{"id":5395,"date":"2010-06-07T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2010-06-06T22:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=5395"},"modified":"2010-05-23T09:25:33","modified_gmt":"2010-05-23T07:25:33","slug":"nicholas-roerich-1874-1947-the-highest-mountains-stand-as-the-witnesses-of-the-great-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2010\/06\/nicholas-roerich-1874-1947-the-highest-mountains-stand-as-the-witnesses-of-the-great-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) The Highest mountains stand as the witnesses of the Great Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Only the bridge of Beauty will be strong enough for crossing from the bank of Darkness to the side of Light <\/em>– Nicholas Roerich<\/p>\n

The United Nations General Assembly in resolution A\/RES.62\/90 has proclaimed the year 2010 as the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures \u201cto promote universal respect for, and observation and protection of, all human rights and fundamental freedoms.\u201d Cultures encompass not only the arts and humanities but also different ways of living together, value systems and traditions.\u00a0 Thus 2010 should provide real opportunities for dialogue among cultures.\u00a0 It is true that to an unprecedented degree people are meeting together in congresses, conferences and universities all over the globe. However, in themselves, such meetings are not dialogue and do not necessarily lead to rapprochement of cultures. There is a need to reach a deeper level.\u00a0 Reaching such deeper levels takes patience, tolerance, the ability to take a longer-range view, and creativity.\u00a0 Thus we are pleased to present the creative efforts of individuals who have helped to create bridges of understanding among cultures.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) The Highest mountains stand as the witnesses of the Great Reality<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicholas Roerich, the Russian painter, explorer, and cultural activist, stressed throughout his life the role of beauty and culture in bringing humanity together in unity. \u201cTrue art is the expression of the radiant spirit.\u201d <\/em>Art is the manifestation of the coming synthesis of the spiritual and the material.\u00a0 The gates of the sacred source must be opened wide for everybody, and the light of art will ignite numerous hearts with a new love.\u00a0 At first this feeling will be unconscious, but after all it will purify human consciousness.\u00a0 Bring art to the people \u201cwhere it belongs.\u00a0 We should have not only museums, theatres, universities, public libraries, railway stations and hospitals, but even prisons decorated and beautified.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

His inspiration is still at work today in many efforts to preserve the art of the past and to create an art of the future which speaks to the highest aspiration of the person.<\/p>\n

Roerich gained recognition at a young age in St. Petersburg art circles.\u00a0 His paintings of early Russian life, inspired in part by his archaeological excavations of tumuli \u201c a reminder of the Vikings in Russia\u201d<\/em> were popular among those who were looking for inspiration in the Russian past.<\/p>\n

There were some among the Slavophiles of the early 1900s who felt that Russia had a unique culture and thus a special role to play in the salvation of humanity.\u00a0 They rejected anything coming from Western Europe.\u00a0 However, Roerich, while close to some of the Slavophiles, especially Princess Maria Tenisheva and her efforts at the experimental village Talashkino, was never hostile to artistic creation from non-Russian cultures.\u00a0 As he said \u201cThe chief significance of an artistic education lies in opening up wide horizons to the pupils and in inculcating the conception of art as something infinite<\/em>.\u201d Roerich believed that one had to preserve and develop what was best in local culture as a contribution to a world culture in which the best of local cultures would be preserved. \u201cCulture is a constant becoming, a dynamic evolution of a living world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Probably the most influential aspect of Roerich\u2019s Russian period was his cooperation with Igor Stravinsky for the theme and the music of the Sacre\u00a0 du\u00a0 Printemps<\/em> and with Sergei Diaghilev for the ballet, costumes and scenery of the Sacre <\/em>in Paris in 1913, a music and dance which revolutionized ballet at the time.\u00a0 As Roerich wrote of Le Sacre <\/em>\u201cThe eternal novelty of the Sacre is because spring is eternal, and love is eternal and sacrifice is eternal. Then in this new conception, Stravinsky touches the eternal in music. He was modern because he evoked the future; it is the great serpent ring touching the great past \u2014the sacred tunes that connect the great past and the future.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>The Sacre <\/em>is the most Dionysian of Roerich\u2019s inspiration. His painting of 1911 \u201cThe Forefathers\u201d at the time of Roerich\u2019s collaboration with Stravinsky might almost be a sketch for the opening of the Sacre, <\/em>whose early pages quiver with the sound of pipes.\u00a0 Here Dionysus-like, primitive man charms with his piping a circle of wild beasts, in this case, bears, reflecting the Slavic tradition that bears were man\u2019s forefathers.<\/p>\n

Stravinsky was presented to Roerich by Sergei Diaghilev, the Russian with a holistic vision of art: music, painting, dance, and the publisher of The World of Art <\/em>magazine.\u00a0 Roerich had already designed some of the sets for Borodin\u2019s Prince Igor <\/em>produced by Diaghilev in Paris in 1909.\u00a0 Roerich produced the outline and the theme for Le Sacre <\/em>and later designed the sets and the costumes.<\/p>\n

In 1901, Nicholas Roerich had married Elena Ivanovona who shared his interest in art, music and the philosophy of China, Tibet and India. Later, in the West she wrote her name as Helena and also published under the pen name Josephine Saint-Hilaire On Easterm Crossroads (1930). <\/em>The Russian composer Moussorgsky was her uncle. The young couple cooperated with the Buriat Lama Dorzhiev in building a Tibetan Buddist Temple in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

Dorzhiev saw the possibility of an alliance of the Buriats, Kaimyk and other Buddhist tribes living in the eastern part of Russia with the thirteenth Dalai Lama, who was the most politically aware of the Dalai Lamas.\u00a0 The alliance was to be headed by the Tsar Nicholas II and would have been a counter weight to English and Chinese influence in Tibet.<\/p>\n

From Dorzhiev, the Roerichs learned of the Tibetan text and ritual, the Kalachakra<\/em><\/p>\n

(The Wheel of Time) and of the coming of a new historical-astrological cycle \u201cThe New Age\u201d to be marked by a new Buddha, Maitreya. (1) Nicholas II, however, was not to become \u201cthe Bodhisatva Tsar\u201d. He was soon caught up by the 1917 Russian Revolution.\u00a0 By 1918, the Roerichs left Russia foreseeing the Soviet policy of controlling all art forms for narrow political purposes.<\/p>\n

After a short stay in Western Europe, the Roerichs moved to the United States where his paintings had already been shown.\u00a0 With American friends, he created the Master School of the United Arts in 1922 in New York City, where music, art and philosophy were taught. Students were advised to \u201cLook forward, forget the past, think of the service of the future.<\/em> Exalt others in spirit and look ahead<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1924, the Roerichs left for India and travelled especially in the Himalayan areas. For Roerich, mountains represented a path to the spiritual life. \u201cMountains, what magnetic forces are concealed within you. What a symbol of quietude is revealed in every sparking peak. The highest knowledge, the most inspired songs, the most superb sounds and colors, are created on the mountains. On the highest mountains there is the Supreme.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>The Roerichs undertook a number of expeditions to Central Asia and the Altai Mountains of Russia (1923-1928 and 1933-1935) along with their son George, who became a specialist of Tibetan culture and language. George Roerich\u2019s Trails to Inmost Asia <\/em>(Yale University Press, 1931) is a good and unsentimental account of these trips, George being assigned the hard work of running the logistics.\u00a0 Nicholas Roerich always remained convinced of the need to preserve local culture. He put an emphasis on collecting folk tales and traditional practices of medicine, especially the use of herbs. \u201cIn every encampment of Asia, I tried to unveil what memories were cherished in the folk memory.\u00a0 Through these guarded and preserved tales, you may recognize the reality of the past. In every spark of folklore, there is a drop of the great Truth adorned or distorted.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Roerich\u2019s desire to make known the artistic achievements of the past through archaeology, coupled with the need to preserve the landmarks of the past from destruction, led to his work for the Banner of Peace to preserve art and architecture in time of war.\u00a0 Roerich had seen the destruction brought by the First World War and the civil war which followed the 1917 Russian Revolution. He worked with French international lawyers to draft a treaty by which museums, churches and buildings of value would be preserved in time of war through the use of a symbol \u2014 three red circles representing past, present and future\u2014 a practice inspired by the red cross used to protect medical personnel in times of conflict.<\/p>\n

Roerich mobilized artists and intellectuals in the 1920s for the establishment of this Banner of Peace. Henry A. Wallace, the US Secretary of Agriculture and later Vice-President, was an admirer of Roerich and helped to have an official treaty introducing the Banner of Peace \u2014 the Roerich Peace Pact \u2014 signed at the White House on 15 April 1935 by 21 States in a Pan-American Union ceremony.\u00a0 At the signing, Henry Wallace on behalf of the USA said \u201cAt no time has such an ideal been more needed. It is high time for the idealists who make the reality of tomorrow, to rally around such a symbol of international cultural unity.\u00a0 It is time that we appeal to that appreciation of beauty, science, education which runs across all national boundaries to strengthen all that we hold dear in our particular governments and customs.\u00a0 Its acceptance signifies the approach of a time when those who truly love their own nation will appreciate in addition the unique contribution of other nations and also do reverence to that common spiritual enterprise which draws together in one fellowship all artists, scientists, educators and truly religious of whatever faith.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>As Nicholas Roerich said in a presentation of his Pact \u201cThe world is striving\u00a0 toward peace in many ways, and everyone realizes in his heart that this constructive work is a true prophesy of the New Era.\u00a0 We deplore the loss of the libraries of Louvain and Oviedo and the irreplaceable beauty of the Cathedral of Rheins. We remember the beautiful treasures of private collections which were lost during world calamities.\u00a0 But we do not want to inscribe on these deeds any words of hatred. Let us simply say: Destroyed by human ignorance \u2014rebuilt by human hope.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>After the Second World War, UNESCO has continued the effort, and there have been additional conventions on the protection of cultural and educational bodies in times of conflict, in particular The Hague Convention of May 1954 though no universal symbol as proposed by Nicholas Roerich has been developed.<\/p>\n

Today, the need to bring beauty to as many people as possible is the prime task of developing a culture of peace. As Nicholas Roerich wrote \u201cThe most gratifying and uplifting way to serve the coming evolution is by spreading the seeds of beauty.\u00a0 If we are to have a beautiful life and some happiness it must be created with joy and enthusiasm for service to art and beauty.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Alan Sponberg and Helen Hardacre Maitreya: The Future Buddha<\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, 304pp.)<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

Rene Wadlow:<\/em><\/p>\n

Representative to the United Nations, Geneva, Association of World Citizens.<\/em><\/p>\n

Member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the year 2010 as the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures. Thus we are pleased to present the creative efforts of individuals who have helped to create bridges of understanding among cultures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}