“Guys, we must believe in miracles,” we, pioneers and Komsomol members of the Soviet country, sang around the fire. And few people thought about what a miracle is. We just wanted to believe in something beautifully fabulous that no, no, it will happen. And no one at all thought why a miracle should suddenly happen. In the end, that's what a miracle is, to suddenly happen.
Wonderful condensation
The transformation of the concept of "miracle" is curious. I suggest looking into the dictionaries. For Dahl, a miracle is "any phenomenon that we do not know how to explain according to the laws of nature known to us." The following are examples of the use of the word, mostly related to the plots of the New Testament. In Ozhegov's dictionary, this concept is interpreted somewhat differently: "In religious beliefs, a phenomenon caused by the intervention of Divine power, as well as something unprecedented in general."
It seems that everything is clear: what is the approach to the concept (materialistic or idealistic), such is the interpretation. But here's the catch: even Ozhegov's "materialistic" vocabulary admits the possibility of something unprecedented. Don't you think this is strange? After all, you must admit that if something happened, it can no longer be unprecedented. The paradox comes out. Or rather, a miracle.
The debate about the miracle is endless and very emotional. It is worth talking about this topic, the people are immediately divided into two camps. The first declare that a miracle is a "priest's word" and there is nothing to bother with all sorts of nonsense. They remind me of atheists in a dispute with believers: they do not support their statements with any weighty arguments, but they reject the views of opponents as delusional. The latter behave more modestly. They are generally romantic, quiet, docile, therefore they not only believe in a miracle, but are also ready to wait for it. Wait as long as it takes.
To be honest, the latter are nicer to me. But I would love them even more if someone from among them explained to me the nature of the miracle … You say: nonsense? You will say: is it a miracle, so as not to have any nature? Wait. It is impossible without sources at all - even the manifestations of the spiritual world need them. And a miracle is often quite material. For me, for example, the Mobius strip is a real miracle. More than once I tried to comprehend how two planes merge into one in the blink of an eye, but this task is clearly not for my brains. However, I do not regret it - let me have one more miracle …
Why am I telling you this? Besides, there is no single concept of a miracle. It differs from era to era, depends on the level of knowledge, and finally, simply on the individual's worldview. And nothing can be done about it. What is perceived as a miracle by one person under certain circumstances will look quite ordinary to another under other conditions. Sorry, but for atheists, myrrh streaming is just condensation.
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With chemistry and without
Leaving idealists and materialists aside, there are miracles beyond the confrontation between these two systems. For example, a miracle named Yuri Gagarin. Who can explain how a peasant son from the village of Klushino, Gzhatsky district, managed to enter world history? I insist - it is in the world. The greatest rulers of past eras are already remembered only by specialists, and the memory of Gagarin (I dare say this) is endless.
Of course, here we can also talk about God's providence. It is also possible about human determination, audacity, courage. However, we will have to admit: the heavenly forces (take it upon themselves to supervise the first flight into space) had someone to choose from - there were enough purposeful young people in the Land of Soviets. Gagarin had thousands of competitors. But it was he who flew into space.
And it was a real miracle. I think for Gagarin too. I'm almost sure that if someone told Gagarin, who came to the Saratov aeroclub in 1954, that in seven years he would become the first cosmonaut on the planet, he would not have believed it. And he would be right, because it is impossible to believe in such a thing. Not then, not now …
Well, what about our everyday life? It is full of miracles. Take, for example, love … You can, of course, develop a newfangled theory about the chemical reactions taking place in the body. However, she will not explain why, despite the infinity of choice, our souls grow to one person - the only and unique.
However, a miracle of a completely different kind originates here - a gloomy and even terrible miracle. I'm talking about how the one and only becomes a stranger, or even turns into a bitter enemy. How do we manage to cultivate hatred for that, without which it seemed we could not breathe? There is certainly no time for chemistry.
Moebius life
You can endlessly add to the list of miracles. You can endlessly listen to the delights of people who accept them, or the logical reasoning of skeptics who reject miracles. However, it is time to stop and admit that miracles are happening around a person and by the person himself - at an unknown instigation, however.
Even the Mobius ribbon, dear to my heart, is the work of a careless German mathematician housekeeper who twisted the braid while sewing. I hope this conclusion will satisfy both materialists (they constantly insist that most miracles are of a man-made nature) and idealists: after all, man is the pinnacle of Divine creation, and who, if not him, should be in the center of miraculous events.
Like Sophocles in "Antigone": "There are many miracles in the world, man is more wonderful than all of them."
It's true, no matter which side you come in. I don’t know how it was possible to calculate, for me it is also a miracle, however, researchers argue that the probability of pinching each of us with a certain color of eyes, hair, fingerprints, our own character, finally - one in four hundred (we would not get confused in zeros!) quadrillion. Have you realized? Both me and you had much less chances of being born than Gagarin of flying into space. Billions of times less!
Our existence is a consequence of an amazing, incredible coincidence, the possibility of which was so negligible that our life could not be called anything other than a miracle … But we were born. Born, I suppose, not just like that. Perhaps just for a miracle.
Have you ever thought that miracles happen to us every day, every hour, every minute, and this process is endless, like that very Mobius strip?
We all want our life to be wonderful. Really - with stress on the first syllable. But how much are we doing for this? Who else, but more often, we admit, we just want …
Mikhail MAMALADZE
One wise man said: "In the 20th century, many miracles appeared - and faith in miracles disappeared …"
Indeed, progress every year more and more generously endows us with new opportunities, previously simply unthinkable, unimaginable: once a train and a steamer seemed like a miracle, a real miracle was the first hot air balloon flights, the first film show by the Lumiere brothers, the first telephone …
And since science did not stand still, miracles began to pour in as if from a cornucopia. And now, any kindergartner downloads cartoons on the Internet on the parent, or even on his own iPad - and after all, just thirty years ago, the employees of the research institute enrolled in a queue for "computer time" to gain access to computers, and then computers, electronic computers, could hardly fit in a spacious room …
We talked so much about the miracles of technology that we wiped the very word "miracle", the very concept of the miraculous, to the holes. Well, then off we go: miracle creams and miracle yogurts, miracle bras and miracle pans appeared. The sacred meaning was completely lost. Our existence has become richer, but our life is poorer.
A miracle is our last hope, when, it would seem, there is nothing to hope for. When everything that was in human power has been done, and salvation does not come, there remains hope for a miracle. On God. To His mercy. Miracles don't always happen. Not all hopes are destined to come true.
In any crowd there are people who do not stand out from it in any way. But they are the messengers of the Miraculous and do not know it themselves. Antoine de Saint-Exupery
But still, miracles do happen - and illuminate everyday life with the highest meaning, overshadow a person with God's providence. Because at such moments you suddenly realize that you are not alone in the Universe, that life is not exhausted here and now, that the world is multidimensional and spiritual, and your path is meaningful. And it does not end beyond the threshold of earthly existence: the soul will go further, to new horizons.
Let's remember the Bible: how few miracles Jesus did during His earthly life. Count on the fingers. But he could have done everything! And every time, performing a miracle, he did it out of urgent need, and for some very understandable human reasons. He resurrected Lazarus - because he could not bear the grief of close friends. He fed the crowd with several loaves - because the people gathered to listen to Him were left without food and were very hungry. He turned water into wine, because the groom blundered: there was not enough wine in the house, the whole wedding would have gone down the drain, a shame for life!..
Not a single time did He perform a miracle to prove His divine nature, and this is precisely what the devil tempted Him in the wilderness. Indeed, how simple: show them a miracle, and millions will follow you!
Only the trouble is - in this case you don't need to BELIEVE: a miracle is already a proof. And following the Christian commandments will turn out not to be a personal choice, an easy path to the heights of the spirit, but simply a profitable deal: do as it was said - you will receive a guaranteed reward. Guaranteed!
Faith is by nature irrational, and miracle is irrational. But it was not in vain that Blessed Augustine said: “A miracle does not contradict nature. A miracle contradicts only what we know about nature. A miracle is not a violation of cause-and-effect relationships, not a violation of logic - it is a manifestation of another logic: Divine, the logic of fate, Providence.
In 2013, homeless Sergei with kind eyes returned to Muscovite Irina Demidova the wallet she had lost with money and all the documents for the car, driving license, cards, passport, OMS, DMS and SNILS. As Irina wrote on her Facebook page, "A man found a wallet on the highway, got on a train, then a subway, then a minibus, he searched my house for an hour just to help …"
We must hope for a miracle. But don't try to wait for it! Leonid KRAYNEV-RYTKOV
Surprisingly, modern psychology, in particular one of the most relevant areas - gene psychology, asserts: in order to achieve a goal, to get what you want, you should very clearly and accurately formulate your request - this is how we program the subconscious, and it seeks out ways to implement what was planned. But at the same time - attention! - you cannot concentrate only on the option that seems optimal to you at that moment.
For example, if a woman wants to arrange her personal life, to meet her soul mate, in no case should the subconscious mind (God, fate) be told that she agrees to connect her life exclusively with this particular acquaintance. It now seems to her that he, and only he, is capable of making up her happiness, and perhaps soon someone will appear who suits her much better: the subconscious, the Higher powers, fate will arrange this meeting. If the lady dwells on her current choice, the meeting will not take place - and the optimal life scenario will sink into oblivion. Trust fate, trust the world, and the world will reciprocate: it will believe in you and lead you on the right path. That is, a miracle will happen.
There are only two ways to live: as if there are no miracles, and as if everything in the world is a miracle. Albert Einstein
In general, I would formulate such a paradox: no one can guarantee that a miracle will not happen. Exactly. Recently, I learned a completely incredible and yet true story. The girl got into a car accident. Terrible trauma, coma. She lay in a coma for a year, the doctors did what they could and in the end they despaired of bringing the victim back to life. No hope. Zero chances.
The father agreed to turn off the ventilator. A day after turning off the device, the girl came to her senses. The doctors threw up their hands: they had only one thing left to diagnose - a miracle happened.
The girl is alive. It is being restored. The process is difficult and slow, but she is already walking, talking, recognizing everyone, remembering everything, her brain is working. Hopefully. Is always. Until the last, and even beyond the last line. This saying set the teeth on edge: how many times it was repeated by all and sundry. But then the impossible happens - and the tarnished truth shines again: no one can guarantee that a miracle will NOT happen.
Worn out concepts are a terrible thing. By using a word with or without reason, plugging holes with it, we dilute the meaning. And from words, and from their own existence.
Having worn out the word "miracle" to no avail, we doomed ourselves to a world without miracles, a world without hope. For life to regain its meaning, and the soul - to faith, which is our only spiritual support, it is necessary to return the true meaning of the word "miracle".
Olga MONAKHOVA