The Terror of History (Part 3)

The modern man rejects the archaic conceptions of repetition, in which we can discover the "historical man's" resistance to nature and his striving for autonomy. He increasingly attributes value to historical events. He considers the myth of repetition as a confusing re-identification of history and nature.

For the archaic man, historical events and novelties are deviations from the norm that must be erased. His history is a prehistorical history, taking place in mythical time. He rejects history, and his place within it, due to his fear of independence. Instead, he opts for the possibility of re-identifying with nature.

Criticism of the archaic man by the modern man: The archaic man is incapable of admiring his first autonomous act, which he then repeats endlessly; he identifies the creative act with nature's eternal recurrence; he fears non-archetypal actions and is incapable of taking risks.

Criticism of the modern man by the archaic man: It becomes increasingly doubtful whether the modern man is capable of making history, or whether it is shaped by ever-smaller groups; the illusion of man's freedom in shaping history; the only free man is the leader, who allows his followers to act. The traditional man does not view the modern man as free or as a creator of history. In contrast, he is proud of his form of existence, which ensures his freedom. He is free because he can be different from what he was, and by periodically erasing time and renewing the community, he can erase his own history.

In traditional societies, at the beginning of each year, the freedom of a new, pure existence, the liberty of untouched possibilities, was given. After this, the archaic man can continue his existence in eternity, erasing profane time. If he does not do this, he falls back into historical existence, into time. His freedom remains to erase the memory of his fall and to make an attempt at permanent exit from time. The archaic man participates every year in the repetition of the creative act, the cosmogony. His creativity is manifested at the level of the universe when he imitates the periodic creation and participates in it.

Christian philosophy surpassed the level of archetypes and repetition. It introduced a new category into religious practice: the category of faith. The definition of Abraham's faith: Everything is possible for God; Christianity's faith: Everything is possible for man as well. Faith represents total liberation from any natural law, i.e., the highest degree of freedom that a human can imagine: the freedom to intervene even in the ontological structure of the universe. This is the highest form of creative freedom, giving new form to human participation in creation. Only such a freedom can protect the modern man from the terror of history. The source, support, and guarantee of this freedom is God. All other modern freedoms fail to justify history, and this is the terror of history itself. Christianity is the religion of the modern man, the man who discovered personal freedom and continuous time. The idea of God represents protection for him; the existence of God guarantees him autonomy in a universe regulated by laws. He becomes certain that historical tragedies have meanings beyond history, even if this phenomenon is not always visible in the state of humanity at any given moment. Any other perspective of the modern man can only lead to despair.