3. Пустота и односторонность светской жизни

How you made me happy with your answer! “It doesn’t pull, on the contrary, it pushes away. For many days after that I felt broken, my soul was languishing and yearning, and I could not control myself. It really eased up." Why didn’t you prescribe this last time? It seemed to me that by keeping silent, you were hiding a sweetheart or a thorn. May God grant that such a feeling of separation from secular life and secular amusements will remain in you forever. But it is also possible that you will fall in love. As you can see, you cannot help but come into contact with such a life. The second time it won’t be so destructive and embarrassing, the third time it will be even less, and then wow - as they say about vodka: the first glass with a stake, the second with a falcon, and then just serve it. What do those who have to go into a tobacco shop experience? It eats your eyes and hurts your nose, and you can’t breathe. And those who tinder, then nothing at all; and even these fresh ones, after standing for a while, don’t squint so much, sneeze and choke, and then these inconveniences stop completely. Look, something similar would not happen to you regarding the order of life that has so disturbed your peace. It’s as if you anticipated my question and said: “And I don’t think that I will ever come to terms with such a life. I look closer and find that this is not life. I don’t know how to explain this, but I am convinced that this is not life. There is a lot of movement here, but no life. Look, my sewing machine is busy, but what kind of life is there?” Your bright little head gave birth to a wonderful idea. Now I can consider your position more reliable. One feeling is fragile: it can change. But when a solid thought comes to help it, it strengthens and again strengthens the thought. Together they look like a fortress. But for this fortress to be stronger, you need to understand why exactly there is no life in that life. If our conversations continue, then over time this will become clear in detail, but now I will only say: because there is no life in that life, because it does not occupy and nourish all aspects of human life, but only a small part, and, moreover, one that stands in last place, or, rather, on the outskirts of life, without touching its center. Human life is complex and multifaceted. There is a physical side to it, there is a mental side and there is a spiritual side. Each has its own strengths and needs and its own ways of exercising and satisfying them. Only when all our forces are in motion and all our needs are satisfied does a person live. And when he has only one particle of strength in motion and only one particle of needs is satisfied, then this life is not life: everything is one, as in your sewing machine the proper movement occurs only when all its parts are in motion. If any part stops working, the machine stops working. A person does not live like a human being when everything in him is not in motion. Only in a machine the cessation of its life - movement - is visible, but in a person the inaction of a full human life, with the action of one side and the satisfaction of a few needs, occurs invisibly, although there really is, as real, the immobility of the said machine. This is the law of human life! Let's apply it to what we're talking about. What forces are employed there and what needs are being satisfied? The hands, feet, tongue, eyes, ears, sense of smell, touch, memory, imagination, fantasy and intelligence are occupied, all together - the lowest side of man, the same with animals; and only one need of animal life is satisfied, or, better, the game of this life, which acts with sheep when they are driven out into a green meadow. In addition to these forces, a person has two or three more tiers of them and their main center. Judge now, can such a life be life? Your feeling told you that there is no life here. I show you the main reason why not. Perhaps the effect of this reason is not so clear to you now, but the general idea cannot but be understood, and the details will become clear over time. For I intend to derive everything worthwhile from the structure of human nature. We need to live the way God created us, and when someone does not live this way, we can safely say that he does not live at all. Please be content with this for now. You might be interested in: