Mykola Ponomarenko

Personal Page and Testament

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My Philosophy of Life

Some people think that only silly people tell on the Internet to the whole world personal thoughts.  I do not agree.  It is important to tell to the world what you think because:

• new technology gave us possibility to communicate at a new level, and I want to understand and utilize this possibility, 
• talking through the Internet saves my time -- no need to repeat to everybody what I want them to know,
• written form of communication is more advanced to oral.
• my thoughts must be shared with my Ukrainian brothers and sisters. But other nations will benefit from my revelations too :)

etc.

     I belong to those men that do not conform to any pressure from the establishment or from "politically correct", or views of others.  I have my own.  And mine are the only views that I trust. Do you think that a man should trust other person's views more than his own?  I am interested in views of "others". I learn from them. But I believe only my own, I trust only my own, as any reasonable man should do.
 

Part 1. Philosophical Basis

Number of things have influenced my philosophy of life and/or my life.  But if I had to make the list really short, I would list the following:

• Ukrainian Way of Life
• My marriage and family life
• Philosophy of Lev Tolstoy (read his "Confession")
• Philosophy of Ayn Rand -- Objectivism  
• American Constitutional System

I would like to say a couple words about  the first "source of my life" -- Ukrainian Way of Life.  The other sources are self-evident, and the links can help explore them.  But "Ukrainian way of life" is not self-evident, and is not known to the world.  Not only to the world it is unknown, but, on my opinion, to Ukrainians themselves.  They are discovering slowly what they are now from what they were many years back, and finding more and more amazing things...

So, what is this "Ukrainian Way of Life" I am talking about?  I want you to understand that this is my personal statement, personal understanding, based on my personal experience, and not much evidence I am going to provide.  But I feel that it is important to say what I know in my heart.  One time in city Poltava Mr. V. G. Danylejko said: "First, we have to proclaim thoughts, to pronounce them, to say aloud what is on our mind, before it becomes known and printed, and academically studied".  I may misquoted his exact words, and they were said in Ukrainian, but the idea is clear.  We have to pronounce LOUD our TRUTH, if we know it in our hearts, if we feel it with our souls.  The Internet is the best place for this mission.

Ukrainian way of life is:
a personal, individual freedom, optimism, reason, creativity, and very close relationship with the land and with the cosmos.

This unique "wisdom of life", that we carry in our culture, goes back, as we are discovering now, at least 7,500 years.  It is deeply rooted in the understanding of human life as a personal, individual pursuit of answer to the cosmological, eternal truth.  We are not communal people.  But we like to live together as equals with common spirit. 

On our land (Ukraine) we invented how to make a bread, build a home, ride a horse, and many other things.  We have space-ships and cosmos "things" shown on our knitted towels (rushnik) and on our painted eggs (pysanka).  We still do not know from where these symbols came from?  We hardly know how old our language is.  But what is interesting, when we discover what was lost for centuries, we are not surprised...we always knew it in our hearts.

We are always free, because we are independent, individualistic inside.  Some call us "stubborn" or "selfish".  But we never call ourselves this way.  Because we know that these qualities are coming from many thousands years of a national experience of life.  Just in this century they starved to death over 7 millions of us in 1933, and than killed close to 10 millions of us just five years later.  We did not scream to the world "HELP!"  We never ask for help.  We know that nobody will help us.  And we do not need help.  Just leave us alone!   That is all what we want and ask!  Just live us alone!  Too many nations for too long wanted our land, our people, our souls.  But we are still here, after more than 7,500 years, standing "stubborn" and "selfish"...

This is just a "scratch" in understanding of the "Ukrainian Way of
Life".

Part 2. Political Views

There are three political parties in USA that I want to talk about.  Two of them hold political powers, and the third one does not.  I am going to demonstrate which one of these parties is on your side, and why.  But before I go into detail discussion about it I would like to explain the basis of my political thinking.

I lived in the Soviet Union for more than 20 years, and I lived in the USA for more than 20 years. From my experience, if I had to name only ONE criteria by which any political system and its laws must be judged, to name a concept that is worth dying for, I would name it with one word

FREEDOM

I must define my understanding of what is The Freedom, because there are different interpretations.  My Freedom is an ability to do ANYTHING I want, without harming others during my "pursuit of happiness".  Any limitation to this ability I consider as a restriction to My Freedom.  Perhaps, it will be more clear what I mean if I explain how I apply this Concept of Freedom to my everyday life.  I use following principles:

1.  If a law limits my freedom -- it is a bad law.
2. If a law increases my freedom -- it is a good law.
3. All laws that protect me from harm -- are good laws.
4. Political system that produces and supports good laws is a good system.
5. Personal responsibility must not be shifted to others by any means.

Very simple.  Some may say -- primitive.  But it is not.   Let me demonstrate the above principles.  Let us look at some of recent US laws:

* legal drinking age at 21 -- limits freedom -- BAD LAW !
* punishment for drunk driving -- protects me -- GOOD LAW !
* requirement to wear seat belts -- limits freedom -- BAD LAW !
* punishment for speeding -- protects me from bad drivers -- GOOD LAW !
* gun control -- limits freedom -- BAD LAW !
* punishment for committing crime with guns -- protects me -- GOOD LAW !
These examples demonstrate how I think.  If you have any objections or arguments right now, let me ask you: Have you included Personal Responsibility in your logic?  I consider myself to be an ADULT, which means that I am taking complete responsibility for my action and my conduct, and do not need you or government, or anybody else to tell me what is right or wrong for ME, or take MY responsibility from me as a trade-off for my freedom (which is common solution of the government or big social group in an attempt to solve a problem of lack of Personal Responsibility.  This is Typical mistake in the logic that does not include The Freedom and as a result leads to laws restricting drinking, guns, movement, etc.).

I support justice and the rule of law.  I want our laws to protect me from the harm of others.  I want laws that punish me if I do harm unto others.  I am willing to take responsibility for my actions PERSONALLY.   But I do not need laws that limit my freedom by limiting my personal responsibility as a trade off.

My Personal Freedom is the most important criteria that I use when I judge a law or a political action.  There is no such thing as "too much Freedom"!  But there is plenty of "limited Freedom" in the world.

(more later...)

Part 3. Religious Views

I am Christian by birth, or by been christened as a child.   My parents, and all my ancestors (known to me) were Christians too.  I also learned a lot about other religions after my marriage and move to USA.  I consider myself a religious person, but I am not always been one.  I came from the USSR, the atheistic society in the conventional understanding of the word "atheistic".  I mean, USSR had a form of its own religion... But this is another topic.

I learned about God of Jews (Yahweh...) and God of Christians (Trinity...) much later in my life, after I emigrated to USA at a mature age.  I also learned about many other religions.  I want to tell you what I learned, and how I relate to religion, how I see it, feel, understand, face, comprehend, envision, embrace, believe, etc...

To me -- religion is a philosophy of man's spiritual, i.e. metaphysical life.
To me -- religion is a psychology of man's relation to the Universe, to another man, and the most important -- a psychology of man's internal relations with himself.
To me -- religion is a necessary part of man's life, logically explainable, but with a mystery.  It is a part of a conscientious existence of a man, a part which is not to be understood, or is desired to be understood, but a part of man's existence which is desired to be "felt". 

Note: I use word "man" in its generic meaning, i.e. man+woman.  English language does not have the right word, like "ludyna" in Ukrainian, or "chelovek" in Russian. 

This psychologico-philosophical state of mind man needs in his life for many known reasons.  The most important reason is that religion makes a sense out of life, when a rational mind can not find sense any more. This state of mind (reflection upon God) adds to the complexity of life of a man qua man, and provides a support to a man in the moments of despair.  This part of man's consciousness can be seen as directly connected or consisting of God.  Another words, each man carries (almost physically) a part of God.  Combined together, all men=mankind completes God.  Men are connected through God.  When man looks at another man he can see a part of God that is missing in him, and which completes him as a Man.  It does not mean that We are God, but it means that God is with Us and within Us all the time.  Either we recognize Him or not is up to each and every of us individually.

What do we know about Judeo-Christian God ?  The only information that supposedly came "directly" from God consist of:

1. The Ten Commandments given to Moses by God.
2. The New Five Commandments, into which teaching of Jesus Christ can be summarized.

All the rest of the Judeo-Christian religious teaching is mostly the interpretations of these "initial" commandments. Let me list, in my own words, these important commandments.

Ten (10) COMMANDMENTS (through Moses)

1. I am the only God you shalt have
2. Do not make My images
3. Do not call My Name in vain
4. Keep Sabbath Day
5. Honor thy father and mother
6. Thou shalt not murder
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
8. Thou shalt not steal
9. Thou shalt not lie
10.Thou shalt not covet... (other's wealth or fortune)

Five (5) COMMANDMENTS (through Christ)

1. Eliminate anger in your life
2. Mary once, never divorce
3. Do not take any oath
4. Do not resist evil by force
5. Love your enemy

The Ten Commandments are mostly directed towards man's behavior in the society, directed to his external interactions and conducts.  Generally speaking, it is possible to follow the Ten Commandments in a real life.

The New Five Commandments address man's internal life, salvation of his soul, without much consideration given to the society, except of man's personal reactions to the external forces (do not resist, and love your enemy).  Generally speaking, it is impossible to follow the New Five Commandments in a real life.  But as the ideals they can be very powerful and, as we know, they were a big part and a basis of a European (world?) history for the last 2,000 years.  

This simplified presentation clearly shows the differences between the Judaism and the Christianity.

A Jew uses his religion as his laws of life, and wants to live peacefully, in harmony with others, no matter how he may hates the "others".

A Christian wants to save his personal soul, even if the whole world goes to hell !   He knows that it is impossible to follow Christ's Commandments.  But he still hopes to understand God some day.  Some Christians even claim a "personal relationship with God".  Reasonable man may ask: What do you mean by "personal relationship"?  These people can never provide a reasonable answer.  And I have no doubt that the "reasonable" answer does not exist!   But there is answer that exist for them... I can believe that.

The implications of both (Judeo and Christian) religious theologies one can clearly trace through the magnifying glass of the latest 2,000 years of our history.  We had some hot moments, did not we?

Some may get impression that I am criticizing religion. Not at all. Instead, I am very much for the religion.  Just imagine, what would happen with the world, if we would have not had spiritual part of our life?  

Do you think world would be better ?
I think it would not be better.
I know that God is needed, I just do not know if there should be so many interpretations of God.  Actually, I know, I believe there should not be.

Let us finish with a prayer (my own)...

O God!
You gave us Reason,
And command us to use it.
Let us understand You, o God,
And judge You wisely.

===================================================

I wrote the above text some time ago.  I changed a few words here and there since then, but not much.  My religion (i.e. my spiritual being) remains the same. I just continuously trying to express it better in order to understand myself and understand GOD. Recently, I found answers to some of my questions that I had, e.g. why I liked or did not like some aspects of Judeo-Christian religion.  I found these answers by reading about  "Native Ukrainian Face" movement, that I never knew existed. 

Continuation of my searches of Believe and God was in creation of a concept, which I called ORIANITY, and which is presented on my page:

http://orianity.mykola.com

email: mykola@mykola.com