Archpriest Yevgeny Shestun
When we talk about morality, it is customary to distinguish between three concepts "ethics", "morality" and "morality". "Ethics", "morality", "morality" - this is absolutely the same word, only expressed first in Greek, then in Latin, and finally in the Slavic root. In the Latin word for the Russian ear there is an aftertaste of "mentality". Morality should be the mediator between conscience and mind.
Conscience is manifestation natural moral law. A person can, having heard this voice, obey it, but can also reject it. A person is not subject to the voice of conscience, of course, he is free to choose, and this freedom of moral choice is the basis of a person's personal existence. “Conscience acts as an innate ability to see, evaluate and experience the events of personal life in the light of moral concepts and norms.
Freedom opens up various possibilities for a person. He can strive for holiness and likeness to God, or he can fall into the abyss of sin. Death and life, these are the two roads open to man. Morality is a guide to the road of life. “The true and unchanging guidelines in choosing the path,” according to Archimandrite Platon, “are the moral law, moral feeling and moral consciousness” (30. 325). Orthodoxy recognizes that the moral law is given by God, and is the property of all people, it guides each person in the choice of good. “However, from the point of view of evangelical ethics, we cannot call a person morally perfect, based only on the fact that he is not a murderer, not an adulterer and not a thief ... The moral norms and principles that he has have never been considered as a means to teach a person to adapt to external forms of behavior. The Holy Fathers have always seen in them the goal of guidance to moral perfection, salvation and deification.”
The moral law cannot be fulfilled in the absence of moral consciousness. According to Archimandrite Platon, moral consciousness includes such concepts as shame, conscience, duty, responsibility, striving for good or virtue.
“Shame,” according to Archimandrite Plato, “is one of the types of moral consciousness that influences emotional life. A person has a natural tendency to experience a sense of embarrassment caused by the denunciation of some immoral act. This is the fear of losing respect in the eyes of those before whom a person has dropped his dignity ”(30. 327).
Conscience is recognized in Orthodoxy as an internal law, as the voice of God, thanks to which a person can judge the positive or negative dignity of his actions. Conscience determines the internal structure of the personality and gives a person the ability to make moral judgments in each specific case.
Archimandrite Plato defines other elements of moral consciousness in this way: “Duty — it is the necessity determined by a person from the side of his will and reason to act in accordance with the moral ideal. In the life of the Church, the ideal of boundless perfection is revealed to man. The teaching of the Church creates the basis for an in-depth understanding of the gospel ideal and ways to implement it...
Retribution is the imputation that a person deserves for doing good and evil. Man has an ineradicable idea that, according to the law of supreme justice, any evil and injustice must entail punishment. However, in the personal religious life, the selflessness of a Christian should extend to the renunciation of any thought of reward for his righteousness. For him, the highest reward is to be in the dignity of a son of light, a son of the Heavenly Father. It is to this understanding of retribution that God calls every person...
The moral growth of a person is determined by three main conditions: natural qualities, upbringing and the action of grace.
The concept of " spiritual and moral education" has long and firmly established itself in pedagogy and has found its place in official documents (programs, laws, orders). Such a conjugation of the concepts of moral and spiritual, we almost do not meet in the patristic, theological and psychological literature. Most often, there is a distinction between soulfulness and spirituality in the process of considering anthropological problems. For example, let's take Distinguish between the concepts of "mental" and "spiritual" proposed by P.V. Simonov. He understands spirituality as a striving for truth, and soulfulness as a striving for good. We can say that the definition of P.V. Simonov put the idea of "purposefulness". In the first case, the goal is defined as "truth", the goal, from the point of view of Christianity, is transcendent, that is, lying outside the limits of human existence, as a person's standing before the Truth and striving for it. In the second case, the goal determines the desire for moral relationships with oneself, other people, and the world in which a person lives. At first glance, it may seem that these are hierarchically different “aspirations”, but from the point of view of the integrity of a person, an immoral person cannot strive for the truth. P.M. Ershov connects spirituality with striving for a lofty goal, and sincerity with the means to achieve the goal.
G.V. Akopov considers sincerity as a manifestation of the qualities of spirituality in everyday life. From this point of view, he interprets the widespread opinion that "there was spirituality - now it is not." “The mistake,” he writes, “is in translating spirituality, as an essential phenomenon that has taken place and is taking place in any society, into the rank of a more common phenomenon of soulfulness. Paradoxically, but usually what is not lacking is not spirituality as a search for high truth and purpose, namely sincerity, as an everyday manifestation of culture - a culture of feelings and relationships, and a culture of knowledge ... "(1. 30).
V.V. Medushevsky considers the soul to be the beginning of life, and the spirit the beginning of a grace-filled life, "a spark of god-likeness in man, the breath of eternity in him." Morality, according to V.V. Medushevsky is an important manifestation of spirituality. The content of morality is the highest that can be characterized by the words truth, goodness, beauty. He reminds that the concept of "morality" comes from "to like", that is, to love. Morality is based on love, but not selfish and selfish, but love for truth, goodness, justice.
Analyzing the works of A.A. Ukhtomsky, V.P. Zinchenko says that spirituality is a practical activity aimed primarily at remaking oneself, at creating a spiritual world and one's own spiritual organism.
For the fulfillment of the moral law, one moral self-determination or human desire is not enough, a force is needed that is bestowed on a person by Divine grace in the sacraments of the Church, a force that enlivens the spirit and directs a person to God. In almost all theological works we find an explanation of the concept like the grace of God, as a special force that animates the individual spirit of man and aspires to God. The condition for the revival of the spirit is the moral self-determination and moral rebirth of man.
(Published with abridgements)
SPIRITUAL TRADITION
in India until the 19th century. the only way of existence, transmission and development of spiritual culture. T. assumes that learning by its content covers the entire personality of a person, in all its aspects - intellectually, emotionally, behaviorally, and activityally. The possibility of learning is opened by initiation; it continues in close personal connection with the teacher (guru), including in everyday life, and implies learning by imitation, i.e., the reproduction in oneself of the essential features of his personality. Such personality-related content is often extremely important for a purely intellectual field of activity, and even more so for spiritual experience. It has never been translated into textual form and is poorly adapted for this. Without it, however, the textual content is often not understood at all, is understood partially or distortedly. For different specific spiritual traditions of India, different ratios of elements are characteristic, to-rye in Europe. terms are called philosophical, scientific, religious, spiritual and practical, etc.: a tradition can be a school of logic, Advaitic metaphysics, a community of worshipers of Vishnu, or a sect of Hatha Yogis. Tradition has the positive side of the highest professionalism and such a level of personal development of the adept, which in Europe seems almost a miracle (in Europe, only circus artists and sorcerers have an analogue to this way of being a culture); its disadvantage is the difficulty of exchanging content between individual traditions and fragility: if the chain of generations is interrupted, then it will be impossible to restore the tradition from the texts.
A. Paribok
Hinduism. Jainism. Sikhism: Dictionary. - M.: Republic. M. F. Albedil, A. M. Dubyansky. 1996 .
See what "SPIRITUAL TRADITION" is in other dictionaries:
Tradition (lat. traditio transmission). The term has several meanings: Tradition in anthropology, sociology and cultural studies is a set of ideas of customs, skills and habits of practical activity transmitted from generation to ... ... Wikipedia
- (from the old glory. Flattery lies, deceit) in accordance with the Orthodox dogma, a spiritual illness of a person, accompanied by a higher and very subtle form of flattery to oneself, self-deception, daydreaming, pride, opinion about one's own ... ... Wikipedia
SPIRITUAL MUSIC- music. works of Christ. content not intended to be performed during worship. D. m. is often opposed to secular music, and in this sense, an extremely wide range of phenomena from liturgical music is sometimes referred to this area ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia
Musical works related to texts of a religious nature, intended to be performed during a church service or at home. Sacred music in a narrow sense means church music of Christians; spiritual in a broad sense ... ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see Tradition (meanings). Tradition (custom) is a set of ideas, rituals, habits and skills of practical and social activities, passed down from generation to generation, acting as one ... ... Wikipedia
TRADITION AND INNOVATION IN LITERATURE- TRADITION AND INNOVATION IN LITERATURE, concepts that characterize continuity and renewal in the literary process, the ratio in it between the inherited and the newly created. Tradition (T.) (from Latin traditio transmission, tradition) is ... ... Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary
Merton College Library Literature (lat. lit(t)eratura, literally written, from lit(t)era letter) in the broadest sense, the collection of any verbal texts. Contents 1 On the boundaries of the concept ... Wikipedia
Tradition- a concept that reflects the essence of socio-cultural inheritance, historical stability and continuity. T. is understood, in 1 x, as an order (stereotype) of inheritance, which provides, through certain rules, norms, patterns, exact ... ... Russian Philosophy. Encyclopedia
Moscow Orthodox Theological Academy (MDA) International name Moscow Theological Academy ... Wikipedia
Vaishnava tradition in Russia: history and current state. Teaching and practice. Social service, charity, cultural and educational activities Cover of the book "The Vaishnava Tradition in Russia"
Books
- , Skvortsova, Elena Lvovna, Lutsky, Alexander Leonidovich. The book is devoted to topical issues of traditional and modern spiritual life in Japan. The authors consider the formation of the theoretical aesthetics of Japan, which has gone from tradition to philosophy in…
- Spiritual Tradition and Public Thought in Japan of the 20th Century, Skvortsova E. The book is devoted to topical issues of traditional and modern spiritual life in Japan. The authors consider the formation of the theoretical aesthetics of Japan, which has gone from tradition to philosophy in…
Traditions are some historically established group experience embodied in social stereotypes, which is accumulated and reproduced in society. It is necessary to distinguish this concept from art, which represents a more individual creative activity. Through traditions, a certain group of individuals inherits the knowledge necessary for self-development and even survival. That is, this term can be interpreted as a certain mechanism of collective communication. Experts identify the main types of traditions: folk (ethnic), social, national, religious and cultural.
Origin of the term
The well-known word "tradition" for many has a fairly clear meaning. If we talk about literal translation, then in Latin the term means "transmission".
Initially, the concept of "tradition" was used only in a literal sense and denoted an action. The ancient Romans used it when they had to give someone a material object or marry a daughter. Subsequently, material objects faded into the background, they were pushed aside by the transmitted skills and abilities. Thus "tradition", or rather, its semantic spectrum, indicates the main difference from everything that could be summed up under this concept. Tradition is something that does not belong to a certain individual, as it is transferred from outside. The derived meaning is associated with everything that is connected with the distant past, which has irrevocably lost its novelty, is unchanged and symbolically stable. And strict adherence to customs relieves many of the need to independently comprehend the situation and make a decision.
Traditions and society
Each new generation, having at its disposal a certain set of traditional samples, does not accept and assimilate them in finished form, it involuntarily carries out their own interpretation. It turns out that society chooses not only its coming future, but also the past that has sunk into oblivion. Social groups and society as a whole, selectively accepting some elements of the social heritage, simultaneously reject others. Therefore, social traditions may well be both positive and negative.
national heritage
In general, traditions are the so-called element of culture, which arises in one generation and is transmitted from ancestors to descendants, remaining for a long time. These are certain norms, rules of conduct, rituals, procedures that must be followed. Considering the definition of the word “heritage” together with this term, we can say that the concepts are almost identical.
If we talk about national traditions, then these are rules that are manifested in almost everything. This applies not only to clothing, style and behavior in general, they are also manifested in movements, gestures and other elements that are present in the psychology of people. Such concepts and manifestations are very important for a person, since it is they that are able to trigger an unconscious mechanism in a person who is clearly able to determine the line between "one's own" and "alien".
National traditions are a phenomenon that has been formed as a result of the life of each people or nation, regulated by functions in the human mind. In other words, regulation occurs in family life, in communication, and behavior. Traditions have their own characteristics, namely, they have high stability, continuity and even stereotyping. They are characterized by a long-term factor, which is the regulator of social phenomena.
Modern attitude to cultural traditions
The variety of traditions of most countries is sometimes simply amazing. The fact that for a certain people is the norm of everyday life, in another country can often be perceived as a personal insult. We can say that traditions are one of the fundamental things in the cultures of various countries of the world. Therefore, if you decide to relax in some exotic country, you must first familiarize yourself with its customs in order not to get into an awkward position. For example, in Turkey, one of the important traditions is the need to remove shoes when entering a house and a temple. In no case should you refuse an offer to drink a cup of tea, this can be perceived as an insult.
Not just a set of rules
Cultural traditions are not only a set of etiquette rules, they are a certain semantic flow aimed at showing the depth of the history of a particular country, these are values laid down over the centuries, passed down from generation to generation to maintain and reveal the unique mentality of its inhabitants. For example: countries where Buddhism is widespread believe that touching a person’s head is unacceptable, since the human soul lives in it. Unfortunately, in many countries, traditional rites have gone out of fashion, so to speak, and have lost their value due to technological progress. I would like the interest in preserving one's culture not to lose its relevance in any corner of the world.
Word synonym
The word "tradition" is a feminine noun, if necessary, it can be replaced by the concepts custom, practice(masculine nouns), legacy, tradition(nouns of the middle gender). Instead of a single term, you can use phrases with the word "so", for example: so it is, so it is. Among writers, and not only among them, traditions are called unwritten laws. One of the most unusual synonyms in Russian for this noun is the word "itihasa", which means "that's exactly what happened." Most sources define a synonym for the word "tradition" in several variants, in which, in addition to those presented above, norm, establishment, habit, value. An interesting option is the use of the word "hashar" (a term that has long been included in the Turkic and Tajik languages and means "joint work").
Religious traditions
Religion also has its own traditions, which makes it a spiritual and cultural treasure. represent a set of stable forms and methods of worshiping the gods (God). Each of the religions existing on earth carefully preserves and in every possible way maintains its tradition, but most often in each religion there are several traditions at once, for example: Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism - in Christianity, Shiites and Sunnis - in Islam, Mahayana and Hinayana - in Buddhism. The religious traditions of the East practice a certain technique of working with both the body and consciousness, which is aimed at enlightenment, i.e. obtaining extremely high states of human consciousness. Christian religious traditions include church attendance, prayers, confession and worship. The most famous holidays are Easter, Christmas, Epiphany, Trinity, Ascension, Annunciation. Also, not all traditions are observed, if only because in the digital age people have become not as pious as their ancestors were. Now, few people at the festive table ask for harvest or rain. Just a holiday has become another reason to get together with the whole family.
There is no future without a past
Traditions are a heritage that is unshakably authoritative, they are meekly accepted and transmitted in accordance with the fact that the departed ancestors - "carriers" - have a solid foundation in the life of their heirs - "followers".
This article discusses the main provisions of the most popular and influential traditional Chinese teachings - Confucianism and Taoism, as well as Buddhism that came from India.
Chinese culture strove for the maximum ordering of the primordial chaos both in the surrounding world and in the inner spiritual life of man.
These tasks boiled down mainly to developing and improving the "natural" mental abilities of a person in order to maximize the realization of all ...
For many centuries of life, society has offered us certain value systems. Through religions and laws, certain frameworks were imposed, within which everyone had to build their lives.
These laws allowed society to develop, sometimes to the detriment of its individual members.
By averaging everyone, they created a visible stability. Many religions were introduced by force and served as a tool for the subjugation and suppression of peoples.
So, in the era of rationalism, people were forced to believe in God by force and torture. In the era...
Almost every time I interact with people who consider themselves on the spiritual path, I see the same favorite stops where they imagine their path. Stopping is easy. So much so that most spiritual seekers have not even set foot on the path yet, cozying up at a bus stop called Modern Spirituality.
And at this stop there is everything your heart desires.
Here is a long line of enlightened Masters and Gurus with even longer lines of their followers. Here...
Spiritual purpose, what is it?
Perhaps this is the goal of striving for ...
…to the Spirit, but what does that mean? Why did we suddenly need to strive for the Spirit, because the word spirituality comes from this root?
We are beings living in Matter, but only in it?
If we assume that we dwell in the Spirit in the same way, then the question immediately arises, where is it?
If Matter is inhabited by Space, then, probably, Spirit is Time. But we are spatial beings living on...
Although Dzogchen practitioners have been in all Tibetan religious traditions (the Fifth Dalai Lama of the Gelug school, the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje of the Kagyu school, and the Graspa Gyaltsen of the Sakya school), the most important lines of succession of the Dzogchen teachings belong to the indigenous religious tradition of Tibet - Bon and the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism - nyingma.
Both of these traditions classify their teachings according to the "nine paths" of practice leading to enlightenment or self-realization, and in both classifications Dzogchen is...
The objective processes of the transitional stage, the subject of which is human civilization at the present time, are of a special nature. A holistic vision of ongoing and future events on our planet requires an exit from the plane of the historical development of civilization and awareness of the meaning of the coming era, based on the spiritual tasks of the planetary evolution of mankind, the essence of which is to change the principle of spiritual work and planetary consciousness as a whole.
1.1. The cyclicity of life and the place of our...
When a person becomes mature in the spiritual life, he begins to enjoy paradoxes and ambiguities, ambiguities and conflicts. He better feels the irony of life, its metaphor and humor. He is able to contain everything: both beautiful and ugly, without losing the greatness of the heart.
The fruit falls from the tree itself when ripe. At the proper time of spiritual life, the heart, like a fetus, becomes mature and soft. From prickly shoots of search, development and correction, practice turns into a rest in secret. She no longer...
Interview with Alexander Khakimov for the New Epoch newspaper
Alexander Khakimov visited us -
well-known specialist in Vedic culture, writer, psychologist, artist, philosopher.
"Family Spiritual Life", "The Last Exam" and others.
Alexander Khakimov is the honorary director of the John Favors Institute of Applied Spiritual Technologies.
His wise philosophical view of modernity will certainly be of interest to the reader.
"Spiritual Traditions"
"New era": The new era is characterized, in our opinion, by two contradictory trends in man and in society: on the one hand, the growing degradation, moral and cultural impoverishment, and on the other hand, the awakening of interest in spiritual knowledge, in particular Vedic knowledge. How do you think this contradiction will result?
Alexander Khakimov: The Vedas explain that people are divided into three types depending on their ability to gain life experience. The first type are those who gain experience by ear. They just need to hear or read about the Truth to understand what is good and what is bad. These are the most intelligent people, there are very few of them in our age. The majority, in order to establish themselves in something, need a practical result, a real confirmation by their own example of one or another judgment. Having received some experience - positive or negative - in the form of punishment or just remorse - they accept this Truth. The third type of people are the least intelligent, those to whom the Truth does not reach either theoretically or practically. Neither suffering nor punishment changes them. They don't learn from their own mistakes or from the mistakes of others. Their condition is hopeless, they are rapidly degrading. The first type of people will find the Truth anyway. But the second type needs help. They need experience to change their lives for the better. So, the contradictory trend in society that you are talking about gives people of this type the opportunity to have both positive and negative experiences and, based on this experience, make their choice.
The material world presents a person with only ideas - here you are, free love, consumer mood. You can cook for some time in these realities and feel their deceptiveness and unreliable essence. And nearby there is other information - about piety, about God, about spiritual happiness. It can also be tested, tasted, compared with the taste of illusory material pleasures. An intelligent person, on the basis of this experience, will draw the right conclusions.
"New Era": In our time, throughout the Western world, including ours, the institution of the family is collapsing, 60 percent of families are falling apart, and even in those that have survived, harmony rarely reigns. Answer as the director of the Institute of Applied Spiritual Technologies, what kind of spiritual technology can be offered to save the family, the unit of society?
Alexander Khakimov: The family is connected by love - such an opinion exists in society. We are trying to make a small correction: the family exists on the basis of the love of God. This is a spiritual statement made on the basis of a commandment. After all, “Love God” is the first commandment, and others are already following. This is the Truth that we, as scientists, as the Institute, are trying to apply to the family. There is no family without God, because love for a person is fickle, it can easily be transferred to another person, which often happens now, and families are destroyed. Therefore, the Vedas say that if you love only a person, then sooner or later you will get fed up with this love. But if you love God and extend this love to a person, then you will not only save your family, but also embrace your children, grandchildren, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, etc. with your love. Ultimately, you will understand that the world is a big family, the family of God. Our Institute teaches how to build a family on the basis of love for God and service to society, how to move from the small space of one's own family to the family of God. If there is no divine understanding of the integrity of society, then each family is for itself. Families compete, quarrel, steal each other's wives, husbands, take away property.
Spiritual technologies are as follows: first you need to establish a connection with God, and therefore already create all other human values - family, education, upbringing of children, economics, politics. Then the politics will be peaceful, the economy will be healthy, the family will be permanent, the children will be obedient, traditions will be maintained, because the highest reason for doing this will be clear. If there is no such reason, then it will be, as in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Remember, there brother Alyosha says: "If there is no God, then everything is possible." That is, there is no starting point. It is necessary to restore the institution of the spiritual family, this will make society healthier.
"New Era": On the basis of what spiritual traditions does your Institute work?
Alexander Khakimov: We use many traditions. But the Vedic tradition is very well classified, so we mainly use this system. In fact, all religions fit into it. It may be that everything is not so systematically presented in them as in the Vedas, but in these religions one can find and highlight the same points: karma yoga, jnana yoga, mystical yoga and, finally, the yoga of love for Bo -gu. “Love God” is bhakti yoga, “Do not steal, do not lie, do not commit adultery” is karma yoga. By applying the classification of the Vedas, we can navigate in any religion. The Vedas are not exactly a religion, but rather a scientific classification of religions and value systems.
"New Age": Sometimes it seems that all religions are unfair to a woman. In religious teachings, a woman is given a secondary role in society. There she is "number two", a kind of attachment to a man. And modern life shows just the opposite: women have become an active part of society. Many of them successfully make a career, run a business, earn more than their husbands. Is there a refutation of religious postulates here?
Alexander Khakimov: Society can be built in accordance with divine or vice versa, demonic principles, on the basis of pride, selfishness, vanity, and then the value system turns out to be inverted. One of the main principles proclaimed in the Vedas is the protection of women. It is said that a woman should always be under the protection of love. If she loses her protection, then she loses her beauty, her health, and sinks into grief. A woman is protected by a man - a father in childhood, a husband in a family, and sons in adulthood. That is why she is given not the first, but the second role in society. The leading position in the social mind, in the economy is assigned to a man. But in the house, in the family, “number one” is a woman, first of all, as an inspiring force. Thanks to her communication, a man achieves success. She has a more subtle material nature and inspires a man to great deeds. It is said that if there is a Caesar, then the figure of Cleopatra is necessarily guessed behind him.
What happens in modern society? Due to the fact that a man communicates excessively with strange women, he loses the power that gives protection to his wife. She intuitively feels this and becomes uneasy, since she has children (a woman has a higher responsibility for children than a man). And then she artificially assumes the role of a man: she dresses like a man, drives a car, and, taking on an unfeminine business, tries in every possible way to convince herself: "I can do it." And she really succeeds. However, this reminds me of how primitive hunters, armed with wooden spears, went to bear. Going for a bear with a wooden spear is a big risk. To get rid of fear, they kindled a fire, stood in a circle and, moving in a circle, repeated the same thing for a long time: "We will kill the bear." And having convinced themselves in this way, they went and actually killed the bear. It is clear that their strength and courage were somewhat artificial. Something similar is seen in the behavior of modern women. A woman goes to a difficult, but highly paid job with great risk and loss for herself, and achieves success. Success is only in work, because as a mother no one can replace her. She does this instead of a man, although in fact her true task is to push her husband upstairs, raising his authority. This is where her greatness lies. Of course, for this, a woman needs the appropriate knowledge, which allows her to fulfill her role in the family in such a way as to benefit herself and her loved ones, without resorting to artificial and risky methods for the family.
"New Era": You said that a woman who goes through life in a "male" way is expected to lose. Outwardly, many business women are satisfied with their lives. What losses are we talking about?
Alexander Khakimov: The main one is that on the way to a career and success in society, a woman cannot fully fulfill the role of a mother. Children do not receive maternal protection, maternal strength. You can see that in such families the children are left to their own devices. In character, they turn out to be weaker than the mother, and her maternal energy acts in such a way that it simply covers their shortcomings at the expense of their financial situation. I recently had a conversation with a fairly wealthy woman. She said: “I have an adopted son. I did everything I could for him. I have money, he is an orphan, and I was more worried about him than about my own child. He grew up and does not get out of prison ... ". This happened because, not having time to give him enough attention, she covered his shortcomings at the expense of her financial capabilities. The world is arranged in such a way that a woman should receive material well-being and position in society from her husband. Then she will be a full-fledged mother. When she receives all this separately from her husband or without him, her motherhood will be incomplete.
"New Age": The commandments of religion recommend their followers to live virtuously, that is, to be honest, peaceful, open, not vindictive. On the other hand, society lives according to rather cruel laws. Is it right to prepare for life people whom everyone will deceive and offend?
Alexander Khakimov: If evil is active and virtue is passive, she will lose. You need to do it the other way around: so that goodness is active, and evil is passive. Good must be able to assert its rights. At the same time, one must fight not for one's own benefit, but for the principles of virtue. Active goodness means spreading knowledge and law around oneself. When people see that laws work, evil becomes passive, because evil is ignorance. When society begins to understand the laws of karma, that is, the inevitable responsibility for the evil done, evil loses its activity.
New Age: But that's too general an answer. How to be, for example, an honest person in relations with partners or managers who deceive him and in every possible way exploit his positive qualities? Is it necessary, out of virtuous motives, to endure a bad attitude towards oneself?
Alexander Khakimov: No no need. The Vedas say, “Don't let yourself be exploited. The place where you are being exploited must leave immediately.” If everyone does this, the world will change in one second. But people who are attached to their position allow themselves to be exploited for the sake of a crumb of some profit. They themselves are to blame for this. Allowing yourself to be exploited is not a virtue. Real virtue is like fire. Fire illuminates everything around and at the same time protects itself - you can't touch it. A truly virtuous person is under the highest protection, under the protection of universal laws.
Dnepropetrovsk, May, 2012
