Serhiy Krymsky, Ph.D. in philosophy, laureate of the Dmytro Chyzhevsky Prize of the National Academy of Sciences, is among The Day’s veteran contributors. His monologues as improvised discourses on sophistries and life (e.g., St. Sophia’s Cathedral, Nos. 14 and 15, May 15 and 22, 2001) were a real discovery for both the Editors and readers; we are proud that this newspaper has such a celebrated fan and author.
First, let me congratulate Den’ on its fifth jubilee. I am especially pleased to do so, because this periodical has a number of interesting features that make it stand out among the other Ukrainian media.
To begin with, the important thing is that Den’ can distinguish between daily routine and things of historical importance. There are daily realities and historic occurrences. Events in August 1991 were featured by Western and Russian television: people defending the Russian White House in Moscow on one side, as the world’s largest empire was falling apart; on the other side were people walking their dogs and women being attended at beauty parlors. This newspaper can lend routine events a historical dimension, thus avoiding pure conjuncture; at the same time, this approach makes it possible to write current events into people’s destinies, into the perspective and context of social evolution. Hence the Editors’ interest in historical subjects (not just interesting stories from history). Den’ always seeks the sense of history, those of its criteria that allow us to assess the prospects.
The past makes the future modern, an old adage which is becoming even more relevant within the context of synergetic development. In synergetic systems, events touch what will be in the future, albeit in an underdeveloped form; they were in the past, and they are today. History is stochastic by nature; we have not one future, but many, and the past offers a selection of futures. In other words, by relying on past experiences, we can study the future trends programmed in the current reality. Thus it is extremely important to know how to approach current events from the historical perspective. I can only welcome the Editors’ interest in historical materials and in lending current events an historical dimension.
This also allows one to interpret your title somewhat differently. The notion of day is diversified; in the biblical context, it can be a year, even a millennium. A day is just a period of time, but it can harbor great historical events. Yet this is not the point. The title of your newspaper is connected not with the notion of today’s conjuncture, but with the notion of day formulated, say, by Hryhory Skovoroda in conjunction with the Ukrainian mentality: a day is like light, like enlightenment. In his dialogues (in “The Snake Deluge” and “Alcibiades Icon”), Skovoroda often uses these notions. All of his philosophy is a “day of philosophic wisdom.” And this means the newspaper’s title can be interpreted in light of what I have said about the newspaper’s historical component.
A NEWSPAPER, LIKE A THEATER, MUST CREATE ITS OWN AUDIENCE
Every newspaper is not just a media outlet. Like a theater, it must create its audience; it must form and keep its readership. Much to the Editors’ credit, it has done just that and over the brief period of five years. Different newspapers have different trends; some are meant for bureaucrats, others for the intelligentsia, political parties, teachers, or peasants. I would not say that Den’ specializes in just one of these categories. Rather, it is meant for the educated segment of the population, including academicians, teachers, and people interested in culture. Here, I think, lies another of the newspaper’s interesting special features. It is still to be developed, but there are elements allowing me to say that Den’ already has an opportunity to develop these trends in an interesting manner. Considering your five year experience, the Editors are interested in not just culture, science, sports, or education; they are interested in spirituality. And spirituality, from the scholarly point of view, is the entirety of human existence directed by the spirit; to an extent, it is a call from above to carry out that which cannot be accomplished using natural means, and which requires personal involvement, an active refraction through the life of the individual. This trend is still to be developed in the newspaper, but I believe that, by working on this trend, Den’ has a very good chance of finding its own distinction from other newspapers that are purely educational or intellectual. Spirituality is knowledge and information, it is culture refracted through the needs of the personality, needs of the spirit, and national experience (a nation is also a personality, but a historical one).
ARCHETYPES OF NATIONAL MENTALITY AND PROBLEMS OF BEING
What does it mean to work out problems relating to spirituality in a newspaper? It is necessary to not lose the guidelines inherent in the archetypes of the nation’s mentality. Archetypes are open symbolic structures permeating the entire massif of history of a given people. Generally speaking (and the idea belongs to twentieth century philosopher Martin Heidegger), every nation is aimed at three archetypes: home, field, and church. Home is the sacred neighborhood of being, a place where a nation or an individual is aware of its own central position. Taras Shevchenko said that in one’s home one possesses one’s own strength, truth, and freedom. A field is not necessarily a steppe; the notion can imply mountains, sea, nature, and all that links man to the environment; topos is his place in life. And the temples provide holy ground. Every nation, the Ukrainians included, has its own archetypes in addition to these.
For example, Den’ wrote about our visit to St. Sophia’s Cathedral. It is a matter of wisdom, the wisdom of being that is characteristic of Ukrainian culture... Ukrainians strive to become part of being, to penetrate it, not be above it. Ukraine has never experienced a collision between the intellect and being, as has been very dramatically the case with Western culture. Since time immemorial, Ukraine has cultivated an altogether different notion: spiritual intellect, meaning intellect which is spiritual and does not contradict feelings. This is the kind of archetype inherent in the Ukrainians, including the archetype of the ethical value of free individuality.
ON THE POSITION OF THE THIRD TRUTH
Talking of this newspaper as such, I would like to point out another positive aspect, a kind of centrist stand taken by the Editors in approaching political events. They have a point, because one must be able always to look at current events from the standpoint of the so-called third truth, meaning the supreme one. This is a problem of humanism, of which Thomas Mann said that any decision in human matters is premature. Not in the sense that we have no right to pass judgment on a fellow human being as we deem necessary; our verdict may be guilty or not guilty and it might relate to any moment in that person’s life. While doing so, we must understand that our assessment could be prematurely revised. When passing judgment on today, we must allow some tolerance, backlash — a certain dimension allowing a given event to reveal an altogether different aspect. In this sense we must not insist on our evaluation, understanding that it is premature with regard to both that person and historical events.
THE CRITICAL EYE AS A NORM OF SOCIAL EVOLUTION
Speaking of Den’s shortcomings (which are perhaps characteristic of other media outlets), I would like to point out that there are practically no day-to-day reviews of cultural events, and what critiques are found on the pages lack true professionalism. We find the latter in all traditionally prestigious Western periodicals and newspapers in the Russian Empire of the nineteenth century, done by true masters. I read in an old Russian critical review, “Mr. Chaliapin sang poorly today.” Now try to imagine a modern Ukrainian newspaper writing that such-and-such People’s Artist “sang poorly.” Yet this used to be a norm of press life.
You should keep a finger on the pulse of cultural and political events; you should have a separate page for professional critical reviews. A newspaper’s reputation is built when the reader sees a critical eye in it, in which case this newspaper becomes more au courant, more effective. You should finally start making critical assessments (rather than dispense compliments or getting even with somebody or other); it is a must in true journalism.
Owing to my scholarly work, I have always had a lot of graduate students. I teach them, “Your salad days are history and it was only then that you were praised; now that you’ve grown up, you must get used to the idea that no one’s going to praise you; you must learn to realize the true worth of your writings through criticism.” We must pass judgment on ourselves and on others through the prism of precisely such criticism. It is necessary to accustom this society (this is important from the social point of view) to constant criticism. Without it this society will not be able to develop. Criticism must address the things done by the man in the street and by the president. I was very embarrassed to hear Leonid Kuchma say at the ceremony unveiling the Independence Memorial, “This is our Oranta; this is our Berehynia.” Oranta means only the Mother of God and there are only four variants: Oranta, Odyhitria, Tenderness, and Glory. An ordinary woman cannot be referred to as Oranta, even less so as Berehynia, because the latter means a mermaid. How can one mistake the Mother of God for a mermaid? But there is nothing terribly wrong about making a mistake like that. Next time he will know better. We must not be afraid of everything. We have each made a lot of mistakes and been criticized. I must say that Soviet newspapers paid serious attention to criticism (albeit often lashing out at people for no good reason except ideology), and critiques appeared much more often than nowadays.
It is very important to prepare such materials relying on one’s own experience. I know that there are very few travel notes compared to newspapers in the West and the Russian Empire. Such notes are extremely educational and what makes them so interesting is that they stem from personal experience. I don’t care how well things like that are rendered in the old Baedeker travel books. I do care about one other circumstance, which is a shortcoming of social development in Ukraine. Our citizens have nowhere to forward their complaints. Previously, we had the Public Control Committee and district Party committees. Where can you go to state your grievances now? There’s nowhere to go. On the one hand, it is a problem of social development; Ukraine badly needs a body to deal with people’s complaints, something like a people’s oversight committee. And it is very important to expand the framework of the reader’s protection, all those people addressing their problems and complaints to newspapers. It is necessary to protect them, not only well-known names, but also ordinary people. The greatest disadvantage of our society is the utter vulnerability of the average person. The militia will step in only if the matter concerns them directly — and we can hardly spot men in uniform on the street. Anything can happen to you out there, and I know of many such cases.
(To be continued)
