What Is Literature Itself? - Thoughts on Creativity Turned into Mere Hoeing and Morality on the Brink of an Abyss

Today, the ranks of amateurs like us, who strive to write books and introduce themselves as “creators,” are incredibly vast. But even larger is the number of false writers publishing thousands of shallow “works” and meaningless novellas daily in the endless arena of social media. Seeing their careless sentences written without any inner anguish, one cannot help but think that literature, too, requires no preparation or responsibility, but is simply an easy task, akin to hoeing a field. Unfortunately, today the value of the art of the word has been dragged through the dirt. Nowadays, many writers do not view literature as a source of pure tranquility that brings peace to human hearts or as a sacred light that instills human virtues and goodness. To them, literature is merely a source of wealth, a commerce that brings cheap fame and serves as a means to make a living.

Is this unconscionable and cold attitude not placing a ruthless noose around the neck of literature and dragging it to the brink of an abyss?

The most deplorable and tragic part is that many works passionately read by youth and the general public today are spiritually corrupt, saturated with satanic lusts and animalistic desires. They contain no logic that aligns with our nation’s millennia-old values, our sacred religious sentiments, or universal principles of morality. They are merely cheap texts intended to arouse emotions.

“If literature fulfills its duty in its true sense, it bestows upon us a pure, exalted, and sacred spirit.”

Is the spirit given by today’s writers pure? Was literature not a sun leading human beings to the peak of spiritual perfection and casting light into their dark hearts?

Can we not feel in our hearts that today this great sun is being choked in the grip of dark and filthy clouds, barely whispering for salvation in its weakness?

Why do we remain silent?

Yes, if you justify yourself by saying, “Times have changed, this is what today’s reader demands and prefers,” you may be right to a certain extent. True, it must be admitted that in the internet age, a class of readers who love to read overtly obscene descriptions and the lowest forms of adventure has grown.

But a writer, a true creator, must not follow the crowd under any circumstances, but should instead inspire the crowd to follow them!

My friend of the pen, who is reading these agonizing lines, you are surely not like those who chase cheap fame!

If today the reader demands from us unchaste love stories that are completely alien to humanity and defiled by open obscenity, know that the main fault lies not within that reader, but within writers like you and me who have killed their taste. For literature is a pure ocean whose bottom cannot be seen. A reader diving into it wishes to drown—not in a bad sense, but to submerge in a positive sense within beauty and enlightenment. From that ocean, they want to learn chastity, faith, how to love the homeland and the people from the bottom of the heart, respect for nature, and finally, a divine love entirely purified from elements of adultery and carnal lust. While reading a work, the reader wishes with their entire being to live in that world, completely forgetting the fleeting cares of the world and finding peace as their soul is cleansed.

Are we not filling the ocean of today’s literature with the mud of cheap commerce and obscenity?

Are innocent readers and the younger generation diving into it not getting bogged down in filth?

Currently, whomever you turn to with this painful question, the only identical and cold response you will hear from them is: “The demand of the times, the demand of the market economy.”

Since when did literature—an art meant to be the educator of the soul—turn into a market stall?

When and in what era did times demand such spiritual baseness from a human being?

The times have not changed—the sky is that same ancient blue sky, the earth remains in its place, and the trees have possessed that same spring greenness since antiquity. It is not the times that have changed, but us! Our desires and worldview have become debased.

So, what or who forced us, an entire people and nation, to change in such a negative direction?

Was it not ourselves?

For the law is this: whatever intellectual and spiritual food a writer presents to society, the reader consumes out of necessity.

Therefore, is the writer and their pen not primarily to blame after all?

There is a sacred truth: if a father raises his child to be upright, honest, and faithful, that child grows into a true human being who benefits society. If you nurture a sapling planted in the ground from its youth, watering it on time and loosening the soil around it, the time will come when it bears abundant and sweet fruit. Otherwise, a neglected tree bears bitter, tasteless, and inedible fruit.

Is the way the greatness of parents and their sacred image are being relegated to the background or used as a mere backdrop in today’s works not the most heartbreaking condition?

Should a person turn against their father, trample upon his dignity, and approve only of their own mistaken and raw thoughts for the sake of a little carnal pleasure and fleeting emotions?

What do such story characters give to our children, who are the light of our eyes?

Hatred and disrespect toward the family?

Can a child who did not respect their own parents and their own home, and who abandoned them, ever respect humanity and their homeland when the time comes?

What do you think?

Here is another terrifying example: decorating simple sexual and animalistic passion under the guise of “love” in literary works, and glorifying the act of giving up the sacred life given by God—one’s own soul—as a sacrifice for that false feeling.

What is this, after all?

Is the sacred soul temporarily residing in the body not a blessing that stands above any emotion and any person?

Even if your character kills themselves for that false love, what benefit does the reader gain from it?

Is the goal merely to trigger groundless excitement in a young reader and throw their inexperienced emotions into turmoil?

Why am I forced to write these things?

Because today, in our real life as well, savage instances such as committing suicide over cheap feelings or stabbing and killing one another while supposedly fighting over love have increased dramatically.

Could television, social networks, and these shallow, completely foolish works whose educational value equals zero be the cause of this?

My fellow creator reading these lines, if you are truly a writer with a divine spark in your soul, I beg of you: please, let your character not turn against their sacred family for the sake of that cheap love! Let them not commit suicide and rebel against the Creator! Let them not meet in the middle of the night in alleys! Let national etiquette, chastity, feminine grace, and high respect for the family remain as the main idea in your work!

Because love is the highest, purest feeling a human being can attain.

It is a boundless inner respect of the representatives of two sexes for one another, entirely removed from obscenity, unchastity, and holding hands or kissing in corners out of carnal passion.

Love is the ability of two hearts to understand each other without words or gestures.

Love is not sexual and physical intimacy, but rather finding joy in spiritual union and pure conversation.

I can say this openly and without any fear: in most contemporary works, we observe nothing but a “dead love.” Living feelings do not reside within their lines; instead, animalistic obscenity and lust, disguised as love, come to life.

When reading a book today, one often encounters illogical sentences like this:

“The two were left alone in the room. The young man gently took the girl’s trembling hands. The girl’s entire body burned like fire...” and similar nonsensical descriptions.

Forgive me, but this is not love; this is the open promotion of obscenity.

If these descriptions are normal and natural, then why has humanity for thousands of years adhered to the sacred bond of marriage? Marriage is not just a piece of paper; it is the mutual consent of two souls—the act of making one’s body and spirit completely lawful to one another in the presence of the Creator and human witnesses.

Have you ever thought about why witnesses are required in a marriage?

Because this body we arrogantly call “ours” today does not truly belong to us at all! It is a temporary, entrusted shelter granted to humanity and to our souls to live through this world. Every step taken out of wedlock, without a marriage, is considered the greatest betrayal against this divine trust.

Today, there is hardly a corner of the world left where even schoolchildren are not skipping classes to secretly read such low-quality romance novels. Does provoking the minds of girls who will be mothers tomorrow, and young men who will be fathers, prematurely with such obscene descriptions not distance them from the true human form and our identity? Why are we not thinking about the consequences?

My fellow creator, my dear reader friend, please approach the theme of love and affection with utmost caution and responsibility! Do not jeopardize someone’s pure life with a shallow sentence written thoughtlessly. Do not throw the youth, who have not yet distinguished black from white, into the mire of obscenity and carnal desires.

You are not writing a work merely to pass the time or for your own illusions, but for the sake of a wretched people who are tired of the darkness, striving toward the light, and who have put their trust in you. They expect spiritual salvation and the path to a bright future from the writer, and they follow you blindly. A meaningless and shallow work is like an iron trap with beautiful, alluring meat placed inside. A reader who falls for its outer splendor and approaches it eventually gets caught in the snare and perishes spiritually and mentally. As long as we do not fully realize how immense and terrifying the writer’s role is in the upbringing of society, this tragic issue will remain open and painful.

If you ask me: “Why are you writing so passionately? What is missing in your life?” I will answer without any hesitation: “I am afraid and worried that the future of humanity will dry up spiritually and lose its true identity.” Perhaps to you, these seem like very simple things that are not worth noticing? Then go out into the street, look around. Every day, you see young people embracing each other in front of everyone’s eyes without shame, and those committing obvious spiritual errors, don’t you? If such bestiality and open filth become normal for human nature, it will lead to catastrophic consequences. The sanctity of family, loyalty, and pure feelings will vanish entirely. A human being will only seek to satisfy their carnal desires just like an animal, and humanity will face a crisis.

How does a human being differ from an animal after all? The only thing that separates them from other creatures is their chastity, the honor on their face, their loyalty, shame, modesty, and similar high spiritual qualities. An animal can do anything without limits by the command of its instinct, but a human being is the highest and most perfect creature with independent thought, capable of distinguishing white from black, the lawful from the forbidden. For such a young generation to possess an independent, healthy mind, it is first and foremost the writers and creators who provide them with spiritual nourishment.

Come, dear creators, let us deliver that spiritual nourishment to the people not in a careless, defiled state, but in a pure, rich, and sacred manner! Let us avoid destroying thousands of young hearts and ruining their lives through a single, thoughtless, irresponsible stroke of our pen. Today, seeing some of the youth around me, the favorite books that never leave their hands, and most deplorably, their actions imitating the corrupt characters inside those works, I am convinced once more of how infinite and terrifying the role and responsibility of literature is in human upbringing.

For, as the great thinkers have said: Upbringing for us is a matter of life or death, salvation or destruction, happiness or disaster!