Čitajte na srpskom
Posted on the 1,628th anniversary of Theodosius of Rome passing legislation prohibiting all pagan worship in the empire –
The letter this essay introduces, goes to the subject of the differing social psychology of the Orthodox and Western Christian worlds; where perceptions are impacted by the actual and imagined actions of others.
The Orthodox world does (in this reporter’s estimation) extend a much greater trust to those adversaries it must negotiate with; for the simple fact of a principle of ‘unity’ or perhaps better said, a lesser focus on the individual with a greater focus on the larger social good. This primacy of a consolidated belief that contracts (say what you mean and mean what you say) will be honestly negotiated and should honored stems from a very different perception of this world than that of the West in general. This likely stems from an ‘incomplete split’ of the Orthodox psyche where…
[Orthodox priest/scientist/inventor] “Florenskii’s theology reflected a complex, nuanced monism and cosmological integrality. Vseedinstvo [complete unity] was everywhere he looked. The “diversity of the universe, enclosed in unity, indicates a united, free, creative Will.” The source of Truth is unity: “If there is Truth, then it is real rationality and rational reality; it is finite infinity and infinite finiteness, or, – to put it mathematically, – actual infinity; infinite, conceivable as an integral Unity, as a single, complete Subject in itself.” Truth, Good, and Beauty are metaphysically one process, originating from one source: God. For Florenskii, Truth (Istina), defined as action serving God or others, leads to unity, and sin and the absence of truth lead to disunity. Anthropocentric and egoistic action goes against God and destroys unity: “Self-affirmation of the personality, its opposition to God is the source of fragmentation, disintegration of the personality, impoverishment of its inner life; and only love, yes to a certain degree, again brings the personality into unity.” All love – plutonic, familial, and sexual – comes from God. Sin causes the “soul to lose its substantive unity.” “Chastity is simplicity, that is organic unity, or, again, integrity of the personality.” Perversion and an absence of shame are “duality”, “non-unity, non-integrality.” At the same time, sin also has unity if only imaginary in nature: “Sin is unstable in itself. The unity of impurity is imaginary, and the illusory nature of this false unity is revealed as soon as it is forced to come face to face with Good. Uncleanness is one – as long as there is no Pure One, but just the approach of the Pure throws off the mask of unity from it (uncleanness).” “The providence of God and the freedom of creation, being antonyms, constitute one dogma – the dogma of God’s love for creation, which has its basis in the idea of God-Love, that is, of the Divine Trinity.” Bringing reason back in, seemingly, Florenskii regards the study of the “unity of creation” as “the precondition for science.”” [1]
The difference to the Western Christian is stark; where “the dogma of God’s love for creation” is practically unknown & unheard of, rather the rationalized individual’s freedom to plunder (subliminally derived from “the Earth is cursed for thy sake” of Genesis) that has transformed into ‘prosperity gospel’ is emphasized. Indeed, in the annals of the USA, were one to look for a similarity to the unity of Florenskii’s thinking, one should step out of the Western Christian experience to find it; in the Deism of Thomas Paine:
“…in Deism our reason and our belief become happily united. The wonderful structure of the universe, and everything we behold in the system of the creation, prove to us, far better than books can do, the existence of a God, and at the same time proclaim His attributes. It is by the exercise of our reason that we are enabled to contemplate God in His works, and imitate Him in His ways. When we see His care and goodness extended over all His creatures, it teaches us our duty toward each other, while it calls forth our gratitude to Him”
In fact the American Christian nearly universally, ungratefully, demonized and rejected Paine, the philosopher previously credited for America’s success in acquiring independence by motivating the populace to noble thoughts, for his essay “Of The Religion of Deism Compared With the Christian Religion”, from which the preceding paragraph is taken.
Should it, now, surprise anyone, when it is posited the social psychology of Eastern and Western Christianity is fundamentally different? When the Westerner speaks out both sides of his mouth, the typical Easterner can only read one side or the other; when meeting with outstretched hand to greet, the Westerner’s first instinct is to look for the other hand, to discover whether it conceals a knife destined to one’s back; whereas the Easterner takes the outstretched hand as a gesture that should only be met with sincerity, without duplicity. When East meets West, the West takes advantage reflected in the Western cynical folk wisdom “it was like taking candy from a baby.” This is what Russia’s Yeltsen experienced and it is what Russia’s Putin nearly experienced. Now it is Serbia’s experience.
Putin, over the course of his first seven years, extended his hand on multiple occasions, but was met on every occasion with a middle finger or a knife. It was only in his 2007 speech at Munich, Putin stated ‘enough is enough.’ Seven years is a long time to learn the Western geopolitic does not respect its’ agreements and in every interaction where there are not outright insults when rejecting sincerely offered partnership, there will be a concealed knife. [2]
In relation to his unswerving support for Alexandar Vucic, who is in process of surrendering Kosovo with what amounts to negotiating a quit-claim deed concerning the Serbian territory at the international level, the Patriarch appears to upholding contradictions, unless he’d not been presented the facts in a fully informed way. The unkind (Western perception) would be (a subverted monastic mentality) the Patriarch is complicit in the proposed crimes of Vucic but what it actually is, is an inability to comprehend a Serbian president would blatantly lie to the people and the head of Serbia’s Orthodox church, however this thought has two possible tracks; accounting for the possibility Vucic would lie to himself, in Western psychology this is called a “denial mechanism” (which carries the same practical outcome.) This observation derives from, prima facie, conflicting statements of Serbia’s Patriarch:
“”For eight years I have been listening about Vučić’s preparing to betray Kosovo”
“He [the Patriarch] also asked if it made sense to “convict a man for something he did not do, just because some think he will do it.”
“”Vucic has tackled the numerous problems of Kosovo. He has shown himself to be a responsible statesman on many national issues. The citizens gave their opinion on his work in the elections,” [Serbian Patriarch] Irinej told Vecernje Novosti.
“He added that he thinks that Serbs and Albanians should be left to agree on everything on their own without imposing a “solution” in favor of only one side. “In that respect, the United States can play a great and historical role,” the patriarch said” [3]
Clearly the Patriarch does not grasp the duplicitous nature of the USA, also he does not grasp the entire affair Vucic is negotiating with the Americans and Europe has to do with surrendering Serbia’s sovereignty over Kosovo; and if Vucic himself were to claim he was not cognizant of what he is signing away, it should defy belief. Moreover, the Serbian Orthodox position is clarified at the official Serbian Orthodox Church website:
“His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch has said today that the only agreement that the Serbian Orthodox Church accepts is the one in which Kosovo is part of Serbia.
“”That is absolutely the position of the Church, and nothing has changed there. We will still see in which direction the negotiations between the Serbian and Albanian sides are going, we are still getting to know the matter, “said Patriarch Irinej, commenting on the negotiations that took place between Belgrade and Pristina in the previous days” [4]
This could be aggravated by the possibility Vucic himself is not fully informed as to the implications of what he had done (signed the so-called ‘economic normalization’ agreement) in a context of international law. Another practical outcome is (the fact) Vucic has violated the ‘Kosovo clause’ of the Serbian constitution (whether he realizes this or not.) However international law very likely won’t concern itself with this ‘domestic matter’ but will examine the facts of what the duly elected/appointed Serbian officials have conducted in matters of international relations only.
Finally, there is the possibility of information provided to the Patriarch is culled or otherwise curtailed or presented in such a way as to deceive and ultimately shape his perception away from the holistic (aggregate) facts (per Catholic or blackmailed or bought agents of influence within the church.)
But overall, the greatest deficiency is the differing social psychology, where the Eastern perception cannot easily or fluently grasp the depth of the Western duplicity. This should likely be very true for the Patriarch. A kinder interpretation would extend this naivety to Vucic but if this were the case, it should demonstrate his advisors had failed him at every level.
How the social psychology plays out with the majority of Serbians supporting Vucic is profoundly different to that of the Western democratic tradition; Serbia, very similar to Russia, had precisely ZERO Western democratic tradition prior the end of the Twentieth Century and in fact both peoples are conditioned to authoritarian regimes based in a principled unity, this is literally recorded into the Serbian genetic memory. Vucic behaves as a king, and the Serbian people behave as though Vucic were indeed a king. It is ingrained in the DNA. When Vucic appoints ministers, they behave as Dukes & Lords and the people largely accept this. The Russians are lucky, their Tsar Putin is an enlightened despot with the best interests of the Russian people at the core of his being. He keeps his Dukes & Lords on a leash, they cannot loot Russia with impunity, that door of opportunity for the most ill behaved oligarchs (Dukes & Lords) was slammed shut in the year 2000. Putin the man understands his people’s psychology and he has played the (fraught with danger) intrigues of court quite well. Meanwhile, Serbia cannot afford a King Yeltsin; Yeltsin did not, most likely actually could not, grasp the depth of the Western evil that had extended its’ hand to him, and his Dukes & Lords possessed no self restraint. The West could not swallow & digest Russia quickly enough to get away with it, the proposed feast was too large. The necessity of Serbia finding competent leadership is even more compelling; as Western corporate neo-colonialism aggressively moves to swallow & digest what it actually fears in a paradox of subliminal psychology; the unity principle in Orthodoxy opposed to individualism.
“Revelation” in real time has been noted on many occasions in the simple, uneducated Orthodox Serb villager, as opposed to the perfectly psychotic ‘visions’ (manipulations) of the mass psychology in Western Christianity.
In respect to this, it should be noted the Orthodox (unlike Rome) did not burn alive everyone daring to express the intuitive intelligence resembling the oracles of paganism. In the West, the genetic memory (potential) indicative of intuitive skill born of the Universe’s unity principle had been largely stamped out. The resultant Western ‘split’ became irrevocable; beyond the Heavens and Earth, this split separated the hemispheres of the human brain to the micro-level, and points to a final, literal, dis-integration.
The ultimate fallacy of this Cartesian-Platonic ‘objective’ reality (one example only) is demonstrated in the inability of the Western scientist to grasp the simple progression of the events that had shaped him; beginning with a world of ‘unity intelligence’ denied by Plato, Plato’s adoption by Western Christianity and the consequent necessary schism that had to manifest with Plato’s uncompromising divorce of intuitive intelligence from ‘practical’ matters (logos), leading to an individualism so severe that a newly discovered & unnatural atheism eloped with Western science; becoming a mind-set so extreme that, when a brilliant mind shaped by a culture not yet divested of its’ unity intelligence points his thinking to what had been (in ancient era) the obvious, what will the Western scientific canon do with demonstrable evidence its’ culture is not compatible with its’ pretensions of ‘empirical’ understanding of our experience? (and certainly not compatible with actual reality.) Vitaly Vanchurin, a theoretical physicist, in his paper “The World as a Neural Network” proposes:
“We discuss a possibility that the entire universe on its most fundamental level is a neural network…” [5]
I suppose it should not come as a surprise it would be a Russian, shaped in his intelligence by a culturally inculcated principle of unity, that would explore physics in this direction. But should it be so shocking if it were to be discovered the Human brain simply mirrored (is an organic model of) the universe?
But my own take would be the likely related fascination with unity in Orthodoxy has its roots in pre-Christian beliefs, again noting the Orthodox church, unlike Rome, did not burn alive everyone manifesting intuitive intelligence resembling pagan beliefs. My observation, living in Serbia, is the Orthodox Serb villager is often pagan in custom if not name. And it is herein lie the root of the Western animus to the Orthodox Slav, a subliminal, deep, psychological terror of a unity principle that should reveal the greater Western culture is, in and of itself, incompatible with its’ pretensions.
Hypocrisy never sensed itself so vulnerable. How should the Orthodox Slav meet the problem of confronted with a fear so penetrating & abiding, the West must feel compelled to destroy every manifestation of that which is self-aware in a principle of unity? A Serbian King who cannot expertly ponder this question is worse than without value, for the simple fact ‘the long game’ of the West is the Orthodox of the Balkans will be subverted to Eastern Rite Catholicism, little different to the ‘Catholicized’ (Eastern Rite Catholic answering to Rome) Ruthenian of Western Ukraine (‘gifting the world’ with a legacy of Stephan Bandera’s SS Galacian & the subsequent Nazis of the 2014 Maidan in Kiev.)
If the West has its’ way in these matters, after the first indigenous generation of Western educated Serbs rise to power in Serbia, there will be no one left to read this essay with a deep understanding; already demonstrated by those Serbians colonized/co-opted into the western canon of knowledge at foreign university who no longer can feel unity, taste unity, or know the social aroma of unity, for the fact they have no avenue (mental capacity) to ‘enter’ unity, and the true Serb mentality consequently can only be viewed negatively in their drive to enter the EU.
We already see this phenomena manifest in Prime Minister Brnabic, the American and British educated (BBA diploma of the Northwood University and MBA of the University of Hull) Brnabic has been tied to various consulting companies implementing USAID policies in Serbia (recalling USAID’s history as an umbrella for several organizations promoting color revolution.) Would Brnabic be a willing and/or complicit intelligence agency asset? She doesn’t need to be, Western mentality has co-opted her mind via education and she is consequently perfect material for unwitting manipulation. She will be used accordingly:
“The government I am proposing is pro-European”
“The prime minister-designate said it was important for her to stress how pro-European the new government was.
“”Our task is to accelerate the process of European integration in the coming period. Changing the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia in the field of justice is a necessary step in further strengthening the rule of law and further harmonization with the European acquis and European standards,” she said.
“She announced support for changes to the Constitution in the field of justice.
“”In the previous mandate, the Government of Serbia, after extensive public consultations that lasted a little over 18 months, as well as consultations and support of the Venice Commission, sent an initiative to the Assembly to change the Constitution so that our society has a judiciary that is independent of any influence. We will continue to support changes to the Constitution in the area of justice in order to find the best solutions for our legal system,” she said.
“She points out that it is important for our society to have a judiciary that is independent of all political influences, but also much more efficient and responsible towards citizens.
“Regulating media sphere
“When it comes to the media sphere, the Media Strategy for the period until 2025 was adopted, she reminds.
“The government, she says, did the job in partnership with media and journalists’ associations, whose representatives made up half of the members of the Working Group for drafting the Media Strategy.
“According to Brnabić, the transparency and inclusiveness of the whole process were supported by partners from the OSCE Mission to Serbia, the EU Delegation to Serbia, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
“She adds that the same working group continued to work on the Action Plan for the implementation of the strategy, which, as she points out, will be one of the first documents on the agenda of the new government” [6]
What we have here (the cynical western perception or ‘knife held behind the back’) appears to be Vucic, who ‘lip services’ the Slav ethic, assuages the Patriarch and makes friendly noises in the direction of Russia, has handed the ‘dirty work’ of European integration to Brnabic. The afore-mentioned OSCE is penetrated by Western intelligence to point of poisoning the entire organization, the EU Delegation speaks for the EU’s primary or controlling power (that would be Germany) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation is nothing short of a LITERALLY Nazi infected front for the German foreign intelligence service Bundesnachrichtendienst. [7]
In fact this is identical direction the USA is pushing for, per the American Embassy’s website mission statement concerning Serbia:
“As U.S. Ambassador, Anthony F. Godfrey leads the U.S. Government’s efforts to advance its partnership with Serbia, expand economic prosperity, and assist Serbia’s efforts for European integration. It is in the strategic interest of the United States that Serbia develops as a modern, democratic, and prosperous European nation that is at peace with its neighbors and demonstrates full respect for the rule of law and rights of its citizens. Helping our Serbian partners to strengthen their democratic institutions, protect the rights of members of minority communities, combat corruption, and improve media freedom are key areas for Ambassador Godfrey and his team. Supporting Serbia’s goal of EU membership and regional stability by promoting the normalization of relations between Pristina and Belgrade is a top priority for Ambassador Godfrey” [8]
In fact Godfrey’s decades career as an embassy “political officer” leaves little room to doubt his is the USA Department of State’s Siamese twin Central Intelligence Agency role in a senior capacity; perhaps better stated, likely the top CIA official in Belgrade, following on:
“He [Godfrey] served from 2015 to 2019 as Political Minister Counselor, and then Deputy Chief of Mission, at U.S. Embassy Moscow, Russia”
Could (the kinder view) Vucic be so naive a Slav mentality as to be utterly unaware of the treasonous (to the Orthodox Slav mentality) dynamic he has trapped himself in? It’s theoretically possible, Yeltsin was apparently so naive, but this must be doubted in the case of Vucic, whose many conversations with the Russians following the Yeltsin era (Putin & Lavrov, particularly) should have disabused him of any such innocence. However the innocence of Serbian Patriarch is plausibly a different matter:
Letter to the Serbian Patriarch
Dear Office of the Honorable Serbian Patriarch
I am a non-Orthodox father of Serbian citizen children. I am not a Christian but hold a profound respect for the historical Jesus. My beliefs are shaped in a pre-Columbian (pre-Christian) Native American tradition, a tradition nearly extinguished by the Western church (Catholicism, particularly.) Consequently, I approach Christianity with caution, because my cultural shaping cannot reconcile many of the admirable principles Jesus had taught with contrary acts construed to be ‘Christian.’
In Europe, I have discovered ‘truth’ is often a malleable thing, particularly in relation to geopolitics. The prima facie result appears to be ‘truth’ is often presented in ways that are not clean; whether partial truths, or alternatively stated, misaligned facts presented that actually become deceits. These deceits might stem from human frailties of psychology (e.g. self deceits) or derive from more perverse source; servicing a lower temporal nature.
It is my present opinion (as my understanding of the Orthodox church grows) that the church in the East should never become so cynical as that headquartered at Rome; where my perception as a past intelligence professional leads me to believe certain recent events in Montenegro indicate (at least in part) a Rome initiated gambit pointed towards an attempted targeting this region of the Orthodox church with the long term aim of converting the Montenegrin Orthodox faithful into Eastern Rite Catholics. But I digress from the point of my writing to you today. This immediate (preceding) point is made simply to say if I see Catholicism as duplicitous and corrupt (I do), I presently entertain no animosity towards Orthodoxy. Rome would have burned alive the Serb villagers for certain habits stemming from ancient times (our native experience had been similar to this) and it is to the credit of Orthodoxy this has not been the case in Serbia. I sincerely thank you for this, on behalf of my Serbian children.
This message is not to intended to criticize Orthodoxy, even if there were philosophical elements possibly we would never agree upon; for instance I have shaped my children in the direction of secular ethics but also intend they will have a sympathetic understanding of Orthodoxy in a Serbian historical context. My own belief is, having lived outside the laws of Judeo-Christian monotheism, I expect I will be judged according to my life in the awareness of my understanding of our creator, ‘The Great Mystery’, no man can fathom; except to know it is better to be good than bad, honest dealings with our fellow man & truthful reporting are the correct road to follow, and at the end, it is better to die than to compromise one’s ethics and cleanliness of one’s mind. In this regard, it should be noted our native teaching “you have to correct your mistakes” requires forgiveness can only manifest after self-correction; the one cannot precede the other. This lived (original native philosophy) demands some compromises are never to be entertained because it is better to surrender one’s life rather than indelibly dirty the clean light of one’s spirit. It is in this frame of thinking we meditate.
Now to the point of this communication; concerning Alexandar Vucic and his recent (September) trip to Washington, DC. I fear your offices have been misinformed, misled or have in some great sense misunderstood the chicanery the Americans engaged in. What President Vucic signed was in fact a de facto capitulation per the rule of reciprocity in international law.
I admire the Serbian Patriarch’s demand repatriation of Kosovo’s displaced Serb population must be the 1st point addressed prior to discussion of any other issue; yet there remains a great danger in any misapprehension of the “Economic Normalization” agreement President Vucic signed. I could not imagine there would be a developing circumstance of the child shouting “The emperor has no clothes!” but in fact any competent lawyer (with courage) should be able to effect the point of this folk wisdom. It should be better to self-correct in this regard than to experience a greater humiliation.
If in August I had thought ‘Serbia could do much worse than Alexandar Vucic’, in October my thinking is Alexandar Vucic should have done much better for Serbia. The American charlatans had tricked him like a child.
I have attached an assessment in this matter of the “Economic Normalization” agreement translated to Serbian; as well this letter has been translated for your perusal.
With kindest regards
Ronald West
Attached assessment referred to may be read HERE
Related: A Serbian King
References:
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7Ng75e5gQ
[3] https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2020&mm=10&dd=16&nav_id=109463
[4] http://www.spc.rs/eng/statement_serbian_patriarch_irinej
[5] https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.01540
[6] https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2020&mm=10&dd=28&nav_id=109547
[7] https://fort-russ.com/2020/05/germanys-plot-against-serbia-exposed-education-espionage/
[8] https://rs.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/our-ambassador/
Wishing the Patriarch a speedy recovery from his covid 19 positive test –
20 Nov: May his legacy be positive consequence for Orthodox unity –
Ronald Thomas West 