Aesthetics of Longing – Tarkovsky on the Meaning of Art

Andrei Tarkovsky on the meaning of art. His book, Sculpting in Time, has become my artistic manifest.

Aesthetics of Longing – Tarkovsky on the Meaning of Art

This photo was taken in a Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo, which rarely hosts services due to the hostility of the neighbouring Albanian population. I really liked the way light enters through the small windows and falls on this and other chandeliers.

Aesthetics of Longing – Oswald Spengler on Purpose of Life

Oswald Spengler on purpose of this life on earth and on eternity.

Aesthetics of Longing – Sophocles on Nostalgia & Pain

Aesthetics of Longing – Solzhenitsyn on the Meaning of Earthly Existence

Solzhenitsyn is a writer of great relevance to our times because he lived in East (Soviet Union) and the West (America) and critically examined both. He nicely articulated the positive and negative aspects of both societies. This is especially important today when there is rising tension between the two.

Aesthetics of Longing – “Men Have Forgotten God”

Solzhenitsyn often repeats that when he was a child old people used to say that the Russian Revolution, and all the other bad things that have happened, were a result of the fact that:

“Men have forgotten God.”

Aesthetics of Longing – Solzhenitsyn on Freedom & Home

Anyone who felt nostalgic for a long time knows that the feeling can be compared to imprisonment. Not that I am saying that this is some positive or romantic feeling. I think that it cripples a person’s soul and the ability to live a normal life. It is, as I later realised, a lack of spirituality and faith in God. That is why Solzhenitsyn was often ‘grateful’ for his imprisonment by the Soviets as it helped him awaken his spirituality.

Aesthetics of Longing – Solzhenitsyn on Freedom & Home

Aesthetics of Longing – Solzhenitsyn on “his task on earth”

This is a photo of the 14th Century Decani Monastery in Kosovo $ Metohija, Serbia. It is one of my favourite places on this planet. It is, if we use a cliche, a piece of heaven on earth. Decani Monastery is protected by Italian peacekeepers because it is under constant threat from the Albanian majority in this region of Metohija.