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Even if we are spared destruction by war, our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction. We cannot avoid revising the fundamental definitions of human life and human society. Is it true that man is above everything? Is there no Superior Spirit above him? Is it right that man's life and society's activities have to be determined by material expansion in the first place? Is it permissible to promote such expansion to the detriment of our spiritual integrity? If the world has not come to its end, it has approached a major turn in history, equal in importance to the turn from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It will exact from us a spiritual upsurge, we shall have to rise to a new height of vision, to a new level of life where our physical nature will not be cursed as in the Middle Ages, but, even more importantly, our spiritual being will not be trampled upon as in the Modern era. This ascension will be similar to climbing onto the next anthropologic stage. No one on earth has any other way left but - upward.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn#49

HistorySocietyEthicsSpiritualityMaterialism

About this quote

What does it mean?
Solzhenitsyn argues that avoiding war is not enough; humanity must fundamentally redefine its values to prevent self-destruction through materialism.
In plain terms
We need to change how we live and value things to avoid destroying ourselves.
What can you take from it?
Material progress must not override spiritual integrity.

Where it applies

  • societal crisis
  • ethical decision making
  • historical reflection

Putting it to work

  • reevaluate personal priorities
  • advocate for spiritual education

Questions to consider

  • What defines a meaningful life beyond material gain?
  • How can society prioritize spiritual well-being?

Another view

The quote assumes a universal spiritual crisis that may not be shared by all cultures.

More from Alexander Solzhenitsyn

  1. If humanism were right in declaring that man is born to be happy, he would not be born to die. Since his body is doomed to die, his task on earth evidently mus…

    Permalink to quote #48
  2. A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.

    Permalink to quote #50
  3. On the way from the Renaissance to our days we have enriched our experience, but we have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity which used to restrain o…

    Permalink to quote #47

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