Your Unfolding Path February 2004 by Carol Adrienne, Ph.D. Carol's New Book

A Passion for Beauty

Your life path is a living canvas of changing scenes and shifting colors--a stage with an ever-flowing cast of characters. Your destiny (script) is shaped by your passions, beliefs, choices, actions, setbacks, and successes. Deep passions are core values that call us into action throughout life. Some of us have a passion for political action, sports, cooking, business, art, dancing, or music. A passion for beauty resides in each of us. When awakened, its call connects us to a higher order.

We are meant to meet certain people and take away an idea, inspiration, or piece of knowledge. I met Ruth Drayer years ago in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Friends had urged each of us to meet because it seemed we had so much in common—we were both divorced, interested in art, and had two small children enrolled in the same school. We finally met at a social gathering in 1974. A casual remark about wanting to change my name led Ruth to offer to do a numerology reading for me. Her reading opened the door to a subject, which was to become a fascination and, surprisingly, a central part of my life’s work.

Still good friends, Ruth and I keep in touch with each other’s projects. Now living in New Mexico, Ruth is the author of an exciting new book, WAYFARERS: The Spiritual Journeys of Nicholas & Helena Roerich. Obviously soul-mates, the Roerichs—she a writer of spiritual philosophy and he an artist and world-wide teacher of transcendental ideas on art and beauty—were an exotic pair. Their mysterious adventures and work during the early 1900’s have not, until now, been fully explored and understood. Ruth’s book on their lives and teaching is the result of years of arduous work digging in old records, travel to India, and personal interviews. Both the Roerichs’ story of bringing a message of truth and beauty in difficult times, and Ruth’s own struggle of bringing this book to fruition can remind us that despite difficulties, our Soul’s work will be done. Our life purpose functions as a thread, which tugs us through discouraging difficulties and keeps us connected to what really matters.

"I have a tremendous love of color, which has propelled me for many years," says Ruth, now an age-less sixty-seven. "For years I tried to figure out what I was meant to do with color. It was color that connected me to Nicholas Roerich. I first saw his paintings at the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York City. Never before had an artist’s work affected me the way his did. His colors and visions stayed in my mind for days. I dreamed about them all night long. Who was this person who could create art that could touch me so deeply?’"

Ruth, who had belonged to a spiritual organization for over twenty years, found out that her teacher had visited the Roerichs’ son in India years before. She was also given the name of a woman who had once lived for a few months with this son in Bangalore, India. "When I visited her, I remember standing in front of a print of one of Roerich’s painting and thinking to myself, ‘I commit to doing whatever it takes to bring this work into the consciousness of America.’ I continue to wonder to this day, what possessed me to do such a thing?"

The call of our destiny can often seem too big, too scary, too much—and yet the deep intuitive knowing pushes us beyond our comfort zone. Ruth remembers feeling ecstatic for a couple of days after seeing the painting in the woman’s apartment. "It was like a little door of heaven had opened up. In that instant I saw myself involved with Roerich’s work." Ruth wrote to the Roerichs’ son in India who responded almost instantly, closing his letter with: "Let us hope we will meet in the future." Never having had any desire to visit India before, when her mother volunteered to give her the money she would need for the trip, Ruth knew it was confirmation, and made the arrangements. "When I saw how far away India was on the atlas map," she remembers, "I got so scared I had to close the book! But, in spite of my fears, there was no doubt about my going. I had never had such a strong compulsion."

Nicholas Roerich was born in St. Petersburg in 1874 and died in India in 1947. Early in his professional career, he was a set designer for Russian theatre and ballet. He passionately believed that beauty was the answer to the world’s problems. He thought that if people would focus on beauty—if there were paintings in utilitarian places like subways and prisons—there would be no crime or illness. Ruth says, "His ideas about the importance of beauty lined up exactly with what I believed, for I had come to the same conclusion while staying in an Italian village in 1977. There, despite illness and other difficulties, I realized that beauty makes everything bearable. As a painter, Roerich was a master colorist. Extremely bold in his treatment, he’d paint red next to orange, next to green, next to purple. Color had not been used this way before."

Roerich was also a well-known and avid archeologist. While staying at the home of a colleague on the way to a dig, he met his future wife, Helena. Five years younger, Helena came from aristocracy. Roerich was captivated by her youth, beauty, and intelligence. Despite the objections of her aristocratic family, he started courting her. Eventually, the family allowed them to marry after she recounted three dreams in which her deceased father was telling her to marry him. They married in 1900 and had two sons.

Of one mind, they shared all their interests. "With Helena, Nicholas naturally began to study the world’s sacred literature and teachings of Buddha, Lao-Tsu, the Indian mystics, and the Theosophical Society," says Ruth. "After they were married, Helena translated Theosophist, Madame Blavatsky’s, now-famous book, The Secret Doctrine from English into Russian. Later her writing helped bring the discipline of Agni yoga to the world.

"My book, WAYFARERS, is different because most of what I had read about Roerich’s work as an artist seemed very narrow in focus. I wanted to know what was going on in the world around them--in music, literature, spirituality, and politics—all things which would have influenced this amazing couple. Filling out this tapestry of research led me to put together pieces of the puzzle that no one had connected before. While most biographers talked about his involvement with the Theosophical Society, few people realized how deeply influenced he was by Buddhism. Before the Bolshevik revolution, Buddhism and Communism were seen to have many similarities. Both of these philosophies appeared to be ways to help the down-trodden masses."

In 1912, a lama came from Tibet to St. Petersburg and received permission from the Czar to build a Buddhist temple. Roerich became involved in that project. "This lama," says Ruth, "was the first person to talk to him about Shambhala. Shambhala is considered by the Buddhists to be a place one achieves when one is sufficiently evolved. It’s also considered to be a non-physical plane of existence where the plan for humanity is held. I’ve noticed that the mere mention of the word Shambhala seems to light a fire in our hearts. That fire is our core desire to live in peace and beauty."

Always directed by their spiritual guides, the Roerichs came to the United States in 1920. Among their many goals was the desire to create a school where all the arts were taught under one roof. They believed that people would be more fully developed if they expressed themselves in several mediums, rather than focusing on just one. Their innovative school in New York City attracted an amazing array of well-connected and creative people. At that time, American art was not considered very important. It was de rigeur to study art in Paris and educate oneself in European culture. Roerich, on the other hand, traveled all over America advocating not only the importance of art and beauty, but urging artists to stay home and paint their own truths.

"Ironically," says Ruth, "Roerich’s work was diminished by art critics because few other artists copied his painting techniques. However, my research in New Mexico, for example, where he taught for awhile, quickly revealed how his lectures catalyzed the formation of artistic societies in which artists supported one another in developing their own ideas. For instance, several artists in Albuquerque formed the Transcendental Painting group. Another group of artists known as Los Cinco Pintures (The 5 Painters) began the now-famous artistic enclave of galleries in Santa Fe known collectively as Canyon Road.

"Roerich taught internationally and his message was always peace and unity. He didn’t like borders or visas or licenses. Ahead of their time, both he and Helena, who almost always traveled with him, but usually stayed behind the scenes and wrote while he appeared in the public eye, were active feminists."

Following their spiritual guidance they traveled to Central Asia where Roerich had dreamed of digging up hidden lost cities, crypt libraries, and tunnels leading to buried artifacts. He also wanted to paint a panoramic view of Central Asia. But their deepest desire was to search for signs of Maitreya—the prophesied Buddha to come. His appearance was predicted to signal the beginning of the prophecy of Shambhala, a time when humanity would live in peace and harmony.

Ruth says, "Like the Roerichs, my guiding belief is that one person can make a difference. I don’t spend time reading the newspaper or watching television I concentrate on doing my art and writing. I don’t see the point of feeling helpless and talking about the problems of the world. I feel like I just have to keep doing my work, so that whatever I put out carries with it peace and beauty. I don’t respond to angry emails about politics. Reading these things stops my flow, and I ask people not to send them to me anymore. When people ask me how I get so much accomplished on my various projects, I tell them it’s because I don’t watch TV!

"I think color speaks a language that transcends words and goes right to your soul. There are lots of benefits in reading the writing of Helena Roerich, however, her words may not really speak to you. Yet when you see any of Nicholas Roerich’s over 7,000 painting, nothing blocks you from getting their message."

Roerich’s output was prodigious considering he traveled almost continuously by yak, camel, and horse to far-away places. During his life, he was attacked for all kinds of things, such as being only after money and was denied re-entry into the United States because of income tax evasion. During their arduous four-year expedition to Central Asia, the Roerichs were held in captivity for four months on the border of Tibet. Accused of being communists and Bolshevik spies, Roerich died without ever finding out why they were held prisoners. Ruth says she found nothing in her research that indicated they were spies.

"I think he was living on another plane of existence, focusing on spirituality, teaching, and his art," she says, "No one at that time understood what this couple was doing. This is the material I go into in the book. Though their lives were filled with adversity, they persevered in living their beliefs. The power of their philosophy is more relevant to us than ever.

Everything in life is about the choices one makes. "You can choose to watch TV or you can choose to paint," says Ruth. "The choice for the Roerichs was to follow that deep spiritual call in their hearts.

"Now that my book is done, I feel as if I had been preparing for it my whole life. I see that the place I was born, where I’ve traveled, the books I’ve read, the spiritual traditions I’ve studied, the music I’ve listened to all contributed to it. I don’t believe adversity means you should stop doing something you are deeply committed to. For example, when I came back from India, I was so sick, the doctors weren’t sure if I were dying or not. I was allergic to everything. Still, I would drag myself out of bed and write. Then for years, I kept getting turned down by publishers, who said ‘This is beautiful. This is well-written. Good luck.’ People told me that biographies are the hardest books to sell, especially if the person is not well-known. I was so happy recently when someone thanked me for writing this biography because biographies are the only way to learn of people you don’t already know about. Through all those years, I didn’t get paid a cent to do the research or write. But, how many times in your life do you get to have the feeling that you are really doing what you are meant to do?"

Besides being an author and numerologist, Ruth’s career as a painter is now taking center stage. The change in direction emerged from the intuitive voice. "When I was in India, I wasn’t sure where home was going to be for me. Spirit gave me a clear message, ‘You are going to move to Las Cruces and paint.’ At that time I didn’t paint or want to paint. Las Cruces? I didn’t want to move there, either. What about my numerology, I asked myself? The answer came, ‘You will always be a numerologist, and you are going to paint.’’

A few months later, a psychic fair brought Ruth to Las Cruces, New Mexico. In 1994 she wrote, The Power in Numbers: A Right & Left-Brained Approach. "It was the easiest assignment I could have had. Through it I learned that I could write and finish a book and I believe it was a necessary preparation to writing the Roerich book. Now I realize all that time I was researching and writing, I was also studying with a master colorist! How could I not paint? Just as Spirit predicted, I now live five miles away from Las Cruces, and I’m painting. I think all these things happened to get me to the painting, but I have no idea where it’s going to take me."

Ruth Drayer’s book is called WAYFARERS: The Spiritual Journeys of Nicholas & Helena Roerich (hardcover, $39.95, paperbound $29.95). A companion video($19.95) contains sixty of Nicholas Roerich’s paintings and is narrated by Ruth. Books, videos, paintings, and original prints are all available at www.zianet.com/ruthdrayer. Or call toll free 1-888-541-5381.

© Copyright 2004 Carol Adrienne, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.

Carol Adrienne, Ph.D., is an internationally-known workshop facilitator and author whose books have been translated into over fifteen languages. Her latest book is When Life Changes, or You Wish It Would. Oprah hailed, The Purpose of Your Life: Finding Your Place in the World Using Synchronicity, Intuition, and Uncommon Sense a must-read. She is also the author of The Numerology Kit. An electronic copy of Your Child’s Destiny—a numerological guide for parents is now available at www.CarolAdrienne.comm. Carol is available to for keynotes, workshops, and seminars and can be reached at Carol22@sonic.net or (510) 528-2226 weekdays 10 am to 6 pm PST.

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