Grigory Ryzhakov's Blog, page 16

Capital W in “Writer” comes from Heritage

Kansas Public Library

Every day we are bombarded by information on social media about new fiction; top lists almost exclusively contain recent books. As much as we need to be in the zeitgeist of the literary world as writers and readers, we often forget about our bases and origins. Old and classics are often undeservingly perceived as boring or outdated.

A writer needs to be more holistic in her vision of life and therefore has to read broadly. But what happens if you just read your contemporaries?

It is like trying to understand nature surrounding us without being aware of millions of extinct organisms and ecosystems, like dinosaurs and Cretaceous forests. Imagine modern biology without the concept of evolution.

Human society has been evolving for millennia, so knowing how this happened is like managing a colossal cultural data bank, which would make anyone including a writer extremely resourceful.

Nowadays you don’t have to spend money to get access to all these riches. You can just go to your local library and pick up virtually any book of a Master you want. If you are lazy like me, you can find all of them on the web, download them and even convert them for your Kindles, Nooks and other eReaders.

I suppose many writers come from grammar schools and they read some of Hellenic and Latin texts in translation, and classical English and French books. Yet, literature is wider.

There are English translations of Spanish, Russian, Jewish, Polish, Japanese, you-name-it masterpieces of all times.

You are (as a writer) what you read. If you want to be a person with distinct point-of-view or a writer with distinct voice, you need to stop reading exclusively from the bestseller lists and watch all the same TV shows. Your creativity and imagination needs to step on lands less explored, but it needs to come prepared. Hence, learning from the Masters makes the writer’s soil (soul) fertile.

All the great minds have arisen from the great minds preceding them.

Be the next one.

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Isaac Newton

Top 9 films to Watch b4 the End of Summer – Sneak Peek

Robert Pattinson stars in “Cosmopolis”. Source: cosmopolisthefilm.com

I need a break from existential thoughts, so this week I’m giving you a short overview of upcoming films I intend to watch in the next couple of months.

Brave (from June 22nd) Pixar returns with another piece of breath-taking animation. Brave is a story of a rebellious red-haired medieval Scottish princess who’s, like Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games, a big fan of archery. Director and writer Mark Andrews also wrote John Carter released earlier this year. The music is by Patrick Doyle whose recent work in Thor received critical acclaim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8GDJHR8iO0

To Rome With Love (from June 22nd) Don’t you just love the way Woody Allen makes travel guides to European capitals? After playing around with London in Matchpoint, Scoop and others, we were moved to Catalonia and introduced to a threesome affair in Vicky Christina Barcelona, shown a bohemian Montmartre in Midnight in Paris and are now in Rome as this year’s treat. It’s the 70th film by the four-times Oscar winning maestro Allen! As always, we are spoiled with a star-packed cast of Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Ornella Muti, Greta Gerwig, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Ellen Page and Woody himself. Don’t even hesitate to see this one in the cinema unless you’ve got a clinical allenophobia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZcip9HY1Pw

People Like Us (from June 29th) A man inherits a fortune and discovers he has a sister he’s never met before. A feel-good film and the cast rock too: Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks and Michelle Pfeifer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQDDAicwWR0

The Amazing Spider Man (from July 3rd) I’m dying to see this one just for one reason: to compare if it’s better or not than its predecessor. Andrew Garfield has taken the lead in this one and he looks the part as judged from the trailer. Emma Stone plays his love interest, which should be fun considering her lovely performance in The Help and Easy A. I’m also intrigued with a choice of the director, Mark Web: he has done only one feature before – 500 Days of Summer. The music is in solid hands of James Horner, the Avatar and Apocalypto composer. Let’s see how Spidey will be dealing with his archenemy Lizard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX9ZT3RbYE4

Ice Age-4 (from July 13th) Okay, Scrat the prehistoric acorn-obsessed and world-famous squirrel keeps messing with tectonics causing a continental drift. Considering the low interest of the film audiences in the ancient geology, the filmmakers decided to give a story The Pirates of the Caribbean flavor. Let us be the judge whether it was a good move. I’m going to go to see this just for the sake of following Scrat’s permanent nervous breakdown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w8NXT-u5OU

The Dark Knight Rises (from July 20th)

Only through self-denial and sacrifice the good stands a chance to win.

This is by far the most anticipated film of 2012. I must say I totally disagree with labeling Batman as a dark knight (who does not?). He’s done more than he could to stay morally impeccable. So does it matter if he is perceived as dark in someone else’s eyes? The director Christopher Nolan obviously thinks life wasn’t tough enough for Batman, so he comes up with even darker and grittier plot this time. He knows when it comes to storytelling – conflict rules! This time Batman, now – a city’s enemy, faces a relentless terrorist Bane. Tom Hardy vs Christian Bale – that’s what I call boxing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GokKUqLcvD8

War of the Buttons (from July 20th) If you are into French cinema and the WWII theme you may be interested in this film about a merciless play war between two gangs of village kids in Nazi-occupied France. It is written and directed by Christophe Barratier who also gave us The Chorus, which speaks for itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE3hpvYra3A

The Bourne Legacy  (from August 3rd) By now everyone is tired of waiting for the new James Bond movie. So Jason Bourne decided to fill up the void once again. Jeremy Renner accepts the baton from Matt Damon in the franchise’s gripping relay. Ed Norton and Rachel Weisz co-star in it. The film is written and directed by Tony Gilroy who penned the previous installments of the series, so we expect no less suspense from this one too. As always, the truth has never been buried so deep. Boo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSzy9qQ3mDE

Cosmopolis (from August 17th) It has already been released in cinemas in the UK and I’ve enjoyed seeing this highly original parable. It’s based on a Don DeLillo novel. It’s a story of a young billionaire (the best role of Robert Pattinson so far), traveling across Manhattan in his stretch limo, where he meets with his staff, lovers, friends, wife and, once outside the car, – his killer. The director David Cronenberg’s attention to detail, sophisticated and poetic dialogue and beautiful cameos, including my favorite from Samantha Morton, make the film a proper cinematic treat. The film received mixed reviews but I think it’s worth watching it to have your own opinion. Besides, how often do you go to see a film, which blows up your mind with controversial thoughts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS9jc3BnLRc

See you in the cinema.

P.S. To receive notifications of my weekly posts use subscribe tools in the upper right corner of the bar sidebar

Top 9 films to Watch b4 the End of Summer – Sneak Peak

Robert Pattinson stars in “Cosmopolis”. Source: cosmopolisthefilm.com

I need a break from existential thoughts, so this week I’m giving you a short overview of upcoming films I intend to watch in the next couple of months.

Brave (from June 22nd) Pixar returns with another piece of breath-taking animation. Brave is a story of a rebellious red-haired medieval Scottish princess who’s, like Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games, a big fan of archery. Director and writer Mark Andrews also wrote John Carter released earlier this year. The music is by Patrick Doyle whose recent work in Thor received critical acclaim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8GDJHR8iO0

To Rome With Love (from June 22nd) Don’t you just love the way Woody Allen makes travel guides to European capitals? After playing around with London in Matchpoint, Scoop and others, we were moved to Catalonia and introduced to a threesome affair in Vicky Christina Barcelona, shown a bohemian Montmartre in Midnight in Paris and are now in Rome as this year’s treat. It’s the 70th film by the four-times Oscar winning maestro Allen! As always, we are spoiled with a star-packed cast of Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Ornella Muti, Greta Gerwig, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Ellen Page and Woody himself. Don’t even hesitate to see this one in the cinema unless you’ve got a clinical allenophobia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZcip9HY1Pw

People Like Us (from June 29th) A man inherits a fortune and discovers he has a sister he’s never met before. A feel-good film and the cast rock too: Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks and Michelle Pfeifer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQDDAicwWR0

The Amazing Spider Man (from July 3rd) I’m dying to see this one just for one reason: to compare if it’s better or not than its predecessor. Andrew Garfield has taken the lead in this one and he looks the part as judged from the trailer. Emma Stone plays his love interest, which should be fun considering her lovely performance in The Help and Easy A. I’m also intrigued with a choice of the director, Mark Web: he has done only one feature before – 500 Days of Summer. The music is in solid hands of James Horner, the Avatar and Apocalypto composer. Let’s see how Spidey will be dealing with his archenemy Lizard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX9ZT3RbYE4

Ice Age-4 (from July 13th) Okay, Scrat the prehistoric acorn-obsessed and world-famous squirrel keeps messing with tectonics causing a continental drift. Considering the low interest of the film audiences in the ancient geology, the filmmakers decided to give a story The Pirates of the Caribbean flavor. Let us be the judge whether it was a good move. I’m going to go to see this just for the sake of following Scrat’s permanent nervous breakdown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w8NXT-u5OU

The Dark Knight Rises (from July 20th)

Only through self-denial and sacrifice the good stands a chance to win.

This is by far the most anticipated film of 2012. I must say I totally disagree with labeling Batman as a dark knight (who does not?). He’s done more than he could to stay morally impeccable. So does it matter if he is perceived as dark in someone else’s eyes? The director Christopher Nolan obviously thinks life wasn’t tough enough for Batman, so he comes up with even darker and grittier plot this time. He knows when it comes to storytelling – conflict rules! This time Batman, now – a city’s enemy, faces a relentless terrorist Bane. Tom Hardy vs Christian Bale – that’s what I call boxing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GokKUqLcvD8

War of the Buttons (from July 20th) If you are into French cinema and the WWII theme you may be interested in this film about a merciless play war between two gangs of village kids in Nazi-occupied France. It is written and directed by Christophe Barratier who also gave us The Chorus, which speaks for itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE3hpvYra3A

The Bourne Legacy  (from August 3rd) By now everyone is tired of waiting for the new James Bond movie. So Jason Bourne decided to fill up the void once again. Jeremy Renner accepts the baton from Matt Damon in the franchise’s gripping relay. Ed Norton and Rachel Weisz co-star in it. The film is written and directed by Tony Gilroy who penned the previous installments of the series, so we expect no less suspense from this one too. As always, the truth has never been buried so deep. Boo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSzy9qQ3mDE

Cosmopolis (from August 17th) It has already been released in cinemas in the UK and I’ve enjoyed seeing this highly original parable. It’s based on a Don DeLillo novel. It’s a story of a young billionaire (the best role of Robert Pattinson so far), traveling across Manhattan in his stretch limo, where he meets with his staff, lovers, friends, wife and, once outside the car, – his killer. The director David Cronenberg’s attention to detail, sophisticated and poetic dialogue and beautiful cameos, including my favorite from Samantha Morton, make the film a proper cinematic treat. The film received mixed reviews but I think it’s worth watching it to have your own opinion. Besides, how often do you go to see a film, which blows up your mind with controversial thoughts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS9jc3BnLRc

See you in the cinema.

P.S. To receive notifications of my weekly posts use subscribe tools in the upper right corner of the bar sidebar

Immortality: what we know and what we don’t.

Allegory of Immortality, by Giulio Romano, ca.1540.

Immortality of human soul is endlessly debatable until at least we find out what a soul is. Immortality of human body is a subject we can now talk about, thanks to the progress in biology. It is possible for us to live indefinitely long provided:

We don’t get a rapid fatal injury of the body organs and systems.
Our habitat doesn’t get destroyed with us in apocalypse.

What stops us from becoming immortal right now?

We are programmed to senesce and die at certain age.
We are susceptible to fatal infections.
We are targetted by mutations and other genetic alterations causing disease and pre-mature death.

How can we fight these things?

We need to crack the molecular program controlling our ageing.
We need to clarify the molecular mechanisms of infections.
We need to unravel the genetic and epigenetic basis of disease.

These three “needs” have been keeping biologists busy for the last half a century, since the discovery of DNA and its structure as a hereditary molecule. Things turned out more complex than we thought, they always do.  It’s not just about  DNA, but genes.

A gene encodes a certain final product, RNA or protein, and is physically a long double-stranded stretch of DNA monomers (called nucleotides) connected by phosphodiester bonds.

Our genome is as big as 20 000 genes encoding tens of thousands of proteins interacting with each other in a vast spatiotemporal network inside cells and in the extracellular milieu.

Chromatin is DNA that is complexed to histone and nonhistone nuclear proteins and condenses to form a chromosome. Source: Nature.com

The work of each gene is controlled by chemical modifications of DNA, it consists of, and modifications of proteins associated with our DNA, which are executed by dedicated protein enzymes. Yes, our genome is not naked DNA but a dynamic structure called chromatin: DNA is covered with proteins called histones, which help to structure our genome and cram it into nuclear compartment of the cell. On top of histones, there are hundreds of other proteins, which associated with a gene’s DNA and help to regulate gene’s activity. These get chemically modified as well.  And their modifiers get modified too in their own unique way, depending on the time, place, magnitude and other characteristics of the incoming signal. I actually simplify here.

So, twenty thousand genes, tens of thousands of proteins, hundreds of different cell types in our body. Complexity is enormous.

It is not surprising that several million scientists, including me, work in different areas of natural sciences.

Now, before you get bored, I have to assure you that we’ve made a lot of progress and discovered many mechanisms of ageing and dying. The scientific results led to improved treatments of hundreds infectious diseases.

Source: cdc.gov

Hey, what about ageing and life expectancy? – you may ask me. – Nothing’s really changed in the past 50 years. Science has been sleeping or what?

World map of Life expectancy. Source: Wikipedia.com

Science is as busy as it ever was. We discovered and characterized causes for many diseases on the molecular level, including ageing.

Here is one of them. We found that cells in our body are programmed to age because chromosomes, vessels for our genes, are capped with structures called telomeres. Shortening of the telomeres controls how many times each cell can divide, before it stops and dies eventually. There is a mechanism to sustain telomere length, which is active in stem cells and cancer cells. These cells can divide as many times as they want. They are immortal. So, part of us is immortal.

Stem cells – are the ones that can self-renew and also give rise to progenitors dividing into specialized cells in the organism, to replace the old or damaged ones. You may ask why we don’t just make stem cells to renew all our tissues indefinitely. This way we won’t age. That’s one of the goals of stem cell research. Using stem cells in tissue and organ repair and cosmetic purposes is already in progress. We are yet to find out why and how stem cells are programmed to allow for only a century but not a longer lifespan.

Another factor limiting our lifespan is cancer. There’s a theory that any cancer cell is in fact a stem cell gone wild. Mutations accumulate in cells, including the stem cells. In norm, stem cells only divide when instructed by specific internal or external signals. In case of cancer, cells divide ignoring any instructions to stop and turn into big tumors.  Our immune system tries to kill misbehaving cells, but cancer cells can evade this by rapidly changing, dividing and accumulating more mutations. Ironically, our organism kills all the weak cancer cells and selects the toughest. We need to have a reliable method to track and eradicate malignant cells missed by our immunity.

Cancer cell. Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library

So, all the longevity research focuses on these two main tasks: make stem cells to work forever and kill them if they turn into cancer.

But there are alternatives.  They may be fictional at the moment, but they are plausible nonetheless. I’d like to hear about them from you.  Do you have ideas of how to live forever?

What if the Earth is dying and the only way to stop it is to become immortal yourself. What would you try to do? What risks would you take?

In the future posts I will come back to the meaning of immortality and discuss whether we really need it.

How Can a Book Befriend You?

photo by Robert Cottingham Source: http://www.albaps.co.uk/

Some people say that the best way to write a great story is to write a book you’d want to read yourself. Holden Caulfield, the troubled teenager from The Catcher In The Rye, thought about it in his unique way:

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.”

Your story needs to be interesting enough to make the reader to want more, it needs to transport the reader into the world he’d like to stay in for longer. This is one of the reasons why book series are so popular. People like to invest into long friendships with someone they like, readers – with books.

How can a book befriend the reader?

It needs to make her feel not just a bystander, but an active participant. One can do that by putting the reader into the character’s shoes.

A narrative style called First person point of view (POV) may be helpful here. If you do it right, you could be the next Susanne Collins or EL James. Your readers would then take up archery or start chasing billionaires at charity events.

Your first person POV’s narrating voice needs to be fresh, distinct and nuanced. But how to achieve that? James Scott Bell tells us it’s all about showing us the character’s attitude.

If you decide to write in the first person POV, then read and analyze the best books written in this style and the ones you think are close to you genre-wise.

To create a better conflict, think about the dark side of your character. Explore this shadow and use it. The story is always better when the external conflict is mirrored in the inner struggle. And it is more real like that.

In his blog post about strategies of making your book viral Larry Brooks deconstructs the latest book sellout phenomenon 50 Shades of Grey by EL James (whom I’ve mentioned earlier in this post). This erotic novel is a part of a book trilogy, which is written in the first person’s POV.

Now you may ask: is a book containing graphic BDSM sex scenes really trying to befriend you? Or it just simply exploits women’s sexual fantasies? Good question, I don’t know. You may call me old-fashioned and prejudiced but I think sex is better “portrayed” on the silver screen, it looks vulgar on a book page. I’m shielding myself from all these rotten eggs you’re throwing at me right now, I may use them for breakfast later on, lol.

But I digress from the topic of friendship. Books don’t betray you, they are always there for you. They only speak when you want them to and they don’t need much space. They won’t judge you but rather thank you if you share them with your friends (provided those friends are not arsonists or shredders). How can a book befriend you? Of course, by giving it all to you and requesting just a little bit of your attention, emotion and thinking.

If you are craving for more writer’s food after this serving, you may want to read my winter post Undercooked novels don’t taste as good as rare steak.

You can also pick up a copy of my short story Usher Syndrome on Amazon Kindle, which is written in the first person’s POV. It’s a tale of love and gene therapy. After receiving an amazing feedback from my readers, I have concocted the follow-up story, which, I am pleased to announce, will be coming out soon. Watch this space.

Prometheus. Big Things Have Small Beginnings

Ridley Scott returns with a long-anticipated supernova explosion box office hit Prometheus, which would undoubtedly please sci-fi fans all around the world. Even the film theme the director is back with is no small. The Origin of Life. Where do … Continue reading →

Grigory Ryzhakov

What is the POWER of the Mankind? The Avengers Deconstructed

I think I overdosed you lately with existential topics. What did you expect? We had the worst April and most of May weather in English history (N.B., subject to mild exaggeration). Now the sun is up and Grisha (yep, that’s … Continue reading →

Grigory Ryzhakov

What is the Meaning of Life?

When I was a child this was the question I asked myself every often, but others seemed to be uninterested in it. Adults and other kids would just reply to me: “I don’t know”. I thought it was some kind of puzzle. I suspected the world cooked a plot against me and was just testing me to see how I would react to things and whether I would be able to find an answer all by myself. I know this sounds very egocentric, but that’s how I thought about it back then.

When I was a teenager I figured out that no one really knows the answer and people tend not to ask themselves this question, because if the answer is I don’t know, then the next logical question is Why do you bother then? It may cause frustration and even depression.

42 is the ultimate answer provided by the supercomputer Deep Thought (from The Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams)

From books I knew that the intelligent people who mused about eternal questions were not very happy. The lack of understanding of life, of the point of existence, drove many people, especially writers and other artists, to suicide. I, however, being a natural born optimist, thought otherwise. Not knowing a purpose of life inspired a thirst of knowledge in me, a burst of enthusiasm, I wanted to learn things, I still am an infophile to this day. But then you may ask what if you waste all your life seeking the answers and you don’t find them? Surely it may get you very upset at some point. A smart person would know that such quest is futile and you’re just being deluded and making a fool of yourself.

It’s a fair point. But you see I don’t assume there is an objective meaning that my limited human brain can grasp. We are mortal creatures and time has a direction and stopping points for us: we are born and dead as biological and physical entities. How can we understand on the gut level concepts of immortality, multiple dimensions, infinite time and infinite space, no beginnings and no endings? Grasping such things requires unemotional philosophical and scientific approach. We are limited by our nature, we stain everything we perceive with emotions, label things as bad and good, sad or happy, when such categories don’t really exist in nature. Sadness or happiness are things when can work out ourselves, they have nothing to do with our lack of understanding of eternal questions. Why not to be happy about the fact that we don’t know who we are or what we are here for, and see the world just as an explicably amazing place for our endless exploration?

So, if we’re never going to find out what is an objective point to life, why do we keep living?

It’s time to use some aid from the classical philosophy, the digest on the matter is given in a greatly organised manner on a Wikipedia page: Meaning of Life. I recommend you to have a look.

My favorite are the Ancient Greeks. I’m still so shocked about what a smart bunch of guys they were, I need a constant medication to calm down. Only joking. But all the same, many of them were firm in their views, while for me it’s hard to define myself other than with a label “confused”. I think I’m a mixture of Epicurean, Stoic and Taoist, he he.

Absurdists saw three solutions to how to deal with the existential burden of eternal questions. 1. Suicide – not really an option, because you die anyway, you may as well do something interesting instead of just  lazily sinking into oblivion; 2. Religious faith, – you just assume there’s a God or another superpower who knows the meaning, and you humbly believe in it. Saves you from questioning yourself. But the problem is that if your faith is not absolute, than you start doubting it and thinking what if this faith is man-made and not real. I don’t envy people of faith with such doubt, it’s as hard as being an atheist. Albert Camus called this option a philosophical suicide, because such person stops searching for the meaning and just passively sticks to a meaning provided by his faith. I think, since you can’t disprove God’s existence, having a faith is a nice choice as long as you don’t start forcing it on other people. It may backfire. 3. Acceptance of Absurd – you just agree to live though you know that you’re never going to get any answers or meanings. Accept the meaninglessness. I think it can become very stressful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C5NLfYdZaE

In this music video Garbage portrays a human-like android programmed to kill who contemplates on the meaning of life

I don’t like these three. Sorry, absurdists, nice try though, he he. I suggest an option number 4. Create your own meaning.

Nature is full of creation, because Life is motion.

The meaning of Life is in its definition. Life is about motion, change, creation and exploration. Look at how galaxies and planetary systems evolve, look at how chemical compounds evolved and then eventually they assembled into macromolecules, which allowed biological Life to appear. Look at Evolution. At how organisms without rest grow, fight, evolve, diversify, and explore new ecological niches.  Nature is full of curiosity, it’s always looking for new opportunities to expand and evolve. It’s not because it has a will to do it like a human person, it’s because of an inbuilt quality of the living matter to change and transform. Life is programmed to flow and change, whether you look at quantum mechanics, thermodynamics of it, or chemistry and biology in general.

Maybe we’ll find out about how the Big Bang occurred and what preceded it, but I’m sure there will be plenty mysteries of what happened before and after. Every year we solve some of nature’s puzzles, but there will always be plenty of others to tackle for our children and their descendants. We should be happy for them.

Meanwhile, most of you when asking What is the meaning of life? really ask a question What is the meaning of MY life? That’s where my option number 4 comes useful. You should live in a way meaningful to you, or create a meaning for yourself. That could be, for instance, going to colonise Mars or becoming a belly dancer, or anything else that you feel makes your life meaningful.

I see and meet a lot of people who are lost, they live automatically, go to work they hate, and they often dive into hedonism or drugs or both as a form of escapism. They are unhappy, because they don’t have a purpose in their lives. They should ask themselves questions like ”What is making me happy?”, ”What prevents me from reaching my dreams”, “What are my dreams?”, “How can I find out what makes me happy or gives me a meaningful life?”, “How do I plan my life and what actions do I take for my life to have a purpose?”, etc.

Every person will have different answers to that, because we are different. Psychology tries to explain why we are different. Perhaps you’ve heard of socionics, Myers-Briggs tests and so on. Some people have a primary goal to serve, to love or to be loved, others may want to explore things, or to achieve perfection at things, or to reach power. You need to find out who you are and what your purpose is; it’s a part of a process of growing up and becoming mature and wiser. And that’s a good meaning. A journey to discover things.

Though in this post I probably didn’t give you any answers, I hope I have made it clear for you that thinking about existential questions and exploring life is not a daunting but exciting thing to do. We are here for a great ride until death puts us to eternal (or maybe not) sleep. Let’s have fun!

P.S. I can’t possibly cover everything in one post (I went far overboard with this one), I’ll keep writing about life and its amazing manifestations. And if you have any questions, just ask me.

What Is the Meaning Of Life?

When I was a child this was the question I asked myself every often, but others seemed to be uninterested in it. Adults and other kids would just reply to me: “I don’t know”.  I thought it was some kind … Continue reading →

Grigory Ryzhakov

What Is The Meaning of Life?

When I was a child this was the question I asked myself every often, but others seemed to be uninterested in it. Adults and other kids would just reply to me: “I don’t know”.  I thought it was some kind … Continue reading →

Grigory Ryzhakov