One reaches into the future for his thoughts, thus creating the meaning of life. There are two approaches to this thinking:
1. Strategically planning
2. Self-sabotaging through fear
Now only the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine can plan strategically, and we are left to blindly roam a challenging landscape. I, personally, am aggravated by my dependence on Mordor. On how soon their financial default will occur; on how many ocrs they have left who are ready to kill-die; on how many lethal missiles and shells they still own.
The Army of Mordor is accustomed to gaudy shows of brutality, laying waste to the masses. Leaving only corpses and shells. Indifferent to whose bodies it is going to be - brother or stranger. Impressing on our instinctual fears with shows of violence, reducing us to mere sheep. Ready to follow the herd.
It is important not to cripple ourselves with our own thoughts.
Self-sabotaging starts unnoticeably and at some point you can find yourself left only with fear. What is more, the fear is unrecognizable, a fog without thought. You become but an immobilized fly stuck in the spider web.
How have we gotten there?
It is hard for one to cope with absence of control of one’s future, it is hard to start living in the unknown. Psyche tries to create a “firm ground” of the known, that is how expectations arise. It is some kind of a desired outcome, an idealistic picture of how it could be. If you are unable to manifest that reality, then you lay your expectations upon others, who volunteer, fight on the ground, influence the media, America, the EU, the Armed Forces, etc. An idealistic perception leads to disappointment. Things are never as fast or as good as I would like. This drags the soul into a pit of despair.
Then comes the fear, the self-destructive thought: “everything is bad”, “all is lost”. A person prepares themself for the worst in this way. This is how a cloud of negativity occurs, a myriad of horrors born of the mind itself, draining strength, joy, faith and hope.
In this space of negativity the personality begins to lose a sense of self-worth. This personality begins to believe it is without influence, incapable of change, incapable of anything. All because it cannot be fully satiated at this moment. It is important to recognize the darkness, identify its birthplace, and to understand its origins.
I think it is important for each of us to win our inner battles now. We are intimidated by Mordor, its volition is to suppress our will and our desire to be free. Losing this battle perpetuates the darkness, giving Mordor our strength.
It’s time to remember humility, however, not in the sense that you bow to slave-tending fear. The humility to endure must carry us in the dark times through to Victory. This Victory itself can free us of our shackles and provide the beacon of light enabling us to battle fear in the darkest recesses of our mind. This Victory alone is enough for us not to become a broken victim and fight with our fear.
We have already lost a lot, but we have not lost Ukraine. It is time to learn to live outside the bounds of our own idealistic dreams.
Below, a photo of Mariupol drama theater before and after bombing by the Russian army.
Text by Olga Demchuk (Ольга Демчук)
Translation Kateryna Skakunova