The Equilibrium of Asymmetry. Mazepa
Ivan Mazepa stands at the boundary of two worlds — the imperial order and the nascent modern statehood. His figure is not about victory or defeat, but about the attempt to maintain balance between historical forces that do not acknowledge symmetry. He acts in a field where loyalty is the currency of survival, and betrayal is a form of striving for freedom.
Ukrainian history in his mirror is a history of constant asymmetry: we are always beside the center of power, yet never inside it. And it is precisely on this periphery that our identity is born — not as a follower-nation, but as an observer-nation that understands the mechanics of empire from within yet seeks its own code of equilibrium.
Mazepa did not betray — he changed his orbit, attempting to create an alternative system of gravity in which Ukraine is not an appendage but a source of will. In this sense, his defeat is historical only, not conceptual. For it was then that the essential question first emerged, the one we are asking again today: