What I learned from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict March 29, 2014

image by axinia

Since I am Russian and my beloved husband is Ukrainian, the story of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict around Crimea and more has a lot been in my attention. And because I have no TV at home and read Internet very selectively I could more or less survive the information war. But even if I try to minimise the information flow by getting possibly the first-hand impressions and facts from the people involved, I am still getting a lot of buzz from the world Russian-Ukrainian community…. It is really hard to stay cool!

However the hardship of the situation helped me to learn two great lessons. And I hope many more people will be able to see it in the same way.

1. THE TRUTH CANNOT BE SEEN IMMEDIATELY.

This is something we learn throughout the history of humanity but obviously always forget when something happens: We are not able to find out all the reasons, all the real players and all real facts about any historical happening unless and until some time passes. The amount of totally useless thoughts in the heads of people trying to analyze the reasons and forecast the develop of the situation around Ukraine and Russia is terrifying. The heads are overheated and people keep on this nonsensical reactions. The truth is   – we will not be able to see the Truth right now. It is much more importatnt to keep a cool head and a good meditative state, and to point out the attention to the overall benevolence.

2.A SPIRITUAL PERSON SHOULD GO BEYOND THE COUNTRY-IDENTIFICATION.

The current situation shows dramatically what huge damage to a personal development can identification with one’s nation of origin bring. Many people whom I knew as nice and spiritual, suddenly went mad about being Ukrainians or Russians, really hating the other side and some even breaking their friendships with “the enemy”. How horrible is that?!? Horrible and very sad to observe. Doest it mean all our talks and beliefs in some kind of spiritual development are mere self-illusions? This current test shows where we really stand.

It seems to me that even though in the 20th century some patriotic movements did good to some countries, we live in a different time now. What I can conclude from the current Russian-Ukrainian issue, the patriotism is only contra-productive, bringing bitter division and hate. I believe that people who consider themselves sensible, good-hearted and wise should really go beyond this false identification. It is time to become one, to accept and love people regardless their place of birth. It would be great if one day the whole of mankind would realize that. But if the spiritual people will not come to it, the rest will never come.

Let us go deeper in ourselves and honestly ask ourselves what our patriotism gives us except of an Ego? Let us go beyond, let us become one.

LOVE
axinia

 

Once a communist is forever a communist May 26, 2013

image by axinia

I was born and grew up in the Soviet Union. When I moved to Europe in my 20-ties, my first shock was to see a sign in the forest: “private ground”.  I just could not comprehend how a forest can be private! Later on I realized how deep the concept of private belongings was rooted in the West when I saw how they teach small children in kindergartens to play with toys: the most popular phrase of kindergarten teachers is ” this belongs to that boy/girl, you cannot take it, you should ask first”. I guess a person who grew up in the West will not find anything strange in it, but it was a total shock for me. I was astonished to see how much the owning of private things was being emphasized, and that from the tender age of 2! Even now I strongly disagree with that way of up-bringing.

Another thing which I will never understand is the copy-right. I was posting about it before. I believe that any product of creativity, especially when beautiful and useful cannot really “belong” to anyone but to everyone.  As many of my readers know I never claim any copyright for my texts or photos. Also I can easily give away or share my personal belongings, it seems so natural for me.

Recently I was thinking about all that and how deep this feeling of collective possession and sharing is rooted in my heart and mind. Although I am living since 15 years in Europe I still cannot get used to the Western mindset in respect of this matter.

Once a communist is always a communist?

I found an interesting quote regarding this point, a quote by one of the greatest spiritual masters:

“The only nation which I have found very good, is Russia. Because of Communism they are collective and desireless, because all their desires were fulfilled by Communistic ideas, they didn’t have any choices left, and also they were collective. In a way Communism has suited the public not the government. While the other way round – democracy has suited the government to make money but the public has suffered”(1981) Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

May be this quote will not be clear from the materialistic point of view, but from the spiritual one it makes perfect sense!

LOVE

axinia

An interesting Mahatma Gandhi saying May 20, 2011

“To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the
meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any
field of life.

That is why my devotion to Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say
without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing
to do with politics do not know what religion means.”

– Mahatma Gandiji, autobiography.

I find it very interesting, especially in connection with my earlier post on Daneel Andreev’s quote about love to evil which is only a highly enlightened soul is able to: “In the distant future even more spiritual possibilities will arise. Even love for demons will become viable and necessary. History has already seen some saints who grew to such a love. ”

LOVE, axinia

Libya: mega-brainwash about the recent “rebellion” February 28, 2011

Normally I do not post on politics but for some exception. When I came to know what a huge lie we all are being bombarded with, I just could not keep myself back from posting about it.

Only on Russian-speaking blogs (not in official Russian mass media!) I found reports from Russians and Ukrainians working in Libya (doctors, etc) that all in one voice claim all we are being told on TV is a complete LIE!

Here is some translations from blogs (used Google translate):

“Most importantly, NO bombing protesters, rebels, insurgents, residential and nonresidential districts of cities, etc. NO. This is a vile lie, which has no relation to reality. They bombed the only arms depots in the east, where the “rebels” attempted to seize weapons.

“We are told that Tripoli was bombed by the Libyan aircraft. Today a friend’s wife spoke to him on skype (according to media Internet was blocked!)) and she was very much surprised.  She said: “I watch CNN, there is talk about the bombing of Tripoli, and that -in my district. And we have silence! Nobody was bombing, all was quiet. The picture shows that CNN filmed all in another Arab country, and is tied to the bombing of Tripoli!
From the words of this man – it is the most powerful information war against Libya. Much of what they say and show the media is really just nonsense. All of this is preparing the ground for the seizure of Libyan oil fields. “

“East (Cyrenaica). 15 February led the youth on the street (drugs, money from the youth participants – not only in the speech of Qaddafi, but also documented – probably both are distributed in large quantities). In Benghazi and several other towns east of demonstrations, “protesters” tried to seize arms caches ,something had to take before the warehouse was bombed.

There has acted mainly drugged youth with stones – in hospitals and mortuaries in their pockets found drugs (some kind of “nonsense”, in particular, relieves pain) and … for 500-1000 dollars. (and this with 18-20-year-olds! Earned?). Practically, no one and did not disperse, but they stormed the government facilities. Police. stations were without protection, because they are easy and smashed and a number of adm. buildings (building the people’s committees, banks, etc.), but only when they went into protected military facilities, fire was opened.

New information about an attempt to “mutiny” on the night of 20 to 21 February.

“In particular, it turned out that one of our friends is now living at the beginning of str. Gargarash, just opposite the Palace of People’s Congresses, which burned during an attempted “rebellion” in the night from Sunday to Monday. She said that at this point the Supreme People’s Congress … it was simply not there! The Congress has already moved to another location, and the old building was empty. There not only was not enhanced protection, but in general there was no one!

A basic income guarantee – a dream or a future reality? August 18, 2010

The idea of a basic income guarantee is getting popular. In case you have not heard about it yet, a basic income guarantee (or basic income) is a proposed system of social security, that periodically provides each citizen with a sum of money that allows the receiver to participate in society with human dignity. In contrast to income redistribution between nations themselves, the phrase basic income defines payments to individuals rather than households, groups, or nations, in order to provide for individual basic human needs. Except for citizenship, a basic income is entirely unconditional.

In Germany they speak about 500 or even 1000 € monthly unconditional income for everyone.

 What are the arguments?

One of the arguments for a basic income was articulated by the French Economist and Philosopher André Gorz:

The connection between more and better has been broken; our needs for many products and services are already more than adequately met, and many of our as-yet-unsatisfied needs will be met not by producing more, but by producing differently, producing other things, or even producing less. This is especially true as regards our needs for air, water, space, silence, beauty, time and human contact…

From the point where it takes only 1,000 hours per year or 20,000 to 30,000 hours per lifetime to create an amount of wealth equal to or greater than the amount we create at the present time in 1,600 hours per year or 40,000 to 50,000 hours in a working life, we must all be able to obtain a real income equal to or higher than our current salaries in exchange for a greatly reduced quantity of work…

Neither is it true any longer that the more each individual works, the better off everyone will be. The present crisis has stimulated technological change of an unprecedented scale and speed: ‘the micro-chip revolution’. The object and indeed the effect of this revolution has been to make rapidly increasing savings in labour, in the industrial, administrative and service sectors. Increasing production is secured in these sectors by decreasing amounts of labour. As a result, the social process of production no longer needs everyone to work in it on a full-time basis.

The vision: The Rose of the World as a new global social system February 25, 2010

There exists an entity that for many centuries has proclaimed itself the lone, steadfast unifier of all people, shielding them from the danger of all-out warfare and social chaos. That entity is the state. Since the end of the tribal period, the state has been of vital necessity at every historical stage. Even hierocracies, which attempted to replace it with religious rule, simply became variations of the selfsame state. The state bonded society together on the principle of coercion, and the level of moral development necessary to bond society together on some other principle was beyond reach. Of course, it has been beyond reach even until now, and the state has remained the only proven means against social chaos. But the existence of a higher order of moral principles is now becoming evident, principles capable not only of maintaining but also of increasing social harmony. More important, methods for accelerating the internalization of such principles are now taking shape.

In the political history of modern times, one can distinguish two international movements diametrically opposed to one another. One of them aims for the hypertrophy of state power and an increase in the individual’s dependence on the state. To be more exact, this movement seeks to bestow ever greater power on the person or organization in whose hands the state apparatus lies: the Party, the Army, the Leader. Fascist and national socialist states are the most obvious examples of such movements.
The other movement, which appeared at least as far back as the eighteenth century, is the humanist. Its origins and major stages are English parliamentarianism, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, German social democracy, and in our days, the struggle for liberation from colonialism. The long-range goal of the movement is to weaken the bonding principle of coercion in the life of the people and transform what is largely a police state defending race or class interests into a system based on overall economic equilibrium and a guarantee of individual rights…
History has also witnessed examples of novel political arrangements that might appear to be hybrids of the two movements. Remaining in essence phenomena of the first type, they alter their appearance to the extent expedient for the achievement of their set goal. This is a tactic, a deception, but nothing more.
Nevertheless, despite the polarity of these movements, they are linked by one trait characteristic of the twentieth century: global ambitions. The ostensible motivation of the various twentieth century movements can be found in their political blueprints, but the underlying motivation in modern history is the instinctive pursuit of global dominion….

Taking advantage of that fact, despotic regimes systematically actualize the principle of extreme coercion or partly camouflage it with a cunning blend of methods. The tempo of life is accelerating. Monolithic states are emerging that earlier would have taken centuries to erect. Each is predatory by nature, each strives to subjugate humanity to its sole rule. The military and technological power of these states boggles the mind. They have already more than once plunged the world into war and tyranny. Where is the guarantee that they will not do so again in the future? In the end, the strongest will conquer the globe, even at the cost of turning a third of the world’s surface into a moonscape. The cycle of wars will then come to an end, but only to be replaced by the greatest of evils: a single dictatorship over the surviving twothirds of the world. At first it will perhaps be an oligarchy. But, as often happens, eventually a single Leader will emerge. The threat of a global dictatorship—this is the deadliest of all threats hanging over humanity…

The News you will never read/hear/see May 22, 2009

 (my hands by vova)

Today no political overturn happened in 193 countries.

Today 6,634,9090,512 have not died.

Today 6,634, 236,502 people have not been infected with the  Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (pork fue).

Today 192 cities have not been afflicted by hail.

and so on…

Why will we never get this news reported to us?

Because it is considered to be not captivating enough to deliver good news, to show that huge part of the world is doing actually well, leads a peaceful and good life…

NO, We don’t need to know all that. We have to know how much trouble is everywhere and we have to feel scared and depressed. All the time. Because it is the best way to control us.

 

LOVE; axinia

Looking for alternatives: a symposium on the idea of communism March 17, 2009

(image by me)

An interesting article found in the GUARDIAN, let me quote some abstracts:

The speedy panic with which our governments agreed to throw billions of pounds away to restore “confidence” suggests that the dream is over and we are awakening to a strange new socialism, in which an increasingly authoritarian government has taken public control of financial capitalism in order to save it from itself. We read today that equal pay reviews no longer matter. Migrants are left to starve on the streets as the government heads off the far right by pandering to it. And so it’s precisely now that the question of an alternative must be re-opened.

Against this backdrop, Birkbeck College this weekend hosted a symposium on the idea of communism. Originally planned as a meeting of philosophers and those who enjoy hearing their debates, the unexpected material circumstances of history instead gave the event a genuine sense of urgency. Even the BBC came to hear Slavoj Zizek, Alain Badiou, Jacques Ranciere, Michael Hardt, Toni Negri, and others speaking on the possibilities and challenges of reinventing the communist ideal today.

The conference was happily free of dogmatism. No one on the stage was there to represent a particular party or doctrine. There were disagreements, but at heart was a simple proposition. Communism is an idea that has been with us in different forms for thousands of years, as Terry Eagleton pointed out. The task is now to think what the concepts of egalitarian voluntarism, self-organisation, common ownership of common means of production, abolition of class-structured society, and freedom from state power can mean today.

First, the question of the role of the state and the economy remains open. While Judith Balso, Toni Negri and Alain Badiou insist on creating new political movements at a distance from the state, Zizek and Bruno Bosteels point to the experiences of Bolivia and Venezuela as contemporary proof that by taking power, a progressive radical movement can survive even against overwhelming reactionary forces.

Perhaps the true question is: why communism?

Sorry, but I have to post it: the best of Russian propaganda March 4, 2009

Sorry for those readers who don`t know  Russian, but I really have to post this absolutely brilliant video:

it is a new propaganda clip which was forbidden because of being “too negative” – to me it is the best example of the a HARD TRUTH about us all, especially about the youth.

To me it seems to be highly motivating  – it burns the heart to start DOING something for my country.

BECAUSE THERE IS NO ONE ELSE WHO WOULD DO IT INSTEAD OF ME.

Great, simply great! It reminds me of the Matrix film…

I know it is propaganda, but damn it…it is so inspiring!!!

LOVE, axinia

Brainwash: how do they do it with you February 12, 2009

I ran into the topic of Propaganda on one Russian site  – the Encyclopedia of Propaganda (here) and was taken aback by the baldness of the facts and methods. My first reactions was – everone should read that!! Unfortunately I could not find such a detailed information in English, but will try to quote some important moments here.

Propaganda is generally an appeal to emotion, contrasted to an appeal to intellect. It shares techniques with advertising and public relations. Propaganda, in a narrower use of the term, connotes deliberately false or misleading information that supports or furthers a political (but not only) cause or the interests of those with power.

Propaganda has been a human activity as far back as reliable recorded evidence exists. Today we call it brainwash –the name that reveals the true nature of this phenomenon.

Common media for transmitting propaganda messages include news reports, government reports, historical revision, junk science, books, leaflets, movies, radio, television, and posters. In the case of radio and television, propaganda can exist on news, current-affairs or talk-show segments, as advertising or public-service announce “spots” or as long-running advertorials. A number of techniques based in social psychological research are used to generate propaganda. Many of these same techniques can be found under logical fallacies, since propagandists use arguments that, while sometimes convincing, are not necessarily valid.

Below are some of the typical brainwash techniques: