Fear and Passion. About the stone at the crossroads or why Ivan was more fortunate than Hercules

Everything is your Choice!

The value of the Choice in a person's life is so great that there is a need for a deeper analysis and understanding of it. If you pay attention to folk wisdom, you can see that people from ancient times knew the price of the right Choice. This is reflected in many fairy tales, especially Russian ones, where fairy tale characters (usually three brothers) set off on a journey in search of happiness or the meaning of life. This path almost always leads to a stone at a fork in the three roads. On the stone is an inscription instructing the fairy tale characters to make a Choice, on which their entire future fate will depend: “If you go to the right, you will find happiness, if you go to the left, you will lose your horse, if you go straight, you will lose your horse and lay down your head.” As a rule, the main character chose the most dangerous path, that is, straight ahead. Why? It is in this that the whole meaning of the right Choice is hidden. Let's analyze the inscription on the fabulous stone.

The first phrase reads: "If you go to the right, you will find happiness." Usually a brother who follows this path finds everything he was looking for: happiness and money, but remains spiritually unsatisfied. In the end, he leaves his happy life and returns to his father's house, harboring envy for his brother, who risked going down a dangerous path. The fact is that our unlucky hero was looking for happiness in satisfying his earthly desires, mistakenly believing that happiness is when you have a beautiful wife and a lot of money. And if he did not make any effort to acquire all this, then the person at the top of bliss is a freebie, sir! Only in the end did he begin to understand that there is no limit to desires, they grow in proportion to well-being, but something most important passes by. This main thing is the ability to find oneself, which turns out to be impossible within the framework of his idea of ​​\u200b\u200bhappiness. The hero loses. And when he meets a brother who was not afraid of difficulties and dangers, who boldly stepped into the unknown, threatening death, overcoming all the difficulties, finding himself and his true happiness, then, being unable to overcome his rage and envy, kills him. In fact, he kills in himself the one who was supposed to be realized in life, but, having wasted his life potential on dreams and inactivity, he did not realize himself.

The second hero chooses the path about which it is prescribed: "If you go to the left, you will lose your horse." Let's see what meaning is hidden in this. The horse in Ancient Rus' was a cult, almost sacred animal. He was a symbol of a faithful and devoted friend, the loss of which was tantamount to death. Choosing this path, the hero understood that on it he could lose not only a true friend.

What is a friend? We choose friends in accordance with our ideals, views, beliefs, creating a circle (system) of like-minded people. By acquiring them, we create a team that makes the same life mistakes that we do. In this system, everyone is equal and the same, no one stands out in any way. All profess slightly different values ​​in life, naturally sharing the heavy burden of responsibility for the common wrong choice. Of course, they do not consider themselves guilty of their troubles and failures, blaming anyone and anything.

As soon as you change your attitude to life, breaking out of the system of like-minded people, they all immediately become in opposition, expectantly slandering: “Let's see how it all ends. Look, you decided to break out, otherwise he lived badly. This is at best, and at worst - they will also put a bandwagon. The opposition does not forgive those who leave its ranks. Our hero saw the meaning of life in the presence of friends - like-minded people, having lost whom he lost this meaning. Disappointed and devastated, he returned home. Just like the first brother, he cannot overcome envy, rage, indignation at the successes of his more successful third brother. And he, too, takes part in fratricide. This hero also kills in himself the one who was supposed to be realized, but could not, due to the lack of correct spatial and temporal guidelines.

The third hero chose the most difficult and dangerous path, which promised him the loss of his horse along with his own head. Having traveled this path with dignity, overcoming all difficulties, curbing all desires, accepting events as they are, controlling and analyzing their actions, the third brother receives a reward from life - he finds himself. His happy resurrection after the brothers dealt with him indicates that a person who has found himself, who has the right life guidelines, is not afraid of anything, Life itself protects him and gives him all the blessings.

How should we understand the unambiguous warning “you will lay down your head”, echoing the biblical demand to give your son to the slaughter? To lay down one's head means to lay down the powers of the brain, which has assumed the functions of the mental apparatus that are unusual for it, with all its basic values ​​and stereotypes of the material (subjective) world. A person is invited to make a reassessment of values, putting in the first place the spiritual values ​​of the invisible, but objective Subtle World. Giving a son to the slaughter means ending the vicious practice of raising one's offspring on the basis of subjective, purely materialistic ideas about the world. It is proposed to include a chain reaction of connecting all subsequent generations to the brain of the Universe, to Its Energy-Informational Field.

Choice is given such importance for a reason – the right Choice is connected with the Evolution of a person, with his ability to find himself, abandoning the subjective and switching to the perception of the objective, all that is necessary to create well-being. You already know that life flows between two opposing forces: creative and destructive. In each specific event, a person is put by Life before the choice of those forces in the power of which he will be: creative or destructive. Everyone wants to deal with the creative ones, but you can join them only if certain conditions are met, which are very strictly tied to the self-improvement of a person. Based on the description of the Choice according to fairy tales, we can conclude that it begins with the choice of life orientation. Each of us is invited to make a choice of one of three possible directions.

A person who has chosen the first direction is focused on himself, on the satisfaction of his physiological and psychological needs (emotions). He spends all his strength on the search for happiness, making money, and certainly with the cost of his own efforts and labor. The perception of the world is purely subjective, in full accordance with his ideas and beliefs. The objective world is entirely hidden behind a veil of subjectivism. He is completely disconnected from the real world, remaining in the cocoon of the original Dimension. The objective world is dangerous and frightening for him. Such a person realizes himself only in physical labor, because he is not harmonized in the Consciousness-Man System.
*

A person who follows the second path is focused on blind, thoughtless copying of the programs of parents, friends, society. He is ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of society, Motherland, Mankind. It has a tendency towards heroism, messianism, and healing. Psychologically, he is set to self-sacrifice for the sake of the common good. Tries to cognize the objective reality, but through the prism of the subjective mood of sacrifice. Such people talk about universal love, morality, are fond of esoteric and other sciences in order to perpetuate the memory of themselves among the people. They read the Bible and live according to the commandments of God, in every possible way avoid and beware of the intrigues of the Devil with his dark forces, being at the same time in the power of destructive, but in fact, all the same dark forces.

Such people are between subjective and objective, but, as a rule, sensual, subjective wins. They perceive the objective world only from the positions: “This suits me, but this does not; I will accept this, otherwise I will not; I'll do this, but I won't do that." They try to control the objective world with the help of emotions and their subjective perception, trying to "take God by the beard." They dictate their rights to everyone and everywhere, impose their ideas and rules. These are people of emotions. But they have to reckon with objective reality, since their inner essence is directed to the outside world, to care for the common good. Self-sacrifice is their main creed, realizing which these people are trying to change the world in accordance with the subjective ideas of "good - bad." Their logic is directed inward, into the world of their subjective ideas, and therefore, as in the first group, they lack common sense. They are socially and religiously law-abiding citizens. In a critical situation, they will follow the leader who promises the common good and prosperity. They are indecisive and cannot themselves begin the transformation of their own lives. Immersed in the ideas of general welfare, such people are able to do evil (everything that does not fit with their morality must be destroyed), and they are convinced that they are doing the right thing. These people are not harmonized in the Man-Man System.

A person walking straight (an analogy of choice in fairy tales) is completely focused on the real objective world. He develops a true, objective vision of the world, rational thinking, learns to control emotions. He approaches events deliberately, purposefully, controlling his thoughts and actions. Builds relationships with people on mutually beneficial terms, taking into account not only their own interests, but takes into account the interests of another person. Respects the will of other people, does not impose his beliefs on anyone. He begins to realize the perniciousness of the general direction of the movement of Mankind: in words - towards goodness, towards light, towards God, but in deeds - in the opposite direction.

Such an opportunist has to change his orientation in spite of the programs and opinion of the majority, growing his own creative programs. But only such a person is reunited with nature, he is disgusted by subjectivism and does not need sermons about universal love, morality, he lives by this. These people are the Creators of their own lives and of the entire living space. They are determined, not afraid of difficulties, they achieve their goals. Their logic is aimed at analyzing the objective world, at active interaction with it, through their own improvement and transformation. The absence of subjectivism, an accurate analysis of the objective helps them to take from life everything that it gives. They know that life will not give bad things, and they should not miss their chance. Often, in order to achieve what you want, you need to overcome difficulties. These people cope with them, showing endurance, patience, self-confidence. It is about such people that we can say: they do not expect favors from society, the state, doctors, but create them themselves, relying on the creative forces of nature! All life is concentrated in this person and is realized through him. He Creates Life!

Life is an objective reality that exists apart from the desires and “wants” of a person. And this reality can become aggressive towards a person if he has not found the right guidelines, first of all, he has not learned to use the Choice wisely. There is only one Right Choice - to have an objective awareness of reality, when Consciousness should get an orientation to the real world, the world as it is, and not the way a person would like to see it. Of the listed choices, the last one is, of course, the correct one.

At the crossroads people drew
Fatal inscription: "The path is straight
He cooks a lot of troubles, and hardly
You follow it back home.
The path to the right will leave without a horse -
Wander alone and sire and naked, -
And the one who will direct the path to the left,
Will meet death in unknown fields…”
I. Bunin. At the crossroads, 1900

If a person does what others do not want to do, this does not mean that he wants to do it. He just can't do it. And others can. This is where their paths diverge. One goes to the left, the other to the right.

A pillar at the crossroads. Or a stone. An ancient landmark left by memorable times. A wooden pole may be two hundred years old. And the stone is two millennia old. Always puzzling is this fabulous crossroads, offering a choice where there is nothing to choose. The list of proposed paths is puzzling. Sometimes there are two. Sometimes three.

The fairy tale "Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf" paints a picture like this:

... At the crossroads, I saw a pillar, and on the pillar there was such an inscription: “Whoever goes straight will be hungry and cold all the way; whoever goes to the right will live, but his horse will die, and whoever goes to the left will die himself, but his horse will live.

The tale "Two Ivan - soldiers' sons" offers a different version:

... They come to a crossroads, and there are two pillars. On one pillar it is written: “Whoever goes to the right will be the king”; on another pillar it is written: "Whoever goes to the left will be killed."

Traveler in front of the stone. Bogatyr, knight, Ivan Tsarevich. Or several travelers, according to the number of roads leading from the stone: two brothers, two heroes, three heroes. But a woman never comes to a crossroads. Why? The question is not idle. There are many traveling women in fairy tales - old women, girls, girls - but the paths do not lead them to a crossroads. You see, this is not a woman's mind.

There is an inscription on the stone. If there are two paths, the choice is hard. If three - there is a compromise.

But the thought never arises not to walk along the proposed paths and return home. Everything here is moving forward. Also, the thought never arises to go all together along the same path. From here, everyone goes one by one.

Three paths diverge in three directions. It would seem that the crossroads is an ordinary episode in the vicissitudes of the hero, imperceptible against the background of subsequent bright events - successes, misses, gains, transformations. But mentally sorting through the colored fabric of the fairy tale, you understand that it was here, at the crossroads, that the fate of the hero took place. Long before he reached his goal and realized his destiny.

The road leads to a crossroads

It began right outside the gates of his native home. Having traveled a long way and having gone to unfamiliar wild places, the traveler carefully examines everything that is on the way.

He will notice a road sign from afar and, having driven closer, will certainly stop to think and make his choice. Wisdom is static. At that moment, everything freezes - the grass, the sky ... And there is nothing else. No man, no bird, no tree. Why such emptiness and silence? As if here is the edge of the world, behind which is the darkness of ignorance. As if the road rests on a border sign that marks the territory of another country that lives by different laws. The way it is.

Therefore, to help the traveler, an inscription is displayed on the stone. Looking at her, he immediately understands what each of the paths leading into the unknown promises him.

Who placed the stone? Moreover, who made the inscription on it? Suppose the stone could be here by itself. He could stick around in an open field, visible from a great distance, attracting the eye, and behind the gaze of the traveler. It is also possible that the stone could have been thrown here in some magical way. I wonder what happened before? A stone, from which the road ran up with sleeves, or a crossroads, which was marked with a stone for signs? Some questions. But they all pale before the question: who made the inscription?

fatal inscription

People drew... What kind of people? Who could know what each of the three roads promises? After all, no one returned. No one comes to the crossroads again. The tale knows no such examples. Not everyone finds himself at a crossroads, but the one who went there, who stopped in thought in front of the stone, sorting out the ancient signs, decides once and for all which way to go further. The chosen path leads away from the crossroads to the intended goal, towards fate. The traveler will either die or win, but will never come back here again... But if not people made the inscription, then who? Or has she been on this stone since time immemorial? Crossroads… Crucifixion…

Yes… And in what language is the inscription made? And how will the traveler read it? It is impossible to believe that everyone whom a fairy tale has brought to a crossroads can read, moreover, can understand the ancient writings carved in stone. Ask someone. No wise old man, no talking bird. But of those who found themselves in front of a stone, only monks and princes can really be literate. But among the travelers there are also soldiers' sons, and warriors, and fools. And all of them, without exception, immediately read the inscription on the stone.

The tale does not slow down for a second at the place where the hero studies the inscription, it pauses only when the hero, armed with knowledge, decides what to do.

Tablet stone. The inscription on it is not made by hand. Undoubtedly, it is made for people. And whoever wrote it addressed the traveler in human language. Or maybe, under the gaze of the traveler, the cracks and potholes of the stone, the mossy bark of the pillar magically folded into inscriptions that the traveler could understand. Or, more likely, the hero, even without an inscription, understood what lay in wait for him on which path. After all, not only words can be inscribed, but also any conventional signs that can be deciphered - drawings, symbols. The hero does not doubt the accuracy of the information received from the stone-tablet, he consciously chooses one of the directions, knowing exactly why.

The mechanism of understanding the inscription, achieving the truth, which is presented in the fairy tale in reverse order, in reverse perspective, is amazing. The tale says that the traveler reads the inscription and extracts knowledge of the ways from it. But in reality it's the other way around.

The traveler approaches the crossroads, looking from afar, studying the delta of the road, running behind the stone in two or three directions. One path is well trodden. The other one is weaker. And the third is barely visible, only white bones and skulls are whitening along it, indicating the direction. The traveler knows in advance what is written on the stone. He has no doubts - the stone is written about what he just saw with his own eyes.

What the eyes see is written on the stone ... Obvious.

The truth is written in stone. The written truth.

So three ways

Whichever way you go, you'll go alone. The tale deprives the hero of witnesses. As soon as the travelers - no matter how many there are, two, three - approached the crossroads, they cease to be a single group. From now on, everyone is alone with himself. Everyone has their own path. The fateful inscription announces the options for directions:

“... The straight path prepares a lot of troubles, and it is unlikely that you will return home along it ...”

This path is included in the list for quantity, or rather, in order to blur the line between “yes” and “no”, between white and black, between “Whoever goes to the right, that will be the king” and “Whoever goes to the left, he will be killed” . His indistinct characterization is devoid of sharpness that can captivate or provoke. In fact, no one goes down this path. He and the area around him is a neutral zone between opposites.

“The path to the right will leave without a horse ...”

A characteristic indicating the worst of all possible things that will happen to the one who turned to the right, seduced by the opportunity to reach the limits of the desired: "Whoever goes to the right will be the king." Two such dissimilar characteristics of this path do not, however, contradict each other. Both indicate that the traveler's life will be saved, but with one or another loss of other real values: time, strength, horse.

The path to the right is the most ingenious of the proposed ones. It is he who scans in detail the character of the one who makes his silent choice in front of a stone or pillar. This is the way to compromise. It is chosen by a rational person who has reasons to go the simplest way, because even on it difficulties are inevitable, which are not yet known.

The path to the right contains hidden evil, not obvious, veiled. Those who move in this direction enter into a deal with evil. The tale reveals two fundamental options. In one case, undeserved wealth and pleasure are offered - luring into its snares, evil seduces with gratuitousness, silent about the inevitable retribution. A short-sighted traveler forgets a simple truth: if something is done to you for free, then it will be very expensive. In another case, the traveler is invited to save himself by sacrificing his horse.

In Russian fairy tales, the horse is not just a great advantage, but a true companion of the traveler. However, the crossroads does not allow to evade the decision. And a faithful comrade is sacrificed. Life saved at the cost of a friend's life. And no matter how dear Ivan Tsarevich is to us, we have to admit that betrayal lies at the basis of his success.

Many travelers go to the right. They are not heroes, they are not heroes, and they never will be. They need to survive, get out, having managed to grab what is badly lying, and escape the best of health. But some of them are just fools, seduced by freebies and fell into a trap, while others are cowards, escaping the trap by betrayal.

The fairy tale never reproaches its heroes for this weakness. She does not indicate in a single word the shame with which the traveler who has gone along the easy path covers himself, the traveler who “became a villain due to weakness of character, and not due to inclination to evil” 1 . Betrayal here is a forced choice, a forced sacrifice, it can be explained and forgiven.

Meanness is not forgiven - which is a deliberately endured betrayal, malicious intent. But not one of those who came out at the crossroads is a scoundrel. These are ordinary inhabitants, whom fate forced to roam the wide world.

The tale forgives them their human nature, their pettiness, pities them for their lack of wings, it sympathetically rescues them from trouble, comforts them with gifts at the end of the ordeal. They do not think that where wealth and bliss are promised, they will every second be face to face with the unknown, that everything may turn out to be worse than promised, that at some point evil will certainly lie in wait for them, not ready for battle. These travelers are immature individuals, gullible children compared to the one who consciously turns to the left.

“And the one who directs the path to the left will meet death in unknown fields ...”

Despite the categorical nature of the formidable prophecy, a traveler is still being sought who embarks on the worst of paths. Our bewilderment increases when we find out what weak reasons he gives: “... I’ll go to the left and see what death can happen to me?” What a whim, to check the accuracy of the prediction of your death at the cost of your life?

Svyatogor also asks:

“Tell me, young Mikulushka Selyaninovich, how can I find out about my fate?” - And he receives an answer: “Go on, hero, all forward to the crossroads, and then take it to the left to the northern mountains. There is a forge under a tree near the mountain, you will see a blacksmith in it, he will tell you the whole truth about your fate.

The path to the left is intended only for heroes. Only heroes choose him.

Or the path itself chooses them. In the fairy tale, the hero never dies on this path. So, is the inscription on the stone a bluff? Maybe. Evil is cowardly and lazy. The terrible prophecy inscribed on the stone is just a way of intimidation, invented by evil that lives and lives in silence, it is a way to get rid of unnecessary walkers and spies. Few dare to disturb the evil in its lair. But if it disturbs, there will be a fight. The hero is ready for battle. Cheerful, collected, self-confident. And evil is not ready.

On this path, everything is reversed compared to the path to the right. The bad here always appears as bad, unlike the way to the right, where it appears under the guise of good, promising pleasure and well-being.

You can’t fool a hero, he knows that it is more difficult to ensure well-being than to set up death. The hero is straightforward and chooses the path according to his character, where the promised corresponds to the expected. He chooses a path where it cannot be worse, and, commensurating it with his heroic strength, accepts the challenge. If this path deceives, then in the direction of facilitating the task. On this path, everything can only change for the better.

In Russian folk tales, the source of good power is not obvious. Only the carriers of good are obvious - nameless people, animals, birds, even objects. But a bird or an animal dies, a ball disappears, an old woman dies, and good remains to exist and do great and wonderful deeds.

Good has a collective soul, and even if one of its faithful servants falls in the battle with evil, good will still remain, and other people, animals, birds, and objects will carry it around the wide world. But evil forces are always specific, they have names: Baba Yaga, Koschei the immortal, Serpent Gorynych, Nightingale the Robber. And the scale of their evil is also specific and limited by their witchcraft power. And when the source of the evil force is obvious, removing it also eliminates the evil emanating from it.

The hero is looking for a fight with evil. Victory over evil is his goal. And the bait on the hook, which he throws into the den of evil to lure him into battle, is his own life. The greater the promised evil, the closer it is, the closer to the goal is the hero, who stands guard over goodness and justice.

But evil is stronger than good. For any bad deed, performers are easily found. Cowardice is stronger than courage, laziness is stronger than skill, inaction is stronger than determination. In the battle between good and evil, evil always wins, vilely using forbidden tricks, which, as unworthy, rejects good. But if a hero takes the side of courage, talent, determination, goodness, he will make them stronger than cowardice, laziness, inaction and evil.

The hero acts of good will, at the call of conscience. He does not need to be able to read the inscriptions on the stone. The stone calls to him in the language of conscience. Talking Stone. Before him, everyone stands face to face with himself. Thinking, reading into yourself. At a crossroads, the traveler makes a fundamental decision: which side to take. He must decide: to give the evil forces the freedom to do evil, or to repulse them, uniting with courage, skill, determination, goodness.

“... Two roads, two inevitable paths: renounce yourself, suppress your egoism, trample on your selfish self, breathe for the happiness of others, sacrifice everything for the good of your neighbor, homeland, for the good of mankind, love the truth and good not for a reward, but for truth and goodness, and with a heavy cross, suffer your union with God, your immortality, which should consist in the destruction of your self in a feeling of boundless bliss ... What? Are you undecided? This feat frightens you, it seems to you beyond your strength? .. Well, here is another way for you, it is wider, calmer, easier; love yourself more than anything in the world, cry, do good only for profit, do not be afraid of evil when it benefits you.

For a hero who has come out at a crossroads, the only possible solution is to enter into an alliance with good against evil. Evil forces appear in a fairy tale in different guises, and the hero fights with them, trying to destroy the evil they bring. And they bring death. This is the essence of evil. Evil concentrate. Death is the direct goal of the hero.

Any of the paths of life leads to death, to the end of life. Every life ends sooner or later in death. Standing in front of a stone, the hero, by the power of his living spirit, first defeats evil in himself, casting aside doubt, weakness - the fear of his own death. And then he takes the shortest path in the direction where he will meet Death as the personification and focus of evil. And the inscription on the stone does not speak of the death of the hero, but of Death, which is the essence of evil, with which one must fight for Life.

We, the Russian people, are able to survive, to endure, to endure only by uniting. This is confirmed by centuries of history, the experience of ancestors, personal experience. With mother's milk, we absorbed the deep essence of our Russian collectivism. The Europeans blame us for this, seeing here a dangerous inclination towards unanimous mass submission to sudden ideas leading to destruction, to revolutions.

But the fabulous crossroads separates close-knit travelers, forces them to disperse.

Anyone who is ready to make a breakthrough must remain alone, throwing off the ballast of public opinion, leaving the doubters and the lazy, challenging the undeniable. The hero at the crossroads is immersed in heavy thoughts. But this is not fear for your life, not doubts about the correctness of the choice. This is the conscious sadness of a person who has decided to go beyond the generally accepted. One of the saddest things in life is to get rid of the illusions imbibed with mother's milk.

Notes:

1 Belinsky V.G. Sobr. cit.: In 3 volumes, Articles and Reviews (Literary Dreams), Moscow: GIHL. 948. T. 1. S. 20.
2 There. S. 18.

Stone at the crossroads
(narrative)

“... Traveling along the way - on the road, whether it’s close, whether it’s far, whether it’s low, whether it’s high, soon the fairy tale is told, but the deed is not done soon, finally, the hero arrived in an open field, in green meadows. And in the open field at the crossroads stands a gloomy gray stone, overgrown with moss. On it is an ominous inscription: “Whoever goes straight from this stone will be hungry and cold; whoever rides to the right side will be healthy and alive, but his horse will be dead; and whoever rides to the left will be killed himself, but his horse will remain alive and well.”

From time immemorial, I have been standing at this crossroads, ever since I broke away from a block of Knowledge flying in the infinite space of the Great Cosmos and fell on this planet. I stand like a stone idol, I talk to myself and show the way - the way for travelers. One road approaches me, and three leave me. At first, I just watched what was happening around, looked and studied incomprehensible, then, for me, creatures on two legs, passing by and stopping for a while nearby. I understood their thoughts well, but I did not immediately learn to understand their words that they uttered, it seemed that it was not difficult; they called themselves people and were also part of the Cosmos, and their wave vibrations and impulses had the same ranges and frequencies, but often their thoughts had the opposite meaning and did not coincide with what they said out loud, and this was not clear to me, since did not fit into the straightforwardness of cosmic existence. Later I learned that it was insincerity and deceit. People did not understand that by deceiving another, they themselves remained deceived. And then people left on different roads, some came back, and some I didn’t see anymore, because they died, having chosen the wrong path.
And then He appeared, a tall and thin old man, dressed in long and light clothes, with a white beard and blue eyes. He stopped next to me and, hiding in my shadow from the scorching rays of the sun, sat in silence from evening to morning, pressing his back against me, looked at the night sky and bright stars and his thoughts filled me with the purity of the Universal mind and I also thought with him. It felt the great power of knowledge and wisdom. I felt pain and clearly understood his thoughts about what is happening in the world: about human greed and betrayal, about lies that eat a person, about the bird's eternal search for happiness and justice. He mentally told me a lot about what he saw on his life path, and I shared with him part of my knowledge and told him about the three roads that lie behind me and go into the distance, beyond the horizon.
- Can't people live in friendship and love for each other? - I asked him, trying to give my question - thoughts the appearance of the elder's own thought.
- They can, - as if the elder answered himself, - only for this they must study the laws of the Universe and believe in them, and they must understand the essence of their existence and the purpose of their destiny.
- But, it's so easy!
- No, it's not easy, you need to learn this all the time, and constantly work on yourself and your consciousness, and people don't want to study for a long time, they need everything at once and now. They have a lot of envy and little virtue, so they don’t even want to learn from their mistakes! Not to mention Vera!
- What if we try to show them the Way? Yes, to indicate the path that they will have to choose themselves, here, at least from these three, coming from this stone. It will be like a "stumbling block" - the starting stone on the Path to Creation! Maybe then believers and non-believers in Good, observing and not observing the Universal Law, will choose their own path, correct or not. And they will pass it. And if not, then no.
- Let it be so! And on the stone I will write wishes for those who wish and seek!
And the elder took a fragment from me and began his great righteous deed - to write WORDS on my stone body. It was our joint work with him - the embodiment of human desire and heavenly consciousness. For several days and nights, under the rays of the Sun and by the light of the Moon, he carved the truth prompted to him by reason and me, a particle of the cosmic block of Knowledge. A few days later I had this inscription:
"- How to go straight -
I live not to be -
there is no way for a passerby,
nor a passerby
nor flying...
- Go right -
being married...
- Go left -
rich being…”
And then He left, leaning on a staff and his tall, slightly stooped figure was visible for a long time against the background of a clear blue sky, until it disappeared beyond the horizon, forever.
Since then, many people, on foot and on horseback, stopped in front of me, read the inscription, and then moved on. Many tried their luck, but not many found it: some went the wrong way, others came with the wrong idea, others were looking for the wrong thing. How many of them, heroes and different crooks, stood near me, bowing their heads and reading the words. Many, oh many! They read the words, but they didn’t look for the meaning and went in different directions, but mostly not in the right place! And I couldn’t help them in any way: I don’t know how to speak, I don’t have arms or legs, I can only do one thing - from the inside on myself, from the outside, words - tips to write, and only the traveler to choose.
How much water spilled from the sky, how much grass around me grew and died. I have grown almost half into the ground, and how many times have the winds and rains completely erased my inscriptions, and I renewed them again. It takes a lot of time to write them. Only those words in the inscription that have gone into the ground are no longer updated, so the last two lines are no longer visible. Nobody.
Nobody wants to dig deep. They read everything from above, they do not look deep into. You have to bend over. Apparently the old man was right then:
“... you need to learn this constantly, and constantly work on yourself and your consciousness, but people do not want to study for a long time, they need everything at once and now. They have a lot of envy and little virtue, so they don’t even want to learn from their mistakes! Not to mention Vera!”
06/06/2016

A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it.

Here is the epic stone, which sooner or later necessarily appeared in front of any self-respecting hero - not such an invention.

Whatever road you take, sooner or later there will be a fork, and above the fork there will be clouds and black crows, in front of the horse there is a stone: take off, hero, helmet and scratch your heroic patylica properly ...

"Knight at the Crossroads". Vasnetsov

There are times - entire states find themselves in front of a fabulous fork: where to turn, right or left?

And our land with you is a fork in itself: with whom to be, with the West or with the East? Lose a horse or find a wife (a grumpy and demanding wife, by the way, and not even once Vasilisa the Wise) ...

An unenviable fate: to find yourself between great civilizations and always face the choice of who to be with. And the choice is really serious.

East - what is it?

community ideology. The unit in the East does not solve anything and does not affect anything. Even an eastern tyrant - he cannot tyrannize alone, he definitely needs a clan, a family, like-minded people, whom he will put around his throne with a dense wall and will severely punish for betrayal, because there is no way in the East alone.

And the eastern people - all the more they do not understand how it is, alone? The East has always taken in bulk: both when thousands of Mongol-Tatars burned the Russian steppe to the ground, and when they bought spoiled Europe for silk and spices, and then when a red regime was established by all the people, and then when sparrows were beaten with sticks all over China - and sparrows also died en masse, as it should be in the East.

And even the wise men of the East, who are as lonely as any wise men in any part of the world, they always try to solidarize with at least someone, well, at least with nature, to become at least one with something, to join the community.

Quite a different thing-West

Every person there is an individual. Separate. Independent. Having the right. Raising your voice. Solving issues of any kind on its own: from the most everyday to the most global.

Only in the West is it possible to elect the president of a huge country by a margin of only seven votes - in the East, for the sake of seven votes, nothing would be counted.

Western man is full of awareness of his own human value and importance. That is why the West is always arguing, always fighting for something, always wanting something in return - because it is arguing, fighting and wanting its constituent personalities.

Even the gods are different.

In the East - many-sided, multilingual, sending prophets to Earth, living either several lives or several deaths.

In the West, this is necessarily a Personality, alone changing the whole world.

What to choose: Eastern unity or Western individuality?

Lose a horse or gain a wife?

VELVET: Anna Sevyarynets

Pereslavl-Zalessky seems to be waiting for a sensational discovery. It is possible that it is here, not far from the city, that the very epic crossroads is located, at which Ilya Muromets stopped in thought! The story is dark, and it walks with might and main on the expanses of the Internet. It's hard to say if this is true or just fiction. But nonetheless, it's interesting. After all, there is a story behind every story. So I want to believe - but suddenly ...

According to stories on the Web, a mysterious stone was discovered by a certain Astrakhan crossroad specialist Kirill Ostapov.

For several years, a dream gnawed at me - to find that very legendary intersection with a stone and an inscription: “If you go to the left, you will lose your horse, if you go to the right, you will lose your life, if you go straight, you will be alive, but you will forget yourself,” he says. - In fact, such pointer stones really existed in ancient times. As a rule, they were installed at the crossroads and at the borders.

According to Kirill Ostapov, his grandfather inherited the profession of "cross-section specialist". Now there are only a few such masters - people who can "hear" crossroads and determine whether they are spoiled by evil people and curses (there were definitely such cross-bearers). Apparently, due to lack of demand. But in ancient Rus', these masters were in great demand, they were specially invited to check urban and rural intersections. The master installed a wooden pole with a crossbar at the crossroads and hung three bells, and then beat them in a special way. By the sound of the bells, he determined: a good crossroads or an evil one, happiness awaits a person here or trouble.

Ostapov explored many crossroads so as not to lose the gift. And it seems that even traffic cops listened to his advice - additional road signs were put up in the most dangerous sections. But the master went to the Yaroslavl region to look for an epic crossroads.

Since in epics this pillar is most often associated with the name of Ilya Muromets, I thought that it was necessary to look for the sign near Pereslavl-Zalessky, - says Kirill Ospapov. - According to legend, the hero Ilya served in the army of Vladimir Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky from 1157, defending the possessions of the Rostov-Suzdal princes. Their Pereslavl lands were the most restless because of the frequent raids of nomads, and it was here that the prince erected his heroic frontier outposts. The stone with the inscription, obviously, was not far away and stood in a deadly place for any horse and foot.

Arriving in Pereslavl, Ostapov carefully studied the traffic police reports and the criminal situation in the area and began to search. I immediately determined the approximate location of the sign stone - away from the M-8 highway, the road to the Nikitsky tract. With his bells, he walked several kilometers and, finally, in the thickest oak forest, he stumbled upon a strange place. No matter how the master beat the bells, they categorically refused to make sounds. And suddenly Ostapov noticed a small mound, all overgrown with moss. Having cleared the fallen column from the ground, I saw half-erased images on the edges of the stone: horsemen, a spear, a raven and a half-closed eye. Only at the very base of the stone did he see the inscription: “Deco according to markush”, which among the ancient Slavs meant to conjure against evil.

Probably, they have already tried to perform a purification ceremony at this stone, but it was not possible to completely remove the curses, - the “crossroad specialist” is sure - This was confirmed by my bells.

One arrow on the sign - the one to the left - just points to the Moscow-Kholmogory highway and the most emergency section, a half-closed eye points the way to the right - the road to the boulder known in Pereslavl - the Blue Stone near Lake Pleshcheyevo. The pointer is straight - to the city of Pereslavl itself, where nomad raids took place. And although this intersection is no longer used, Ostapov still intends to remove the curse from this place. And he is going to come to the Yaroslavl region again this year.

The turn from the federal road to the Nikitsky Monastery is indeed one of the emergency ones, - confirmed the senior inspector for propaganda of the traffic police department of the city of Pereslavl Lyubov Khokhlova. - Cars here fight regularly, pedestrians are knocked down. A cyclist died last year. But it cannot be said that the causes of these accidents are associated with some kind of magic. As a rule, everything is to blame - the human factor. Drivers exceed the speed limit, and pedestrians run across the road at their own risk in the dark.

However, as it turned out, traffic cops do not shy away from magic and also believe in miracles. According to traffic police officers, quite mysterious accidents happen on the M-8 highway. For example, an absolutely sober driver in a serviceable car, for some unknown reason, suddenly leaves for an oncoming lane and gets into a terrible accident. Horror! As for the master crossroads specialist, they promised to think about his services in the regional department of the traffic police. For the sake of road safety - all measures are good.

MEANWHILE

The most emergency intersections of Yaroslavl:

1. Leningradsky Prospekt and Volgogradskaya Street.

2. Moskovsky prospect and South-Western ring road.

3. Bolshaya Oktyabrskaya and Tolbukhin Avenue.