My Vision, Values and Philosophy 1
My Dreams and Calling 6
My Career and Life Aspirations 10
Epilogue (Model of Happiness) 13
My Vision, Values and Philosophy
I have to say that aside from religious concepts most of the people on Earth are given only one life to leave. I consider myself really lucky because I was given at least two lives?.
I was born and raised in Russia and leaved there for the first 23 years of my life. Last eleven of them I remember trying to leave Russia and immigrate to US. During this relatively long time I learned great deal from my parents and from the Soviet System. I separate both of these sources of my values with the clear understanding that they had very little in common.
Ever since I can recall myself at an early age, I was poised to become a mathematician. Raised in a family of two math professors, I always felt a true affinity with numbers. As I matured, so did my analytic thinking process, and in my youth I did indeed become what my parents had always envisioned - a mathematical genius, as my mother termed it (she is too kind). The methodical approach through which I viewed life came naturally to me, and my chosen profession of mathematician was fulfilling and rewarding. It was a prestigious vocation, one that marked me as part of the professional elite in the communist Russia of the early eighties. This was way before privatization. All businesses were owned by the government - from the local bakery, to a steel mill. Entrepreneurial instincts were not promoted, and capitalism with its promise of fame and fortune for the individual was taboo. Though even at that time, a time when the "window to the west" was nailed shut and for ...