignity and his honor, to betray state secrets to enemies, to receive double and triple salaries from other powers as a diplomat, to dishonestly slander and demagogue in elections and in every possible way - inventively, shamelessly and insatiably - to take advantage of the “favorable situation”. And all this at a time when an annoying buyer of corrupt people with an inexhaustible wallet appeared in the world. Modern man has ceased to believe in God and that is why he so easily and so willingly sells his soul to the devil.
Globalization on the way to world conquest
Modern turmoil is turning into a kind of epidemic, first of all and most of all because modern humanity loses a religious understanding of life and a religious attitude towards it. It does not sense spirituality and isn't looking for her. It does not see God and does not measure itself by His rays. Therefore, it loses its sense of its own spiritual dignity, conscience and honor, and in general the entire highest spiritual and divine dimension of life. It forgets how to distinguish good from evil and honest from dishonest. Modern man is increasingly falling into “autism” (from the Greek word “autos” - himself), i.e. into “self-cultivation”: only his own lust, pleasure, and success are important and precious to him. He lives in two dimensions: instinct and self-awareness, the third dimension is the main one, spiritual, religious, that must be successfully exchanged for worldly success. Hence his venality. Hence all these modern types: tricky gentlemen, slippery divers, changelings, adaptable chameleons, unscrupulous journalists, corrupt scientists, politicians “without a backbone”, politicians of shameless pressure, party intriguers, spies and informers... He is always where it is more profitable; develops the view required by his donor or the organizer of his career; he is ready to speak “for a good communist”, in a year to preach the “Christian movement”, in two years to join the National Socialists, in three years to work in allied intelligence, and who knows how far he is from participating in a black mass or from secret heterodox order. everything is a commodity - ceases to exist for him. For him
At the same time, we must also keep in mind the “favorable” conditions of our era. The harder life is, the worse and lower the level of food and housing, the more difficult it is for a person to maintain honor and conscience, the more intrusive life’s “compromises” become, the more invisible to a person crosses the line of corruption of himself. And one more thing: the more cowardly a person is, the more greedy and ambitious he is, the more It’s easier for him to cross this line of dishonor and betrayal. And then there’s this tantalizing technique, this tempting comfort, this heightened nervousness, yearning for entertainment, thrills, unknown pleasures. Added to this is unemployment, which threatens everyone and overtakes so many, and not only due to economic crises and refugees, but above all due to of either the left or the right; both equally demand unthinking and unfeeling obedience and readiness for any prescribed crime; both promise and lie; both seduce and deceive; both threaten and carry out their threats. totalitarianism in many countries and states. And to top it off - the temptations and threats of overpopulation
As a result, the world is being taken over by an epidemic of corruption. Before our eyes, people whom we considered ideological and persistent are beginning to double-deal politically, adapt for the sake of money and figure, invent ambiguous slogans and in every possible way obscure the line separating good from evil and loyalty from betrayal.
Meanwhile national Russia needs something completely, completely different! And those who prefer a meager life and silent loneliness to crookedness and corruption are right, a thousand times right, because in them, precisely in their objective, incorruptible standing, the coming Russia lives and prepares...