One thing that keeps many people from moving to another country or marrying a foreigner is the difference in mentality. The difference is in the little things and in the attitude towards life in general. What is mentality? How does it differ from mentality? And how does the mysterious Russian soul manifest itself? Some are proud of their origin and mentality, while others are trying with all their might to eradicate its manifestations. It is important to distinguish between what is genetic and what can still be changed.
What is mentality
Mentality is a historically and genetically formed set of socio-psychological qualities of a people. Etymologically comes from the Greek word mentis- mind, thinking, soul, reason, way of thinking. That is, one word unites many phenomena and processes, which gives rise to a large number of interpretations. If you describe the mentality in ordinary words- This historical experience reflected in culture, which is absorbed by a person brought up in this culture.
IN scientific literature Two concepts are often used: mentality and mentality. Some authors consider words to be synonyms, others try to draw a line between these concepts. According to the second theory of differences mentality- this is a historically and genetically developed spiritual constant that reflects the deep values of a people and ethnic group. A mentality- a dynamic, private, concrete manifestation born of the era. There are as many types of mentalities as there are social groups. And the mentality characterizes the people as a whole.
On the one hand, mentality reflects the overall characteristics of people living in a particular culture, on the other hand, it characterizes psychological aspects differences between one nation and another. This allows us to separately consider the mentality of Americans, French, Germans or British.
The evolution of the concept of “mentality”
The origins of the national mentality of Russian people and representatives of other nations are at the dawn of humanity. The subject of analysis of emerging folk thinking is often oral evidence: epics, fairy tales, tales, legends, proverbs, myths. These ancient cultural monuments reflect all periods spiritual development peoples and ethnic groups.
Reflections on the topic of generalized socio-psychological characteristics of people are found in the works Herodotus, Pliny and many historians of antiquity. The most important cultural monuments that have survived to this day are the Bible and the Koran. The Bible, in the form of religious and artistic subjects, contains a certain code of worldview and attitude to reality. The Koran sets out the basic cultural and spiritual principles and values of the Muslim world.
But in scientific practice this problem was first addressed in the 18th century by a Swedish physician Carl Linnaeus and French philosopher Charles de Montesquieu. At the same time it was born new science ethnopsychology. The object of study of ethnopsychology was the “soul of the people”, “national character”, and the main attention was paid to Man in history, his emotions, worldview, and value system.
The English word Mentality came into use back in the 17th century, but as a scientific term it was first used by a classic of French ethnology Lucien Lévy-Bruhl. In his book “Primitive Mentality,” the author described the life of the indigenous people of Australia and New Guinea, and the term “mentality” described the personality traits and values inherent in different tribes.
In the late 1920s, French scientists Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre founded the “Annals School” - a scientific historical movement that placed man above the events of political history. Since that time, the concept of mentality has become a scientific category that describes the mass consciousness of a people or ethnic group. In psychology, mentality is represented by another concept - social or national character. The largest psychoanalysts of the 20th century were engaged in research in this area. Sigmund Freud, Erich Fromm, Carl Jung.
Today, many sciences are engaged in the study of mentality: philosophy, sociology, history, ethnology, social Psychology, cultural studies. Besides scientific research Cultural figures and politicians talk about mentality. There is a branch of historical science - the history of mentalities, which studies history not from the point of view of events and wars, but as a socio-cultural phenomenon. The field of study of the history of mentalities is the totality of the material conditions of life, life and worldview of the people.
Russian mentality
While studying the peculiarities of the Russian mentality, culturologists and sociologists divide history into six historical periods: pagan, pre-Christian, pre-Petrine, imperial, Soviet, Novorossiysk. Each of these periods influenced the formation of the Russian mentality. But the influence was especially strong Orthodox Christianity.
Throughout the history of the Russian people, there has been a particularly reverent attitude towards the motive of suffering. was perceived not in itself, but as a reward for suffering and misfortune. Initially, the connection is visible in proverbs and sayings: “ there would be no happiness, but misfortune would help», « He who has not known need does not know happiness" Truly folk songs are permeated with “sadness,” and in fairy tales the main character has to overcome many trials in anticipation of a reward. There are stories about the plight of the Russian people in the works of all Russian poets and writers.
In the 19th century, the ideologist of the official nationality, Count Sergei Uvarov, formulated the famous triad “Orthodoxy. Autocracy. Nationality." Later, Stalin reduced it to two components: “Simplicity and nationality.” But in literature, philosophy, and culture, debates about mentality have never subsided. The most extensive studies of national consciousness and Russian philosophy were conducted by the religious and political philosopher N. Berdyaev.
Modern research shows that the mentality of a Russian person is manifested by behavioral stereotypes, regardless of his place of residence:
- Fear of “what people will say.”
- The desire to “live in truth.”
- Choose feeling between reason and feeling.
- See your flaws more often than your strengths.
- Argue about anything.
- Smile only at people you know.
- Love in freebies and expectation of a miracle.
- Conservatism and pity.
And it doesn’t matter whether the Russian mentality is good or bad. In any case, it prevails in the life of the entire nation, symbolizing the superiority of the spiritual over the material. It is very difficult to change mentality even when it leads not to development, but to destruction.
But you shouldn’t exaggerate the power of mentality either. On the one hand, mentality moves a person to certain actions, on the other hand, it forces him to repel everything alien and unpleasant. But the word “mentality” comes from the word “thinking”. This means that changing your thinking and learning new skills will help you change your mentality.
Wealth mentality: is it possible to restructure your thinking?
Factors influencing mentality can be divided into 2 groups:
- Objective: genetics, place of birth and residence, cultural environment, a system of relations in society.
- Subjective: mental characteristics, worldview, values, relationships.
Every year, Forbes magazine publishes “honest” lists of rich people who earned their wealth rather than inheriting it. Many grew up in dysfunctional families or didn't receive higher education. Scientific experts analyzed the success stories of self-made millionaires and compiled a series of exercises to change mentality. If it is impossible to change genetics or place of birth, then it is possible to tune the mind to wealth if desired.
Successful people:
- Focus on quality, not quantity.
- They believe in their talent and their strength.
- Set clear short-term and realistic long-term goals.
- They know how to focus on the main thing, but regularly adjust their course.
- They take care of their health and do not forget about creativity.
- They create a financial “safety cushion”.
- They study all their lives.
But luck does not play as important a role in the life success of millionaires as it seems. It ranks only 13th in the list of success factors.
But the main thing to remember is that setting your mind to think like a millionaire does not guarantee wealth. But they're worth it.
conclusions
- From the point of view of an individual, mentality is a way of perceiving reality that is influenced by the environment and surroundings of a person.
- Mentality is a static “quantity” that changes very slowly. Mentality changes under the influence of the era.
- The Russian mentality is best described by the phrase: “the mysterious Russian soul.”
- Copying the habits of millionaires will not bring you wealth. But changing your mindset will help you achieve success.
Mentality is a system of uniqueness of the mental life of people belonging to a particular culture, a qualitative set of features of their perception and assessment of the world around them, which are supra-situational in nature, conditioned by the economic, political, historical circumstances of the development of this particular community and manifested in peculiar behavioral activity. “Mentality” means something common that underlies the conscious and unconscious, logical and emotional, a deep, difficult to reflect source of thinking, ideology, faith, feelings and emotions.
2.1 Religiosity
The main, most profound character trait of the Russian people, distinguished by Russian philosophers, is its religiosity and the associated search for absolute good, therefore, such good that is feasible only in the Kingdom of God. Perfect goodness without any admixture of evil and imperfections exists in the Kingdom of God because it consists of individuals who fully implement in their behavior the two commandments of Jesus Christ: love God more than yourself and your neighbor as yourself. Members of the Kingdom of God are completely free from egoism, and therefore they create only absolute values: moral goodness, beauty, knowledge of truth, indivisible and indestructible goods that serve the whole world.
2.2 Superstition
Despite all the religiosity, the Russian people are characterized by such a trait as superstition. A black cat crossing your path cannot be ignored; try not to spill salt or break mirrors; if you are going to an exam, do not forget to put a nickel under your heel... And this is only a small part of all superstitions, and there are a huge number of them.
The latest fashion - eastern calendars. At the beginning of each year, Russians excitedly ask each other whose year it is: the Tiger, the Horse or the Monkey... Even a completely reasonable lady can seriously declare that since she was born in the year of the Rat, she cannot marry this man, because that his year of birth is not compatible with hers.
2.3 Love of freedom
Among the primary properties of the Russian people, along with religiosity, the search for absolute good and willpower, is the love of freedom and its highest expression - freedom of spirit. This property is closely related to the search for absolute good. In fact, perfect good exists only in the Kingdom of God, it is super-earthly, therefore, in our kingdom of egoistic beings only half-good is always realized, a combination of positive values with some imperfections, that is, good in combination with some aspect of evil. When a person determines which possible ways behavior to choose, he does not have mathematically reliable knowledge about the best way actions. Therefore, one who has freedom of spirit is inclined to test every value not only in thought, but also in deed.
2.4 Panhumanity
Among the constants of the national mentality, it is necessary to note the “all-humanity” of the Russian soul, its openness to other cultures and influences, which Dostoevsky spoke about. This manifests itself, in particular, in very high level interethnic tolerance, the ability to adapt to different ethnocultural conditions, a keen interest in the experience of other countries and peoples, accompanied by a willingness to try and apply it at home. Historically, such traits contributed to the successful creation of a huge multinational empire, the “building blocks” of which were cemented by the Russians’ ability to find mutual language with representatives of the most different cultures and religions. The ethnopsychology of Russians has always been characterized by the ability to accept people from any other national groups as “their own,” which gave Russian state expansion a very specific character. In any case, no other empire has ever been built on this.
2.5 Sense of justice
Many Russian thinkers recognized the archetypal feature of the “Russian soul” as the ardent desire to get “to the root”, to find the “real truth”, perceived as a kind of absolute. Moreover, on the way to this absolute, Russians are often ready to mercilessly destroy what until recently seemed sacred, correct, or at least completely acceptable.
2.6 Kindness, responsiveness
Among the primary, fundamental properties of the Russian people is their outstanding kindness. It is supported and deepened by the search for absolute good and the associated religiosity of the people.
3.7 Equalizing aspirations
Over the centuries, this trend has become one of the dominant values in popular consciousness, actively opposing individual efforts to strengthen private property- enrichment, without at all stimulating distribution according to work. It is necessary to pay attention to the Russian proverb: “from the labors of the righteous you will not make stone chambers.”
The following can be classified as socially shaped features of the Russian mentality.
1. Collectivism and conciliarity, developed by centuries of life in a rural community. The community did not appear suddenly, but as a historically formed necessity of existence, as a reaction to low soil fertility, low agricultural yields and harsh climatic conditions, in which it was easier to survive in a community and using mutual assistance than alone. Russian history has shown that its course is not determined by socio-economic theories of change social formations, but the habit of the Russian population to a certain way of life, especially the habit rural population to life in the community. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the stability of socially-formed mentality traits is lower than genetic and nature-formed ones, therefore urbanization and the rapid reduction of the rural population in Russia may in the near future lead to the degradation of the mentioned collectivist tradition and the undermining of one of the main foundations of Russian civilization.
2. The Russian people’s heightened sense of the injustice of social inequality, which infringes on the interests of the poor. This trait can be seen as a manifestation of collectivism. Hence the ancient feeling of social compassion for people who are spiritually and physically damaged: the poor, the holy fools, the crippled, etc., and the egalitarian tendencies in the Russian understanding of social justice.
3. The religiosity of the Russian people, nurtured by the church and government for almost a thousand years. Religion in Russia has always gone hand in hand with secular power. The Tsar was considered the representative of God's power on earth and Russian national idea For several centuries it was expressed in the formula “God, Tsar and Fatherland.” The specific form of Russian religiosity was Orthodoxy, introduced into Rus' again by secular authorities in the person of Prince Vladimir. The social essence of Orthodoxy, based on the concepts of social justice, goodness, the primacy of the spirit over the flesh, embodied in the church biographies of Orthodox saints, as well as the forms of Orthodox religious rites - fasting, religious festivals, etc. turned out to be most consistent with the historically established conditions of existence, way of life and generated them to the mentality of the Russian people. This correspondence explains the stability Orthodox faith in the Russian people.
4. Cult of the leader. Deep religiosity, understood as hope for a deliverer from life’s hardships, contributed to the formation of such a socially oriented Russian trait as the cult of the leader. All Russian history passed under the sign of first the power of the prince, then the king, and in Soviet period under the banner of the cult of personality of the leader communist party. In all cases, it was the sole power of the leader (prince, king, general secretary) and the people blindly relied on him. It can be noted that the cult of the leader is also promoted by collectivism, one of the manifestations of which is the subconscious subordination of the individual to the collective, and in his person to the one who expresses collective interests, that is, the leader, personifying the collective in mass consciousness. Hence the currently observed lack of initiative of the main part of the population, political infantilism, inability to politically self-organize, and reluctance to take responsibility for socially significant actions.
5. National and religious tolerance. Almost one and a half hundred people have lived peacefully on Russian territory for many centuries. different nations. In Russia there has never been racial hostility, religious wars, or bans on interethnic marriages. The country, with few exceptions, has historically been formed as a voluntary multinational association. This could not but give rise to such a socially formed Russian trait as national and religious tolerance.
6. Finally, one cannot help but say about Russian patriotism. Patriotism exists in any country, but the basis of patriotism is different countries different. Russian patriotism is patriotism based on the people's awareness of their community. The rise of the Russian patriotic spirit always arose during the years difficult trials not for individual people, classes or groups of the population, but for the entire people, when they began to become acutely aware of themselves as a historical community that was in great danger - enslavement or destruction.
GOU VPO
"Voronezh State Medical Academy named after. N.N. Burdenko"
Abstract on the topic:
“Characteristics of the peculiarities of the Russian mentality.”
Completed by: student P-509
Lyamina O. S.
Voronezh 2009
Mentality is one of the basic concepts of modern humanitarian knowledge. It includes the main characteristics of an ethnic group and is one of the leading criteria when comparing nations with each other.
Mentality is the subject of consideration in several humanities, each of which brings its own feature to the definition of this concept.
One-sided interpretation is not a feature of modern science alone. Mentality as an independent subject of research began to be considered in the 20-30s. XX century At the beginning of the 20th century, the term “mentality” appears to have been used in two ways. In ordinary speech, this somewhat fashionable term preferably denoted collective systems of attitude and behavior, “forms of the spirit.” At the same time, it also appears in the scientific lexicon, but again as a “way of thinking” or “peculiarities of attitude.”
There are many definitions of what mentality is, here are some of them:
Mentality is a special “psychological equipment” (M. Blok), “symbolic paradigms” (M. Eliade), “dominant metaphors” (P. Ricoeur), “archaic remains” (S. Freud) or “archetypes” (K. Jung), “... whose presence is not explained by the individual’s own life, but follows from the primeval innate and inherited sources of the human mind.”
The term mentality originated in France. It is found already in individual works of R. Emerson in 1856. In addition, W. Raulf, based on an analysis of French journalism turn of XIX-XX centuries came to the conclusion that the semantic charge of the word mentality was formed before [Raulf W. History of mentalities. Toward the reconstruction of spiritual processes. Digest of articles. - M., 1995. P. 14], as the term appeared in everyday speech.
It is generally accepted that the category of mentality was one of the first to be introduced into the scientific terminology apparatus by the French psychologist and ethnographer L. Lévy-Bruhl after the publication of his works. In its essence, mentality is historically processed archetypal ideas, through the prism of which the main aspects of reality are perceived: space, time, art, politics, economics, culture, civilization, religion. Consideration of the mental characteristics of the consciousness of a particular social group allows one to penetrate into the “hidden” layer of social consciousness, which more objectively and deeply conveys and reproduces the mentality of the era, to reveal a deeply rooted and hidden slice of reality - images, ideas, perceptions, which in most cases remains unchanged even when one ideology changes to another. This is explained by the greater stability of mental structures compared to ideology.
Even J. Le Goff noted that “mentalities change more slowly than anything else, and their study teaches how slowly history moves”[ Disputes about the main thing: Discussions about the present and future of historical science around the French school of “Annals”. - M., 1993.- P.149]. If ideology, with certain deviations, generally develops progressively, so to speak linearly, then within the framework of mentality, ideas change in the form of oscillations of various amplitudes and rotations around a certain central axis. The basis of such a movement and development of mentality is a certain way of life.
So, mentality is a concept very rich in content, reflecting the general spiritual mood, way of thinking, worldview of an individual or social group, which is not sufficiently conscious, in which the unconscious occupies a large place.
The mental characteristics of Russian culture are characterized by a number of specific features, which are due to the fact that any attempt to present Russian culture as an integral, historically continuously developing phenomenon, with its own logic and expressed national identity, encounters great internal difficulties and contradictions. Each time it turns out that at any stage of its formation and historical development, Russian culture seems to double, revealing at the same time two faces that are different from each other. European and Asian, sedentary and nomadic, Christian and pagan, secular and spiritual, official and oppositional, collective and individual - these and similar pairs of opposites have been characteristic of Russian culture since ancient times and have actually persisted to the present day. Double faith, double thinking, dual power, schism - these are just a few of the concepts that are significant for understanding by the historian of Russian culture, identified already at the stage of ancient Russian culture. Such stable inconsistency of Russian culture generates, on the one hand, increased dynamism of its self-development, and on the other, periodically escalating conflict. inherent in the culture itself; constitutes its organic originality, typological feature and is called by researchers binary (from Lat. duality).
Binary nature in the structure of Russian culture is an undoubted result of the border geopolitical position of Rus'-Russia between East and West. Russia, throughout its history and geography, for centuries has been a Eurasian society, either striving to get closer to its European neighbors, or gravitating throughout its entire system of life towards the Asian world.[Semennikova L.I. Russia in the world community of civilizations. - M., 1994.]
It was (since the times of the Golden Horde) a country of border civilization. Western cultural figures perceived Russia as a country of a different, non-European order. Thus, G. Hegel did not even include Russians in his list of Christian peoples of Europe. Many observers have come to the conclusion that Russia is a kind of Eurasian hybrid, in which there are no clear signs of either part of the world. Oswald Spengler argued that Russia is a centaur with a European head and an Asian body. With the victory of Bolshevism, Asia reclaims Russia after Europe annexed it in the person of Peter the Great [Quote from the book Russia and the West: Dialogue of Cultures. M., 1994].
In addition, cultural and historical paradigms in Russian history were layered on top of each other: one stage has not yet ended, while the other has already begun. The future sought to come true when the conditions for this had not yet developed, and, on the contrary, the past was in no hurry to go away. historical scene, clinging to traditions, norms and values. A similar historical layering of stages, of course, is found in other world cultures - Eastern and Western, but in Russian culture it becomes a constant, typological feature: paganism coexists with Christianity, traditions Kievan Rus intertwined with Mongolian innovations in the Muscovite kingdom, in Peter’s Russia sharp modernization is combined with the deep traditionalism of pre-Petrine Rus', etc. Russian Culture for centuries was at the historical crossroads, on the one hand, of the modernization paths of civilizational development characteristic of Western European culture, on the other, - ways of organic tradition, characteristic of Eastern countries. Russian culture has always strived for modernization, but modernization in Russia was slow, difficult, constantly weighed down by the unambiguousness and setness of traditions, every now and then rebelling against them and breaking them. Hence the numerous heretical mass movements, and the daring thirst for will (robbers, Cossacks), and the search for alternative forms of power (imposture), etc.
The mental characteristics of Russian culture historically naturally developed as a complex, disharmonious, unstable balance of forces of integration and differentiation of contradictory tendencies of the national-historical existence of the Russian people, such as a sociocultural balance (often on the verge of a national catastrophe or in connection with its approaching danger), which declared itself in the most decisive, crisis moments of the history of Russia and contributed to the survival of Russian culture in extremely difficult for it, and sometimes seemingly simply impossible socio-historical conditions and everyday circumstances as the high adaptability of Russian culture to any, including directly anti-cultural factors of its more than thousand years of history.
The Russian mentality is characterized by absolutism - which is reflected even in the Russian language: the frequency of words such as “absolutely”, “perfectly” - as well as synonymous words “terribly”, “terribly” - is more than ten times higher in the Russian language, than, say, in English. And the very synonymy of these and other concepts paints an image of global, stunning and extreme changes. Sometimes they go beyond the rational and reasonable, since the collective mind, like ideology, is the preservation of the existing - and for the sake of radical change it is necessary to overthrow it too.
The constant need for something fundamentally new gives rise to the desire to actively adopt someone else’s (just as quickly consigning one’s own to oblivion: neglecting it as outdated). Russian thought has often been accused of turning to foreign heritage for the lack of its own. However, they did not indicate the other side of the coin: the ability to assimilate and implement other people’s ideas as universal ones. It is the constant desire for something fundamentally different, new, as well as the perception of the universalism (objectivity) of ideas that makes it possible to cultivate them on our own soil.
The second Russian trait is going beyond one’s own boundaries: not only at the level of society, but above all at the level of the individual, which manifests itself in overcoming interpersonal barriers. This trait is clearly visible to everyone who has been abroad: Russians strive to unite their own and others, organizing collective interaction in any conditions. They easily manage to do this, unlike representatives of other nations, and this is due to the lack of fear and the presence of the habit of invading the very essence of someone else's life, crossing the personal barrier and overcoming the isolation of individuality. This quality is usually referred to as “Russian soulfulness.” Foreigners often perceive it as aggression: an attack on a person. For the vast majority of nations, the boundaries of the individual are sacred, and the psychological barrier between souls is insurmountable.
The concept of morality is inextricably linked with the very significant concept of truth for the Russian mentality - which is confirmed by the Russian language. The Russian word “pravda” not only has a high frequency in the Russian language compared to others, but also the epithet “mother” (truth-uterus, truth-mother), depicting the blood closeness of truth to a person, his original womb and refuge. And also the synonym “truth”, meaning the highest truth: the truth in spiritual sense, which connects it with the concept of the source of morality and ideal.
We can safely say that the desire to unite people/nations with an ideal or some universal idea is typical of our character. By playing such a role, Russia (Russian people) has a face in front of other nations (people).
Also important for the Russian mentality are the concepts of the soul: as a special internal, meaningful world- and fate, which correlates with humility and the expression “nothing can be done.” Such concepts of soul and fate are unique: inherent only in the Russian language.
This character trait in physical terms is confirmed by more than six months of hibernation of nature and external passivity during this period - against the background of which there is an internal, unconscious fermentation of the psyche, predisposing to deep religious perception (in Lately There have been studies showing that short daylight hours promote meditation, but also depression). The consequence of this is the philosophical depth of mental life, manifested primarily not even in philosophers, but in writers whose works have gained worldwide fame (Tolstoy or Dostoevsky). When the clear mind is silent, images speak. The fact that Russian philosophy expresses itself in fiction more clearly than in rational-logical concepts has been repeatedly pointed out by historians of Russian philosophy, among them E.L. Radlov and A.F. Losev.
Nations deprived of such a long-term forced decline in physical activity (inevitable in our climate, no matter how it is influenced by the now intense, violent social rhythm of life), do not develop such emotional and spiritual philosophical depth.
Russian Orthodoxy also played a huge role in the formation of the mental characteristics of Russian culture. It has given internal certainty to the mentality of the Russian people and over the last millennium has determined the spiritual potential of the nation. The Orthodox faith plays the role of a spiritual core or spiritual substance for the Russian national mentality. Orthodoxy did not preach the idea of predestination. And therefore, responsibility for sins committed of one’s own free will fell on the sinner. This was understandable and acceptable. Orthodoxy in this context is identical to the emotional and artistic structure of the Russian mentality: it reflects the Russian commitment to absolute spiritual values, maximalism, and the figurative and symbolic construction of the Russian national culture.
The historical conditions of existence, the spatial environment, the Orthodox religion and the Russian Orthodox Church as a sociocultural institution have left an indelible imprint on the Russian national mentality.
The Orthodox faith is a special, independent and great word in the history and system of Christianity. The Russian national spirit and national morality, respect and love for all tribes and peoples are based on Orthodoxy.
The moral and religious dominant gives rise to a number of features of the Russian cultural mentality. Firstly, not a single people had a Christian idea at the national-state level, only the Russians. Secondly, the Russian people are capable of religious and philosophical thinking. Thirdly, only Russians tend to understand the world through religious intuition, unlike the West. Fourthly, of all European peoples The Slavs and especially the Russians are the most prone to religion, for in ancient times they believed in one God, and in our monotheistic paganism there was a premonition of Christ and the Mother of God, and Christian concepts such as God, heaven, hell, and demon were originally Slavic.
The mental characteristics of Russian culture, which were determined by Orthodoxy, are the peculiarities of the attitude towards private property, wealth and justice in the Russian mentality. The economic experience of the Russians was dominated not by economic interest, but by the established moral economy, which main goal has survival. Therefore, people abandoned economic success and the risk associated with it, those values that seem natural in modern liberal civilization. Property relations for the bulk of the population were labor character, and achieving material well-being was not an end in itself. Hence, in the character of Russians, there is a relative indifference to material wealth and individual property. There is a lack of traditions of private property in Russia Orthodox view for wealth, which is not the result of labor, it is sent by God and is given not for accumulation and storage, but for beneficial use to others. The focus is on the righteous use of wealth rather than the acquisition of it. Wealth should serve a person, and not vice versa. Income was not an end in itself.
In Russia, the Orthodox ethics of entrepreneurship and commodity-money relations was created, while Western Christianity cultivated pragmatism, hoarding, and a passion for money and wealth in people. In the Russian mentality, the category of wealth acquires the greatest value, as a measure of spirituality in connection with wealth. Entrepreneurs looked at their activities differently than in the West, not so much as a source of profit, but as the fulfillment of a task assigned to them by God or fate. Entrepreneurship was seen as a certain type of creativity and self-affirmation.
Wealth in Orthodox ethics was perceived as a violation of fair mechanisms. And if a market economy is based on the principles of rationality and expediency, then in Russia they give priority to the ideas of justice. In the historical mentality, Russians have developed an egalitarian understanding of justice, associated with the harsh climatic conditions of Russia and the need for the physical survival of people. Here there was no objective possibility of ensuring the distribution of produced material goods in proportion to the merits of each person to society. Ideas about equality in the Russian mentality are predominantly moral, not legal, in nature.
Under the influence of Orthodoxy, a moral tradition of world development and management was formed in the Russian mentality, which persists even where conscious religiosity was lost. The Russian world development is characterized by the principles of a religious and ethical approach to the development of life.
Many researchers note the indifference of Russians to the organization of their earthly life, some strange disregard for the material layer, comfort, and ease of existence. When a culture is oriented towards eternity, then human existence in it is perceived as especially brief and ephemeral. In the “Cherubic Song” there are the words: “Put aside every care of this life...”, which means pushing into the background all the troubles associated with ensuring material well-being and order in this world. At the same time, the world for such a person is only a temporary refuge, and the leading type of attitude is the “delicate patience of a guest.”
The focus of culture on eternity explains why it has a poorly developed time perspective and orientation towards the future. Therefore, it is incredibly difficult to reform anything in such cultures. They strongly resist any changes, and if they occur, they are revolutionary, or rather apocalyptic in nature.
Another mental characteristic of Russian culture is self-sacrifice. Self-sacrifice is an absolute value in our culture. Quite strange things have happened several times in history - on the eve and during terrible disasters that threatened humanity with destruction, many European countries, their unique, original cultures and peoples were saved by the voluntary bloody sacrifice of Russia.
Of course, the original Russian culture and its spiritual center - Orthodoxy - are difficult for representatives of other countries to understand. national cultures. Pushkin said this brilliantly: “the Greek religion, separate from all others, gives us a special national character.” It is not surprising that the West does not know or understand us; it is much more important that we ourselves know and understand our culture and mentality.
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The time has come to determine the main, in my opinion, features of the Russian mentality.
One of the primary properties of the Russian people is their kindness. Kindness in all its layers is expressed in the absence of rancor. Often a Russian person, being passionate and prone to maximalism, experiences a strong feeling of repulsion from another person, but when meeting him, if specific communication is necessary, his heart softens, and he somehow involuntarily begins to show his spiritual softness towards him, even sometimes condemning himself for this if he believes that this person does not deserve a kind attitude towards him.
“Life according to the heart” creates openness in the soul of a Russian person and ease of communication with people, simplicity of communication, without conventions, without external instilled politeness, but with those virtues of politeness that arise from sensitive natural delicacy...
However, positive qualities There are often negative sides too. The kindness of a Russian person sometimes prompts him to lie due to the reluctance to offend his interlocutor, due to the desire for peace and good relations with people at all costs.
The Russian people amaze us with the versatility of their abilities. He is characterized by high religious talent, the ability to higher forms experience, observation, theoretical and practical intelligence, creative ingenuity, ingenuity, subtle perception of beauty and the aristocracy associated with it, expressed both in Everyday life, and in the creation of great works of art.
Among the especially valuable properties of the Russian people is a sensitive perception of strangers. states of mind. This results in live communication between even unfamiliar people. “...The Russian people have highly developed individual personal and family communication. There is no excessive replacement in Russia individual relationships social, there is no personal and family isolationism. Therefore, even a foreigner, having arrived in Russia, feels: “I am not alone here” (of course, I am talking about normal Russia, and not about life under the Bolshevik regime). Perhaps, these properties are the main source of recognition of the charm of the Russian people, so often expressed by foreigners who know Russia well...”
Passion and powerful willpower can be considered among the basic properties of the Russian people. The willpower of the Russian people is revealed in the fact that a Russian person, having noticed any shortcoming of his and morally condemning it, obeying a sense of duty, overcomes it and develops a quality that is completely opposite to it. Passion is a combination of strong feelings and willpower directed towards a loved or hated value. Naturally, the higher the value, the more strong feelings and it causes energetic activity in people with a strong will. This explains the passion of the Russian people, manifested in political life, and even greater passion in religious life. Maximalism, extremism and fanatical intolerance are the products of this passion.
Love of freedom. Among the primary properties of the Russian people, along with religiosity, the search for absolute good and willpower, one can include the love of freedom and its highest expression - freedom of spirit. He who has a free spirit is inclined to put every value to the test, not only in thought, but even in experience. Due to the free search for truth, it is difficult for Russian people to come to terms with each other. Therefore in public life Russians' love of freedom is expressed in a tendency towards anarchy, in repulsion from the state.
Cruelty. Kindness is the predominant feature of the Russian people. But at the same time, it cannot be denied that there are also many manifestations of cruelty in Russian life. There are many types of cruelty and some of them can be found, paradoxically, even in the behavior of people who are not at all evil by nature. The cruelty can be explained by the prevalence of poverty in Russia by a variety of grievances and oppressions. Until the last one quarter of the XIX century building family life merchants, townspeople and peasants was patriarchal. The despotism of the head of the family was often expressed in actions close to cruelty.
Laziness, “Oblomovism”. Russian people are characterized by a desire for an absolutely perfect kingdom of existence and, at the same time, excessive sensitivity to any shortcomings of their own and others’ activities. From here arises a cooling towards the work begun and an aversion to continuing it; the idea and general outline of it are often very valuable, but its incompleteness and therefore inevitable imperfections repel the Russian person, and he is lazy to continue finishing the little things. Thus, “Oblomovism” is in many cases the flip side of the high qualities of the Russian person - the desire for complete perfection and sensitivity to the shortcomings of our reality.
Mentality (mentality) (from Late Latin mentalis - mental), way of thinking, a set of mental skills and spiritual attitudes inherent in an individual or social group. Recently, it has become fashionable to explain much in the life of a particular people by its mentality. The Russian people have a spiritual character, are merciful, patriotic, smart and have their own culture.
The Russian way of thinking appeared already in the Middle Ages. Firstly literary monuments in the “Teaching” of Vladimir Monomakh, in the “Tale of Igor’s Host”, in the “Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land” there are ideas of our ancestors about space and time, about the relationship to the past, about the relationship between the People and the Power.
There was a Russian style in architecture, painting and stone construction. Russians are well known for their passion for building and decorating churches. This was not so much a manifestation of the piety of our ancestors as a desire for the materialization of beauty. St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, erected under Yaroslav the Wise, has distinctive features, which gave it uniqueness and beauty.
The question of thinking and inspiration in the Russian worldview is a question of science and inspiration. After all, thinking is the highest level of human cognition, the process of reflecting objective reality. Human thinking has a natural-historical nature and is inextricably linked with practical activities of people.
Russian in science national thinking gives birth to something that corresponds to the entire Russian way of life. Already in the XVII - XVIII centuries. the famous Russian desire for geographical discoveries and the conquest of unknown spaces manifested itself (Dezhnev, Khabarov, Atlasov, Krasheninnikov, Chelyuskin, the Laptev brothers). The Russian mind is a search for the path and meaning of life, widely represented both in Russian folklore and in Russian classical literature.
Patriotism is a feeling of love and devotion to one's people and one's homeland. If we talk about patriotism, its origins go back to the times of Kievan Rus. (“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”) The work fills the hearts of readers with burning grief when describing the defeat of the Russian army, the death of thousands of soldiers and the captivity of princes, and acute hatred for enemies when describing the devastation of the Russian land. But one cannot help but be proud of the homeland and our glorious ancestors, reading a description of the strength, courage and bravery of Russian soldiers. They show no less patriotism unknown authors“Words about the destruction of the Russian land”, “The Life of Alexander Nevsky” and other works of ancient Russian literature.
And in modern times it is difficult to find at least one Russian writer who would not admit his boundless love and devotion to his homeland - Russia. When we say " soviet man”, then we mean by this “Russian person”. But as soon as instead of the definition of “Russian” you put another one - say, “German”, “Italian” or “American”, then the phrase seems to lose all meaning. “French man” does not sound. However, such phrases as “ Ukrainian man", "Tajik person", "Kazakh person" or "Latvian person". We would rather say “Tajik”, “Kazakh”, “Latvian” or “Asian” and “Baltic”.
And “Russian man” - they sound. And they not only sound, but also have a very definite meaning.
One of the main features in the character of the Russian people is the boundless love of freedom. The highest manifestation This freedom is the freedom of the spirit.
Classic examples of the search for personal freedom are given to us by great Russian literature (the works of F. Dostoevsky).
Unfulfilled freedom of spirit leads the Russian person to mental exile. In one of his letters in 1824, Pushkin wrote: “I am tired of obeying the good or bad digestion of this or that boss; I’m tired of seeing that in my homeland I’m treated less respectfully than any English dunce who comes to show us his vulgarity, his promiscuity and his muttering.”
Clear examples of Russian people’s desire for freedom of spirit can be considered the widespread custom of going to monasteries among Russian monasticism, as well as the emergence of the Cossacks. And it is not for nothing that prominent theorists of anarchism appeared in Russia - Bakunin, Kropotkin, Tolstoy.
But Rus' replaced Russia.
Currently, there is no single mentality in society, since the state’s society is heterogeneous, so we can only talk about the mentality of individual groups and segments of the population.
An essential component of the public mentality of the Russian people is faith in God, Orthodox traditions, pagan customs, rituals, but on the other hand, atheism as a legacy of the 70-year communist regime also remains an essential component of the public mentality.
There are many holidays and customs in the traditions of the Russian people, both from paganism, Orthodox Christianity, and the era of post-revolutionary socialism.
Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Trinity, Intercession, Paraskeva Friday, St. George's Day. Old New Year, Christmastide, Maslenitsa, apple saved.
February 23, March 8, May 1. May 9 - Victory Day, Independence Day and all professional holidays.
Very often, any event, joyful or sad, is celebrated by drinking alcoholic beverages.
Unfortunately, time does not go back. It is not in our power to reverse history in order to return to the true folk origins life. Russia - our homeland has become a great and powerful country, which is known throughout the world and is taken into account.
Tyutchev's four lines reveal more to us than some weighty volumes. F. Tyutchev admits in his famous quatrain:
You can't understand Russia with your mind,
The general arshin cannot be measured:
She will become special -
You can only believe in Russia.
