Nicolas Strelkov*
"Demiurge" Club (1976–1980) – Source of the ABC of Harmony and Harmonious Civilization
Dedicated to the memory of club member Vladimir Strelkov (1948–2010)
"Оh "Demiurge", a club of my youth,
I am still longing for your harmony!"
USSR, Leningrad, 1976. Junior students of Leningrad Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics, who were studying philosophy on the course of Prof. Leo Semashko, teamed up by his initiative in "Demiurge" Club. In the first phase of its existence creative meetings – symposiums – were held in the institute dormitory on Karpovka river.
On the basis of the four-spheral theory of Semashko (system-spheral approach) the club was divided into 4 micro groups in accordance with spheres producing: Things, Organizations, Information and People. Leaders of micro groups and club president were elected. The club developed and approved a plan of harmonious development for the next academic year and tried to accurately follow it.
In the second phase of club existence, after a year and a half since its creation, the workers of Kirov Plant and also the students of other Leningrad universities joined it (altogether there were from 20 to 30 people). The club got its permanent premise in the plant dormitory which was put in order and decorated with wall frescoes with harmonious attributes "Young man opening door to the new and beautiful world of harmonious future" – 'harmonious civilization' – as we would say now, after 35 years.
Semashko was preaching the principles of system-spheral harmonious development of a person and society as a whole and believed that we would become specialists in future. But who will help us to expand horizons of this life, who will show us its variety which, on the one hand, stimulates professional growth of each one and, on the other hand, discovers new abilities of personality that will possibly push to new, more effective life choice?
What school did club members pass in their harmonious development?
Firstly, there were information reports by Semashko and the most active club members, philosophical and creative discussions took place as well. The center of communication became a symposium, that is "feast of intellect", under the club slogans: "Nosce te ipsum and per aspera ad asrta": "Know yourself and through the thorns to the stars!" and "Free development of each one is the condition of free development of all!"
Secondly, there were methods of mutual learning, organizational conflictive dialogue and retelling of literary texts.
Thirdly, role-playing theatrical games, sketches and performances, "skits" for the International Woman's Day the 8th of March and so on.
Fourthly, acquaintance with methods of accelerated development and personality rehabilitation – theory of inventions creation, self-development and self-hypnosis psychology, speed reading, hunger therapy and others.
Fifthly, on weekends, – joint visits to theaters, art galleries, museums, walks in the city at nights, Saturdays work and tourist field trips, sport mock battles, meetings with other theatrical and philosophical clubs, evening meetings at the apartment of Semashko. And wherever "Demiurge" was gathering, its inspirer would never allow our brains to relax – neither at a symposium, nor in a theater, nor even by a campfire.
Student years was an amazing time of life in its fullness when life "gushed" as a spring brook, we wanted so much to change everything for the better, we dreamed so much of creating the world without wars and endless struggle for existence, we believed so much in ourselves!
We walked in a crowd in art galleries, read poems of Evtushenko and Akhmatova, sang songs, contemplated about creativity and means of self –realization of personality not having yet a penny to our names – and all that excitedly, to the crack of dawn and during the white nights of Petersburg … romantic and beautiful!
Club members acquired communication skills, developed intellect and outlook, mastered the basics of collective creativity and most important of all strengthened the faith, learnt new, harmonious thinking and matured as personalities with high moral principles isolating and protecting their consciousness in the "club world" from numerous and dubious temptations of the modern industrial society.
And if people could manage to reveal at least half of creative human potential by means of life harmonization and decent education, then full energy supply of Earth, outcome of this population in outer space and exploration of the Universe would be inevitable, that could be compared in the space scale with supernova explosion!
In conclusion, I would like to say that in the rest of my life I will probably never see again such team as "Demiurge", that would not be associated with either money or orders, but only with inspiration of mutual human communication! But I hope that my children and grandchildren will see new, harmonious civilization, and our Demiurge club has become its first conscious community.
The content of the article is expressed in a logical model-37 of tetranet thinking. In Demiurge we successfully built the similar models and they were highly appreciated.
Nicolas Strelkov – President of "Demiurge" Club, Design Engineer.
Address: Ulyanovsk, Russia.
Web: www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=259E-mail: strelkov@2a2.ru
* This article was published in the GHA book "The ABC of Harmony" by 76 coauthors from 26 countries, New Delhi, 2012, pages 118-119.
The PDF and HTML book is here: http://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=478
Please, see in Russian the site page: http://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=305.