Human happiness depends on inner self-awareness - Patriarch Kirill

September 28, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. To be happy, one needs to have an "inner person," believes Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. He shared his understanding of the meaning of life at a meeting with youth in Vitebsk, a BELTA correspondent reports.

More than 8,000 young people could hear and see the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. He calls our self-awareness, our soul, the "inner person." "Human happiness depends on the state of a person's inner world," said the Patriarch.

His Holiness took a quote from Pascal's philosophy as an epigraph to his meeting with students and pupils of Vitebsk educational institutions: "Between us and hell, between us and heaven – only life, the most fragile thing in the world." Reflecting on human life, His Holiness noted that youth is characterized by optimism, but one must be prepared for various life challenges, and to overcome them with dignity, one must be wise. "The earlier a person acquires wisdom, the stronger they become. Wisdom is a way of perceiving the experience of previous generations," he emphasized. 

The Patriarch assigns a special role to reason, will, and feelings in the formation of personality, the "inner person." He advised young people to cultivate their reason, will, and feelings. "One must take education seriously," he stressed. He called will "inner thinking," explaining that its strength is immense in overcoming difficulties and temptations. "The strength capable of making a person prosperous is inherent in overcoming difficulties," Kirill believes. Explaining the need to cultivate feelings, he clarified that a person perceives the world more with their heart.

His Holiness considers the ability to distinguish good from evil to be the most important thing in a person. At the same time, he is confident that the essence of the concept of a "positive hero," despite some attempts by modern society to rethink this concept, remains the same, tracing back to saints and epic heroes. Religion helps to rationally evaluate the moral categories inherent in the Christian world, he is confident.

In conclusion to his lecture, Kirill returned to Pascal's words, explaining that hell and heaven are not punishments and rewards. "These are categories of life, these are our relationships," he is sure. "Between us and hell, between us and heaven, there is only life, the most fragile and the most beautiful thing in the world" (he paraphrased the quote).

The Patriarch emphasized that he attaches great importance to such meetings, explaining that in order to understand pastoral tasks, the church needs to clearly understand what is happening in society. -0-