Rami Elias Kremesti
Rami Elias Kremesti | |
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| Born | January 11, 1975 Beirut, Lebanon |
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| Website | kremesti |
Rami Elias Kremesti (Bulgarian: Рами Елиас Кремести; 11 January 1975) is a Lebanese-born British water treatment specialist, author, activist, photographer, and essayist from a Lebanese-Bulgarian family.[1]
Biography
Early years
Kremesti was born in Beirut at the outset of the Lebanese civil war. His father Elias was a Lebanese Communist who worked as a pharmaceutical representative and his mother Ivanka, nee Germanova, was a polyglot and Italian opera/Bel canto enthusiast. Kremesti was their middle child; they also had two daughters Aida and Rosemary who live in the USA. He grew up in Beirut in a middle-class and well-cultured household, with all children learning Bulgarian, French, Arabic, and English at a young age. They all attended private schools/universities and celebrated Christian holidays as both his parents were Christian Orthodox by birth.
Born into a turbulent environment, Rami grew to resent organized religion and blamed it for the war. In his teenage years, he went fishing, snorkeling, and swimming in Beirut.
From a young age, Kremesti was interested in chemistry and excelled in all science subjects as well as mathematics in school. He left the Beirut Baptist School in tenth grade at age 16 and enrolled in the Rawdah High school where he graduated top of his class in 1992 from the Lebanese Baccalaureate program with a focus on Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics.
Following high school graduation, Kremesti studied chemistry at the American University of Beirut, where he also developed a passion for philosophy and the arts. One of his research papers was on Nietzsche’s concept of the Apollonian versus the Dionysian in the ancient Greek Ethos. He read all of Nietzsche’s books and was an avowed atheist that believed in the Uber-Mensch. He did some organic chemistry synthesis work under Professor Paul Bassin. His first article was written in this period titled “I Smell A Rat” in which he expressed his disgust at the slavish pursuit of high grades and prestige by his pre-Med fellow students. He also wrote his first aphorism, Forlorn Hope, during this rebellious period of his life. His father wanted him to pursue pharmacy, but he was passionate about chemistry and refused to conform despite the few prospects a chemistry degree offered in Lebanon.
Move to the USA
Kremesti moved to Texas in 1996 to pursue a doctorate degree in chemistry at the University of North Texas, where he received a Teaching Assistantship. He discovered early on the fakeness of some scientists and decided to get his master’s degree instead and start working. He could not find a job in the semiconductor industry, his research area, therefore, he took some computer classes and started working as a web master.[2]
In December 1998, he moved to Irvine, California to pursue his career in IT Consulting. In Orange County, He founded AMALID.ORG in 1999. The website was about the accomplishments of Lebanese immigrants in the USA and the world diaspora and has evolved into an attempt to build bridges between East and West. It also aims to promote the inclusivist, moderate, mystical interpretation of Islam espoused by Rumi and other Sufi poets and saints. In Orange County is where he started surfing at the notorious Wedge in Newport Beach and designed his Wedge “Conquer Your Demons” logo.
Work
After living two years in Irvine Orange County, Kremesti moved to Los Angeles, where he spent four years surfing, fishing, working odd jobs (following his layoff in 2001) and taking pictures, and undertaking the occasional website-building project. He also tutored in chemistry, and one of his students, Lauren Mayhew, later became an actress/singer/songwriter. In LA, he photographed mostly women and children whom he adored. He also published his research into Islam in his online article, Problematic Verses In the Koran. During this period, he also translated his first Rumi poems into Arabic under the page Arabic translations of Rumi poetry. Kremesti is also dedicated to fighting corruption and ignorance in his mother’s native Bulgaria and for this he founded the website BONKA.BG in an attempt to fight against corruption and ignorance in his mother’s native Bulgaria.[3]
Kremesti left the USA in 2004 to pursue his career in chemistry and water treatment with his first professional water treatment job being in Saudi Arabia in 2005 where he found the Saudi desert inspirational. Following that, he spent ten years working on ALSTOM power station/various industrial projects in Bulgaria, Poland, Algeria, Switzerland, Iraq, and the UK. He founded a consultancy in Manchester in 2015, Kremesti Environmental Consulting, which is registered in England and Wales and focuses on water and wastewater treatment consulting. He is chartered in the UK with CIWEM, the Science Council, and the Society for The Environment.[4]
Political Views
Kremesti is a member of the UK Conservative Party since 2020 but he has a leftist/liberal heart. He believes that Democracy and Autocracy have both failed owing to the fact that the masses and leaders are not enlightened or ignorant. He believes in the ancient Greek concept of the Aristocrat (Aristo Kratos), meaning The Best Rule. This is also a reflection of his belief in the Platonian concept of the Philosopher King. He holds the view that all military budgets must be slashed in favor of spending on cultural exchange programs, basic human rights, international peace and development, education and environmental protection, and rejuvenation. He also believes that the root problem of all environmental pollution in unplanned population growth. He finds the leftist economists Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and Herman Daly the only truthful anti-establishment economists that are opposed to the adherents of the cult of consumerist linear model of economic growth that is responsible for the destruction of earth’s natural habitats and ecosystems.
Philosophy
Kremesti is inspired by the Philosophy and Psychology of Viktor Frankl the Holocaust survivor and British authors like Elizabeth Gaskell, George Elliott and Robert Graves. In the vision of Rumi, Kremesti found a unifying philosophy of all religions with one underlying message: Love of the Creator and Love of Creation and all Creatures. This is theme of his first book, The Other Cheek of Islam. In his second book, For Love of the Sacred Awe, he delves into the concept of beauty, its meaning and the joy it brings to life. In his third book, Megalopsyhia (under publication), he attacks anti-Semitism head-on by recounting the contributions of Jewish people throughout history and delving into the ethos of Judaism which is about the Love of God and love of neighbor. He concludes that Judaism is the source of Islam and Christianity and that these three religions and their adherents have much more in common than what they differ about.
Published works
- The Other Cheek of Islam, ISBN:9791220103527, Europe Books 2020.
- For Love of the Sacred Awe, ISBN:9791220121446, Europe Books 2021.
- MegaloPsychia: The Other Cheek of Judaism – Austin Macauley expected 2023
- Living with Depression for 25 Years[5]
References
- ↑ Тепето, Под (November 1, 2018). "Въжен мост за катеричките на Бунарджика: Нужен ли е?".
- ↑ "Чужденец, глобен с 10 бона у нас, към CNN: Пишете за българското чудо с К-19". 18 May 2020.
- ↑ "Новата екоферма - хотел сред природата с всички екстри". 15 July 2020.
- ↑ "Рами Елиас Кремести: Горим боклука и произвеждаме ток!". 22 July 2020.
- ↑ Council, Science (January 20, 2020). "Living with Depression for 25 years: A Story of Hope". The Science Council ~.