Alexandr Korol

but this particular one, I feel like I’ve already overcome it long ago. It’s not difficult for me now; I understood it long ago. Otherwise, how would I be writing books? I would’ve become a blogger ages ago and moved to the Maldives. But no — I realized I’m not willing to choose the path of the world. Yes, everyone would’ve accepted me. That’s the paradox: had I chosen the world’s path, people would’ve loved me, accepted me, there’d be no judgment, no slander, no envy, no attacks. But in doing so, I would’ve strayed from the path and lost God within me — lost heart — and just become part of the herd. Or look — see, I made a choice: I chose God and the heart. But that immediately made me different. I’m the only one with God, while everyone else stands on the other side, and to them, I automatically become the enemy — because I’m not as filthy as they are, not as cruel, not as greedy, not filled with their kind of malice. And they all start to hate you — like in the film Powder — just because you’re a little different. Even though, ironically, you’re different in that you’re modest — and that enrages them. Or because you’re kind — that enrages them. Because you don’t need to show off to be loved, and yet you are loved — that enrages them. So this is very hard: imagine, you consciously reject Satan and all these worldly people, and yet what you get in return isn’t peace. You choose God, and what you receive is the attack of the entire world against you. Brutal. It’s hard, guys.

Here’s another part — “Veneration by the Church,” from the Wikipedia article — which says that in memory of Jesus’s forty-day fast in the wilderness, Christianity established the annual Great Lent. This year, Lent will begin in March — on March 3rd, 2025. And I believe... You see, when I was younger, I already interpreted this to mean that fasting is very important. Not for everyone, of course — but especially for people who work too much, who are constantly distracted by the social world, by social media, by food, by all the excess. And people who have more than they truly need — they stray from the path because of it. They stop hearing their hearts, they stop hearing God, nature. And it’s those people who really need Great Lent — to sober up, to snap out of it, to start feeling themselves again, to see life from the outside, to awaken their hearts, to escape the fog, to step out of this virtual multiverse. That’s what Great Lent is for. And now, as it turns out —