Another vignette from Kiev on the eve of the war. I did my best to stay as far away as possible from politics while I was in Ukraine. Everyone was already entrenched in their positions and I could not compete with the power of Hollywood and the Kholomoisky-owned media.
All the blacks and browns have no problem identifying with their races. We whites must, also. I’m an American of largely English descent and I identify with Anglos or English or whatever, but I’m no purist. I identify with ALL other whites. “White” is what I am.
What a great article! It's like you're literally our man on the inside.
"I’ve certainly felt a lack of identity keenly in my own life. But such is the lot of an immigrant. Your parents know who they are - visitors, tourists who have come to make some money and then retire in their home country. But you, being born between two cultures, or rather, two anti-cultures, well …"
I share the sentiment and suspect that most child emigrants feel that but most deny it latching on to other identities. To me in my youth it was veganism and being active in Amnesty Intl and other such dogooder organisations (shudder). I think it's great you went back to "USSR" ... Now I think if I had my head screwed on right and not thought of losing material comforts or what my parents would think id have gone back to my motherland. Anyway...in the end I am very far from anglosphere... Life there was never satisfying and I never felt like I belonged.
And I have to agree that the Ukrainian identity is too weak on its own and it must be anti-Russian and defiant/hateful towards Russians to give it more oomph. Which is pathetic.
Keep up the great work. I enjoy greatly the xoxov diaries.
And in the west we just have a bizarre assortment of fandoms, political parties, and sports teams that people base their identity around even though the only thing required of these "identities" is you spending money.
Perhaps you are familiar with a recently published work by Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin originally published around 1925, "On Resistance To Evil By Force"? He took Tolstoy on as someone that was no longer relevant in the battle with the Bolsheviks. Kind of like an Orthodox "Fight Club" dude.
Jun 17, 2022·edited Jun 17, 2022Liked by Rurik Skywalker
Interesting that you say without an overarching identity “to ground people.” It is paradoxical when you go at a “spiritual problem” with the verbal mind, attempting to find a “foothold” ( note the “grounding reference” again in the metaphor) that you need to refer to the “intangible” to try to indicate what you are talking about and find some kind of a resolution.
But you can’t find it in a verbal abstraction. Something seems to be missing—so you posit that praxis must be involved. But mere praxis is felt to be not enough-it is “empty” in itself. It has to be infused somehow with “something” or it fails to satisfy the “soul.” Paradox again. There is a tremendous amount of complex discussion that has been hashed about all this—“grace” “salvation” “impossibility of storming the gates of heaven” in the “Christian” tradition. Looking at the Russian Orthodox Tradition there was a figure, Saint Seraphim of Sarov, who was what is called a “staretz” in that tradition. He was someone who was apparently a “realizer” of a “higher” or “deeper” (there’s that paradoxical “location” problem again) dimension of the tradition he lived in. Within the tradition such people are revered for their ability to guide and transmit blessing energy. They have a praxis that is esoteric and very absorbing to pursue, whereas some people don’t tune in to it readily and prefer to follow the doings of their regional hockey team. These latter people are more likely to try to find “meaning” at the ethnic-tribal-political level of things. The “exoteric” level. Whereas some people are more tuned to esoteric signals and pursuits and may even reject all such exoteric pursuits as futile.
My father was an immigrant who had a tavern which was like a haven for all the Irish immigrants locally. He took a trip to Ireland and found a bride and brought her back. I was born and raised here as an “Irish-American.” When I was 11, I visited Ireland and was offended when some Irish boys called me a “ Yank,” rejecting my claim that I was Irish. But it was a lesson about my “identity.” In my late teens I noticed something interesting. My friend’s father was the son of the son of an Irish immigrant, and he was passionate about hanging out at my father’s bar and drinking and wallowing in “irishness.” And there were others like him, 3 generations out from “ the old country,” who almost desperately tried to bathe in irishness. Whereas, as a first generation born in the USA person, I was much more occupied with being where I was and spontaneously feeling part of it effortlessly. I felt no motive to try to strengthen my “irishness.” I think I was cured of that by those kids calling me a Yank when I was trying to fit in. It was clearly futile. So it struck me as pathetic to see that my friend’s dad, who has 3 generations out, did not realize that he couldn’t fix that. Just an observation. For “me”, the whole thing was not absorbing, I was much more drawn to the esoteric dimension of transcendence of “self” altogether.
Great suff. Can relate to your attitude re Christianity and Christians. I guess we are Gnostic bros. Maybe our differences are more about ethnic temperament and generation than spiritual/philosophical allegiance.
Human beings are tribal something every tribe except White ones understand much to the detriment of Whites.
However it is hard for Whites now to stake out a tribe. French are less likely to identify with a White German than a fellow French citizen. However if a muslim immigrant from Africa gets to be considered French then French identity is meaningless and destruction - not a good combination.
Orthodox religion can be a source of tribal identity but other tribes can convert to it and most aren't religious anyway these days.
So it seems like a tribe has to be some combination of race, historical relationship, and shared culture. If I, an American White man of German and Scottish ancestry, moves to a slavic country then I can't become a slav. Maybe at some point in the future my descendants can be but maybe not.
Thailand for example is made up of a variety of eastern Asian tribes. Someone with a Lao or Khmer ancestry can be considered as Thai but an Indian, including Sikhs, will always be thought of as an Indian or Sikh which makes sense. In the US they will always see themselves as Indian (Chinese, Jew, Muslim, whatever) first and possibly American lower on the list
All the blacks and browns have no problem identifying with their races. We whites must, also. I’m an American of largely English descent and I identify with Anglos or English or whatever, but I’m no purist. I identify with ALL other whites. “White” is what I am.
What a great article! It's like you're literally our man on the inside.
"I’ve certainly felt a lack of identity keenly in my own life. But such is the lot of an immigrant. Your parents know who they are - visitors, tourists who have come to make some money and then retire in their home country. But you, being born between two cultures, or rather, two anti-cultures, well …"
I share the sentiment and suspect that most child emigrants feel that but most deny it latching on to other identities. To me in my youth it was veganism and being active in Amnesty Intl and other such dogooder organisations (shudder). I think it's great you went back to "USSR" ... Now I think if I had my head screwed on right and not thought of losing material comforts or what my parents would think id have gone back to my motherland. Anyway...in the end I am very far from anglosphere... Life there was never satisfying and I never felt like I belonged.
And I have to agree that the Ukrainian identity is too weak on its own and it must be anti-Russian and defiant/hateful towards Russians to give it more oomph. Which is pathetic.
Keep up the great work. I enjoy greatly the xoxov diaries.
And in the west we just have a bizarre assortment of fandoms, political parties, and sports teams that people base their identity around even though the only thing required of these "identities" is you spending money.
Hello
Perhaps you are familiar with a recently published work by Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin originally published around 1925, "On Resistance To Evil By Force"? He took Tolstoy on as someone that was no longer relevant in the battle with the Bolsheviks. Kind of like an Orthodox "Fight Club" dude.
Interesting that you say without an overarching identity “to ground people.” It is paradoxical when you go at a “spiritual problem” with the verbal mind, attempting to find a “foothold” ( note the “grounding reference” again in the metaphor) that you need to refer to the “intangible” to try to indicate what you are talking about and find some kind of a resolution.
But you can’t find it in a verbal abstraction. Something seems to be missing—so you posit that praxis must be involved. But mere praxis is felt to be not enough-it is “empty” in itself. It has to be infused somehow with “something” or it fails to satisfy the “soul.” Paradox again. There is a tremendous amount of complex discussion that has been hashed about all this—“grace” “salvation” “impossibility of storming the gates of heaven” in the “Christian” tradition. Looking at the Russian Orthodox Tradition there was a figure, Saint Seraphim of Sarov, who was what is called a “staretz” in that tradition. He was someone who was apparently a “realizer” of a “higher” or “deeper” (there’s that paradoxical “location” problem again) dimension of the tradition he lived in. Within the tradition such people are revered for their ability to guide and transmit blessing energy. They have a praxis that is esoteric and very absorbing to pursue, whereas some people don’t tune in to it readily and prefer to follow the doings of their regional hockey team. These latter people are more likely to try to find “meaning” at the ethnic-tribal-political level of things. The “exoteric” level. Whereas some people are more tuned to esoteric signals and pursuits and may even reject all such exoteric pursuits as futile.
My father was an immigrant who had a tavern which was like a haven for all the Irish immigrants locally. He took a trip to Ireland and found a bride and brought her back. I was born and raised here as an “Irish-American.” When I was 11, I visited Ireland and was offended when some Irish boys called me a “ Yank,” rejecting my claim that I was Irish. But it was a lesson about my “identity.” In my late teens I noticed something interesting. My friend’s father was the son of the son of an Irish immigrant, and he was passionate about hanging out at my father’s bar and drinking and wallowing in “irishness.” And there were others like him, 3 generations out from “ the old country,” who almost desperately tried to bathe in irishness. Whereas, as a first generation born in the USA person, I was much more occupied with being where I was and spontaneously feeling part of it effortlessly. I felt no motive to try to strengthen my “irishness.” I think I was cured of that by those kids calling me a Yank when I was trying to fit in. It was clearly futile. So it struck me as pathetic to see that my friend’s dad, who has 3 generations out, did not realize that he couldn’t fix that. Just an observation. For “me”, the whole thing was not absorbing, I was much more drawn to the esoteric dimension of transcendence of “self” altogether.
Great suff. Can relate to your attitude re Christianity and Christians. I guess we are Gnostic bros. Maybe our differences are more about ethnic temperament and generation than spiritual/philosophical allegiance.
Nous adorons tous dans l'abbaye du mécontentement et de la rébellion.
Human beings are tribal something every tribe except White ones understand much to the detriment of Whites.
However it is hard for Whites now to stake out a tribe. French are less likely to identify with a White German than a fellow French citizen. However if a muslim immigrant from Africa gets to be considered French then French identity is meaningless and destruction - not a good combination.
Orthodox religion can be a source of tribal identity but other tribes can convert to it and most aren't religious anyway these days.
So it seems like a tribe has to be some combination of race, historical relationship, and shared culture. If I, an American White man of German and Scottish ancestry, moves to a slavic country then I can't become a slav. Maybe at some point in the future my descendants can be but maybe not.
Thailand for example is made up of a variety of eastern Asian tribes. Someone with a Lao or Khmer ancestry can be considered as Thai but an Indian, including Sikhs, will always be thought of as an Indian or Sikh which makes sense. In the US they will always see themselves as Indian (Chinese, Jew, Muslim, whatever) first and possibly American lower on the list