People who know how to work on themselves, striving to change themselves for the better, are admired. Will they engage humanity to create a new spiritual generation?
A former director of an orphanage spoke at one of the experience transfer meetings for aspiring teachers. He talked about how malleable a child’s brain is and how important it is to develop different skills in childhood, to introduce children to everything that happens in life as much as possible. As an example, he cited his initiative to organize rhythmic classes for children in school, lectures about artists and musicians, class trips to the opera and theater, exhibitions, museums, hospitals, and even organized a meeting with teachers from children’s prisons.
The orphanage did not have enough money for all these activities, but he found different ways to get people to come and give free concerts and lectures at the school. After such events, the children’s behavior improved, because they felt unhappy without their families, and new facets of life made their world broader and more interesting. Dreaming of good things, the boys calmed down. Children in orphanages do not know what family and society are, their behavior is often tense and protective because they were not truly loved. The process of healing the soul is long, depends on many circumstances, and sometimes remains so until the end of life.
An interesting case from his life was told by a man who helped a teenage girl from a family in which both parents were present, but they had no study skills. The girl was somehow learning until the fifth grade, not knowing how to do her homework. And then she got the lowest grades in all her subjects, and something told her that she should ask for help from someone outside the family. And it turned out that it was the businessman who decided to do it, who told the story.
The first thing private educators determined was that the girl did not understand what respect for the teacher meant, how important it was to come to class on time; and the second discovery was that she did not know how to prepare her own lessons. We talked at length with the child about the importance of coming to the teachers at the appointed time. Not immediately, but she realized it.
The sponsor paid for private lessons until the end of high school, as the new skill of preparing homework was slowly acquired. The girl was a naturally good memory, so it all worked out, she graduated with honors from high school and entered the Faculty of Architecture.
This example confirms that a person can change habits, but it is better to help a child learn basic skills when the brain is especially malleable, i.e. in early childhood.
Parents of any baby should be attentive and see from the first years of life what is interesting for their child. This is especially true of genius children, since. They may develop their skills in a peculiar way.
I learned about Sviatoslav Richter as a person from the film Richter by the French violinist and filmmaker Bruno Monsignon. Unconquered. In this film, the pianist talked about his life. His father was a musician, and Sviatoslav immediately began playing pieces, so his genius brain did not go through the skill of scales and exercises. It was a dull affair for him to prepare lessons in subjects that did not pertain to playing an instrument, but he could work on a piece responsibly and thoroughly.
Richter was admitted to the Conservatory without a musical education and kicked out, so he didn’t take boring subjects. Scientists who study brain function warn educators to be attentive to such children, because if they are bored in a particular lesson, they will not engage in that activity. I was surprised by Sviatoslav Teofilovich’s inner world, his exactingness to himself, his honesty in everything and high decency in relations with people, his special gift in striving for absolute accuracy in transmitting music. Mikhail Kazinik, the famous violinist and art historian, said something amazing about him. He explained that Richter’s music was never just a transmission of the right notes, but it was a fusion with the composer and a fusion with God, so the music poured out in a stream of perfection.
The desire for absolute clarity in all manifestations of life is Richter’s nature. He was grateful to each performer if he managed to show even a little talent. And when he was offered the role of Liszt in the film, he rehearsed playing the piano for so long that when asked if he wasn’t pleased with himself, the great pianist replied, “The thing is, Liszt might not be pleased with me.” Such people are said to be bright people.
But genius is not always absolutely light, it can be a manifestation of shadow – this is the case with Richard Wagner. Despite the fact that connoisseurs put his music first on the list after Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, but as a man he was terrible: he was not modest, betrayed friends, women, thought he was a god. Above all, he had the strange idea of cleansing the world of inferior races, which included the Jews. Ironically, as it turned out after Wagner’s death, his real father was Jewish.
It’s hard to change yourself. Therefore, people who know how to work on themselves, seeking to change themselves for the better, is admired. I want to believe that especially gifted, spiritually developed people, striving to help others, will attract humanity to create special schools to develop the skills of mutual understanding, development of the soul, cordiality, caring about each other, to pass on to the next generation the world with a human face.
We are all looking for a way to a harmonious relationship, hoping for a miracle, waiting for a miracle from others, but a miracle requires a lot of inner work. Only then will new doors open that will lead man to the development of his possibilities and peace on our planet.
