We are Facing Total Chaos in its Purest Form

Philosophical Sobor "The Great Russian Rectification of Names"

Session 8 “Total mobilization. Part 2”

It's a great honor for me to participate in this discussion. I'm not a philosopher, and in a way I'm as ignorant about it as any ordinary poet. I'm kidding, of course. I'm going to share my observations. They are in line with the thoughts and ideas that Alexander Dugin has just formulated. Alexander Gel'evich, I have great respect for your works and for your daughter Daria's ideas. I must admit that, unfortunately, it was her assassination that forced me at some point to take a different look at what is happening in the special military operation zone. I was on my way back from Moscow to the war zone again. On my return, I received news from the men who met me. One of my friends from the batallion Sparta, for example, had his arm torn off, others had already been killed. And I was on my way there and I realized that I was going uphill, into this chaos of rushing metal in the air, where it's unclear how to really behave, how to deal with all of this. There is simply no such thing as predictability. A random bullet can kill a person who seemed completely immortal; a hero like Vokha, for example. What can be done about it? How to dive back into this chaos, into these tons of torn metal, and how to survive there, so to speak? It was at that moment that Daria got assassinated. I was deeply shocked. And for the first time in a while, I wasn't reporting, I was just driving around and trying to figure out what happened.

What is my point in this regard? That, in my humble poetic opinion, there are many similarities between the first point, i.e., the existential theory of war, and the second, the theological point that Alexander Dugin has just formulated. It seems to me that a special military operation is something that unites both of them. When we talk about total mobilization, both in war and in the context of what is happening now, in the context of history, we are facing total chaos in its purest form. Its totality is perhaps more undeniable than ever. Never before has an ordinary person felt so helpless in the face of a huge number of drones, robots, and arms, when the inner ingenuity and personal qualities sometimes cease to play a serious role. We know how many professionals in their field, military affairs, died in this meat grinder. Speaking of total chaos, when I was driving in my car and thinking about Daria's death, I realized that the only thing we have today to counter this chaos is tradition in the broadest sense of the word. Both Russia and the Russian world today are a kind of air-raid shelters, basically a sanctuary for every tradition.

In this context, during the preparation of this talk, I remembered the story from 2015, when I was in Syria with the guys of the Al-Shaitat tribe. These are, frankly, quite wild Bedouins who at some point went to fight on the side of Assad. They are poorly educated, to be honest, they probably haven't read many historical treatises and books. I asked them what they thought about Russia. Their response was amazing, it astonished me. They said they thought Russia is the most Islamic country in the world. You can imagine my cognitive dissonance. I asked them why they thought so They said that was because Russia is the real defender of true Islam. The same can be applied to everything. We are truly advocates of any healthy tradition. I'm not talking about the Satanic tradition or black magic or anything like that.  Today it is not a war with Ukraine that is taking place in the special military operation zone. In my opinion, there was no Ukraine for quite a long time, or perhaps it didn't exist at all. There was a showcase of Ukraine, the illusion of Ukraine, the virtual reality of Ukraine. We are not fighting these…

They, indeed, virtually grow out of the ground. Thousands more were crushed to death. New ones appeared immediately, like zombies. They are being thrown to the front. Vladlen can vouch for that. I think he has a lot of such footage showing how when they attack, a hundred or two hundred people die, but they keep appearing, like in a computer game. This is also a very vivid illustration of what is happening.

Another question is whether we are now living in the illusion of Russia, whether Russia has ceased to be a kind of illusion. And what must be done to get out of this illusion, so that Russia ceases to be a showcase, as it was before the beginning of the special military operation. That may be where the tragedy lies. Because we were bought by these showcases: the showcase of our army, our power, our technologies, etc. It turned out that it was all much more serious, much more profound. I agree with Alexander Dugin that we are fighting for more than just territory. This is the war of humanity for the right to be human. This is very true, in a certain sense.

What else would I like to add in the end? A kind of romantic, poetic reflection on this. Why us? Why Russia?  In a way, Russia has a chance to become a total cosmos, if what we are fighting against is total chaos. Our love of space — inner, romantic love, not always rationally explicable, perhaps even irrational love of space in an applied, even scientific sense — illustrates our inner impulse. As a person from Smolensk, from the Smolensk region, from where the first man went into space, I'm proud to say this. I have no hesitation in the mention of my homeland time and time again. I'm very proud of Smolensk.

We were arguing with my friend Dima Seleznev about the loss of Kherson the other day. I really don't really share the attitude of hopelessness about what is going on. Because my city, Smolensk, where I was born, is a fortress that has been destroyed many times and rebuilt many times. I have the feeling that this is a vivid illustration of the path that Russia is on in its historical cycles.

I would like to finish by thanking you all once again for this discussion. This is a step towards understanding, towards the creation of a new pan-human order that will comprehend, understand and articulate the meaning of our common struggle. I repeat, we are not fighting against neo-Nazism, or Ukrainianism, etc.  Thank you for this discussion!

Translated by Daria Seregina