Ефремов и мы
Aug. 7th, 2011 12:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
toyahara_kТолько цитаты (плюс частичный перевод) из книги его друга Олсона
..Некомпетентность, леность и шаловливость "мальчиков" и "девочек" в любом начинании является характерной чертой этого самого времени. Я называю это "взрывом безнравственности", и это мне кажется гораздо опаснее ядерной войны. Мы можем видеть, что с древних времен нравственность и честь (в русском понимании этих слов) много существеннее, чем шпаги, стрелы и слоны, танки и пикирующие бомбардировщики. Все разрушения империй, государств и других политических организаций происходят через утерю нравственности. Это является единственной действительной причиной катастроф во всей истории, и поэтому, исследуя причины почти всех катаклизмов, мы можем сказать, что разрушение носит характер саморазрушения.
Когда для всех людей честная и напряженная работа станет непривычной, какое будущее может ожидать человечество? Кто сможет кормить, одевать, исцелять и перевозить людей? Бесчестные, каковыми они являются в настоящее время, как они смогут проводить научные и медицинские исследования? Поколения, привыкшие к честному образу жизни, должны вымереть в течение последующих 20 лет, а затем произойдет величайшая катастрофа в истории в виде широко распространяемой технической монокультуры, основы которой сейчас упорно внедряются во всех странах, и даже в Китае, Индонезии и Африке...
1969
...На Земле всё довольно уныло, особенно это будет ощущаться в скором будущем. Это совпадает со старыми индийскими и тибетскими пророчествами о высших и низших пиках. Графически я изобразил их на диаграммах. Низший пик в 1972 г. (это было в 1969 г.), подъём в 1977 г. и огромный провал с колоссальными войнами в период между 1998 и 2005 гг. - временем Белого Всадника из Майтреи. Но я не доживу до этого времени, может быть, доживёте Вы?..
Downhill
To the science fiction writer, even though in the future the earth must go, perhaps in some sort of holocaust, life must go on elsewhere and, for intelligible story content, it must be in the hands of humans, or humanoids or their creations. Other planets and stars are havens; physical laws, often badly bent, are the constraints. Usually the baser side of humanity — avarice, wars, conquest, deceit and cruelty — persist.
Not so for Efremov. Although vigorous and physical, as a geologist in the field or a sailor on the sea, he was a most gentle man who abhorred violence. Gymnastics and ballet were his favorites, and contact sports offended him. He found most distasteful the physical singing of "Sachmo" (Louis Armstrong), his popping eyes and sweating. Humans, he was convinced, in their arts and sciences of the brain and spirit, have the capacities to master violence and aggressiveness by formulating societies in which motivations for such behaviors had no reason to exist. This is a constant theme of Efremov's science fiction, and it had wide appeal to his fellow Russians. I can't help but feel that this was mostly cast in a mold reminiscent of Dorothy's dream of the Land of Oz somewhere "Over the Rainbow." To Efremov, I found over and over, it was real, and it was his mission to tell it to the Russian people in whatever way he could. Yet, in 1969, when my wife Lila and I were spending a pleasant afternoon in his apartment on Gubkine Street near the University of Moscow, Thais, or Taya, Efremov's charming second wife, brought us a diagram. Efremov had constructed it based on prophecies of ancient Indian and Tibetan seers, and Thais had drawn it up especially for us (Figure 30). He explained it as follows.
The things are somewhat gloomy in this world, for the near future especially. This is a coincidence with the old Indian and Tibetan prophecies about minor and major peaks. I have drawn them graphically on a diagram. A down peak in 1972 [this was 1969], a real up peak in 1977, and a very big downfall with gigantic wars between 1998-2005 — age of the White Horseman of Maytreya. But I haven't a chance to reach this age, maybe you?
Unless this dangerous time could be passed somehow, our ancient civilization was ended. Earlier, in 1966, I had written with some misgivings about where we were headed.
We here (in Chicago) are in the midst of a very hot and humid summer, and, as they say, "the natives are restless." There is tension in the air. It's all part of growing up, but there is such a long way to go. The world is always somewhere in a state of revolution and this century is one of accelerating pace with so many adjustments that it is little wonder that Homo sapiens is having a hard time keeping up with the pace. It is as if the whole world is trying to drive some complex modern freeway road system that requires repetitive split-second decisions, moment after moment, in order not to crash, or at least to avoid going round and round on a butterfly.
Efremov replied,
But I agree with you completely that in the second half of this century our species is not only having a hard time keeping up, as you say, but trying desperately to find his place in the new and not very palatable world which emerged around. I, at my own, having a sharp memory, can see clearly the way things are at the beginning of my career as a scientist and now. An awful difference. To begin, the scientist is no more a free searcher for knowledge, but only a highly qualified government worker as well conditioned as the others. We paleontologists enjoy some last freedom for the price of neglect and absence of "honour." But it shall not be for long. With the environmental dangers to our genes' pool and fast extinction of many plants and animals the interest in paleontology must revive by the end of the century, and people will make memory to all of us (if they only understood).
The thought that the values of history, and especially of life history from a naturalistic point of view, were being lost was a constant and severe irritant to Efremov. One more comment along these lines came in response to a simple complaint that I had made about a boy we had hired to keep our garden alive while we were in Russia in 1971 — and who didn't.
Efremov, in a letter on many matters, went on:
One more point. Disaster with your garden because of a "lousy" boy is a very abundant event now, and I guess throughout the world. The unreliability, laziness and naughtiness of "boys" and "girls" at every sort of jobs is characteristic of this very time.
I call this the 'immorality explosion' and it seems to me more dangerous than nuclear war. We can see through very old times that morality and honour (in the Russian sense of chest) are much more significant than swords, arrows and elephants, tanks and dive bombers. All destruction of empires, states and policies came through moral depravity. This is the only real cause of ruin in all history and therefore destroying is the only self-destructions we became aware of with nearly all diseases.
When all men accustomed to honest and hard work [have] passed away what sort of a future awaits mankind? Who can feed, clothe, cure and transport people? Dishonest, as they basically are now, how can they do scientific or medical investigation?
Generations conditioned to the honest way of life must be extinct during the next twenty years and then a greatest disaster in history will come of widespread technical monoculture, which basically now persists in all countries, even China, Indonesia and Africa.
Have you ever heard of the book by Alan Seymour 'The coming self-destruction of the U.S.A.?' It is issued in England in Pan's paperback, but I cannot afford it and don't know the author's meaning. Maybe you can see through it. Is it good or worthless warning?
But I must end this prognostication and wish you and Lila with all our heart from both of us good luck and health.
Your always and fond friend,
I. Efremov (Old Efraim)
This was written in 1969 and, to date, has been quite prophetic. Probably some of both his and mine is just 1960 to 1970 "generation gap" carping. At least to some extent, but by no means altogether. That his sense of youth and morality in the controlled Soviet society was cast so strongly, and that he saw the consequences as so disastrous, startled me. When I entered into all of this in the late 1950s I had thought that the regimentation in the Pioneers, common mandatory education and common language throughout the Soviet Union, collectives in the country and organized apartment complexes with local "commissar" supervision and meeting quarters, would have resulted differently. Not in a way I would have liked, but surely not as Efremov viewed it. An avowed communist in a broad sense, he saw the beginnings of Soviet immorality to have been in the Stalin purges which "killed off all of the intellectuals" and left a serious vacuum amidst the uneducated and unmotivated. Where, he so often asked, can the intelligent and devoted teachers come from?
Figure 30. The cycle of the years. Times of rise and decline of humanity to Armageddon, the Battle of Mora, at far right. The period of Agui Yuga lasted for 2160 years. From 1994 and the last Battle of the Serpent, time continues to Armageddon in 2005. Drawn by Thais Efremova from sketches by Efremov. This figure has been reproduced from difficult, informal copy, a gift from the Efremovs.
Подпись к рисунку заслуживает отдельного внимания: ведь рисунок - это перерисовка из довоенной книги Н.К.Рериха
..Некомпетентность, леность и шаловливость "мальчиков" и "девочек" в любом начинании является характерной чертой этого самого времени. Я называю это "взрывом безнравственности", и это мне кажется гораздо опаснее ядерной войны. Мы можем видеть, что с древних времен нравственность и честь (в русском понимании этих слов) много существеннее, чем шпаги, стрелы и слоны, танки и пикирующие бомбардировщики. Все разрушения империй, государств и других политических организаций происходят через утерю нравственности. Это является единственной действительной причиной катастроф во всей истории, и поэтому, исследуя причины почти всех катаклизмов, мы можем сказать, что разрушение носит характер саморазрушения.
Когда для всех людей честная и напряженная работа станет непривычной, какое будущее может ожидать человечество? Кто сможет кормить, одевать, исцелять и перевозить людей? Бесчестные, каковыми они являются в настоящее время, как они смогут проводить научные и медицинские исследования? Поколения, привыкшие к честному образу жизни, должны вымереть в течение последующих 20 лет, а затем произойдет величайшая катастрофа в истории в виде широко распространяемой технической монокультуры, основы которой сейчас упорно внедряются во всех странах, и даже в Китае, Индонезии и Африке...
1969
...На Земле всё довольно уныло, особенно это будет ощущаться в скором будущем. Это совпадает со старыми индийскими и тибетскими пророчествами о высших и низших пиках. Графически я изобразил их на диаграммах. Низший пик в 1972 г. (это было в 1969 г.), подъём в 1977 г. и огромный провал с колоссальными войнами в период между 1998 и 2005 гг. - временем Белого Всадника из Майтреи. Но я не доживу до этого времени, может быть, доживёте Вы?..
Downhill
To the science fiction writer, even though in the future the earth must go, perhaps in some sort of holocaust, life must go on elsewhere and, for intelligible story content, it must be in the hands of humans, or humanoids or their creations. Other planets and stars are havens; physical laws, often badly bent, are the constraints. Usually the baser side of humanity — avarice, wars, conquest, deceit and cruelty — persist.
Not so for Efremov. Although vigorous and physical, as a geologist in the field or a sailor on the sea, he was a most gentle man who abhorred violence. Gymnastics and ballet were his favorites, and contact sports offended him. He found most distasteful the physical singing of "Sachmo" (Louis Armstrong), his popping eyes and sweating. Humans, he was convinced, in their arts and sciences of the brain and spirit, have the capacities to master violence and aggressiveness by formulating societies in which motivations for such behaviors had no reason to exist. This is a constant theme of Efremov's science fiction, and it had wide appeal to his fellow Russians. I can't help but feel that this was mostly cast in a mold reminiscent of Dorothy's dream of the Land of Oz somewhere "Over the Rainbow." To Efremov, I found over and over, it was real, and it was his mission to tell it to the Russian people in whatever way he could. Yet, in 1969, when my wife Lila and I were spending a pleasant afternoon in his apartment on Gubkine Street near the University of Moscow, Thais, or Taya, Efremov's charming second wife, brought us a diagram. Efremov had constructed it based on prophecies of ancient Indian and Tibetan seers, and Thais had drawn it up especially for us (Figure 30). He explained it as follows.
The things are somewhat gloomy in this world, for the near future especially. This is a coincidence with the old Indian and Tibetan prophecies about minor and major peaks. I have drawn them graphically on a diagram. A down peak in 1972 [this was 1969], a real up peak in 1977, and a very big downfall with gigantic wars between 1998-2005 — age of the White Horseman of Maytreya. But I haven't a chance to reach this age, maybe you?
Unless this dangerous time could be passed somehow, our ancient civilization was ended. Earlier, in 1966, I had written with some misgivings about where we were headed.
We here (in Chicago) are in the midst of a very hot and humid summer, and, as they say, "the natives are restless." There is tension in the air. It's all part of growing up, but there is such a long way to go. The world is always somewhere in a state of revolution and this century is one of accelerating pace with so many adjustments that it is little wonder that Homo sapiens is having a hard time keeping up with the pace. It is as if the whole world is trying to drive some complex modern freeway road system that requires repetitive split-second decisions, moment after moment, in order not to crash, or at least to avoid going round and round on a butterfly.
Efremov replied,
But I agree with you completely that in the second half of this century our species is not only having a hard time keeping up, as you say, but trying desperately to find his place in the new and not very palatable world which emerged around. I, at my own, having a sharp memory, can see clearly the way things are at the beginning of my career as a scientist and now. An awful difference. To begin, the scientist is no more a free searcher for knowledge, but only a highly qualified government worker as well conditioned as the others. We paleontologists enjoy some last freedom for the price of neglect and absence of "honour." But it shall not be for long. With the environmental dangers to our genes' pool and fast extinction of many plants and animals the interest in paleontology must revive by the end of the century, and people will make memory to all of us (if they only understood).
The thought that the values of history, and especially of life history from a naturalistic point of view, were being lost was a constant and severe irritant to Efremov. One more comment along these lines came in response to a simple complaint that I had made about a boy we had hired to keep our garden alive while we were in Russia in 1971 — and who didn't.
Efremov, in a letter on many matters, went on:
One more point. Disaster with your garden because of a "lousy" boy is a very abundant event now, and I guess throughout the world. The unreliability, laziness and naughtiness of "boys" and "girls" at every sort of jobs is characteristic of this very time.
I call this the 'immorality explosion' and it seems to me more dangerous than nuclear war. We can see through very old times that morality and honour (in the Russian sense of chest) are much more significant than swords, arrows and elephants, tanks and dive bombers. All destruction of empires, states and policies came through moral depravity. This is the only real cause of ruin in all history and therefore destroying is the only self-destructions we became aware of with nearly all diseases.
When all men accustomed to honest and hard work [have] passed away what sort of a future awaits mankind? Who can feed, clothe, cure and transport people? Dishonest, as they basically are now, how can they do scientific or medical investigation?
Generations conditioned to the honest way of life must be extinct during the next twenty years and then a greatest disaster in history will come of widespread technical monoculture, which basically now persists in all countries, even China, Indonesia and Africa.
Have you ever heard of the book by Alan Seymour 'The coming self-destruction of the U.S.A.?' It is issued in England in Pan's paperback, but I cannot afford it and don't know the author's meaning. Maybe you can see through it. Is it good or worthless warning?
But I must end this prognostication and wish you and Lila with all our heart from both of us good luck and health.
Your always and fond friend,
I. Efremov (Old Efraim)
This was written in 1969 and, to date, has been quite prophetic. Probably some of both his and mine is just 1960 to 1970 "generation gap" carping. At least to some extent, but by no means altogether. That his sense of youth and morality in the controlled Soviet society was cast so strongly, and that he saw the consequences as so disastrous, startled me. When I entered into all of this in the late 1950s I had thought that the regimentation in the Pioneers, common mandatory education and common language throughout the Soviet Union, collectives in the country and organized apartment complexes with local "commissar" supervision and meeting quarters, would have resulted differently. Not in a way I would have liked, but surely not as Efremov viewed it. An avowed communist in a broad sense, he saw the beginnings of Soviet immorality to have been in the Stalin purges which "killed off all of the intellectuals" and left a serious vacuum amidst the uneducated and unmotivated. Where, he so often asked, can the intelligent and devoted teachers come from?
Figure 30. The cycle of the years. Times of rise and decline of humanity to Armageddon, the Battle of Mora, at far right. The period of Agui Yuga lasted for 2160 years. From 1994 and the last Battle of the Serpent, time continues to Armageddon in 2005. Drawn by Thais Efremova from sketches by Efremov. This figure has been reproduced from difficult, informal copy, a gift from the Efremovs.
Подпись к рисунку заслуживает отдельного внимания: ведь рисунок - это перерисовка из довоенной книги Н.К.Рериха
