Abstract
Introduction
Unlike the divine power of creation, human creativity if two-faced: while it contains an element of the divine, the diabolical is also inherent within it, to which history bears witness. This diabolical force fascinates the individual desiring to create, with its intelligence. Therefore, our creativity brings forth both light and dark. Unfortunately, in the hands of the individual encouraged by his/her abilities, and who has forgotten moral considerations, it becomes a tool of destruction.
Szimbólum
Abstract
Metal and Iron
Ore, and the metal prepared from it, is one of the most ancient magical phenomena in the history of man. This spiritually hard matter, which sparkles like light, is not found in nature, with rare exception: metal must be extracted from the ore through various secret processes involving cleansing, alloying and enriching. All metals, but especially iron, always carried a double symbolic meaning. Its processing conjures images of hell and as a weapon it is a tool of the wicked, while at the same time its armor protects one from those who mean harm and as an element of alchemy it can aid one finding gold, or the path of spiritual purity. The hierarchy of metals, which are proof of the connection between the planets, help decipher the symbolic path of human history.
Oikosz és kreativitás
Abstract
The Everyday Experiencing of the Sacred
We must not confuse the perceptible, observable cosmos with the invisible Heavens, perceptible only to the initiates.
According to the body of beliefs of ages past the initiate or sacred individual sees that which is invisible to others, the uninitiated. The initiate does not acknowledge the limits of time or space. He or she sees the invisible and incomprehensible World in which earthly laws are not valid; in which time and space cease to exist; in which the Path of Light, The Path itself, is imperceptible to the human eye and the way to the Creator is not only perceptible, but passable.
In approaching the complex problem of conquering time and space from this direction, we may use an important warning found in the gospel as point of departure: Christ the Lord called upon people to choose Life over life. He who experiences his Timeless Self (through the course of some type of genuine initiation ritual) is able to actually conquer our time and space, as we are accustomed to it, and which he initially thought unconquerable.
Unbelievable as it may seem we, modern humans, experience the sacred on a daily basis, meaning that whether we are aware of it or not, we are all part of a kind of initiation completely independent of our intentions.
Love – the sacred love of Dante and Beatrice and that of the knights –, the most everyday of experiences, is capable of leading those waiting for initiation towards the Timeless Self. For the Hungarians of olden times all this was not a mystery: he who accepted initiation gained entry into Hungarian mythology's mystic world, Fairy Land, a space of higher rank, experienced only through meditation.
Abstract
The Creativity of Language. Origins of the Hungarian Language
At one time short proto-words belonged to written characters. The word of the Stone Age was the image, the image hidden in the word. All our words are an image. In times past everything was given a name based on its image, and though the word may have changed it preserves this ancient image. Our linguistic records can be recovered from the depths of time based on this thesis. The structure serving as the image-foundation of the Hungarian language has been preserved within the roots, the root structure. The basic nature of the roots has been erased from common knowledge and denied.
The root is an unusual figure. It contains three sounds: a vowel in the middle guarded by two consonants. Its meaning is also firm, despite the changes in the language: the phonetic form which expresses the root can 'stray', but only to the extent a goat tied by a rope to a stake can. Stability is provided by the image hidden inside. Our language rests on 19-20 roots. These roots create a system of axioms. The principle: the differentiation and separation of the visible changes within the world according to their essence. The roots: the definition of these differentiated parts. Inasmuch as our language is founded on a system of roots, it follows that it is an invented language.
Abstract
Theory of Christian Economics
The root of Europe's suffering which reaches farthest into the depths of time, stubbornly a part of common knowledge, is the Rome of Antiquity. It reached the depths of its existence at the very height of victory, for it traded leaders who united intellect with strength into a harmony of existence, for a senate compiled of merchant soldiers – a rationality forgetful of existence and structures of aggression ruinous of existence.
Its institutions, wrenched from a system of global relationships and abstracted from their foundation, were organized around private goals leaving mere vegetation in their wake – an abandoned body weaned of the world, the community and the individual, degrading the soul, intellect and the spirit into instinct, perception and passion.
There is, however, another way: the short, barely more than half a millennia old path of the Church. In order to ennoble man – society, the empire – it lifted him to itself and rose together with him. It did not accept imperialists – trafficker, politicians, senators and mercenaries – into its bosom. Its ascent is without boundaries or limits and its only point of measure is Christ. That is why the place of inhabitance is the Church, where the Earth meats the Sky, and gives rise to freedom, truth and love: Christianity. Christianity, natural, organic life, is the rise of the vale of tears through the act of consecration. Consecrated life, lifted above its own self and thereby natural and pardoned, is the world community of the Church. Love is the province of pardoned life and the sum of love structures.
The provinces of Christianity are the consecrations of natural life: Eros; the provinces of pardoned life lifted above natural life: aręte and the affiliated church, glorious life, life lifted above pardoned life and consecrating it, the world of the love feast. This is how the sacred Christian economy and farming develop into true social economics.
Abstract
The Two Faces of Creation
The road to self-fulfillment is a dual one: the exterior route is that of the rite, while the inner route is that of contemplation. Rites lead to Creation while contemplation leads to a state beyond Creation. The beginning of all true and correct inner roads is the rite, or magic, meaning an act connecting the earth and the sky. That which we call 'rite' is actually an active presence expressed at the right time in the right place. He who practices this must therefore re-create all connections to the world, its inhabitants, and himself.
Modern myths about creativity are characteristically 'new age' beliefs. Essentially it is stuck at the point of recognition: the evolving of creativity induces a higher quality of life. Since this concept fits right into the desire-fulfillment concept of pseudo-esoteric man, he is quick to deduct that this is the goal of life. Experience, however, indicates that this type of self-fulfillment is merely the fattening of the ego, often leading to the development of a superiority complex. The individual suffering from a superiority complex considers illusory happiness a virtue and himself a chosen one, since he is in possession of it. The word 'ego-fulfillment' would better suit this phenomenon – he uses the world, exploiting it. In other word: misuses it.
Man is capable of creating his own world. As a matter of fact, he always does, both on the outside and on the inside. The only question is, whether he is aware of it or not. The goal is a light and perfect presence without responsibilities.
Abstract
Genius Loci
If we approach architecture in an analytical fashion we loose sight of its actual environmental character, the object of human identification capable of providing existential handholds. What is lost is the everyday world of our lives, which is what we, not to mention the architect and other planners, should primarily be occupied with. Luckily, there is a way out of this dead end: the method of phenomenology.
I introduced the term 'existential space' in order to fill in this gap. Heidegger's philosophy, a long list of essays dealing with language and aesthetics, was the catalyst, which enabled me to define its creation and direction. Writing is the first step towards the phenomenology of architecture, i.e. the direction of a theory, which analyzes architecture using concrete existential concepts.
Topics such as 'location as a phenomenon' and 'the structure of location' are also touched upon in relation to the Heideggerian analysis of Georg Trakl's poem Winter Evening.
Életünk színterei
Abstract
Parks
Trees, and their symbolic meaning, have a fundamentally important effect in the life of humans. Trees create a unique common space, in which it is good to stay in or pass through; a space to dream, a space to draw. Trees planted in big cities, and on their outskirts, however, are able to satisfy the human need for trees only to a limited degree. In all actuality we only feel its true and meaningful presence if its space-formation capacity prevails.
Abstract
Gardens Run Wild
Many gardens are stiff and forced. What is missing from these gardens is that which makes a garden come alive: a controlled yet wild character. A garden, which is able to grow according to its own laws, is not a jungle: it provides its visitors with a more profound experience. It is almost mandatory for a garden to have a 'studio', a little shed of some kind, which serves as a transition between the garden and the house, where seedling grow and plants thrive when the weather turns cold. It is a good idea to put something in this shed to sit upon, to provide a suitable environment for pondering.
Abstract
Greenhouses
A greenhouse is a wondrous place, a source for life in the garden, which in the temperate climate zone can be a natural part of the garden.
A cselekvés útja - a megtartó kreativitás
Abstract
Organic Post Post-Modern
Tradition is transcendent, permeating knowledge pertaining to the completeness of existence. In modern times it has been gradually pulling into the background. At the same time it has become impossible to write about the post-post-modern era of the turn of the century with the help of prevailing scientific and mechanic paradigms of the last few hundred years' image of the world and the theories it has brought forth. The answers to fundamental questions, while making use of the results of scientific research, define a new (old-new) human image, in which there are many elements from the sphere of tradition. Knowledge of preserved traditions will soon become more valuable, as will historically continuous transmitted common experience – tradition is a social organizational force which is why it has such a close relationship to the developing knowledge-based society. But how is it possible to keep the remaining areas of tradition alive in the society of the future, and to create a new one in connection with them?
Abstract
Tradition, Landscape Attitude, Landscape Development
The landscape has recently found its way into the foreground of attention. The formation of the landscape is a process which takes centuries, if not several thousands of years, heavily influenced by individual and collective interest. The landscape rests upon the nature of a given place and the mentality of the people living in it. It is a concept created by intellect and emotion, and as such there is no such thing as a landscape lacking the human factor.
The landscape is both tangible and material, while at the same time it is also impalpable, the spatial and temporal process of perceptible spiritual components – a territorial and cultural unit which exists not only because of our individual judgment, but because of the collective memory of the people living and working in that given location.
The way of seeing the landscape, and tradition, together form a tight unity, and nourish each other. The attitude of the inhabitants of a certain area or region toward their landscape is definitive in creating their landscape-attitude for the future. Agricultural activity can be considered one of the major landscape forming factors worldwide. The author analyzes the wine-producing region of the Küküllô Valley in Transylvania based on this fact.
Abstract
Living in the Landscape
Our image of the world is contradictory. Technical tools and the development of the sciences makes it possible for us to see the World from the outside, objectively, and as part of greater correlations. In our day-to-day lives, however, the World is a comprehensible, a navigable, an accepting space, the place we live in.
When examining the cultural history of mankind in relation to the history of the landscape or garden, we get nearer to the most hidden secrets of alchemy. The goal of alchemy is to turn the body, or matter, into the spiritual, and that which is spiritual into matter. The landscape is a portrait, whose ever-changing features are drawn by the human hand which forms nature. The author examines the triple structure of the landscape as a space through the analysis of the landscape image of ancient eastern culture, Greek and Roman culture, and the Renaissance.
At present the European cultural landscape, as an image, will perhaps be preserved, thanks to charters, agreements, environmental and historical landmark protection laws, and in wealthier countries direct support. But the original, living, organic landscape and communities living within it are rare, and can be found mainly in the eastern part of Europe.
In the analysis of the possibilities for preserving the living landscape the article mentions a Transylvanian program, in which professional young people together with locals, renovated a thermal bath used by the local population. The goal was to protect their heritage and landscape, and to raise the consciousness of the community; to prove that the landscape and the community both have internal resources, and that awakening these is only a matter of will, joining forces, and of course: faith.
Abstract
Fashion Contra Tradition
Trend: this word, for all practical purposes, renders everything sellable. Marketability turns that, which we have though of as human for a long time, into a product. And products need marketing. The trend decides to what extend we ourselves are marketable, and how we can increase our own consumer value.
The trend is the narrowest cross-section of the meeting of time and man. Tradition, the original gauge we received from existence, is not familiar with the terrified individual, who draws the trend around himself as a sort of protective shield. Tradition is itself the nest, the deepest layer of existence, a demonstration: cause and explanation, rendering the listing of further causes and explanations unnecessary. The trend is an excuse, reasoning and finger pointing, the acceptance of the concept of time without contradiction: the denying of existence in the face of being.
The trend strips symbolic tools of their mythic ties to existence tearing the meaning away from the image. It subtracts spiritual reason from the appearance of matter and starts operating the leftovers as a new system of communication. It voids the body of conscious happiness by offering substitutes, which it denies day after day in order to be able to replace them with new ones. Demand, satisfaction, and a new demand – consumption – have stepped into the place of beauty and the longing for it.
Abstract
Sustainable Development in Mianmar
The natural resources, culture and inhabitants of Burma (today: Mianmar) are fascinating. The western visitor will be surprised to experience that here economic underdevelopment and poverty do not go hand in hand with 'poverty of the soul'. As a matter of fact, the Burmese are a well-balanced and happy people.
The country, inhabited by one-hundred and eleven various ethnic groups, is very rich in natural resources: their main natural treasure is teakwood (75% of the world's teakwood grows here) and other types of hard wood, but it also has oil, natural gas, and several mineral treasures. Fishing is also one of the major means of income.
Burma is not a member of any international environmental or animal conservation organization, nor does the Burmese have any idea about which animals or plants are threatened by extinction, or to what extent. Because of the population's unfathomable poverty there is presumably a high rate of illegal tiger, rhinoceros, whale-shark (etc.) trade, the customers of which are most often Chinese aphrodisiac producers.
In the day and age of multinational companies, the presence of such mammoth companies in the area, sooner or later, seems unavoidable, attracted by unexploited natural treasures. This danger can be avoided only through a concentrated development strategy, which keeps the basic rules of sustainable development in mind. The author introduces just such a script.
Mesterek és műhelyek
Abstract
The 'Nomad Generation' (compilation)
A characteristic of the 1970's in Hungary was the sweeping reappearance of popular culture, which earlier had withdrawn into modernity. Folk dance and folk music broke away from the restrictions of folk dance troupes and museum showcases, and came to life in the dance-house movement, directing deep-rooted energy towards the transcendental, whereby it became a personal and cultural directing force. Well-trained and committed musicians learned the most ancient melodies from elder musicians still playing authentic folk music; myriad young people studied original folk motifs at summer camps and built buildings directly expressing Hungarian traditions. The long-range effects of the movement, which climaxed in 1972-1978, are still perceptible today, and offer a viable alternative to the vulgar and careless social changes of the 1990's.
Ökológia és ideológia
Abstract
Nature and Society in Russian Culture
Perhaps the character of the Native Peoples of North America was not as directly defined by the natural environment, landscape and climate as the people of Eastern Europe. This holds especially true for the people of Russia, both in a spiritual and intellectual sense. This is why it is no little wonder, though unfamiliar readers will be greatly surprised, that highly specialized works published in relation to the ecological challenges our world faces today, full of statistics, graphs and mathematical calculations usually conclude on a more sublime note, often bordering on the literary. The author draws an edifying landscape on the relationship between Russian literature, history and politics, as well as the attitude towards ecology with the Russian person's love of the landscape and nature. He convincingly analyzes how, without a knowledge of this deep and mystical relationship the very basic principles and steps of Russian politics, history and economics cannot be understood, be it a work of Tolstoy or Solzhenitsyn, the politics of Gorbachev or Putin, the thoughts of the economist Kondratev, Russian-German relations, the hatred of the land by the Bolsheviks, or the theory of a rainbow-economy.
Ökofórum
Abstract
Whose Water is it Anyway? Studies from the United States
By the twenty-first century our water has become a commodity. Some try to make a profit on it while others would be willing to wage a war for it. The rate of water consumption is twice that of the growth in population, yet we do not have any more water to use then we ever did during the course of human history. Therefore, one of the most important questions today is, who is going to control this life giving resource?
The battle for water has begun. A grow in demand, along with a decrease in reserves, have raised interest among global companies who see water trade as a good chance to make a profit. According to World Bank estimates the water-industry is potentially worth thousand of billions of US dollars. The Washington Agreement's water-privatization chapter is based on the philosophy dominating world economics today. Global trade agreements define water as a commodity. Huge water-hydraulics companies concentrate their investments on the safer North American and European markets.
The article offers potential methods of resistance through the description of a small American town's successful opposition. The campaign must be built upon three global fundamental concepts: the conservation of water is imperative; water must be handled as a basic human right; water-democracy is a fundamental fact.
A szám címlapja.