Gelkhvidze Samson Prokofievich
To those who object, against artistic writing, believing Christians
Another attempt to reconcile the sinful Earth with the holy Heaven.
Still, the phenomenon of human desires is amazing. Where do they come from and where are they going? Which lead us to salvation and which to destruction.
Everything has been known and invented for a long time. What then drives human restlessness? The flow of life, the movement in deliberately chosen directions? It is difficult to stay in a moving stream that blows you away and, in case of a stop, will take you somewhere far away with its waters. In this case, what is the dependence of our local, local movements in the general global stream?
The right answers can only be given to the right questions. Although…
If everything has been said and written a long time ago, where does the desire to write come from?
Isn't it better to read than to write about what has already been said, especially since, perhaps, the seemingly old story that I would like to tell about, in essence, by and large, is a kind of variation of the story that was once and by someone that has already been said.
Willingness to speak up or express yourself? Maybe confess?
An artistic form of self-expression, self-confession, the discovery in oneself of the beauty of those secrets of the human soul, which the Almighty has so generously, lovingly and mercifully endowed us with.
Another, colorful facet in the knowledge of Absolute love and kindness, in the model and likeness of which we are created, with the addition of those earthly impurities and distortions that we, due to our human weakness, acquire on sinful earth?
The confrontation between good and evil principles, the struggle of which permeates our entire life, causes an infinite number of variations of life situations in such extravagant plots that even the most talented and sophisticated writer cannot come up with.
It turns out that life itself throws stories at us, just have time to write them down. But for what, why? If the very philosophical definition of being leads to the fact that it is something that has never been and never will be, but is only now and always? So that a person does not lose the ability to think? And why is this ability for a person if it does not serve the comprehension and service of the truth?
What is the purpose of human life if it is not dedicated to Life itself? And what is the price of human labor and product, if they are not aimed at glorifying the name of the One to whom we owe our birth and existence?
“…he who does not gather with me, he squanders” (Mat. 12:31).
How, in this case, could and should we understand the meaning and purpose of literature in human life in general?
It seems that everyone has the right to their opinion and their statement, even if it may seem erroneous to others.
In this context, the meaning and purpose of literature as a whole seems to serve the Absolute Truth, Love, Kindness. I think that only in this case can one justify the service to literature. The occupation of it can be represented by a certain spiritual act or exercise, useful both for the one who does it and for the good of society.
In this regard, I recall the episode described in the Fatherland by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, which tells about the life of St. Abba Anthony, about how he once, subjected to spiritual confusion, despondency and a special invasion of gloomy thoughts, began to pour out his sorrow before God, wondering :
"How can I be saved?" And he suddenly had a vision of an unknown person, carefully occupied with the labors of his hands, who either got up, leaving needlework, and prayed, then again returned to needlework, sewing palm leaves. Then he got up again and prayed, after the prayer he again began to do needlework. The one who did this turned out to be an angel sent to him by God to encourage and encourage him to courage. And he heard a voice from an angel: "Do this, and you will be saved."
And further it is pointed out that the mind cannot completely and unceasingly abide in prayer and other deeds of spiritual feat: as limited, it gets tired, it needs rest, which is delivered by needlework, in which the mind’s work, although it continues, is not so intense.
So, I think, why not imagine a person’s desire to write as the needlework described above?
Write about everything, about the past, about the present, about the imagined future, about what you have seen, heard, thought, about everything that hurts your soul, and compare all this with absolute and true church knowledge. Why? If only because to check or compare with him our "distortion" of the society in which we live.
Once again I catch myself thinking and wanting to justify a person's desire to write.
I think that activities in the field of fiction are subconsciously dictated by the desire to find the path of Truth s or at least to the path leading to this path. But what if, by the grace of God, a person somehow ended up on this path and is on it?
The machinations of the evil one? His desire to lead such a writer astray from the path of Truth? Or maybe the writer's desire to save those who have not yet been saved, even one, in order to wash away many of his sins? Or maybe both?
Purely artistic literature, it seems, can be attributed rather to the earthly, while purely spiritual literature, to the heavenly. Does artistic and spiritual literature have the right to exist, or vice versa? I think the latter is less so than the former. And also the aforementioned direction is represented by the direction forward, and in the opposite direction - backward.
But what place should it occupy in the role of saving the human soul? I think it should depend on the percentage of the artistic and the spiritual in this or that author.
If the destroyer of the human soul has many nets and tricks set up everywhere for its destruction, then why shouldn’t the same number of nets exist, catching and tearing human souls out of the routine and cycle of their sins, putting them on the true path of salvation?
I think that for those who are still ignorant and unfamiliar, and especially those who are frightened and avoid church truths and knowledge, such a literary and spiritual genre can be very useful for overcoming the obstacles that stand in their way and igniting that saving flame of desires, which gradually, by the grace of God, can flare up in a blissful and fiery fire of love and joy that cannot fit in one person and he will certainly have a desire to bestow similar good feelings and life “quanta” on his entire close environment. For how can one disagree with the words of one famous song that “that a person’s happiness should be such that when you are happy yourself, share your happiness with another” - this is artistically and “joy and happiness are given to a person so that he, so and passed them on to others” - this is in the spiritual sense.
I think that in this regard, in the genre of artistic and spiritual literature, fiction can be a permanent accomplice of the spiritual, with the help of which it will be possible to attract and thereby save as many people as possible.
And it is certainly fair to subject works of such a genre to mutual reviews, both artistic and spiritual, so that such considerations or thoughts do not creep into them that could violate the integrity of the entire genre, or, worse, turn out to be hostile, which could become extremely disastrous for both the writer and the reader.
And in conclusion, I would like to express my wishes to those who are trying to decide and find their place in the aforementioned related genre:
“If you can’t write, read, and if you can’t not write, then read much more! Read on, and everything will be decided by itself and applied!”
03/10/2004
P.S. Read, experience and empathize, so that, as one of the classics said, it is more complete and more correct to answer the questions posed in the soul.