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A service, not a stepFor leaders: who keeps the circle
A leader is a keeper of the circle’s rhythm and safety, not a teacher, not a go-between and not a “senior in spirituality”: a participant like everyone else, only one who started earlier. The leader leads no rites, checks nobody and does not interpret for others; the leader sees neither participants’ notes nor their Wheels — this is closed off in the platform itself. Leading is a service by invitation, not the next step on the path. No one is obliged and no one is talked into it; the programme sets itself no target for the number of leaders — people get to know each other over years.
In the first cohort I lead both circles myself; there are no co-leaders from among the participants in it.
The leader’s path
Roles in your own circle — from the first month
Keeping the shared deed going — whoever volunteers; reading a short passage in the circle — in turn. It is a service, not a promotion; any role can be laid down on any day.
A year of your own practice
You can lead only what you have lived yourself: the whole course, the Wheel, seasons of one quality. No one is invited to co-lead before a year of their own practice.
Co-leading and a short school
Co-leading — if the circle asks: helping the leader with time and the order of the meeting. The school: lead only what you have lived; give each person what they can take; do not rule over anyone; promise nothing; do not interpret another person’s misfortune; answer not with your own authority but with what has been said and tested. Plus our safety rules: no talk of money in the circle, and anyone may stay silent. Clearance to lead follows open conditions, not the will of one person.
Your own circle
After co-leading and the school; the guideline is about three years of your own practice — that is how long it takes to get to know a person. The name “Fire of Ethics” is free for anyone to use who keeps the circle’s code: voluntariness; the right to stay silent; no guru, no ranks, no stages; small size; no money inside the circle; a deed for people outside the circle — if the circle wishes.
The circle’s code
Rules for leading a circle
- Do not comment on or grade what is said.
- The right to silence is our safety rule: the word “pass” is a complete answer. But silence is not absence: to it we add a condition from the books of the Russian ethical tradition, said there of the hour of a shared talk: “We ask you, at least for one hour, to be consciously responsible people”.
- Timing is held gently but firmly.
- The leader speaks last and shortest of all.
- The leader is not a teacher and not a go-between: leads no rites, checks nothing, does not interpret for others, sees neither the participants’ entries nor their Wheels.
- Nobody’s shortcomings are ever discussed in front of the circle: only the person themselves looks into them.
- What is said in the circle stays in the circle.
- No lectures — the circle listens to people, not to the leader.
The one-hour format
Time — 19:00–20:30 Moscow time; the format itself takes about an hour, the rest is spare time so that nobody is hurried. opening: a minute of silence and the painting (3 minutes) → the round of statements (40 minutes: each person speaks for 4–5 minutes — where it worked and whom it made things easier for, then where it was hard; the others listen without comments) → from Day 15, a short passage from the books of this tradition (read by whoever wishes, in turn; the leader does not interpret) and “where I saw it in my own day” (10 minutes) → five minutes on the shared deed (the shared deed involves no money: this is our safety rule, not a word of the tradition; the tradition itself does not count earning as greed) → closing: a minute of kind thought for those we help and for those who could not come today.
Silent trios
The main failure of any 30-day format is loneliness between Sundays: the chat is crowded, yet nobody is beside you. That is why there are silent trios: at the start, those who wish are divided into groups of three (randomly, by the leader). The rules are extremely simple and are announced verbatim: “One message a day to each other: ‘I’m still here’ — and one line if you feel like it. We don’t advise, don’t comment, don’t rescue — we just see each other. If a companion is silent for two days — one warm question without pressure. On Day 15 the trios are reshuffled. You can leave a trio on any day, just as you can leave the course.”