Abyss
Pronunciation: \ə-ˈbis, a- also ˈa-(ˌ)bis\
Etymology: Middle English abissus, from Late Latin abyssus, from Greek abyssos, from abyssos, adjective, bottomless, froma- + byssos depth; perhaps akin to Greek bathys deep
1 : the bottomless gulf, pit, or chaos of the old cosmogonies
2 a : an immeasurably deep gulf or great space b : intellectual or moral depths

I haven’t written a post in a long time. Until recently, things haven’t been going very well. I hadn’t intended on this blog ever getting this dramatic, but I feel like I need a place to communicate the struggles which I am faced with. I started my BCom in 2005. I withdrew from my first semester due to a severe depression triggered by intense procrastination. I then withdrew from my second semester because of substance abuse. I’m an addict. I dropped out of school. Lost all support and financing from my family. Found an apartment and a job. Things just kept worsening until, I finally agreed to enter rehab. I spent 7 weeks there. I came out a new man. It was truly the best thing that ever happened to me. I built back trust with my family. I took some time to get better. I got a new apartment and a good job, but my goal was always to go back to University. I then returned to school for all the wrong reasons. I felt I had to prove to myself that I could overcome the one thing I believed I had failed at. I should have gone to culinary school instead, which was something I truly was interested in. My journey back to University is truly a difficult one. I constantly have to deal with depression and important procrastination problems. I didn’t do any work for the whole second half of my first semester and then had to catch up on everything the week before all my finals. It was hell. Pretty much the same thing happened the next semester. All through this hellish process, I still managed to obtain a cumulative GPA of 3.92. I still don’t know how I did it. This semester started off just like the other ones. I then had another severe depression halfway through. I just couldn’t deal with going through the same end of term madness once more. The pressure to keep my grades where they were also became unbearable. I had to take three weeks off school and I began a treatment of anti-depressants and anti-psychotics. I also should add that I started drinking again last summer, which has lead to on and off periods of heavy binge drinking. I have been closely followed by a psychologist since coming out of rehab, but the journey back to good mental health has been a very difficult one. All this to say, that I am now coming out of a behavioral relapse. This is why things haven’t been going well. I have hit rock bottom once again. In an odd way, I am proud of myself, because through all these hardships, I have always gotten up and kept trying to better and improve myself. I believe that I have hit rock bottom in order to better leap up towards my objectives. Since coming out of rehab, I have been like a climber in the middle of a crevasse. I’ve been struggling to make it out of the abyss, sometimes making my way up and sometimes falling back down. But I now understand how important it is for me to get out. I stopped monitoring my daily activities because it had become annoying. But as soon as I stopped, things deteriorated severely, while they were slowly improving while I was doing the monitoring. Even though I do not enjoy it, it is truly the one tool that has brought positive changes to my life and if I want to finally conquer these problems I understand that it is imperative that I keep doing it.

I recently saw Invictus. There’s a particular scene in the movie which really made me reflect. It’s when Nelson Mandela brings Francois Pienaar, the captain of the South African rugby team, to his office for tea. Mandala first asks him about his leadership style. He then says that he believes the team lacks inspiration. He says some thing like: “how do you get your men to do things they didn’t think they were capable of?” I feel I have lacked inspiration in my life. Mandala said he turned to other inspirational men, writers and poets during his time in jail, in particular, the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley. I found a copy of the poem online and I have made a commitment to read it every day as soon as I wake up. I actually put it as my computer background along with a photo of Mandala and a quote from him I found which said “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Every time I read these words I get filled with hope. It makes me want to surpass myself. It makes me want to become a better man. I began this yesterday and yesterday was by far the best day I had in a long time.

I’ve also been thinking about the last passage from Gay Hendricks’ A Year of Living Consciously which I posted. I think it’s an amazing goal to try to learn as much as we can, everyday of our life. I have so many books at home which I have never read (I know, really not environmentally friendly…).  But I’d like to take this to another level. I’d like to read books that will truly help me become a better person. I want to be inspired to “do things which I didn’t think possible”. My goal is to read the autobiographies of the great men who have made their mark in history or who have made the world a better place. I want to understand what has made them the way they are. (When I say men, it’s obviously both men and women) The first book which I have decided to read is Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, A Long Walk to Freedom. I tried to borrow it at my University’s Library, which is a big deal for me since I NEVER get books at the library (I’m really trying to be more environmentally conscious),  but both copies were out until mid January. So instead, I ordered it on Amazon. My best friend, which is EXTREMELY well-read and knowledgeable, also just suggested that I read Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. He said “I don’t say this to many people, but, as a friend, if there’s one book you absolutely MUST read, it’s The Art of War.” So I’ll read The Art of War while I wait for Mandela’s book.

I haven’t been filled with so much hope in a long time. I really believe that I will finally conquer my demons once and for all. I don’t think it will be easy, but I will persevere.

The Times, UK, Dec. 26, 2009-

Communist China was born amid trumped-up charges against supposed enemies of the State. The eleven-year prison sentence imposed yesterday on Liu Xiaobo, a literary scholar and the country’s most prominent dissident, demonstrates a bleak continuity in the regime’s practices. It was a peculiarly cynical touch that the judgment was issued on Christmas Day.

Liu was seized from his home a year ago. One of his compatriots — a blogger, in a country that seeks to control access to the internet — pointedly referred to him yesterday as the Chinese Mandela. The comparison is not far-fetched, except that in his trial for high treason in 1963, Nelson Mandela at least had the opportunity to make a five-hour speech.

Liu was given no opportunity to respond to his sentence, which was a foregone conclusion. His “crimes” consist of calls for political reform. He published half a dozen online articles, including one for the BBC, and organised a petition for a reform entitled Charter 08. His model was the Charter 77 movement in Czechoslovakia, which proved to be a rallying point, that aided the triumph of liberty. Several hundred Chinese intellectuals have signed Liu’s petition. As happened in Czechoslovakia, a repressive communist regime uses a catch-all law against subversion in order to stifle dissent.

Western diplomacy faces a conundrum. China has emerged as a 21st-century economic giant, yet its embrace of the global market has gone unaccompanied by political reform. There is a long tradition in Western political thought, from Charles James Fox through the Victorian free- traders John Bright and Richard Cobden, that sees commerce as the route to comity. Yet China is a counter to the assumption that repressive regimes are inevitably softened by greater prosperity, and a burgeoning middle class.

As the advanced industrial democracies suffer the consequences of a huge financial crisis, China’s relative influence in the global economy has increased. It is as if, having attained a crucial status in international economic relations, China’s regime sees its new prosperity as a means of asserting its political model. Western governments must deal with that fact.

Western standards of living are increasingly tied to China. America’s wide current account deficit is, in effect, being supported by the huge stock of savings that China has built up and invested in dollar-denominated financial instruments over the past decade. China matters to the West. Yet it appears, from the draconian treatment meted out to Liu, that it is futile to expect economic development on its own to support trends towards Western liberal political rights within China.

There lies the diplomatic importance of the Liu case. A brave man has been treated in the worst traditions of an autocratic regime. As Liu takes as his model the campaigns for human rights in the Eastern bloc, then Western governments should follow him. The Helsinki final agreement, signed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1975, established human rights as an integral concern of the superpower relationship and gave heart to dissident movements. As Liu begins his incarceration, the West should seek a new Helsinki with an emerging superpower. Trade is not enough.

- The Times

I’ve recently had the privilege of stumbling across some of Laurentian University’s History professors on the world wide web. I thought it fantastic that they are beginning to use social media, as it is such an important part of society for prospective students, current students, and recent Alumni(such as myself). The department has its own twitter account, which is in its infancy stages @luhistory . Dr. Janice Liedl has a twitter account @jliedl . Dr. Andrew Smith has his own blog, where he posts about topics ranging from economics to politics, http://andrewdsmith.wordpress.com/ .

Human Rights in China, December 25, 2009 -

In one of the most high-profile political trials in China in recent years, a Beijing court today found Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波) guilty of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced him to 11 years of imprisonment and two years’ deprivation of political rights.  Liu’s lawyers told Human Rights in China (HRIC) they do not agree with the decision, stating that Liu was merely exercising his right as a citizen to freedom of expression. According to his lawyers and family, Liu plans to appeal.

“The guilty verdict demonstrates once again the Chinese authorities’ intolerance for free expression and their incapacity to respond constructively to critical voices,” said Sharon Hom, HRIC’s executive director. “But the Chinese government must recognize that the free pass on human rights that it has been receiving from the international community will not insulate it forever from the growing demands of its own people for freedom and democratic reforms.”

“By using the police and security apparatus and the legal system to violate the rights of its citizens, the Chinese government may find itself, in time, subverting its own state power,” said Hom.

The conviction and sentence were pronounced by judge Jia Lianchun (贾连春) of the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court (北京市第一中级人民法院), who previously convicted and sentenced rights defense lawyer Gao Zhisheng (高智晟) and AIDS activist Hu Jia (胡佳) on similar charges. The government based the conviction on Liu’s role in drafting and organizing the signing of Charter 08, a petition issued in December 2008 calling for human rights protection and political reform, and on six essays Liu published between 2005 and 2007 critical of the Chinese government. (Click here for excerpts selected and translated by Human Rights in China.)

Liu, 53, was detained, imprisoned, and put under house arrest many times for his writing and activism, including a 20-month detention (June 1989 to January 1991) for participating in the 1989 Democracy Movement, and a three-year Reeducation-Through-Labor sentence (October 1996 to October 1999) for criticizing government corruption. Liu continued to write essays about the human rights condition in China and to advocate for political reform up until his most recent detention on December 8, 2008, one day before the release of Charter 08. In the weeks before Liu’s trial, more than 450 co-signatories of Charter 08 signed an online petition accepting collective responsibility……. (more details from Human Rights in China)

Essay excerpts from “The CPC’s Dictatorial Patriotism” (《中共的独裁爱国主义》) (2005), Via Human Rights in China website-

. . . Since the Communist Party of China (CPC) took power, it has always yakked about patriotism in order to maintain its absolute rule over the people and country. It has also emphasized a specious logic of governance — the theory of “death of the party is death of the nation”. . . .

In fact, the “death of the party” and the “death of the nation” have no inevitable causality. This is because any political party is a representative of a special interest group and does not have the grounds to assert that it represents the “nation, ethnic groups, and people.” Even if it is the ruling party, it does not equal the nation, and even less the ethnic groups or culture. The CPC regime does not equal China, and even less the Chinese culture. . . .

All dictatorships like to proclaim patriotism but dictatorial patriotism is just an excuse to inflict disasters on the nation and calamities on its people. The official patriotism advocated by the CPC dictatorship is a fallacious system of “substituting the party for the country.” The essence of this patriotism is to demand that the people love the dictatorship, the one-party rule, and the dictators. It usurps patriotism in order to inflict disasters on the nation and calamities on the people.

(The original Chinese article was first published on the Epoch Times website on October 4, 2005, http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/5/10/4/n1074197.htm.)

- from Human Rights in China

Human Rights In China, December 23, 2009 -

The trial of prominent intellectual Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波) in the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court (北京市第一中级人民法院) took less than three hours under near total security lock down outside the courtroom. Like much of China’s judicial process, especially cases deemed politically sensitive, what happened inside the courtroom remains largely out of public view. What is known includes: Liu pleaded not guilty to the charge of “incitement to subvert state power”; about twenty people attended the trial as observers, including Liu’s brother, Liu Xiaoxuan (刘晓暄), and brother-in-law; the presiding judge was Jia Lianchun (贾连春), who previously convicted and sentenced rights defense lawyer Gao Zhisheng (高智晟) and AIDs activist Hu Jia (胡佳) on the same charges; and the verdict will be issued on Friday, December 25.

Many were barred from the trial, including Liu’s wife, Liu Xia (刘霞). Personnel from about a dozen foreign embassies in Beijing, including those of the United States, Germany, and Australia, requested to observe the trial but were told that all the observer passes had already been given out. Liu’s lawyers, Zhang Baojun (尚宝军) and Ding Xikui (丁锡奎), are reportedly under strict orders from the State Judicial Bureau not to grant any interview until after the verdict.

Liu, 53, has been in detention for more than a year, since December 8, 2008, one day before the release of Charter 08. In the weeks before his trial, more than 450 co-signatories of Charter 08 have signed an online petition accepting collective responsibility. Last week, activist Ding Zilin (丁子霖) called upon Liu’s supporters to “join” the trial by gathering outside the courtroom. Human Rights in China (HRIC) has learned that many rights activists who had planned to go to the court, including Ding Zilin herself, have been put under surveillance or house arrest, and others who made it to the court, including Jiang Qisheng (江棋生), Zhang Hong (章虹), Zhang Xianling (张先玲), Liu Di (刘荻), and Teng Biao (滕彪), were forcibly taken away by police.

Liu’s lawyers pointed out that the government bases its charge on 1). Liu’s role in drafting and organizing the signing of Charter 08, an appeal for human rights protection and political reform issued in December 2008 that has since garnered more than 10,000 signatures online, and 2). six essays that Liu published between 2005 and 2007.

“If proposing democratic reform and raising questions about the current leadership constitute incitement to subvert state power, then freedom of speech has been completely gutted in China,” said Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China.

So that the public can get a closer look at what the Chinese government considers to be “incitement to subvert state power,” HRIC is providing below the English translation of excerpts from Liu’s six essays……. (more details from Human Rights In China)

My mind grows weary as each day I draw closer to the start of a new journey. Not so much a new journey, for we all are on just one adventure, just a new route. My excitement subsides when I contemplate the unforeseen financial stress that will soon plague me. There are too many options and at this point in my life, it’s difficult to land a course – to make up my mind and plan the steps.
I am anxious to open a new world that, due to my cultural/career binds, has been out of my reach. It’s easy to imagine, but hard to realize. My present job (which consumes all of my life) lacks benefit and atrophies my personality. The fault is all my own – but I don’t harbor regret. Rather, I understand that each new change is a reaction to the previous change. Since college, I’ve been known as a “reactionary” – now my efforts are directed at being the “reactor.” I’m beginning to realize that you are either the product of your surroundings or your surroundings are the product of you. Much of this thought I owe to the challenging writing of Ayn Rand. Her character, Peter Keating, in “The Fountainhead,” was a product of the culture. Howard Roark, however, refused the cookie-cutter mold – he was static which caused the culture around him to be dynamic in response. People wanted Peter to be something…a creation of their preference. He ended up as nobody and forgotten. Roark, however, though having the same pressure, remained true to his character and became more than a human – he was a philosophy, an ideal, a force that couldn’t be ignored.
Too often, we all try our best to please the parties around us. We become obsessed with earning the approval of colleagues, parents, friends, or strangers. We filter our thoughts and conversation. We long for a pat on the back and affirmation. We want to know that what we’re doing is appreciated and acceptable. Acceptable to who? I have found that when I seek the acceptance of others, I lose self-acceptance. I am not being authentic and true to my very own self.
Recently, I have learned the power of silence. Being a complete ass or a cocky, self-indulged loner does not foster any good – though it can be a fun trigger to induce reactions. I refer back to Howard Roark, from “The Fountainhead.” His words were always few- subtle and dry. His heart was never to cut anyone down – no matter how much he differed from them. His lack of words, coupled with his unwavering character, brought about more reaction. What’s more intriguing is that Roark never asked others to justify themselves to him, but for some reason (I believe his silence), they felt obligated. But here’s the thing – they weren’t! Their self-justification was a gut reaction to the fact that he didn’t have to justify himself. He silently listened and others couldn’t help but verge down the road of introspection.

I love it.

Luke 18:9-14
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

It might never seem that we could ever be like the Pharisee in our life or walk with the Lord but the reality is that this is how we perceive ourselves because we look at our lives in the mirror of our sinful minds and it conveniently misses showing us our brokenness. Before accepting Christ, we live in a comfortable belief that we are “NOT SO BAD” people but after accepting Christ, that realization changes 360 degrees because we are able to look at ourselves through the mirror of God, the perfect mirror that hides nothing from us. For you, if you are not in a relationship with Christ, the answer is simple. It’s a matter of choice of whether you choose to live in the peace and oblivion of your sin and not worry about your future or you choose to reflect on your brokenness and ask Jesus to be your savior and forgive your sins, cleanse you by his shed blood on the cross, clothe you in his righteousness, make you a new creation, fill you with the holy spirit to direct you and live for his glory now here on earth and in heaven in his glorious presence. What if you are saved? What is his message for you today?

One of the greatest challenges we face in life is pride. Most people suffer from it because we are always trying to look out for ourselves, our needs and recognition and therefore pride is a stumbling block we never seem to get over. However, in God’s kingdom, pride has no place in our lives. The very fact that we call ourselves believers is an admission to the fact that we fell short of God’s goodness and nothing can change that. However, our minds convince us that we know enough about the Lord and now that we are saved we don’t need to do anything, or, we get busy living that we forget spending time with the Lord, or, we get so caught up in studying God’s word for intellectual purposes that we forget to apply it in our daily lives, etc. All of this causes us to see the unsaved people around us with distorted eyes. We try to differentiate ourselves from them and feel like we are better off. However, today we are warned that we like them are sinners saved by God’s grace and nothing we do can make us good. We need to look at others through the merciful eyes of our Lord and love them. What is the greatest commandment Jesus taught us (Matthew 22:37-39)?

In His Loving Service,
Vineet

PS: Sign up for daily devotionals by clicking the email subscription icon at the top right of this page or by visiting http://groups.google.com/group/in-his-loving-service. Share this with your friends and family who need some encouragement.

A Rough But Certain Path

As the title may imply, this is not going to be a light post. I’ve recently been having discussions with some friends with varied backgrounds, and I felt some of you, my readers, may be interested in hearing about a particular discussion. The discussion I wish to talk about involve religion, and the differing beliefs myself and my friend hold. My friends know that I enjoy speaking about pretty well anything philosophy related, which obviously includes religion. My friend was kind enough to send me a video excerpt of a play put together to explain her beliefs, in response to my questions of what she believes in. After the video I sent her a reply, and this is an excerpt from that:

To quickly summarize existentialism: “In life, a man commits himself, draws his own portrait, and there is nothing but that portrait.” -Sartre
He further extends that idea to explain how the hope for salvation must come from humanity itself, not a divine being, and therefore the question of whether or not a divine power exists is irrelevant. He is firm in his belief of this, because he feels the Christian ideal of salvation requires no effort and therefore makes people lazy when it comes to working for their own salvation.
He also argues that humans find solace in religion because it cures “anguish,” which is the state of mind when one realizes they are completely free to think and act how they wish without fear of any sort of cosmic repercussions (no judgement, no karma, etc).
He concludes all humans must accept full responsibility for their actions, and can not point their finger at anybody else for how they behave. Responsibility and freedom are intended to go hand in hand, and the decisions a person makes when they accept responsibility for all of their own actions, are completely different from the ones they make under the influence of fear of a divine power.
On a morality level, when an individual acts well as opposed to committing wrong acts, due to a fear of some cosmic repercussions, it cheapens the morality of those actions. Would they act the same way if they had no fear of cosmic repercussions?
Some would argue that the morality of behaving ‘good’ is irrelevant so long as the person is in fact behaving well. Which is the old “ends justify the means” mentality.

My stance is not meant to bash religion, or discredit it, because everybody is free to believe what they wish. The fact that I believe in secular humanism and existentialism, should in no way come with the tag of “hater of religion,” by any means. A stigma exists that preaches atheists can not cooperate with religious individuals, but I feel it is misguided.
If two individuals both seek the same goals, albeit through a different belief system, they should work on those goals together, and work on their unrelated goals separately.
My friend is a person who is genuinely interested in helping people, and improving the lives of others, and I see no reason why her religious beliefs should be a source for discrimination or alienation. It is interesting to write that statement as an atheist discussing a Christian, because the tables for discrimination seem to be reversed generally. I wonder what the percentage of atheists/agnostics, as opposed to Christians, is in North America, among people who believe in one or the other.

An unusual exhibition opened in the small Belgian town of Groot-Bijgaarden in the municipality of Dilbeek (in the Flemish province of Vlaams-Brabant) just outside Brussels. The exhibition Magnificent Christmas of Tsar Nikolai II opened in the precincts of a magnificent castle of the seventeenth century. A collection of dresses and uniforms of the imperial era, and state awards, original documents, and valuable items from that time are the basis of the display devoted to the last Russian Emperor. Support from the EU’s Russian Heritage Preservation Fund in Brussels funded the showing of these rare items. Of particular interest to visitors are reproductions of photographs of the imperial family, and there are life-size wax statues of Tsar Nikolai II, his wife Empress Aleksandra, and Tsarevich Aleksei provided by the St Petersburg Wax Museum. Another thought-provoking aspect of the presentation is the rare film from the documentary archives of the Romanov family.

A miniature reproduction copy of the Winter Palace recaptures the atmosphere of the imperial era, with figures representing Nikolai II and his wife at the main entrance giving Christmas greetings to the people of St Petersburg. In addition, the visitor sees a slice of life from the Russia of that time depicted in models of the interior of a peasant’s hut and a village bath. There is also information posted concerning reproductions of [Russian genre scenes] painted by the famous “romantic” artist, Boris Kustodiev.

Cédric Pelgrimmes de Bigard, the owner (he is a descendant of the founders) of the castle in Groot-Bijgaarden, shared his impressions of the event with our audience on Voice of Russia World Service. He said, “We are glad that you find this event interesting and informative, and we are pleased that we had the chance to host this exhibition. You see, the history of Russia and Belgium share a deep connection. Our castle [here in Groot-Bijgaarden] has great historical significance. Perhaps, its majesty and splendour is the best backdrop for an event dedicated to the Romanov imperial family”.

Many people from Belgium and neighbouring countries have come to view the artifacts on display at the Magnificent Christmas of Tsar Nikolai II, which is due to run until 17 January 2010.

18 December 2009

Aleksandr Shishlo

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2009/12/18/3084291.html

Changing times…much has changed.

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian ideologue and thinker was almost expelled from a Jesuit school for bringing Emile Zola books as reading material.

He later called Jesus a futurist.

Great minds always have great things to say.

A true thinker.

Bread in the Time of War (Andrei Drozdov, 2005). This is obviously a scene from the siege of Leningrad. This was their bread ration for the entire day. THIS is what Nazism was all about. Anyone who glorifies them or Nazi collaborators is my enemy. Full stop. It is why the Galician and Baltic nationalists are pigs… their excuses for the Nazis are inexcusable and noisome.

Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias considers it necessary for contemporary people to remember the lessons of the Second World War. “Today, we forget the great sacrifices incurred in the fight against this murderous ideology, and young people in different countries utilise Nazi symbols. They form a subculture whose ideals and standards come from a system that, in the last century, built concentration camps and carried out racial cleansing. There are politicians who attempt to glorify the activities of the Nazis and their accomplices”, he said in a letter of greeting to the participants of the international conference “The Lessons of the Second World War and the Holocaust”, held 15-17 December in Berlin. According to this release from the patriarchal press office, he went on to say, “You cannot turn history inside out. In the name of the millions of victims, we must say a stern ‘no’ to such actions”.

Noting that none of the peoples of the world was unaffected by the tragic events of World War II, Vladyki Kirill pointed up “there is another side to all of this”, because “the war revealed astonishing heights of the human spirit, it confirmed the fraternal unity of different peoples in the protection of their freedom and identity”. In his opinion, one of the major lessons that we must learn from the events of World War II is, “We must not let economic and political interests marginalise the cultural and religious traditions of any people. An irresponsible orientation that seeks the maximum in ease and that tries to homogenise world social and political trends can lead us to tragic consequences, leaving us defenceless against an evil and the criminal will”. Patriarch Kirill believes that the new generation shall have a decent future if we keep the lessons of the Second World War alive in the memory of all people, regardless of their social status, nationality, religious belief, or level of education. The World Congress of Russian-Speaking Jewry (Всемирный Конгресс Русскоязычного Еврейства) sponsored the conference in Berlin.

16 December 2009

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33388

Victory! (Pyotr Krivogonov, no date (1960s?))

Opposition to attempts to write revisionist history concerning the outcome of the Second World War and the inadmissibility of the glorification of fascism were the main topics of discussion at the conference “Lessons of the Second World War and the Holocaust” in Berlin. More than 500 well-known European, Russian, American, and Israeli politicians and public figures were participants at this event.

This topic is particularly relevant on the eve of the 65^th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. On the one hand, the still fresh wounds of those terrible events are still alive to those who saw and experienced all the horrors of that time. On the other hand, there is more than one generation that draws its information about the war from history books, in which political expediency dictates the interpretation of the events of the past. Moreover, revisionist history has a forbidding quality, in it, black is white and vice versa. There are many examples of this; for instance, the Baltic states turned former SS and Wehrmacht soldiers into national heroes. A fascinating historical metamorphosis is taking place in the Ukraine, the country most affected by the fascist invaders; the state considers those of the UPA equal to [Red Army] veterans of World War II.

Ilya Altman, a participant on the forum in Berlin, co-chairman of Russian “Holocaust” Fund in an exclusive interview with the Voice of Russia World Service emphasised the inadmissibility of the rehabilitation of fascism. “The farther away from us the Second World War becomes, there is an amazing transformation in historical science and at the level of popular consciousness. There are many versions that attempt to change the true story of the war, as one can see, for example, in attitudes towards the Holocaust. It reaches the point that even very powerful politicians, such as the leadership of Iran, have asserted that there was no genocide of Jews during World War II and it simply did not happen. In the West, in some of the republics of the former Soviet Union, and even here in Russia, one hears calls to whitewash Nazi collaborators.

“Most recently, there were attempts within the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia to canonise General Vlasov. However, the general’s choice was not between Stalin and Hitler, or between the homeland and treason. The Ukraine and the Baltic states clearly demonstrate double standards in assessing the events of World War II. Yes, there do not deny the fact of the Holocaust. However, they awarded a [posthumous] decoration upon Roman Shukhevych, a man who wore a Nazi uniform {Editor’s note: Shukhevych was a Standartenführer in the SS.}. Latvia and Estonia also seem to honour the memory of Holocaust victims, but, they allow public marches of former SS legionnaires. Some say, ‘Why rake up the history of war and seek the facts?’ That’s a vicious attitude! First, forgotten evils tend to be reborn. Secondly, such an attitude completely neglects those who won the victory at an incredible price over Hitler’s fascism and brought deliverance to the peoples of Europe”.

After all, Soviet soldiers hoisted the flag of victory over the conquered Reichstag, and during the Vistula-Oder operation, on 27 January 1945, the Soviet Army liberated the remaining prisoners left at Oświęcim. A UN resolution linked this date, 27 January with the establishment of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. One outcome of the three-day meeting is the adaptation of a declaration on countering revisionist attempts to distort the history of the outcome of the Second World War and the inadmissibility of the glorification of fascism. The organisers and participants of the conference hope not only to be heard by politicians, but, to rally the leading anti-fascist forces on the eve of the 65^th anniversary of the Victory.

15 December 2009

Voice of Russia World Service

Sergei Kopylov

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2009/12/15/3036583.html

World War II Memorial at Poklonnaya Gora, Moscow. All glory to those who cleansed the world of the filth of Nazism at great personal cost. Honour the veterans who are left… they are precious. All that I can say is, “Thank you”.

Editor’s Note:

Some of the most controversial things I have posted have been the articles on the Chisinau riot and the Jerusalem church desecration. In the latter affair, a friend of mine who reads Hebrew points up that the Hebrew is badly written. That is, it could be a provocation… nonetheless, all sorts of troglodytes crawled out from under their rocks defending the rioters and expressing poorly concealed anti-Semitism. The fact that so-called “Orthodox Christians” (mostly konvertsy by the way, their Anglo-Saxon names give them away) peddle such rubbish disgusts me. I can’t stop you if you wish to spout such on your own websites. I believe that you should have the right of free speech as long as you are not making actual threats or publishing dangerous articles (such as how to make bombs, etc).

However, I am under no obligation whatsoever to give free air to those who disagree with me on this site. Why, no journalist does that. The New York Times does not open its op-ed page to those who disagree with it… it is making a point, after all. I am doing the same. So, you disagree with me and think that I am all wet? That’s great. Go join that long line on the left… you’re nowhere near the head of the line. You think that I’m a great gal who speaks her mind out and you agree with me? Well, join the equally long line on the right. I’m the sort of person that one either loves or hates… no one is insipid about me. I’ll say this, I’m not going to be quiet when I see evil… if I do so, I am an equal participant in that evil.

Never forget the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller (a former U-boat captain in the First World War), who survived imprisonment in a concentration camp under the Nazis:

Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.

Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestierte.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

That is what I believe. That is what I stand for. Hier stehe Ich… Ich kann nicht Anders!

If you have a problem with that, I suggest that you go elsewhere.

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Tuesday 15 December 2009

Albany NY

The Chapter of Christ the Saviour Cathedral published a 4-volume anthology of Russian poetry, Круг лета Господня (Krug Leta Gospodnya: The Circle of the Year of Our Lord). The collection included more than 700 poems by 94 authors, from Polotsky to Pushkin, Fet, Mandelshtam, and Iosif Brodsky. The earliest pieces date back to the 17^th century, the most recent come from the 20^th. This expensive edition came from the Golden Fund of Patriotic Poetry (Золотой Фонд Отечественной Поэзии) and weighed in at a hefty 10 kilogrammes (22 pounds).

The cycle of the seasons is the organising principle of the work. Respectively, the four volumes are devoted to autumn, winter, spring, and summer. Each volume has two parts, secular and religious. In the first, entitled Времена года (Vremena Goda: The Seasons (lit. The Times of the Year)) one finds poems by different poets. The second, Православные праздники (Pravoslavnye Prazdniki: Orthodox Festivals) tells about religious holidays, both in the form of poetry and in prose. Every holiday has an explanation with detailed commentary on the history of its origin and celebration written by Olga Nersesova.

This anthology is sumptuously published in a large format, on excellent paper, using selected fonts, with many centrefold illustrations (dozens of paintings by the best Russian landscape painters) and reproductions of icons from the collection of the Central Museum of Old Russian Culture and Art. These include works by St Andrei Rublyov and specially restored vignettes from the Khludovskoy and Kiev Psalters (9^th and 14^th centuries), which are presented to the general reader for the first time.

One asks, “What do I do with all this beauty?” We might give several responses. You could keep it in the living room as an expensive coffee table-book. You could surprise someone with it as a luxury gift for a wedding or a baptism. You could buy it yourself and your family to read during those long winter nights (soon, there’s going to be a cheaper, but, no less beautiful edition). In any case, it can help us revive the tradition of family reading, bringing the moral experience of previous generations to our kids and help us to form an Orthodox lifestyle. That was the hope  our late patriarch, His Holiness Patriarch Aleksei II, expressed in blessing this publication.

14 December 2009

Natalia Kochetkova

Известия (Izvestiya)

As quoted in Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=print&div=10748

I wish I could find the original quote, but I’ll have to settle for paraphrasing — a friend once posted a status on Facebook that said he wanted to meet someone who would spend the day with him, “philosophizing, writing poetry, making love, reading books, etc.”  Honestly I’m surprised he couldn’t find a woman who was up for this, because to me it sounds fantastic.  On the contrary, I’ve always thought it would be impossible to find a man willing to spend a day in such a way (granted, the love-making would be a given, but in my experience it’s difficult to find men who would enjoy sharing books and poetry outside of love-making).

Imagine spending all day curled up together in a pile of blankets and pillows in front of the fireplace, reading books and poetry, discussing ideas, listening to music, and making love in between.  What could be better?  Sharing minds and bodies, sharing ideas and skin, words and sex, intellectual and physical pleasures.  It sounds utterly delightful.

This observation comes from a good friend:

We have smart people and dumb people. One would assume that most important information comes from smart people.

Is this true?

One could argue otherwise, but consider this:

While most dumb people are sure they know everything, and will let you know what’s right every chance they get – smart people will do the opposite: they’ll be completely aware that they know nothing, and given their productive lives, have little or no time to disseminate their wisdom.

This of course, is not an either/or, but it certainly raises the question:

How much are all of us missing out by listening to dumb people and failing to see/hear the smart ones?

By Huizhi, Epoch Times Staff, Dec. 9, 2009 -

SWEDEN—Visiting scholar Xiao Qiao is stranded in Sweden with no legal status after she was banned from returning home to Shanghai by the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau.

In 2002 Xiao, whose given name is Li Jianhong, started an independent Web site in China called QiMeng Forum or A Forum for Enlightenment. The site carried information about the June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre and was shut down by Chinese authorities.

Xiao came to Sweden in 2008 by invitation of the Swedish Ministry of Culture. She lived in Stockholm on a visa until October of 2009. On her return trip to Shanghai, the Division of Exit-Entry Administration in Shenzhen deported her to Hong Kong—a place where she has no permanent residency status. Consequently, she flew back to Sweden to appeal for humanitarian intervention.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Xiao said, “My passport has expired. I have submitted a letter to the Chinese embassy appealing my passport status. In addition, I am demanding an open apology and financial compensation from the Division of Exit-Entry Administration of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau for denying my re-entry into China last month.”…… (more details from The Epochtimes)

Watching this Tupac Documentary type thing. Bodyguard just got through talking about the night Pac died. So sad. Tupac was so perfect. He was sexy and smart. Very intellectual and I can only imagine what kind of lover he is.

I was sitting here thinking about how I wish I could have met him. That led me to thinking about if I was to meet him I wouldn’t even be on his level. Which has me thinking about stepping it up for real. I have not been educating myself like I should. I have let my grammar and education go. I want it back.

I really believe Pac was set up and murdered. Watching this doc. has me thinking it even more. YYYYYYYYY? Why did they have to kill him? I wish he could have been here longer to share his talent. I wish I could have seen him perform. He really was a good person. I wish he could have had kids. Something. A little piece of him.

Watching this makes me so sad. The Rose That Grew From Concrete. I cried so many times reading this book. I could feel his words and hear his voice. He was deep on another level. Deeper than most and now it’s gone. RIP Pac. Gone but Never Forgotten.

Professor Roman Silantyev (1977- ), sociologist, Islamocist, Director of the Human Rights Centre of the World Russian People’s Council, editor of new interactive map of the religious communities of Russia

At least 95 percent of all believers in Russia are members of traditional religious organisations. The developers of the first interactive map of Russian religious communities came to this conclusion after studying all the available sources, especially information on registered religious organisations in Russia. “The traditional religions of Russia are increasingly influential in our society according to our comparative analysis of the data on registered religious communities from 2004 to 2009. I believe that this process shall continue”, Roman Silantyev, the editor of the map and an associate professor at MGLU, said on Tuesday at a presentation of the project in the central office of Interfax in Moscow.

Orthodox (MP) showed the most dynamic growth in the number of communities over the past five years, the proportion of its parishes and organisations in the total number of religious communities increased from 53.2 percent to 55.1 percent. Muslims are in second place, the proportion of their communities grew from 16.3 percent to 17.1 percent. There was no change in the proportion of communities of Buddhists, Jews, Charismatics, and Neo-Pagans, being 0.8 percent, 1.3 percent, 7.2 percent, and 0.1 percent respectively. Overall, the total proportion of communities in all four traditional religions in Russia, Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism, is 75 percent of the total number, and the proportion of their followers is 95 percent of the aggregate total, which shows their absolute domination of the religious field.

“New religious movements such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Moonies, and Mormons, by contrast, showed a sharp decline, their share decreased from 5.8 percent to 3.1 percent”, Professor Silantyev said. There was also a slight drop in the proportion of Catholics and Old Ritualists, their communities now make up 1 percent and 1.2 percent of the total respectively.

8 December 2009

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33283

So two days ago, I had an interesting conversation with a certain female I hadn’t talked to in a while.

Basically she told me, I was weird because I was too intellectual and it was downright annoying. My initial reaction was shock, but after a couple of days of letting it sink in, I realize that is probably why I should not let people with low goals and dreams pull me down. I know I have already touched on it, that my personal growth has probably rubbed some the wrong way. Recently I have seen some people try to undervalue me, I see the way they react to me, and I know behind my back they talk about my ‘naivety’ and lack of motivation. Sometimes I wish I could put my thoughts on screen and show people what I aiming for and trying to achieve. Then again it probably will rub them the wrong way. When you have a plan for your life, and you look to be on the way to success, not a lot of people will be happy for you.

Drake said it best in the “Say Something” song, “Its funny how someone else’ success brings pain, when you are no longer involved and that person has it all.”

That pretty much sums it up. Never underestimate anyone, you just never know what that person is capable of. I mean why should I apologize for trying to be better? Why do I need to hide my wit so as to please others? If she can’t appreciate me for being intellectual, then there’s no point in us being friends in the first place. I wouldn’t want others to be anything but themselves. Be happy with you!

At the moment I really don’t like my present situation, but the prospects of a better future motivates me more than anything. I have ideas I am really giddy about, I just pray God lets my dreams become reality. The well of ideas he seems to have blessed me with, I hope never dries up.

On that note, can’t believe its December already. Glad to have made it this far, hoping 2010 really brings a lot of great things in my life.

You don’t say much, but what you say

right on point, my silver metal billy-goat,

arms long enough to wrap ’round twice

voice made out of bass-guitar strings,

closet alcoholic intellectual, more knowing

than the knowingest New York poets could,

your brother knows, and I told you too,

there’s something special about you,

all teeth and hands like great paws

eating meat off your own kind, dark, brooding,

sipping Pinot Noir, the stuff my blood

is made from, my billy-goat silver and metal,

cursed with a manliness that’ll never see you

victorious with the right one, with this one,

not really mine at all, I left you on a stage

shirtless, stateless, the hundredth time

you said “I love you”, I finally replied in kind

and left you to the cold cold mountain,

and for that, I am truly sorry.

We are living in a world which wants freedom. The country which doesn’t have democracy is considered as backward community in the modern world. Every organization wants freedom for expression and freedom to believe in what he likes. When ones freedom is limited then that person becomes rebel. I think most people want freedom only physically, i.e, he wants the freedom to buy whatever he wants, write whatever he wants, do whatever he wants to do. He is not much concerned about the mental and emotional jail he is in.

We are slaves of intellectualism. We don’t have any freedom in that department. We are supposed to believe whatever is taught by others as true and don’t have the right to ask further. For example, he is totally unaware of the happenings inside his country. The authorities are not divulging the truth related to issues even if he is part and parcel of it; the real reason behind the country being attacked or the leader being assassinated or behind the policies that are going to be implemented in future. Are these policies beneficial for the common man or it was implemented for the vested interest of politicians? No one knows it. For example, in country like India, there had been lot of terrorist attacks, even parliament was attacked and lot of people has lost their lives. It is not yet sure who is behind those attacks? There are still something fishy even for the proven cases. So is the case of Gujarat/Mumbai riots or Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. This is not just the case of India, even the powerful countries like USA and UK don’t divulge the secrets behind lot of murders and wars? To give some examples – Has UK found the culprits behind Princess Diana’s murder? What is the mystery behind 9/11 attack? Why massive killing is still the order of the day in Iraq? What is the vested interest behind wars in Iraq/Afghan?

None has unraveled the secrecy beyond doubts regarding the issues that affect his relatives or the nation. Media of any sort is interested only in peripheral examination and will reach a conclusion based on assumptions and also, they don’t have the time to search the truth because they are in search of next sensational news. Common man who is bound to believe whatever media has expressed. And media in turn is bound to believe in whatever the authorities expressed about those issues. So a common man who has lost his inmates in riot doesn’t have the chance to know who was behind those brutal murders. Think of the disgusting situation you are in – your inmates have been killed, and you don’t have the luck to know who was behind your inmates’ death!!! It is shameful disgrace when the only chance for knowing the truth is only by the confession from the one who committed those issues. But for such a confession, it will take years. Normally, it may take 15-25 years at least for confessing. If you look at the history, most incidents we thought truth was not the real truth. Real truth was unraveled only by confession after a lot of years by the culprit himself or by the officers who investigated it. Therefore, we have to admit with shame that we don’t have the freedom of knowing the truth. We are in an intellectual slavery where media and authorities make us to believe false as truth. And when they try to eradicate the untruth, years have rolled back. And there is no organization which is ready to fight against the intellectual slavery he is in.

Intellectual slavery is not just related to politics. It is related to other key issues which directly affects ones life. For example, we are not sure about the ingredients in the food we eat and the medicine we take in. We are bound to believe that it have such and such ingredients and is not harmful to our body. But in reality, most food products have harmful toxins contained in it. It can be pesticides or even the ingredients they put in the labels are missing. When they don’t get one ingredient, they will replace it with other ingredients. This is very common with ayurvedic medicines. When a sick person takes a medicine, he is unaware of what drugs he is taking in (at least in third world countries, medicines and vaccinations are not for the benefits of the patients, but for the benefits of drug producing company and even harmful to patients) . Is it harmful for him or is it just a test dose? None knows what are the real ingredients in a Coke or Milk powder? So is with other home products. When we buy vegetables, we are not sure that it has pesticides or not? In short, we can say that we are buying things which we don’t know. We are purchasing unknown ingredients and ill health by the money we earn with our hard works.

Intellectual slavery is also related to education and concepts we learn or read. We are bound to believe whatever a writer or scientist writes. For example, when you regard someone as great or the media has hyped a writer or politician or monk or any icon as great, then whatever concept he puts forward, we believe it blindly. We are not questioning his concepts when we think we are small and he is big. We just believe in him and his word and think it is truth. We are not testing it with our brains and making it sure that he is right. Most of the time the concept he puts forward is hard to digest or will be beyond his plane so he doesn’t mind to accept it than delving on the concepts. Accepting something is the order of the day than thinking. If a scientist makes a statement that this is true, thousands of people take it as it is and will start to make a theory based on it. They never experiment anything when the scientist says that it is scientifically proved. Similarly, if you go to an astrologer, he will tell you that you have a bad time now; if you do this or that rituals then you will be ok. This is also the same in case of leaders of any religious fraternity.

This is also true in the case of literature. We swallow whatever is written by scholars. It is very high in the case of philosophies or self-help book. The strategies or concept they put forward are not debated in the brain centers and straight forwardly accepted without touching any points. I think that we don’t try to analyze these concepts mainly because we are allured by the colossal fame of these personalities. We don’t understand that most of these cult figures are only media-hyped figures or by-products of marketing techniques. In reality, they are not great but these media managers made them untouchable with their limelight. The web of intellectual slavery is so high that it is hard to be broken by a common man.

To overcome intellectual slavery, one must become rebels. Rebels don’t mean those who destroy everything. That is misconception. A rebel is the one who destroys ignorance. His mind will be filled with joy when he read these words of Buddha who proclaimed beyond doubt that – “Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

So don’t believe any concept before you think it is right. God has given you the intellectual capacity to think and know things yourself. In any country there will be only a few rebels who can counter this intellectual slavery. World was benefited by those rebels. Whoever made any new theories, it was by throwing away blind beliefs and bringing a concept of his own. He is not a parrot anymore who always repeats the slogans of others. He has given up his slavery and is bold enough to declare the truth he stands on.

I don’t mean that you have to show disrespect to great personalities. What I mean is respect their personality but still question their concepts. It is the knowledge that matters and personality is only an element in that. We are questioning only the concepts and we are questioning it for knowing it better not for insulting him. When you try to raise questions then it is sure that you are going to get the answer; the answer can be that either the concept put forward by the personalities was right or it was wrong. You will emerge as winner even if a personality was right or wrong. Because, in both the cases, you can be extremely happy for knowing the truth and can be on the part of the righteous and virtuous. All others including those 2 people – One who is intellectual slave and the other one who makes others bask in his intellectual glory – are not righteous or virtuous; they are part and parcel of the ignorance and personified with disgrace.

Remember these glorious words of buddha which swami vivekananda used to quote frequently””Believe not because some old manuscripts are produced, believe not because it is your national belief, because you have been made to believe it from your childhood; but reason it all out, and after you have analysed it, then, if you find that it will do good to one and all, believe it, live up to it, and help others to live up to it.”

Reporters Without Borders, Dec. 25, 2009-

Reporters Without Borders is profoundly shocked by this unbelievable and outrageous sentence. A Beijing court today sentenced leading Chinese free speech activist Liu Xiaobo 刘晓波) to eleven years in prison on a charge of subverting state authority for posting outspoken articles online and helping to draft Charter 08, a call for democratic reform. He had been facing a possible 15-year sentence. The dissident said he would appeal.

“It is a disgrace that Liu Xiaobo is going to spend the next eleven years in prison when all he did was defend free expression and participate in a debate about his country’s future with many other Chinese intellectuals,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It is also disgraceful that such a sentence was announced on Christmas Day.”

The press freedom organisation added: “Where are the universal values of freedom of expression that China is supposed to represent in Shanghai in 2010? The national and international pressure for this famous dissident’s release must be redoubled. The international community must not be manipulated by the Chinese authorities, who are trying to minimise reaction by concluding this case during the end-of-year holidays.”

Arrested in December 2008, Liu spent nearly a year in prison before being formally charged with subversion on 12 December. His trial on 23 December was accompanied by a high degree of police surveillance. Dozens of foreign journalists, foreign diplomats and Liu supporters were kept away from the courthouse. Liu’s wife, who had wanted to attend, was prevented from leaving her home.

This is not the first time that the Christmas period has proved to be particularly dangerous for Chinese human rights activists. See the previous release.

Inspired by Charter 77, the charter circulated by Czechoslovak dissidents in 1977, Charter 08 was released on 8 December 2008, two days before the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Originally signed by some 300 intellectuals and human rights activists, it now has more than 10,000 signatures.

A former University of Beijing philosophy professor and winner of the Reporters Without Borders press freedom prize in 2004, Liu is committed to the idea that the Chinese media will one day be able to operate as a real fourth estate and stand up to the omnipotent Communist Party.

Examples of some of Liu’s statements about free expression.

- Reporters Without Borders