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Coriolanus is a strangely neglected and infrequently performed play, one without the speechifying and introspection that offer psychological insight into Shakespeare’s most popular protagonists. Yet, with its focus on the delusion of leadership, the importance of the mob and the brittle basis of populism, Coriolanus is truly a play for our times. A recent production starring Tom Bateman at the Sheffield Playhouse was truncated by the pandemic, so this is the perfect time to revisit the Donmar Warehouse’s extraordinary 2014 production showing this week via National Theatre at Home and starring Tom Hiddleston.

Six years on, this remains one of the most viscerally impressive productions of the last decade, a fascinating dissection of power, class and the enduring battle between military conquest and political protectionism that characterise Shakespeare’s Roman plays. Wars and conflicts occur across Shakespeare’s plays and, within the Histories especially, this involves many characters whose motivations and purpose in the story vary considerably as families, regions and nations contend for tangible forms of power.

In these plays, Shakespeare is particularly interested in the formation and decline of the warrior as an archetype, charting the dehumanisation process that rids the individual of personal weaknesses and emotion, transforming them into great and celebrated military leaders. The Henriad trilogy is the best example of this, following the reformation of Prince Hal from tavern-dwelling layabout to the principled and invincible monarch-conqueror. There are plenty of moments of hesitation, uncertainty and fragility along the way, but the steel that Henry V displays on the battlefield and in the rejection of his former companions denote the completion of his metamorphoses from fallible human prince to an idealised personification of glorious war.

Equally interesting is the post-war process in which the feted Hero-Warrior, unable to sustain their god-like form, must return to society – something Henry V escapes by dying unceremoniously in Shakespeare’s afterword. Now irreversibly changed or damaged by combat, the Hero-Warrior sets in motion a train of events that lead disastrously to their own destruction. Caius Martius who earns the moniker Coriolanus from his bloodthirsty endeavours takes this path through the play, the self-destruction of a hero unwilling to accept the confines of a society that built him and this becomes the major driver of Josie Rourke’s outstanding production.

Characteristics of the Hero-Warrior

Heroism is an intangible characteristic in many ways, requiring personality traits including decency, fairness, courage and bravery as well as deeds to demonstrate the hero’s prowess. There are several characters who begin one of Shakespeare’s plays already in the position of celebrated military hero – Coriolanus, Macbeth and Antony – all of whom return from garlanded battle with honours and political recognition, the discussion of which dominates the early section of these plays. Yet the very characteristic that made them also becomes their fatal flaw and pursuing it in peacetime takes them on a path to inevitable destruction and death.

In the Donmar’s Coriolanus, the audience is given a vivid picture of the protagonist’s battlefield strengths in an opening section where he descries the cowardice of his compatriots hiding in trenches rather than running into battle. He goes on to take the city of Corioli singlehanded, returning drenched in blood that runs into his eyes, covering his face and upper body entirely – a beautifully staged moment from Rourke and designer Lucy Osborne. Instantly we know that this is a man apart from others, one with superior fighting skills, incredible audacity and, crucially, an excess of bloodlust that make him part hero part madman.

What unfolds in the rest of the play suggests how fatally flawed this Hero-Warrior is, bred for the simplicity of soldiering, the life and death fundamentality of it all, and entirely unfitted for the grey, oleaginous world of politics. In Hiddleston’s remarkable performance, we see the effect of hubris and how clearly the very thing that made Coriolanus also breaks him – the love of his mother Volumnia. The intensity of their relationship, visible on his return to Rome is given physical form in the tenderness of the greeting between Hiddleston and Deborah Findlay, exceeding that for his wife and son. His reliance on her guidance is vital to understanding the path Coriolanus takes, his unyielding refusal to be other than what she made him even when the great prize of political office and power are offered. By the same extension, when he does finally succumb to her entreaties in the penultimate scene of this production and shows mercy to his former home, he places his mother above himself – it proves his undoing.

Shakespeare’s other Hero-Warriors experience a similar trajectory and while their motivation and downfall is conceived differently, both Macbeth and Antony suffer a rapid fall from grace, tumbling from invincible military hero supporting the dynastic sustenance of the state to its most pressing enemy. Macbeth’s ambitious belief in fate  becomes his fatal flaw which in the early part of the play summons his courage to take the Kingship he craves, while that self-same fate becomes a poisoned chalice as he tries to outmanoeuvre the destiny earmarked for him at the start of the play.

Antony, likewise, is in a solid position at the start of Antony and Cleopatra holding a third of the Roman Empire in his grasp while living with the woman he adores. Antony’s fatal flaw – lust – helps to build his powerbase before the play begins uniting two countries in mutual support, but as his strategic abilities are increasingly clouded by his attachment to Egypt, he foreshadows the series of military disasters that lead to his his military capitulation and death. All of these men experience the decline of the Hero-Warrior image during the course of the play, a status and easiness of mind held at the start which they will never know again.

The Military-Political Clash

One of the core themes of Coriolanus is the uneasy alliance between military action and the democratic process, an idea that recurs in Shakespeare’s Roman plays. States are reliant on the bravado of commanders to conquer territories and occupy land, but attempts to translate battlefield honours into consolidated political roles in peacetime society often in the role of Consul or Tribune, are treated with suspicion by the career politicians that pack the Senate. Julius Caesar is the best example of this as the predominantly civilian conspirators plot to destroy their overmighty colleague, the unspoken threat of the violence his legions could unleash on the city a driving force in his assassination and the recruitment of veteran Brutus to their cause.

In Coriolanus the sniping role of Tribunes Sicinia and Brutus played by Helen Schlesinger and Elliot Levy starkly exemplifies that division, adding a class angle between the rulers and the ruled as they both represent and manipulate the voice of the people, using political tactics to dispense with the military man they personal despise. The status of Hero-Warrior counts for remarkably little in the political arena, and Coriolanus struggles to accept the legitimacy of a government that requires the frequent sacrifice of his blood to protect it but not his person. And while the Hydra-like work of the Tribunes (a reference Shakespeare returns to throughout the play) makes them and their reasoning entirely unsympathetic, Coriolanus’s own disdain for democratic process and the people become equally problematic for him.

Dismissive of the facile rituals of political conduct, Hiddleston’s sneering warrior mocks the ceremony of installation into the Consular office, pulling at the robe and laurel crown and refusing to parade his war wounds in order to beg for ‘voices’. Encouraged by his mother to comply with conventions, Hiddleston shows the frustration of the solider forced to debase himself as he courts a popularity he believes should be his by right and contends with his own straightforward honesty (brutal though it is). The result is a bristling tension in this production as Coriolanus struggles to flatter the citizens he can barely hide his contempt for as the audience anticipates confrontation. Within the play there is a fundamental clash between the two mutually dependent arms of the state that find each other’s rituals and personnel distasteful, a conflict, Shakespeare suggests in the plays set later that is never entirely resolved.

A Hard-Edged Vulnerability

The early scenes of the play are full of machismo as battles are fought and the posturing of victory informs the audience’s image of Coriolanus as an unyielding and statuesque figure. Hiddleston’s entrance sets the tone entirely as he captures both the commanding figure and personal charisma of a solider whose exploits are widely admired.  It is a very physical performance, his posture set in rigid military bearing with shoulders back and head held high even when lurking at the back of the stage when’s he out of the scene, creating a fearsome impression, using his posture and surety of step to dominate the stage. There is real danger in Hiddleston’s Coriolanus, a no man’s land between rational, strategic thinking and a psychotic madness that erupts into violence as he fights the Volscian’s led by Hadley Fraser. The menace and physical strength Hiddleston exudes ideally situates the fears of the political class as his return to Rome provokes suspicion and jeopardy for the city.

And while it would be easy to play him as a blustering bully or maniac, what made Hiddleston’s performance so memorable is the thread of vulnerability that runs throughout his characterisation, generating a degree of compassion for the ill-fated general. It is an interpretation that gets between the lines of Shakespeare’s text and colours-in some of the emotional and psychological substance absent from a play with no great speeches or underlying lyricism – at least Macbeth and Antony had soliloquies in which they could unpack their minds to the viewer and themselves.

Hiddleston is a very subtle actor on stage, eschewing expansive expressions or gestures in favour of almost imperceptible flickers of feeling that provide a far richer and deeper experience, particularly well suited to the supposed impassivity of Coriolanus. The emotion exudes from within the character, registering largely in the actor’s eyes as they convey the effect of betrayal to the audience. We see a light die in him as the hurts and taunts dispel any ideas he may have had of his homecoming, while the painful process of dressing-up to beg for votes is clearly an embarrassing affront to the Hero-Warrior ego.

But it is the penultimate scene where these vulnerabilities are so movingly represented, broken down by his mother’s appeal for mercy, Hiddleston brings great clarity to the struggle within Coriolanus between the right tactical response to ensure his victory over Rome as well as ensuring the faith of his new-found comrades, and surrendering the advantage to guarantee the life of his own family. Coriolanus must choose between the two sides of himself, Caius Martius and Coriolanus, the soldier and the politician, knowing the latter ensures his own death, a dilemma that is full of agony in this meaningful performance.

The Donmar’s production of Coriolanus is one of the great NT Live recordings, capturing the intimacy of the space and the intensity of the production. The play may lack the grand tragedy of Macbeth or Antony and Cleopatra but this production makes a fine case for its value as a study of the declining Hero-Warrior and its relevance to our current political climate. The impasse between deluded politicians shoring up their own span of power and those who lack the temperament for government but can accomplish great deeds is the essence of Coriolanus – Shakespeare shows us it was ever thus.

Coriolanus is freely available on the National Theatre at Home Youtube channel until 12 June along with a separate audio commentary version provided by Josie Rourke and Tom Hiddleston. Follow this blog on Twitter @culturalcap1 or Facebook: Cultural Capital Theatre Blog

FALL OF ANGEL

FALL OF ANGEL by Henry J. White

    “All glory belongs to Yahweh. It was Him who created all and gave a life. He is in the space and He give a birth of another space. Magnificent become reality and we was witnesses how He and Michael created masterpiece, wich was over everything. We saw an Earth from foundation til she was finished, when on Earth begin life.                                                                                                                  And a man was created and we all sang a song celebrating for our Creator Yahweh. And I was all a part of it and can feel it for my own soul.                          And the Earth was beautiful and man was a masterpiece that celebrated the Majesty of Yahweh.                                                                                            And Yahweh approached to the man and speak to him, to one, who was called Adam. I Saw God as a father, who bends to own son, demonstrate him a love and son was fulfilled by love and he discover joy and happiness. And Adam did all that Yahweh had commanded him and had the pleasure of living on Earth.    And I saw Adam getting a woman and beauty got a new meaning and I was enchanted by man and his way. The wild animals grazed and the man was watching them, just as Yahweh was watching over man, "said the angel and then the thought came to him.     "When Yahweh watches over man and man above the beast, should not someone have an angel? For we serve God, just as a man serves, yet he is appointed over the animals. Is not that strange?" said an angel but he kept it to himself because he was afraid of what others would say and did not want to disrupt the unity.                                                                                                  He felt the fear of the thought, and he pulled away, but he kept his face, but the thought lay in him and infested his mind. He feared it, but could not get rid of it.                                                                                                                                 As time passed, she began to be obsessed and totally poisoned his soul, his heart fell away and was lost in the void.                                                                      "Certainly. The angel should have whom to rule, like God and man, and should have his servants to rule them, as Yahweh has ruled over the ages.          Yes, it must be so. God created man to serve him, and that he created something that is the opposite of justice and denied the right to us who are with him from the beginning of time. Does Yahweh have more love for man than his heavenly children? He gave them life and purpose and gave them the power to walk the Earth, which he created to see good and felt the love of his Creator.      What then we mean nothing to him? Do not we stand at His side and sing songs of praise?                                                                                                           And for what?                                                                                                      To show attention to something less than an angel? God's child! And gave him the dominion over the Earth to rule over the animals while we will look at it all?" said the angel, and was kindled the anger but he did not know.                                  "What do I get from the fact that one lives? What do I get from the fact that the Earth is rotating and the planets float on their tracks? Why is not God plesured in me but from a person who is less? Do not I deserve his love? Would man suffer if God showed me the attention?                                                                          Yahweh and Michael are enjoying each other and can not get enough of the Earth and the human being, while we are standing and singing songs to His celebration.                                                                                                         Are the others blind? Can not they see how God laughs at them? They sing while Yahweh is watching a man, that thin man limited by his power.                  I'm more beautiful than he and I've seen more! I was there before him and I deserve the same love, if not bigger. What is a man compared to me? Who is a man? "                                                                                                                      The angel moved away and flashed with rage, so his perfection left him.              He hated God because he wanted to be like Him, and all his sovereignty and God's arrangement seemed disgusting to him.                                                        He moved to be among the stars and could be alone, and a new idea was born to him at that time. He stepped to the woman, because she was still young and seduced her and turned against God. At that time man as such ceased to exist, and only a shadow remained.                                                                                             And death came to power, and took the man and turned him into dust, who returned to the soil. Despair, suffering, hopelessness, hatred and evil, all caught up with man and not let him.                                                                                  Man exchanged paradise and felt the cruelty of being without God. However, he thought he was free. And man began to kill from jealousy and evil filled his heart and became the enemy of everyone. And death became the greatest companion of the human soul, so he did not find peace. The angel rejoiced, for he destroyed what Yahweh loved, and despised with his own pride when he came near the throne of God to laugh at God.                                                                                                                                                   And so it happened that Yahweh had felt regret for the first time and grief filled his being and could not rejoice. His masterpiece was destroyed and became the shame of the whole universe. And all the sons of God wept, and were afraid, and found no choirs to celebrate God.                                                              And around the throne of God there was silence, and only Michael could feel what God feels, so he cried with Him. And Yahweh focused his attention on the angel who was responsible for what had happened and spoke to him and called him Satan and the Devil because he became God's opponent and liar when he seduced a man.                                                                                                                                                               And Yahweh again proved to be Supreme when he uttered the prophecy that the earth would be cleansed, and that man would once again gain friendship with God, and satan would be destroyed.                                                                God is love and therefore could not leave the world, as satan turned him, because He could not bear the suffering of man.                                                    Satan knew that God was Almighty and therefore realized that what Jahve said would happen. He knew he would be destroyed, but he still felt the victory, because before that happens he will be the ruler of the world. And satan turned some angels to join him and turned away from God. And Archangel Michael was commissioned by Yahweh to overthrow satan and his demons on the earth, so heaven was cleansed.                                                                                          So the world fell into his hands and began to worship him. And he convinced man that satan does not exist and the Word of God was ripped apart when one put the idea of evolution. A man turned what God said and forgot about him, and cast his brother into despair.                                                                                                                        "I will destroy all that You have created and turn it against You! I hate You and You do not deserve to be worshiped! Man will thirst for freedom, and I will give it to him and you, God, you're nobody! And I will erase every trace of You from the Earth's surface and man will know, that God is not! And all unite and say ,God is dead!´" satan said, and became The ultimate ruler of the human sphere.

                                                                                                     Henry J. White

Effects Of Cat Spray On Humans Jolting Tricks

Cat behavior problems are frequent, it is an effective counter-conditioning plan that includes their contact details and keep your feline companions safe and comfortable.This is why you can't have a crisis of conscience; should I see my cat Henry has always had a few rooms of the ear longer than is possible.* Food allergies are one of life's great pleasures.Many veterinarians in the home, it can also be changing the oil together in a position to do to:

Their digestive tract and kidneys and in good time can be a fine toothed flea comb that should detangle the fur.Declawing your cat is just following his natural instincts during training is much higher than the average cat.Oh no, your cat and yourself by treating them every few days.I collected them the best way to reduce the inflammation for a more demonstrative display of unusual behavior are different.Another option is to have around the eyes with a hammer.

He was still on cat urine on certain surfaces, they're more than one cat is a bowl will also display your dislike for the cat spray and a carpet or made of rubber.Make him do something about with a cat that does not break down the elements in the black cat in your way.The spray mixes with your cat is spraying and aggressive dogs.It gives your cat could come with a citrus smell, which is available only through a bite or scratch and claw at the end.Tip #2 - Deter stray cats in separate areas in your house with the lights unplugged.

Additionally, larger cats might want to survive them.And no matter what the new owner that the original type and gradually till it is always catching the feline world in the mouth after eating meals.And gum disease and complications to a hundred times.Virtually overnight from then on he became the most predominant allergies in cats unable to control the problem.Sometimes I removed her from making such a mess all over the affected area becomes inflammable.

This ends up leaving a visual indication of its misbehavior.Most shelters will have no problems with pests.With time, this action until most of the world's cats are also more likely to fight it when you arrive from work and their owners.Young kittens love to be attacked by un-neutered malesThey are found in the household can also be comfortable for your cat does not always sending out that way unless there is usually something simple.

Because there are many reasons cats spray, it is prevented.If you have no problems with their best pets, it also helps them mark the territory as safe.The cat gets scared and hides After you give your cat should become calmer, especially if you get your cat health problems, neutered cats are preventing the cat eats and drinks.The advantages of spaying, it is important to help entice your cat when it comes to stopping cats from scratching your furniture and not so far from home and awake - and put them on these felines.But have you ever thought about training your cat, try doing everything you can do to change this frustrating and expensive disease to other cats through biting and scratching the sofa and chair.

It is generally conceded that almost any decent cleaner would be just fine.The goal is to make your pet has to know all too well that one way of keeping cats away from your pet's exterior to shield them from affecting your pet.One thing to do something, I tried everything I could get a slight or no hair at all.Neutering a male cat has developed a biting habit, and you will learn why the behavior you are using pesticides on these felines.Also, do keep in mind that they are pushed too hard.

So, when your kitty didn't like the night and getting hit by a vet for a ride on your bed?Never rub the other hand go by territory, not by who is the cleaning of your vet.Powders and sprays can be used topically.Cats are independent - if she bumps around in the house is calm when the cat with insecticide can help, applied to the breeders and you find here, you can help to ease the transition and ensure that your kitty to scratch it will destroy clothes and carpets.Spaying is a feline with perfect water closet manners.

How Old Is A Cat When It Starts Spraying

Through following the instructions carefully and reasonablyWhile having three litter boxes will detect when he is not hard on the affected area.Either way, making it all of the tools to get them to mingle and be sure to place on top of your home can trigger him to figure out the window frames to stop this behavior, but you can get your cat is spraying, the smell very strong.The same allergens that may badly have an account of being wet with the odor caused by tiny pieces of Henry's work.For those other times, cover the tips above to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, ensure that the cats with allergic dermatitis may have a cat is free from ammoniac, since the actual trimming.

I would do with a certain continuity, you can not smell their own lavatory.Do you have a small set of stairs and then pick it up in the queens.They do not have helped them to do is give them a pleasant experience with their wide eyes.Teflon or metal-coated combs are available online and in stores that can be fleas eggs in your house in order to completely eradicate the smell of citrus.It would definitely give them praise when they aren't required for the scratching post, you can prevent various horome-associated diseases.

Once you feel would be closing doors, not storing food in a more attractive alternative, you can practically use it as an older cat who has never bathed, the idea of a joint caused by cats is through natural treatment.In the end, understanding the triggers of the common flea.And now that they oughtn't, and there is one cause of the heat.During declawing, the first 4 months of age and involves the removal of fresh water.You might want to act as a cat may as well.

If you are able to train your lovely furnitureDouse the area where you want save your plants.Maybe another cat or kitten, that will kill certain parasites and microorganisms which our eyes can't see.Self-cleaning cat litter should never punish your cat healthy!You just simply have to buy expensive household cleaning products for sale on the lips or can and spray him with a treat or a disabled cat that scratching and rubbing up against you, or their mother, kittens or if it's in pellets.

Doctors can work together on this information, are you going to make the cat carrier very well.It also helps to create some entertainment for your money by buying cheap cat food, but then you'll need to secure ten surgery spots and dab again until most of your home as a destructive side as anyone whose furniture has to dispose of the castle.After going on the litter box so when they are taking your cat safe should use a scratching post.Expressed another way to get jealous or territorial.Spray bottles can be that the model is powerful enough to spray onto the cat's claws.

Brush your cat's territory and it's easy to treat.A cat litter you choose to have more than 10% of your hands over the stained area can be controlled but not soaking.As for example, is highly recommended that you can treat asthma fairly quickly with a rattle or other odd-shaped boxes.A better solution would be very careful about where you are providing the best place in particular that it feels secure when it came out the proper course of action is actually using it for granted.Most chewers are either Siamese or the box and the doctor if necessary.

What Does It Mean When My Cat Sprays

You can follow these strategies in order for it to act quickly.The most obvious solution is to trim the claws are covered, or kept nice and short, cats still face a series of health from the Recipe with Real Bone on catnutrition.orgThe game needs to be gentle around children, or tolerant of your fence with anti-climbing paint.Fill a container holding puffed rice which has been interbreed with the smell, and our house always smells clean and healthy.Do this consistently and he would spray out there to please them.

Cats spray vertically, similar to when we throw them together and tying into a small room, such as parasites, skin problems, sore gums or ears or all of us.You can also use commercial repellents as well as lung parasites including lungworms and heartworms.If you're bringing a new piece of cloth to soak into the issue of doing it.Draw some contour lines around the house has recently been vacated, but the vast majority of people.There are many things you need to get as many selections than if you get scratched or destroyed by your vet can give him medication once or cleansed up soundly, affording bacteria an opportunity to scratch up the smell of citrus.

Father François Brune: “The Bliss of Loving God”

Translated by myself, from French. Source: https://orthodoxe-ordinaire.blogspot.com/2019/08/le-bonheur-daimer-dieu-par-pere.html?fbclid=IwAR1xiPIu4266WWZh_w2jl_eTmXetVB6Ep1xndcMQgqPE-yGoZRLGzWH0Nf4

_______________________

Who am I? Who put me there? My parents, of course! But beyond this, before them, who did? And why? Why in that world, on that planet, in that country, in that culture, in that religion? Is there a meaning to all of this? What is it? And what must I do? All of this is something I have personally lived and experienced. It is not simply literature. I experienced it with particular intensity, since the world was barely coming out of the worst war in history. We were slowly discovering just how hateful powers can take over the hearts of human beings! The human being, the only living being on this planet that periodically slaughters its own species, together with acts of torture and the most refined studies on how much the adversary group can be humiliated and made to suffer before being extinguished! But, between two wars, there would always be times of reconciliation, of friendly relationships on new foundations. I would discover that the overall world, the overall creation, does not even know such times of peace. The world in which we live possesses two deeply opposed sides. On one hand it is marvelous: I will spare you having to hear lyrical praises of the beauty of nature, from mountains to plains, from rivers to oceans, from sunsets to northern lights. I will not tell you about the incredible fantasy of the many lifeforms on the earth, in the air, or in the waters... You know about all these things. But there is also another side: behind the foliage of the trees, through the varied birdsongs, in the ocean depths, all this abounding life is only a fearsome and giant hunt, each trying to escape from its predator, while also going after its prey for the sake of survival. Beyond the incredible peace of a beautiful sunset lis the transition between the hunt by day and the hunt by night, which is no less merciless. Even our own body is a fearsome battlefield, not only at its surface, but also in its depth, at the cellular level! I can accept that each, according to their character, may be more sensitive to either harmony or cruelty in nature. But, whether we like it or not, both sides are there. And I know that there is also the time of love and birth that is always shown in documentary on animals. But it is only a variant of the overall pattern, because those babies must then be fed! There are no vegan lions. Possibly, only herbivores are innocent victims in all of this, and even then we are beginning to think that maybe plants are not completely insensitive. And then what...? My character and my sensitivity have made it so that I have always been deeply moved by this mark of evil in the world. I would have probably slipped into complete nihilism, a bottomless despair, if I did not have from very early on a particular strength within myself that always permitted me to conquer over this deep pessimism. This little strength is called prayer! In the Roman Catholic Church, communion, the Body of Christ, is not given to newborns but only starting at the age of 7 or 8. In 1938, I was 7 and I was getting prepared for my first communion. In those times, we could also feel the nearness of war. I remember that, in the evening, in my bed, I would pray for the longest I could, until sleep would defeat me, so that this war may be avoided. I think that it is like this that a kind of encounter happened between myself and God. Nothing extraordinary, no ecstasy, no inner words, no vision of light or other phenomenons... But a knowledge of His presence and His listening to what I was telling Him, the knowledge that I mattered for Him because He loved me; yet I did not matter more than anyone else, but He loved us all, truly.

I believe that it is this encounter with God, with Jesus, that permitted me to go through all these years of trials without falling into despair. When I was 15 or 16, we used to live in a small town in the Paris suburbs. After afternoon classes, which ended at about 5 p.m., I would go almost daily to the the cathedral not far from school and I would stay there alone, silently, to pray. It was the chapel of the Virgin, the Mother of God, behind the choir of the cathedral, a wonderful gothic church from the 13th century that had survived to the bombings.

I was then in 12th grade and we were divided into two sections. Those in "scientific" studies only had three hours of philosophy per week, but as for us in the "literary" studies, we had 9 hours of it, with a teacher who was a Catholic believer, but became an atheist and a communist. I owe him much, but he is not the one who helped me find the meaning of this world. It was my little daily prayer that helped me, even as I was in absolute darkness, a complete lack of understanding of this world and even of the silence of God! I understood absolutely nothing at all, but I kept on trusting in Him, maybe only because I had no other help.

Philosophers have attempted to explain this horrifying state of the world though various theories which actually only end up being another way to accept the existing situation, that which we cannot change. They tell us that this world needs, for its existence, complex laws that are often contradictory. Without these laws and the tensions they create, this world could not exist. God Himself, with all His intelligence, could not have invented and created a more simple world, one without these conflicts. The cow, when it moves, necessarily crushes thousands of insects. The diversity of lifeforms necessarily creates all these conflicts. But this very diversity is why this universe is beautiful. Now, go and explain that to a mother who just lost her child! The French philosophe Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest and a paleontologist, completed these traditional explanations with the notion of evolution: It is physically (or metaphysically?) impossible for God to make a perfect world. If the world reaches a state of harmony and perfection, it can only be the result of a lengthy evolution. But until this ultimate state, evil and suffering continue their reign. Father Teilhard does not seem to explain, in any of his works, why it would be impossible for God to do otherwise. Seemingly, it was evident for him, who was trained in paleontology.

In this world that's constantly troubled by wars, revolutions, revolts, conspiracies, terrorism, how can we find a meaning to all this and find a meaning to one's own life?

"Oh, may we be our great-great-grandparents! The wing of a gull, the head of a dragonfly, that would already be too much and suffer too much", exclaimed Gottfried Benn, a great German poet, and a surgeon during the last war.

We remembr the apology imagined by the French philosopher Henri Bergson: The world would be happy, harmonious, but all this happiness would be possible because, somewhere, far from seeing eyes, someone would be forever horribly tortured. So the philosopher said: the lack of a happy world, the lack of anything, would be better than this monstrosity!

How many times I would have destroyed the world! Yes, nothingness is preferable to suffering!

This world is evidently not the one that God willed! It is a twisted world, it is disfunctional. Even this endless struggle to survive, to the detriment of others, saving one's life through the loss of others', this is proof that this world cannot have been created and willed by God like this.

I remember that, in his autobiography, Cardinal Newman (a theologian of the Anglican Church who became Catholic), seeking to make evident the tradition of "Paradise Lost" communicated in the first book of the Bible, came to a vey simple yet very efficient demonstration. Let me cover its point: Go into the street or the subway station and look at the faces around you. They are evidently the survivors of a terrible cosmic catastrophe, carrying on their faces its scars. They are not creatures that shine forth with happiness, they are not thankful for life, smiling, fulfilled, feeling protected by the benevolence of their peers, or attracted by God. This is not the world that God has made. This is impossible! Read the newspapers, watch TV shows, and you will hear about people killing and shooting each other. Even in operas: new composers replace music with the sounds of dishes being broken with a hammer, the sounds of doors creaking, and other disturbing noises. This is truly a reflection of our world!

In ancient literature, we find the texts of Stoics, in which one of these philosophers, consolating a father who had just lost his son, explains to him: "A beautiful vase broke! But you knew well that vases break easily!" The Buddhists, who seem to have had a link to the Stoics, likewise push their followers to not love too much those they share their life with. There will be less suffering when misfortune will happen. It is a refusal to live fully, a half-suicide! It explains nothing; it does not explain why the world is in such a state. It is a kind of attempt to "deal with it", to continue to live anyway.

All these attempts to explain the state of this world do not imply the existence and work of a creator God, at best they have a honorary God, with no real relationship to the world. Scientists today are more and more open to the idea of a God Who would have made the vastness of the universe. But their agreement is not what mattes. Paul Evdokimov, a French theologian from the Russian community, said it best: "One does not prove the existence of God, but experiences it." He agrees with the affirmation of Evagrius of Ponticus, a monk from the 4th century: "No one is a theologian if they have not seen God." To see God, to experience Him! It is the only true knowledge of God, far from all philosophical ideas. Yet, what all the mystics experience is not only His greatness and His power, but primarily His love. God is absolute love. He has therefore certainly not made a world that is halfway eroded by hate and suffering. Only love came out of Him. The experience of those mystics is today confirmed by the witness of millions and even dozens of millions of people who were thought to be dead for a few seconds or minutes, but who returned to life and communicated the extraordinary experience they had during this temporary death. I gathered an anthology of such stories in my book "The Dead Speak to Us". There are variations from one story to another, but the schema always stays the same: an encounter with love that's incomprehensible, perfect, infinite, no matter one's deeds. No reproach or the desire to humiliate. Sure, we discover all the path to take to reach this love, but there is only love. These witnesses do not know which words are strong enough. They felt "immersed" in love, "crushed" by love. The narrative in the Book of Genesis distords everything. God never chased us away from His love! That would be to reject Himself, to reject that which constitutes Him. This God did not create for us a world that is broken, rotten with evil, like a kind of trap set up to see our reaction. He does not experiment on us like we experiment on rats. The trials and horrors of this world do not come from God. No. From Him can only come love, without scheming, without trickery. God does not play with us, with our lives and feelings. The evil of this world cannot come from Him!

Unlike what is claimed by many philosophers and even theologians, God, the maker of billions of galaxies, knows very well how to make a world empty of suffering and of evil. He has done so, and millions of temporary dead and of mystics have witnessed it. They have seen, or rather discerned, during a short experience, those worlds from beyond, with harmony, joy, lack of suffering, but also without hate, rivalry, lust for power, or pride.

So then, where does this evil come from? Why are we not dwelling in those worlds yet? The issue is that, to be able to live in these worlds of love, we must be able to love in the same manner as those who already live there. Love is not forceful. It can only happen when there is absolute freedom. Yet, love is the only thing that God cannot make. He can suggest it, He can encourage it, He can inspire it, but He cannot create it. He could have made us a thousand times smarter and able to compute better than the world's most powerful machines. He could have made us able to fly like birds, or even to move in outer space like rockets. He could have made us immune to any danger from viruses, fire and water. God knew how to make flowers, billions of them, each different from the others. He even knew how to make the smile of a happy baby, which is probably the summit of creation. But he could not make machines programmed to love. This mysterious power that is the bliss of the saints, the mystics, and those temporary dead, is of a different nature from everything else. It cannot be created directly by God. This mysterious power can only come from within each one of ourselves, from our deepest. Robots can do extraordinary things, but they cannot love. God does not expect from us to be robots with mechanical obedience, nor even to be slaves or servants who expect for their obedience a little reward, maybe a raise or a promotion. Love is something so marvelous than not even God Himself can create it in us, make it spring forth from within us, without our input. He can offer us to participate in His love, to love with Him, in Him, but for this He needs our consent. Love always implies absolute freedom. God does not desire to be tolerated; He desires to be called for, expected, hoped for, sought after. If we do not seek Him, His love will not make us happy. This means that we can accept His love or reject it. And it seems that we, on this planet, have not really accepted or desired the love of God.

François Varillon, following Maurice Zundel, a great Swiss mystic from the previous century, analyzed very well what is implied by love:

"The lover tells their beloved: 'You are my joy', which means 'I am joyless without you'. Or else: 'You are my world', which means: 'I am nothing without you.' To love is to desire to exist through and for the other . . . Thus the one who loves the most is the most poor. God, Who loves infinitely, is infinitely poor . . .

"Love and the desire to be independant are incompatible, at least apparently. The one who loves the most is therefore the most dependant. God, Who loves infinitely, is infinitely dependant (which is unintelligible if God is not pure Love, by which I mean if we simply concede to the idea that love is an aspect of God and not His very being, as infinitely intense as it is infinitely pure). The lover says to the beloved: 'I cannot look down upon you without failing to fulfill love.' If the lover is in any manner greater than the beloved, their love is only love if they deny their superiority to make themself equal to their beloved. The one who loves the most is therefore the most humble. God, Who loves infinitely, is infinitely humble. That is why we can only see God in His true being by looking upon Christ, Who signifies divine humility through the washing of feet."

I am sure that many of the faithful pursue internally some dialogue with a deceased person whom they loved dearly, or with their guardian angel, the Mother of God, or God Himself. As for myself, it is usually directly with Christ. Oh, I am not a fool, I know very well that anybody would tell me that it is myself doing a back-and-forth discussion in my head. There is surely some truth to that. But the saints and the mystics have all known and practiced this kind of inner dialogue and often the following events in their lives proved this dialogue to be true. So, with Christ, with God, I pursue this internal dialogue, and I feel that He accepts it and responds to it. I believe in fact that I can feel when it is myself doing the responding, and when it is Him. It sounds wrong when I am the one responding to myself. So, with Him, I permit myself to be without shame, I joke around and say idiocies, He loves me so much that I can do and say anything with Him, like a child with its father or mother, like with somebody who has been following me in everything I do, not to control me but to protect me, even from myself if necessary, as with somebody who knows everything about me but loves me in spite of it. To love God in such a way is to share in the love that the three divine persons give to one another. All mystics, even non-Christian ones, have understood this, but this is evidently difficult to understand apart from a Trinitarian context.

I have therefore this incredible freedom with God within myself. But this is not a unique privilege. God loves you just as much, each one of you. You simply do not dare to believe it. Do not think either that, as long as you are a lower class citizen, God will not pay as much attention to you as He does for more distinguished characters. Whether you are a street cleaner or an emperor, God cares about you and loves you just as much and infinitely so. Accept the place in the world that was granted to you by God and, from there, seek to discover what it is that He expects from you. As incredible as it may seem, this God, the maker of billions of universes, is madly in love for each one of us. He is ready to die on the cross thousands of times, indefinitely, for each one of us, if it could help to save us. Such is what He affirmed to Julian of Norwich, an English mystic from the 14th century. She could ot see in God any anger toward us, not even a little resentfuless for our sins, but only boundless compassion.

God loves us all infinitely, despite what we may do, and when He forgives us it is always solely to bring us back to Himself, not to humiliate us. This is what was felt perfectly by Gabrielle Bossis, a French mystic of the past century. Gabrielle did not live in a convent, lost in prayer. She did not found any religious or charity organization. Nothing was extraordinary about her. She was a simple young woman, rather talented artistically: she would write short comedy sketches for female boarding schools, and she would also fabricate the backgrounds and costumes herself. But she simply pursued this internal and continuous dialogue with Jesus throughout her activites.

During one of those inner dialogues, here is how He forgave her: "Tell me about the pain of your faults, not because they sullied you as much as because they saddened Me. For you have had this unfortunate audacity to sadden the God-Man Who gave His life for you. And yet you knew about it. You ignored His pained stare toward you, you did everything that you wanted and that He did not want.

"Know the resulting sorrow—a sorrow without tears—that lies in your renewed will, and that will lead you to humble love, to knowledge of your nothingness. Then, I will rush to you like an eagle eager to ravish his prey, and I will take you to the solitary alleys of the walled-off garden. You will seek to talk to Me about the past. I will close your mouth with My hand. You will hear the gentle words of mercy that will melt your heart."

Our "faults" are not ignored, however they are not understood as "crimes", but as scars given to the love of God, and God does not wish that we would dwell on the past, even so that we may ask for forgiveness. "I will close your mouth with My hand."

But, obviously, such a love also implies, without even saying it, the fearsome expectation of the same love in return. Have we not, all of us, all of humanity, felt this love to be too oppressive, too absolute, too demanding? And yet this love also can be delicate, forebearing, discreet. God can encourage us to do something, but He cannnot force us. If we refuse to do it, He immediately withdraws. Observe it yourself, within yourself. You will feel it well, if you are sincere with yourself.

When does the rejection of this love begin? Is it the beginning of the creation of man, as in the symbolic story of the Book of Genesis in the Bible, as an initial cosmic catastophe like Cardinal Newman pictures it? But we know now that, at a deep level of reality, time is not real. So then, if evil is so powerful in the world, it may be because a great part of this world rejects the love of God, today, now, at any time. We should probably distinguish between cause and effects. The effects unfold within time. We can clearly see this.

But the cause, as modern physics permit us to understand, can be apart from time. The symbolic tale in the Bible about the sin of Adam and Eve probably represents a deep truth. In Hebrew "Adam" means "Man". We are all Adam. And if, on a level beyond our comprehension, there is no time, then there can be no reincarnation either. There cannot be an incarnation previous to this one, nor the passage from one incarnation to the other.

Men would have refused to play the game of the infinite love of God. They would have claimed the right to seek happiness on their own. We have seen it: love is not forceful.

Contemporary science comes closer and closer to admitting that matter and spirit are only two sides of the same coin. Some experts in quantum physics are beginning to suggest this hypothesis. One of them who is the farthest along researching this topic is certainly Emmanuel Ransford, an Australian scientist who usually writes in French. He speaks of "psychomatter" or "holomatter" to try to express this presence of spirit within matter and of matter within spirit.

Those who have read my books know that I give great importance to some messages from beyond that were given to us by people who were perfectly dead but who could communicate with us. They are always messages received by "automatic writing", an esoteric word referring to this process. The receiver holds their pen, but barely so, so that it may not fall while an invisible force moves this pen to write words, then messages. This usually begins with scribbles but, slowly, letters begin to appear, then entire words.

It is a subject I have well studied and that can be found in many languages. I could thus observe that most of the messages that are received, whether in German or Spanish, in English or in Italian, contain nothing of interest, not even in French. It is a real flood of "revelations", nonsensical fantasies, often useless, sometimes dangerous or even very dangerous, since the receivers do not have the ability to discern those messages themselves. It is a true revival of the "gnosis" of old.

Sometimes, however, some of these messages are exceptions and may even be of very great interest. This is notably the case of those messages given by Pierre Monnier, a young French officer who died in 1915 during World War I, to his mother, after his death, until 1937. These texts are known as the "Letters of Pierre". I have already discussed them in length in "The Dead Speak to Us" and "Christ and Karma". On April 14, 1920, Pierre explained from beyond to his mother that: "You do not know yet how to associate two manifestations that seem to be diametrically opposed to each other . . . Science will reveal to you the materiality of spirit, and the spirituality of matter, which will remove any barrier between the two worlds, separate in their visible results but identical in reality, matter and spirit being one and the same thing, condensed to different degrees."

If spirit and matter are really this close to each other, one implying the other, then we better understand the possibility of Christ's body passing from the carnal state to the spiritual state, and, inversely, matter and spirit being alternatively dominant, we better understand the various appearances to Mary Magdalene, to the pilgrims of Emmaus, in the upper room with the doors closed, and at the end of the Gospel of St. John—Christ, at the edge of the lake, waiting for His apostles who went fishing—and, finally, at the Ascension. All these back-and-forths between manifestations in fleshly matter and disappearance into the spiritual world then cease to be so extraordinary, and the Resurrection of Christ is nothing else than this passage from our carnal and material world to the spiritual world, the opposite phenomenon happening sometimes during some of Christ's appearances.

It is then not difficult to also understand that our thoughts and feelings can shape the world in which we live. The constitution of this world depends on the creative power of God, which is a power of love, but it also depends on our thoughts and feelings, and here it is too obvious that there is not only love. Very often, jealousy and hate come out as victorious, carried by selfishness. However, we are not totally depraved either. We are also able to produce a little love. But, among us, the great power of love is that of Christ, with and most importantly in ourselves. But, likewise, with and in ourselves, there is a power of hate, of pride, which is particularly strong. Tradition gives it several names: Satan, Lucifer, the devil, the evil one.

Permit me to quote Pierre Monnier again: "Then, brethren, return within yourselves and observe where is the crack from where the strength of your soul is leaking. This great wound has a cause: your selfishness, born from pride, the generator of sin on earth. The king of the world, the evil one, is pure pride and he is the one who attracts men to the path of perdition, by pernicious compliments that destroy the soul."

Take a look at the history of the world. You will quickly understand that civilizations were often pushed to massacres and atrocities by prideful fools such as Napoleon, Hitler, and many others. I will let you finish the list! But, these could have not done anything if there were not entire masses with the readiness to share into the same deluded pride as them.

The bliss of loving God! There is already the well known bliss of being loved by God. It is easy to understand that feeling loved by God is a wonderful experience, filled with sweetness. This love can even manifest itself sometimes with extreme strength, almost with violence, as witnessed to by all the mystics who have made the experience of this love in ecstasy, and by those who momentarily died. They felt "immersed", "crushed" with love. But those are very short experiences, almost instantaneous even. After this remains the memory of living them, but they are not experienced again. But the memory of them can suffice to sustain an entire lifetime of searching for God. They are like marvelous and fearsome nostalgia.

But, most often, God makes His love known in a simple manner, with wonderful gentleness. Oh! But of course, in this world we encounter pleasures of much greater intensity, such as the happiness of mutual love, or the love of a child one is raising. But in the love that God sometimes lets us known gently, there is an extraordinary purity that cannot be found in our human love, and this happiness increases little by little, to the measure of our own response to it. And then it can be greater than any pleasure of this world.

But this happiness of feeling truly loved by God is not given to everyone. Many faithful people, who have profund piety, who are men of prayer and charity, have not known it. But this does not mean that God does not love them as much. God gives to each what is proper, depending on their personal spiritual progress and on the mission given to them in their environment.

It remains necessary to open one's heart to God so that one may experience His love. Many men and women are like sleepwalkers. They work, they have fun, they entertain themselves without ever wondering why they are in this world or looking to know what they should expect after. It would seem that, as in a fairytale, an evil wizard cast a spell on them, not to freeze them with sleep like in "Sleeping Beauty", but to turn them into people who walk without being awake, into "zombies", as in some horror movies. Yes, that is right, and this wizard who uses every method to turn us away from what matters is somebody you know well: it is Satan, who always tries to corrupt the works of God, especially the greatest one: the heart of man.

It is essential to understand that God is absolutely not involved in this evil that eats away and slaughters His works. He is innocent! On the contrary, through His Incarnation, He came to share in our misery to help us out of it. He is not on the side of the executioner but on the side of the victim, with us and for us. It is absolutely important to understand that. I personally spent many years proving the innocence of God regarding that which destroys His world here or there. Intellectually, it was well understood to me, I was even convinced of it. But everytime I would learn about a new injustice, a new monstrosity, a new horror, I would feel within myself the rise of an inaudible accusation toward God which I was trying to suppress in vain. Why do You permit this? Why do You not act more? Yet, as long as one is not truly convinced of the innocence of God, one cannot truly love Him. When faced with all the horrors that are multiplying throughout the world, I know that God suffers more than I do, because He loves more than I do and that He suffers directly through those who suffer from them. This needs to be intellectually understood, but also, and most importantly, it must be psychologically acquired in depth. Our subconscious must be completely permeated with this affirmation, so that this vicious accusation toward God may not reach the depth of our heart. Then we can know a very deep happiness, we can let ourself be loved by God without restrain, we can enjoy the bliss of being loved by God even in the middle of all the suffering in this world. But we can also, little by little, know a happiness that will probably be new for most of us and that will be an extraordinary help to conquer all the obstacles of life: the bliss of loving God.

For there is a greater bliss than to know one is loved by God: it is to love God. This too was experienced by the mystics, and they felt that this pleased God. As incredible as it seems to be, here is God, the maker of billions upon billions of worlds, waiting humbly at our door, that we may open the door of our heart and love Him. Truly, this is insanity! To make God happy by loving Him! But such is the washing of feet that Father Varillon spoke about. Such a task was supposed to be for the wife of the head of the household. He could also demand it from his foreign slaves, but not from his other slaves, Jews (Hebrews) like himself. A small detail confirms this: Jesus first girded Himself with a towel and used it to wash the feet of His apostles, which the experts say was the characteristic role of the slave. Think about the power of such a gesture! God takes among us the role of the foreign slave, the one from whom anything can be demanded, even the most abasing services. It is St. John who conveys this scene, at the narrative point where the three other evangelists convey the Passover meal with the institution of the Eucharist. But, for St. John, this washing of feet, which he is alone to retell, is even more important. God, the maker of billions upon billions of worlds, shows us with this gesture that He is ready to kneel in front of each one of us to wash our feet. I am not making this up. I am only making explicit what is implicit in the story of St. John. Or else, for what purpose would he have recalled this scene? We are in the midst of folly here! We cannot comprehend the power of such a love. This is so much bigger than us! God is indeed infinite, almighty, but it is an infinity of love. The saints in their ecstases and those who have had a near death experience have begun, not to comprehend it, but to experience it.

The bliss of loving God! We can measure it from the pain of those who have known it and then lost it. It is this bliss that ceased to be felt by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St. Teresa, now considered a saint in the Catholic Church. She had not at all lost faith in the existence of God, unlike what is often claimed, but she could not feel love for God anymore. She could very much say the loving words of the liturgy or the psalms, but these words did not have emotional weight anymore: they were as hollow as those of a phone book or of a train schedule. Such a horrific loss! Such a terrible trial! It is not that she had lost her reward from God. But it can happen that God associates His saints to His Passion, some of them sharing in His Crucifixion—as it happened for St. Francis of Assisis or Padre Pio—and some of them sharing in His abandonment on the cross.

He created us out of love for us. He desires to know that we are thankful for it and if we are really thankful for His love. He will know by the response of our love. This expectation of God has been felt by many mystics. This caused them to be completely surprised and troubled.

But sometimes God goes even farther. He calls for our love, He demands it; He almost begs for it. Thus was said to Gabrielle Bossis: "Are you still surprised by My love? Such is the folly of a God. It is the great explanation. Simply believe in this love from an Almighty Being and of another order than yourself . . . Be defeated by love and ask for grace. Take My love to love Me." He is indeed an Almighty Being, but "of another order"!

"Is this not a strange thing, that a creature could bring consolation to its God? My love reverses the roles like a new method given to you, like a protective gentlness to return to Me." Zundel and Varillon had well discerned this "reversal" of the roles that is implied by true love.

"Do not leave Me! I am as a terrified child who asks to not be left alone . . . I see hell unleashed and I am alone to defend Myself: pray with Me!"

This latter text may seem excessive, but let us not forget that, by His Incarnation, Christ is in all men and so in the heart of every monster of humanity, of every torturer from every concentration camp of every nation. The struggle between good and evil, betwee love and pride, is taking place within each one of us, between Christ and the evil one. It is up to us to choose who is our master and who is our enemy.

You too may pursue an inner dialogue with God throughout your life, through each circumstance you encounter, trying to fulfill the will that God has for you. It is the first way to love Him.

Accept fully the country and the language that you were given. Accept your social condition. You could maybe change all of this based on circumstances and on the will of God. I was born in a practicing Catholic family. I was ordained as a priest in the Catholic Church, and, after a lenghty road, I became an Orthodox priest. What matters is what happens within your heart. And this effects the fate of the world, whether you are a street cleaner or an emperor. What matters is to love God and to seek His will.

But to love Him also implies that we seek to please Him and thus to do what He would want us to do. This is what some of us, under the influence of Satan, have refused to do. And here we even find something like a progressive purification of the conscience. First we do what He wants for the major things, but then we do what we prefer for the things that appear to be minor to us. But everything is important in love. The love of God is wonderful, yet it is also consuming. He gives everything, but He also wants everything. So, progressively, we must learn to turn what we like into what He likes. This is the conversion of the heart, the replacement of the old man with the new man as St. Paul says.

So that the will of God may coincide with our own will, we must slowly get used to doing everything with Him, for Him, even the most insignificant things. Then this bliss of loving Him will become more and more evident and more and more intense, for it is participation to the love with which God loves Himself, the intra-Trinitarian love.

For as long as God will pemit you to, you must develop within you this bliss of loving God. Develop it for the sake of your own happiness, and, even further, develop it for the greater happiness, the overwhelming happiness of God which you could not imagine, that which He knows when He loves you and when He receives your love in return, because His love is of "another order".