Whatever people talk about, they solve the same problem: how to live. Animals are much happier in this respect. Their life is set initially by the fact of birth. They do not know holiness, sin and do not suffer from everyday questions.
What is a person
A person, due to his sinful nature, is doomed to suffer throughout his life. This theme is often reflected in poetry and philosophy. Pascal spoke about this best. He called man a thinking reed. He said that man is a nonentity exalted by God.
This human duality has certain benefits. If you show him all his glory, he will become proud. If you provide proof of his worthlessness and hide his glory, he despairs. It is hard for a person to endure himself. In order for him to live, these two ingredients must be mixed in certain proportions.
People of the 21st century are proud of their achievements: they figured out the genome, they can talk on the phone from anywhere in the world, travel long distances, etc. If you take an individual person, then it turns out that he is a loser. He is unhappy, frightened, disoriented and did not live as long as he previously hoped. Having appeared as steam, he is afraid that he will soon disappear. A person is scared to be face to face with the tragedy of our being.
Man over time
All these problems can be solved by the Orthodox faith, but it is not so easy to fall into its arms, ready to accept absolutely everyone. And the whole problem is in a person who does not want this himself. In a religious dispute, it is not customary to talk about God right away. Better to keep quiet about him. The Orthodox know that he is, that he is near, but they try to talk about him as late as possible, resorting to this as the last trump card. Talking about God puts the final point. This is the line beyond which there is nothing to say.
A person is a weak being who, for a long time after birth, can do nothing without parental care. But then everything changes radically: not only domestic animals, but also wild animals obey him. It turns out that weakness in a person is combined with domination.
A person cannot fully comprehend someone else's time, but he can argue that with its course, an abyss appears in human life that did not exist before. That is, the longer the passage of time, the more a person suffers.
The relationship between man and God
A person has experienced a catastrophe - the Fall, after which he constantly changes not for the better. He is a precious product bearing the stamp of sin. Many people have a question: "Why is this happening?" Either God is not omnipotent, which can cause fear, or He likes that we are suffering.
Many thinkers thought about this and could not give a final answer. Why does an all-powerful and loving God have such a bad life for his creatures? The answer to this question lies in human free will. He is free to choose his own path, which can lead him to hell in this life. God constantly tries to redirect him, but man persists and acts in his own way, and the result does not take long. We are constantly running away from paradise in our earthly life, which means that we will not need it in eternity. So, self-will has not gone anywhere from us, and people themselves are blocking their way to the Kingdom of Heaven.
A person always wants to do everything for himself without changing himself. Recently church people go to the temple to ask. This is permissible at the very beginning of the journey and should not be blamed for it. It is desirable that believers go to God for the “bread of life,” and not just because of need. A person should not constantly be in short pants. It should change over time. So, constantly asking for himself, he will suddenly remember his relatives, friends and understand that they also need.
If a person is tuned in to perfection, but at the same time does not tolerate the shortcomings of others, this may mean his devilish essence. If he wants holiness from himself, then he must endure all the sins of those around him. However, the term "endure" is unlikely to be appropriate then, since there will be no holiness in this case. Ideally, there should be love.
Suffering is a circumstance that cannot be circumvented, but can be passed through. They lead us to the suffering of Christ, to Calvary, where his glory was at its peak. All people have their own cross, which they carry throughout their lives. And if there is an attempt to dump some of the load, the burden only becomes heavier. You can't look for suffering on purpose. If necessary, they themselves will find a person.
There are qualities that need to be cultivated in a person even before coming to faith: reverent attitude towards living things, respect for elders, for other people's property, etc. Without this, it will be of no use to a person if he even knows the entire Bible by heart. A person who does not have basic moral skills will not get better. Man is a riddle for himself and it is impossible to solve it completely. As far as we solve it, we will be human.
Based on a conversation with Archpriest Andrei Tkachev.
