M.Lomonosov – a great sample of Russian Intellectual Quest November 19, 2008

People of great intellect and benevolent nature has been always fascinating me since my childhood. My regular readers know about my adoration for Nicola Tesla (post here). Another great personality, a universal genius of Da Vinci level (again generally unknown outside of Russia) is for me Mikhail Vasiliyevich Lomonosov (1711-1765). He was a physicist, a painter, an astronomer, a geographer, a historian, a poet and a statesman…Lomonosov was a Russian genius, a scholar, the first learned man in Natural Science, a researcher who gained the world fame, who was the supporter of Russia’s Enlightenment and who was struggling for the development of Russian science by its own way in the world.

His story is a brilliant example of the hunger for knowledge and a good example for everyone who claims that life conditionings do not let people to develop or achieve much. His life is a great example of a genuine seeking and will power. In a way, Lomonosov is for me a symbol of the Russian intellectual quest.

Lomonosov was born in the village in the Far North of Russia. When he was ten years old, the young Lomonosov had to help his father, a fisherman, and work. But the boy’s thirst for knowledge was unbounded. He almost learned by heart the few books he had access to – and, seeing there was no chance of education at home, he decided to walk(!) to Moscow (this took him 3 weeks in winter).

An opportunity occurred when he was nineteen and by the intervention of friends he obtained admission into the Slavic Greek Latin Academy in 1731. In only 5 years he completed a 12 year course, finished at the top of his class. He ultimately received a 2 year grant to study in German universities. Upon his return to Russia in 1745, he was appointed professor of chemistry at the Academy itself.

Among his amazing heritage are some following discoveries and ideas:

On the crisis November 16, 2008

image by axinia

One interesting parable on the nature of the current world economic crisis:

One wandering Monk met the Plague:
-Where are you going? – He asked her.
-I go to your home town. I will take one thousand of lives.

After a while, the Monk met the Plague again.
– Hey, you are a deceiver! You have told you would take only one thousand lives and took five thousand!
-I told you the truth! I took only one thousand. The rest died of fear …

 

So, let`s don`t panic!

IT WILL ALL WORK OUT TO THE BEST!

🙂 axinia

Crème de la crème of this blog (30 out of 300 posts) October 29, 2008

My passionate reader, Sahaja has suggested me to make a list of my favourite  1000petals reads. I have a widget listing the most popular posts by my readers, but they are not necesserily the ones that I love the most 🙂

My favourite posts give a short and clear impression of the core values of this blog.  If you like the first abstract, just click on the title to read the whole post.

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GENERATION S

They live almost the same life as others. You will not check them out of the crowd by their funny dress – they look quite ordinary. They behave as normal, nice people – you will not notice anything special at first sight. However a little more attentive look will identify this new generation.

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Positive thinking? No, thank you!

I am probably one of the most positive people you have ever met (even being able to claim that is a sign, isn’t it). In fact I think positive all the time and it is difficult for me to see a problem somewhere where most of the people see it. But since I heard about the concept of positive thinking several years ago I keep opposing that theory, trying to explain the unnatural character of it. Here are some quite strong arguments.

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I do not believe in God.

I do not belive in God. And I never did.

I grew up in the Soviet Union with my both parents being convinced atheists. However my grand-grandparents who were born and grew up in Czar Times, were very religious. One grand-grandmother was known to be a holy person in her village; another one could heal with praying.

 Once, when I was 8 years old, I bet with my grand-grandma Nura (who was a deeply religious Christian-orthodox) that God did not exist. I said: “I will spit now in the sky. If there is God he will punish me immediately!” – Nothing happened afterwards; I won the bet and was even more convinced in my atheism.

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Freedom is Ego

Freedom is the favorite mantra of the western society. It is the magical word people use left and right to explain their most odd interests and ideas. Freedom is on top of the value system. But how can anybody be free and make choices based on so called freedom when he does not know himself??

We feel that we are free to make our choices: the choice between toast or sandwich or maybe the choice between pizza or pasta. Fine.

Now the clothing: how can we be free persons if we are actually forced to buy the things that are right now in, otherwise we just don’t get anything else in the shops.

No need to mention so called political freedom when every President selections our poor brains are being manipulated to such extend that God save us from knowing it in details!

Supposition: why multiple intelligence theory can be vital for a happy marriage September 21, 2008

The Multiple Intelligence Theory introduced by Dr. Howard Gardner in 1983 is one of my favourites to explain the human nature and interactions. The traditional (western) take on intelligence is linguisticaly and logical-mathematically based (known as IQ). However that does not work for everyone, as there is obviously more variety of intelligences. Here is the Gardner`s classification:

	Linguistic intelligence (“word smart”):
	Logical-mathematical intelligence (“number/reasoning smart”)
	Spatial intelligence (“picture, space smart”)
	Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence (“body smart”)
	Musical intelligence (“music smart”)
	Interpersonal intelligence (“people smart”)
	Intrapersonal intelligence (“self smart”)
	Naturalist intelligence (“nature smart”)

More recently, Gardner (1998) has nominated two additional candidate intelligences: Spiritual and Existentional ones, however he was less sure about how to define and incorporate them.

The theory says, a person has some of these intelligences highly developed, some less.

This is a cross-post from my Shaktipower Blog, my supposition on how multiple intelligence theory is connected with a happy marriage you will find here.

LOVE, axinia

Why most of commentors on my blog come from India? August 28, 2008

 image by axinia

This is the question which I ask myself when I see the list of my stamm-commentor, but also the random ones…

I am Russian living in Austria, and my blog is dedicated to spirituality in general, although such topics as Russia and Austria, or generally western mindset are well covered. Posting on spiritually, one can not avoid India, right. But it is not that I post more on India than on any other subject!

So is it because Indians are so sensitive to Spirituality? Or simply because they are the most passionate commentors in the world??

I keep meeting people who read my blog and NEVER comment here. And I have lots of readers from all over the world! But WHY Indians?

I would really love to understand that mystery…

LOVE;

axinia

The world is getting happier – study says July 14, 2008

 image by axinia

It is probably one of the most surprising findings over the last years – while the media keep showing us the disastrous pictures of our life, the recent study shows the amazing dynamics of happiness all over the world!

The world is getting happier, according to the cumbersome but compelling World Values Survey released Monday by the National Science Foundation, which managed to track and quantify joy among 350,000 people in 97 countries over a quarter of century.

“The happiness index rose in an overwhelming majority of nations studied,” the study said.

Denmark is at the top of the list – with India, Ireland, Mexico and South Korea experiencing a “steeply rising” level of happiness in the survey that asked respondents to succinctly rate their subjective sense of well-being and life satisfaction. Everyone was apparently happy to do so. The survey had an “exceptionally high” 97 percent response rate.

Zimbabwe, meanwhile, is in last place. Things aren’t so jovial in Armenia, Pakistan and Rwanda – among the last 19 nations on the roster. For them, national contentment flagged into the statistically negative zone.

Americans are in the comfortably warm and fuzzy upper levels. The U.S.ranked No. 16, behind Canada, Sweden, El Salvador and New Zealand but in front of Britain, Germany, France and Italy.