spirituality

To believe in something non-material is in our nature. It comes from our ancestors. When they couldn’t understand or explain something they just made something up and believed in it.
Nowadays we live in the science-era, when all phenomena are tried to be explained from the science sight. We live in the century when the role of religion weakens. Nowadays, people are not finding spirituality anymore in any religion because religions are becoming more secular and increasingly directed towards raising enough funds to make more materialistic "progress" or just to compete. This is why people are running away from Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They are not finding themselves or finding their needs met through religion.
That’s why spirituality becomes more and more popular. There are a lot of organizations if they can be called so, floats of spirituality. The most popular becomes east philosophy. It promotes spirituality, it tells people that they can investigate themselves only with the help of spirituality.
People can feel, reach spirituality through medetation. Meditation typically involves turning attention inwards and making thoughts and emotional states objects of attention. Similarly the mindfulness practices of Buddhism and the self-observation of Gurdjieff promote the development of the new observing self during ordinary life. These practices focus attention on the physical sensations, emotions, mental images and thought that arise as the individual goes about daily activities and interactions. All these techniques emphasise that self-observation it to be passive and non-judgemental. This assists in ensuring that the new observing self does not identify with or become absorbed in mental contents as they arise.
Why have religions developed this extensive body of knowledge and practice about freeing humans from the requirements of their motivational and emotional systems? A key reason is that religions generally promote adherence to ethical systems that conflict with the dictates of our internal reward system. Religions have learnt that it takes much more than an intellectual commitment to an ethical system before an individual is able to implement it. Reason does not control the passions until the individual has developed a new psychological structure that has the capacity to manage the individual’s internal reward system.

Another reason for religions’ deep interest in this area is the intuition that only a self that has transcended emotional impulses could conceivably live beyond the body. A self that is bound up in bodily desires and emotional responses will surely die when the body that gave rise to them dies. A number of religious traditions that take this position also believe that the end point of spiritual development is the fusion of this transcendent self with the absolute (eg God).
The great majority of the members of religions do not develop a higher self. Most do not adopt in full the practices prescribed by their religion, and few understand the practices and beliefs in the terms described here. Very few Christians develop the capacity to effortlessly turn the other cheek in the full sense of that metaphor. If the practices of spiritual development are to succeed in transforming the psychology of humanity in general, they will need to be enhanced and developed. This is most likely to be achieved if the practices are investigated by modern scientific psychology, and eventually integrated into it. If spiritual practices are subjected to the sceptical scrutiny and rigorous testing of modern science, the practices and beliefs that are grounded in fact could be separated from those that are embedded in supposition and baseless mysticism. And the powerful techniques and extensive resources of modern science could be used to discover new and better practices. This process would continue the progressive expansion of science into new domains that has taken place throughout its relatively young history. Science has grown by incorporating and developing bodies of knowledge that were initially unsystematic and riddled with contradictions and folk knowledge.
Modern ideas of spirituality typically characterize the spiritual goal in terms of becoming a certain kind of person (a fully integrated one, perhaps), or of deepening one's understanding of reality. So it doesn’t really matter weather you strongly believe in something or you try to find your inner world with the use of modern scientific psychology. The main purpose is to find yourself. Well as for me, I’m really fond of east philosophy. After reading it you understand that you are a human, that your inner world is rich, no matter who you are. You begin feel your spirit. That you are not just a machine, but a human who can love, forgive, investigate the purpose of life, thing, improve yourself. And this is spirituality for me. I think it is almost necessary for every human being. Only with help of it we can give an answer to the most important question that everyone faces: WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE.

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never had an idol

As far I can remember myself I have never had idols. I’ve never blindly followed anyone. But during my life I have met people whom I admire. And that is how it is for me: in one person I like one thing, in another- another. I have never met an ideal person, because I think there are no any of them. And I think it’s really good when you realize someone else’s good traits. Admiration is a great thing. If you can feel it and, moreover, if you can make yourself express it openly, that means a lot. That means you have avoided jealousness. There is no use in this strange feeling. It brings nothing but bad energy.
Well as I have already said there are a lot of people who I consider to be great. Those are of course my parents. They have put a lot into me, they have built such a great family, that’s what I admire them for. On the other hand I would never want to be like my mom. It doesn’t mean I don’t love her or anything. I am just different from her. But the things that I can learn from her is her readiness and a strong desire to do everything she possibly can for my sister, me, and my dad. I would like to value a family as much as she does.
Last year was actually one of the best years in my life. I have met a lot of interesting people. I could never imagine that 9 and now 8 so talented and unique people would gather together. I’m talking about my group. I have never felt so much for so much people. Everyone is a personality from which you can learn a lot.
Mr. Pasha. I can talk about this person forever. He is so generous, so kind, so easygoing. I admire his disinterestedness, his willing to study and to learn more. He is the one I’m always happy to spend time with.
Masha. She is the one I couldn’t understand for a long time. But I’m glad that this thing happened and I have discovered a very understanding and good friend in her. I admire her diligence, her nails, her ability to be different for different people.
Polina seems to be the most serious one in our group. I really like her ability to concentrate, to have time to do AVERYTHING. I admire her wish to translate all analytics’ homework in a written form.
Julia C. Is a very tender and lovely person. She is the one who would support my crazy ideas. I really appreciate this in her. I admire her for being honest most of the time and for independent advices.
Julia Sh. It is the person whose one trait I admire most of all. It is her wish to study, her unbelievable diligence, the force she can make her to learn anything: stylistics, philosophy. Not so interesting and rather hard subjects. She is the one who can achieve a lot if she wants to.
Tanya. I’ve known this person for quite a long time. I have always admired her unusualness, her different points of view, her interesting ideas, her talent to play the guitar.
Dima. This is the person I didn’t really get a chance to get to know. But I have a really good opinion about him. Dima is very smart. I admire him for learning English by himself with the use of BBC radio station. I think this is the achievement he can be proud of. I also admire his ability to freak out or do anything in front of people without being embarrassed.
Well as you can see, there is a lot to learn from my group mates. Now they are the part of my life, and I’m really glad that they are the way they are. They make me admire, they teach me a lot, they make me be more adult. For that, guys, I want to thank you. You mean a lot to me.

my thoughts on advancing Russian economy

Russia is the country where I was born. It’s the country where I grew up. It’s the country where I want to live, to work, to have a family, to raise kids. It’s the country I want to feel proud of.
Probably like every teenager does during his growing up I have thought about future of my country. I’ve thought about improving and advancing Russian economy. And here are my ideas.
Like I have written in my previous essay I see Russian future in capitalism. So to develop it further we need more private enterprises. Why will that be good for the economy? Well first of all it’s good for the government, because these private companies pay taxes which help government to run the country, to invest money in science, to provide pensioners with money and just to have money for any purpose. And when government has enough money there is no need for it to borrow money from other countries. And external debt is a big problem for Russia. In case we get rid of it we’ll then use and invest more money in science for example. And here is my second thought. Russia is well known for it’s human factor. It is the native land of ingenious scientists. Science nowadays is a very perspective thing. It’s rather expensive thing too. And it’s very sad when our scientists because of the lack of money or opportunities, well-paid jobs immigrate to the countries which can provide them with everything they need. That’s how brilliant ideas flow away to make another countries richer. That’s why I think government should invest more money into science.
Another idea I came to is about our agricultural sector. Russia is the country which can actually provide itself with all foodstuff. But at the same time I don’t want Russia to become an agricultural country. I just think it’ll be cheaper and better for our economy not to import goods but to provide country with our own ones. It might be a good idea to export goods also.
Well those are my thoughts I can state and feel rather sure in their correctness. Well it’s rather hard to speak about economy when I don’t study it deeply.
Talking about economical situation in Russia, there are some things which can naturally help to advance it. For example the price of oil at the world market. The price of dollar also. Our government and to be more specific German Gref has recently announced that if one barrel of oil costs not less then 28 $ and one dollar is no more then 30 rubles everything will be good. What he is afraid of is the suspension of industry’s growth, the growth of the capital’s outlaw and the growth of mistrust to banks.
I have thought also about international investments. Well actually I find them rather favourable for now, because it’s really hard for our government to find money for investments nowadays. I believe the situation will become better and in the nearest future we won’t need international investments at all. But for now they are very useful. And to encourage them to invest we should have something like areas of economical freedom where the taxes on foreign investments will be lower to make them interested in investing money.
I want to end my essay with positive attitude. I truly believe that my country will have a great future. I also believe that now it’s in very strong and powerful hands of a smart man, who will be able to advance and develop Russia.

corruption in Russia

The word CORRUPTION is well-known by 90% of Russian people. It has become a way of life for Government officials in Russia. Bribe-taking, in fact, is a widespread practice throughout the Russian bureaucracy. A number of U.S. and other Western businesses and businessmen routinely pay bribes to Russian Government officials in order to conduct their businesses in Russia. Indeed, the most prevalent crime in Russia today is bribery. Not only do Russian officials routinely accept and even demand bribes, they have also entered into an illicit partnership with organized crime and with clandestine business groups Former Communist apparachiks, who continue to work within the Russian bureaucracy, exploit previously made black-marketeer relationships to profit in the new post-Revolutionary Russian system. Thus, a partnership formed long before the attempted coup of 1991 by organized crime and Communist government officials now threatens the growth of democracy in Russia.
Corruption brings with itself a lot of troubles. And first of all it is closely connected with Mafia. Corruption builds Mafia and Mafia builds corruption. It’s kind of vicious circle. Not only does the Mafia kill and steal in Russia, it does so in the United States as well. The Russian Mafia is increasingly engaged in crime in the West. Mafia members are involved in "theft, extortion, money-laundering, gun-trafficking, drug running, prostitution, smuggling, loan sharking, contract killing and more." The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has established task forces to deal with the Russian Mafia in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. Thus, U.S. businesses that pay bribes and protection money in Russia may be unwittingly financing Russian criminal activity back in the United States. In some respects, the Russian Mafiya is even more frightening because it represents a virtual, if not actual, partnership between Government officials and criminals.[74] Many believe that this corrupt influence reaches to the highest levels of the Russian Government. The Russian Mafiya also represents an attitude, not merely an organization. This attitude, developed during the years of Communist Party rule, is rooted in the belief, held by many government officials to this day, that if something is not nailed down, or placed within their power, they can treat it as their own property. Mafiya means many things to many people, especially Russians, but when the term is defined as government corruption and organized crime it is a real, current, and dangerous Russian problem.
Why the problem of corruption is so big in Russia and how can we get rid of it? Well I personally think that bribing for example is already in most people’s mentality. Because nowadays children can see the process of corruption in which there parents take part. For example putting child in a prestigious school means presents to the headmaster, computers or new desks in school classrooms, solving some school problems with paying taxes and etc. so children see this process and they get used to it. They are not surprised afterwards and don’t feel uncomfortable when their parents present cars to university rector or decanes. After that they see the only way of getting a job in giving someone bribes, or give presents to some rich friend’s sister’s husband in order to get a place in his cool business. Is that right? Why should we try to solve the problem of corruption if most of people and especially people who have power in our country like it and make it prosper? The first thing which should be done- make people believe, persuade them that honest people can do things, can earn money, can be rich, can reach their purposes. It’s really hard thing to do. I even don’t know the proper methods to make people believe. The thing is to lower corruption and especially bribing. And that’s why I think a good thing will be increasing policemen salary. Then they will have more money they will bribe less, because they won’t need to do it. Of course the number of officials in state machinery should be lowered. In Russia it’s too big. And the laws should become more strict. The term of punishment should be increased to frighten corruptions. Government should sponsor FSB more in order to make it more powerful.
Those are my thoughts how to fight corruption in our country. I strongly believe that in nearest time the situation will get better and my grandchildren will never know what corruption is.