On Resonant Desires and the Bites of Love
Оleksandr Filonenko / Photo from personal archive
SHORT PROFILE
Name: Oleksandr Semenovych Filonenko
Date of Birth: 18 October 1968
Profession: Ukrainian Orthodox theologian, public intellectual, Doctor of Philosophy
Civilization has reached the limits of its growth — it is no longer possible to measure its «successes» or the quality of life for each of us through quantitative indicators. We can find a new source of meaning and joy in resonant events. «To do this, you must become vulnerable and ask God for the wound of love!» advises renowned Ukrainian theologian Oleksandr Filonenko in an exclusive interview he gave to the Huxley almanac.
LIMITS TO GROWTH
I
n 1972, the Club of Rome published the report The Limits to Growth. It argued that, beginning with the Modern era, the idea of «infinite growth» came to dominate European culture. This idea was adopted as the main economic principle. As a result, the European individual began to define the quality of life through various increasing parameters: GDP, real estate, income, number of children… We have become accustomed to measuring everything in terms of quantity rather than quality.
And then the Club of Rome declared: if we continue to adhere to the principle of infinite growth, at the beginning of the 21st century, civilization will face a «perfect storm» — five global crises at once, each of which had been calculated and analyzed by the Club. Naturally, this raised the question of whether there exists some other principle, a transition to which could prevent catastrophe. In the book Resonance, the contemporary German sociologist Hartmut Rosa proposed the following metaphor: in fact, along their life path, people strive to attain not certain quantitative parameters, but resonance.
IN SEARCH OF RESONANCE
A good, high-quality life is resonant with relationships with family, friends, and society. Work in a workshop is a craft-based resonance with the world. Sport is a physical resonator. But what is resonance? It is intensity, tension, and a quality that cannot be reduced to quantity. According to the German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, modern European society is moving from a culture of infinite growth to a culture of creating three types of resonance: horizontal, diagonal, and vertical.
Horizontal resonance is family, friendship, and democracy. It implies not voting as an act of popular will, but the quality of relationships among citizens. In a weak society, people meet only during elections or in war. In a strong one, they create spaces of managed resonance: the market, parliament, court, university, and school. Next, following the horizontal, Rosa introduces diagonal resonance — a rethinking of people’s relationship with things. Because in reality, we are drawn not so much to functional things as to unique ones. It is here that one should look for the source of the modern craft revolution. And finally, the third, vertical resonance — religion, art, history, and nature.
ONLY RESONANT DESIRES MATTER!
For Hartmut Rosa, a well-organized society is one that cares about resonance. He says that the Modern era has put reality on mute. Modern culture has turned off the sound of the world. We have ceased to be interested in resonances. The contemporary individual begins to realize that quantitative growth cannot be infinite. But what do they do in response? They try to limit and model themselves quantitatively: consume a certain amount of water, walk at least 10 km a day, and go to bed no later than 23:00, because otherwise sleep structures will be disrupted.
The most ironic thing is that no one has ever managed, through such quantitative practices, to make life more intense and resonant. Because for me, only those desires that can resonate with me should matter. And Rosa, armed with renowned German pedantry, has counted them all. As a result, he arrived at 11 points of resonance — like acupuncture points, through which I can determine how fully these resonances are manifested in my life. Human life, in this way, can easily be imagined as a series of flashes of resonant events — «points of presence».
THE «EVENTFUL» AND THE «INTERESTING» OF ALEXANDER PIATIGORSKY
In the texts of my teacher, Alexander Piatigorsky, events and the so-called «interesting» are embedded everywhere. He admitted: «I am very irritated by people who can talk about the uninteresting for hours». Once, he gave me his new book, Thinking and Observation, and asked me to read it in three days. I agreed, but then realized it was a trap — the book is extremely complex. Moreover, I was traveling to Cambridge, and I had other plans — there was no time to read! And yet, I finished the book. I came to Piatigorsky and asked: «Did you really ever say all this in your lectures?»
The question arose because the book was structured as four lectures on thinking, and each of them was preceded by the address «Ladies and gentlemen!» Well, I simply cannot believe that all of this was ever actually spoken. Moreover, I cannot believe that there were people who not only listened to all of it but also understood it. Piatigorsky replied: «Of course not! This text was never delivered in a public lecture. I wrote all of it». «But then why do you have the address ‘Ladies and gentlemen’ before each lecture?» I asked in surprise. «Why? — Piatigorsky exclaimed. — To make the text a little lighter! What do you think of such «lightning»?
«POINTS OF RESONANCE» AND THE «WOUND OF JOY»
This story, at first glance, seems like a mere curiosity. However, if you begin any abstract text with the words «Ladies and gentlemen», something subtly changes — the text shifts into the mode of an event. The event-based structure of presence comes to the forefront — we have met, greeted each other, and begun a conversation. Thus, to the question «Where are the supports of life, the places where I discover myself?» one can give the following answer: «They arise precisely in such points of resonance». Because there is nothing more fundamental than resonance.
You can resonate with an event, a thing, a person — with almost anything! With a landscape, a beautiful flower, music, history… Points of resonance are always an unexpected intrusion of joy and beauty into your life. At one time, I had the idea to write a book titled «The Wound of Joy». I am convinced that people worry in vain about these unexpected intrusions. They prefer to avoid joy, settling instead for pleasure. Because pleasure is controllable, while joy is not.
ANTHONY OF SOUROZH: A PRAYER FOR VULNERABILITY
The theme of joy is one of the defining ones for me, and it began with an encounter with a great person — Anthony of Sourozh. He directly defined the goal of prayer as the creation of a zone of vulnerability. He said that people try to make themselves as secure as possible, to protect themselves from the world. But the more protected they are, the less capable they become of loving, befriending, and perceiving beauty — for all of this, one must open up and become vulnerable. Knowing that without vulnerability there will be no love, a person asks God to grant it. To me, this sounded paradoxical, because around me, I saw people who mostly ask God for invulnerability.
For example, when the state is unjust, or when those close to us betray us, with any problem, a person goes to church and asks: «Lord, protect me!» For many, faith is something like a kind of heavenly security service, whose duty is to professionally protect a person. Metropolitan Anthony completely changed my understanding of joy and prayer. He always emphasized that religion begins with a request for a wound, which becomes the gateway to a true experience.
WOUND AS PROOF OF LIFE
Interestingly, in English, the words «wound» and «wonder» share a common root. If you are not ready to be wounded, you cannot count on a miracle. Even if it happens, you simply will not notice it. A miracle always comes almost inaudibly — on a dove’s feet. One must still be able to see and hear it. Only a person who is vulnerable or ready for vulnerability is capable of this. Many different modern practices are associated with this idea, sometimes quite disturbing. For example, in America, a movement called Cutters emerged. Girls who belonged to it would cut their veins — not in order to die, but to feel that they were still alive.
Because pain is undeniable proof that you are alive, it turned out that, by inflicting wounds on themselves, they were practicing a kind of anti-suicide. In cultural studies, there is a hypothesis that the culture of tattooing and scarification originated from the desire to inflict upon oneself such an expressive, «speaking» wound that both you and others could «read». I am generally inclined to think that the transition from postmodernity to another culture occurs through an apology of tactility, through a certain «body language». And in this language, the wound is simply the first letter. A wound is not always about pain and suffering. With wounds, we write letters to one another. Through the wound, we experience the catastrophe of joy.
«BITES» OF LOVE
In one of the songs by Boris Grebenshchikov, there are wonderful lines: «I am wounded by a bright arrow — I cannot be healed. I am wounded in the heart — what more could I desire?» In Divine Comedy, before visiting Paradise, Dante Alighieri must pass «exams»: with the Apostle Peter — on faith, with the Apostle James — on hope. To the Apostle John, he must answer the question «what is love?» Among other things, this «examiner» asks: «Reveal, by how many bites does your love wound you?» What kind of biting love is this? When I first saw this line, I thought that perhaps something was wrong with the translation. But it turned out that the translation was correct. According to Dante, we recognize love by its «bites».
It is not surprising that a person does not particularly like this and tries in every possible way to avoid it. But by protecting oneself from these «bites», one simultaneously protects oneself from something more valuable — from love itself! At some point, life without love becomes unbearable, and then you begin to ask: «Lord, send me these ‘bites’! Only, if possible, not too painful — without extremes and knife fights!» It is not impossible that the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood, whom the Big Bad Wolf wanted to eat, is a story about love. And it is certainly what modern grandmothers mean when they say to their grandchildren: «You are so sweet, I could just eat you!» So, a prayer for the «wound of love» is much closer to our culture and life than it might seem at first glance.