Serge Nicolai was born in France of Corsican heritage. As a teenager he started reading about philosophy and experimented with different paths of self-development. He started meditation in earnest at the age of 21 with the help of an Indian master of Raja Yoga. After finishing his MA in linguistics, he moved to India and has since worked in international schools in South India as a modern language teacher. He continues to practise Raja Yoga and reads widely on religions, philosophy and psychology. He is married with two children and lives in Chennai.

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Serge Nicolai

What is maturity? How does it manifest in an individual, or in a nation? 
 This is my take on it.
Maturity is to live from the heart, which is the deeper part of ourselves, rather than living from the head, which is
 the superficial part of our mind.
Instead of just reacting to fears and desires, mature individuals, or a mature society, act out of their deeper core.

How does this show? 
 The life of the heart is mainly expressed in
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In societies with long spiritual traditions, you will find the majority of people directing their LOVE towards
 others, at the very least to their families, and their WILL towards themselves, to perfect themselves.
In younger societies, I find the majority of people turning their WILL towards the others, or the world, while
 directing their LOVE towards themselves, in the pursuit of comfort and self-aggrandisement.
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<h4 style="text-align: center;">The mature person sacrifices 
 so that others may live; 
 the immature person enjoys life at 
 the expense of everyone else.</h4>
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In a nutshell, the mature person sacrifices so that others may live; the immature person enjoys life at the expense
 of everyone else.
I am not saying the latter is bad. Only that the person is just a child, with a long way to go on the road to express
 inner nobility.
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Article by SERGE NICOLAI
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Maturity

<h4 style="text-align: center;">SERGE NICOLAI explores beauty and its source, the
 beauty unfolding within.</h4>
Who is not after beauty? 
 What is real beauty? 
 And why are we looking for it?
Beauty gives pleasure to our senses, be it a beautiful landscape, a beautiful face, a beautiful artifact, or a
 beautiful piece of music. 
 One may argue that as a community or a civilization frees itself from the struggle to cater to its basic needs of
 food, clothing and shelter, there is more effort and resources given to fulfilling this search for beauty.
A poet said, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” 
 But is it? 
 Experience shows us that the possession of one thing never satisfies us and, as soon as we get it, we embark upon
 the next pursuit, ad infinitum. So what are we really after?
I would say that we are attracted to beauty because it reminds us of a lost harmony, of a subtle balance of forms. We
 would not recognize it outside if it were not already imprinted in us.
We are really looking for our own lost beauty, a beauty not of this world, a light that alone makes everything
 resplendent.
When we find it, whether in a child, a sage, or a pure person, we stand in awe. Something from another dimension
 beckons us. For a moment we are transported out of this mundane existence. And that is what we are looking for in
 this pursuit.
Alas, this self-forgetfulness doesn’t last and we are back where we were. What is the solution?
The only way is to turn our pursuit inwards, turn our efforts to our own making, so that we cultivate inner beauty.
 As this grows, our dependence for outer beauty will diminish.
Finally, sages say that a time comes when the beauty unfolding inside is an unceasing wonder, making one forget
 everything else.
That, this mystery, is what we are all really yearning for.
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<h4 style="text-align: center;">Article by SERGE NICOLAI</h4>
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Serge Nicolai

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