ShinsungHwa: Visualizing Leo Tolstoy’s Hidden Spiritual Energy (2019)
What is ShinsungHwa?
ShinsungHwa is a unique form of spiritual art where drawings emerge through spontaneous, flowing movements. Artists tap into their subject’s energy and let Qi(氣) guide their hands, creating geometric patterns that serve as a universal language.
A Brief Look at Tolstoy’s ShinsungHwa
There’s a quiet grace in finding a ‘symbol of light‘ at the center of a great writer’s spiritual portrait.
Around Tolstoy’s head, you can see a field of energy radiating out. It seems to capture the core of his creative mind. You can’t help but imagine all the late nights he spent searching for truth with his words.
In the top right corner of the ShinsungHwa, there’s a spiritual message written through something called ‘automatic writing.’ At first, it might sound mysterious, but many writers describe moments when their best work comes from beyond their own thoughts. The message is matter-of-fact: “You will see your literary calling.” No hesitation—just certainty.
Down to the lower right, you’ll find symbols for earthly groups and communities. Invisible lines connect these to Tolstoy’s hands and feet—his ‘material center lines.’ It’s almost as if you’re seeing the ties that linked him to his home at Yasnaya Polyana, to his peers, and to all those who helped him search for a meaningful life.
Above the navel sits a diamond-shaped sign, and in the upper left, another glowing diamond edges toward the chest. Taken together, they suggest Tolstoy held some quiet awareness of a reality just beneath the surface of daily life—even if he never put it into words.
Maybe that’s why he could write so deeply about characters like Anna Karenina or Pierre Bezukhov. Genius, here, might just mean the gift to notice and express the unseen connections that shape us all.
Quote
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
— From “Three Methods Of Reform,” 1900.
“If you want to be happy, be.”
— Reported in A Calendar of Wisdom (1912), a collection of Tolstoy’s thoughts (original Russian: “Если хочешь быть счастливым, будь им”).
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
— Opening line of “Anna Karenina” (1877).
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”
— From “War and Peace” (1869).
“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.”
— From “The Kreutzer Sonata” (1889).
“There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.”
— From “War and Peace” (1869).
“The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.”
— Variant from “War and Peace” (1869), reinforcing the previous sentiment.
“The whole world is divided for me into two parts: one is she, and there is all happiness, hope, light; the other is where she is not, and there is dejection and darkness…”
— From “War and Peace” (1869), expressing the depth of love.
The Writer Who Asked Big Questions
Leo Tolstoy lost his parents before he turned ten and grew up in a large house in the Russian countryside, constantly asking questions about life and fairness. He would later become one of the world’s most renowned writers, creating stories that influenced how people think about morality and human nature. His own life experiences were quite eventful and often reflected the themes he explored in his novels.
A Childhood of Loss and Questions
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy—we call him Leo in English—was born on September 9, 1828, at a sprawling family estate called Yasnaya Polyana. The name means “bright glade,” which sounds lovely, but Leo’s early years were anything but bright. His mother died when he was just two years old. His father passed away when Leo was nine. Then his grandmother died, and later an aunt who had been caring for him.
By the time Leo was thirteen, he and his siblings had to move in with another aunt in western Russia. Imagine losing so many people you love before you’re even a teenager. These losses shaped everything about Leo—his deep thinking about death, his questions about what makes life meaningful, and his desperate search for answers.
As a young man, Leo wasn’t exactly a model student. At university, teachers described him as “both unable and unwilling to learn”. He dropped out and spent his time partying in Moscow and Saint Petersburg instead of studying. But here’s the thing about Leo—he was always watching people, always thinking about what made them tick.
The Stories That Made Him Famous
When Leo joined the army to pay off his gambling debts (yes, he had quite a few bad habits), something interesting happened. He started writing. His first novel, Childhood, came out in 1852, drawing from his own experiences growing up. People loved how honestly he wrote about what it felt like to be young and confused.
But Leo’s real masterpieces came later. War and Peace, published in 1869, tells the story of Russian families during the wars with Napoleon. It’s enormous—580 characters!—but Leo somehow made it all feel real and important. Then came Anna Karenina in 1877, which Leo himself considered his first true novel. These books made him famous around the world.
What made Leo’s writing special wasn’t just the exciting plots. He had this gift for showing how ordinary people felt and thought. He could write about a mother worrying about her child or a soldier scared before battle in ways that made readers feel like they were right there experiencing it too.
A Complicated Family Man
In 1862, when Leo was 34, he married Sofia Behrs, who was just 18. They had thirteen children together, and Sofia wasn’t just his wife—she was his business partner, copying all his manuscripts by hand and helping him edit his work. But their marriage was far from perfect.
Both Leo and Sofia were passionate, emotional people, and their fights could be legendary. Sofia grew frustrated with Leo’s ideas about giving away their wealth and living like peasants. Meanwhile, Leo often seemed more interested in his grand theories about life than in the practical work of raising a large family. Their children even took sides—some supporting their father, others their mother.
Leo could be selfish and demanding. He expected Sofia to manage everything at home while he focused on his writing and philosophizing. Some people today might call some of his behavior abusive. It’s important to remember that even brilliant writers can be flawed human beings.
The Teacher Who Believed in Freedom
One of Leo’s most interesting experiments was starting a school for peasant children on his estate. This was revolutionary for the 1860s in Russia, where most poor children never learned to read or write.
Leo’s school was unlike anything people had seen. Students could come and go as they pleased. There was no homework, no tests, and definitely no physical punishment. “Education should be fun for students,” Leo believed. Classes covered everything from math and reading to singing and drawing, but always in ways that felt like conversations rather than lectures.
The school attracted children from miles around. Leo wrote that students often stayed after closing time “because it is impossible to send the children away—they beg for more”. He also wrote simple stories specifically for children, filling them with moral lessons but keeping them entertaining.
Leo believed children were naturally good and curious. His job as a teacher wasn’t to force information into their heads but to help them discover what they were interested in learning. Pretty modern thinking for the 1800s!
The Spiritual Seeker Who Stirred Up Trouble
As Leo got older, he became increasingly obsessed with big questions: What’s the meaning of life? How should we treat each other? Is there a God? His search for answers led him to some radical conclusions that got him in serious trouble.
Leo decided that true Christianity meant giving up wealth, refusing to fight in wars, and treating all people as equals. He criticized the Russian Orthodox Church for being too focused on rituals instead of helping poor people. He even questioned basic Christian beliefs like the Trinity and Jesus’s divinity.
These ideas didn’t just stay in his head—Leo tried to live them. He wanted to give away the family fortune, dress like a peasant, and work in the fields. The Russian Orthodox Church was so angry with him that they officially kicked him out in 1901. His book Resurrection was banned, and the secret police kept watch on him.
Leo’s radical beliefs influenced people around the world. Mahatma Gandhi credited Leo’s writings on non-violence as a major influence on his own peaceful resistance movement. Martin Luther King Jr. also studied Leo’s ideas.
The Final Escape
By 1910, when Leo was 82, the tension at home had become unbearable. He felt trapped between his ideals and his actual life as a wealthy landowner married to a woman who didn’t share his vision of simple living.
On November 10, 1910, Leo did something that shocked everyone: he snuck out of the house in the middle of the night, taking only a few belongings and his doctor. He left Sofia a letter saying, “I am doing what old men of my age are wont to do. They escape worldly life to live out their final days in solitude and silence”.
But Leo’s body couldn’t handle the stress of travel. He fell ill on a train and had to stop at a tiny railway station called Astapovo. There, in the stationmaster’s house, surrounded by reporters and curious onlookers, Leo Tolstoy died of pneumonia on November 20, 1910.
Leo Tolstoy left behind more than just great novels. He showed that writers could use their fame to challenge unfair systems and fight for what they believed was right. His ideas about education, non-violence, and social justice continue to inspire people today.
