what would have happened if...

In my article yesterday I mentioned the great writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

In my mind comes the nagging thought; "if he was not caught when a letter sent to a friend criticizing the lack of preparedness of the Soviet Union when Nazi Germany invaded them, what would have happened to his development as a great human being and writer?"

Without suffering, could his soul have developed as it did?

No, it could not have.

Without suffering, could he have recognised his own guilt and shallowness as a human being?

Definitely not.

So many years of suffering and torment were required to remove the "dross" from his soul.

Yet his wisdom and warnings to the West have gone unheeded. Just because someone does not listen to truth does not invalidate the truth. Just because a comment may be obscure does not reduce the power of the comment.

He is now gone the way of all the world. He is dead but his writings live on. Their profound messages are recorded. Society cannot judge his writings; rather his writings judge our society.

Why does the human soul have to be exposed to horror in order to grow? Can a soul be compared to a muscle? If unexercised and untested, will the soul be flabby and weak?

These are questions to be considered. In the future I intend to examine some of these concepts.