The Great Heart Gate

In ancient times, all learning started with the pupil laying a hand on their own heart. The teacher encouraged them to listen to it beating, for heartbeat is the first knock at the Great Heart Gate. If one fails to hear it, the beat of the Great Heart will dumbfound them. In this way, the path to the infinity is paved by getting to know oneself... just as heart talks to heart, and hearts’ voices merge into the alarm toll of the humankind’s Great Heart. In this way also, the concert dedicated to Ukrainian prisoners illegally held by the Russian Federation, which took place in Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv on June 19, translated its participants’ humanity into fortitude and indomitability of those suffering far from their native land, connected actors, musicians, audience, all those who answered the call of civic concern...

The stage was erected between a colonnade and the grand building now housing the event’s initiator, the MFA of Ukraine. It seemed that this architectural masterpiece of the Stalinist Baroque, this statement of the government’s absolute control over all manifestations of life, this pompous Communist palace and emblem of the regime’s indestructibility proudly felt itself an ancient amphitheater for a time. I cannot help but mention now that artists, sociologists, and philosophers have paid a lot of attention to the theatricality of the society’s existence... Guy Debord sees modern society as “the society of the spectacle.” Georges Balandier describes political life as a “fascinating performance,” which resorts to symbolic modes of behavior. The theatricality, which skillfully combines diverse fields of demonstrative behavior, is increasingly used as a characteristic of the phenomena of social life. It not only attracts the crowd, but also transforms it into a conscious community.

This is the point at which participation becomes necessary charity, while absolute morality, understood as idealized necessity, diverges from customary morality.

At the same time, morality becomes an independent component of the humanization of public life, and the citizen’s behavior and actions serve the cause of exalting morality in general, even if unconsciously.

This evening produced kaleidoscope of subtexts in a most surprising way.

A well-known ensemble, led by internationally renowned cellist and conductor Dmitry Yablonsky (US-Israel) under the artistic direction of Olesia Yasko and aptly named the Kyiv Soloists, offered a rich music program. The concert’s title piece, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Night Serenade, seemed to have intentionally lost its fifth part and changed its list of instruments. The works of Edward Elgar, including his most famous opus called Enigma Variations, reminded audience of seemingly familiar tunes that transformed into something new and the unknown every time...

Frenzy of feelings in the music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky made people’s hearts beat faster. All signs were merged into a powerful voice of live co-creation by the venerable gathering, working for the eventual triumph of justice, humanity, and goodness.

It looks that diplomacy is now engaging creative industries, arts, and extraordinary events. Such, at least, is my take on diplomatic and artistic initiatives started by the MFA of Ukraine under Pavlo Klimkin.

Arthur Schopenhauer said once that “life and dreams are leaves of the same book.” Let these leaves be accompanied by serenades rather than the cacophony of war, then. Also, let the Great Heart Gate of Ukraine replace the “Kyiv Pentagon” in the space between St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral and St. Sophia Cathedral!