“Nothing is difficult in the eyes of a lover.”
~ Cicero, 50 BC.
“The knowledge of all things is possible.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci.
All my life I wanted only one thing – I wanted to have in my possession something special, unique, and priceless, one thing that no one could take away from me; the thing that would make my life rich, exciting, and full of adventure.
“What can it be?” I asked myself. “I must find it.”
Years have passed until one day – I’ve got it! I understood what that one thing could be, I realized what I wanted.
I wanted to have in my possession, not a physical thing, but a skill, a muscle, an ability to think and create what I wanted, in time when I wanted it.
All my life I wanted to have in my possession a mind, mind capable of creating the life I wanted, the Luxurious Mind.
Luxurious Mind? You may ask. Yes.
The Luxurious Mind is a mind that is clear, lucid, harmonious, ordered, independent, courageous; always winning, always kind, the mind that in any circumstances will find a path to peace.
The Luxurious Mind is a great composer of great experiences.
Fueled by love, Luxurious Mind knows how to transform self, life around it, and follows da Vinci formula for change: “Change initiates change, order initiates order, soul orchestrates all.”
The ability to create change is the key, magic quality of a Luxurious Mind. The process of change, the steps, and the mechanics of change were sketched by Leonardo da Vinci five hundred years ago. I discovered this formula one night while rummaging through Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings and notes on human mind architecture. The great one, the artist, the one who triggers the change initiates the chain of transformation. Art is one human activity that has no external function and solely dedicated to reflect, to express, and to train a human to change himself. Art triggers the internal and external change in a man. Art transforms our minds, our minds transform life.
Take a look for yourself, follow Leonardo’s logic, feel his idea and you too will be able to recognize and generate the great chain of change.
“To develop a complete mind: Study the science of art… Learn how to see.”
“The perception of the object depends on the direction of the eye.”
“All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.”
“The soul apparently resides in the seat of the judgment, and the judgment apparently resides in the place where all the senses meet…”
“Art is the queen of all sciences…”
Leonardo Da Vinci. Notebooks.
“It is only through Art and through Art only that we can realize our perfection; through Art and Art only that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence.”
~ Oscar Wilde.
Art is the creator of a Lux Mind.
Consider now, O reader!
Wherever Art appears – life blooms, order initiates order, change initiates change and an artist like a magician or a sorcerer of lite transmits his own consciousness into the heart of a viewer. And how well Art succeeds!
Art transforms our minds, our minds transform life.
The Show.
When I was a kid, I lived in a city that was an art museum under the stars – St. Petersburg. Any season, every season the city was blooming with art.
In the morning on the way to school, I was followed by a long line of poster art splashed on the walls of buildings or hanging from the fences, framed by and welded into new construction. Was that art an agenda or a work of social art? Perhaps both. In my eyes, it was an urban graphic novel written and permanently tied to its origin – the walls of a big city. That art started my day and made it brighter, these messages gave me a sense of order. I had a feeling that the world was clear, stable, and simple, that there were rules I can follow to make my life into a beautifully orchestrated symphony of experiences, that all I needed to do is to keep my body strong, my mind healthy and master my dreams.
The Anti-Alcohol campaigns of the late 1980s of the Soviet Era were sharp, funny, full of rhymes and poetry. These messages entertained, made you laugh, and stayed with you. One of the campaigns had the name “Not a Drop!” That campaign is still with me.
“My Luxurious Mind” show is an echo of that campaign and that one message.
“A drop? Not a drop!” message was transformed into a new art form – Art Mind Game.
My art is a game.
My art is a Mind Game. It is based on the Leonardo da Vinci Formula for Change and the great physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s mechanics of new habit generation. My art will create a new mental habit in you, it will break up the recursive loop of addiction and it will train your brain to take a new action.
This art is charged.
The NFTs, canvases, and digital prints I create are charged with the energy of my knowledge, the spirit of Norse wisdom, and the power of Slavic land.
I won! The Prize.
The moment I wake up – it is on.
86 billion brain cells are up and working for me.
1,000 processes per second are firing every second in me.
What are they doing and how?
I know not.
But I want them all. They are my mind.
Who am I without my mind?
A suit without a face? A bottle without a cork?
Without my mind.
To be alive is to think.
Thank you, my mind.
Slowly or fast,
in order or chaos –
all is in racing excitement because –
all of it is mine.
A human brain is the most sophisticated phenomenon we are able to observe in the universe.
I own it.
I am the master of it.
Alcohol: The Powerless.
Wanted:
Feel better.
Think better.
Be better.
Act stronger.
Last longer.
The New Character
Given:
Antiseptic.
Anesthetic.
Relaxant.
Solvent.
Fuel.
Rocket fuel.
Highly flammable.
The product of fermentation – an energy-producing pathway.
Metabolite.
A Catalyst – Substance that Causes or Accelerates Change.
Alcohol brakes to be powerless to give me what I want – The New Better Me.
alcoholic
/alc·o·(w)hol(e)·ic/
noun.
alc: (from Russian “Aлкать”) intense, passionate desire
-o: of
-(w)hol(e): in an unbroken or undamaged state; in one piece
-ic: relating to
alc·o·(w)hol(e)·ic: A Seeker of Change.
AN ALCOHOLIC is a one who passionately, desperately seeks wholeness through change.
Almost Human. BORN TO BECOME.
To change is to evolve, to evolve is to create a new self.
Who is the creator? Self.
Who is to be created? Self.
The self goes from ignorance of harmony to the perfect order through trials of conquest and victory over Prior Self.
The Prior Self is the Self I know to be ready to change.
Every night I go to sleep and my subconscious mind renders and integrates all new knowledge I learned that day.
Every morning I wake up and part of me is smarter and wiser than yesterday’s Self.
When I train yesterday’s Self to be as good as I want myself to be, I become whole, I become a NEW SELF.
My NEW SELF is my new CHARACTER.
I am…
When I discovered who I am,
I found my place in the world and
the world became my place.
A mighty hero of extraordinary powers,
an Independent Agent
with a Luxurious Mind,
and the will to create the new Self.
The Key to the Puzzle.
“It is, of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles.” ~ Sherlock Holmes.
Character makes the plot.
The plot is destiny.
Destiny is the future.
In the story of life,
Virtues Man creates virtuous destiny,
Continent Man – continent destiny,
Incontinent Man – incontinent destiny,
Vicious Man – vicious destiny.
To know my future – I study my character.
To change my future – I change my character.
CHARACTER gives stability and structure TO A HUMAN SPIRIT.
Change Initiates Change.
To change my future I am changing my character.
“An actor must work all his life, cultivate his mind, train his talent systematically, develop his character; he may never despair and never relinquish his main purpose…”
~ Constantin Stanislavski.
“There is no shortcut to happiness.”
~ Tony Hopkins.
To art…
Writing is an art of changing one’s thoughts.
Painting is an art of changing one’s seeing.
Music is an art of changing one’s emotions.
Dance is an art of changing one’s movements.
Architecture is an art of changing one’s environment.
Acting is an art of changing one’s character.
To art is to evolve self and environment.
The First Step.
“The first step: Don’t be anxious. Nature controls it all.”
~ Marcus Aurelius. Roman emperor, 121–180 AD.
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
~ George Bernard Shaw.
“Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do – now.”
~ Epictetus, 55 -135 AD. Enchiridion. The manual for life.
UNITY, ORDER, DESIGN
Two Classes of Things.
“There are two classes of things: those that are under our control and those that are not.
Under our control are opinion, choice, desire, aversion and, in a word, everything that is our own doing;
not under our control … everything that is not our own doing.”
~ Epictetus, 55 -135 AD. Enchiridion. The manual for life.
Seal of Hel.
The word of Hel, the queen of Helheim
irrefutable, final and sealed.
She is darker than dark but clear as tear
the ruler of Shadowland:
“This path is closed, connection impossible,
unreachable, unrecognized.
You master the master when you train yourself
the mastery of change.”
BLESSED DECISIVE PROTECTED
Sober mind is light.
It sees but does not suffer,
it understands but not burdened,
it engaged but free.
Art is the movement of
a human soul,
shaping itself
into a form of the visible
world.
I Art Myself.
Protect the power and fertility of your dreams and passions.
They will carry you through.