From Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (504th day): During Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Timothy Snyder’s work “The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America,” where he explores the transformation of the world in 2011-2016, became a bestseller in Ukraine.
Timothy D. Snyder is an American historian, lecturer at Yale University, and researcher of the history of Central and Eastern Europe. He is called a “great friend of Ukraine,” and he is convinced that the only possible way to end the Russian-Ukrainian war is to ensure Ukraine’s absolute victory.
For five years now, Timothy Snyder has been working on a philosophical book, the main category of which is the concept of “freedom.” He hasn’t finished this book yet, but during this year’s Book Arsenal, he presented some of his work and gave a lecture entitled “Why does freedom mean the most?”
Here is one important idea from that presentation at Book Arsenal:
“Freedom and security work together.
In discussions about freedom, societies make mistakes that can become political traps. One such mistake is the claim that freedom must be sacrificed for security.
This is fundamentally wrong. If we accept the logic that we need to sacrifice freedom for security, then what do we do? We are paving the way for leaders like Putin, who will make people feel less secure and use this as an argument for taking away even more freedom.
Sacrificing freedom for security is a mistake. After all, freedom and security go together. This is clearly visible in the territories liberated by the Armed Forces: territories become safe because they become free, and vice versa.
Freedom is not simply the absence of pressure or oppression. Freedom is about being able to live in a way that allows us to stand up for our values, so that we, each in our own place, can change the world. Positive freedom means we see the future and what it should look like.
Freedom is what makes values possible.
Freedom should be the highest value, more important than anything else. It is this value that makes it possible for other values to develop.”
Voice of Ukraine 
2 responses to “7/13/2023 – “Why does freedom mean the most?””
Isaiah 11
1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him +, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;
3 And shall make Him + of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and He + shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
4 But with righteousness shall He + judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He + shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall He + slay the wicked.
5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and His + rest shall be glorious.
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Thanks, Chandra. I have read this verse frequently to remind me about the glorious new heaven and earth that will arrive with Jesus’ second advent. It is coming!
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