Said Vladimir Putin, from the transcript of his press conference after his meeting with President Biden on June 16th.
Putin was responding to the Wall Street Journal reporter Ann Simmons, who'd prompted him with a reminder that Biden once claimed not to see "a soul" in Putin's eyes. What, she asked, did Putin see when he looked into Biden's eyes?
By the way, when Putin called on Simmons, he said "A lady. Please give the floor to the lady. She will rock my world here."
Back in April, I discussed soullessness at some length, here — "... I was having a real-life conversation about the notion that some people don't have a soul, and whether, if that could be true, the soulless person could acquire a soul, and whether a person who regards another person as soulless has a moral or intellectual obligation to look inside himself and seriously examine whether he himself has got a soul."
I don't know if Simmons rocked Putin's world, but I do see that he didn't take the opportunity to opine about whether Biden or Trump or anybody else has a "soul." And he also didn't dismiss or mock this "soul" talk.
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7 comments:
Chris writes:
Much depends on the definition of soul. I would say the soul is simply a person’s mental and emotional life, as distinct from their bodily life, yet also dependent on bodily life. When the body dies the soul dies too. So every living person has/is a soul.
To me, to be soulless is not to be human, but I suspect people using the word mean a lack of passion or moral feeling.
Dave Begley writes:
If Putin was honest he’d say that when he looked into Biden’s eyes he saw a blank stare
Vlad butters up and flatters Joe while Joe gives him the Nordstream pipeline which will give Russia billions and control over Germany.
Theater of the absurd.
ed writes:
The context of Putin's reply to Simmons of course is Bush the Lesser's foolish comment about
peering into Putin's eyes and seeing a good man--and IIRC that meeting featured references
to Putin's granny's peasant faith(?)
Putin is smart and serious enough to see how manipulable Western--especially American--opinion
is by the appearance of spirituality and regard for religion, but also wise enough to avoid soul-talk
in front of God and everybody.
David writes: "Putin knows exactly what he's got in Biden (a fool), and he'll say what he needs to do to amplify the fawning US press's coverage of Biden."
Yes, that's exactly what I read between the lines that I quoted.
Wince writes: "What Putin said about looking into Biden's eyes reminds me of a poker player who decides to stay "pat" when he knows he cannot improve his hand."
m stone writes:
The word soul is thrown around a lot, with various meanings. In Christian thought, the soul is the essence of a person, malleable, and not destroyed even when the body dies. Our souls can change in life, however, either moving toward God or away, but remaining intact in the hereafter. Then, believers are taken into the life of God (yes, the two united) or not. Always a choice.
We can't really know of or see other people's souls, contrary to popular belief.
C.S. Lewis had these instructive thoughts about souls and others.
Yes, and for this reason, I don't see how a Christian can use the word "soulless" against anyone.
MJB Wolf writes:
I enjoyed Putin’s subtlety in the phrase “and I believe that we spoke the same language.”
It compliments the smirk he wore during the photo op.
Like Trump, Putin is a comic genius.
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