Vinča Culture: Wakefulness as Responsibility, a Way of Living, and Endurance

“In moments of uncertainty and reflection on the complexities of life – wars, pains, and challenges, questions of identity and purpose – one can only resort to gaze at one’s empty hands and turn to the wisdom of our ancestors for guidance. Delving into the depths of history allows us to connect with our wise, ancient forebears, and listen to the echoes of their wisdom.” – Nataša Dinić

Throughout ancient times, wars have been an enduring facet of human history, with only a few intervals free from conflict. Once again, we find ourselves in a state of war, disconnected from God, ourselves, our roots, and ancestors, forgetting our primary responsibility of maintaining peace. Despite the universal yearning for peace, it remains elusive! Looking back at Vinča culture, and further exploring this not-so-accidentally found, culturally rich layer of Vinča, situated approximately 10.5 meters high, just 11 km from Belgrade – a most intriguing living tableau found in today’s Serbia, with its vertical reddish, yellow, dark, brown, and black hues of tools, dishes, jewelry, figurines, and other undisclosed secrets – it captivates our attention with its ‘large eyes’, and perhaps compels us to delve deeper and gain a more profound understanding of ourselves.

Modern Man and Crisis

Totalitarianism Disguised as Concern for Humanity

Modern man lives in a time of global economic crisis, health crisis, environmental crisis, birth crisis, identity crisis, crisis of ideas, crisis of critical thinking, morality crisis, cultural crisis, media crisis, government crisis, freedom crisis… From birth until death, man is constantly moving from one stage of life on to another, and every transition, as well as each stage, is critical. Even the transition to immortality is critical.

“I love you – therefore you will not die!”

Dostoevsky – the man who knew us all too well

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth and 140th anniversary of the death of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, one of the greatest and most widely read writers of all time.

Could anything new, clever, or original be said about Dostoevsky that hasn’t already been said or written: teacher and student, supplicant and rebel, doctor and patient, spiritualist and confessor, great friend of God, someone who knew us all too well …

Therefore, I will not talk about him from a literary, linguistic, or philosophical point of view, but only through my personal bond with his work and the influence it had – and repeatedly have had – on my personal life.

Of Breath and Spirit of Time

Do we want to change and can we?

When a German philosopher Oswald Spengler published the first volume of his book The Decline of the West in 1918 and then the second volume in 1923, the book was a great success, but it also brought about a real intellectual shock and ruckus in various circles of Western European society. As it often happens in the lives of many great thinkers and prophets, it is only after their death – when time itself is shifted to a new time – that people slowly begin to discover the truth of their words and wonder at them.

The Joey Project

“Last month we watched the fires rage in Australia, witnessed the devastation of lost habitat, wounded animals, exhausted fire fighters and volunteers.” – Ura Jones

Here on the rainy west coast of Canada, I wanted to do something, anything – to contribute a small drop of help, of hope. So I joined a global collective of crafters and began to sew Joey pouches for the millions of orphaned marsupials. I am happy to have created 102 pouches in various sizes; may they provide a small comfort to help these animals survive.