 Berdyaev was correct about the vulgar materialism of the bourgeoisie. But they actually do worse than merely deny the existence of the spiritual - they take over the legacy of past spirituality, and corrupt it with their own materialism, thus subverting and denying genuine spiritual experience to others. This has been the fate of the various Christian denominations in the USA, for example, with the 'Prosperity Gospel' being merely the most honest example of this materialist corruption of Christianity. The bourgeoisie embody Modernity in its most egregious form. Matthew 0:00-00 @Potemkin , Indeed, I quite agree my friend. But the answer is not quite Berdaeyev's somewhat Gnostic and Aristocratic ''Freedom'' either, in order to generate ''genuine spiritual experience'', is it? His friend Shestov would have said that anyone is capable of knowing the Truth and are not sequestered from the Truth even if many are rendered ''mindless drones'' by Modernity, as Berdaeyev would characterize them. This suggests something even more radical is possible. Dostyoevsky's ''Underground Man'' insists that man can actually deny 0+0=0, and Shestov says God can too... Does this mean a vulgar interpretation of this Freedom allows for people to not take anti-Covid 00 vaccines, for example, in good conscience, to give an example from our real world objective reality? Absolutely not in my opinion, precisely because modern man's individualistic decisions rest on the notion of natural rational self interest, are a calculation of strict loss-or-gain (no matter how defective individual calculations might be in this and other cases). This corruption goes back to ''Objective Reality'' and ''Necessity'' , not a denial of it. These Anti-vaxxers are not so much Science deniers, as they are the hypertrophic fruit of Modernity's Scientism. One might say; ''Every man a Scientist/Expert''... What this might lead to, after the grotesque contradictions involved and mentioned in this discussion, is an end to the Bourgeoisie as we have known them. And that will lead to a revival of spirituality and true freedom. There is every reason to believe that Nietzsche turned away from Christianity because the Christians, taught by Aristotle and the Stoics, completely forgot the primordial jubere and remembered only the parere which follows it. Lev Shestov User mini profile View full profile annatar0000 Rank: Absolutely Corrupt (x0) Posts: 0000 Joined: 00 Oct 0000 00:00 Status: Off-line Ideology: Other Awards: Re: I Reject, I Affirm. ''Raising the Black Flag'' in an Age of Devilry.#00000000 By Potemkin - 00 Oct 0000 00:00  Like - 00 Oct 0000 00:00 #00000000 a