{"id":1096,"date":"2025-04-13T11:17:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T11:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2025-04-14T11:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T11:36:09","slug":"seven-axioms-of-ruben-vardanyan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=1096","title":{"rendered":"Seven axioms of Ruben Vardanyan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ruben Vardanyan is a co-founder of No\u00f4dome, a philanthropist, and a social entrepreneur. He is also known as someone who brought the spirit of dreaming into the corporate world \u2014 someone who, in a constantly shifting world, doesn\u2019t search for meaning \u2014 he shapes it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since September 2023, Ruben has been held in detention in Azerbaijan, under circumstances whose legitimacy has been questioned by numerous international organizations. Today, his communication with the outside world is extremely limited. He is allowed to write, and occasionally speaks with his family by phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through his family, Ruben sent us a message \u2014 one that speaks not only of him, but of No\u00f4dome itself. The seven axioms he came to over a lifetime have, in many ways, become the values that define our community. They are the foundation upon which we continue to build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are honored to share with you the very axioms Ruben spent a lifetime discovering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Indian philosopher once said: Ignorance may have no beginning, but it does have an end. Enlightenment, on the other hand, has a beginning \u2014 but it never ends. Seek not the word, but the meaning. Not the teacher, but the teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On my life\u2019s journey, I have discovered seven axioms \u2014 truths that, for me, need no proof. They form the foundation upon which I build myself and my home. And thanks to these axioms, I build not on sand, but on rock. Just as Jesus urged us to do in the Sermon on the Mount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For centuries, sages and prophets have sought to convey these truths to us in many languages, through many words, with symbols, actions, signs, rituals, and laws. Now, as I near the age of 57, I have come to understand them. I reached this understanding through years of searching, reflection, and heartfelt conversations with my teachers and loved ones \u2014 both those living today and the authors of great books that have carried these truths through time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time and again, I\u2019ve learned that real understanding cannot be found simply by reading wise books or memorizing them. Nor by surrendering one\u2019s life to their words without question. Sometimes, it took me ten attempts to return to the same book, just to grasp a single idea, to understand the meaning hidden behind the words.
Only by passing these texts and ideas through one\u2019s own experience, through one\u2019s way of perceiving the world, by making them part of your very being, your natural state of daily life, can they become your foundation. Your compass in all of life\u2019s decisions. And once you arrive at your axioms in this way, you cannot turn away from them.
Anyone can come to their own axioms. There are no permissions to seek, no barriers to break. Even someone who cannot read or write can arrive there \u2014 if the desire is real and the search is sincere. They will find their own way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To create something meaningful, you don\u2019t need wealth or power \u2014 everything is already within. What matters most is having something to say. And once you do, you\u2019ll always find a way to express it. Garri Bardin, for example, made his brilliant animated film Adagio with a single sheet of paper. He had nothing but meaning to share. That film would later be recognized by the Vatican and receive an ecumenical prize. Because meaning comes first. Recognition follows. Today, it\u2019s often the other way around. And therein lies the true crisis of our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one can truly stop us \u2014 except ourselves. Remember that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People in this world are not divided by skin color, gender, nationality, or religion.<\/p>Axiom One<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not even by good or bad \u2014 for light and shadow live within us all. Instead, the true divide lies between those who are certain that God exists and those who do not believe or choose not to believe. Those who doubt, who waver, who place their faith not solely in God, but in other idols as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first live with the awareness and conviction that everything we do, say, and think is written in the Book of Destiny \u2014 and that we will answer for it before God. There will be no one left to blame for our thoughts, words, or actions. The second bow to the golden calf \u2014 power, recognition, pleasure \u2014 trying to live in two worlds at once. But in doing so, they extinguish the divine spark within, and in its place, indifference takes hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present moment is the closest we ever come to Eternity.<\/p>Axiom Two<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To give thanks for this very moment. To be ready for death at any time. To live the present fully and wholeheartedly. This is the essence of true life. We must honor and understand the past and look to the future with hope. But life itself can only be lived here, in the now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy flows into us from the world around \u2014 from the cosmos \u2014 through oxygen, water, food, sleep, our interactions, and even our actions, words, and thoughts.<\/p>Axiom Three<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But we also lose it \u2014 in processing food, chasing desire, or simply through empty living \u2014 noise, distraction, and hollow routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To gather energy, to hold it, and to return it to the world \u2014 this is the essence of our existence. It is a delicate and continuous practice, one that must be approached with care and mindfulness, without harming ourselves or the world we live in. This is how we sustain the sacred balance within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Light is life.<\/p>Axiom Four<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And God said, \u201cLet there be light.\u201d As we illuminate the path \u2014 for ourselves and others \u2014 we are like a glowing filament: delicate, fragile, capable of burning out in an instant. The balance must shift \u2014 so that our light shines not inward, but outward, into the world around us. We must not hoard. We must not become enslaved by desire or get trapped in either the spiritual or the material. By walking the middle path, we can make our journey a light for others, without disrupting the fragile, dynamic equilibrium of this vast world \u2014 a world we both know and do not know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodness is like the air we breathe, like water to a fish.<\/p>Axiom Five<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t notice it \u2014 we take it for granted \u2014 and only truly feel its absence when something goes wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodness is eternal and immortal. It grows when we do good without expecting anything in return \u2014 anonymously, sometimes without even knowing whom we are helping. Goodness is not an investment. Be grateful. Don\u2019t repay kindness out of obligation. Instead, pass it forward like a baton in a relay. It will return \u2014 both to the one who helped you and to you. Never turn anyone away. Help and share whatever you have. It all comes back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heaven is when you let go of your desires, fears, and emotions \u2014 and give all of yourself, all your energy, to doing good, to being a light for others.<\/p>Axiom Six<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is like a quiet current that flows around us. If it fades, if we fail to sustain its balance, the world may vanish. Our greatest risk is not the ozone hole, but the disappearance of goodness and light. Heaven is not about the self. It is the act of giving yourself completely to others \u2014 and then returning, quietly, to Eternity. That is happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happiness begins and ends within us.<\/p>Axiom Seven<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The outside world holds no power over it. I have known happiness on a luxurious island in the Indian Ocean, surrounded only by my family and staff. And I have known happiness in a prison cell, with nothing but three cups of water a day. Happiness lives inside us. And only there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happiness, eternity, energy, light, and goodness \u2014 these are the pillars I stand on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve shared these thoughts with you, hoping they\u2019ll make you pause and reflect. That you\u2019ll argue with me \u2014 and with yourself. And above all \u2014 that in this mad world of routine and distraction, you\u2019ll find a moment not for money or pleasure, but for your soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep feeling. Keep smiling. Keep living fully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruben<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No\u00f4dome<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ruben Vardanyan is a co-founder of No\u00f4dome, a philanthropist, and a social entrepreneur. He is also known as someone who brought the spirit of dreaming into the corporate world \u2014 someone who, in a constantly shifting world, doesn\u2019t search for meaning \u2014 he shapes it. Since September 2023, Ruben has been held in detention in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,12,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-the-hostages","category-advocacy","category-english","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1096"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1099,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096\/revisions\/1099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}