Fire of EthicsHome › About the project
Who we are and what we stand onAbout the project: principles, safeguards, money
“Fire of Ethics” is an open way to train your character every day in ordinary life. Not an organisation with a centre, a cash desk and a leader, but a method you can test against your own day, copy freely and lead yourself. Everything written here can be verified.
Honestly about the source
The programme draws on the Russian ethical tradition; its books were written down in Russian about a century ago and are open to everyone. We name its books on day 15, as the tradition itself advises: apply first, then name. We are not hiding them, only putting the naming off: for two weeks you try the deeds with your own hands, and then you learn what this is called and where it comes from. If you want to know now, open the “Source” section below.
Source: which books stand behind the tradition, and their main advice (what the course opens on day 15)
Living Ethics (Agni Yoga). These are the books behind the Russian ethical tradition of this programme. Helena Roerich wrote them down in the 1920s–1930s; working beside her was her husband, the painter Nicholas Roerich. Her letters stand alongside the books. Since 1 January 2026 the books are in the public domain and open to everyone: agniyoga.org. You can read them for free, with no go-between and without joining anything.
Quotations below are our own translation from the Russian.
Why the name comes on day 15
The books themselves advise it: “Let us first apply the counsels to life, and then pronounce the name of the Yoga of the coming days” (Agni Yoga, introduction). A name is easy to accept or reject by its label before you have tried anything. So the first two weeks are only deeds in an ordinary day, and on day 15 the course names the books it stands on — and you see that you have already been doing all of it.
The main advice that appears from day 15
We will say it honestly and in advance. In these books the Teacher is above all the Great Teacher, and the thought of Him comes before everything: “That is why We require that the first thought be dedicated to the Teacher” (Hierarchy, §313). But the same books allow a simpler beginning: “There is no need to bring supermundane assumptions into the concept of the Teacher. He will be the one who gives the best counsel for life.” And they call this only a start — “passing through the first gates of evolution” (Agni Yoga, §43). The course takes this simple path: from day 15 it suggests beginning the morning with a thought of the Teacher — of the one who gives you the best counsel for life.
This is a narrowing, and we say so plainly. In the books the way to the Teacher goes much deeper than an open thirty-day programme can hold. The course takes only the first, everyday step of this advice and does not pass itself off as the whole teaching. Whoever wants to go further — the books are open.
Whether you take this advice is for you alone to decide. Nobody checks, the leader leads no rites, and it makes no difference to your participation. Neither the leader nor the founder is the Teacher, and neither stands between you and the books: everyone reads and tests for themselves.
What it is all for, according to these books
The books say that a person grows not only for the sake of present affairs: “we strive to perfect ourselves precisely for the future state” (Supermundane, §349). On the open pages we say this in one plain sentence: jobs change, circumstances change, but who you have become stays with you.
Why the Wheel holds only facts
The books warn: “It is a mistake to think that one can keep track of the growth of consciousness” — and at once give a measure: “By actions and by consequences the right direction is known” (Community, §233). So the Wheel has no scores, scales or growth charts: for each quality there is one question — was there a deed in the last two weeks, and what was it. We do not compare people with each other.
The twelve qualities
The course’s twelve daily trials are twelve qualities of character and spirit, arranged by the roles the source itself gives them: love and devotion (of which it says that “it is precisely from love and devotion that all the other qualities flow which further our progress”, letter of Helena Roerich, 15 January 1931); striving, constancy, patience (the means, the indispensable condition, the base of achievements); courage, selflessness, trust, humaneness, honesty, gratitude (the load-bearing qualities); equilibrium (the summit of the row — this is our conclusion). The heart is not on the list: it is not a quality but that in which qualities live. Joy is not a separate quality of the day but a fruit: it is not waited for but kept and practised through all thirty days, and it stays with you afterwards.
What comes from the books and what is ours
From the books we take direction and meaning — the “what” and the “why”. Everything else is our own working arrangement, and we always call it that: the thirty days of the course, a season of about three months, a circle of six to eight people for an hour and a half, the number twelve and the tiers of the qualities, the three directions of growth (deeper, wider, more independent), the mechanics of habit borrowed from modern practice, “leaving without guilt”, the Wheel, the image of the tree, the day of a quiet deed on 17 September. These are conveniences and images of the project, not the words of the tradition. The structure of the twelve qualities (pair — path — load-bearing — summit) is assembled from the roles the source itself assigns; what is ours is the choice of which six qualities are load-bearing, and the mapping of qualities onto the days of the course. The full study is on the page “Why exactly these qualities”.
Two rules are ours too — they are safety rules: the circle’s shared deed is done without money, and you may stay silent in the circle. They are not in the books; there it is said, for example, that “Earning is not self-interest” (Community, §271). We keep these rules so that no money passes between people in a circle and nobody is pushed to speak.
We work with texts, not with organisations: we are grateful to everyone who preserves the Roerichs' heritage; we do not enter the disputes of societies and centres; we quote from open sources.
What we never do
Every point is a lesson learned from other people’s wrecks. This is not a declaration but a construction: they cannot be broken without destroying the project.
No guru
If in three years there is one bright leader at the centre of the project — that is failure, not success. Neither the founder nor the leaders are teachers or go-betweens: they keep the circle’s rhythm and safety. They lead no rites, check nobody, and do not see your notes. No initiations, ranks or “seniors”.
No fee for the practice
The books of the tradition the programme stands on are open to everyone; the course, the circles, the Wheel, the materials — free at every step. No paid “advanced stages”, no membership dues, no paid access to people. The only thing that appears after a step is finished is a question: do you want to make a gift to the project. Once, if you wish, and a “no” changes nothing.
No pressure
Leaving freely is a respected result at any step. The right to stay silent in the circle: it is enough to be with us while the circle is on and to keep what was said. No reminders of “just a little more”, no ratings, no counters, no comparing participants.
No promises of miracles
Neither wealth nor health nor superpowers nor “rapid spiritual growth”, nor deadlines. We test the method itself with short questionnaires: the leader sees them only as a summary without names, and only when there are at least five. We will publish the results — including what did not work.
No arguments about faith
We argue with no one and try to convert no one. The first two weeks are only deeds in an ordinary day. From day 15 the course names its source and its main advice; whether to take it is up to you. People of any faith and of none are equals here.
No MLM and no referrals
No “bring a friend”, no bonuses, no percentages. Nobody advertises us: whoever wants to comes on their own.
Boris Ivanashchenko — founder and leader of the first cohorts
Why I do this. These small deeds held me up in the hardest year of my life. I put them together so that others could have the same support.
My name is Boris Ivanashchenko. I am forty-four. I have two daughters, fourteen and ten. I was married to Yulia for fifteen years, and on 17 September 2025 she died. I am not writing this to ask for sympathy, but because this project grew out of what I went through and am still going through: a house that fell quiet; girls who need a father, not a man holding on with his last strength; a morning when you have to get up and be even while everything inside is shaking. Everything written here about the pause, about rhythm, about the minimum for a hard day is not theory. It is what held me when there was nothing to hold on to.
I grew up with the books of the very tradition on which this course stands, with my father’s notes in their margins. My father was a man of fire: what he believed he did not keep on a shelf — he lived it, sincerely and to the end. He also left me questions that had no simple answers. In my youth I, like many, pushed it aside: work, career, family. But the qualities my father spoke of did not go anywhere. They waited for me to grow up to them.
By profession, I manage large IT projects: dozens of people, deadlines, budgets, risks. That work taught me the main thing this course stands on: look at deeds rather than impressions, and do not start a path that has no daily minimum. All my adult life I have worked on myself one quality at a time: I look honestly at where it is thin, choose one quality and train it in an ordinary day — in meetings, in traffic jams, at dinner with my children. Not because I am strong. Because I know what it is to be weak in the places where weakness costs dearly.
I am not a guru, not a coach and not a “life mentor”. I am a participant in the practice just like you, only one who started earlier and has more bruises. I do not promise you enlightenment, wealth or happiness. I offer an honest order of the day, tested on myself in the hardest year of my life, and people beside you in front of whom you do not have to pretend.
If this project is needed by even one person whose day is falling apart right now, it is already justified. I know what it is like when things fall apart. And I know that a pause, three lines in the evening and one small deed for another really do hold. Check for yourself. I will be near.
This programme is dedicated to Yulia. For me 17 September is a day of a quiet deed: one unannounced deed for another person. If you have a date of remembrance of your own, you can do a quiet deed on it.
I give the public materials to be read before publication by people ready to argue with me on the merits: a psychologist, a lawyer, a friendly sceptic. If you are one of those — write to me →
“Is this a cult?”
The right question — always ask it, and not only of us.
Check for yourself by the signs: you can leave on any day without explanations; we take no money for taking part, and a gift is only if you wish and only after a completed step, once; there is no guru; you may stay silent, that is full participation; the leader does not see your notes; we hide nothing: the method, the map of all thirty days and the questionnaire questions go to anyone who asks, before they sign up, and you can learn the name of the source right away — in the “Source” section. A point-by-point answer is in the questions.
Money: transparent from the first coin
Now
The first cohort has not started, and there are no collections of any kind: no fees, no “symbolic payment”, no gifts accepted — there is simply no button. The domain and hosting are paid for personally. Until there is a legal entity and a public report, the project holds no one else’s money: that is a safety rule, not modesty. The only thing I will ask of the first cohort is honest feedback and answers to short questionnaires — including what did not work.
As it grows
A non-profit organisation with open accounts: a public table of income and expenses, a one-page annual report, two signatories, a reserve. There will never be money for the practice. There will be one thing: when a step is finished — the 30 days, a first season, a first year — the platform asks once whether you want to make a gift: to the project, to the founder or to your own leader. You may say no: it changes nothing in the practice, in access, or in how you are treated, and nobody asks a second time. If anyone’s work is ever paid for out of the common fund, the board will decide it — openly, with a report and with no percentage from the cohort. Participation stays free at every step.
A simple rule: if some arrangement about money would be awkward to write right on the home page, then we do not have that arrangement. More →
Licence
The project’s texts and marks are distributed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: freely, with attribution, without commercial use. Forks and adaptations are welcome. We ask you to keep three things: experience before the name, the twelve qualities, and practice for the sake of the people around you; everything else you fit to your own country and language. If you change these three, please do not call it “Fire of Ethics”.
Format
A practice club, not an educational organisation: no curricula, assessments, certificates or service contracts. Personal data — the minimum, only what you enter yourself; deleted on request.
Who answers
The founder: the letters, the first circles and the answers to “is this a cult?” are on him. He did not put this together to build an organisation: there is no sales team, no producer and no “care department”. About Boris — honestly and in detail →