Anna Karenina

And here I am, over with my I-don’t-know-how-many-times rereading of Anna Karenina. I’ve read it in Romanian, in Russian, in English and now in Norwegian. It still remains an absolutely grand book of all times.

Time stands still and yet never stops running. There are things which never change and things which make you realize how fantastic change can be. I suppose one of our biggest accomplishments so far has been our freedom. We have now the liberty of living life just the way we want it, comfort is the prerequisite of a good life.

Even though all characters in the book are representative of the Russian aristocracy of the 19th century, one can clearly see that conventionalities make up the basis of life. There were strict rules to be obeyed if one wanted to be part of the good society. It was especially hard for women, deprived of any freedom of action. I assume one of Tolstoy’s intentions was to illustrate how powerful the conformity with conventional thought and behavior was and how it contravened peoples’ inner feelings and predispositions towards determining their own fate.

It is a deep book, regarding life from all its various facets, asking questions, giving answers from a series of perspectives through each of its characters. It is also a book which makes you realize things you have and must be grateful for, things you do not have and must strive for.

It is indeed one of the greatest novels ever written.

Those who can wait are the winners

I was just reading an article in one of the Norwegian papers about the ability of people to wait. The ability to wait is connected to the ability of succeeding, of achieving better results than those who can’t manage the waiting process. It is also closely linked with our intelligence.

It got me thinking about my own perspective on that. With the years I have come to understand the huge impact the capacity of being patient has on our lives. Nothing can be built in one day and the impulse of seeing immediate results is self-destructive. There are people who have given up on so many things in life only because they could not see beyond the present moment. But immediate gratification represents the easy path most of us would like to be given in life.

What is that one thing which makes us want to go forward, to fight for things, to struggle through difficulties? It is the final image of what we will ultimately be able to have; it is that target which we think would bring us happiness and fulfilment. Nobody can succeed without compelling motivating factors. And come to think of it, it really takes a lot of willpower and courage to envision those final results and be happy to start your walk towards it. Not being able to reach immediate enjoyment whenever we want to do/achieve something makes our chances of succeeding very slim.

And yet there are people who can control their impulse of instant gratification and wait. These are the people who always seem to be the winners. And as it turns out, it also means they are intelligent, more optimistic and better at long-term work. Therefore, people who manage to wait for what the future has to offer, enjoy a happier life in the end.

Beautiful people are happy

All we have to do in life is to always strive towards beauty. Beautiful people are happy. They are happy because they are lovable. Human happiness is reached when we as humans are highly regarded and appreciated. When we emanate beauty there's nothing that can stay in our way towards happiness.

Ernesto Sabato, The Tunnel

My first book read from the first to the last page in Norwegian. I know that the pulse of a book cannot be felt genuinely if not read in its original language, but I thought if I were to read it in translation, then might as well try the Norwegian one. After having read a review on a literary French blog, declaring the book Sabato's best, I decided I must read it.

Firstly, the plot is simple, maybe too simple if it weren't for all the ideas behind it. Love and loneliness. The problems of our time. The plagues of the contemporary world. If we were to identify the meaning of love by the way we give love, very few of us would belong to the category of those who give unconditionally. The conditionality of love is more than a personal characteristic, it is a social formation. And then there's loneliness. We can read in the papers every day how the number of lonely people is increasing, how a better material situation doesn't come together with a good partner in life. Except that many of us just prefer it this way. For many of us loneliness can be a state of being by pure choice. I suppose in this case one calls it solitude.

Secondly, I resonated with the painter (the protagonist) from the very first page; with his disdain for the critics, for the conventions, for the socializing process, for all the masses with their stupid sets of rules which they follow unconditionally in order to be part of the crowd they are so proud of. He has no consideration for the average and is in a perpetual state of discontent. It was enough to draw my attention.

But nothing comes in relative terms when it's about this kind of characters. The extremes are the rules of life, everything is driven beyond its boundaries, making you a sad and hopeful witness in anticipation of the extremity's effects. There's something both positive and negative about loneliness. It teaches you to be independent and strong when facing the cruelties of life, but at the same time it creates a huge abyss between you and the reality. It actually creates two opposing things at the same time: makes you both stronger and vulnerable at the same time. Not being in touch with things makes you unprotected, takes all control from you. Moreover, it alienates you from the majority, which is part of the despised crowd and which follows the rules you can't stand.

Being part of this world implicitly means belonging to a certain society which carries rules its members must comply with. Refusing to obey these rules makes you vulnerable. And this vulnerability brings suffering along. Love has also its general guidelines accepted by the society, they actually help you set certain boundaries to all impulses and instincts humans might have.

But then again, people who refute the conventionality have some cold blood in them, their living is rather self-centered, they are trying to adjust reality to their needs and wishes. Thus, love becomes a necessity of confirming their powerfulness. And there is one irrefutable thing : unconditionality; which means total dedication to their gigantic existence.

Poverty

There is nothing worse in the world than poverty. It is the supreme form of unhappiness. By nature we can live up to our dignity as humans only when we have freedom. The freedom to think and to act. Nothing's more important for us. It is the first premise we must get in order to prove to ourselves and to the world who we are, where we belong and what we deserve.

One of the things that makes me highly indignant is the ignorance of people when it comes to poverty and the devastating effect it has on people. It affects the power of action, which means the poor are almost never fulfilled as personalities, and the power of mind, which means they have no control over what is the path they want to follow intellectually. Lack of freedom in all spheres of life build up a certain net through which the poor are able to see. There are no clear images in front of them, tomorrow is never a secure day and yesterday is never a happy past.

Nothing's more cruel than the inequality we face in life. And the largest part of this cruelty is represented by poor and suffering women worldwide. These days there's a campaign organized by CARE which has the project of helping the poorest women in the world. It made me think about the enormous difficulties women face worldwide, sometimes the basic needs not being met. These women have never known a different life than the one identified with hardships, needs, shortages, worries, misery. They have never experienced the feeling of those who are given things and whose credit comes from taking advantage of them.

We should never be judged by the place we were born in, it is no decision of ours.

And why not be smart AND happy?

I came across one of Hemingway's quotes a couple of days ago, which says: Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. It got me thinking, it's not as if there's anything new about the statement, I have already been through the stage where I would go about life and pretend to bear the cross of unhappiness as a result of intelligence. This time it made me wonder whether there's a way out of misery for those whose mind never stops working.

First of all, the intelligence is so closely interconnected to unhappiness because the world's a battlefield where the rules of the fight are not dictated by reason, but by instincts. And life is all about fight. Fight for a better place, for a warmer bed, for a softer chair. The principles of fight are quite distinct among people, based on who they are and how they think or how much they think. It's quite a blissful experience when one doesn't spend much time thinking about things, one which I have always longed to have. Therefore, intelligence is all about considering the complexity of things, taking out the mediocre and futile, focusing only on meaningfulness and relevance. But this is such a strain of mind! Smartness means high levels of expectations, hence low chances of satisfaction.

One thing brightness should be in search of is creating happiness out of any situation of life. One must infiltrate satisfaction in everything one does and adjust things and activities to one's tastes and desires so that life becomes more bearable and even enjoyable. But then again, this is a very simplistic way of putting it and it takes a very long way to get to the simple part of everything. But one should try and excel at everything one puts one's mind to. As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.

Reading fiction improves our social skills

I remember I had always been good at deciding whether somebody was a good or a bad person from a first encounter. And I mainly exercised this ability in high school and at the university, when I used to give verdicts about teachers to my colleagues: this one's good, oh! that one is a bitch. And it always turned out I had been right. And where was it that I learned so much about people? It was definitely not from a very intense social interaction I was part of on a regular basis. No, my social skills came from a different source, one which used to be considered giving opposite results: reading fiction.

Novelist and psychologist Keith Oatley argues that fiction can help us empathize with other people and connect with something larger than ourselves. It can facilitate our understanding of some other worlds than ours and it makes us better when interacting with others. Now I have got my answer. I have been really puzzled by how I was able to understand others, by the way I managed to get through to people by just asking the questions they were eager to answer and by trying to find out things they liked to talk about and then introduce them into our conversations. I am very fond of my findings in terms of people and their worlds and I rarely like to talk about my own, I'd rather keep it to myself, unless somebody is really interested in hearing about it.

It turns out my fiction reading throughout the years does not have the effect of alienating me from reality, on the contrary, it gets me closer to it, it helps me comprehend things and people through a different way; not by direct contact, but by reading of worlds where people live their lives and aren't aware of somebody studying them; of all the worlds which one cannot possibly manage to come in contact with in real life, but nonetheless available to us and accessible at any time of life.

There's no bigger joy in life than reading a very good book, which depicts a world of people that go through the things you thought could happen only to you. There's no other pleasure than finding out that there have been and will be people just like you, that a direct contact with someone you like is not the only choice given by life.

Simplicity in the way of being

If I were to cast a long and careful glance in the past, I would definitely be able to see an almost painful longing for a different way of being. I knew what it was back then, but I knew it only at the emotional level, not exactly aware of the whereabouts of all those feelings of craving for something else, for what I did not have, a rebellion against a wave of thoughts and actions which, though being mine, I did not accept as being truly representative of who I was or what I wanted.

I have always been fond of simplicity; simplicity in food, in clothes, in the relationship with others, in all approaches of life. And when I saw simplicity, I would fall in love with it. Because being simple in your very nature means being satisfied with life, even being grateful that you are alive. I cannot think of a better existential perspective. The struggle for a more positive view on life has marked my whole existence so far. I've been looking for reasons as long as I can remember, and I've got quite good memory. Am I the contrast of simplicity? No, not exactly. Would simplicity save me? It definitely would.

A conformity to the given state of things offers more satisfaction in what one does and goes through. The more pretenses we have in life, the more we want to achieve, the less happy we are with everything. There is no end to our aspirations, the moment we reach a certain goal, another takes its place and so it goes forever. I have met people who were so far behind others in terms of success and personal achievements, but who would turn out to be models of optimism, of wonderful optimism. My deep admiration goes to them. A movie I have recently seen reminded me again of how fortunate one can be if one finds simplicity and makes it a friend for life.

We are what and who we like

Life, it seems to me, has fundamentally one significant route provided for us, that of love. Love for people, love for things, love for an identified piece of the large spectrum of choices we are provided with in the world. It shapes our lives, it never vanishes from inside us and accompanies us till the end of the road.

We are whom we love. Just like what we wear every day expresses loyally our approach to the things surrounding us, our preferences in terms of people is the expression of our emotional and spiritual development. Our worthiness in the world is measured by the appreciation of others, and the quality has priority over quantity. We tend to establish certain patterns of behavior and adopt certain attitudes by affiliation to who might judge us.

We all have an audience in life, even though for the majority of us it's just an imaginary one. It helps us get perspective and I surely believe it helps us improve ourselves. Reputation is a value of a powerful significance for our peace of mind and it totally depends on how we live our lives in the eyes of the others. And by others I mean that small group of people you have picked out to represent the way of life to your liking. Only certain people matter for each of us and one should persevere in finding the people one believes matter for oneself. They will be the ones to help us become better persons by a daily scrutiny of the values they cherish and we must have.

Motivatia - cheia invingatorilor

Motivatia e cheia oricarui succes. Unii au aceasta cheie tot timpul in buzunar si isi realizeaza planuri, obiective, visuri cu o lejeritate atit de fireasca incit te face sa te intrebi daca exista o geana responsabila de motivatie si care tie iti lipseste.

Eu de fiecare data in perioadele mele de alergat in fiecare dimineata (ca asa se intimpla, pe perioade) tot timpul reusesc sa ma motivez doar intr-un singur fel: ca asta trebuie sa devina un mod de viata, ca asta e ce trebuie sa fac pina la sfarsitul vietii, ca metabolismu meu nu-mi permite sa lenevesc pe canapea si sa maninc ce-mi pofteste inima. Si de ce doar astfel devin eficiente incurajarile mele de a ma trezi cu noaptea-n cap cind toata lumea doarme, sa-mi pun adidasii si sa infrunt cu mare curaj frigul de afara? Pentru ca noi avem tendinta sa ezitam atunci cind realizam existenta unei alternative, a unei evadari, a unei intorsaturi intr-o alta directie, cu speranta ca poate ce ne asteapta acolo se va dovedi o optiune mai buna.

Iar idea asta ma duce la un gind mai vechi de-al meu: ca multitudinea optiunilor in viata ne face mai nefericiti. Cit de fericiti par stramosii nostri in comparatie cu noi. Ei nu traiau in fiecare zi cu o constiinta a unor posibilitati care iti pun la indoiala in mod constant alegerile facute: si daca trebuia sa aleg altceva? Ca doar sigur exista o cale mai neteda spre ce imi doresc. Dar parca mai stim ce dorim in acest amalgam de optiuni, perspective, informatii, oferte, etc etc?

Si intorcindu-ma la motivatie. Asta e tot ce ne trebuie pentru a ajunge la idealul propus, odata ce trecem partea cu motivatia, e ca si parcurgerea a mai mult de jumatate de cale. Dar nu e asa de simplu, pentru ca a fi motivat inseamna a fi inarmat in fiecare zi cu argumente: si de ce e nevoie de atita efort, si de ce trebuie sa muncesc din greu acolo unde altii primesc gratis, si de ce pina la urma am nevoie de lucrul asta? Nu e mai simplu sa renunt si basta?

Motivatia e unealta invingatorilor. Este oare si a celor fericiti?

Imaginatia produs al unei realitati fixe

Cind folosim cuvintul imaginatie tindem sa desemnam o lume pe care mintea noastra o poate crea, fara a fi constrinsa de limitele sau barierele impuse de lumea reala. Si de obicei consideram imaginatia a fi total lipsita de nuantele unei realiati date si neschimbate.

Cu ajutorul imaginatiei omul poate merge oriunde si poate trai orice. Dar oare imaginatia noastra nu este in mod direct conditionata de mediul care-i permite, la fel in cadrul unor limite, sa se desfasoare? Tot ce noi gindim, speculam, ne imaginam este produsul direct al unei lumi in care traim si a tot ce lumea respectiva ne ofera. Asadar si imaginatia este un produs limitat, o extensie speculativa a unui numar de lucruri a caror realitate nu e suficienta.

Creativitatea este o calitate extrem de solicitata astazi in aproape orice meserie. Care este factorul decisiv in dezvoltarea creativitatii? Mediul, circumstantele care-ti permit sau ba sa-ti dezvolti imaginatia, adica creativitatea. Inainte de a avea abilitatea de a privi si gindi dincolo de aparente e nevoie de un spectru de premise care alcatuiesc gradul de extindere al creativitatii.

Omul este reprezentatul fidel al mediului sau de existenta, este o realitate inexorabila, dar indreptatita.

plimbarea prin Oslo, care e superb vara

Madonna - an admirable example of success

Madonna has come to Oslo today.

She continues to be a fascination for people all around the world. When one thinks of her one pretty much gets the meaning of self-discipline and hard work. I feel a special liking when it comes to Madonna and I usually don’t like celebrities, but in her case it’s not about the gossiping and rumors and trifle things usually people write and speak about famous persons. She’s all about models of behavior. I’ve worked out a short list of the remarkable qualities which make her a role model for me.

SELF-DISCIPLINE
One needs to take a look at the way she manages her life and can easily see what the major principle of her life is. If the purpose is to succeed, then discipline is the key. And it’s not just you have to get up really early in the morning and have a good run. It’s not just that: discipline of mind, order of thoughts, determination in actions.

NEVER-ENDING CHANGE
She never ceased to amaze us with her flexibility and handiness of understanding change. It is the nature of life, a condition which we tend to forget, out of reasons of convenience. She was always sharp to adjust herself to the wind of change and offer an evolved and better performance of herself.

MODERATION
Even though she has millions, Madonna is famous for her moderation in spending money. One can clearly say that moderation comes with intelligence, even wisdom. People who have the tendency to forget that they can afford to buy almost anything in the world have other priorities in life, which makes them special.

DISCRETION
Yes, that’s the thing I most admire about famous people, how they keep their personal lives away from the media. Being famous means being exposed to the public eye. Madonna has successfully managed to avoid that. The focus is only her work, which is absolutely admirable.

1984

Aseara TV2 a prezentat cartea si filmul lui George Orwell cu numele de 1984. O reprezentare mai veridica a situatiei din tara nu cred ca exista. Atmosfera filmului e infricosatoare, deprimanta.

Cartea (si filmul) reprezinta o viziune de viitor a modului de a trai intr-o societate totalitara. Cetatenii sint redusi la statutul de sclavi, sclavii unui sistem care are monopolul a tot ce exista, de la viata insasi pina la informatie asupra fiecarei miscari ce se produce in societate. Toti sint permanent supravegheati!

Partidul preia puterea absoluta, insusi gindurile oamenilor sint controlate "pentru a asigura puritatea sistemului oligarhic". Figura principala a sistemului este omniprezentul si omnipotentul Big Brother.

Versiunea ecranizata a cartii lui Orwell are o durata de 1 ora si 40 de minute. Dupa vizionarea filmului ramai cu o senzatie de amaraciune disperata in suflet. Winston, angajat de Partid ca sa reconstituie trecutul si sa-l ajusteze noilor sloganuri ale Partidului, isi propune sa demascheze frauda cinica a organizatiei de care e angajat.
"Cel care are control asupra trecutului are control asupra viitorului" este sloganul Partidului.

Cartea (si filmul) reveleaza personaje, teme si cuvinte care au devenit parte din viata cotidiana.

Puterea corupe, iar puterea absoluta corupe absolut.

Este trist si degradant sa realizezi ca faci parte din societatea prezisa de Orwell. Influenta nefasta a sistemului nu trece pe linga tine, ci prin tine.

citeva idei pentru meditatie

“Marile adevăruri – şi singurele care contează, dealtfel – sunt găsite la întâmplare. Moartea, dragostea, primăvara sau toamna lăuntrică, toate acestea le întâlnim şi le cunoaştem la întâmplare. Nu numai atât. Se întâmplă, chiar, că trece multă vreme până să înţelegem că le-am cunsocut. Sunt atât de cenuşii, de umile, de cotidiene – încât nici nu le băgăm în seamă. Conştiinţa noastră este atrasă mai mult de adevărurile catastrofice, violente, sumare, agonice – căci asemenea adevăruri siluesc şi se cer siluite, ele exaltă vertiginos ţi carnea şi duhul, ele sunt revelate prin experienţe dramatice, cu o dramaturgie bogată şi o punere în scenă meşteşugită.
Dimpotrivă, adevărurile găsite la întâmplare nu au nimic demonstrativ şi dramatic. Le descoperim deodată în suflet, fără să ştim cum au ajuns acolo. Ele sunt, şi nu poţi spune nimic altceva despre ele decât că sunt.”


Mircea Eliade, Despre adevărurile găsite la întâmplare

Ma liberté

Chaque fois qu'on s'en remet aux autres pour régler un problème, on renonce à sa liberté. Je ne suis pas de la race des perdants, et je ne demande pas aux autres de régler mes problèmes. Ma liberté, je la protège. Ma liberté, je l'aime.

learn about yourself

Life becomes so much easier and meaningful when one gets to know oneself, discovers what one wants to be and do in life. Even though it seems to be such a trite thing to accomplish, nonetheless it’s the most significant one when it comes to one’s success. It’s usually in the apparent commonplace things that lie the truth.

Most of the times we go through life without a clear image of what we would really like to do and be. Pragmatism is a very good trait. When one has very exact representations of things and the order they are supposed to be in and the way they have to be performed in order to turn out efficient are of paramount importance.

More often than not we live by what we think we should be or by what others expect us to be. And only when things get to hassle us so markedly that we stop and say: but this is not what I want! And then comes the more difficult part: but what is it exactly that I want?

I believe that this should be one of the first things we must think about when approaching personal happiness: the true self and its genuine desires and wishes and dreams. Nothing’s more important in life than knowing what you aim for, the moment you realize it is almost half way towards it.

can we escape mediocrity?

All humans are afraid of mediocrity. None wants to be invisible to others. It is only natural to feel that way. But how many of us escape mediocrity really?

Firstly, we never get to know how people perceive us and how many of those who we encounter throughout life remember us in the end. Someone once said that if only we could get the chance to see ourselves through the eyes of the others, we would instantly vanish from the surface of the earth. Even if it sounds too radical and harsh, it is the truth. We can take as an example the embarrassment we feel sometimes as a result of something which shouldn't have been said or done and sounded or looked wrong. It is because for a moment we get to see ourselves from the others' perspective. Nothing's more unbearable than the awareness of your own mistakes.

Secondly, there are so many of us in the world. And even if we all try to regard ourselves as unique and different from others, in the end one can find very little genuine distinctness out there. We fight our own battles, but deep down they are all the same battles. Love, suffering, happiness, loneliness, all follow the same pattern and all pertain to the humanness, which has been the same since ever.

And then again, what is mediocrity? Because it seems to be a condition of life, the sooner we realize and conform to it, the better for our peace of mind. Have you noticed how peaceful we become when we decide there's nothing we need more, that we have reached the point of due contentment? That we are no longer obliged to keep on proceeding with great efforts a distant target which is supposed to be our destination (even though we are not exactly sure what this destination is exactly)?

Yes, this eternal toil towards a not quite clear goal is no more than the getaway from mediocrity. But can we really run away from it?

despre modestie

Prima tendinta atunci cind ne gindim la modestie este sa consideram aspectul sau individual, o caracteristica specifica unei persoane, manifestata prin atitudinea sa fata de oameni si lucruri in general.

Dar originea modestiei se afla la un nivel mai adinc, este de fapt o reprezentare culturala si morala a unei natiuni,cu radacini adinci in evolutia culturala.
Care este criteriul pe care se bazeaza aparitia si existenta ei?
Sinonimele modestiei sint sfiala, reticenta, simplitate, lipsa de ingimfare.

Deci care sint originile simplitatii?
Inteligenta e una dintre ele, cea mai semnificativa. Nu are nevoie de laude, nici de constiinta superioritatii proprii, fiind prin natura sa evidenta, fara sa-si ia asupra-si povara unei permanente incercari de a-si releva importanta.

Setul de valori care ne determina sa avem respect sincer pentru ceilalti este un alt factor. El apartine unor culturi in care reusita personala nu domina relatiile sociale, desi fenomenul egalitatii oportunitatilor este regula societatii. Aceasta insa este doar un aspect al varietatii alternativelor existentei sociale.

Si desi uneori modestia poate fi mediocritate deghizata, modestia sincera apartine oamenilor mari, care ii lasa pe ceilalti sa le descopere calitatile, fara a insira ei insisi lista.

reprezentativ :)

Земфира - Во мне (Сон)

Сон
Странный сон
Я вижу отражение себя

Столько лет
Во мне
Все слова

Во мне
Тишина

Снова дождь
Стучит свои признания луне

Этот дождь
Наверное не знает обо мне

Во мне
Корабли
Во мне
Города
Во мне
Вся любовь
Во мне
Все что есть.