Welcome to Green Leaves in Mirkwood. My name is Philip Kulishov and it is my pleasure to be your host and servant during your stay here. It seems that in your meanderings through the woods of the web, you’ve stumbled across my humble abode of a blog. Whether or not you meant to arrive here, I will take as beside the point. The fact that you have come is all that matters. And now for a bit of an explanation as to where you have come to and what you can expect in this little corner of the web.
I once listened to a talk given by Walter Kirn in which he used a phrase that sunk into the chambers of my soul, built an archway at the entrance, and graffitied itself on the structure in permanent ink. Apart from agreeing with everything that Kirn has to say, this specific sentence stuck to me like the residue on your skin after slowly peeling off the Extra Strength Band Aid you used when you scabbed your knee as a kid. Upon introducing his talk, Kirn notified his audience that they will be “watching a man stay one step ahead of his own confusion.” Without being sure if that turn of phrase was original to Kirn, it definitely sounded normal to me. My adventures in life thus far, in some way, can be compared to being dropped at the border of Mirkwood Forest with minimal supplies and a warning not to veer off the path while making sure not to get wet by the enchanted black water, and, Godspeed. With that rousing call to action, I, too, have been attempting to stay one step ahead of my own confusion.
As of this point, I would not say that I have been wandering, nor am I necessarily lost; although there have been moments when my confusion was inching it’s way to get ahead. Sure, there have been times of veering off the path, and times when the drowsiness of the enchanted water overtook me. But apart from my own deficiencies, uncharted territory at times can be confusing all on it’s own. If we’re constantly charting new ground for ourselves, I assume there are moments when we have to figure out how to get to where we haven’t been yet. Hence, the possibility for a lack of clarity. However, for now at least, I am continuing to plod along with interest and intention, and even at times see glimpses of clarity when the fog teases to lift.
I will confess from the get go that my walk through Mirkwood does have an objective, and to that objective I commission the words on this site. Whether or not my ramblings are successful in their undertaking is a different question. But a specific undertaking they are assigned.
In case some don’t know (I didn’t until later than I ought to have, but sooner than I could have), Mirkwood is a great forest of Middle Earth – a land created by J.R.R. Tolkien – the history of which spans long before Bilbo Baggins and the Dwarfs crossed through it on their way to defeat the dragon Smaug. Mirkwood was previously called Greenwood the Great. It was a lush and lively wood. Not until the forest became dark and full of shadows upon it’s subjugation under evil that the name of Greenwood was lost, being overtaken by the designation of Mirkwood. That fearful condition of the wood remained for a long period, as did the name, until it’s former greatness was lost in the legends. Men on missions had to find their way through Mirkwood for many seasons. But there came a time, when the evil was defeated and the darkness lifted, that life was resurrected in Mirkwood, and it became known as the Wood of Greenleaves.
Back in our world, as our flesh-covered souls meander around in this heliocentric system we call home, it seems like we are all just making our way through Mirkwood Forest. But as we grope and search in the blinding fog, we get glimpses of the former glory that might have once filled the great wood. Although some suppress the possibility, denying there ever was such a place as Greenwood the Great, there are those who have had the mud rubbed into their eyes, revealing not only the testament of the past, but the reality of the present – the reality that the evil ruling our world for millennia past has been overthrown. These are the ones who have been commissioned to resow Mirkwood; not to bring it to it’s former greatness, but to it’s future glory.
And so, in an attempt to grow green leaves in Mirkwood, I direct the words on this site to plant at least a few seedlings in the ashes, or to uproot some deadbeat weeds, with the hope of cultivating just a bit more blessing for more people. Some words plant, and some uproot; some kill, and some heal; some break down, and some build up. All are necessary, at the proper time, depending on the object at hand. If we are to grow green leaves in Mirkwood, we’ll have to commission the bunch. My planting and watering is of course specific to my context – words that flow out of presuppositions far upstream – as are the words of all men, whatever levels of neutrality they claim to have attainted. To assist any reader who happens to stumble into this area of Mirkwood not let their confusion get the best of them, I ought to share a little bit about my contextual presuppositions.
I am first and foremost a Christian (the sort that appreciates the teachings of John Calvin, Abraham Kuyper, G.K. Chesteron, and C.S. Lewis, among others). I am a male (however controversial that may be) with Russian blood and American ideals (the good ones, of course). I am a husband of one wife and a father to three children (yes, making me a patriarch). I am a Marysvillian (grafted), a conservative (the Burkean type), and a business-owner (aka filthy capitalist). My context is probably in that order of importance and relevance.
In other words, I love and follow the Lord Jesus and delightfully accept his sovereign rule over the cosmos and myself. I rejoice in the wife of my youth – Nellya – and delight in the kids I’ve been blessed with – Zion, Calvin, and Naomi. You can see above how happy we are. I am planted in Marysville, Washington, not unlike much of the planting that happens here. I love this patch of earth, and am interested in investing my strength here. I am a member (in good standing I hope) of Trinity Evangel Church – a community of Reformed believers here in town. Along with the help of the local and loving teachers of Evangel Classical School, we educate our kids in the Classical Christian tradition. I am a Board Member of Comeford College – an up and rising Christian Liberal Arts Higher Education program focused on cultivating an academic community here in Marysville. Although my planting and loyalty is local, my interests and attention spans a tad bit beyond the Shire, so to speak. Like a strawberry patch that is too excited to be limited to one row, although my sprouts are rooted in my city, my offshoots go into the surrounding areas.
In the hall of politics, you’d probably find me enjoying a glass of straight bourbon, neat, on the far right side of the room with those traditional conservatives. I’d be getting along nicely with those indoctrinating weirdos who believe that a society is most free and flourishes best when it submits in entirety to the revealed transcendent moral order, trying to convince the group that the name of our Lord Jesus explicitly belongs in the U.S. Constitution. Crazy, I know. Unless I’m poking at the beehive on the other side. In that case, I’d be laughing it away with the lefties, hopefully having just as much of a good time. I am a Founding Partner and Board Member of Efficient Business Machines, Inc. – a Northwest-based holding company that seeks to start, acquire, and grow businesses to bless people’s lives. I am also the Chief Executive Officer of American Metal Manufacturing Company – a multi-site, multi-industry manufacturing company based out of Everett, Washington that supplies life-cycle solutions to its customers around the globe.
Overall, I aim to take interest and dominion as far as the Lordship of Christ extends – which, as a matter of fact, is pretty far – far beyond Mirkwood. In so doing, I am always and forever attempting to stay at least one step ahead of my own confusion as I continue planting in the ashes. And so, I welcome you to Green Leaves in Mirkwood.