Aesthetics of Longing – Thomas Mann on Solitude

Aesthetics of Longing – Nikola Tesla’s Traditionalism

Nikola Tesla, graffiti in a small Belgrade street. Tesla had unique views about the past, tradition and its connection to the present and the future. He never dismissed things behind us but claimed that they are needed to build our future. Especially the non-material.

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 History

Oswald Spengler’s book The Decline of the West is one of the most useful guides for life in the 21st Century. Spengler takes us through the history of different cultures and civilizations, explains what lead to their rise and downfall.

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.