ART by ELISO

LETTERS TO YOU

Appeal
The earth
Human being
Women
Man
Family
Mother and Child

Motherland
Friendship
Happiness
Love
Freedom
Power
Fear

Egoizm
Life
Daeth
Immortality
Art
God
Epilogue

Letter 1

APPEAL

I appeal to you, my dear! Be not surprised, we speak generally and collectively all the time and we forget that collective has no face, that it consists of separate persons. That is why I address you, my dear. Were you not created by God as the crown of nature in His image and likeness is the only and unique? Does your greatness not depend on how you will take care of that divinity in yourself?

Whatever you can do, there will be no one else who can do it like you, because that other is another child of God, also the only one and unique.

If you remember this, it will suffice to love thy neighbour as you love yourself. Do not covet your neighbour's house, other people's well-being shall not fill you with sadness, do not molest others and do not abandon them.

I urge you never to forget this.

Letter 2

THE EARTH

The earth is often called sinful, but we forget that it was we who made it sinful, made it suffer, made it ache. Even a stepmother is not treated so cruelly as we treat the earth, and the earth is our mother, who gave us birth, who sustains us and will receive us for our final rest.

As we are part of the earth, the earth is a part of the universe. And the universe, for its own part, is one whole balanced system, and we have no right to break this balance. It is our duty to merge into nature harmoniously. Instead of that, we are jealously destroying everything. We are destroying animals on the earth, birds in the sky and fish in the seas. We did not spare either the sky, or the earth, or water or plants. We ravaged and destroyed everything. We do not spare each other at all this either. If we where asked we would answer that we do all this for the sake of our well-being. But such behaviour will do us no good. We treat everything as inanimate objects, forgetting that everything is alive, everything has a soul and God will never forgive us our cruelty.

That our great mother, the Earth, is alive was told to me by my mother - Georgia.

Letter 3

HUMAN BEING

How many times have I thought about the essence of human being. Who are we? What are we? Where do we come from or where are we going to? What is our destination? As we know God created man in His likeness and image, blessed him and decided that man was the crown of nature; the crown but not the ruler; it means harmonious merging with nature and taking care of nature.

A human being is the unity of soul, mind and flesh, and soul and mind needs the same nourishing, purification and taking care of as flesh does. How a human being become a real human depends on the harmonious development of them. The abilities of man are infinite but unfortunately they remain unused, because our mind (intellect) is mainly occupied by the needs of our body and everyday life interests.

The first and foremost duty of a human being is being human, and after that being a female or a male, which is not only a sexual difference. Their being human is determined by their abilities and role about which I will speak later.

Each of us is the only and the unique child of God and the universe. This increases our obligation both to ourselves and to mankind. Because of this we should love and cherish each other. We must also remember that there is no one in this world who has not sinned or made a mistake. Therefore we must be more demanding to ourselves and more tolerant to others.

The person is only identified in relation to the whole-thingness notwithstanding his/her greatness and importance. A man separately is like a drop of water. Only lots of drops together give life and power and no one can tell which drop of water is more important in ocean. Thus, the mission of humans is to multiply, to develop harmoniously, to love each other and to stand together.

Letter 4

WOMEN

Being a Georgian I will talk about female first. In Georgia women has always occupied the first place and it was right. Woman is mother, The source of life. In every woman since her birth the code of motherhood is put. And in spite of the fact whether she has children or not, motherhood is her motive instinct, her motive power. That is why motherly feelings of a woman are not limited by her own children, in certain circumstances she assumes the function of mother towards her sisters and brothers, towards her parents, and even towards her spouse. Furthermore, she subconsciously is the mother of everything alive.

According to God's will man and woman have always been equal. Simply they both have their own business and complying each other. Women is responsible not only for multiplying humankind but for spiritual upbringing as well. To carry out this greatest mission woman needs great motherly love, tolerance, understanding, wisdom, inner power and spiritual and moral truth. Let nobody think that it is easy, let nobody reproach woman for having created nothing really important in science or art for so many centuries. It is only half a century that woman has come out into the public arena and has already proved that woman is not inferior to man either in reason or talent; but what can be more important than multiplying and shaping human? Isn't everything created by people and for people? Hasn't woman been the object of sublime love for man, the source of his heroism, chivalry and inspiration? As the woman is - so the family be, as the family is - so the country will be.

Letter 5

MAN

Man - what a proud and capacious world! But man also is father first and foremost, the father of his children and family and the father of his country as well. His duty besides reproducing is to feed them and protect them, and to take care of their physical survival. Don't smile, don't say that at the beginning of the 21st century it is ridiculous to talk about such things. Whichever the century, this is the law of nature, and we are the children of nature, nothing doing. The beginning of life and a new life need care, as the immortality of humankind is in them. This quite responsible and honorable mission is given to man and it requires great effort, reason, true spiritual and mental purity.

To make it easier for man to fulfil his mission with honor, the basis of everything should be love.
Yes, I know my dear, today more then ever, it is difficult for man to retain his manliness. There are fewer wars, techniques is developed, numerous profession appeared, man no longer needs masculine qualities to defend either his family or country or to feed them. No, I do not lament old times; unfortunately we have enough wars, as for techniques, it is necessary and important, but if we do not bring back true values, if man does not restore his chivalrous spirit, we shall become extinct by all means.

Letter 6

FAMILY

One man is neither a family nor power. People were created man and woman to complement each other, to make family and bring up descendants. Family is the most important thing in life. In the family, with parents, a human being becomes a person, an individual; but in the family that a person creates himself his realization as a person takes place. The basis of family is the relations between man and wife, it is cemented by love, and love means giving not receiving.

The head of the family always has the image of ancestors surrounded like a halo the whole family tree, and generations were brought up by the example of those ancestors. The warmth and love received from mother will accompany a human through all his life. Parents are the first and foremost examples and authorities for their children. The greatest tragedy in human life is disappointment in this authority. Being a worthy father of the family is the same as being a hero, and a wife must be the first stimulus and inspiration for every man. And if man does not make a woman feel feminine, merely a female or a partner will never inspire him to heroism, and she will never be able to be the friend, the mother and the mainstay of the family. The man who honours his family and wife and women in general, honours himself first of all.

I beg you to understand correctly what I'm going to tell you. I write these letters only because of love and empathy with you.

The reappraisal of values did a bad service to mankind. Man, without functions and effeminate, cannot be the head of the family any more; neither the emancipated hardworking woman can be his crown. Today woman is neither the mainstay of the family, nor the muse, nor even the object of sublime love. Nobody dedicates adoring lines to woman, nobody tries to attract her by chivalry or courtesy. Woman became simply a partner of man and the object of his sexual interests. Quite different values are cherished today… the best compliment and honor is being sexual, which, in my opinion should be insulting for a thinking person.

The mixture of male and female function, caused the derangement of their psychics, which resulted in breaking the normal relations among human beings. Homosexual and lesbian tendencies became frequent. The institute of family is gradually disappearing. Consequently we have a world of single, selfish, cold and estranged people. Parents try to fill the lack of spiritual values by material values for their children. There is no alternative for humane love and warmth, and we must learn them in the family in order to become person.

I know very well how difficult it is today to remain man or woman; how difficult it is to have a good, respected family, but it is not impossible. I also know that you are able to do it and you must be able to do it! The fate of mankind, the being or not being of humankind depends upon you. You are the road and the bridge that comes from the past and on which the future must pass (rest).

Letter 7

MOTHER AND CHILD

The most important and responsible thing in this world is being a parent, but the relationship between mother and child is quite a different thing. Man must not resent this. On the contrary, he must respect woman for it, because all of us were born by mothers. It is true that a child needs both parents for normal growth, but it is also a fact that a woman without a husband can bring up children, but for a man it seems impossible. It is not a man's fault, it is simply the low of nature, and nothing can be done about it. It is the mother who is the carrier of life, who gives birth to children. Accordingly she is the one to bring them up.

Nowadays giving birth to a child and rearing it are considered to be ordinary things. In reality it is a divine act, even more, it is a miracle! Each human being is a universe and gives birth to other universes. That is why it is so important to bring up a child and not simply let the child grow. When Lord deprives woman of having children it means that she is not able to raise them but who cares?

Today children's upbringing has become the responsibility of grandmothers and nurses. Instead of mother a child sees somebody else's face when going to sleep or waking up, hears somebody else's voice, somebody else feeds him, looks after him, washes him. It is somebody else who sees the child's first tooth cutting; it is somebody else who hears the first word pronounced by the child; the child learns life from somebody else's example; it is before somebody else's eyes that the child's character and interests take shape. It is somebody else who shares the child's joys and sorrows. And this somebody else is a casual, temporary person. The child does not know to whom to attach himself and has a feeling of being forlorn. Consequently parents do not have deep, strong feelings towards their children any more. It is true that biological love attraction still exists between the parents and the child even then when for some reason or other they are separated from each other, but though it may seem paradoxical, love is often determined by the care as well. That is why mothers have special love for their sick children. Only giving birth is not the main thing either. The main thing is to bring up the child, to shape him as a person. There is nothing of minor importance in this process, every gesture, every word, every act has a great meaning. When parents have no time for their children, the link between them breaks willy-nilly, the relations become colder and the result is estrangement. And its consequence is what we have: the reappraisal of values, egoistic, single-person society.

I would like to tell you that only three men are builders and destructors of the country: spiritual leader, a teacher and a physician. The mother stands above.

If mankind does not revise the dubious values, if spiritual relations are not restored, if woman's role and deserts in the family are not properly evaluated, and if woman does not bring her main interests and the source of her happiness back into the family from the outer world, we shall lose our offspring forever.

Letter 8

MOTHERLAND

People can choose quite a few things but they cannot choose their blood relations, nationality and motherland. These three things are so deep in our genes that we cannot escape them no matter where we go.

It is said that the most precious thing a human being has is life, but more precious than life is our child, who continues our life. That is why when the child's life is in danger, the parent sacrifices his /her own life without hesitating to save the child. But when the motherland is in danger the parent sacrifices not only his own life but the life of his children as well. Thus, it is the motherland, which is the most precious for people.

Why is the motherland so precious and significant? Are we not all the children of the same planet? Motherland is not only a geographical area. It is the language, culture, history, customs and relations that have been created for centuries. It is our past, present and future. It is at the same time our parent and our children; we ourselves are the motherland. The child of a miserable country will never be truly happy in spite of the fact how well-off he himself is. One must keep one's motherland as the apple of one's eye. The more we give to our motherland the more we will receive back. The greatest wealth you can leave your children is a free, independent, well taken care of and well defended country with developed culture and art, the historical monuments of culture and art, and the love of motherland. Today the love of motherland has become somehow embarrassing, and it is often confused with chauvinism. But if a man does not love his own motherland, he will never be able to love anybody else's.

There is nothing dangerous in loving one's motherland. It is not dangerous either when small nations try to keep their own independence and nationality. If people are concerned with the problem of extinction of this or that species of fauna and flora, and such species are entered into the Red Book, if special organizations are created and considerable sums of money are spent to save the species on the verge of extinction, then isn't the disappearance of small nations and their culture a greater loss for mankind? The cultural heritage of every nation is universal treasure. The beauty of the world is in its diversity. Imagine that one fine morning you see the whole world painted one color, your favorite color. The whole world will seem decolorized at once. The peaceful co-existence among nations should be implemented in a spiritual way and by means of love but not by establishing one big nation or one big state. It is better to inspire and stimulate true love to better understand the essence of life, to learn appreciation and respect for one another.

Letter 9

FRIENDSHIP

Friendship is the phenomenon of human relations which has no alternative and is a supreme form of unselfish love. Unfortunately for humans, mother is not always a friend, but a friend must always be as devoted as mother. Whatever cordial, warm and good relations a person may have with the family, a friend is a different thing. A friendless person is not only poor but is miserable as well.

Love of family members and relatives, taking care of them, are a human's direct duties, but when a human shows the same feelings towards somebody else, a stranger, disinterestedly, shares his joys and sorrows, this is already love of neigbour. This very love of the neighbor makes us human and distinguishes us from animals.

There are such moments in a human being's life when he needs a listener outside the family who will share his feelings. It is a friend who fulfils these functions. If a human has no friends, he remains alone with his problems and depressed, has to seek a psychologist or psychiatrist. This is the commonest way today for a friendless man in this selfish, single person world. But this is not the way out. We human beings are strong only by one another, by sharing one another's joys and sorrows. Shared sorrow is half the sorrow and shared joy is the doubled joy. The more you share your feelings the less the sorrow and the more the joy.

Friendship is the first step made in the direction of your neighbour. Do not grudge and do not calculate love, time and energy given to a friend. Give all this generously and you will reap a hundred times more.

Letter 10

HAPPINESS

Happiness is the most magic word in this world. Humans dream of happiness most of all. They wish each other happiness and promise each other happiness first of all. They do their best for the happiness of their children; they are always seeking and expecting happiness. In spite of such longing for happiness they do not think enough about its essence. They look at happiness somehow superficially, they think that it is an eternal holiday, an eternal feast and are greatly surprised when it perishes.

But how can happiness be eternal when there is nothing eternal in this world? First of all a human must realize what happiness is, and when it is fully understood, only then start striving for it. And the gained happiness must be cherished.

People see happiness mostly in money, because the fulfilling of wishes and inner freedom are identified with money. To tell you the truth I have never heard of happiness gained only with money. Happiness is a different concept and it has nothing to do with money.

Happiness is when you love and give away unselfishly, happiness is when you are loved, needed and respected not because of your property or social position but because of your personal merits. The rich do not need my pity at all but still I have always pitied them. Firstly I pity them because they are never sure that the feelings of their relatives towards them are disinterested; secondly, because it takes them so much time and effort to pile up fortune and then keep it and there is no time left for happiness.

If you live a life of love there will be no end of reasons for happiness. A human being, who is full of love, is free from wickedness, his heart is not eaten by envy and jealousy and suspicion; ambition does not harass, he is not eaten by the worm of amassing his wealth and he is not on bad terms with honesty and conscience either. What can be greater happiness then this? Happiness is love. Love and be happy!

Letter 11

LOVE

My dear, we have come to the most important subject - LOVE. It is love that has been so much spoken about through the whole history of humankind but the agreement about the essence of love has not been reached yet. As far as I know Paul the apostle explained love most perfectly in his first appeal to the Corinthians (13). Love is that foundation on which mankind stands, but today for some reason or other, love is associated mainly with sex. Perhaps it is so because we lack true love. That is why I dared to touch on this subject.

From the day of our birth our life passes through love and non-love. Whatever you do if you do it without love your task will be unbearable and hard. Even kindness without love will become only charity and it will lose its price. The sapling of love needs the greatest care but the result of this care is also adequate. One who possesses love possesses everything.

I think love is one whole, all-embracing feeling to which all living beings aspire, but it is so great and heavy a burden that it can be carried only be the chosen; all the rest of us divide it into thousand of love, and each of us takes as much as he is able to carry.

Love is perfection and perfection is God, and in each of us there is as much God as there is love. Life is given to us for a short time as a loan which we must pay with love. You have to remember, love means giving away not receiving. Love is a great responsibility and burden, but though it may seem paradoxical, the heavier the burden the lighter and the prettier the life. There is one thing more, only free people are able to love.

Letter 12

FREEDOM

Now let's ask: what is freedom? Probably the majority will say that there is nothing to ask about; he who is not restricted by anything, who has every right, who never denies himself anything, is free. Actually it is slavery, the worst form of slavery. It is easier to get free from other people's slavery than from the slavery of one's own feelings and desires. Frequently people are not aware of their slavery and even proud of their own "freedom". That is why it is so difficult to gain freedom.

And free is the man who can refuse himself, who can control himself. In the Georgian language the word "tavisupali" (free) contains this very meaning, "the lord of your own self", i.e. You can control yourself. It is a human being himself that is the ruler and creator of himself. It is difficult, of course, but not impossible. A human can be and must be free, this is the human's loftiest mission.

And truly free is the human who is capable of love. Love and freedom is the lot of the strong, of the great.

Letter 13

POWER

Power is what created the universe and moves the world, but humans perceive it in a different way. Power is one of the important factors in human life. There are three types of power: spiritual, mental and physical. There are other kinds of power as well, among them the most attractive are economic and political power, in spite of their unstable nature.

The majority of people crave this or that kind of power because they see in them the means of establishing themselves in society. More or less it is so, but if the power is not accompanied by spiritual strength, in cause of losing it, nothing remains of man. Any power without love is dangerous and destructive both for others and the possessor. Power is a privilege and an advantage. It imposes a great responsibility on a person. The trouble is that everyone wants privileges, but no one wants responsibility.

My dear, power does not mean to impose your will on somebody. Only those oppress others who do not have enough strength to overcome their own weaknesses and establish themselves as persons. When a human is not sure of himself, he applies his rough force to prove his strength to the others and first of all to himself.

He who conquers becomes the slave of the conquered, because he becomes dependent on the latter. A weak person, whatever his victory may be is defeated in the end, because his power relies on fear and ambition. And these two parasites feed on spiritual strength which the weak have little as it is, and the defeated is always in ambush to attack. Besides that all, kinds of conquests are temporary images, regularity is in harmony.

Real power is spiritual power. And spiritual power takes its source from will. A strong man, whatever power he possesses, is always calm and balanced because he is sure of himself and he does not want to prove anything to anybody. He uses his power only in extreme cases to defend kindness, justice and himself. Even in extreme situations he is moderate and merciful, generous and forgiving.

The power of one man, however limitless it may seem, is only true power in unity. This is what our ancestors taught us, but there is no one to hear. If the unity is strengthened by love there is nothing in this world to overpower it.

Remember, vanity is the mask of the weak; and weakness and fear are inseparable. I'll speak about fear in the next letter.

Letter 14

FEAR

Like any other illness fear is two kinds: inherited and acquired. Instinctive fear is a natural feature of man, thus it is normal. As for the acquired fear it has been constantly inculcated into human's minds by rulers and the clergy to instill hierarchical obedience. There is a saying: fear will create love. But I am sure fear will never create love. Fear is slavery, and love is simply inaccessible for a slave, as only a free man is able to love. A cowardly man tries to please the mightier one, and as soon as he has a chance to take revenge on him or to oppress the weaker one himself. This is the psychology of a slave and a slave cannot live in a different way.

Every kind of fear accumulates in the ego of a human being and in the end develops into the fear of death. It is natural that we should be afraid of death, but our fear must be different, we must be afraid of dying if we have not become humans. Fear is a pity of one's own self in a way, and if it had a different meaning in the epoch of the slave system, in the 20th century it transformed into egoism. The source of every weakness is fear and if a human does not overcome it, it will spread like metastasis of cancer and will make a man do thousands of despicable things, until it puts an end to his life. To overcome fear one must have power and power is given by love. Without love a human becomes a prey of constant fear and egoism.

Letter 15

EGOISM

Man has never been free from egoism, but in the second half of the 20th century egoism became a fatal disease of humankind. Man used to be closer to God, but today when man factually lost God, he lost love too, and his attention was concentrated only on his own self. The humans are so full of themselves, that no room remains for others, even for their own children. I'm sure parents will argue with me, they will say that my ideas are foolish because they do their best for their children, they lay themselves out, sometimes they even condescend to do things that are beneath their dignity just to give everything to their children. But let's be more openhearted, isn't all this done for strengthening our positions in society? The child most of all needs relationship with us, needs our attention, needs the warmth of our souls. But we, to defend our own egos and to justify ourselves try to give him material things instead of those things I've mentioned above. I know that lot of things are necessary to bring up a child. Being wealthy is far from being bad but at what price? Being wealthy maybe it's not bad but the question is what is the price of this? When money becomes end in itself, it demands the sacrifice of everything human and makes us its slaves. When money is the purpose in itself it erodes all human values and enslaves you. Have you ever seen happiness as a result of wealth only? Look at the present day. On the one hand, parents are engaged in business and personal affairs ("I also want to live, don't I?), they are always too busy, on other hand, a well-provided, comfortable conditions in which children live under the guidance of a nurse, television, computer, so they are left to chance and they miss their parents. The result? Estrangement and putting personal interests in the forefront from both sides.

A human's personal interests should come into coordination with the interests of the family, state and mankind. The breaking of this chain threatens the whole mankind with peril. Today everybody takes into consideration only personal interests and tries to bring everything in coordination with the latter. And egoism is nothing else.

You mustn't think that I deny everything personal. If one does not respect oneself it will be impossible for the one to respect others, but we mustn't confuse self-respect and self-conceit (vanity). I'm not against being wealthy either and I am not pulling you back to the caves. Humans have never been so comfortable and well-provided as they are today, and have never been so estranged, so single and so lonely. Nor there has ever been such deficiency of love, and mankind has never been facing such danger. The only way of surviving is to realize our own egoism, to enkindle the extinguished love, to find each other, to stand together, and to take care of each other. This is what life is...

Letter 16

LIFE

Georgians have another name for "life", they call it "tsutisopeli", which means a minute of existence in this world. Compared with the time of the universe our life must be less than a minute. Actually our life consists of the past and the future, and the present is the time between them which passes so quickly into the past that we have no time to touch it or to realize it. We begin analyzing things after they have happened, when they have already become past we no longer are able to bring it back or change it. Thus our life passes between the non-existent past and non-existent future through non-existent time. Factually, our life is a mirage, and the human being itself, according to galaxy scales, can be equal to a cell. But it does not mean that we are nonentities and our life has no value. Everything is relative, and I told you this only to remind you that the universe does not begin with us and does not end with us. I have not forgotten what I said before: any human being is the only one and unique. This is so, because there are no two similar spots in nature. I'll tell you more, each human being is a separate world, a separate universe, and in the whole universe everything, beginning with the smallest to the greatest, is in close relations, is dependent on each other. A drop of water is too small compared with the ocean, but the ocean itself is the accumulation of drops of water and no one can say which drop of water is more important in it.

The life of every human being is the divine revelation on the earth and we have no right to destroy it. That is why killing is the greatest sin, this must be kept in our minds. And the killer of a young man must know that he is the killer not of one person but of generations.

Life is given to us for a very short time as a loan, which must be paid back with love. But we often leave this world without paying our debt. Our debts pass on our children, they pass them on to their children, and thus, generations are burdened with unpaid debts. I have often heard people say: "The more you snatch away, to the more you will gain". Make no mistake, do not believe it, nobody has got away with it. It is also said that grandchildren have to pay for their grandfather's sins. These very debts are meant here, and if we love our children truly and take care of them we must remember this.

Remember how happy you are when you love and when you give away, the soul is enraptured when you love your neighbour as you love yourself and do him good as unselfishly as to yourself, your life becomes blessed . Human beings have only one thing when they come to this world, this is the capacity of love. And we cannot take anything with us while leaving this world except what we leave behind us. We can leave only what is ours. And ours is what we give away, because love is giving away, not receiving. And the essence of our life is in this, as well as the essence of our demise.

Letter 17

DEATH

Life and death are inseparable, but somehow people do not like to speak or think about death. The reason of it is fear, they say. Human beings really have fear of the unknown, but do we know life better, the life to which we cling with all our might? Who knows what awaits us in a year, in a day or even in a minute? Death is born together with life in us, and it is ours as is our life. Thus, we must not fear death, the more so because it is inevitable.

Forgive me, if I'm speaking about a subject disagreeable to you, but I can't help speaking about it. The world changes instantly, there is nothing eternal in it except the Maker Himself. And the change of the world means death and new birth every time. It is also known that nothing is created from nothing and, nothing disappears; simply one form transforms into another one. All this suggests to us that our life is not limited by our short visit on the earth. We existed before coming to this world and will exist after our passing away, because we do not die, we simply change, "gardavitsvlebit" - "become transformed" as Georgians say.

The life on earth is a chance for human beings given by providence to cultivate the immortal soul and mind. But our life is short, and death stands so close, that we cannot see it, we cannot perceive it. We think of death only beyond us, in connection with others, and we believe that it has nothing to do with us. We do not even remember death and behave as if we were immortal. Memento mori! To say nothing else life is appreciated by death. We should not be afraid of death, we should be afraid of leaving this world without fulfilling our duty. We take with us only those things that we leave after us and those very things left by us determine both the life of our descendants and death or immortality.

Letter 18

IMMORTALITY

Man, consciously or unconsciously, longs for immortality most all. The majority of people understand immortality as measured by the measures of this world and see it in making one's name. Making a name is a good thing, but it is also important what name man leaves. Name used to be the priority of kings, dignitaries, eminent clerics and heroes. Afterwards scientists, artists, philosophers, the representatives of show business and other were added to the list.

The name of man is appreciated by deeds and traces left by him. To reach immortality is not an easy thing, it is reached by great spiritual, mental and physical efforts with great care and assiduity. The glory of the name attracts with everybody, but look closely into the life of immortal men, very few of us would like to pass through their way of life. The road to immortality is very difficult and those who take that road are very few. As for the majority, their only way to immortality is through their descendents. This is not an easy thing either. The better generation we bring up, the more chances of immortality we have. Otherwise our memory will die together with our grandchildren, because after them nobody will remember us.

Today people are burning stronger with the fire of immortality, but the society, which has become selfish and thinks only of prosperity, has neither time nor desire for spiritual or mental refinement. They are looking for easier ways, and this must be one of the reasons of sex fetishism. Free sex has two significant meanings subconsciously. On one hand it creates the illusion of freedom for people, on the other hand it creates the illusion of becoming equal to God, who is immortal.

To find immortality it is not necessary to be well-born, or to be a hero, or to be a great talent. It is quite enough to live a life of love, kindness and wisdom. True immortality is going back to the beginning, and the shortest way to it is God's way, which passes through love for every mortal man without exception. Only divine love can give us true immortality both here and there and return us to the beginning.

Letter 19

ART

I would like to say, a few words about art, I can't help it. Beside the fact that art preserved history, ancient knowledge and many mysteries unexplained even today, art is sustenance for human beings. This is the art through which the spirit and self-ness of nation is being judged.

I respect greatly all artists and all kinds of revealing art, but now I will refer only to genuine art and genuine artists. It is true that people say all the time: "It is not the way to speak about art. How are we to distinguish between true and not true art? Art is art". I have to disappoint those people who say this. Nothing doing, the difference is great. To serve art is destiny and not profession. Professions are chosen, but a true artist is the chosen one. For the true artist, art is not a choice, it is inevitability. I must say one thing more, if an art critic says he cannot distinguish them, either he does not understand the subject or avoids telling the truth.

An artist is chosen by God and is God's speaking trumpet. The Lord tells people His will and gives them spiritual nourishment through an artist. Man may hide himself behind a beautiful word or nice behavior, but in art he cannot hide anywhere. Art is the measure not only of an artist but of the spirituality of his nation as well. All the true art takes its origin from the roots of the nation and transforms the spiritual inheritance of the nation into the treasure belonging to all mankind. I suddenly remembered the words of the greatest Georgian poet Akaki Tsereteli, "my nation rings me up, and God from heaven appoints me, the earthly creature. I speak to God in order to lead my nation".

Among mortals it is the artist who is nearer to God than anybody else, because the artist, like God creates the visible from the invisible and inspires it with his own soul to give life to it. Probably that is why only the artist is called a creator. The greatness of the work of art depends on what amount of soul the author puts into it. It makes no difference how many centuries pass, the artist goes on living until his work of art is alive, regardless of the fact whether his name is known or not, because art is a materialized soul.

Some people consider art to be an entertainment. Actually art has great significance, because It has the greatest power of influence. This is well known to certain people and they use it quite well for their influence on masses. Word, sound, color and form can make people ill and can cure them as well both spiritually and physically. That is why we need great caution and the ability of distinguishing things while approaching art.

I can't agree with those either who consider art inaccessible for masses of people and create pop-art for them. Humans aspire to the elevated, because soul needs nourishment at least occasionally. When a spectator, listener or reader is open up inwardly, he easily finds access to the soul of the artist and everything created by the artist becomes understandable. And this is understanding of art and nothing else. Thus, it is not necessary at all to bring the art down to the masses, nor is it necessary to fall out from extreme another, "art for art's sake". Nothing can exist in this world separately, neither can art. Everything created by man is for man.

That is why genuine art will always nave its admirers.

Letter 20

GOD

God is the beginning and the end of everything. God gives birth to everything and accumulates everything. The concept of God is the regularity which brings human life in balance. God is the concept which distinguishes human from other biological creatures. God is the immortality, harmony and perfection to which humankind strives consciously or unconsciously. God is love on the earth.

There is only one creator of the universe and it does not make any difference if some see Him in Krishna, Buddha, Yahweh, Christ, Mohamed, and so on. God is one for everybody and if we study the roots of different religions closely, we'll see that they are all based on love. There is no good or bad religion. Every religion deserves recognition and honor if the religion is based on universal love and peaceful co-existence, if it is understood correctly, if it brings no harm to anybody or if it does not impose anything.

The majority of people think of themselves as being religious. Unfortunately very often it is only desire and fulfilling one's duty outwardly. Very few understand the essence of their own religion, not to say anything about the concept of God and faith in general. The true belief in God is an esoteric concept and requires great spiritual effort from the believer. The majority of people pay more attention to every day life and prosperity, thus, they have separated themselves from knowledge. This suited the rules of countries leaders to rule people better, so they did their best to facilitate the process. They drew people's attention to the outward side of religion, instilled hatred and intolerance towards other religions, because it is the easiest thing to manipulate by means of religion. All kinds of wars are the results of ambitions of particular persons and serve their interests. But for people wars, notwithstanding their results, bring only destruction, death, poverty and disaster, and it has been so for the whole history of mankind.

A true believer, whatever his religion, will never tell another believer: "Your religion is not good, give up your belief and convert to my good religion". A good believer knows that God is one for everybody, and it does not matter how they worship Him. Thus, we have nothing to divide among us, and the person, who shows deference to other people's religion, glorifies his own religion by this deference.

Unfortunately in the course of time even the servants of religions have lost the knowledge; very often divine service is a profitable thing for them rather than spiritual need. It is clear that time is different today, accordingly the approach should also be different. But more is demanded from those who claim to be the leaders of people, because they are examples for others. As for an ordinary person observing the ten commandments is the basic thing for a harmonious relationship with God and the witness. It doesn't make any difference to what religion you belong, if you observe them you are a good believer and a good citizen.

God is one and God is in us. As we all are God's children we all are equal before God, before life and before death.

There is as much God in us as there is love in us.

Letter 21

EPILOGUE

Finally I have finished writing the letters. I tried as much as I could to cover all the important problems of life and at the same time I tried not to be boring. All my life I have watched and studied the road passed by humans, the things they have done and created from the very beginning. I was grieved when I saw that we hadn't learned anything yet even in our educated, highly developed and well-fed life. And this very grief and fear of the future of mankind became the reason of writing these letters.

I have told you what I had to say, but perhaps you see everything in a different way? Think it over and respond to me. However great is my love for people, however great is my desire to help them, I need your support. Don't say "but what can I do?" We often say this just to protect ourselves, just to avoid our responsibility, but in the heart of hearts we think ourselves to be very great, to be the incarnation of nobleness and honesty... Don't be displeased with me for these words. We are all like that, aren't we? We see only others' faults and calm ourselves that we are angels compared with others. Everybody is responsible for their own lives. We had better look into our souls and hearts. We should not be afraid, there is nothing there that can't be found in other peoples' hearts and souls. Simply when you know the truth, a desire may appear to clean yourself at least once in a while. This is where we need help. One man can really do nothing, that is why we must be together to help each other to be saved and to save each other.

It is not easy, but still I believe in the wisdom of mankind. If we all work together, there is nothing impossible in this world.

Eliso

HOME