Materialism is our glittering Reality. Especially now, then the Christmas time is coming, the amount of that glitter increases, as if accumulating material riches was the message of Christ. The magic of Matter is powerful. The human/physical part of our being is longing for comfort and beauty, sensual satisfaction and delight…We dive into the fascination of matter and its hypnotizing charm.

But the Matter is not all we consist of. Another powerful part of us is the Spirit (I don’t mean the soul here though)

For a spiritual person is not easy to find the balance between the two.  While in a mediation I dwell in the Realm of a Spirit and realize the tremendous power and beauty of it, it is the magic of materialism that wants to take over in my daily life, for instance in a form of the pretty Vienna City with its imperial style and flavour of coffee…

Is it possible to have both, to enjoy the Materialism and Spirituality?

Since several years I am trying to play a game and make these two happily coexist. When you meet me first, you might say I am quite successful in that (I keep up a glamour look  and spend much time in restaurants and cafes). An yet it feels like a game, because all the time I am aware of the silent completion between the two. The famous dualism is always there…

Honestly, I am in owe of the black magical power of Materialism. Since last 2 decades I have been watching  Materialism taking over in two greatest spiritual nations like Indian and Russian. Within no time (historically seen) the value system crashed down and many people had to undergo a wired transformation of their attitudes to life and themselves. Take Russians, that naturally idealistic and spiritual nation, which missed the steady capitalistic development  – today it hurts to see the millions of beautiful and educated women absolutely possessed with the idea of getting rich husbands. And nothing would be wrong with that, it is a natural instinct of a woman to desire a financially secure base for a healthy family; but a mere glance at them will tell you  it’s a desperate obsession. Alas. And that is only one example.

I wonder how do you see and go about this dualism?

LOVE, axinia

These days I am reading a truly unique book , a bit later I will post my review. However now I cannot hold myself back from posting a true gem of it, a beautiful experience of the author, Daniel Andreev - a Russian poet and religious thinker of the middle of the XX century. The book itself  is called ”Roza Mira” (“The Rose of the World”, “Роза Мира”), it was written mostly in prison at Stalin’s time, and is about religion in the modern world.

The extraordinary experience I am quoting here reminds me a lot of the Enlightenment of the main character Herman Hesse in his famous novel Siddhartha. This is the unique experience of ONENESS, of feeling oneself being not only the part and parcel of the whole, but actually being this WHOLE…

Enjoy:

“In my life such an experience took place on the moonlit night of July 29, 1931, on the banks of the Nerussa, a small river in the Bryansk Forest. I usually try to be alone when in Nature, but that time it so happened that I had taken part in a camping trip with a small group.
We reached the banks of the river at the close of a hot, cloudless day. We took a leisurely dip, then gathered brush, and, building a fire two meters from the quietly flowing river under the canopy of three old willows, prepared a simple meal. The sky darkened. A low July full moon glided out from behind the oaks. Little by little the conversations and stories died down; one by one my companions fell asleep around the crackling wood. I was left awake at the fire, lazily waving a branch to ward off the mosquitoes.
When the moon, noiselessly moving behind the finely patterned, leafy branches of the willow, entered the range of my vision, those hours that come close to being the most wonderful of my entire life began. Breathing softly, having laid back on a handful of hay, I heard the Nerussa flowing not behind me, a few paces back, but as if through my own soul. That was the first unusual thing I noticed.

Everything on Earth and everything that must exist in the heavens poured exultantly and noiselessly through me in a single stream. In bliss barely supportable by the human heart, I felt as if slowly revolving, graceful spheres glided through me in a universal dance, and everything I could think of or imagine merged in a jubilant oneness.

The ancient forests and clear rivers, the people sleeping by the fire, the peoples of countries near and far, cities waking up and busy streets, cathedrals with sacred icons, seas tossing tirelessly, and steppes with blowing grass— everything indeed was within me that night, and I was within everything. I lay with eyes closed, and beautiful white stars, large and blossoming, not at all like those we are used to seeing, also floated along the world-turned-river like white water lilies.

 Although the sun was not visible, it was as if it, too, were flowing somewhere just outside the range of my vision. Everything was suffused not by its glow but by a different light, one I had never seen before. Everything flowed through me and at the same time rocked me, like a child in a cradle, with all-soothing love.

In trying to express in words such experiences, one understands better than ever the poverty of language. How many times have I attempted through poetry and prose to convey to others what happened to me that night! And I know that no attempt, including this one, will ever succeed in communicating to anyone else the true significance, dimensions, and profound effect that occurrence had on my life.”

————

Sharings from Daniil Andreev to be continued…
LOVE;

axinia

The Fall’s fallen leaves bring me into a poetic mood

There is some special attraction in them,

while they are covering the earth so gentle…

The Fall’s fallen leaves bring me into philosophic mood

There is some special attraction in them,

while they are laying down the earth so free…

A fallen leaf reminds me of a mature person

That has the ego no more

A person that has become so wise

That is gets free from all boundaries

And humbly bows down to the Mother Earth

Touching its velvet skin with the golden light

Of the fallen leaf’s heart…

 poem and image by axinia

Only 7 questions that seem to be essential for the understanding of how humanity lives and operates, and no answers…

1. Does the Source, the Creator, God exist? Unknown
2. Does such a thing as a soul exist? If so, is it immortal? Science does not know the answer.
3. What is time, space, matter, energy? Opinions are sharply divided.
4. Is our world eternal and endless or, on the contrary, is it limited within time and space? Science does not possess the necessary data to give a definite answer.
5. Why should I do good and not evil, if evil appeals to me and I can be sure of escaping punishment? The answers are totally unintelligible.
6. How can science be used to avert the possibility of wars and tyranny? Silence.
7. How can social harmony be attained with the least human cost? Mutually exclusive proposals are put forward that resemble each other only in that they are all equally unrelated to pure science.

What the use of all billions of good and fasicnating studies, if the essential questions are never being answered?

LOVE;

 axinia, inspired by Daniil Andreev.

(image by me)

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LOVE,axinia

This post is an outcome of my over 10 years work experience. The funny thing about it is that none of my employers have ever looked at my CV. And yet I was getting very good positions. The even funnier thing is that I ended up working as a Human Resources Manger myself. All that gives me the right to claim that there is a certain strategy that makes it work, and work successfully.

I call it “Whiskers,  Paws and Tail”  strategy. There is a popular Russian cartoon “Prostokvashino” with a cute cat Matroskin who, being asked about his documents replies: “Whiskers, paws and tail are my documents!”. And that is what I mean under no need of a CV presentation: you yourself at any moment of life should be the best CV to your personality, both inside and outside. Let me list some ideas on how I see it.

1. Reliability is the most precious and important quality for an employer, no matter in which sphere -  creative, business or industrial. You should not only look reliable but actually be that. Reliable people with determined attention emit this quality naturally, and this leads to trust which is so valuable for anyone.

2. Inner and Outer Beauty: It starts with the  inner work on oneself – the perpetual unfolding of your character is essential. Not getting “better” from day by day, no. You are already perfect. It is about discovering the true beauty of your personality. The most speedy method for it I found in my meditation practice. There are many other ways as well, but this one gives the fastest results. As soon as your true perfect being will be increasingly shining through, this will make you a desirable person. Many people will want to be with you, will seek your company for any thinkable reason. Among these people there will be also some potential job-givers!

3. Be The Best Product Yourself Having this full package of precious inner Qualities + their Manifestation + Reliability you become a  kind of a PRODUCT, a highly desirable  trade mark. How will you know it works? When any decision-maker/boss/HR Manager will want you to work for him/her after a couple of minutes you have talked. And  this is not a dream!

People write 4 pages CVs, create bombastic profiles in their Social Networks, do this and that – no need at all. Just become what you really are and your natural documents, your Whiskers,  Paws and Tail  will give you the best reference .

Good luck and feel free to consult!

 LOVE; axinia

(image: Matroskin cat from the Russian cartoon)

Have I already mentioned Vienna is the best city in the world? Apart from the official ranking results, I am deeply convinced about it myself.

Vienna is the City of Music, no doubt. The marketing works well and you will be reminded of that more often than anywhere else: in the city center you pass a duet of street singers, a small accordion band, a guitar soloist,

and finally come across about a hundred people staring up at an enormous outdoor LCD screen displaying live opera.

Since this summer Vienna has a new attraction: For the first time, selected performances are being broadcasted live on a giant screen in front of the State Opera House. Free to consume .

Last night, while strolling around the city, I suddenly heard the sounds of my beloved Mozart from far away… OMG, was that beautiful! It felt so majestic and at the same time so natural, in a perfect harmony with the surroundings…

By the way this is not the only one free acces to Classics in Vienna – since a long time they have a great tradition of a summer open-air Opera Film screening at Rathaus Platz.

I don`t know if all that has a special effect on the Viennese character, I can not state that the citizens of this dream city are happy and satisfied individuals  but generally the Spirit of Culture and Classical music along with the beautiful architecture has a certain pleasant impact, at least on myself .

LOVE, axinia

(images by my husband)

Since today is the day when we change from summer time to winter time here in Europe, I take it as a good opportunity to make a note on the recent funny behaviour of my watch. By watch here I mean any digital display showing time. Since a couple of months I am witnessing the following phenomenon:

any time I have a look at the numbers, they are of this nature:

5:55

10:10

22:22

14:14

etc…………………………..

I mean may be not always, but surely 99% of cases!!! It has become even a kind of game for me – I suddenly glance at the watch (on my PC or mobile) and here we are – a “funny time” again and again.

Any explanations/theories/same experiences?

Thanks,

axinia

We live in fascinating times. Unbelievable but fact – being an ordinary householder, one can still  have extraordinary spiritual experiences like the saints of all times did.

I came across a stunning quote of a great South Indian saint Ramana Maharshi, (1879-1950) who describes his spiritual experiences exactly the way I have been experiencing it thanks to my meditation practice:

“…the samadhi I speak to you about is different. It is sahaja samadhi. In this state you remain calm and composed during activity. You realise that you are moved by the deeper self within and are unaffected by what you do or say or think. You have no worries, anxieties or cares, for you realise that there is nothing that belongs to you as ego and that everything is being done by something with which you are conscious union.”

Or this one: ” Your own Self-Realisation is the greatest service you can render the world”.  How true is this, incredible!

And that one is reflecting my own daily experience:  ”Nearly all mankind is more or less unhappy because nearly all do not know the true Self. Real happiness abides in Self-knowledge alone. All else is fleeting. To know one’s Self is to be blissful always.”

 This beautiful saint is only one example. Reading of or about saintly people of all times I realise that they all had basically same experiences. The states they describe, the metaphors they use (like drinking the divine nectar) – all that is same and that indicates for me that indeed only ONE TRUTH. 

I feel so grateful and so happy that I am too able to have some of this absolutely blissful state. I don’t know about past lives, but even in this life…I remember since my childhood I had such a burning desire for THAT, for experiencing all that, for being able to unfold myself in that vast spiritual dimension. And it all came true!

It is a very special time we live in…

LOVE, axinia

When someone starts picturing something unusual we say ”oh, what an imagination”. Imagination is what is commonly known as creation of images or ideas that have not existed before. 

In my personal opinion there is no such a thing as imagination: I belive that everything already exists somehow somewhere…I can back up this idea either with Socrates’s Allegory of The Cave  or with the modern string theory -no matter what I take, it is obvious to me that there is noting in the world that has not been existing somewhere yet.

Let’s take horror films,  all these dreadful images are nothing else than already existing beings. They definitely exist in our collective subconscious (the prove is that in many different cultures these images are similar), and the collective subconscious is a reality. This reality hunts us in our dreams or drunkard/under drugs state. And this is not imagination, this is pretty real. A good example – Hieronymus Bosch. or just any horror film

The futuristic images are also real – they pop up from our collective supraconsious, which is another interesting realm.

When we say an artist has a great imagination, we are speaking about a person with a strong connection to one of these spheres (Subconscious or Supraconsious) where he/she literary sees these beings or these “worlds” and thus brings it out to our “reality”.

Only very few artists have access to the so called Superconsious, which is the essence of all things, like the Plato’ s World of Ideas, the ideal world, the true one. Such images (William Blake) are extremely powerful and inspiring, whilst the ones from Subconscious or Supraconsious are somewhat sly and sticky…

Thus, there is nothing to imagine for everything already exists. Imagination is not about inventing. It is about getting to one or another state of consciousness.

Don’t you think so?

LOVE; axinia

(image by me)