BOISE, Idaho—Bright, colorful lotus flowers rise out of thick mud each morning without getting so much as a spot of dirt on their petals. How they achieve this inspiring and miraculous-looking feat has baffled people for centuries and encouraged those facing trials to keep up hope and search deeper for the ability to rise above circumstances.
It was not Olga’s first time seeing the performance, and it would not be the couple’s last. Phil and his wife Olga own a real estate company and plan to bring their friends to Shen Yun next year.
“I grew up in the Soviet Union and—it was pretty much same what’s happens in China,” Olga said, after seeing dances in Shen Yun that depict the brutal and ongoing persecution of spiritual believers there.
“They [the Soviets] at least prohibited, and the most prosecuted, people who were religious,” Olga said, relating her own story about how her grandmother had wanted her baptized, but her parents who grew up under the atheist regime were against it because it was prohibited by the state.
“So yes, I can feel the pain and it’s great that [Shen Yun] can do it and bring the Chinese traditions here,” she said.
“It was beautiful! It’s fantastic. Yes, wonderful. Magical,” Phil said about the connection between culture and spirituality he saw in Shen Yun.
“I saw it in Arizona first time,” Olga said. “It was beautiful. I was blown away. And now it’s my second time and I’m amazed as well. It’s a great, great performance. Just very high level and just breathtaking.”
Phil gave his wife a sweet, genuine kiss to thank her for bringing him to this, his first Shen Yun performance.
Reviving Traditional Culture
Phil, too, has had a personal run-in with the Chinese communist regime that left a lasting impression on him. A former college classmate of his was suddenly and unexpectedly forced by the Chinese regime to leave her child behind when she came to Oregon to become a physicist. After a year went by, Phil found her in tears at not being able to bring her child to live with her. After Phil learned about her predicament, he contacted his local political representative who stepped in and put pressure on China to release her child. It worked, and the two were united.Phil had deep thoughts and feelings about communism’s detrimental effect on societies and on the world. He responded to the true stories of persecution in Shen Yun, where people are pressured into abandoning their consciences and carrying out evil deeds in the name of atheism and materialism.
“What they [communists] do is they separate ‘us’ and ’them,’ and then create an enemy, right, that you must hate. And that’s how they get us to give power to them. So the minute you realize that the egoic mind first separates, then either elevates or pushes down to create differences. And as soon as you resist that, they lose their power. You won’t give someone power if you don’t believe you have an enemy. So that’s what’s most important, I think,” he said.
Olga and Phil wanted Shen Yun’s artists to know how much they and their hard work are appreciated.
“Their dedication and their joy and their ability—it’s where; where it all meets and comes together,” Phil said. “Because they are obviously very talented and genetically disposed to that, but then the hard work, right, because if you’re so talented, things come easy. But then they had to work so hard. So I’m; it’s just; it warms my heart and it’s admirable.”
“We really appreciate the effort and the passion and the idea they bring to people,” Olga added. “It’s very noble and great goal and nice message they’re bringing to people. So it was very heartwarming and beautiful. We are definitely coming next year. Really appreciate the work.”