Public lectures by the philosopher and poet, husband and wife — Grigory Pomerants and Zinaida Mirkina.
In terms of the power of personal expression and the depth of introspection, these texts resemble diary entries — they are so frank and seem to be completely non-public. And yet, these are precisely the public lectures given at the turn of the century by Grigory Pomerants (1918–2013) and Zinaida Mirkina, a thinker and poet, husband and wife, and associates in their many years of spiritual quest. As in their other works, the authors here ask unsolvable, unbearable questions. Is a clear conscience possible? What is the meaning of suffering and loneliness? How, peering into the abyss of absurdity and the abyss of death, find courage and endure this confrontation — so that later you can find your answer and your meaning somewhere inside? To be in continuous dialogue with the voice of conscience — this call of the book does not for a moment look like a moral, because each of the authors is addressed first of all — to himself personally. And, in fact, every day of their lives, Mirkina and Pomerants followed this elementary — and yet unbearable for many! — the rule: “to maintain a sense of depth, if necessary, going to the surface, into everyday bustle. Participate in the fuss, not fussing with the soul, continuing to listen to the breath of God, to the voice of conscience.
Center for Humanitarian Initiatives, 360 p.