Dangerous meeting - former love. Signs about dating

Meeting a former lover or ex-lover can be different, it all depends on how the relationship ended, what it was like initially, etc.

Unfortunately or fortunately, during such meetings, not only grievances are remembered, but also pleasant moments of these relationships, regardless of what caused the break.

Experts say that such an unexpected meeting can not only help to plunge into pleasant memories, but also lead a person into acute depression, which may arise due to the following factors:

The feeling arises again, but the beloved already has a wonderful family, which he (she) is not going to lose.

During the meeting, a feeling of alienation and indifference arises. It is difficult for a person to understand how former ardent love can cause indifference at the moment. Panic arises, the person is afraid that he will no longer be able to love and be loved.

"Return to the past" syndrome. Subconsciously there is a return to the time where the previous feelings arose. The danger of this syndrome is that a person forgets about the reality that he already has a family or a serious relationship, and indifference to everything arises.

The former love has noticeably changed (aged, gained weight, etc.). In this case, depression may be accompanied by the appearance of complexes. Thoughts such as: “Have I really grown so old too,” “How could I love this person,” “Probably no one likes me anymore,” etc. may arise. In this case, one should also take into account the fact that over time everyone’s tastes change, and a different perception of the world around them arises.

A person may begin to blame himself for being the initiator of the breakup of this relationship.

A comparative analysis of a former love and a current partner spontaneously arises. By idealizing a former lover(s), it may seem that the current partner is not so handsome, slender, etc.

How to behave when meeting your ex-love

Of course, as soon as an unexpected meeting takes place, you need to say hello and ask how he (she) is doing. This point must be completed even if the meeting does not bring much pleasure. With this gesture you show that you are a sufficiently mature and educated person.

If the meeting is unbearable and brings only negative emotions, you should simply nod and pass by. This will also show your level of education.
For communication, you need to choose neutral topics. Increased interest in your personal life can cause suspicion and unnecessary speculation from your ex-partner. It is also advisable to avoid direct answers to provocative questions.

If during a meeting such feelings as jealousy, anger, hatred arise, you need to say goodbye and leave as soon as possible. Meeting your ex-love is not an easy task, and there is no need to endure the negative emotions caused by this meeting!

The main thing when meeting your ex-partner is calm. Even if an emotional storm is boiling inside, you need to control yourself and not show excitement or other emotions that arise.

It is undesirable to be interested in the personal life of your ex-partner. This may cause feelings of jealousy, anger, etc.

Also, you should not show signs of attention towards your ex-lover(s). If he (she) has a family or a serious relationship, then there is a high probability of being rejected.

There is no need to remember the past. These memories can create tension and confusion. In order to avoid this, you need to discuss only topics related to the present.

During the meeting, it is important to behave naturally. You should not think that if you correct all the character flaws that your ex-partner did not like, he will return to you. Sooner or later you will get tired of pretending to be someone you really are not.

It is not advisable to hide your relationship with another person.

If after the meeting any feelings arise, it is extremely undesirable to call, write SMS, or in any other way try to contact your ex-partner (of course, if this has not been previously agreed). The feelings that arise are often short-term in nature and can disappear in just a couple of days.

If your ex-partner is married, it is highly undesirable to show interest in his person. Remember that with such an act you can destroy someone's prosperous family life.

If your ex-love insists on a meeting, and you, to put it mildly, do not want the latter, you need to refuse and not force yourself to take such actions.

Under no circumstances should you remember past grievances.

Statistics say that in most cases, meeting your ex-love does not bring pleasure. But be that as it may, it is necessary to behave with restraint, politely and confidently.

The meeting as an experience of awakening.
Powers of Resurrection in Human Encounter

Translation by M. Machavariani
with the participation of I. Ramishvili
TBILISI 1993

Novalis

PREFACE

There is no religion yet. Do you think that
religion exists - religion is necessary
create, give birth through
unity of many people.
Novalis, Fragment

What is a meeting? What is the significance of a meeting in a person’s life? What is revealed through an encounter between two or more people? What does the meeting have to do with the knowledge of karma?

These questions arise when considering the question of human encounter. There is a feeling that we are in contact with an intimate object and we are dealing not only with a person, but also with other entities. Isn't the meeting a moment of divine and human development, a moment of the evolution of the world? Don’t we know that human history, and therefore world development, is shaped by man? This paper attempts to highlight these very different issues.

Meetings can be considered from different points of view, for example, from the point of view of science: “If a person, I don’t want to say at the age of one, but suppose at the age of 14, is given the task of consciously solving the riddle of how to arrange a decisive meeting in his fiftieth year of life with another person, and if you imagine that this must be solved consciously, like a mathematical problem - imagine what would be required for this! 1 . The first hierarchy must apply higher mathematics or science in general to solve such a difficult problem. “The external phenomena of human life can even be incorporated into computational laws” 1.

The human encounter can also be viewed from the point of view of art. Those who meet act like artists: they freely shape what emerges in the encounter as substance.

In this work the human encounter must be examined from a religious point of view.

Science and art were freed from connection with the temple and the church and, in the course of human history, were transferred to the responsibility of individual people. Now it becomes necessary to practice religion in daily life.

The meeting mainly contains three phases:

See you,

During the meeting,

After meeting

It should be noted that in the biography of a person three large areas: science, art and religion appear as a unity. Therefore, in the biography we find that realized. what anthroposophy strives for: the reunification of these three large areas.

1. SEE YOU - SEE YOU

Who sees life differently than themselves
itself, destroying the illusion,
he himself is still entangled in life.
Life should be a novel not given
to us, but to those created by ourselves.
Novalis. Fragment 188

A person, when he is awake, stands in the physical world, shapes space in such a way that a center and a periphery can be distinguished. The center is the person himself, and the periphery is everything. what he senses. When he moves, this spatial form also moves with him.

Everything that appears in this space becomes more or less perceptible. This is where human encounters take place. Until a person appeared in this circle (see Fig. 1), the meeting itself had not yet taken place. This does not mean that a connection with him has already been established. Communication has not yet entered the realm of consciousness. The forces that are arranging this meeting are already at work.

Rudolf Steiner describes how lunar and solar forces operate in human life. Lunar forces subjugate a person to iron necessity, while solar forces give him the opportunity for freedom. Before people “meet, before they find each other in earthly life, they influence each other, not yet knowing anything about each other... Two people, say one twenty, the other twenty-five years old, met; they can look back on what they have experienced so far, and for them it will indeed become clear, for example, for a twenty-year-old, how all the individual facts of his life, from some corner of the world, led him in such a way that he met another a person who can also reconsider his twenty-five years, and who also comes from a completely different corner and meets him. And what in the picture of our fate does not depend on the fact that people who in two different corners of the world come out of their original points, then met each other, as if governed by an iron necessity, which is everywhere directed towards the point where they met" 2.

Yes, before they met, they were brought to each other by necessity, and this point mentioned by Rudolf Steiner at which they met is located in the above spatial form. But as soon as both these spatial forms are filled with the meeting itself, something very significant happens: both people mutually feel that solar forces begin to act in them.

Is there anything in human history - an event, a meeting - that illustrates this fact and confirms Rudolf Steiner's description? We find the prototype of this fact in the Baptism of the Jordan. John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth, both from the Hebrew Lunar culture, meet. The baptism is completed and the solar powers flare up in Jesus. The forces of necessity, the forces of Jehovah, the lunar forces that led the people so harshly in this ancient Hebrew culture, that shaped the fate of John and Jesus before and at their meeting, give place to the impulse of human freedom. This archetype shows us how, after this important meeting, the lunar forces, which brought them there by necessity, must diminish, and how the solar forces, which signify the forces of Christ, increase increasingly in the respective people. This is how we can understand the following statement of John: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Old karma, lunar karma must turn into new; this happens through solar forces. through the powers of Christ, through death and becoming, through sacrifice. John the Baptist was soon beheaded, and the Self of Jesus of Nazareth gave the place to the Solar Essence. This happened as a source, as a prototype in the turn of times for all mankind.

Which of these can be implemented in everyday life?

Apparently, here lies the task that is associated with the liberation of religion. Rudolf Steiner draws attention to the fact that in a human meeting a great mystery can be experienced, that one must meet the other person halfway with great interest: “Yes, a time will come that people should not sleep through, when people will receive a motivating impulse from the spiritual worlds through their Angel, encouraging us to have a much deeper interest in every person than we are inclined to have today. This increased interest in our neighbors must develop not only subjectively, as is something that people develop in themselves rather sluggishly, but in an impulse in which a person is actually transmitted with spiritual on the other hand, there is a certain mystery about who the other person is. I mean here something very, very specific, not some theoretical consideration, but: people recognize something that may interest them in each person."

When two people, thanks to their fate (lunar forces), are placed in front of each other, each of them is at a certain point in their biography. There is a process between two people because biography never ends. In order to be able to approach meetings with a different mood, you need to gather strength that will give everyday life a different meaning, so that you can experience religious things on a daily basis. Here a person can help, about whom Rudolf Steiner in his last address said: “He allows the most insignificant material to be reborn in the radiance of his spiritual light through his poetically magical idealism” 4: Novalis.

2. DURING THE MEETING

First stage: Annunciation.
Religion and everyday life

Our whole life is service to God.
Ordinary life is sacred service.
Novalis Fragment 78 and 73

When two people meet, they may experience two things: either they must deal with the forces of the past, or they must prepare for future challenges. In any case - and this will increasingly apply in the future - they need to know themselves and, thanks to this, act in the sense of evolution, that is, in the sense of what they themselves want, what they themselves intended to do before birth. These moments of meeting can truly be healing moments of life, when one strives to realize what Rudolf Steiner said: “that in the future every person in every person should see the hidden divine.... Something will appear in man that is revealed outside from the divine foundations world, is revealed through flesh and blood" 3.

This knowledge of oneself and others occurs through a process that can develop as follows:

1. External acquaintance with each other.

2. Achieving deep insight into the essence of another.

3. Knowledge of the karmic forces that operate here.

4. Thanks to this, a new flow of forces arises.

When we consider this process, we find that through it the person who experiences the encounter in this way experiences directly what usually happens in worship.

1. Annunciation.

2. Sacrifice.

3. Transsubstance, transformation.

4. Communion (Kommunion - connection).

Thus, it is possible to implement in everyday life the prediction of Rudolf Steiner: “All free religiosity, which in the future will develop within humanity, will be based on the fact that in each person the image and likeness of the deity will actually be revered directly in life practice, and not only only in theory. Then there will be no need for religious compulsion, because then the meeting of every person with every person from the very beginning will be a religious act, a sacrament" 3 .

This lies in the design of the gods, so that religion, which means the connection of man with the gods, should become a free action, a willed action that brings everyday life into contact with the spiritual world. “This is at least the basis of the impulses of the work of the Angels: to pour out complete freedom of religious life on people.”3 This is true esotericism. It is our task, our duty, not to oversleep this fact. Covering the meeting in this way leads us on this path - to the fulfillment of the sacrament - the sacrament of the Holy Mass. Now, if someone appears in the named space of perception, a need arises in us to know who this person is.

The first stage requires detailed knowledge of this neighbor on the physical plane. It's like introducing each other. They will find out his name, where he came from, and learn something about the external circumstances of his modern incarnation. At the same time, we must not forget the instructions that Rudolf Steiner gave in his reports to the delegates regarding the first stage of the formation of the Community in the sense of anthroposophy: awakening to the natural side of another person. Usually in relation to another they are in a dream state: “But how do we awaken? We awaken when in contact with the outside world, we awaken when light, sound, heat appear, when exposed to all the other contents of the sensory world, but we actually also awaken - at least in ordinary everyday life - in contact with the external side of another person, with the natural side of another person" 5. Thanks to this statement, the importance of sensory perceptions becomes clearer. You need to perceive this side of the other person with interest and attention. They are usually inattentive and sleepy, so they only have difficulty remembering this external appearance. The senses are given to us for perception, for increasingly meaningful perception. When another person enters the circle of perceptions, one can no longer remain sleepy, but must awaken to his “outer side.” This sets in motion the process that is to be discussed here. The forces of fate, lunar forces send one person to another, and this happens on the physical plane. Through this the forces of destiny are announced. Solar forces begin to act: they bring freedom. What will now be made of this is no longer subject to necessity.

We grasp this moment of freedom, when this first stage is experienced meaningfully. Now you can set a task, purposefully carry out this process further through three other steps.

Second stage: Sacrifice.
The true image of a person

I am you.........
Novalis Fragment 96

Every person is in the flow of development. From the moment of birth, he enters into the quality of time: his earthly development ends only with death, but man never stops becoming. Therefore, the following questions arise: How can one take part in the formation of this formation? Is this even possible? We found out that upon meeting, at the moment when the partner enters the circle of perception, liberating solar forces begin to operate. The hour of freedom is striking. And therefore it is extremely important to know that in the meeting there is an opportunity for conscious development.

The first step has been completed. There may be a need to move on. At this moment, the process may end: we no longer meet the person or the moment of fate is missed, its significance is not noticed. It is comforting that the will of fate always leads us to meet again and again, before our (possible) awakening. By taking this process into our own hands, a second step can be taken that will take us into the deeper layers of the other person. There is one condition associated with this step: in a meeting, everyone must be able to reveal their own and selflessly sacrifice themselves to what they want to express themselves in the meeting. Many people get stuck at the first stage: they maintain only a purely external attitude towards each other, without penetrating deeper. They close themselves before the gaze of another. They make, so to speak, an internal “E” (in the language of eurythmy). It is difficult for them to be able to take the second step, which can be called “Sacrifice”. These people could go further if they could fully open up to each other. If each participant now offers his or her own to the altar of the meeting, something important is revealed. Through this sacrifice he comes to the true image of the other. He overcomes the outer side of the physical, the natural side, which he studied with interest at the first stage. But what is the true image of a person?

Rudolf Steiner's warning must now be taken into account. As a rule, people perceive each other insufficiently consciously. The usual reaction is the experience of sympathy or antipathy towards another, while a person’s life situation is such that he is placed on the battlefield between Lucifer and Ahriman. Previously, pagan peoples outlived themselves based on atavistic abilities in imagery and myths. The Jewish people, on the contrary, strove for abstractions, for law.

“But from his current views, in which they still live, following the covenant: “Do not make yourself an idol,” a person must return to those abilities of his soul, which again, but now consciously, must create images for himself. Because only in images, in the future, social life will be correctly represented in imagination. The first rule of social life will be associated with the ability to consciously master this power, which in the myth-making abilities of man lay unconsciously or subconsciously, atavistically.... A person must, through his worldview, come to imagery, then from This conscious myth-making creates the social in human-human communication" 6 .

The following may be considered as an exercise for developing this faculty and thereby approaching the true image of man, as required by the spirit of our times.

"You can contemplate a picture approximately the same as that presented in the "group": Representative of humanity, Lucifer, Ahriman. Primarily, you have here the same thing that operates in the whole man, since man is a state of equilibrium "between the Luciferic and the Ahrimanic . Imbue your life with the impulse to treat every person in such a way that you see this trinity in him, see it specifically in this person, then you will begin to understand him. And this is an essential force that now wants to develop in the fifth post-Atlantean period: so that we no longer pass by each other like ghosts, without creating images of each other and defining other people only on the basis of abstract concepts. Now we do nothing more than pass each other like ghosts. One ghost represents: This is a nice guy, another: This guy is not very nice; this is an evil person, this is a good person - all these abstract ideas..... What radiates from the inner of every person, what wants to come true, is that when one person meets another, an image somehow breaks out of the person , an image of a state of equilibrium of such a special kind that expresses an individual person. Of course, this includes that heightened interest that I have often described to you as the basis of social life, that heightened interest with which a person should relate to another person" 6 .

The fundamentals of cognitive methods are given to us by Rudolf Steiner: “We must learn to look at the man of the future. This means thinking Michaelically... I want to give you a more precise description of what Michaelic thinking means. You say to yourself, even if you say it silently, even not in your thoughts, but you say to yourself directly in the most intimate foundations of your consciousness: This is a man of flesh and blood, this is a man of earthly matter... But you do not see the man who unites all this, this man. You will express yourself correctly only then, when you say: What stands here before me is only particles of matter that the human spiritual form has absorbed; the invisible that stands here before me makes it visible to me. - Man is invisible. truly invisible.... That that at every moment of our waking life we ​​say this to ourselves with full consciousness - this means the Michaelic way of thinking, which disappears when a person is considered as a conglomerate of mineral particles that he has only arranged in a certain way.... We are among invisible people - this means to think Michaelically" 7 .

The following exercise by Rudolf Steiner also belongs to this second stage. He calls it the mental path to Christ: “The more a person boasts of his own stubborn opinion and is interested only in it, the more he moves away from Christ at this moment of world development. The more a person develops a social interest in the opinions of other people, even if he considers them delusions, the more a person illuminates his own thoughts with the opinions of others, the more he has next to his own thoughts, which he may consider to be truths, those that others develop, which he considers to be delusions, but is nevertheless interested in them. he feels more in the innermost part of his soul the Word of Christ, which today must be illuminated in the sense of the new teaching of Christ... And this is what he says today to everyone who wants to listen to him: Consider what your littlest brother thinks in such a way that it I think in it and what I feel with you when you compare the thoughts of another with your thoughts, having a social interest in what is happening in the soul of another.”

Also. just as at the first stage, due to insufficient interest, you may not perceive another, so at the second stage, avoid the danger of loving your own thoughts and being biased towards them. But take it as an exercise to become completely imbued with the opinions and thoughts of the other, sacrificing your own opinions at that moment, then the other will express what he is. We become a shell for another being, giving him free space. Thanks to the sacrifice, part of the barrier that stands between the two meeting will be removed. Now the way is clear for the next step.

Third stage: Transsubstance, Transfiguration.
Knowledge of karmic forces

We will understand the world when
we will understand ourselves,
since we and he are inseparable halves.
We are God's children, God's sprout.
In the future we will be the one
that is our Father.
Novalis Fragment.

The fact that we perceive the thoughts of another person, allowing them to unfold within ourselves, prepares us to dare to take the next step. This next step. Transfiguration must be desired and strive for it with all your might. This increase in the perception of the true image of a person is the real condition for seeing another. This is entering the sphere of karmic forces. We strive to understand these forces that led to the meeting. At the second stage, the personality that has come to us is completely revealed. But another mystery remains: Why did this person come to me? What connects us from the past? What are we going to do together in the future?

To reveal this secret, to look beyond this Maya, you need to allow these forces to act within yourself, and they change a person in such a way that they make it possible to look beyond the limits of the modern incarnation. These forces are the solar forces that connected themselves with the Earth, the forces of Christ Jesus that carry karma. These are the forces that bring freedom with them. Therefore, things must be done based on one’s own decision so that they can be effective.

Now it is time to do the karmic exercise, the exercise can be described as follows: it covers three days. On the first day, the soul vividly imagines a situation that has recently been experienced. This picture should be “painted” as vividly and in as much detail as possible. This is the beginning of an exercise that must be done carefully to create a strength that will wear off after three days. Over the course of three days and nights, the picture will be completed by the various essential members of the practitioner. She makes the journey and transformation from the astral body to the etheric body to the physical body. When waking up after the third night, respectively, on the morning of the fourth day, they see a new picture, which clarifies the karmic connection with the situation that was presented in the first picture. Rudolf Steiner summarizes it as follows:

With this image, which has completely changed, you get out of bed on the fourth day." 9

Rudolf Steiner notes that thanks to this exercise one can come to a quick knowledge of karmic connections; however, it requires enormous willpower. For he emphasizes that the exercise must be done not 10 or 20 times, but 50-70 times before the result can be considered achieved. The process fails again and again. The force that paralyzes the will comes from a being who does not want to allow a person to achieve a karmic vision at all, from Ahriman. Therefore, Rudolf Steiner also speaks of courage, which is developed through regular exercise. This courage is necessary to be able to carry out the exercise for as long as possible. A dispute with forces that want to interfere with karmic exercise and, accordingly, the possible knowledge of karma, and thus spiritual advancement, raises the question of where and how to find help and protection.

After the refounding and laying of the Foundation Stone of the General Anthroposophical Society at Christmas 1923, during the Christmas Meeting, Rudolf Steiner indicated that from now on he could speak completely freely about karmic connections, as well as the knowledge of karma. Ita Wegman expressed it this way in her book “To Friends”: “The laws of karma were made public. It was impossible to talk about karma and its laws in such detail before the Christmas Meeting. want to hide karma. These oppositions had to be overcome so that the Anthroposophical Society would not be alienated from the new forces. from the impulses of Michael" 11 .

One can live with the question: how did it become possible to overcome the Ahrimanic forces?

During this Christmas Meeting of 1923, Rudolf Steiner entrusted to the members of the Anthroposophical Society a meditation, the utterance of the Foundation Stone, which he immersed in the hearts of those present and all people who associate themselves with it. From the powers of this Foundation Stone 12 a protection for spiritual work is undoubtedly formed, for example, for research in the field of karma. “When karma is understood by the forces” of the heart and head, when without emotion, without frivolity, in deep seriousness, repeating earthly lives are perceived and understood, then the last anti-Michaelic demons can be defeated, and the era of Michael with will find its continuation with the coming coming of Christ" 11.

The Foundation Stone must now be examined with all caution, taking into account the karmic exercise described above.

The text of the saying of the Foundation Stone consists of four parts. In the first three parts, an appeal was made to the human soul to complete the exercise. In the first part she must practice "Spiritual Remembrance." Does this mean that memory is addressed to the entire development of humanity up to the knowledge of humanity’s presence in the Divine? The student of the secret “knows that first there was the supersensible, and that everything sensible developed from it. He sees that he himself, before he first came into this sensory world, belonged to the supersensible” 13.

In a karmic exercise, one “remembers” personal karmic situations that were figuratively imagined at the beginning of the exercise.

In the second part of the Foundation Stone, the exercise reads: “Practice contemplation of the Spirit.” Doesn’t this mean that in this process of reflection we bring the Spirit into ourselves and imprint it, so that we then become “truly sentient”?

On the second day of the karmic exercise, the image is imprinted on the etheric body.

And finally, the third exercise of the Foundation Stone, it leads to the vision: “Practice in seeing the Spirit.” One can live with the question: what will be seen? The will becomes free, thoughts become true.

Here comes the point where the fourth part of the Foundation Stone must be considered. Just as through the first part they recalled the spiritual history of the development of mankind, including the Fall and combination with matter. now after these three steps one contemplates the action of the incarnation of the Solar Forces in the turning of times. The “Light of the World Spirit” entered the earthly stream of existence. The action of Christ becomes the experience of the practitioner. Christ connected himself with the human body and through this He, having atoned for the Fall, took upon himself the karma of humanity.

On the fourth day of the karmic exercise - corresponding to the fourth part of the saying of the Foundation Stone - karmic connections should be seen.

Through meditative work with the Foundation Stone, we come to a cosmic-karmic vision of the development of humanity. The effect of the Foundation Stone, which makes visible the deep connection of Christ Jesus with karma, supports the work that is carried out in penetrating personal karma. Thanks to this, a spiritual basis is formed, which objectifies this work and inserts it into the great interconnection of human development.

So this third stage, the stage of transformation or transubstantiation in the human encounter, is the moment of the highest truth. One must truly transform oneself in order to achieve a true relationship with other people. If this fails, then further progress is impossible. In the future, this becomes the cause of crises, misunderstandings and clashes between people. Instead of achieving the change in mindset necessary to move forward, they hide this inability with the words: this is life, this is karma. There is a slight tone of fatalism in this. If, however, on the contrary, one’s own freedom is recognized, and religion is thereby liberated, “then the meeting of each person with each person will immediately become a religious act, a sacrament” 3 .

Fourth step: Communion.
Fragmentation and unity

Only thanks to religion
people really come together.
Novalis Fragment

Evolution has required that humanity lose its unity in favor of the expansion of personality. The personal impulse has atomized humanity. The original common language is lost and humanity is fragmented into different nations. This is figuratively conveyed in the legend about the construction of the Tower of Babel 14. The more humanity moved forward, the more each person focused on himself. Now a movement opposite to this development will have to develop. People will have to consciously strive to re-form the lost unity. The emergence of the Conscious Soul since the 15th century has brought humanity into a situation where the personality of an individual person is allowed to come to full disclosure, but, as a consequence, because of this he is completely isolated. The path to new unity is connected with two conditions:

1. People must want this path (impulse of freedom);

2. This path must be clear.

The purpose of the new union is called Communion.

In the fourth part of the Holy Mass - Communion - bread and wine are served. Community members who want this come to the invisible table and unite through a common meal. Bread and wine, thanks to the sacrifice of the priest and the Transfiguration (Transsubstance), became the body and blood of Christ. Bread, holy prosphora has the shape of a small sun. Thus received solar forces contribute to the unification of community members. The solar powers of Christ are, however, connected with mystery. They act universally human and have access to individual individuality. “At first the Sun does not know anything about earthly life that is directly related to individuality. This could only happen due to the fact that at a certain moment in earthly development the high solar being, Christ, did not remain on the Sun, but descended from the Sun to Earth, became earthly man in a human body and through this united his own world destiny with the earthly destiny of humanity. Thanks to the fact that Christ from a solar being became an earthly being, thanks to this he gained access to individual human individualities" 2.

The other solar beings who remained on the Sun do not have this Christ quality, they only have a general approach to humanity. But Christ also preserved what the solar beings possess and what is beneficial to humanity: His action does not know any human differentiation. "Christ in this sense is not the Christ of individuals, when in his effectiveness he gives inner help to the genius and the fool in the same way. The Christ impulse has access to the individuality of man, and it is he who must create in the deepest interior if he is to come to effectiveness in man at all . These are not the forces of the mind, but the deepest spiritual and heart forces that must perceive the impulse of Christ; but when it is perceived, then it acts not in the individual human sense, but entirely in the universal human sense. This universal human action is inherent in Christ , since he is a solar essence" 2.

The forces of Christ resolve the following problem in relationships between people, arising from life situations: how can one fully reveal one’s individuality within a community of individuals? Let's take this question to a human encounter: how can you deeply connect your individuality with another person without losing yourself? The first three stages of the meeting, as they were presented here, try to give the first answer: through mutual recognition in physical acquaintance, through sacrifice, through an understanding of a common destiny, a new basis is conquered from the spirit. A community has been found that speaks to us from the Spirit. What really connects one to the other has clearly emerged. The spirit that brought us to each other reveals itself. We unite (take communion). Christ is the master of fate. He wants people to find each other again, so that the universally human will once again reign and act among us. He came to us to make this possible.

In the last part of such a meeting, at the end of the process those meeting experience the powers of the Sacrament. They feel gifted and feel the flame of the Holy Spirit that has brought them into unity. This fourth stage, which is Communion, can also be called the event of Pentecost. This process of meeting goes through metamorphoses, so to speak, and at the end stands this mystery of the event of Pentecost: meeting participants form a unity without losing their individuality.

How is Pentecost represented in the sense corresponding to the knowledge of new mysteries?

An explanation of this issue is given by individual thoughts of Rudolf Steiner.

His statements about the true meaning of the seasons seem alien to our modern views, even shocking. “Easter as a Christian holiday is a holiday of resurrection. The corresponding pagan holiday, which falls at approximately the same time of year as Easter, is an image of the resurrection of nature, a new rise of what naturally fell asleep during the winter, if I can put it that way. But Thus, we come to the point where we must emphasize that the Christian holiday of Easter is not at all a holiday that, in its internal meaning and essence, somehow coincides with the pagan holidays of the vernal equinox, but the holiday of Easter, if we mean a Christian holiday , coincides in essence, if we want to return to the old pagan times, with the ancient holidays that originated from the mysteries and which fall in the autumn period. The most unusual thing about the establishment of the Easter holiday, which precisely through its content is so obviously connected with a certain old mysterial essence , the most remarkable thing is that it is this Easter holiday that reminds us of that. how radical, how deep misunderstandings took place in worldviews on the most important issues in the course of human development. Because something important happened when the Easter holiday during the first Christian centuries was confused with a completely different holiday, and as a result it was moved from an autumn holiday to a spring one." 15

An old holiday that Rudolf Steiner talks about. This is the festival of Adonis. Adonis is the spiritual representative of “what in man is the blossoming youthful forces.... what in man represents itself as more beautiful” 15 . One of the cult actions of the autumn holiday was the immersion of the image of this god into the sea and its extraction from the water after three days. “The former funeral chants were replaced by jubilant chants and hymns in honor of the reborn god” 15. This cult took place in the fall, when the Earth was losing its vegetation, when nature was dying. In the aforementioned reports, Rudolf Steiner made it clear to us that the idea of ​​resurrection can be developed directly at this time of year, in which there is no support for the germinating and blossoming forces of nature. “A person must look closely at the death of nature - this was meant - in order to notice how he dies with external appearances, but with his inner being rises for the spiritual world. Unveiling the truth about death was the meaning of the old pagan holiday associated with the mysteries” 15 .

Mystery holidays that took place in the spring “put a person before the beginning of life.” He observed the mystery of birth, the descent into matter. The initiate into these spring mysteries was also introduced to the secret of how natural forces experience their resurrection at this time of year. There is a contrast here with the autumn mysteries. “So we look back at the time when the immersion of man from pre-earthly existence into earthly existence in certain mysteries was known through descent. In other mysteries, in the autumn mysteries, ascent into the spiritual was known” 16. The Mystery of Golgotha ​​took place in the spring. In calendar 17 1912/13 we read: “April 3, 33, according to the results of spiritual and scientific research, is the day of the death of Jesus Christ.” What the initiate was given to experience earlier in the spring mysteries, Christ accomplished through his act.

It has already been pointed out that Rudolf Steiner spoke about a misunderstanding in history when the Easter holiday was confused with a completely different holiday. To survive the resurrection in the fall, it was necessary to rely on the spring forces of germination. Summarizing, Rudolf Steiner said that the connection between the Easter forces itself is quite clearly visible - for humans- not for nature - with the autumn season. For nature, the Easter holiday occurs in the spring. Through the Spirit, the physical is set in motion so that it grows outward from the earth and blossoms. For humans, the “Easter holiday” is an autumn mystery. “Here, where nature is in decline, here man must remember its rise, its resurrection in the spiritual” 16.

Novalis expressed it this way: “When a spirit dies, it becomes a man. When a man dies, he becomes a spirit. Free death of the Spirit, free death of man” 18.

Since the beginning of the new age of Michael, since the last third of the nineteenth century, on the basis of anthroposophy, it has become possible, even necessary, first cognitively, then in experience, to distinguish between these two holidays. The Easter holiday, as a spring mystery that depicts the resurrection in nature, that is, in the physical and etheric, includes the Trinity (Pentecost), which is celebrated seven weeks later. Looking at the Easter holiday as an autumn mystery, a question may arise. This question says: where can we find the event of Pentecost in connection with this autumn mystery?

If you perceive the forces of death in nature in autumn and consciously enter into death, a deep understanding of the forces of resurrection arises. The further experience is an awakening in the spiritual. The time during the year when this can be experienced is Christmas in the sense of new mysteries. Rudolf Steiner often spoke about the need for a new perception of the holiday of Christmas. “Then humanity will not stop, looking back only at what is transmitted biblically about the spiritual journey of Christ Jesus on earth, and humanity will then have an understanding, an insight into the fact that from that time Christ connected himself with man in earthly life, and that he , if only a person wants to listen, always reveals himself. Then humanity in our time will be able to gain understanding and insight into the fact that just as once the Christmas holiday in the changing of the seasons followed Michael's autumn festival, so after the revelation of Michael, which took place in autumn time in the last third of the 19th century, there should be a festival of initiation, the Christmas festival, through which the understanding for spiritual birth should be rediscovered; for spiritual birth, which humanity needs in order to continue its earthly path so that one day the Earth, spiritualized, can find transformation into future forms.. Now we live in a time when we should celebrate not only the annual autumn festival, but now we live in a time when We must understand the revelation of Michael from the last third of the 19th century deep in our souls, starting from our own human essence, and when we must seek the way to the true holiday of Christmas, namely, to be permeated by the knowing Spirit" 19 .

Having correctly understood this point, it becomes clear that the new holiday of Michael, the holiday of autumn, corresponds to the new holiday of Christmas. The festival of the resurrection in the spring and the related event of Pentecost in the spring brought forces that saved the physical and etheric nature and the natural side of man from death. Nature and humanity can continue to live thanks to the work of Christ. The danger that human souls would no longer find bodies on earth to incarnate themselves in was overcome.

From the time the Conscious Soul was given to man, man must desire to experience death and resurrection in union with Michael. The opportunity for this is given to every person in the autumn time, the time of Michael. The danger that the human soul would no longer be able to house the Spirit can be overcome through this Michaelmas Feast of the Resurrection. Christ Jesus rose alive from the tomb (Easter - spring), an individual must of his own free will enter the tomb (Easter - autumn). Then he will achieve a conscious experience of the powers of the resurrection and Pentecost for him will be the time of Christmas in which he will experience the birth of his individuality in the Spirit. “Now is the time when we must find a way from the festival of Michael to the festival of deep winter, but which must contain the solar principle of the Spirit” 19.

This reveals an essential aspect of the 1923 Christmas Meeting. Then Rudolf Steiner “re-baptized” humanity with the fire of the Spirit, where everyone present could experience the birth of their individuality. From this side, the Christmas meeting can also be considered as an event. Pentecost. Christmas in the sense of new mysteries, in the sense of the age of Michael, is an experience of spiritual birth. And this is a new communion, thanks to which a certain number of people feel united based on the Spirit. Rooting must be sought not in blood, but in spirit. There are no longer sisters and brothers by blood, but by Spirit. The spiritual connection is as strong as the blood connection once was. Doesn't what Rudolf Steiner say to the people gathered at the end of the laying of the Foundation Stone on December 25, 1923 sound like the message of Pentecost?

“So listen to this, my dear friends, and it will resound in your own hearts, and then you will create a true unity of people for Anthroposophy and the Spirit that reigns here in the radiant light of thoughts, around the dodecahedral Stone of Love, will bring it into the world where it should shine and warm for the further advancement of human souls, for the advancement of peace" 21.

The statements about Communion in the sense of the Christmas Assembly, which means new mysteries, revealed the quality of this Communion. At the Christmas Meeting there was a meeting of 800 people who were brought together by their fate. Rudolf Steiner emphasized several times during the Christmas Meeting that this was an accomplished deed for those present. What happened here at the level of humanity as such, in connection with the Cosmos, is the germ for Communion, as the fourth stage of the meeting of two or more people. The process of human meeting ends in Communion, which means that people who meet find new relationships with each other, relationships that have their roots in the spiritual. They were brought together by lunar forces. After this process, solar forces began to shine between them. Proceeding from the Spirit, community arose 22.

3. CHANGE OF CONSCIOUSNESS WHEN MEETING.
MARY MAGDALENE MEETS THE RISEN ONE

How does he see the physical?
Nothing other than consciousness - through
fruitful powers of imagination.
Consciousness is eye, hearing and sensation
for internal and external meaning. Novalis Fragment

Review of the meeting showed that during this process a transformation of consciousness must begin. The prototype of bringing man to man through lunar forces was represented by the meeting of Jesus and John at Baptism in the Jordan.

The prototype of the process of passing through the stages of the meeting is given in the Gospel of John, chapter 20: the meeting of Mary Magdalene with the Risen One. Mary comes to the tomb and sees that Jesus’ body is no longer there. This body, which she loved so deeply as a human being, disappeared. This showed that the physical body of another person in the sphere of feelings - the external side of a person - must be perceived with great interest, with love, in order to take the first step towards the formation of community. A person awakens to another person. Hence it can be said that Mary Magdalene was fully awakened to this external side of Christ Jesus. But a person, in order to progress, must seek the true image of another person. The external side, after all, is only Maya, it must disappear, it must be overcome. This overcoming of the physical was accomplished by Mary Magdalene when she turned. She ascends to a higher state of consciousness in which she becomes capable of seeing the etheric. She sees the true image of Christ Jesus, the gardener, the one who will henceforth tend the earth in order to collect the true fruits. Thus she sees the ethereal Christ. But the true relationship between them is not yet clear to her. Her consciousness must undergo a new growth in order for her to “understand” it. Christ Jesus himself gives impetus, help to this step when he pronounces its name: Mary. The increase takes place and becomes apparent thanks to the words: and she “turned back” again. It is clear that this “turnover” is not physical at all: she uses other powers of cognition to understand what happened. Attitude is karma! - to the resurrected one it becomes clear to her: “Teacher!” she says, she recognizes him. The last step, connection with another. Participation in this moment of development is not yet possible. “Don’t touch me,” the resurrected one tells her 22.

4. GODS AND MAN FORMING FATE

Peace in every case is the result
interaction between me and the deity.
Everything that is - and arises - arises
from spiritual touch.
Novalis Fragment

In connection with Anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner drew attention to two important questions:

Anthroposophy must permeate life;

The European must make the path to the Spirit through the senses.

Regarding the first point, the following statement can express the meaning of numerous statements in this direction: “Anthroposophical spiritual understanding must be not only a theoretical worldview, but vital content and vital force. And only when we bring ourselves to such a state that our anthroposophical worldview is so strengthens itself in order to become truly fully vital, then it will fulfill its own task" 3 .

The second instruction - comprehension of the spirit through the senses - Rudolf Steiner explained as follows: “The task that is the special responsibility of the Caucasian (European - author) race is this: it must make the path to the spiritual through the senses (Sinne), since its organization is oriented towards the senses.” 23.

These two sayings of Rudolf Steiner give direction for the human encounter as a religious act, as an “act of human consecration” between people. In other words: a religious action is carried out in everyday life if through it a connection with the Gods can be established. Rudolf Steiner soulfully describes this fact: “What is accomplished by this meeting of different people, the Gods have already experienced it in advance as a consequence of what we had with this person in one of our previous lives.... But the Gods are precisely those whom we recognize as the essences of the first hierarchies, Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones.... they feel their need for man on Earth, whose creators they are.... And what the Gods again prepare for us in the next life as our destiny, they experienced this before us" 24.

From this it is guessed that in the meeting there is the substance of the Gods. The gods have already experienced "It". The said “This” makes it obvious that when we take the process into our own hands consciously, a connection with the Gods is established. The picture should make this clear:

The path to the Divine in man is carried out through the senses (Sinne - sense organs) //the first step of the meeting//. Now the task is to bring this substance, this divine substance, back to the gods. This is a “reverse cult.” This should be the path after the Meeting. We step over death and, in retrospect, experience the meeting again in the spiritual world, but much more consciously. Together with the Gods, in the clear light of consciousness, the preparation of “This” for the next incarnation will be formed. In the next incarnation, the meeting with the corresponding person will take place in the sense of new mysteries, that is, with the knowledge of what was planned between death and a new birth. One must consciously strive for what in the modern incarnation may seem to be a difficult to achieve ideal, so that through this human encounters in subsequent incarnations can be experienced in the sense of a “liberated religion.”

Rudolf Steiner was completely in control of this consciousness. This is shown by the following story by F. W. Zeilmans van Emmikhoven: “In December 1920 I went to Dornach. My attitude towards anthroposophy at that time became such that I had a strong desire to meet Rudolf Steiner. This was a decisive event. In particular, it happened like this: on the evening of December 17, my fiancée, who studied eurythmy in Dornach, and I were in the Carpentry Workshop. We were waiting for Rudolf Steiner's report. Outside it was bitterly cold: Dornach was lying in the snow. Suddenly the blue curtain next to the stage rose, and Rudolf Steiner ", whom I knew from portraits, approached the pulpit. At that moment I had a direct experience of recognition. This went so far that at the same time a whole series of pictures surfaced, vaguely indicating previous situations when I saw him as my teacher through the millennia" 25 .

After the report he was presented to Rudolf Steiner. Rudolf Steiner said then: “I have been waiting for you here for a long time.” The young man, believing that Rudolf Steiner meant that he had been in Dornach for a long time, replied: “But Herr Doctor, I arrived for the first time only this afternoon!” To this Rudolf Steiner smiled cheerfully and said: “That’s not at all what I had in mind.”25 - The initiate saw the meeting in full.

The substance that can be perceived and experienced in an encounter is the divine substance. People are the thoughts of the Gods. Gods think and people arise. The perception of man as the thought of the Gods in the reality of karma in the process of meeting is the true Communion (union) of people.

AFTERWORD

Looking back at the above, we add that Rudolf Steiner’s demand to fertilize life with anthroposophy began to operate in the most important areas of life, for example, in pedagogy, agriculture, medicine and in various creative, social and economic fields. In these varied relationships of life, the human encounter is of central importance because it creates moments of world development: a teacher meets his students, a doctor meets his patients, a production manager meets his employees. The consciousness that is revealed during the meeting must take on increasing significance.

Two issues of general interest still need to be addressed. The first question can be formulated as follows: must the various stages - Annunciation-Sacrifice - Transubstantiation - Communion - each time be completed before a step is taken to the next stage? It is clear that each stage must reach a certain maturity before the next one begins. However, in life the steps intersect. Knowledge of the physical (Annunciation) can last a long time until it is completely passed through. At the same time, it is very important that interest to the “outside” of a person did not weaken and everything arose anew. Likewise, the sacrifice of one’s own must all be performed again, and for further advancement it is necessary that will to this sacrifice never weakened. Practice active tolerance. In attempts to transform and find real karmic connections patience and endurance- conditions for further promotion. And finally, Communion allows you to arise in the soul humility and gratitude. We see that each stage has its own moral quality and at each stage different levels must be passed through.

The second question is: should everyone in the meeting progress equally? In this case, it is necessary to distinguish between the following cases: when these two people do not know anthroposophy; or is he an anthroposophist and a person ignorant of anthroposophy; or both are anthroposophists. In the first case, both people can do the process involuntarily. This then corresponds to what Rudolf Steiner, regarding initiation, called initiation through life. In this case, it is a matter of fate whether one person or both will go through this process. In the second case, the anthroposophist must naturally be “responsible” for the development of the whole. In the latter case, both will be responsible. When one notices that the other is not keeping up, he must practice patience, so that, without delaying his progress, he always tries to carefully accompany the other.

A brilliant example of this is the incident between Rudolf Steiner and F. W. Zeilmans van Emmikhoven at the end of the last part. Rudolf Steiner had such a consciousness that he could observe all karmic connections. With the greatest patience he tried, through talks, meditations and exercises, to expand the consciousness of the members of the Anthroposophical Society so that they would be able to consciously experience Communion. What Rudolf Steiner accomplished with his life matters in small ways to every person.

Of course, many questions remain open. The foregoing should serve as an incentive to further deepen this important topic. On the other hand, deepening can also be achieved through exercise and development of what has been presented in the sense in which Novalis noted:

"We only know because we do"

NOTES

1. Rudolf Steiner, Esoteric considerations of karmic connections, vol. 1, report dated 17.2.1924, Complete Works * (*Complete Works (Gesamtausgabe-GA), hereinafter PS.), No. 235, 6th ed. . 1975, Dornach.

2. Remark 1, report dated January 24, 1924.

3. Rudolf Steiner, What does an angel do in our astral body? Report dated 9.10.1918 in: Death as a transformation of life. PS 182, 2nd ed. Dornach 1976.

4. Esoteric considerations of karmic connections, vol. IV. Last appeal dated September 28, 1924. PS 238, 5th ed. Dornach 1981.

5. Rudolf Steiner, Two reports to the meeting of delegates in: Anthroposophical Education Society, Report dated 27.2.1923. PS 257, 2nd ed. Dornach 1974.

6. Rudolf Steiner, The social demand of our time is in the changed conditions of the time. Report dated December 7, 1918. PS 186. 2nd ed. Dornach 1979.

7. Rudolf Steiner, Message of Michael, Lecture dated November 23, 1919. PS 194, 2nd ed. Dornach 1977.

8. Rudolf Steiner, The internal aspect of the social riddle, Report dated 11.2.1919. PS 193. 2nd ed. Dornach 1977.

9. Rudolf Steiner, Esoteric considerations of karmic connections, vol. 11. Report dated 9.5.1924. PS 236, 5th ed. Dornach 1977, 3rd edition (1965) has a typo on page 174. In the last sentence quoted, it says "on the third day." This passage was corrected in the 4th edition.

10. Rudolf Steiner, Christmas meeting for the founding of the General Anthroposophical Society, 1923/24. PS 260, 3rd ed. Dornach 1963.

11. Ita Wegman, To Friends, Articles and Messages for 1925-1927. Here from 7.6.1925. 2nd ed. Arlesheim 1968.

12. Rudolf Steiner, Laying the Foundation Stone of the General Anthroposophical Society, Addresses and Sayings for 1923/24. 4th ed. Dornach 1978, Dep. ed. from PS 260, See note 10.

13. Rudolf Steiner, How to achieve knowledge of the higher worlds? Chapter: Life and Death, Great Guardian of the Threshold, PS 10. 22nd ed. Dornach 1975.

14. Rudolf Steiner, Occult History, Report dated 30.12.1910. PS 126, 4th ed. Dornach 1975.

15. Rudolf Steiner, Easter holiday as part of the mysterious history of mankind, Report dated 19.4.1924, 2nd ed. Dornach 1974.

16. See note 15 to the report dated April 21, 1924.

17. See Emil Funk, Calendar 1912/13, Rudolf Steiner Initiative, Dornach 1973.

18. Novalis, Fragment 246.

19. Lecture of 24.12.1922, Spiritual Communion of humanity, In: Rudolf Steiner, The relation of the world of stars to man and man to the world of stars, Spiritual Communion of humanity, PS 219, 3rd ed. Dornach 1976.

20. Statements orally transmitted to Friedrich Rittelmeier.

21. Remark 10. Report dated December 25, 1923.

22. The fourth stage of the meeting of correspondence can be found in "Stages of Higher Knowledge" by Rudolf Steiner, PS 12, 6th ed. Dornach 1979.

23. Rudolf Steiner, Missions of the souls of individual peoples in connection with German-Nordic mythology, PS 121. 4th ed. Dornach 1962.

24. See note 1, Report dated 2.3.1924.

25. We survived Rudolf Steiner, Memoirs of his students, published by M. I. Hook von Poturtsin. 6th ed. Stuttgart, 1980.

26. Rudolf Steiner, Human and Cosmic Thought, Report dated January 23, 1914, PS 151. 5th ed. Dornach 1980.

Quotations from Novalis are given according to publications: Works of Novalis. Published by Hoffmann and Kampe, Hamburg and Academic Publishing by Novalis. Published by S. H. Beck, Munich 1981.

Rosohovatsky Igor

Meeting in time

Igor Rosokhovatsky

Meeting in time

The jagged skyline was stained with blood. The sun was dying, emitting its last long rays and saying goodbye to the earth.

And he stood at the feet of the giant statues and looked around. He vaguely felt that something had changed here. But what exactly? Impossible to determine.

Anxious anxiety did not leave him...

He was an archaeologist. His thin, slightly tense figure seemed younger than his face, brown, weather-beaten, with tired, usually too calm eyes. But when, peering at a familiar object, they came to life and flared up, it seemed that this man was made of the same fiery material as the sun under which he walks on the earth.

Now his name was Mikhail Grigorievich Butyagin, and when he was here for the first time, she called him “Misha,” putting the emphasis on the last syllable.

This was five years ago, when he was collecting material for his dissertation, and Sveta was studying in her final year. She said: “This is needed for a thesis,” and he got her included in the expedition. In general, she turned it around as she wanted...

Mikhail Grigorievich peers at the giant figures, trying to remember which of them, in what place, she said: “Misha, it’s hard to love someone like you... And she asked, fervently tossing her hair: “Or maybe it just seems to me that I love you?” Mikhail Grigorievich’s lips trembled in a smile, then froze in two tense lines.

lWhat has changed here? “What could have changed?” he asked himself, looking around the dunes. And again he remembered in great detail everything that happened then.

Heading on their third journey to the remains of an ancient city, four members of an archaeological expedition strayed from the caravan and got lost in the desert. And then, among the dunes, they accidentally discovered these statues. The man's figure was slightly taller than the woman's. I remember his face, roughly carved, with almost no nose, no ears, with a wide gap in the mouth. All the more unusual, even unnatural, were the clearly defined eyes on this face. In them one could see diamond-shaped pupils, bluish veins on the iris, and stiff ridges of eyelashes.

The figures of the statues were striking in their asymmetry. The body and arms were very long, the legs were short and thin.

No matter how much the expedition members argued among themselves, it was not possible to determine which culture and era these statues belong to.

Mikhail Grigorievich will never forget the moment when he first saw the eyes of the sculptures. He took his breath away. He was dumbfounded, unable to take his eyes off them. And then, spreading his arms, submitting to someone else’s, incomprehensible force, he walked towards them like a sleepwalker. Only when he hit his chest against the legs of the statue did he stop and immediately feel something burn his thigh. He put his hand in his pocket and groaned.

The brass cigarette case was heated, as if it had been kept on fire.

Mikhail came to his senses and looked around. The history professor stood absolutely motionless, with bulging eyes, his hands pressed tightly to his sides. He looked more like a statue than these figures.

Even the skeptic Fedorov admitted that he felt somehow uneasy here.”

When Svetlana saw the figures, she cried out weakly and pressed herself closely to Mikhail, instinctively seeking protection. And her weakness gave birth to his strength.

He felt like a protector - strong, persistent, and overcame the fear of the statue's eyes.

Obviously, it was true what they said that a physicist lives inside the archaeologist Alyosha Fedorov. He secretly committed archaeological sacrilege - he broke off a small piece from the leg of a female statue in order to examine it in the laboratory and determine what substance the sculptures were made of. The substance was unusual - there were some curls running through it, and it was covered with pale bluish drops.

A few days later, the lost members of the expedition were discovered from an airplane. They flew to Leninabad, dreaming of soon returning to the desert and the statues.

But the Patriotic War began. Svetlana went to the front with Mikhail. The historian professor died in Leningrad besieged by the Nazis.

Alyosha Fedorov also died in an explosion in the laboratory. The explosion occurred just at the time when Alyosha was examining the substance of the statue. One of the laboratory assistants claimed that it was all to blame for that piece of substance, that it acts as a very strong catalyst - it accelerates some reactions and slows down others. Because of this, a flammable liquid in the laboratory broke out...

The war is over. Mikhail Grigorievich and Svetlana returned to their former life, to old, unfinished business. And of course, first of all - to the mystery of the statues. It turned out that in 1943 a small expedition went out into the desert, to the location of the statues. But it was not possible to find the statues. Perhaps they were buried by shifting sands.

Mikhail Grigorievich began organizing a new expedition. This time Svetlana could not accompany him - two months ago she gave birth to a son.

Mikhail Grigorievich himself flew to Leninabad, and from there he headed further to the desert. And here, while negotiating with the guides, he heard an interesting legend that made him think.

A long time ago, many centuries ago, the nomads of the Gazruf people moved through the desert. They fled from enemy tribes. The nomads perished from the heat and thirst, and their bellies dried to their backs.

And then the elder of the tribe sacrificed the young and most beautiful girl to his cursed idols. He prayed: “Don’t turn away from us, gods!” Help us, gods of the wind, scorching rays, sand, air!" Perhaps he would have shouted out his prayers to idols for a long time.

But suddenly the nomads saw a piece break away from the sun and begin to fall to the ground. It grew before our eyes, turning into a curved fiery saber.

The nomads fell on their faces, covering their ears so as not to hear the terrible roar and whistle. But then a monstrous hurricane hit them. A few moments later, only three of the entire tribe remained alive.

They walked through the desert for another ten and four days and saw sparkling mountains in the distance. They were completely smooth, in the form of two giant rings connected to each other. The infidels were frightened and ran away in fear. They wandered through the desert for many more days, and only one of them was destined to go out to the people to tell them everything... And then the mullahs imposed a strict ban: all caravans must bypass the “sacred” place where the terrible rings lie.

And if any travelers, having gotten lost, approached the rings within a distance of five flights of an arrow from a bow, they died from an unknown disease...

“What could this be?” thought Mikhail Grigorievich. He managed to find confirmation of the legend in the manuscripts of an ancient historian.

The historian mentioned a star falling to the ground, a hurricane and the death of a nomadic tribe.

And then the archaeologist had a vague guess: perhaps a spaceship once landed in the desert. Perhaps intelligent creatures from it left these statues as a sign of their stay on Earth.

This hypothesis explained the strange appearance of the statues, the mysterious substance from which they were made, and much more. But there were also vulnerabilities in it.

And the most incomprehensible thing was that no one had ever talked about the mysterious creatures that came from the desert. But the alien astronauts would probably have taken an interest in the inhabitants of the newly discovered planet and tried to communicate with them.

Mikhail Grigorievich was impatient to quickly test his hypothesis. And finally, these statues were noticed from one expedition plane flying over the desert. An expedition headed by Minkhail Grigorievich immediately set off.

He stands in front of the statues - matured and roughened by the war, strict, having learned to restrain his feelings and impulses, and thinks:

lHow much I have experienced during this time! The front, fire, death, searches, unrest, a dissertation that I still haven’t had time to write, the birth of a son, meetings with different people... Some became relatives from strangers, others passed away. There, at the front, personnel officers counted a year of war as three years of military service. We learned the real meaning of many things, we understood more clearly what happiness, life, fidelity, a sip of water are.”

He remembered the remains of an ancient city discovered in the same desert. In the ruins of the house he then found a plaster female head. Now she is exhibited in the Hermitage, and everyone who looks at her admires her beautiful face.

“This is all that remains of the life and work of an unknown sculptor, thinks Mikhail Grigorievich. “But is this not enough if, centuries later, people look with excitement at what he created?” He imagined what would remain of himself: research, essays , finds. They capture a piece of history, sometimes bloody and cruel, sometimes majestic and bright, but always pointing the way to the future. And there will still be a son, and his son’s son, and great-grandchildren...

Moscow and Washington failed to organize a summit at the highest level before the start of a new round of sanctions.

There will be no full-fledged negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in France at commemorative events dedicated to the centenary of the end of the First World War. “Circumstances have changed a little,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. According to him, the “multilateral format” of these events “does not allow the two presidents to hold a detailed meeting.”

Moscow’s dissatisfaction was expressed in more figurative language by a diplomatic source from the Kommersant newspaper: “While everyone is wondering what is causing the change in the format of the meeting between Putin and Trump in Paris, which was announced after John Bolton’s visit to Russia, and are coming up with answers in the style of high politics, everything turned out to be banal: Emmanuel Macron asked Moscow and Washington not to hold full-format negotiations in Paris, so that they would not “eclipse” the events and meetings prepared by the Elysee Palace. This is literally how it was formulated. It would seem that in 2018 it is difficult to imagine that the Sun King style is still alive. But, as they say, “ce la vie.”

If you believe this version, then the Russian side directly places responsibility for the failure of full-fledged negotiations on the French. At the same time, it is known that it was Donald Trump who was the first to publicly declare that negotiations could take place in a reduced format or be canceled altogether. Back on November 5, Trump told reporters during a trip to Andrews Air Force Base that he was “not sure” whether he would meet with Putin in Paris. He sweetened the pill by clarifying that such a meeting could be scheduled during the G20 summit in Argentina, which is scheduled for November 30-December 1. Trump also conciliatoryly noted that he looked forward to “many more meetings” with his Russian counterpart.

At that moment, it looked as if the American leader was using his favorite technique - blackmailing his partner in the upcoming negotiations with their possible cancellation. This was the case on the eve of the meeting with the head of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. The US President behaved in the same way before the previous negotiations with Vladimir Putin, which took place in Finland.

It is worth noting here that the proposal to meet in Paris is believed to have been voiced by National Security Advisor to the American President John Bolton during a visit to Moscow. So the cancellation of this meeting by the Americans would look strange if you did not know that in reality it was Russian sources, even on the eve of Bolton’s arrival in Moscow, who were talking about events in Paris as the most suitable reason for the meeting.

In other words, if we ignore the diplomatic protocol, which simply did not allow Putin to “ask” for negotiations in France during the meeting with Bolton, it turns out that in reality we do not know who exactly proposed to hold negotiations there.

The situation is similar now. Emmanuel Macron is a professional negotiator; before he became president, communication with investors was his “bread”. It is difficult to imagine, as the media is presenting it now, that, having occupied the Elysee Palace, he became so “starred” as to prohibit the leaders of the United States and Russia from holding negotiations on their territory. Moreover, just because of fears that it could spoil the memorable event.

A more likely option is that we are not being told the whole truth now and we can only guess how everything really happened. There is a simple option - Trump issued some kind of ultimatum, but Putin did not agree to it. The meeting was canceled or reduced to a short tea party to “pay respects” to each other. Well, in order to avoid a scandal, the Kremlin decided to blame everything on Emmanuel Macron. A more complicated version is that Macron, as a professional negotiator, himself proposed to blame everything on France, hoping to receive some practical bonuses from both “high non-meeting parties” for his mediation.

It is possible that after a short meeting between Putin and Trump it will be possible to understand which of the options was the most reliable. Whether Macron’s illness is stellar, or, on the contrary, his increased adequacy, or simply the Kremlin’s attempt to blame everything on the French in order to avoid the need to criticize the United States.

Well, for now we can only wait for comments from Washington, or better yet, from Paris. Maybe they will clarify the situation.

However, the main thing is that the cancellation of full-fledged negotiations has already taken place. Now the next serious contact between Russian and American leaders will have to wait almost another month. During this time, a lot can change. For example, the United States may introduce a second package of sanctions against Russia in connection with accusations of the use of chemical weapons in the UK, that is, the poisoning of ex-GRU officer Sergei Skripal. By the way, Moscow and, it seems, Washington too, were trying to avoid the appearance of such a negative background, initially planning negotiations for November 11. But it didn’t work out.

Ivan Preobrazhensky

Making an appointment by phone

There is a term called “meeting salesmanship,” which refers to a salesperson’s ability to get a client interested in meeting with them. In this section, I offer you several recommendations that increase the likelihood that you will “sell” a meeting to a client, and it will take place.

1. When inviting a client to meet, you must convey to him the potential benefits (benefits) from this meeting.

If you invite a person to meet, he will immediately ask himself the question: “Why?” When naming the motive for the meeting, you must answer this question.

Do not use traditional motifs worn out by sellers:

I suggest we meet so we can get to know each other better...

At the meeting I will tell you about us, and you about yourself and your business.

I will introduce you to our new project.

We have created a new product (service) and we want you to know about it.

The listed approaches do not arouse interest in the meeting, since they do not contain an answer to the question “What will this give me?”

Use benefit language if you want the client to be interested in meeting with you. Tell him something that might interest him.

In my business, this is an opportunity to improve the efficiency of sales staff and the quality of customer service, which allows us to increase sales (no one is interested in training). In your business it can be anything (you know best), the main thing is that the client is offered solution his problems or benefits, satisfying his needs.

I hope you completed the first one practical task of this book and created a “benefit language” for their product and company. Then you should not have any questions about how to interest the client in a meeting.

2. Make an appointment for a specific time.

Agreements like: after 9.00, around noon, after lunch, etc. are extremely unreliable, as they are vague and imply a high probability that the meeting will not take place.

Every time I agreed to a meeting scheduled with a similar wording, “for some reason” the client and I did not meet. Which is not at all surprising, since 14.00 is also “around noon”, and 8.00 the next day is really “after today’s lunch”.

If you are offered to meet after 9.00, clarify: what time should you still be with the client - at 9.30 or 10.00? If a client says that he will come to you in the afternoon, then, referring to his busy schedule of trips and meetings, ask how long you should wait for him. Don’t be shy, you won’t anger the client with such questions, but you will only show him that you are a professional and value your time.

3. Use the method of choice when scheduling a meeting.

Asking the client the question: “When can we meet?” or: “When could we meet?”, you force him to think about the non-specific, about the possibility of meeting in general, starting from the current moment and until... as far as his imagination allows.

Every second client answered this question to me as follows: “Call me on Monday (closer to the end of the week), and then we will agree.” Calling them back at the appointed time, I heard: “You know, it’s a crazy week again, call me back next Monday,” etc. Some clients “pushed” me like this until I myself gave up and gave up the idea of ​​meeting (probably they were counting on this).

When offering a meeting time, give the client two options to choose from, it will be much easier for him to make a decision. It looks like this:

When is it more convenient for you, at the beginning or at the end of the week?

If the client answers: “Better at the end,” then the question will follow: “Thursday or Friday?”

Similarly, you agree on half a day (before lunch or after?) and, checking your diary, specify the time (for example, at 10.00 or 11.00?).

Even if the client offers his own (third) option, since the ones you proposed do not suit him, this is also good, because the main thing is that you agreed on a meeting.

4. If you are visiting a client for the first time.

Going to a meeting with a client you have never met before, be sure to ask how to get there. No matter how simple this advice may sound, discussing the issue with hundreds of sellers confirms that almost every one of them at least once came to the client’s address and could not find his office (enterprise).

How many times have I, relying on my ability to navigate the area, written down a client's address and went to a meeting. Having arrived at the place, I could not understand why I found myself in an open field, on the territory of an abandoned factory, or in a tram depot. Oddly enough, sometimes street names and house numbers can be quite confusing, and some clients tend to locate themselves in the most unexpected places.

Tell the client where And How(by public transport or your car) you go and ask how to find his office. The client is in “his territory” every day, and getting there is an elementary matter for him. For you, going there for the first time, it can be an insurmountable task.

I want to reassure you: the client will not reproach you for your poor knowledge of the area where he is located. On the contrary, the desire to make sure that you correctly understood how to get to him will once again indicate to the client your accuracy and professionalism.

Attention: If a client is going to a meeting in your office, then do not limit yourself to giving your address, explain to him in detail how to find you.

5. Confirm the appointment.

If you make an appointment with a client “in a few days” (on Tuesday you make an appointment for Friday) or “across the weekend” (on Thursday you make an appointment on Monday), then be sure to confirm the meeting.

In the few days that separate the day the appointment is scheduled and the day it takes place, many changes can occur in the client's life. Unforeseen circumstances may arise that jeopardize the completion of the planned meeting. You can come to a client (after spending two hours on the road), and he will be on a business trip, in the hospital, etc.

Therefore, it is necessary to confirm appointments.

This is done very simply: before you go to the client, call him (in the office or on his mobile phone) and remind him:

Mr. Client, hello, this is Masha from the Fortochka publishing house. We agreed to meet at 15.00, I want to inform you that I am leaving.

Ms. Client, hello, this is Masha from the Fortochka publishing house. We have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow at 8.00 am. I want to confirm that I will be with you tomorrow at 8.00.

Your call should sound like a reminder - a message that you are going to the client.

Never confirm an appointment this way:

Is our agreement to meet still valid?

I want to know if anything has changed?

Have your plans changed?

By asking a closed question, you are inviting a negative response from the client, for example: “It’s good that you called, I urgently need to leave the office. Let's call next week."

When they told me this for the first time, I was glad that, although the meeting was postponed, it would still take place. But when the number of such client responses and canceled meetings began to number in the dozens, I realized that with such “confirmation” of meetings I myself was canceling them.

Why might this happen? Yes, because the seller is the No. 1 candidate for departure from the daily routine of a busy person.