WHAT ANSWER WOULD THE RUSSIAN DIOGENES HAVE RECEIVED FROM THE DELPHIC ORACLE TO THE QUESTION: WHAT TO DO?

I am far from Russia right now, but I believe that the answer from the oracle to the Russian Diogenes would be: “Learn to think.”??

Although the Greek Diogenes was advised by the oracle not to think, but to engage in philosophy – that is, in the language of those times, “revaluation of values.”

I'll try to explain why I am so sure of this. In my previous message, I argued that thinking is a creative activity leading to the acquisition of true knowledge (visible and invisible). Philosophers say that this is what we were created for by the Almighty (the Spirit alone cannot provide valid perception, absolute comprehension and cognition without us). All types of knowledge, which we may not even be aware of, are stored in memory, and memory is connected to the soul. Some intentionally confuse the soul with consciousness. Plato also pointed this out, associating learning with the soul's recollections. So, the sum of knowledge (the worldview) is primarily formed by the soul.

And nothing will change if someone believes that the soul is a figment of theologians and that there is no such immortal essence, spiritual substance, cause of existence, and all the diversity of life forms, including human communities. I won't argue. You can even call it "a certain Self", "ego", "cognitive needs" or "higher abilities of consciousness". Just one remark. If someone claims to discover the fact of the absence of something very important in nature, then this can be regarded as the discovery of the truth in the last instance and must be irrefutably proven.??

So, if something cannot be proven, then it is no longer the truth but a hypothesis, some premise, assumption, speculative concept, an attempt to change reality in one’s interests. But that is not biology anymore; it’s psychiatry.??

On the contrary, if someone tries to prove that something exists and brings countless arguments, historical facts, reasoning, including the elimination of illusions and healing from mental and social diseases, this can only be welcomed.??

Let's leave criticism and disputes for now, and try to at least formulate some of our thoughts in the search for reliable ways to shape our worldview. For example, Socrates’ “midwifery art” (maieutics) was explained by him as the birth of truth in the human soul by freeing it from false beliefs and illusions. Therefore, the essence of philosophy for him was based on the search for correct concepts, and true knowledge consisted of wisdom and virtues. If someone thinks that truth is born in the brain and is a combination of creativity in the limbic structures and the neocortex in response to survival problems – be my guest. I have nothing against it.?

I even have a suggestion: in the world, there are more and more mentally ill, backward, socially dangerous, and simply unhappy people, why don't neurologists and neuro economists try to treat them? And publish the methodology, experimental conditions, patient reviews, promising directions, and results. Why not? Even the Communists did this when they proposed a new world order.

Now, of course, many consider themselves smarter than Plato. And they reduce the properties of the soul exclusively to brain substrates. And the method of Socrates, academic scholars stubbornly turn into endless juggling with concepts, ideas, terms, neologisms, and linguistic constructs. Allegedly reflecting reality. Like the Communists who declared that the real problem is not to explain reality but to change it. “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it” (1)?

Do you know how to change it? With the help of dialectics? By changing material history or the history of consciousness (spirit, thinking, goals, ideals, creativity)???

But biologists claim that the brain is an unchangeable set of structures, fully formed by 8 to 12 years old. And it is biologically impossible to redone them. It turns out that if a person is a drug addict, fool, talentless lazybones, debauchee, traitor, and criminal within their brain, it is forever. And they can only be controlled by influencing the instinct of self-preservation (safety of oneself, kind, and species) or pleasure centres. What if there is an instinct of death and a drive for self-destruction somewhere in the brain? Is that some morphological variability or “shift in activity”?

Cogito, соgnitio, processus cognitivus??

But here's an example from my practice: in treating mentally ill or drug-dependent people, you won't achieve success until all traumatic or, conversely, emotionally charged thought patterns, event chains, and habits are vividly recognized, comprehended, and if necessary, completely forgotten. Or classified as false, harmful, dangerous to oneself and others. As soon as such an “event” (the rejection of previous schemes and algorithms) occurs in the soul (let's assume it's not only a product of evolution but also all our conscious, unconscious, neuropsychological, instinctive, emotional aspects), then the so-called “anti-habit” to wrong thinking and, consequently, behaviour arises. And it can form very quickly. Maybe even in one day (these are facts from practice). But simply relying on logic, reason, responsibility to the family, health problems, or fear of death is often useless.??

I'll say it more simply: even hypnosis, chemotherapy, electroshock, brain surgery – will not lead to success in treating drug addiction. At best, it will result in the replacement of some psychoactive factors (exogenous, man-made substances affecting the brain) with others (endogenous, created by nature, brain stimulants and pleasure centres). If, of course, the worldview of a person and the state of their soul remain the same.??

Another example. In 1637, Descartes presented it as the truth, that is, something that cannot be doubted. Therefore, other truths should resemble it. He translated the phrase Cogito, ergo sum from Latin into French as Je pense, donc j’existe. Where donc replaces the comma and means "therefore," and je pense replaces cogito. Only "cogito" is not just thinking. It's also experiencing, imagining, and knowing. For example, knowledge in Latin is cognitio, cognitive processing - processus cognitivus.??

That is, for Descartes and his followers, merely thinking is just being aware that something is happening to you. And you, thank God, are therefore alive. And, of course, thought is a process occurring in the brain (where else?).

Socrates had his demon who gave him advice. It's hard to imagine that this demon also sat in the brain and fed from the limbic system. Kant confirmed that thinking is a conversation with oneself. But he did not say which part of the brain and in what language this happens (with which words, sounds, gestures, images, “music of the heavenly spheres,” or transcendental entities). He only hinted that everything is governed by some mysterious “schematism of the soul.” (2)?

Science undoubtedly deals with linguistic concepts and abstract ideas connected to the cerebral cortex. And it denies the existence of truth for a reason, because everything changes, including the sum of human knowledge, which allows for correct reasoning in each specific era. But this is not enough for the knowledge of a thinking person. That's why religion, faith, and hope in a Higher Mind still exist in all civilizations. After all, something true is revealed to us from time to time, almost every day. And someday, we will obviously come to understand ourselves.??

WT and its main method (balancing the tendencies of being)??

I ask everyone once again to note that my method is no different from the one used by Plato and Socrates.??

WT theory goes back to Plato in terms of understanding the components of the soul; he, in particular, identified the mind, passions, and desires in it. That is, for him, the soul was not homogeneous.??

And Socrates, asking his questions, revealed the main driving forces (in my case, tendencies) that shape the opponent's beliefs, arguments, and actions. Everyone agrees with this. Only, to approach the truth, it is not enough to reject false and illusory concepts. It is also necessary to somehow designate these driving forces of the soul, create a reliable classification of them, and prove its effectiveness. Not to establish the truth in the final instance, but at least to prevent mental disorders, which, unfortunately, can no longer be treated with pills and injections.??

If we objectively judge the world we live in now, and which suddenly began to change before our eyes, we will have to admit that we do not know how this happens and why. We only know that the realisation of truth (even as a result of one's own illness) comes to patients later, after analysing sensory experiences and related information from various areas of memory. At the moment when they are integrated with knowledge tested by generations, fully confirmed by reliable facts, not by ideology, suggestions, and attitudes.??

And no words arise in the brain. Not in any of the languages known to us. And if the next truth from the depths of the soul reaches consciousness, it is very difficult to express it. Of course, this does not happen to every person. Some feel nothing at all, only some joy and relief; some see an amazing combination of images; some experience glossolalia or phantasms; someone comes up with an unusual drawing, colour, shape, rhythm, size, inspiration. This is how M.Y. Lermontov wrote about it.

Russian Melody??

I created another world in my mind??

And the existence of other images;??

I linked them together with a chain,??

I gave them a view, but I didn't give them a name...

Poet??

Such is the poet: as soon as his thought flashes with fire,??

He will immediately fill his whole soul with the sound of a loud lyre...

Now tell me, if you are a devout person, how do you talk to God, in what language? Yes, prayer helps to concentrate and detach, but the very address occurs apart from the spoken words. And the answer that some deeply religious people can receive to their address is also not in words. But in the ability to change oneself and change certain circumstances around oneself (sometimes they seem to change by themselves). The language has nothing to do with it. I believe that this is the basis of real psychotherapy, where there are few foreign words and medical terms, but there is an unconscious mutual understanding of people, or, as they used to say, “transfer.”??

This means that "cogito" includes not just the ability to think, but to think correctly, in accordance with God's gift, in search of all-encompassing truth. And not just to play with others’ and one's paradigms, artefacts, attitudes, experiences, and ideas.??

Descartes knew about this and in his later works avoided the first part of his own phrase “I think” in every way. After all, thinking can be different.??

Someone will say that truth does not exist and cannot exist; there are only different points of view, which depend on the degree of delusion. And there is no soul either, only a sinful and mortal body that responds to sensations and needs. And this is easy to prove experimentally. For example, by removing parts of the brain and studying a person’s reactions. What to say in response? Let them try to remove at least a small part of the soul from a person and see the result.

Codes and Civilizations??

Well, as a result of scientific progress, humanity has found it easy to reason that not only the soul but also God does not exist. And that means there was no devil, demons, fiends, angels, or any unacceptable destructive activity for the soul. And there was no Word of God, no creation of the world, and no law of gravity. Apparently, it will soon be proven that there was no matter itself, but only quantum uncertainty.??

Of course, it now seems to us that we can think this way. And behave accordingly, without fear of consequences. Instead of a worldview, to have some void, which can easily be filled with the help of language, its constructions, semiotics (properties of signs), and semantics (their meaning). Words, quotes, phrases, slogans, and aphorisms, so as to completely discourage not only the desire to know the world but even to think at all. For example, with the concept of “civilizational codes.”??

But what is the code? A way of grouping some symbols using others. Infinitely. And in general, any civilization is not just a form of organisation of society and its cultural life in “states with symbolic communication systems that go beyond natural spoken language” (quote from Wikipedia in English). But something fateful. Concerning the entire nation, although yes, it can be permeated with symbols. I, as you know, advocate that our natural spoken language should not be forgotten. After all, in it, both original symbols, tendencies, and sounds with images appear.

Conclusion and Results??

I dare to assume that instead of philosophy and psychology, we have once again returned to influencing the ways of thinking that shape the worldview. But then tell me, what are they? How can they be classified? After all, it is well known that the very picture (which we call worldview) is different in different civilizations. For example, one civilization welcomes differences, another tries to level or destroy them. In one civilization, human sacrifices are commonplace, in another – sorry, you need a special licence for that. Somewhere people are good-natured, accustomed from childhood to work and obey any authority, and somewhere they raise predators and conquerors. Who knows exactly what and when to do (and this is passed down through inheritance). What to choose? For example, what should be done in Russia, where there are many languages, religions, customs, and very different ethnic groups?

Catherine the Great, by the way, understood this well. That’s why she is still called Great. She gave a clear directive to her legislators: "Russia is Europe." And nothing else. Although old Europe did not agree with her, for their aristocracy considered themselves superior to any Slavic, rootless, and petty nobility.??

And now Russia cannot go to Europe. Even Ukrainians can, but Russians cannot. After all, Russians are not just a civilization with cities and villages, with Kulibin and Cherepanov, with Pushkin and Tchaikovsky, with Perovskaya and Zhelyabov (whom Lenin, by the way, called the Russian Garibaldi for wanting to create a Russian republic). Russia is something unique. Something that can exist on its own, without any help from outside, without foreign words and concepts, seeds, and spare parts.??

Of course, many in Russia believe that Europe has become bad. It is dying and decaying. The aristocracy, tracing its history back to Troy, Christ, and the Roman Empire, has degenerated. And all other rulers of capital, knowledge, and souls are now bad too. Soon, there will be not only a crisis but also the migration of peoples, and cooling, and environmental catastrophe.??

And Russians, more than ever, want to dream, work, think, and create values in accordance with their natural capabilities, and receive such a reward for their labour, talent, mind, will, selflessness, dedication, and inspiration that will allow them to live with dignity.

And what is needed for this from the perspective of WT???

Nothing much. For example, practical knowledge of the human soul and the ability to manage people. And to use it for noble purposes, always striving to surpass any opponents of honesty, equality, and justice. Learn from enemies and friends and do it quickly, faster than they themselves. After all, the die is cast, gentlemen!??

This means there is no more time for contemplation. Including for the Russians. We must return to that not-so-distant past when we thought and acted the same as other nations. Is it possible to despise or underestimate those who lived before us?

Tell me, who has been to Gornostayevka (Mariental), where Zhelyabov (3) was born? Why are Garibaldi monuments all over Italy, Lincoln monuments all over America, but there is not a single one of Zhelyabov in Russia? There was one school named after Zhelyabov, but it was destroyed. Probably because he came to the gendarmes himself and asked to be hanged, although he did not take part in the attempt on the tsar's life. He was too unique a revolutionary. And he wanted to make Russia the same. Unique, as the Russians themselves want. But so far, only China succeeds in this, after all, they had Lao Tzu, who advised all Chinese to listen to their thoughts, not others’.

And who could claim the role of the American Diogenes now, I don’t know. Maybe Elon Musk, who said it’s very important to get feedback from yourself?

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(1) Marx K. "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845, published in 188

(2) Kant E. (1781) “Kritik der reinen Vernunft”, Riga, verlegts Johann Friedrich Hartknoch: “Dieser Schematismus unseres Verstandes, in Ansehung der Erscheinungen und ihrer blo?en Form, ist eine verborgene Kunst in den Tiefen der menschlichen Seele, deren wahre Handgriffe wir der Natur schwerlich jemals abraten, und sie unverdeckt vor Augen legen werden”.

(3). Andrei Ivanovich Zhelyabov (1851-1881), Russian revolutionary figure, one of the leaders and author of the program of the Narodnaya Volya (THE PEOPLE'S WILL) organisation.