There has been interesting research conducted – for example, people don`t have an innate fear of snakes and spiders, but according to the survey, closer to teenage years, girls’ fear of snakes and spiders is greater than their fear of death, even if they have never had any direct contact with them. Where does it come from? I think its origin is in human history. During the XIX–XX centuries in Russia, there was a transmission of “Spartan” culture – in Sparta, disabled children were fed to the crocodiles. One of my friends, a woman with several higher educational diplomas, says that she was brought up with the idea that war clears society of the weak, a kind of natural selection. Society becomes stronger and reproduces better. All of us grew up with this Soviet inheritance. It was my mother who cultivated in me the of love of people, art, sacrifice, the need to do charity work and look for a purpose in life.

All people have fears in childhood, but then they are forgotten and people think that their childhood was a “golden” time. I don`t think that childhood is a “golden” time at all, as children have more fears than adults, it is just a peculiarity of memory that we remember only the good. I have never collected bad things, but I needed to have a reason to live.

You know, like Viktor Frankl, the psychologist who was in a concentration camp during WWII. In order not to lose his mind, he started doing research – what kind of people survive in the concentration camp: strong or weak, cowards or brave, fat or thin, men or women, old or young? It turned out that all this does not matter. Those who survive are the people with a purpose.

It is the same for me. I need a purpose to live. And harity has more meaning in it than any other activity. It helps me not to be afraid. Also, it gives me understanding and it enriches us – people with disabilities give us the gift of the possibility to take care of them. And I cannot refuse to accept this gift.

People should know more about disabled people, realize that these people are not dangerous, and that when you are around the weak, you do not become weak, you become even stronger. When we protect the weak, our strength grows.

We must not ask, but tell people about it. It is important to tell them that there are people like this, that there are certain difficulties and openly say what those difficulties are. It does work. We need to translate the thought that through this help you will feel joy and a sense of purpose. Some are taught in childhood that it is important to help others, and some not.

Of course, you need to help according to your ability. Not to “break” yourself, otherwise the “fear” of help occurs – you helped the disabled, but died yourself. When my friend was dying of cancer, I didn’t know how to help him. I was really grieving and started to “die” myself out of compassion. Then one psychologist said to me – bring him strength, don’t bring him weakness, he is weak enough. And I stopped “dying”. Here it`s the same, you need to be strong and help according to your real abilities.

And if the person is rich, he must help even more so. All we have: money, talent, strong will power, all these are not ours but come from outside – some think it comes from parents, some from God.

I think that egocentric people are people who are sad all the time. They are so lost. They think that if they stuff their pockets with money, they will get somewhere – one hundred dollars now, tomorrow it will be a thousand, then a million – and then happiness will come. They have never been told that happiness doesn’t come with money, but on the contrary – it goes away, and anxiety comes, because then you need to preserve this money, which is a new problem.

That’s why a lot of people who have money are not free and quite neurotic. People who feel that they don`t have enough money often think, “I don`t have enough money and I am sick, because I don`t have enough money women don`t like me, because I don`t have enough money I have no children, because I don`t have enough money and can barely feed myself, how can I feed a child?” You will be able to feed them! There are practically no children in Russia that die of hunger, very few anyway, and certainly not in St. Petersburg or Moscow. Give birth, don`t be afraid.

Humankind had never lived in an atheistic society until the XIX century. The notion of materialism appeared in the end of the XVIII century. Until then, materialistic ideas never occurred to people, humankind always lived with Gods. With materialism came an additional idea of humanism. If there is no God, and we are born out of earth, and go into the earth, then the idea of humanism must be imposed – to love Man, at least, if we don`t love God who has created us. We need to create new cultural traditions with the help of religion or ideas of humanism.

There should be transparency, both financial and political. There should be honesty in every aspect - you should be truthful to yourself and others. To be truthful doesn't mean to look for a way out of hopeless situations. To be truthful means not to compromise your values: not to betray, not to insult, not to demean, not to kill, but to look for truth, even if it might offend someone. When you are transparent and honest, then both society and higher forces help you.

People must not be persecuted for thoughts, people must not be persecuted for beliefs. You can’t arrest people for their ideas, you can for illegal actions, but not for their ideas, whatever they are. There are boundaries that must be distinguished and respected. Society must agree on some boundaries - until here it is ok, and no further. Sometimes these boundaries are not distinct, sometimes they are misinterpreted but society must come to an agreement on them and adhere to them. There are people that fall into emotions and rage. Activists: those who are fighting for LGBT, and against LGBT. Who is fighting with whom? I don`t get it.

It is like Brodsky wrote, “You know, a famous person came from the US, and someone said let us introduce you to each other? – I don`t like communists. – you didn't get it, he is a dissident. – What is the difference?” Whatever you are fighting for, when you are fighting all guns blazing, when there is no difference between what exactly the fight is about, it means that you are not thinking straight. That’s why I believe, like Grebenshchikov sings, “This earth was ours, until we got stuck in the fight” – once we go to war, we get stuck in the fight, the earth ceases to be ours, children cease to be children.

To be on this side of the barricades or the other side of the barricades – there is no barricades, the barricades are in our heads.

Because society has cultivated it. They were not told in childhood that it is beneficial to be kind. The French philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal failed to scientifically prove the existence of God. And it is fortunate that he failed, because if it were possible to prove the presence of God, it would be impossible to believe in God. Like with the wall – it is impossible not to believe in the wall. If you don`t believe in the wall, you walk and you smash your forehead, and God gives us freedom.

When there is a conflict due to a difference of cultures, beliefs, values, we need to figure it out, get to the core of the conflict. If we are talking about an extreme level of intolerance – about war, I think it is a form of neurosis. And neurosis is usually cured by the power of the mind. The person either analyses their life themselves and finds the cause of the neurosis or does it with the help of a psychotherapist. When you realize where the neurosis came from, it disappears, you are cured. If people, both faithful and not, with the power of their mind and spirit, sort out this neurosis of war, they will get to the core of it and understand that there is no sense in war, that behind war is often the manipulation of collective consciousness. However, we need to come to this realization unforced, not everyone comes to it though.

We need it ourselves in the first place. A person grows intellectually and spiritually while helping the weak. My eldest son, for instance, has worked with disabled people at summer camp, and I hope that the younger son will also work there too. And, if a person lives only for themselves, they will grow into a monster and a thoughtless egoist.

Working with special people gives you a spiritual depth that you can`t find practically anywhere else. And, it brings so much joy and happiness. Those who have felt it understand what I mean. And if the person has never experienced joy in helping others, we need to help them to experience it.

We must realize that all this Soviet sociocultural heritage cultivated the fear of disabled people in us. We need to understand that mental and physical disabilities are not contagious. When we were trying to integrate special kids into regular schools, there were mothers at the parent’s meetings who were saying – we don`t want the disabled kids to be in the classes, we are afraid that our kids will get traumatized because of it.

People that are against inclusion just can`t understand some things that were not taught to them. It is like languages – you can learn to speak a new language in a month, when you are five, but when you are 15-20, it will take you half a year. We need to nurture in children the importance of helping others, but not force it onto them, rather share this joy with them. This is really educationally valuable.

Inclusion should be encouraged through changes in culture: through getting people closer to moral and spiritual values. If there is no God, then through humanity.

You shouldn't be afraid to jump across the edge of the cliff – no one will carry you. Make a little step towards people, people will open up. Society treats people who break the law with aggression – prisons breed criminals. Children’s asylums develop disabilities – a person comes with a little disability and then it gets worse. A person makes a wrong decision once, gets put into jail and there he becomes a criminal for the rest of his life. He just got lost in the beginning and no one helped him. Society guards us from those who are different from the majority, those who seem dangerous to them. These fears must be conquered. Make steps toward people and they will open up too. Kindness nurtures kindness. And I believe that through kindness and depth, we realize what love is. Love in the higher meaning, not towards a potato. Sorry for the pompous conclusion.