Russian idea of ​​Berdyaev to read. The meaning of the Russian idea

Nikolai Berdyaev

RUSSIAN IDEA

Pages are indicated according to the edition: Berdyaev N. Russian idea. St. Petersburg: Azbuka-klassika, 2008.

In Inventory A No. 2152.

CHAPTER I Historical introduction. Definition of Russian national type. East and West. -Opposites of the Russian soul. Discontinuity of Russian history. Russian religiosity. Moscow - Third Rome. The schism of the 17th century Peter's reform. Freemasonry. The era of Alexander I. Decembrists. Pushkin. Russian intelligentsia. Radishchev. Intelligence and Reality. The tragic fate of philosophy. Influence of German idealism.

CHAPTER II. The problem of the philosophy of history. Russia and Europe. Slavophiles and Westernizers. The question of the fate of Russia. Forties. Chaadaev. Pecherin. Slavophiles. Kireevsky. Aksakov. Khomyakov. Letter to Fr. Baader. Westerners. Idealists of the forties. Granovsky. Belinsky. Herzen. Further development Slavophilism. Danilevsky. Leontiev. Dostoevsky.

CHAPTER III. The problem of the collision of personality and world harmony. attitude towards reality. The Significance of Hegel in the History of Russian Thought. Belinsky's rebellion. Anticipation of Dostoevsky. The problem of theodicy. Underground Man. Gogol and Belinsky. Belinsky's individualistic socialism. Religious drama by Gogol. Belinsky's letter to Gogol. Messianism of Russian poetry: Tyutchev, Lermontov.

CHAPTER IV. The problem of humanism. Humanism and humanitarianism. Dostoevsky and the dialectic of humanism. Human-Deity and God-Manhood. Christian humanism Vl. Solovyov. Bukharev. Tolstoy. Rozanov. Leontiev. The transition of atheistic humanism into anti-humanism. Christian humanism.

CHAPTER V. Social theme. Social coloring of Russian thought. Three periods of socialist thought. The initial influence of Saint-Simon and Fourier. Development of Russian socialism. Russian populism and faith in the special ways of Russia. Socialism Belinsky. Herzen's individualistic socialism. Exposing the philistinism of the West. Chernyshevsky and "What is to be done?". Pisarev. Mikhailovsky and the "struggle for individuality". Nechaev and "Catechism of a Revolutionary". Tkachev as Lenin's predecessor. The search for social truth. Tolstoy. Dostoevsky. Solovyov. Leontiev. Preparation of Marxism: Zhelyabov. Plekhanov.

CHAPTER VI. justification of culture. The difference between culture and civilization. End culture. Russian nihilism: Dobrolyubov, Pisarev. Ascetic, eschatological and moralistic elements in nihilism. Cult natural sciences. The contradiction between the principle of personality and materialism. The opposition of perfect culture and perfect life. L. Tolstoy. Simplification of Tolstoy and Rousseau. K. Leontiev and his attitude to culture.

CHAPTER VII. The topic is about power. Anarchism. Russian attitude to power. Russian freemen. Split. Sectarianism. The attitude of the intelligentsia to power: among the liberals, among the Slavophiles. Anarchism. Bakunin. The passion for destruction is a creative passion. Kropotkin. Religious anarchism: L. Tolstoy's religious anarchism. The doctrine of non-resistance. Anarchy and anarchism. The Anarchist Element in Dostoevsky. Legend of the Grand Inquisitor

CHAPTER VIII. Religious theme. The religious character of Russian philosophy. The difference between theology and religious philosophy. Criticism of Western Rationalism. Philosophical ideas of Kireevsky and Khomyakov. The idea of ​​conciliarity. Vladimir Solovyov. Erotica. Unity intuition. Being and existence. The idea of ​​God-manhood. Teaching about Sophia. "The Meaning of Love" Religious philosophy of Dostoevsky and L. Tolstoy. Russian religious thought in theological academies. Archbishop Innokenty. Timid. Tareev.

CHAPTER IX. Expectation new era Holy Spirit. Eschatological and prophetic character of Russian thought. Rejection of bourgeois virtues. Wandering. People's seekers of the Kingdom of God. Eschatological mood among the intelligentsia. Perverted eschatology among the revolutionary intelligentsia. Wandering L. Tolstoy. Eschatologism and messianism in Dostoevsky. Disruption at Leontiev and Solovyov. Fedorov's brilliant idea about the conditionality of apocalyptic prophecies. Cheshkovsky's insight. The problem of birth and death in Vl. Solovyov, Fedorov and Rozanov.

CHAPTER X. XX century: cultural renaissance and communism. Sources of the cultural renaissance. Awakening Religious Unrest in Literature. Critical Marxism and Idealism. Religious quest among Marxists. Merezhkovsky. Rozanov. Appeal to the values ​​of spiritual culture. Religious-philosophical meetings, The heyday of poetry. Symbolism. Solovyov's influence. Block. White. Vyach. Ivanov. Shestov. The Rise of Russian Religious Philosophy. Religious-Philosophical Society. Florensky, Bulgakov. Berdyaev v. Trubetskoy. Erie. Losskd. Franc. The gap between the higher cultural forces and the revolution. Attempts at rapprochement: the journal "Questions of Life". Communism as a pervert of the Russian messianic idea. Results of Russian thought of the 19th century: Russian idea.

Historical introduction. Definition of the Russian national type. East and West. Opposites of the Russian soul. Discontinuity of Russian history. Russian religiosity. Moscow - Third Rome. The schism of the 17th century Peter's reform. Freemasonry. The era of Alexander I. Decembrists. Pushkin. Russian intelligentsia. Radishchev. Intelligence and Reality. The tragic fate of philosophy. Influence of German idealism.

There is a very great difficulty in determining the national type, national individuality. It is impossible to give a strictly scientific definition. The secret of any individuality is known only by love, and in it there is always something incomprehensible to the end, to the last depth. I will be interested not so much in the question of what Russia was empirically, but in the question of what the Creator intended about Russia, the intelligible image of the Russian people, his idea. Tyutchev said: "You cannot understand Russia with the mind, you cannot measure it with a common yardstick, it has a special position, you can only believe in Russia." To reach Russia it is necessary to apply the theological virtues of faith, hope and love. Empirically, there is so much repulsion in Russian history. This is so strongly expressed in the poem of the believing Slavophil Khomyakov about the sins of Russia. Russian people are in the highest degree a polarized people, it is a combination of opposites. He can be fascinated and disappointed, you can always expect surprises from him, he is highly capable of inspiring strong love and strong hatred. It's on-

a species that causes anxiety among the peoples of the West. Every national individuality, like the individuality of a person, is a microcosm and therefore contains contradictions, but this happens to varying degrees. In terms of polarization and inconsistency, the Russian people can only be compared with the Jewish people. And it is no coincidence that these peoples have a strong messianic consciousness. The inconsistency and complexity of the Russian soul, perhaps, is due to the fact that in Russia two streams of world history collide and come into interaction - East and West. The Russian people are not a purely European and not a purely Asian people. Russia is a whole part of the world, a huge East-West, it connects two worlds. And always in the Russian soul fought two principles, eastern and western.

There is a correspondence between the immensity, boundlessness, infinity of the Russian land and the Russian soul, between the geography of the physical and the geography of the soul. In the soul of the Russian people there is the same immensity, boundlessness, aspiration to infinity as in the Russian plain. Therefore, it was difficult for the Russian people to take possession of these vast spaces and formalize them. The Russian people had an enormous power of the elements and a comparative weakness of form. The Russian people were not predominantly a people of culture, like the peoples of Western Europe, they were more a people of revelations and inspirations, they were. did not know the measure and easily fell into extremes. Among the peoples of Western Europe, everything is much more determined and formalized, everything is divided into categories and of course. Not so with the Russian people, as less determined, as more turned to infinity and not wanting to know the distribution by categories. In Russia there were no sharp social lines, no distinct classes. Russia has never been an aristocratic country in the Western sense, just as it has not become bourgeois. Two opposite principles formed the basis of the formations of the Russian soul: the natural, pagan Dionysian element and the ascetic-monastic

Considering the history of Russian statehood, Berdyaev criticizes the point of view of the Slavophiles, according to which statehood developed organically. On the contrary, Berdyaev believes, Russian history is characterized, first of all, by discontinuity. Five periods are distinguished: Russia of Kiev, Russia of the times of the Tatar yoke, Russia of Moscow, Russia of Petrovskaya and Soviet Russia.

In addition, the thinker also hopes that “it is still possible new Russia". Now we see that the thinker's hopes have come true and this new Russia has appeared, but how much it corresponds to the ideal of Berdyaev and whether the “Russian idea” continues to be implemented in it is a big question.

Russia's development was catastrophic. In contrast to the Slavophiles, Berdyaev believes that the worst, “most Asiatic-Tatar” period was the period of the Moscow Tsardom. The Kiev period and the period of the Tatar yoke were better, there was no isolation in them, there was more freedom.

Agreeing with the expression of Klyuchevsky, that in Rus' “the State was growing stronger, the people were sick”, Berdyaev notes that for a long time the forces of the Russian people were mainly aimed at maintaining the huge Russian state. “The Russian people were crushed by the expenditure of forces, which was required by the size of the state” Ibid. Berdyaev, The Origins and Meaning of Russian Communism.

The Russian idea was developed over the course of several centuries, and it was precisely the contradictory nature of the Russian soul that played a decisive role in its formation. We will not specifically dwell on the stages of the formation of the Russian idea, we will only note that such people as the monk Filofey, with their idea of ​​​​Moscow as the third Rome, Chaadaev, the Slavophiles Kireevsky, Aksakov, Khomyakov contributed to its formation (his idea is especially valuable about catholicity), great Russian writers Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, philosophers Leontiev, Rozanov, Solovyov, and others. Bakunin, Chernyshevsky, Pisarev and others also played a big role, although according to Berdyaev, rather in the denial of untruth than in creation. The most important thing, according to Berdyaev, is that this idea is truly popular and was formulated by the best representatives of the people and corresponds to the deepest desires and aspirations of the people.

Berdyaev comes to the conclusion that “Russian thought, Russian searches of the 19th and early 20th centuries (while also emphasizing the importance of previous thinkers) testify to the existence of a Russian idea that corresponds to the character and vocation of the Russian people” N.A. Berdyaev “The Russian Idea”. The formation of the Russian idea is associated primarily with the fact that “Russian people from the popular, working class, even when they left Orthodoxy, continued to search for truth, to search for God and God’s truth, the meaning of life” Ibid .. And although the search sometimes led to the most opposite results, from the assertion of the principles of anarchism to Russian communism, deep down, the vast majority of thinkers and ordinary Russian people still carried certain elements of this idea. The Russian idea, according to Berdyaev, is the idea of ​​"community and brotherhood of people and peoples." The Russian people, according to their spiritual type, are most disposed towards the construction of “personalist socialism”. “Russians do not have such divisions, classifications, groupings in different areas as Western people, there is a great wholeness” Ibid..

In connection with all the above arguments, Berdyaev believes that the Russian idea is a messianic idea, the Russians are called upon to play a worthy role in the history of the world in establishing the principles of communarity. However, the thinker clearly distinguishes between the national and nationalist idea and fights against all manifestations of nationalism. He even believes that it is necessary to find common ground with peoples whose idea is opposite to the Russian one: “The German idea and the Russian idea are opposite. The German idea is the idea of ​​domination, the Russian idea is the idea of ​​brotherhood” Ibid. However, fraternal relations with the German people should be desired, provided they renounce the will to power. The same can be attributed to any other people. Moreover, such an assessment by Berdyaev of relations with the German people did not change even after the war. He believed that the Russian idea defeated the German idea in the Second World War, but since it is the idea of ​​brotherhood, it is necessary to build relations with Germany on its (ideas) principles.

In contrast to many philosophers of the Russian emigration, Berdyaev believes that the Russian idea did not disappear with the coming to power of the Bolsheviks. Russian communism (by which the thinker understands the system that has taken shape in Soviet Russia) is a perversion of the Russian idea. However, Berdyaev sees not only lies, but also the truth of the revolution and Russian communism. What happened to our country is a natural phenomenon, the revolution in Russia could only be socialist, and in extreme form(due to the inclination of Russians to totalitarian and extreme teachings, the rejection of bourgeois institutions and other reasons determined by the Russian national character and the history of Russia). Communism, Berdyaev believes, is "a great lesson for Christians", a reminder to them of an unfulfilled duty. The idea of ​​the “Third Rome” has been transformed into the idea of ​​the “Third International”, but this is the same idea of ​​brotherhood, only misunderstood and, as it were, turned upside down.

“The spirit of communism, the religion of communism, the philosophy of communism are both anti-Christian and anti-humanistic, but there is a great truth in the social system of communism, which may well be consistent with Christianity, in any case, more than the capitalist system, which is the most anti-Christian” N.A. . Berdyaev "The Origins and Meaning of Russian Communism".

What are the ways to get rid of the untruth of communism? Berdyaev believes that communism should not be destroyed, it should be overcome in the souls of people.

The philosopher is confident that this will happen and expresses cautious optimism about the future path of Russia after overcoming communism. However, Berdyaev believes that “improvements and changes in Russia can only come from internal processes in the Russian people. So I thought 25 years ago and was very at odds with most of the emigration.” Ibid. Russian state, when such overcoming occurs, it will absorb all the best from communism (in the spirit of Hegel's synthesis), and on the basis of Christian values ​​will implement the ideas of personalism, communitarianism and fraternity, and will still play its own positive role in the world. In any case, Berdyaev hoped so...

“I am turned to the centuries to come, when elementary and inevitable social processes will end” N.A. Berdyaev "Self-Knowledge". Berdyaev wrote in one of his recent works in 1947. He very much regretted that “the spiritual movement that existed both in Russia and in Europe in late XIX and pushed aside at the beginning of the 20th century” Ibid.. The world plunged into a spiritual crisis. However, until the end of his days, Berdyaev continued to hope for the revival of a world in which big role Russia will play.

In the work "Russian Idea", presented to the attention of readers in this edition, the philosopher explores "Russianness", the mysterious substance of the "Russian soul". Berdyaev's reflections cover historical events from the Baptism of Rus' to the October Revolution, inextricably linked with the activities of Avvakum, Peter I, Chaadaev, Dostoevsky, Solovyov, Lenin.

Nikolai Berdyaev
Russian idea

Chapter I

Historical introduction. Definition of the Russian national type. East and West. Opposites of the Russian soul. Discontinuity of Russian history. Russian religiosity. Moscow - Third Rome. The split of the 17th century Peter's reform. Freemasonry. The era of Alexander I. Decembrists. Pushkin. Russian intelligentsia. Radishchev. Intelligence and Reality. The tragic fate of philosophy. Influence of German idealism.

1

There is a very great difficulty in determining the national type, national individuality. It is impossible to give a strictly scientific definition. The secret of any individuality is known only by love, and in it there is always something incomprehensible to the end, to the last depth. I will be interested not so much in the question of what Russia was empirically, but in the question of what the Creator intended about Russia, the intelligible image of the Russian people, his idea. Tyutchev said: "You cannot understand Russia with the mind, you cannot measure it with a common yardstick, it has a special position, you can only believe in Russia." To comprehend Russia, one must apply the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. Empirically, there is so much repulsion in Russian history. This is so strongly expressed in the poem of the believing Slavophil Khomyakov about the sins of Russia. The Russian people are an extremely polarized people, they are a combination of opposites. He can be fascinated and disappointed, you can always expect surprises from him, he is highly capable of inspiring strong love and strong hatred. This is the people that cause anxiety among the peoples of the West. Every national individuality, like the individuality of a person, is a microcosm and therefore contains contradictions, but this happens to varying degrees. In terms of polarization and inconsistency, the Russian people can only be compared with the Jewish people. And it is no coincidence that these peoples have a strong messianic consciousness. The inconsistency and complexity of the Russian soul, perhaps, is due to the fact that in Russia two streams of world history collide and come into interaction - East and West. The Russian people are not a purely European and not a purely Asian people. Russia is a whole part of the world, a huge East-West, it connects two worlds. And always in the Russian soul fought two principles, eastern and western.

There is a correspondence between the immensity, boundlessness, infinity of the Russian land and the Russian soul, between the geography of the physical and the geography of the soul. In the soul of the Russian people there is the same immensity, boundlessness, aspiration to infinity, as in the Russian plain. Therefore, it was difficult for the Russian people to take possession of these vast spaces and formalize them. The Russian people had an enormous power of the elements and a comparative weakness of form. The Russian people were not predominantly a people of culture, like the peoples of Western Europe, they were more of a people of revelations and inspirations, they knew no limits and easily fell into extremes. Among the peoples of Western Europe, everything is much more determined and formalized, everything is divided into categories and of course. Not so with the Russian people, as less determined, as more turned to infinity and not wanting to know the distribution by categories. In Russia there were no sharp social lines, no distinct classes. Russia has never been an aristocratic country in the Western sense, just as it has not become bourgeois. Two opposite principles formed the basis of the formation of the Russian soul: the natural, pagan Dionysian element and ascetic-monastic Orthodoxy. One can discover opposite properties in the Russian people: despotism, hypertrophy of the state and anarchism, liberty; cruelty, propensity to violence and kindness, humanity, gentleness; ritual belief and the search for truth; individualism, heightened consciousness of the individual and impersonal collectivism; nationalism, self-praise and universalism, all-humanity; eschatological-messianic religiosity and outward piety; the search for God and militant atheism; humility and arrogance; slavery and rebellion. But the Russian kingdom has never been bourgeois. In determining the character of the Russian people and their vocation, it is necessary to make a choice, which I will call an eschatological choice in terms of the ultimate goal. Therefore, the choice of the century is also inevitable, as the most characterizing the Russian idea and Russian vocation. I will regard the 19th century as such a century, a century of thought and word, and at the same time a century of sharp split, so characteristic of Russia as internal liberation and intense spiritual and social quests.

Discontinuity is characteristic of Russian history. In contrast to the opinion of the Slavophiles, it is the least organic. There are already five periods in Russian history that give different images. There is Kievan Russia, Russia during the Tatar yoke, Moscow Russia, Petrine Russia and Soviet Russia. And it is possible that there will be another new Russia. Russia's development was catastrophic. The Muscovite period was the worst period in Russian history, the most stuffy, the most Asiatic-Tatar in its type, and by misunderstanding it was idealized by the freedom-loving Slavophiles. The Kiev period and the period of the Tatar yoke were better, especially for the church, and, of course, the dualistic, schismatic St. Petersburg period was better and more significant, in which the creative genius of the Russian people was most revealed. Kievan Russia was not closed off from the West; it was more receptive and freer than the Muscovite kingdom, in whose suffocating atmosphere even holiness died out (there were least of all saints during this period). The special significance of the XIX century. determined by the fact that, after a long thoughtlessness, the Russian people finally expressed themselves in word and thought, and did so in a very difficult atmosphere of lack of freedom. I'm talking about external freedom, because we had great internal freedom. How to explain this long absence of education in Russia, among the people who are very gifted and capable of perceiving higher culture how to explain this cultural backwardness and even illiteracy, this lack of organic ties with the great cultures of the past? The idea was expressed that the translation of Holy Scripture into Slavonic by Cyril and Methodius was unfavorable for the development of Russian mental culture, because there was a break with the Greek and Latin languages. Church Slavonic became the only language of the clergy, that is, the only intelligentsia of that time; Greek and Latin were not needed. I do not think that this could explain the backwardness of Russian enlightenment, the thoughtlessness and silence of pre-Petrine Russia. Gotta admit characteristic property Russian history, that in it for a long time the forces of the Russian people remained, as it were, in a potential, not actualized state. The Russian people were overwhelmed by the enormous expenditure of forces demanded by the size of the Russian state. The state was getting stronger, the people were getting sicker, says Klyuchevsky. It was necessary to take possession of the Russian spaces and protect them. Russian thinkers of the 19th century, reflecting on the fate and vocation of Russia, constantly pointed out that this potentiality, lack of expression, non-actualization of the forces of the Russian people is the key to its great future. They believed that the Russian people would finally say their word to the world and reveal themselves. It is generally accepted that the Tatar yoke had a fatal influence on Russian history and threw the Russian people back. Byzantine influence internally suppressed Russian thought and made it traditionally conservative. The extraordinary, explosive dynamism of the Russian people was revealed in its cultural layer only from contact with the West and after the reform of Peter. Herzen said that the Russian people responded to Peter's reform with the appearance of Pushkin. We will add: not only Pushkin, but also the Slavophiles themselves, but also Dostoevsky and L. Tolstoy, but also seekers of truth, but also the emergence of original Russian thought.

Russian idea (Heritage of N.A. Berdyaev) - one file

“The Russian idea must be turned forward…
There is no return for us to the old ideologies.
Depends on the Russian idea spiritual rebirth humanity"
(Nikolai Berdyaev)

Foreword

In the history of Russian philosophy, the name of Nikolai Berdyaev stands apart. Perhaps none of the thinkers has expressed conceptual ideas of this magnitude. He wrote intuitively and aphoristically, without trying to prove anything to anyone. "I was interested in shouting to the world what my inner voice revealed as truth."
“In Russia, the incommensurability of the central ideology with the immense Russian life has always been felt,” which is confirmed, for example, in the search for the same national idea, the principles of which were expressed a hundred years ago by the Russian philosopher N.A. Berdyaev.
His discoveries were not accepted by his contemporaries because no cultural atmosphere arose, no social movement began.

With all the fame of Nikolai Berdyaev, practically no one understood the spiritual knowledge of the meaning of what was happening, which he tried to open to everyone. The philosopher has repeatedly complained that they do not see the main thing in his works, but appreciate the third-rate. He was alone among people who imagined themselves to be the owners of the global sociological worldview. “I am a “lion”, a revolutionary man, although in a special spiritual sense. I am a man of new times. I am an untimely thinker. I am completely out of touch with my era. I feel myself turned to the ages to come. ...My philosophy is the philosophy of spirit. Spirit for me is freedom, creativity, activity.”
Nikolai Berdyaev approached the fullness of spiritual truth, having determined the path of the direction of the Russian national consciousness for a hundred years.

The Russian people are entering a new historical period. Now, more than ever, the moral inspiration of Russians on the basis of the Russian idea is needed, which will give impetus to the development of the country and increase its international authority. "Westernism is a delusion of childhood and it is in conflict with Russia's world tasks." The philosopher believed that we need to "... learn some Western virtues, while remaining Russian" (Nikolai Berdyaev "The Fate of Russia"). “Ancient religions, the origins of cultures should be visible. The East in a new way should become equivalent to the West. Russia must become for Europe an internal, not an external force, a force that transforms creatively.” The new final revelation will be revealed by the creative person. And in it the Universal Religion will be realized.”
Topical thoughts for many decades in the light of public interest in ancient history Russia and Russian politics today.

The Russian idea differs fundamentally from all national ideas in its internationalism.

1. From the biography of N.A. Berdyaev

Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev
6.3.1874 (Kyiv) - 24.3.1948 (Clamarnon near Paris)

ON THE. Berdyaev comes from an aristocratic family. Generations of ancestors in the male line - generals, cavaliers of St. George. Grandfather - Ataman of the Don Cossacks. On the maternal side, French blood, maternal grandmother, nee Princess Kudasheva, is Countess Choiseul. According to his grandmother, the future philosopher was a descendant of the French king Louis VI.

Nikolai Berdyaev knew foreign languages ​​excellently from childhood; V cadet corps in Kiev, where he was considered a very incapable student (he could not memorize anything, but began to develop his thoughts), languages ​​helped out, as did the brilliant ability to ride in the Cossack and cavalry style, which he mastered from the age of nine.

Entering Kiev University, he became interested in Marxism, protesting against the general lies and injustice, for which he was expelled and exiled with his comrades to Vologda for three years. In exile, Berdyaev began to write, showing himself to be an original thinker.
The person of the sustained life style who cherished the most true truth and spiritual freedom, in St. Petersburg he began to collaborate with magazines. Berdyaev publishes his first books on philosophy, striking in the aphoristic presentation.

The absence of Russian religious nationalism is noticeable: Berdyaev does not single out Christianity from several religions given to people by the Lord. His Russian search The City of God is universal and all-human. He considered simplification and artificial isolation of the culture and life of the people as a utopia, he stood for a universal religion - after all, God is one in the whole universe. The future of the Russian people seemed to him to be an expansion of the worldview of the whole society in unity with the cosmic harmony.

Berdyaev accepted the October Revolution sympathetically, fully justifying it in the social sense, not without reason for a whole century - the 19th century - the Russian intelligentsia lived in denial and undermining the autocracy.

A little-known fact: Berdyaev, at the height of the February Revolution of 1917, prevented the massacre on Manezhnaya Square. When in Moscow one of the human columns advanced towards the Manezh, the tsarist troops were preparing to shoot. Berdyaev ran out of this column to the officer in command of the troops. He almost screamed, urging them not to open fire. He stood between the crowd and the soldiers. As a result, the soldiers did not fire a single shot ...
However, in a moral sense, Berdyaev could not accept the revolution (he did not hide this, being a professor at Moscow University after 1917), for which he was expelled from Soviet Russia in 1922, along with some scientists and cultural figures, whom the Soviet authorities recognized as "hopeless" . ...Berlin, Paris, forty books, the world fame of the philosopher and theologian. ON THE. Berdyaev was never financially secure, he earned his family's living by his own labor: teaching, lectures, books, translations of books.

It is significant that under any government and in any country he managed to defend his right to spiritual freedom. Russian Empire - prison, exile, Marxist youth; Soviet Russia - three arrests; Europe between the world wars; France occupied by the Nazis... No one dared to deprive Nikolai Berdyaev of his life and the opportunity to write and speak - and he was a brilliant orator, an improviser.

When the Gestapo came to see him in France, he spoke excellently. German. He was not pushed (so great was the respect for Berdyaev as a philosopher even at the top of the Reich), although Berdyaev did not hide his sympathy for the USSR and rejoiced at every victory of the Red Army. Abroad, he considered himself not an emigrant, but an exile.

During the 25 years of his life in the West, Berdyaev often turned the eyes of the West to Russia. “I had a Soviet international orientation. Soviet power I considered the only Russian national power.” “My universalism is always connected with patriotism and nationality. I am not a nationalist, but a Russian patriot… I feel the need to defend my homeland against a world that is hostile to it.”

2. Nikolai Berdyaev. The meaning of creativity

The Russian philosopher gave such a deep definition of the meaning of creativity that it would be difficult for anyone to add something significant to this.
Berdyaev's ideas about creativity are especially valuable in our age, when the spirit of philistinism in literature, the acquisition of commercial success by unpretentious reading matter with more or less vulgar aesthetics, and even outright preaching of evil, flooded store shelves, often winning prizes in numerous literary competitions.

All this happens under the benevolent gaze of the princes of literature and power: after all, the ability to express the general mood of society gives the right to govern public opinion. Therefore, mediocrity, cultural and scientific conformism are glorified. A sea of ​​junk. The ball is ruled by the former backyards of literary commerce with a curly style, preaching licentiousness and idolatry.

Untwisted - and buy. The reading public has always had to be "accustomed" to understand, and now it is often accustomed to the worst. Poetry revolves in a false circle. "Literature" that perverts the moral sense, hinders the realization of good in our lives, coarsens and corrupts people. And this is in our time, when there is magnificent modern poetry and prose! ONLY ONLINE...

Art is spiritual food, without which there is no spiritual life. It is necessary as "superdaily" bread, it spiritually gives life to a person, breaks the fetters of evil.
In the 21st century, the origins of creativity began to be revealed to science. The subconscious is the gate to the Information field of the universe, which has everything: the past, the future, our genetic memory, the memory of past reincarnations. The discoveries began with the sensations of the poets and writers themselves. "An amazing property of any true talent that talent teaches the owner, leads him along the path of truth, teaches him to love what is worthy of love "(Leo Tolstoy). Pushkin, Akhmatova, others said that the higher spirit leads them with a pen.

The question naturally arises: what is the author's own work? Only in the fact that he was given to hear higher things? It was this question that Nikolai Berdyaev answered with his innovative theory of "uncreated freedom". In the book The Meaning of Creativity, he showed that man is not a passive tool, he is an active creator.
Not only literature, art, but almost any human action can become a creative act if it brings new good feelings and thoughts into the world.

“There is invisible creativity in every moment:
IN buzzword, in a smile, in the radiance of the eyes.
(Sasha Black)

Nikolai Berdyaev: “Creativity is a continuation of the creation of the world… The result of creativity is the introduction of new spiritual energy into the world, new values ​​that raise people to a higher level of being. It's the free ones standing before us creative tasks. Creativity must create new life, not just cultural products of greater or lesser perfection.”

“Creativity is a requirement of God from man and a duty of man. Evil is the self-alienation of man, the refusal to transform himself and his life.

“A free person is a demand of God from a person, a duty of a person in relation to God. God needs human creativity... Creativity for me is the opening of infinity, flight to infinity. The final fate of man cannot be decided by this short life on Earth alone.”
“Creative ecstasy is a breakthrough into infinity. God is the highest sphere of freedom, eternity and true life, deliverance from the necessity of the world. God is not at all what they think of him.
“Creativity is not only the creation of creative products, but also the upheaval and uplift of the whole human being, directed towards another, higher life, to a different being... I held on in life, relying on nothing but the search for divine truth... This striving for what is higher than me, creativity is the opposite of egocentrism. Creativity is a way out of yourself, it liberates. Creativity is addressed to the transformation of the world. Creativity is a real change in the world.

False creativity is the introduction of new evil into the world, when a person betrays himself and God. This is the cause of world evil. Why did God create us free? Freedom presupposes the possibility of choice ... Because he needs not slavish submission, but co-creation.

Each alive soul, regardless of the innate degree of its scale, strives for expansion (capture), wants to live according to its own will. God is so merciful that He does not hinder our desire to act according to our own understanding. He created the material world to manifest such freedom. Here, basically, the souls of those who are not always firm in the fulfillment of His Law - the law of freedom, love, creativity, are embodied, but are inclined to egoistically recognize the right of freedom exclusively for themselves, to love only themselves, that is, they strive to absorb. There is no limit here, since a modest desire to replace a broken trough soon develops into insatiable ambitions, truly planetary.

Everything done as a result of the abuse of freedom is returned to the one who committed it. Each is rewarded and measured by his own measure. This is true.
No one can get away from the laws of retribution, from responsibility for their actions, until they atone for the consequences of the evil done and choose true freedom: the freedom of the spirit in God, in accordance with his will. Because HE is the Creator of the Universes, and not vice versa.

Nikolai Berdyaev: “Any creative claim must be justified by creative action. Each person is universal by nature, in him and for him the whole history is made. Only such an angle of view makes me a free citizen of my fatherland and a citizen of the Universe. A private view makes a person a slave, capable only of a slave rebellion. A slave always feels violence against himself from the outside. The free one, having overcome the superficial consciousness, feels everything in his own way, his trial, his destiny. The small should feel like an accomplice to the great, recognize the great as its own, and from this become great.

“The consciousness of the masses of people must be raised to world consciousness. Now - a slavishly isolated consciousness, for which everything of the world is external, imposed. There has not yet been a personalistic revolution in the world, a breakthrough to another world, to spiritual world. Compared to this revolution, all the revolutions that have taken place in the world are nothing.
The principle of uncreated freedom explains not only the emergence of universal evil, but also the emergence of creative novelty, the nonexistent. This principle requires a person to feel personally responsible for this freedom.

3. Berdyaev - about the Russian soul

In the book of N.A. Berdyaev "The Fate of Russia", a lot of space is given to the psychology of the Russian people. In fact, this is the most subtle psychoanalytic study of the Russian soul.
“There is no categorical imperative before the Russian consciousness to put things in order...
In a Russian person, there is so little smartness, organization of the soul, tempering of the personality. The Russian man is waiting for fate to organize his soul and arrange his life.

Russian frivolity in earthly affairs ... it is more deadly for the Russian soul to sit knee-deep in petty-bourgeois life than knee-deep in water in the trenches. Not a single nation has reached such self-denial as to be almost ashamed that they are Russians. Idolatry before Europe (now - America, the image of the promised life) is a very Russian phenomenon, "an Eastern, Asian phenomenon," the philosopher believes. “Now it’s time for a cultured Russian person to free himself from this Asianism.” Westernism - he called a form of eastern passivity.

“Russian originality should not be confused with Russian backwardness...
Laziness, weakness of will, irresponsibility - oriental qualities in a Russian person ...
... National identity cannot be associated with shortcomings ... We need to learn some Western virtues while remaining Russian.
“Huge spaces were easily given to the Russian people, but the organization of these spaces into the greatest state in the world, maintaining and protecting order in it was not easy ... The size of the Russian state posed almost unbearable tasks for the Russian people, kept the Russian people in exorbitant tension ... And this is the people he exhausted his strength, there was too little free excess of strength left ... Russians almost do not know how to rejoice. The suppression of the Russian soul by external activity in the service of the state colossus leaves a bleak stamp on the soul of the Russian person. Terrible centralization suppresses personal and social forces ... ... The Russians have always had a weak consciousness of their personal rights and undeveloped initiative of various groups of the population. That is why the spiritual energy of the Russian person has completely entered inside, into the contemplation of sincerity. ... The forms of the Russian state made the Russian person formless ...

... The vast Russian spaces are inside the Russian soul. Man is too accustomed to entrusting the organization of order in these open spaces to the central government. Hence - helplessness, lack of self-discipline and initiative. A Russian person never feels like an organizer. He is accustomed to being organized... ...It must be said that the state put insurmountable obstacles to any amateur activity of a Russian person, because. was afraid of the initiative and activity of the Russian people, demanding humility and humility from him. It is better to sin humbly than to improve spiritually...

This enslavement of the forces of the Russian people was justified by the protection of Russian spaces. Nemetchyna, in whose power the Russian people were from the time of Peter I until the October Revolution, left a seal on the entire warehouse of Russian statehood.
The October Revolution, at least, liberated the people from this slavery, directed the people's energy towards the active mastery of Russian spaces.

The demands of the two world wars radically changed the consciousness of the Russian people. The direction of his will began to move after the October Revolution. The attitude of Nikolai Berdyaev to the October Revolution is known: he fully accepted it in a social sense. “I have long considered the revolution to be overdue and just. The autocracy was not so much overthrown as it decayed and itself fell. The Bolsheviks not only directly prepared the revolutionary coup, but took advantage of it ... The Russian intelligentsia prepared the revolution, the entire 19th century. she was an opponent of the church and the government… The more reactionary forces of the old regime and the interventionists are responsible for the revolutionary outrages.”

Five years Berdyaev lived in the Soviet system. He was very active in the Writers' Union, gave many lectures, reports to huge masses of people (it happened that, in a burst of inspiration of his radical thought, he could even seize a hostile audience); was a professor at Moscow University.

With communism, he waged not a political, but an ideological struggle, being an opponent of his hostility to the spirit, he criticized Marxism. He was arrested twice, and the second time Dzerzhinsky himself tried to interrogate him. From the very beginning, Berdyaev managed to master the situation in such a way that the interrogation turned into a lecture-monologue. Dzerzhinsky let him go, ordering him to be taken home in a car.

Life was not easy, but Berdyaev was one of the most famous writers, representing, as they said then, " cultural value country" - "twelve immortals" who received a safe-conduct for their apartments; he had everything as before the revolution: family furniture, portraits of ancestors-generals on the walls. There was also a special academic food ration. "All the food seemed tastier than in years of abundance, "- said Berdyaev. During these years he wrote four books, including a book about Dostoevsky. He was chairman of the Free Academy of Spiritual Culture, where he held seminars in 1919-1922, public meetings with debates, which were often attended workers.

Before being deported from Russia, he was arrested for the third time. The reasons for the exile were ideological: Berdyaev considered totalitarianism an ersatz of religion. Total communism (idols - the state, the collective) is a false religion, "just as a religion, it persecutes all religions as competitors." The struggle against reactionary anti-clerical sentiments always occupied a considerable place in his life. The future honorary doctor of theology from the University of Cambridge, Berdyaev in his youth received a stake according to the Law of God, and before the October Revolution for an anti-clerical article in defense of Athos monks was accused of blasphemy. Judgment was coming. Nikolai Berdyaev liked to say later: "If it were not for the revolution, I would not live in Paris, but in Siberia in an eternal settlement."
Interestingly, it was the October Revolution and the subsequent more than 70 years of upheavals that began to bring Russia "to the world expanse beyond its closed limits, involved the country in the world cycle."

"The original type of the Russian soul has already been developed and approved forever ... Russian culture can now be created only from the depths of the Russian soul with its original creative energy. Russian originality must manifest itself in creativity, in power, in freedom, in a free public."

4. Berdyaev on honesty

Probably everyone will agree that "honesty" and "decency" are synonymous. Let's deal with exact definition these concepts. An honest man loves outward and internal order. He always keeps his promises and does not intentional harm surrounding. A person acts honestly when he deliberately does not lie, avoids misinformation, fraud. Compared to truthfulness, the concept of honesty emphasizes the absence of selfish motives for deceit.

Honesty is directly related to strength of character and is manifested in every word and action. An honest person is incapable of committing a low and immoral act.
The so-called “white lie” is considered moral precisely because it is not asocial: a person believes that he does so that there is less harm to an individual or society, he defends himself from enemies.

One of the indispensable conditions for the manifestation of absolute honesty in front of people is the conviction that they are so spiritually developed that they will be able to understand and accept even the most bitter truth. However, our world is so far from perfect that, in fact, to be honest in many situations is to be inadequate. People are not ready to accept such honesty, they will misunderstand it.

The Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev is an example of an honest person who in his life did not bend before anyone in order to reveal the truth to his descendants, “I feel myself turned to the ages to come.”

His character was firm, his spirit tempered. Under any authority, he managed to defend his right to spiritual freedom and tell the world what his spirit had discovered. Russian Empire - prison, exile, Soviet Russia - three arrests; five years in Nazi-occupied France, Berdyaev was not disturbed, although he, even as an exile, did not hide his Soviet international orientation and defended his homeland in front of a hostile world. That is why it is very interesting what he said great philosopher about honesty, he, like no one else, had the moral right to talk about it. In the book "The Fate of Russia" Berdyaev shows all the features of the historically established honesty of a Russian person.
Nikolai Berdyaev: “We have never considered the moral discipline of the individual as an independent and supreme task ... Honesty is a Western European ideal. The Russian person does not have the consciousness that honesty is connected with the honor of a person, that it forms a personality and is obligatory for a person.

The Russian person was inclined to rely on the fact that the collective to which he belongs would do everything for him for his moral health ...

... Russian Orthodoxy, which was responsible for morality, did not set too high moral tasks for the personality of the average Russian person, there was great moral indulgence in him. First of all, the Russian person is presented with the demand for humility. As a reward for the virtue of humility, everything was given to him and everything was allowed. Humility was the only form of personality discipline.
It is better to sin humbly than to proudly improve... The Russian people are used to the fact that dishonesty is a small evil.”

It is not for nothing that they say: “If you don’t sin, you won’t repent”, this principle after the 90s of the XX century blossomed into a double color. The Church even now teaches: one can repent of any crime, petty sins are easily removed by placing a candle in front of the icon.
The main thing: do not be proud, do not exalt yourself ... A person must live in a limited team, obedient to its order and harmony ...

Russians see in holiness an ideal, the highest state that a person can achieve - this idea was clearly expressed by Nikolai Berdyaev in the following words: “... The Russian people live by holiness, not in the sense that they see their personal path in holiness ... No, Holy Rus' – it is only in holiness to see the highest state of life.

... In the West, they see the highest state in the achievements of knowledge and social justice, in the triumph of culture and creative genius ... Rus' lives only in holiness, unlike the peoples of the West, who live only in honesty.

“Saints become mediators between God and man, and they must do something for the Russian person, help him and save him, do moral and spiritual work for him ... Therefore, every human ideal of perfection, nobility, honor, honesty, purity, light is presented to the Russian to a man of little value, too worldly, mediocre cultured.

"The soul of the Russian people has never worshiped the golden calf... The Russian people will make money in dishonest ways, but will never regard material wealth as the highest value."

And now they go, make donations to the church, put candles in front of the images of the saints...
“You can't even call it hypocrisy. This is a dualism brought up for centuries, which has become flesh and blood, a special mental way of life. ... The Russian bourgeois, profiting and getting rich, always feels a little sinner and a little despises bourgeois virtues.
“... When a Russian person is religious, he believes that the saints or God himself will do everything for him. When a person is an atheist, he thinks that the social environment should do everything for him. This is the result of a religious and moral upbringing that has always called only for humility and never for honor ... Neglect human dignity destroys a person."
As it is said about today: "The thirst for profit has captured too wide sections of the population ... there is not enough civil honesty and honor." And whoever does not have the opportunity, all the same, longs and dreams. Well, at least be famous! Well, rich at the same time. Look into the depths of your soul...
“Only the core of the Russian people has remained morally healthy… ... There is no moral civic consciousness, moral and civic training of the individual in overcoming temptations. Having gone through the school of humility, a Russian person can endure and endure indefinitely, but he easily succumbs to the temptations of easy money, because. did not go through a school of honor, does not have a real civil temper ... The Russian person is not used to feeling responsible to Russia ... This dualism must be overcome and stopped.
The Russian people have a love of truth. Well, if at the level of consciousness and even subconsciousness this love of truth is closed to honesty. Honesty is external - in front of people and society. Inner honesty - to yourself. To have inner honesty is a great art: “A free religious and social psychology must win in the soul of every person. He must turn to new values. Then the creative instincts will win over the predatory instincts...”.

“... And we must develop in ourselves a courageous religious principle: the consciousness of responsibility, to place it more on ourselves. This will reveal the true originality of Russia. The future of Russia, the fulfillment of her vocation in the world depends on this.”

The Church has taught for a thousand years: heroism, holiness - an unattainable ideal, the lot of the elect, to strive for them is pride ... ". However, the 20th century made its own adjustments here. Heroism was elevated by Soviet ideology into a cult, not at all unattainable, but highly recommended. Mass labor heroism became the norm for Soviet society for many decades. The asceticism of life has also become a kind of heroism. People - in tents, in dugouts, hungry, in the cold and winds mastered the natural resources of Russia. Now it is impossible to imagine how a person could endure this at all, and even work from dawn to dusk! However, "ordinary" work in production or on collective farms was no less heroic.

In most cases, this heroism was not even voluntary: people were simply put in such conditions when “failure”, as well as a simple lateness to work, were threatened with being sent to the Gulag in no less “heroic” living and working conditions.

Heroes of labor were not considered saints, unlike the heroes of war, many of whom gave their lives for their Motherland. Heroism in war is holy forever. That's how we were brought up.
Of course, the 20th century was not in vain. IN Soviet time honesty was extolled as a virtue and such qualities as honesty and discipline were forged - forms of moral self-discipline of the individual.

However last decade XX century - perestroika - became, in fact, a test for the Russian people. Honesty, responsibility, decency - the property of many sectors of society - are not very much in demand. However, during this difficult time, many helped each other, especially relatives, as best they could ...

But in the mass there was a decline in moral self-discipline. Who is the modern hero? Books and films preach the cult of predation, violence, not honor.

As an illustration of the modern "education of honesty" from childhood - the realities of our lives. In the middle - high school and universities, it is required to know and "surrender" the amount of information that will enter the head of a child prodigy. Children, students cheat, accustomed to dishonesty. This has long become the norm.))) And the exam?
And is it fair to set unrealistic requirements for obtaining a certificate, diploma?
Moreover, to demand knowledge of things that, for the most part, will never be useful either in life or in the profession?

In this case, how is honesty brought up in the soul of a child, a future citizen? Again, dualism double standards, which do not bring anything good, because, in this case, the examiners are perceived by schoolchildren as some kind of enemies, against whom it is not a sin to use "white lies". It is not good.

In a healthy and viable society, high aesthetic standards become the property of most citizens. Who will argue with this? Nikolai Berdyaev showed that the Russian spiritual type never had a reverence for bourgeois virtues. The consciousness that strength is in truth (and not vice versa) has always distinguished Russian people. So let's love Russia not in words, but in deeds! Don't take responsibility for others, take responsibility for yourself.

5. Berdyaev on the dynamics of the Russian soul

"The Russian soul has charm"
(Nikolai Berdyaev)

“... Russians are sincere and cordial. The soul of the Russian people is giving, generous, disinterested... It overcomes national complacency - it is supranational. Russian recognizes a person of any nationality as an original religious principle ...
...True national policy can only be creative creation a better life rather than boasting of its static life. Seeing the general perspective of human life is a manifestation of the creativity of the individual, revealed in history ...

... Every truly Russian person is interested in questions about the meaning of life and seeks communication with other seekers of meaning ... Russians feel other peoples as equal before God. ... A Russian person is not very capable of contempt, he does not like to let another person feel that he is lower than him. ... In the Russian spirit, Slavic immensity and infinity. He is inexhaustible. The Russian feels free in the free air. In Russia, the spirits of nature are not yet shackled by human civilization. And in the Russian soul remained irrationality, disorganization, disorder ... ".

The Russian soul is open to new things: witty ideas, inventions, lack of boredom, sincerity. "... soul life The West is more closed and crushed by civilization. France is closed in its type of culture (considering itself the heir of the Greco-Roman civilization), there is no interest in other cultures ... The Russian considers the problem in essence, and not in cultural reflection (as the psychology of other people's experiences - this is done in Western Europe, which is characterized by cultural skepticism , lack of freshness of soul). And - a paradox: in the West, intelligence and sensuality prevail, unwillingness to invade personal life.

The Russian, on the other hand, in a dispute shows less respect for the thought itself, easily becomes personal, offends the vanity of others; is ready to become a moral judge of his neighbors. All this is because Russian moral thinking prevails over pure intellect. Russian people love real communication - the contact of souls. Sympathies and antipathies are sharply expressed, including in relation to oneself.

... Russians have an open spirit, freedom from petty-bourgeois morality ...
... The main obstacle to the connection of East and West is the claims of the Western spirit of will to power over the world, the perception of the world as a disorder, and itself as a bearer of order and organization. Such claims are not aesthetically attractive.

... The imperative of Christianity and Buddhism is to be strong spirit, not to be afraid of the trials of life, to accept the inevitable and purifying suffering, to fight against evil .... We are tired of lies and politicking and would like to breathe the free air of truth. Such truth exists in the nature of Russian people... The religious feeling of humanity that has lost its faith is directed towards sociality. The orientation of life has become predominantly social.
Rationalist illusions make people playthings of suggestion. By by and large a person becomes lonely... The refinement and depravity of petty-bourgeois contentment, relaxation with pleasure lead to spiritual exhaustion.

"... A Russian person is looking for truth: religious, moral, social, he is looking for salvation. There is something characteristically Russian in this. But the truth is unattainable without honesty, as well as without personal responsibility, smartness, organization of the soul, tempering of the personality. Overcoming the slavishly isolated consciousness, spiritual self-improvement are paramount tasks for those who feel responsible for their own destiny and the destiny of Russia.

And how modern his words are: “... now underground spiritual work is going on among the people. Soon this stream will break through for the consciousness of society.” After all, Berdyaev's thoughts were turned to the future - to us, the descendants.

The elite of young people make Russian culture a way of life. They study our ancient pre-Christian history, communicate, organize themselves. healthy image life is the motto of these strong-hearted guys. Listen to how Svetozar from "AuraMir" sings "I live" (emphasis on the first syllable, old Russian Zhiva - the energy of life). This is a real Russian song filled with spiritual joy and transcendent power.
“... The true center of the people is in the depths of each individual. Without the great audacity of the personal spirit, the development of the spirit of the people cannot be carried out. The greatest Russian geniuses were afraid of this responsibility of the personal spirit and fell down from spiritual heights, crouched to the ground, looking for elemental folk wisdom. So it was with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. The heart prevails over the mind and over the will, exclusively moralistic assessments are applied to everything in the world.

But this moralism does not create tempering of the spirit. Vague sincerity does not imply responsibility, self-discipline, firmness of character. On this basis, the long-known weakness of the Russian will, the Russian character, is born. Therefore, the truth is drowned in a vague sincerity and incapacity, in hostility to creative thought, in which there is light.

Therefore, not only the people, but also the Russian intelligentsia are ideologically poor and ideologically backward. Very backward ideas seem to be "advanced" to many. Supporters of the “scientific worldview” have lagged behind the movement of science for centuries… Materialism is a semi-literate direction…
...When new perspectives of the cosmic attitude and world consciousness are revealed, the intelligent and semi-intelligent masses live on old rubbish, which has long been archived. Simplified thinking does not want to know the irrational cosmic forces, is cut off from cosmic life, from the energies that pour on us from all the planes of the Cosmos. The spiritual turn to the cosmic is a way of overcoming the despondency of people thrown back in blindness to the highest tasks of mankind.

A broad outlook will not allow you to knock down from the points of view of life.
The sun must shine within us and lead to a new day. The struggle is going on at the spiritual heights of humanity, where the fate of human consciousness is determined... and in the middle, shreds of the old world of thought eke out a miserable existence.

In Russia, the call for increased human activity, creativity, and responsibility is urgent.
Power must be based not on force, but on the people, on the very bowels of the Russian land. The state must become the internal strength of the Russian people by its own positive power, and not by an external principle above it.

6. Berdyaev on universal religion
"Russian soul
will forever remain a Slavic soul,
the principle of providential Orthodoxy.
(Lev Tolstoy)

Nikolai Berdyaev: “Orthodoxy is necessary for the Russian style, like a samovar and pancakes… The Russian soul remains Orthodox in its basic spiritual type. This is wider and deeper than Orthodoxy and Catholicism as beliefs. This is a special feeling of life and a special warehouse of the soul. The Russian element in the Slavic world is a feeling of a particularly great vocation, a feeling of God-bearing, God-chosen Russia.

Now, when there is enough information on the Internet about the Vedic Orthodoxy of the Slavic-Russians, it is clear what the philosopher meant when he said: “Ancient religions, the origins of cultures should be visible. The East in a new way should become equivalent to the West.
Russia has not yet played a decisive role in the spiritual life of the world. A Russian patriot, Nikolai Berdyaev foresaw the historical mission of the Russian people with spiritual vision. “Every nation is led by Providence to world stage and it fulfills its mission... Until the time the peoples keep their potential forces.

... Christianity is historically not of Christian origin. I have always believed that there is not only a universal Christianity, but also a universal religion. Church theologians can't answer questions modern soul».

Contemporaries considered Nikolai Berdyaev a modernist, a freethinker, a heretic, because he, raising the problem of a new religious consciousness, demanded that christianity carried out social truth, so that there would be no lies in the confession of religion.
“God in me is deeper than myself. And I won’t accept God, I won’t accept God’s world… You can only rebel in the name of God… Atheists rebel in the name of God, not realizing it. The shamelessness of Christians is unparalleled in history.”

Christian mercy, compassion, forgiveness, humanity - where are they?
“From Christianity they managed to draw the most inhuman conclusions that encourage the sadistic instincts of people. Suppressed by sin, a person meditates on the darkness, increases the darkness. The Apocalypse repels with cruel reprisals against the evil and infidels. It can't come from Christ, it's a human infusion.
…Historical Christianity adapted itself to the world and often became a slave to the world. An anthology of hell - terror. Only evil is fatal. The divine end is a bright thing, not a fatal one. And a person lives and keeps by faith. There is no religion higher than truth."

Since the Lord gave people freedom - the right to "uncreated creativity", people themselves must put things in order on earth: "The Kingdom of God will come from the creative act of man, from human freedom."

Berdyaev felt that he belonged to the mystical church of Christ, to super-confessionalism... He loved Baudelaire, Nietzsche, Ibsen ("Henrik Ibsen helped me find myself"), because they, believing in God, defended before people their right to freedom - human and superhuman .

Friedrich Nietzsche denied the traditional religious concepts of God: "The liberated spirit must be cleansed" of disgust for life and from the preaching of death. The highest hope is the thought of life. Nietzsche's call is to believe more in life.

His formula "God is dead" - an expression of antipathy in clericalism - only applies to what people have invented about God, when there is too much flesh and little spirit. Nietzsche always recognized the higher spirituality spiritual values ​​independent of the material world.
Berdyaev admired the book Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a magnificent work created by a holistic creative impulse. Berdyaev was inspired by the poetic and philosophical talent of Nietzsche, the absence of narrowness, his broad knowledge and interests.

“I would believe in such a God who knew how to dance ... His eyes are clear and there is no disgust on his lips. Isn't that why he walks, as if dancing ... I teach people to a new will ... to create a higher body for themselves, without renouncing the earth ... to create further than themselves ”(F. Nietzsche“ What Zarathustra Spoke About ”).
The true demon of Nietzsche was the revolution of the spirit. He made an internal upheaval, opened up new worlds with a historiosophical scope and breadth of world perspectives. Nietzsche's resistance mentality hastened the time for a new aesthetic consciousness of people.
And Nikolai Berdyaev proclaimed: “The new religious consciousness is the religion of the spirit. A radical purification of human ideas about God is needed.

... A spiritual upheaval gives spiritual strength, spiritual uplift, stability. God gives freedom, he does not force himself to be recognized. This is the secret of world life. He is the liberator from the slavery of the world. If there is a God, then man is a spiritually independent being.
... The Russian soul is a wanderer, looking for an unearthly city and its descent from heaven. The Russian people yearn for the absolute and will not put up with anything relative. He longs for the salvation of all people. He has a sense of the equality of human souls before God… recognition of the value of every human soul.”

The spiritual turn of mankind is connected with the Russian idea, with the historical mission of Russia, which it must fulfill. After the October Revolution in the USSR, a crushing blow was dealt to clericalism. The internationalist policy of the USSR is unprecedented. After World War II, the world colonial system collapsed. Not a single state in the world has supported the national culture in such a way, has not helped the peoples fighting for their independence.
But communism and capitalism are two opposite poles with their own extremes. Social liberation presupposes the liberation of the spirit.

“... The present era is inhumane, when humanism is turned upside down. Instead of the human, the animal is being affirmed (the cult of pleasure of the West). The anti-human epoch of prosperity of dehumanization has come… This humanism is anti-religious by its nature. Man becomes an instrument of a fictitious public good (USSR). It rejects real human souls that are sacrificed. Thus perishes the great truth of humanism. The old smooth-skinned humanism does not want to know the depths of life.

…The rejection of divine values ​​leads to the rejection of man and the value of his soul. The person becomes empty. The connection with the suprapersonal gives it depth. It strengthens character—the ability to define oneself from within. This is necessary in order to distinguish between negative ... false creativity (answer to the call of Satan).
... The dialectic of positive humanism - only the deepening of the worldview can lead a person to the realization of the world as his own, which needs the free creativity of people.

Dozens of confessions - Orthodoxy and Catholicism, Islam and Judaism - tear apart the unity of the world with their spiritual nationalism. As Daniil Andreev accurately noted in "Rose of the World": "It is the religious denominations ... that are at the forefront of the universal striving for the universal."

But spiritually enlightened people realize that the Lord is one among all nations. Who, except Russians, can loudly declare that! A universal religion does not require a change in the historically established rites of different religions. Let everything stay as it is. But the consciousness that we all have one God should stop interfaith confrontation and unite the world spiritually.
Nikolai Berdyaev: "The voice of the ripened future will make its way with a force that everyone will reckon with: to carry knowledge to quench the spiritual thirst of the whole world."

7. Berdyaev on national self-awareness

“Ancient religions, the origins of cultures should be visible. The East in a new way should become equivalent to the West.
(Nikolai Berdyaev)

The Internet provides a lot of information from different scientific areas, religious denominations; published publicistic and artistic works, previously available to a few and new, only written. Knowledge that is useful for all mankind in the information society is integrated by common efforts into universal knowledge that receives public outcry. Thanks to the Internet, there is a decentralization of spiritual public culture, which is centralized in the capitals. You can virtually visit not only famous museums, but even go “inside the picture”, get acquainted with the works of unorthodox scientists. Overcoming the gap between the capital and the provinces allows us to expect an upswing in the spiritual and cultural depths of Russian folk life in the coming years.

When? It depends on the spiritual, moral and social education and self-education of the nation. “You can’t prescribe freedom from the center – there must be a will to freedom in people’s life… People’s, provincial Russia must have its say. It is necessary to bring the Russian consciousness to an original path ”(N. Berdyaev), and for this, the soul of a Russian person must turn to history.

In Soviet times, an internal shift took place among the people, associated with the opportunity to receive higher education, go to any corner of the country and, if desired, gain a foothold there for a while or forever. acted social elevators. The people from the USSR passed into a new phase of being, which guaranteed their future. With Russian energy, spaces and subsoil were developed ...

In perestroika, we survived, as almost 40% of the population of Russia are now fighting for survival. Appears middle class, but the scale of this process is smaller than we would like. And the nouveau riche are quickly leaving their former Fatherland. “In the most crucial hour of our history, society is in a state of ideological anarchy and mudslide. The maturation of Russia to world thought presupposes its spiritual rebirth...

... Power should be based not on force, but on the people, on the very bowels of the Russian land. The state must become the internal strength of the Russian people by its own positive power, and not by an external principle above it” (N. Berdyaev).
In the new century, in a single inseparable Russia, social activity has grown, the self-awareness of citizens has begun to move from the dead center. We are an ancient, self-sufficient nation with a history of many thousands of years, common not only to ethnic Russians, but to all the peoples of Russia.

The raising of consciousness and the growth of conciliar national energy in every Russian will give tremendous spiritual energy, “the will to a higher being, as Nikolai Berdyaev said.
The English, for example, realized that they were not the descendants of the Romans (as you know, England was a Roman province in the first centuries of our era), but the Celts. They revived a culture that feeds on folk origins. Old manuscripts preserved in monasteries were published, inspired writers created many works. As a result, the acquisition of true national self-consciousness gave the people such strength that little England became Great Britain, queen of the seas, for several centuries. I am sure that even the rock music of the 20th century, with which the British amazed the whole world, has deep folk roots.
And Russia? Who are we, where are we from? Without real self-awareness of its history, there is no people. But who can be called a representative of the people?

Nikolai Berdyaev: “The people cannot be directly identified with the working classes: with the peasantry, workers, intelligentsia. The people are the owner of the people's consciousness, the one who recognizes himself as Russian. Where is the center of gravity of national and social life now? ... the center of people's life is everywhere: in the depths of every Russian person, and every inch of the Russian land. People's life is a national all-Russian life, the life of the entire Russian land, not in a superficial, but in a deep layer. And the genius is the most popular. ... The people are not a social category. The true center is in the depths of every personality."
The prophetic words of the philosopher: “The Russian people are entering a new historical period, when they must become the master of their lands and the creator of their own destiny. ... The geographical factor of Russian history is represented by vast expanses. …National self-awareness is, first of all, the geography of the Russian soul. In the Russian soul there is boundless space. In a Russian person there is no narrowness of a European who concentrates his energy on a small space of the soul, there is no prudence, economy of space and time. The Russian does not have an organized attachment to his place, the ability to arrange his life, to know the measure and the place, to be able to achieve the possible. The Russian is disgusted by this petty-bourgeois pathos.”
Russians strive to achieve the impossible. Over the many thousands of years of history of the Slavic-Russians, they have succeeded more than once. It's been thirty years since civilizations have been discovered: the ruins of cities. Tripolskaya - in Ukraine, the famous Arkaim and the country of cities of Sintashty in the Southern Urals, the world's largest geoglyph "Elk" (218 meters in length, 270 - diagonally) in the area of ​​the Zyuratkul National Park in the Urals, etc.

Many artifacts have been found in the Russian North (see the Hyperborea portal): pyramids and petroglyphs. Deciphering part of the ancient stone texts, found on the islands of the White Sea, the researchers of the International Club of Scientists found that the Hyperboreans called themselves RSH or RS. It turns out - RUSH (EN) or RAS (EN) !!! Thus, the roots of the name of Russia and the ethnonym "Russian" are in the language of the ancient Hyperboreans-Aryans - the great ancestors of all modern Indo-European peoples. Scientists note the exceptional unity of the anthropological type of the modern population of Eastern Europe - from Far North to the south. This means that the Russian population has always lived here and most of it has never moved anywhere.

At the link (http://dokumentika.org/mira/sotvorenie-mira-5508-god-do-n-e) - the most interesting information of Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences A.A. Tyunyaeva: “In 31258.4 (3) BC. - the entire population of the Earth, consisting of people of the modern type, was concentrated in the Voronezh lands of the Russian Plain. These people formed the Upper Paleolithic Kostenkovskaya archaeological culture. At that time, there were no modern humans elsewhere on the planet.”

From articles by respected authors, among whom there are scientists; videos available on the Internet, it turned out that our ancestors went from Arctida-Hyperborea to the territory of Europe and Asia (Assia), founding the Slavic-Aryan empire (including North America and India), which was called Rasseniya. Its capital for ten thousand years was impregnable Asgard (the City of Aesir - present-day Omsk). The writing of the Slavic-Russians was thousands of years before Cyril and Methodius: the runes of the Family and the syllabary - the rune. Moreover, it was the official writing of the entire empire, even in Western Europe)))
In the midst of the Night of Svarog in 1530 AD, due to many reasons - its magical protection was weakened, Asgard was destroyed by hordes of Dzungars (from China) with the help of black magicians.

Since 1700, Peter I abolished the chronology "from the creation of the world" (in the Star Temple). This chronology was also used in Western Europe before (the Byzantine calendar, which was in Europe eight centuries after the birth of Jesus Christ. Only the VIII century adopted a new one - from the year of the birth of Jesus Christ))). The former chronology was conducted from September 22, 5508 BC. - from the day of the creation of the world in the Star Temple after the great war between the empire of the Slavic-Aryans Rasenia and the Arims (Ancient China), who were defeated. The southern neighbors had to build what is now called the Great Wall of China (with loopholes facing China (!)

This ancient calendar did not belong to either the Christian or Jewish traditions - for it began long before them. 5508 years of history were stolen from the Slavs.
Arkaim, the cities of the Trypillia civilization were built according to the same plan - cocentric circles. More than 10 thousand people lived in each of these cities with water supply and sewerage, with two-three-story log houses (which exceeds the size of Kyiv during the time of Yaroslav the Wise). Bronze items, weapons, jewelry are much older than, say, Greek ones and are absolutely identical to them. Greece - 5th - 4th centuries BC, foundation of Rome 754 AD. Tripoli culture - 5000 BC, Arkaim is even older. The conclusion is simple - the origins of great civilizations are the Subpolar North, Central Russia and Ukraine and the Southern Urals.

The following fact speaks of the antiquity of our writing, of which there are enough monuments in Western Europe, Egypt, the Mediterranean, etc. Professor V. Chudinov discovered that there are many implicit inscriptions on Christian icons of various origins (frescoes of monasteries, icons on boards, book miniatures). That is, long before the Baptism of Rus' on Christian icons in Western Europe, there was a secret writing in the Old Russian runic. Type in the "Search" - you will see with your own eyes.
Apologists for the statehood of Rus' from Rurik in 862 spoil the mood with an abundance of irrefutable facts -

Russians need spiritual inspiration on the basis of awareness of their ancient history and great historical tasks in the struggle for new values ​​of our existence in the world, for our spirit.

The hour for changing historical missions has struck. They say: history is politics overturned into the past. The mass falsification of ancient Russian history (the myth that we have from ancient times - all other people's borrowings: statehood, faith, writing) has led us to feel rootless, since our history was stolen, and the glorious deeds of our ancestors, among whom were the Pelasgians , Scythians and Goths (including the Ostrogoths, Visigoths), and Sarmatians, and Huns are unknown. The Etruscans, the civilization of Crete are Proto-Slavic. Etruscan texts, the famous Phaistos disk were deciphered using Proto-Slavic writing. The Roman Empire did not fall under the blows of some unknown barbarians - they were Slavic-Aryans. Byzantium paid tribute to Kyiv. Despite the fact that all evidence of the highest civilization of Russenia was massively destroyed, enough historical evidence ancient and Arabic authors.

All this was revealed at the end of the 20th century according to the prophetic words of the great philosopher:
“Ancient religions, the origins of cultures should be visible. The East must in a new way become equivalent to the West"...
(Nikolai Berdyaev)

Russia is the ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans and has a glorious history of many thousands of years. In geopolitical terms, the antiquity of Russian history (and the history of all the peoples inhabiting our state and many neighboring countries) is very disadvantageous to our opponents. Therefore, they try in every way to prevent this. The history of a people determines its mentality. The times of open and unspoken ban on ancient Russian history (and the history of other peoples) are over. Nikolai Berdyaev knew that this time would come - the Night of Svarog was over.

8. National idea

“The true destiny of the peoples and of all mankind is my destiny.
I am in her, she is in me. I live in the vast future history peace.
“The voice of the ripened future will make its way with force,
which everyone will reckon with: to carry knowledge to quench the spiritual thirst of the whole world.
(Nikolai Berdyaev)

According to the will of the Russian philosopher Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev, after 1948, his manuscripts were transported from France to the USSR and are stored in the TsGALI in Moscow. Forty books, where, in fact, the National idea of ​​Russia is expressed (which they began to search for only in the 21st century - without much success).

Nikolai Berdyaev managed to reveal the secrets of the Russian soul, becoming the spokesman for the true folk spirit. As a herald of the Slavic idea (Russian idea), he was distinguished by universal spiritual guidance. The Russian idea is needed to comprehend the meaning of world events, - so the great philosopher said.

The life of peoples is mobile. Every nation has its own value. The philosopher considered each culture unique: “Nationality is an individual being, outside of which the existence of mankind is impossible ... nationality is a value created in history, a dynamic task.”

Crystallization of national bodies is needed, because even from biology it is known that the basis for the stability of the existence of biosystems is biodiversity. If biodiversity is depleted in a population or phytocenosis, the system dies.
So it is with people - the principle of "being together, remaining different" contributes to the stability of the federation. When each republic, autonomy has the opportunity to live in its own way, supporting the national spirit, its religion, people will be satisfied with their fate. “The struggle of peoples is a struggle of spiritual forces, higher destinations, and not a struggle for animal existence and elementary interests ... A people sinks and dies when material power turns into an idol for them and completely swallows their spirit.”
The perfection of any organism is inconceivable as the disappearance of its organs, separate parts. Similarly, humanity (as a system) is unthinkable without different nationalities. The improvement of humanity as a system does not mean the disappearance of the national.
For those who like to look for analogies in the natural world, one can recall a fact well known to scientists: any biocenosis is stable when biological diversity is maintained in it - as in a single system.

So the principle works for the stability of the state when all peoples live in their own way. Russia has always been multinational state. The means of interethnic communication is “The Russian language is our common home of being” (Vitaly Goldman).

In recent years, it has become especially noticeable that, say, everything folk is very interesting for tourism. National exoticism is certainly attractive. And most of all, a person will be disappointed if he arrives in another subject of the federation and does not meet the national flavor, if “everything is like everywhere else” there.

Therefore, now in all of Russia (and throughout the world) national identity is being nurtured in such a way. Moreover, it is gradually disappearing, as the real bearers of folk cultures are dying: they will sew a dress with their own hands and sing a song in their native language ... But much can be saved. Thank God, everything Russian is being revived: crafts, costumes...

There are many folk festivals for every taste (in the Good Land, etc.), it’s not a problem to sew or purchase a varied and stylish Russian dress for any age. Historical reenactment clubs are doing their bit.
From rebirth material culture people are moving to the spiritual, good, there is something to read, listen to and watch for development.
In Berdyaev's book "The Fate of Russia", even by the table of contents, the main points of the Russian idea are noticeable.
The “Soul of Russia” is the original path of Russia due to the redistribution of historical bodies: each nation enters the spiritual arena of history with its own mission. The hour has come for the mission of Russia. “There is no return for us to the old ideologies. The spiritual rebirth of mankind depends on the Russian idea.” The new deeds of the Russian people will change the world.
"The End of Europe" - "Westernism is a delusion of childhood and it is in conflict with the world tasks of Russia ... We need to learn some Western virtues while remaining Russian."

Civil society - "democracy depends on the internal capacity for self-government." Spiritual rebirth of the people. Moral self-discipline, honesty, responsibility for oneself and one's country, the need to "breathe the free air of truth." The state and the people become one. The originality of each nation is supported in every possible way.

“The Crisis of the Intelligentsia Consciousness”, “Centralism and People's Life” - “I believe that unconsciously the Slavic idea lives in the depths of the soul of the Russian people. This idea must contain global perspectives. The ideology must be unifying.”

“The tasks of creative historical thought” - “Ancient religions, the origins of cultures should be visible. The East in a new way should become equivalent to the West. It is important that the peoples of Russia (and the neighboring countries of the Near Abroad) realize their multi-thousand-year history. Russians need spiritual inspiration on the basis of awareness of their ancient history and great historical tasks in the struggle for new values ​​of our existence in the world, for our spirit. The ancient Russian Vedic tradition was perceived by Berdyaev in the form of "Mystical Christianity", his ideas were turned to the future - to us, the descendants. People themselves should engage in "historical creativity" (which they do while orthodox science is silent) - this follows from the principle of "uncreated freedom".
You can add the ideas of Berdyaev from Self-Knowledge:

universal religion. Dozens of confessions - Orthodoxy and Catholicism, Islam and Judaism - tear apart the unity of the world with their spiritual nationalism. As Daniil Andreev accurately noted in "Rose of the World": "It is the religious denominations ... that are at the forefront of the universal striving for the universal."

The concept of Universal Religion was developed by Daniil Andreev in the book "Rose of the World": its symbol is a rose, the petals of which are different confessions.
Spiritually enlightened people realize that the Lord is one among all nations. Who, except Russians, can loudly declare that! A universal religion does not require a change in the historically established rites of different religions. Let everything stay as it is. But the consciousness that we all have one God should stop interfaith confrontation and unite the world spiritually.
"Russia must become for Europe an internal, not an external force, a force that creatively transforms."

Principles of the national idea
“In the most crucial hour of our history, society is in a state of ideological anarchy and mudslide. The maturation of Russia to world thought presupposes its spiritual revival… The hour for the change of historical missions has struck.”
Not only the spiritual rebirth of mankind now depends on the Russian idea, as N.A. Berdyaev, the very existence of the Russian people depends on it. In the age of the dominance of the ideology of the West, which has long turned into anti-humanism: wars in the name of "democracy", the decomposition of the body and spirit with the planting of sodomism; the ban on the great word "mother" in some Western countries, the taking away of children from loving parents etc. - The Russian idea will become a panacea for the whole world.

1. The Russian idea is international.

2. Spiritual inspiration of Russians and residents of the Near Abroad on the basis of awareness of their ancient history and great historical tasks in the struggle for new values ​​of our existence in the world, for our spirit, can radically change the spiritual image of power, people, life.

From Arctida-Hyperborea, our ancestors went many thousands of years ago to the territory of Europe and Asia (Assia), having founded the Slavic-Aryan empire (including North America and India). Actually Rasseniya on its territory had the following names: from the Riphean mountains (Urals) to Pacific Ocean was Asia (Asia). In the North, in the lower reaches of the Ob, between the Ob and the Ural Mountains was Siberia. To the south, along the banks of the Irtysh, Belovodie was located. East of Siberia, on the other side of the Ob, was the Lukomorye. To the south of Lukomorye is Yugorye, which reached the Iriysk Mountains (Mongolian Altai). The Gulf of Ob is the Scythian Sea. All this was under the auspices of the Goddess Tara.

The clans that lived beyond Baikal moved to Europe, remembering that they were Dazhdbog's grandchildren. Dazhdbog Tarkh Perunovich and the Goddess Tara guard the boundless lands of Belovodye and the land of the Holy Race. These territories in the east from the Ural Range to the Pacific Ocean are called the lands of Tarkh and Tara, i.e. Great Tartaria.

Slavic-Russians had writing millennia before Cyril and Methodius and not one, but four types: da'Aryan Tyaragi, Kh'Aryan Karuna (Runic writing), Svetorussky Images (Letter Letter) and Rasen Molitsy (Figurative-Mirror Writing).

In the collapsed empire, especially in Western Europe and converted to Christianity Kievan Rus, any memory of the former metropolis was erased, book depositories were destroyed, books were copied.

3. The consciousness that we all have one God should stop interfaith confrontation. A universal religion does not require a change in the historically established rites of different religions. Let everything stay as it is. But the consciousness that God is One will unite the world spiritually.

4. People should feel responsible for the kind of life they have arranged for themselves. The state and the people must become united. "From now on, the state can exist only by the activity of its people. With XXI - social activity, self-awareness by citizens of the antiquity of the nation, "to forge the will to a higher being." Stop lying.

5. The Russian idea is super-confessional - this is its main force. The Russian idea overcomes national complacency - it is supra-national.

6. “…Democracy depends on the internal capacity for self-government. Democracy is the transformation of a chaotic quantity into a certain self-disciplined quality” (Nikolai Berdyaev).

7. Our broad outlook will not allow Western ideologies to bring down the Russian people from the points of view of life. The sun must shine within us and lead to a new day. The struggle is on the spiritual heights of mankind. The Russian national idea should become the center of gravity of people's and public life.

“It is irresponsible to lay responsibility on the forces
outside the human...
If the Russian soul is loved by the souls of other peoples,
from this they will be even more themselves.
(Nikolai Berdyaev)

“In the most crucial hour of our history, society is in a state of ideological anarchy and mudslide. The maturation of Russia to world thought presupposes its spiritual revival… The hour for the change of historical missions has struck.”
Not only the spiritual rebirth of mankind now depends on the Russian idea, as N.A. Berdyaev, the very existence of the Russian people depends on it. In the age of dominance and the imposition of the ideology of the West, which has long turned into anti-humanism: wars in the name of "democracy", the decomposition of the body and spirit with the legalization of marriages of "non-traditional orientation" and the deprivation of the children sent by them of the right to choose, the imposition of sodomism; the ban on the great word "mama" in some Western countries, the taking away of children from loving parents, etc. - The Russian idea will become a panacea for the whole world.

The spiritual inspiration of Russians and residents of the Near Abroad on the basis of awareness of their ancient history and great historical tasks in the struggle for new values ​​of our existence in the world, for our spirit, can radically change the spiritual image of power, people, life. “... True politics is intuitive, perspicacious; sensitivity, flexibility, plasticity, lively reaction to life. All duty politicians– to be spiritualized from within by higher goals and absolute values. Behind politics there should be a spiritual revival, a rebirth of the individual and the people.

The consciousness that we all have one God should stop interfaith confrontation and unite the world spiritually. Fundamentally new types of human relationships, true friendship, disinterestedness - the readiness to always come to the aid of people - peoples and nations.

A Russian writer and philosopher who stood at the height of European culture, Doctor of Theology from the University of Cambridge, Berdyaev gave a spiritual justification for social progress. People themselves must arrange life - with God in their souls. "God reigns in the realm of Freedom, not in the realm of necessity, in spirit, not in deterministic nature." Therefore, people should feel responsible for the kind of life they have arranged for themselves. The state and the people must become united. From now on, the state can exist only by the activity of its people. With XXI - social activity, self-awareness by citizens of the antiquity of the nation, "to forge the will to a higher being."

The ideas of Nikolai Berdyaev provide guidelines - the spiritual readiness to go to the future. "The truth of the spirit, the spirituality of personal and social consciousness - will certainly come in the life created by people."

The Russian idea is super-confessional - this is its main strength. The Russian idea overcomes national complacency - it is supra-national. Nikolai Berdyaev believed that history connects people and higher forces in the spirit, this is not a mechanical link. That nations are a historical value, each nation at the right time fulfills its destiny in history. That history is a reflection of metahistory - deep transcendental processes that are in charge of Providence.

“... The historical epoch requires an organic connection of national consciousness with the universality of determining the world recognition of nationalities ... the recognition of eternal rights for any national individuality ... The idea of ​​​​cosmic brotherhood ... A person must master himself, his elements, the morality of personal and social discipline is a priority .. .".

Berdyaev believed in the maturation of independent social thought in Russia. “...Democracy depends on the internal capacity for self-government. Democracy is the transformation of a chaotic quantity into a certain self-disciplined quality.

“The original type of the Russian soul has already been developed and approved forever ... Russian culture can now be created only from the depths of the Russian soul with its original creative energy. Russian originality must manifest itself in creativity, in might, in freedom, in a free society... Power must be based not on force, but on the people, on the very bowels of the Russian land. The state must become the internal strength of the Russian people by its own positive power, and not by an external principle above it.

A Russian patriot, Nikolai Berdyaev foresaw the historical mission of the Russian people with spiritual vision. “Each nation is led by Providence to the world arena and it fulfills its mission... Until the time, peoples keep their potential forces... Simplified thinking does not want to know irrational cosmic forces, is cut off from cosmic life, from the energies that are pouring on us from all the planes of the Cosmos. The spiritual turn to the cosmic is a way of overcoming the despondency of people thrown back in blindness to the highest tasks of mankind.

Our broad outlook will not allow Western ideologies to confuse the Russian people from the points of view of life. The sun must shine within us and lead to a new day. The struggle is on the spiritual heights of mankind. The Russian national idea should become the center of gravity of people's and public life.

#Russian idea #Nikolai Berdyaev #creativity

Nikolai Berdyaev

Russian idea

Historical introduction. Definition of the Russian national type. East and West. Opposites of the Russian soul. Discontinuity of Russian history. Russian religiosity. Moscow - Third Rome. The split of the 17th century Peter's reform. Freemasonry. The era of Alexander I. Decembrists. Pushkin. Russian intelligentsia. Radishchev. Intelligence and Reality. The tragic fate of philosophy. Influence of German idealism.

There is a very great difficulty in determining the national type, national individuality. It is impossible to give a strictly scientific definition. The secret of any individuality is known only by love, and in it there is always something incomprehensible to the end, to the last depth. I will be interested not so much in the question of what Russia was empirically, but in the question of what the Creator intended about Russia, the intelligible image of the Russian people, his idea. Tyutchev said: “You can’t understand Russia with the mind, you can’t measure it with a common yardstick, it has a special become, you can only believe in Russia.” To comprehend Russia, one must apply the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. Empirically, there is so much repulsion in Russian history. This is so strongly expressed in the poem of the believing Slavophil Khomyakov about the sins of Russia. The Russian people are an extremely polarized people, they are a combination of opposites. He can be fascinated and disappointed, you can always expect surprises from him, he is highly capable of inspiring strong love and strong hatred. This is the people that cause anxiety among the peoples of the West. Every national individuality, like the individuality of a person, is a microcosm and therefore contains contradictions, but this happens to varying degrees. In terms of polarization and inconsistency, the Russian people can only be compared with the Jewish people. And it is no coincidence that these peoples have a strong messianic consciousness. The inconsistency and complexity of the Russian soul, perhaps, is due to the fact that in Russia two streams of world history collide and come into interaction - East and West. The Russian people are not a purely European and not a purely Asian people. Russia is a whole part of the world, a huge East-West, it connects two worlds. And always in the Russian soul fought two principles, eastern and western.

There is a correspondence between the immensity, boundlessness, infinity of the Russian land and the Russian soul, between the geography of the physical and the geography of the soul. In the soul of the Russian people there is the same immensity, boundlessness, aspiration to infinity, as in the Russian plain. Therefore, it was difficult for the Russian people to take possession of these vast spaces and formalize them. The Russian people had an enormous power of the elements and a comparative weakness of form. The Russian people were not predominantly a people of culture, like the peoples of Western Europe, they were more of a people of revelations and inspirations, they knew no limits and easily fell into extremes. Among the peoples of Western Europe, everything is much more determined and formalized, everything is divided into categories and of course. Not so with the Russian people, as less determined, as more turned to infinity and not wanting to know the distribution by categories. In Russia there were no sharp social lines, no distinct classes. Russia has never been an aristocratic country in the Western sense, just as it has not become bourgeois. Two opposite principles formed the basis of the formation of the Russian soul: the natural, pagan Dionysian element and ascetic-monastic Orthodoxy. One can discover opposite properties in the Russian people: despotism, hypertrophy of the state and anarchism, liberty; cruelty, propensity to violence and kindness, humanity, gentleness; ritual belief and the search for truth; individualism, heightened consciousness of the individual and impersonal collectivism; nationalism, self-praise and universalism, all-humanity; eschatological-messianic religiosity and outward piety; the search for God and militant atheism; humility and arrogance; slavery and rebellion. But the Russian kingdom has never been bourgeois. In determining the character of the Russian people and their vocation, it is necessary to make a choice, which I will call an eschatological choice in terms of the ultimate goal. Therefore, the choice of the century is also inevitable, as the most characterizing the Russian idea and Russian vocation. I will regard the 19th century as such a century, a century of thought and word, and at the same time a century of sharp split, so characteristic of Russia as internal liberation and intense spiritual and social quests.

Discontinuity is characteristic of Russian history. In contrast to the opinion of the Slavophiles, it is the least organic. There are already five periods in Russian history that give different images. There is Kievan Russia, Russia during the Tatar yoke, Moscow Russia, Petrine Russia and Soviet Russia. And it is possible that there will be another new Russia. Russia's development was catastrophic. The Muscovite period was the worst period in Russian history, the most stuffy, the most Asiatic-Tatar in its type, and by misunderstanding it was idealized by the freedom-loving Slavophiles. The Kiev period and the period of the Tatar yoke were better, especially for the church, and, of course, the dualistic, schismatic St. Petersburg period was better and more significant, in which the creative genius of the Russian people was most revealed. Kievan Russia was not closed off from the West; it was more receptive and freer than the Muscovite kingdom, in whose suffocating atmosphere even holiness died out (there were least of all saints during this period). The special significance of the XIX century. determined by the fact that, after a long thoughtlessness, the Russian people finally expressed themselves in word and thought, and did so in a very difficult atmosphere of lack of freedom. I'm talking about external freedom, because we had great internal freedom. How to explain this long absence of enlightenment in Russia, among the people who are very gifted and capable of perceiving the highest culture, how to explain this cultural backwardness and even illiteracy, this absence of organic ties with the great cultures of the past? The idea was expressed that the translation of Holy Scripture into Slavonic by Cyril and Methodius was unfavorable for the development of Russian mental culture, because there was a break with the Greek and Latin languages. Church Slavonic became the only language of the clergy, that is, the only intelligentsia of that time; Greek and Latin were not needed. I do not think that this could explain the backwardness of Russian enlightenment, the thoughtlessness and silence of pre-Petrine Russia. It must be recognized as a characteristic property of Russian history that in it for a long time the forces of the Russian people remained, as it were, in a potential, not actualized state. The Russian people were overwhelmed by the enormous expenditure of forces demanded by the size of the Russian state. The state was getting stronger, the people were getting sicker, says Klyuchevsky. It was necessary to take possession of the Russian spaces and protect them. Russian thinkers of the 19th century, reflecting on the fate and vocation of Russia, constantly pointed out that this potentiality, lack of expression, non-actualization of the forces of the Russian people is the key to its great future. They believed that the Russian people would finally say their word to the world and reveal themselves. It is generally accepted that the Tatar yoke had a fatal influence on Russian history and threw the Russian people back. Byzantine influence internally suppressed Russian thought and made it traditionally conservative. The extraordinary, explosive dynamism of the Russian people was revealed in its cultural layer only from contact with the West and after the reform of Peter. Herzen said that the Russian people responded to Peter's reform with the appearance of Pushkin. We will add: not only Pushkin, but also the Slavophiles themselves, but also Dostoevsky and L. Tolstoy, but also seekers of truth, but also the emergence of original Russian thought.

The history of the Russian people is one of the most painful stories: the struggle against the Tatar invasions and the Tatar yoke, the constant hypertrophy of the state, the totalitarian regime of the Moscow kingdom, the troubled era, the split, the violent nature of the Peter the Great reform, serfdom, which was the most terrible ulcer of Russian life, the persecution of the intelligentsia, the execution of the Decembrists, the terrible regime of the Prussian Junker Nicholas I, the illiteracy of the masses, which was kept in the dark out of fear, the inevitability of the revolution to resolve conflicts and contradictions and its violent and bloody character, and finally the worst war in world history. Epics and bogatyrs are connected with Kievan Russia, with St. Vladimir. But chivalry did not develop on the spiritual soil of Orthodoxy. In the martyrdom of St. Boris and St. Gleb has no heroism, the idea of ​​sacrifice prevails. The feat of non-resistance is a Russian feat. Simplification and humiliation are Russian traits. Also characteristic of Russian religiosity is foolishness - the acceptance of reproach from people, ridicule of the world, challenge to the world. Characteristic is the disappearance of the holy princes after the transfer of sinful power to the great princes of Moscow. And it is no coincidence that there was a general impoverishment of holiness in the Muscovite kingdom. Self-immolation, as a religious feat, is a Russian national phenomenon, almost unknown to other peoples. What we called dual faith, that is, the union of the Orthodox faith with pagan mythology and folk poetry, explains many contradictions in the Russian people. The Russian element has always retained and still retains the Dionysian, ecstatic element. One Pole told me at the height of the Russian revolution: Dionysos walked across Russian soil. The enormous power of Russian choral song and dance is connected with this. Russian people are prone to orgies with round dances. We see the same thing in popular mystical sects, for example, in Khlystism. The propensity of the Russian people to revelry and anarchy with the loss of discipline is known. The Russian people were not only subjugated to the authorities, which received religious consecration, but they also gave birth to Stenka Razin, sung in folk songs, and Pugachev from their depths. Russians are runners and robbers. And the Russians are wanderers seeking God's truth. The Wanderers refuse to obey the authorities. The earthly path was presented to the Russian people as a way of flight and wandering. Russia has always been full of mystical and prophetic sects. And they always had a thirst for the transformation of life. It was in the eerie, Dionysian Whip sect as well. There was a high appreciation of beggary and poverty in the spiritual verses. Their favorite theme is innocent suffering. There is a very strong sense of social unrighteousness in the spiritual verses. There is a struggle between truth and falsehood. But they feel popular pessimism. In the popular understanding of salvation, almsgiving is of paramount importance. The religion of the earth is very strong in the Russian people, it is embedded in a very deep layer of the Russian soul. The earth is the last intercessor. The main category is motherhood. The Mother of God goes ahead of the Trinity and is almost identified with the Trinity. The people felt the closeness of the Mother of God-Intercessor more than Christ. Christ is the King of Heaven, His earthly image is little expressed. Only mother earth receives personal incarnation. The Spirit is often mentioned. St. G. Fedotov emphasizes that in spiritual verses there is a lack of faith in Christ the Redeemer, Christ remains the judge, that is, the people, as it were, do not see the kenosis of Christ. The people themselves accept suffering, but seem to have little faith in the mercy of Christ. G. Fedotov explains this by the fatal influence of Josephism, which distorted the image of Christ among the Russian people. And the Russian people want to hide from the terrible God Joseph Volotsky behind mother earth, behind the Mother of God. The image of Christ, the image of God was suppressed by the image of earthly power and was presented by analogy with it. At the same time, the eschatological element has always been strong in Russian religiosity. If, on the one hand, Russian folk religiosity connected the divine and natural worlds, then, on the other hand, the apocrypha, books that had a huge impact, spoke of the coming coming of the Messiah. These different beginnings of Russian religiosity will also be reflected in the thought of the 20th century.