Mysterious Spirit of Russia    
 

 -First of three final segments- 

Ian Frazier's view of Russia

   An ancient enchantment holds Russia under its spell. Here all kinds of things and creatures are seen to be sentient (conscious of sense impressions). 

   Russia, the country itself, inhabits a spirit as well. The visible location of this spirit's existence in the world used to be the czar. The U.S. is a concept. Russia is an animate being. 

   Nicholas II not only ruled Russia, he was Russia. Shortly after the ex-czar's murder, an assassin shot Lenin twice, almost killing him. When he recovered, many Russians started to regard him with mystical devotion. (See Revelation 13:3 - JD.) 

   The person of Lenin had become interchangeable with revolutionary Russia. In a way, Lenin's death in 1924 made no difference, because his body could be preserved indefinitely in a glass tomb in Red Square for all to see.

   As an autocrat whose self coincides with Russia, Vladimir Putin has grown into the job. Taking off his shirt for photographers was a good move: Here is the very torso of Russia, in all its buff physicality. 

   But Putin also impersonates a Russia for an ironic age, and lets us know he gets the joke, playing James Bond villain and the real-life villain simultaneously.

   One simple lesson of the revolution might be that if a situation looks as if it can't go on, it won't. Imbalance seeks balance. And a world in which the richest eight people control as much wealth as half the human race will probably see a readjustment. 

Tomorrow: Out With Czars; In With Tyrants