Solzhenitsyn is a writer of great relevance to our times because he lived in East (Soviet Union) and the West (America) and critically examined both. He nicely articulated the positive and negative aspects of both societies. This is especially important today when there is rising tension between the two.
faith
Aesthetics of Longing – “Men Have Forgotten God”
Solzhenitsyn often repeats that when he was a child old people used to say that the Russian Revolution, and all the other bad things that have happened, were a result of the fact that:
“Men have forgotten God.”
Aesthetics of Longing – Solzhenitsyn on Freedom & Home
Anyone who felt nostalgic for a long time knows that the feeling can be compared to imprisonment. Not that I am saying that this is some positive or romantic feeling. I think that it cripples a person’s soul and the ability to live a normal life. It is, as I later realised, a lack of spirituality and faith in God. That is why Solzhenitsyn was often ‘grateful’ for his imprisonment by the Soviets as it helped him awaken his spirituality.
Aesthetics of Longing – Solzhenitsyn on Freedom & Home
Aesthetics of Longing – Solzhenitsyn on Freedom & Home
“Freedom meant one thing to him—home.
But they wouldn’t let him go home.”
-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aesthetics of Longing – Solzhenitsyn on “his task on earth”
This is a photo of the 14th Century Decani Monastery in Kosovo $ Metohija, Serbia. It is one of my favourite places on this planet. It is, if we use a cliche, a piece of heaven on earth. Decani Monastery is protected by Italian peacekeepers because it is under constant threat from the Albanian majority in this region of Metohija.
Aesthetics of Longing – Solzhenitsyn on Missing the Point
Aesthetics of Longing – Solzhenitsyn on the Meaning of Earthly Existence
Decani Monastery (14th Century) vespers. As a theatre director, I realised that all stage performances were fake and meaningless when compared to the Liturgy, which allows us to become a part of eternity and find meaning in this earthly existence.
Aesthetics of Longing – Solzhenitsyn on Happiness and Meaning of Life
Aesthetics of Longing 