An old wound between the Russians and Ukrainians is being aggravated. It is sore and bleeding but not fully reopened. Just as Eastern European countries are now experiencing conflict, this will be felt throughout the world, in all of humanity. Eventually, everyone will experience the revelation of this war firsthand: man’s control over man.
Before this war broke out, this ill feeling was not visible or tangible. It was deep and even slightly dormant. I remember images from the past when Russian and Ukrainian soldiers met; there was a faint inner connection between them, as if they already knew each other. And they are indeed psychologically close; they have an extensive common background.
On the other hand, with the outbreak of this war, acute hatred between them has risen to the surface, a sort of hatred so strong that you can feel and sense. It is literally palpable.
Two peoples who are not very different from one another, but actually are very similar, are discovering pure, clean hatred between them that precedes all ideological views. It is a natural hatred that springs from the power of human nature, which does not dress itself up in the guise of race, gender, nationality, or religion. It is not wrapped in history, language, or cultural differences. It is simply the inner sensation that one hates the other.
“The discovery of fractures and differences, crimes and wounds, points us to the place of repair and helps us to focus on the core of the problem. Mediation and correction are part of a long-term process that works according to the plan of creation of bringing all conflicts into harmony.”
This sensation is deeper than any other kind of hatred we know. It is a spiritual hatred, and its only aim is to reveal the extent of the gulf in the relations between the two peoples and to learn from the uncovered chasm how to bridge it with love.
The discovery of fractures and differences, crimes and wounds, points us to the place of repair and helps us to focus on the core of the problem. Mediation and correction are part of a long-term process that works according to the plan of creation of bringing all conflicts into harmony.
We now see before us the first stage of this process. It is a fierce revelation of the power of hatred, the negative force aimed at bringing us closer to understand that there is a system of forces in nature working in us and with us. But against this revealed hatred, love should be awakened. Stable love can be evoked only with the help of a common prayer.
