Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Moscow, at the Cathedral of St. Basil

 

In the South of the Red Square stood a colorful cathedral with onion shape domes, it was the first time I saw such cathedral. Red bricks with white-stone ornaments mixed with vibrant swirling patterns in green, blue and red of the domes. At first look people might mistook it as a Cinderella’s castle in Disneyland. 

But it is no Disneyland fantasy, it is a church loaded with history and devotion, it is the Cathedral of St. Basil. It was built in the 16th century by order of Russian Tsar Ivan IV to fulfill his vow to have a church built for his victorious conquests of Kazan. He intended to build the church on a scale reflecting the importance of his victory of Kazan, which not only eliminated a troublesome Kazan, but also opened a vast area for colonization and trade. 

The cathedral is not one large space, it consists of 11 small churches, one of them built over the grave of St Basil. The churches are connected with the labyrinth of narrow corridors with arched roofs, beautifully decorated with colorful flower patterns symbolizing the heavenly garden. Each church looks like a vase, a narrow room with a high ceiling.  Perhaps this shape made the acoustics amazing, we can hear clearly hymns and chants sung in other room, the sound of their voices was divine. 

The cathedral of St. Basil is so impressive that legend has it that supposedly Tsar Ivan IV blinded the cathedral’s architects so that the designs of this new and impressive structure could not be replicated in any other buildings. Although this cannot be verified, it aligns with what is known of his complex personality and his severe temperament, his harsh treatment of Russian nobility, his people and servants. There are notes of his mental outbreaks, with one tragic instance, he accidentally killed his own son during an argument. Because of his cruelty and temper, he is also known as Ivan the Terrible. 

The legacy of the cathedral built to memorize Tsar Ivan IV’s victories in Kazan has been overshadowed by Basil, known as a beggar, a “Fool for Christ”, a prophetic voice of conscience clothed in rags, buried under the Cathedral. Basil and the Tzar had a complicated relationship. The strong and vicious Tsar Ivan IV did not dare to trample the beggar who stood in his way, the entire population of Moscow hung on the beggar’s every word and action, revering him as a prophet. The Tsar once showered Basil with gifts, wanting to test if Basil was tempted by wealth.  Basil accepted the gifts but promptly gave away all of them to the first needy person he met. When Basil died in 1557, the Tsar Ivan IV himself was among the pallbearers  to bring his body to its resting place: now known as the Cathedral of St. Basil. 

 

THE END

 

SOURCES:

https://nationsmedia.org/basil-the-holy-fool/

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/st-basils-cathedral-architecture-and-history#what-is-st-basils-cathedral

 







Saturday, March 2, 2024

Moscow, at the Red Square

 

For us knowing Red Square in Moscow from the Red Army parade at the square to commemorate the October Revolution it can’t be helped that our image of the Red Square is that of the Red Army, communism and blood. So, if we come there we would expect to see a cold square with monuments of Lenin, or Stalin or Marx, along with red communist propaganda posters and banners, something like that. How wrong are we. 

When we come from Ploshchad Revolyutsii metro station to the Red Square we enter through the front gate of the city from the side of Tverskaya street and Manezhnaya Square. This is the Kilometer Zero of Moscow, it has red brick color walls with white linings and two archways. In the inside of the gate there is an icon depicting the resurrection of Christ, therefore the gate is named the Resurrection Gate. Ironically the gate has been demolished and resurrected a number of times, first appeared in 1534 and was reconstructed in 1680, torn down by Stalin to make way for large-scale Soviet ceremonies in the square. The Gate was once again assembled between 1994 and 1995.

Going further, we can see a huge department store in the late 19th century Russian Architecture. It is the GUM (Glawny Uniwersalny Magasin) Department Store, occupying the majority of the Red Square’s East side flanked by Nikolskaya and Ilyinka streets. It is the largest in Russia, selling luxury goods with walls in intricate forms, with abundance of decor, composition and picturesque glass windows and roofs. But we should know that Red Square originally began as a slum, a shanty town of wooden huts clustered beneath the Kremlin walls that housed a collection of peddlers, criminals and drunks whose status left them outside the official boundaries of the medieval city. It was cleared on the orders of Ivan III at the end of the 1400's, but remained the province of the mob, the site of public executions, and rabble rousing, until much later. Today GUM stands brightly at the side of Red Square presenting itself to the locals and visitors as a noble shopping center characterised by boutiques in the upper price ranges. 

In front of the GUM Shopping Mall stands a cathedral with various colorful onion shaped cupolas, it is St Basil cathedral, the iconic building of Russia, and is probably the first image that comes to mind when people visit Russia.  The cathedral’s fame might be due to its distinctive, eccentric design, the 10 onion shaped cupolas with the vibrant clash of colors. 

At the center of the square we can see a multi-tiered pyramid building, which is Lenin Mausoleum. Made of granite and labradorite, it shows the character of the mausoleum as a monumental burial place, designed by the renowned architect Alexey Shchusev. Inside the mausoleum, the lavishly embalmed corpse of Vladimir Lenin rests in an armored glass sarcophagus. To this day, the mausoleum is open to visitors on certain days. 

The Red Square ('Krasnaya Ploschad' in Russian), is indeed dominated by the brick red color of the buildings in the square, so perhaps that is why many of us associated the Red Square name with the color of the buildings there. Many people also believe that Red Square is so named because communism and Russia are associated with the color red, even further associated with blood(shed). But, actually the word Krasnaya originally means beautiful in old Russian language but now in modern times it means ‘red’. Therefore, common assumptions that the 'Red' in Red Square referred to the red brick colour of the buildings, Communism, or even bloodshed - are misunderstood. 

The Red Square is indeed a beautiful square, with beautiful churches overshadowing the Lenin Monument, and the privately-run luxurious GUM Department Store overshadowing the socialistic way of the country. And it is a pity that the image of this square is misrepresented by the military parades of the Red Army broadcasted on television worldwide.

  

THE END

 

Sources:

https://www.local-life.com/moscow/articles/red-square








Sunday, November 19, 2023

Moscow, on the Streets

 

After visiting the Red Square we walked to the nearby Nikolskaya street leading to Lubyanka Square. At a glance the street just looked like a fashionable shopping street, lined with boutiques, bars and food shops. But actually, the place had many historical and cultural buildings in the past. The street is named after the Greek Monastery of St. Nicholas situated there, and the north side of the street is lined with some historic buildings, such as the Kazan Cathedral, the former Red Mint building, and the Russian State University for the Humanities. Other historical buildings have been replaced with souvenirs shop, restaurants and boutiques.

 We can feel the commercial atmosphere in the street, many local ladies and gentlemen wear Russian traditional clothes, complete the big blonde wig strolling the street offering souvenirs or selfies. They greeted the passing by tourists ‘nihao, nihao’ as there are many Chinese tourists coming there. There are also benches in the middle of streets for us to sit after a long walk, enjoying the fresh spring air, under blue sky with flocks of white cloud. There are also street performers there, including one singing opera arias, with his quite powerful voice. We heard that he was actually practicing for an operatic performance, as he wouldn’t be able to do it in his apartment room, it would be to noisy for the neighbours.

 From there we took a metro and walked in the Vozdvizhenka Street area, and saw a huge modern building dominating the area. It is the Russian State Library, the largest in the country and the fifth largest in the world for its collection of books. In front of the library stands a statue of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a famous Russian novelist. The statue depicts him in a very informal posture, sitting slanting on a pedestal, looking deep in thought. Within the vicinity of this area there are other museums such as the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Gogol House museum, and Gallery Aleksander Shilov. There are other museums, theater and churches in this district, making it one of the most dense area with cultural heritage.

 Taking another metro to the Teatralnaya Ploschad or Theater Square, in front of Bolshoi theatre, at the side of Teatral'nyy Proyedz street stands the statue of Karl Marx the founder of Communism. The statue  carved out Marx from a grey granite block, depicting him as a speaker standing on the podium as if addressing people with a speech. The pedestal is engraved with his famous words:  "Workers of the World, Unite!". The sculpturer Lev Kerbel was awarded the Lenin Prize the following year. 

I captured the soul of Moscow in the brief walk on its streets.  

  

THE END

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_State_Library

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx_monument,_Moscow




Sunday, September 3, 2023

An Interview with Friedrich

 

Photo: Wikimedia

Assigned to interview Friedrich, I was at a loss as to how to deal with it. He is famous as a controversial philosopher who declared 'God is Dead', with his views on religions, especially Christianity, very negative, even though his father was a Lutheran minister. His father died when Friedrich was only 4 years old so he did not get to witness his son's 'apostasy'. 

To prepare for this interview I forced to read his writings entitled 'Antichrist' which is very demeaning to Christianity and even considers Christian values ​​as poison for his followers. Of course, many readers will feel insulted by these provocative remarks and cannot accept their blasphemy. But by stroking my chest I finally decided to meet Friedrich in his hometown of Röcken, in Germany. 

That day Friedrich received my visit in the living room of his house, he looked weak, his neck was wrapped in a thick scarf. It seemed the cold February air had turned him pale. He was not as fierce as his writing, only his thick mustache made him look like a member of the military force. His body was hunched, his legs were slightly bent, and his hands looked like dumplings. 

I then opened the conversation:

“Herr Friedrich, straight away, in the book The Joyful Wisdom you wrote about the Madman proclaiming that “God is Dead”. How did this happen?” 


Friedrich, repeating the Madman's words in the book ‘The Joyful Wisdom’:

"Where is God gone?" he called out. "I mean to tell you! We have killed him,—you and I! We are all his murderers! But how have we done it? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the whole horizon? What did we do when we loosened this earth from its sun? Whither does it now move? Whither do we move? Away from all suns? Do we not dash on unceasingly? Backwards, sideways, forwards, in all directions? Is there still an above and below? Do we not stray, as through infinite nothingness? Does not empty space breathe upon us? Has it not become colder? Does not night come on continually, darker and darker? Shall we not have to light lanterns in the morning? Do we not hear the noise of the grave-diggers who are burying God? Do we not smell the divine putrefaction?—for even Gods putrefy! God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! How shall we console ourselves, the most murderous of all murderers? The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto possessed, has bled to death under our knife,—who will wipe the blood from us? With what water could we cleanse ourselves? What lustrums, what sacred games shall we have to devise? Is not the magnitude of this deed too great for us?

 

I said:

"Then if God is Dead, who will replace him?"

 

Friedrich, as he said in ‘The Joyful Wisdom’

God is dead: but as the human race is constituted, there will perhaps be caves for millenniums yet, in which people will show his shadow,—And we—we have still to overcome his shadow!

Let us be on our guard against saying that there are laws in nature. There are only necessities: there is no one who commands, no one who obeys, no one who transgresses. When you know that there is no design, you know also that there is no chance: for it is only where there is a world of design that the word ‘chance’ has a meaning.”

  

I said:

“Besides the Madman proclaiming God is Dead in that book, there is also the Zarathustra who says: 'Once you said 'God' when you gazed upon distant seas; but now I have taught you to say 'Superman'. Who is Superman?”

 

Friedrich, quoting ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’:

"I TEACH YOU THE SUPERMAN. Man is something that is to be surpassed. What have ye done to surpass man?

All beings hitherto have created something beyond themselves: and ye want to be the ebb of that great tide, and would rather go back to the beast than surpass man?

What is the ape to man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just the same shall man be to the Superman: a laughing-stock, a thing of shame.

Ye have made your way from the worm to man, and much within you is still worm. Once were ye apes, and even yet man is more of an ape than any of the apes.

Even the wisest among you is only a disharmony and hybrid of plant and phantom. But do I bid you become phantoms or plants?

Lo, I teach you the Superman!

 

I said:

“Referring to 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra', I grasped the call for man to become Superman by realizing that there is no objective truth and no objective morality—that God and goodness are all man-made. Thus man will go beyond the commonly accepted and discover his own values, and these discovered values will arise from his own essential desire for power. Is that not so?"

 

Friedrich, again quoting ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ randomly:

The beauty of the Superman came unto me as a shadow. Ah, my brethren! Of what account now are—the Gods to me!

Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman—a rope over an abyss.

A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting.

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an OVER-GOING and a DOWN-GOING.

I love those that know not how to live except as down-goers, for they are the over-goers.

I love those who do not first seek a reason beyond the stars for going down and being sacrifices, but sacrifice themselves to the earth, that the earth of the Superman may hereafter arrive.

I love him who justifieth the future ones, and redeemeth the past ones: for he is willing to succumb through the present ones.

I love him who is of a free spirit and a free heart: thus is his head only the bowels of his heart; his heart, however, causeth his down-going.

I love all who are like heavy drops falling one by one out of the dark cloud that lowereth over man: they herald the coming of the lightning, and succumb as heralds.

Lo, I am a herald of the lightning, and a heavy drop out of the cloud: the lightning, however, is the SUPERMAN.

  

I said:

 “The tight-rope walker’s performance is dangerous as he must traverse a rope suspended over a deep chasm. So too, in bringing about the Superman, man must live dangerously. He must assume great risks and never remain stagnant, but despite the dangers always live for the sake of self-transformation. As Zarathustra explains, those who live in this manner are the individuals destined to be the harbingers of the Superman. But who is Superman?”

 

Friedrich, as he said in ‘Joyful Wisdom’:

“People have never asked me as they should have done, what the name of Zarathustra precisely meant in my mouth, in the mouth of the first immoralist; for that which distinguishes this Persian from all others in the past is the very fact that he was the exact reverse of an immoralist. Zarathustra was the first to see in the struggle between good and evil the essential wheel in the working of things. The translation of morality into the realm of metaphysics, as force, cause, end-in-itself, is his work. But the very question suggests its own answer. Zarathustra created this most portentous of all errors,—morality; therefore he must be the first to expose it. Not only because he has had longer and greater experience of the subject than any other thinker,—all history is indeed the experimental refutation of the theory of the so-called moral order of things,—but because of the more important fact that Zarathustra was the most truthful of thinkers. In his teaching alone is truthfulness upheld as the highest virtue—that is to say, as the reverse of the cowardice of the ‘idealist’ who takes to his heels at the sight of reality. Zarathustra has more pluck in his body than all other thinkers put together. To tell the truth and to aim straight: that is the first Persian virtue. Have I made myself clear? ... The overcoming of morality by itself, through truthfulness, the moralist's overcoming of himself in his opposite—in me—that is what the name Zarathustra means in my mouth.”

 

I said:

 

“Oh, so you mean the Zarathustra, who in Greek is called Zoroaster, the founding prophet of Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia over 1000 BC. Some researchers suggest that Zarathustra may have been the first monotheistic prophet in recorded history. He eliminated all the ancient gods from the Persian pantheon, leaving only Ahura Mazdah, the 'Wise God', as the Only True God. This was, at a time when Zarathustra instituted religious reforms that were broader in scope and more radical than Martin Luther's challenge to the Roman Catholic Church.

Then Zarathustra established the concept of morality which can be summed up with the words 'good thoughts, good words, good deeds.' Living these three principles is how we exercise our free will by following the law of Asha. The three ethics of Zoroastrianism also pass down concepts such as the cosmic struggle between right and wrong, between Asha—Truth and Virtue and Druj—Lie, Evil, and Chaos.”

 

Friedrich:

“As Zarathustra spoke: ‘ Let us speak thereof, ye wisest ones, even though it be bad. To be silent is worse; all suppressed truths become poisonous.

 

I said:

“Zarathustra urges to discard God and instead create a new meaning of the earth; one that embraces the personal desire for self-actualization and self-affirmation, and promotes the development of a strong body in which natural instincts are seen as a source of energy to be channeled and sublimated in order to overcome oneself. This new meaning, Zarathustra announced to be Superman.

Friedrich  then quoted his book the Antichrist:

“Under Christianity neither morality nor religion has any point of contact with actuality. This purely fictitious world, greatly to its disadvantage, is to be differentiated from the world of dreams; the latter at least reflects reality, whereas the former falsifies it, cheapens it and denies it. Once the concept of ‘nature’ had been opposed to the concept of ‘God,’ the word ‘natural’ necessarily took on the meaning of ‘abominable’—the whole of that fictitious world has its sources in hatred of the natural (—the real!—), and is no more than evidence of a profound uneasiness in the presence of reality.... This explains everything. Who alone has any reason for living his way out of reality? The man who suffers under it. But to suffer from reality one must be a botched reality.... The preponderance of pains over pleasures is the cause of this fictitious morality and religion: but such a preponderance also supplies the formula for décadence....”

 

I said:

“But mankind's rejection of God has existed since the first humans, Adam and Eve. They chose to freely disobey God's commandments by eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. According to Christian belief, by his transgression Adam became an earthly being, a 'natural man' with a 'carnal mind'. You in 'The Antichrist' advise mankind to repeat Adam's attitude of rejecting God as in the beginning."

 

Friedrich quoting ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’:

“At last, after seven days, Zarathustra raised himself upon his couch, took a rosy apple in his hand, smelt it and found its smell pleasant. Then did his animals think the time had come to speak unto him.

‘O Zarathustra,’ said they, ‘now hast thou lain thus for seven days with heavy eyes: wilt thou not set thyself again upon thy feet?

Step out of thy cave: the world waiteth for thee as a garden. The wind playeth with heavy fragrance which seeketh for thee; and all brooks would like to run after thee.

All things long for thee, since thou hast remained alone for seven days—step forth out of thy cave! All things want to be thy physicians!

Did perhaps a new knowledge come to thee, a bitter, grievous knowledge? Like leavened dough layest thou, thy soul arose and swelled beyond all its bounds.—'

—O mine animals, answered Zarathustra, talk on thus and let me listen! It refresheth me so to hear your talk: where there is talk, there is the world as a garden unto me.

 For me—how could there be an outside-of-me? There is no outside! But this we forget on hearing tones; how delightful it is that we forget!

Have not names and tones been given unto things that man may refresh himself with them? It is a beautiful folly, speaking; therewith danceth man over everything.

How lovely is all speech and all falsehoods of tones! With tones danceth our love on variegated rainbows.—

—'O Zarathustra,’ said then his animals, ‘to those who think like us, things all dance themselves: they come and hold out the hand and laugh and flee—and return.

Everything goeth, everything returneth; eternally rolleth the wheel of existence. Everything dieth, everything blossometh forth again; eternally runneth on the year of existence.

For thine animals know it well, O Zarathustra, who thou art and must become: behold, THOU ART THE TEACHER OF THE ETERNAL RETURN,—that is now THY fate!”

 

I said:

"Herr Friedrich, in closing, how do you want the world to remember you?"


Friedrich:

“As I said in Ecce Homo:’ I am, for instance, in no wise a bogey man, or moral monster. On the contrary, I am the very opposite in nature to the kind of man that has been honoured hitherto as virtuous. Between ourselves, it seems to me that this is precisely a matter on which I may feel proud. I am a disciple of the philosopher Dionysus, and I would prefer to be even a satyr than a saint. But just read this book! Maybe I have here succeeded in expressing this contrast in a cheerful and at the same time sympathetic manner—maybe this is the only purpose of the present work.

 

The very last thing I should promise to accomplish would be to ‘improve’ mankind. I do not set up any new idols; may old idols only learn what it costs to have legs of clay. To overthrow idols (idols is the name I give to all ideals) is much more like my business. In proportion as an ideal world has been falsely assumed, reality has been robbed of its value, its meaning, and its truthfulness.... The ‘true world’ and the ‘apparent world’—in plain English, the fictitious world and reality.... Hitherto the lie of the ideal has been the curse of reality; by means of it the very source of mankind's instincts has become mendacious and false; so much so that those values have come to be worshipped which are the exact opposite of the ones which would ensure man's prosperity, his future, and his great right to a future.”

 

 

THE END

 This is an imaginary interview in memory of Friedrich Nietzsche.

Sources:

https://academyofideas.com/2017/10/nietzsche-and-zarathustra-last-man-superman/ 

https://encyclopedia.summitlighthouse.org/index.php/Zarathustra

 



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