Characteristic features of the appearance of a Russian person. The mysterious Russian soul (national character of Russians and peculiarities of communication)

A lot of research has been written - artistic and journalistic - about what the Russian character is, what traits are defining and original in it. The best minds of Russian and Western philosophy and literature have been arguing about the mysterious Russian soul for several centuries. The same Dostoevsky, through the mouth of Dmitry Karamazov, argued that in the soul of every Russian person two ideals coexist - Madonna and Sodomy. Time has proven the complete truth of his words and their relevance today.

So, Russian character - what is it? Let's try to highlight some of its defining aspects.

Qualitative characteristics

• Domestic poets and writers, such as Khomyakov, Aksakov, Tolstoy, Leskov, Nekrasov distinctive feature a man of the people was considered conciliarity. It has long been customary in Rus' to resolve many issues “peacefully,” from helping impoverished fellow villagers to global problems. Naturally, this moral category was considered as an attribute of village life. And since Russia was originally an agrarian country and the bulk of the population was the peasantry, it was the village peasant who personified the character of the Russian person. It is not for nothing that in Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” the value of all heroes is determined by spiritual closeness to the people.
• Another feature characteristic of the people is directly related to conciliarity - religiosity. sincere, deep, unpretentious, and the peacefulness, humility, and mercy associated with it are part of the character of a Russian person as an organic part of him. An example of this is the legendary archpriest Avvakum, Peter and Fevronia of Murom, Matryona of Moscow and many other personalities. It is not for nothing that saints and holy fools, wandering monks and pilgrims enjoyed special respect and love among the people. And although the people treated the official church ironically and critically, examples of true piety can be considered as features of the Russian national character.
• The mysterious Russian soul, to a greater extent than other nationalities, is characterized by self-sacrifice. as the personification of eternal sacrifice in the name of neighbors “while the world stands” - here it is, the Russian character in pure form, without any foreign impurities. And if we remember the Great Patriotic War, the simplicity and greatness of the soldier’s feat, it will become clear that neither time nor change has power over true values, over what is eternal.
• Oddly enough, the natural properties of a person from the people include such qualities as stupidity, recklessness - on the one hand, and a sharp mind, natural savvy - on the other. The most famous and popular fairy tales - Ivan the fool and the lazy Emelya, as well as the skilled Soldier, who managed to cook porridge, embody these features of the Russian national character.
• Heroism, courage, devotion to one’s ideals, the cause one serves, modesty, love of peace - this also cannot be forgotten when talking about a Russian person. The writer Alexei Tolstoy has a wonderful essay in which the Russian character is defined capaciously, deeply and figuratively - “human beauty”.
• However, Russian people are ambivalent. It was not for nothing that Dostoevsky spoke about two ideals fighting in his soul. And therefore, along with boundless kindness and sacrifice, he is capable of the same boundless cruelty. “Russian revolt”, senseless, merciless, which Pushkin warned about, and then Civil War- terrible examples of what people are capable of if their patience is exhausted, if they are pushed to the limit of the possible.
• Drunkenness and theft are also, alas, primordially Russian qualities. The jokes included Karamzin’s famous phrase about what was happening in his homeland. His laconic answer is “They steal!” - says a lot. By the way, it is still relevant today!

Afterword

We can talk about Russian for a long time. Love for the native land, for the “father’s coffins”, respect for ancestors and memory of them are Russians. But the Ivans, who do not remember their kinship, betrayed small homeland, - also Russians. Truth-seekers who are ready to suffer for an idea, who neglect material values ​​for the sake of spiritual ones - Russians. But Chichikov, Sharikov and others like him are just as Russian...

The Savior once said about Christians: “If you were of this world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of this world, because I took you out of the world, the world hates you.” These same words can also be applied to the Russian people, into whose flesh and blood Christianity was most deeply absorbed.

Today we are often faced with open Russophobia and hatred from other states. But this is not a reason to panic, it did not start today and will not end tomorrow - it will always be like this.

The world hates us, but it itself does not suspect how much he himself needs the Russian people. If the Russian people disappear, then from the world soul taken out and he will lose the very meaning of his existence!

That is why the Lord protects us and Russians exist, despite all the tragedies and trials: Napoleon, Batu and Hitler, revolution, perestroika and Time of Troubles, drugs, moral decline and a crisis of responsibility...

We will live and develop as long as we ourselves remain relevant, as long as the Russian people retain the character traits inherent in our people.

Caring “friends” often remind us of those characteristics inherent in us that can be classified as bad, trying to make us hate ourselves and self-destruct... We will look at the positive characteristics of the Russian soul in order to remember what gifts the Lord has generously endowed us with and what we should always stay.

So, TOP 10 best qualities of a Russian person:

1. Strong faith

The Russian people believe in God at a deep level and have a strong inner feeling conscience, the concept of good and evil, worthy and unworthy, due and not due. Even the communists believed in their “Moral Code.”

It is the Russian person who views his entire life from the perspective son of God — The Father will like it or it will upset him. To act according to the law or according to conscience (according to the commandments of God) is a purely Russian problem.

A Russian person also believes in people, constantly doing good to them and even beyond that. sacrificing personal for the good of one's neighbor. A Russian person sees in another person first of all Image of God, sees equal, recognizes the dignity of another person. This is precisely the secret of the victorious power of Russian civilization, our gigantic spaces and multinational unity.

Russian people believe in themselves as the bearer of Truth. Hence the strength of our actions and the legendary Russian survival. Not a single conqueror in the world could destroy us. Only we ourselves can kill the Russian people if we believe in the negative image of the Russian people that is being imposed on us.

2. Heightened sense of justice

We cannot live in comfort while lies are rampant in the world. “We’ll put together a strong coffin for the scum of humanity!” from the song " Holy war" - this is about us.

We for a long time fought with the Turks for the freedom of our Slavic brothers, we saved the poor people of Central Asia from the bais and their extortions, stopped the genocide of the Chinese by the Japanese army and saved the Jews from the Holocaust.

As soon as a Russian person believes that a threat to all of humanity comes from somewhere, Napoleon, Hitler, Mamai or anyone else immediately disappears from the historical canvas.

The same rule applies in our internal life - our riots and revolutions are just attempts to build a fair society, punish those who have gone too far and alleviate the lot of the poor (naturally, if we consider the motivation of ordinary workers and peasants, and not the cynical leaders of the revolution).

You can rely on us - because we keep our word and do not betray our allies. The concept of honor, unlike the Anglo-Saxons, is not only familiar to Russian people, but also deeply inherent.

3. Love for the Motherland

All peoples love their homeland. Even Americans, a people of emigrants, treat their national symbols and traditions with reverence.

But a Russian person loves his homeland more than others! White emigrants fled the country under threat of death. It would seem that they should have hated Russia and quickly assimilated where they came. But what really happened?

They were so nostalgic that they taught their sons and grandchildren the Russian language, they were so homesick for their homeland that they created thousands of little Russias around them - they founded Russian institutes and seminaries, built Orthodox churches, taught Russian culture and language to thousands of Brazilians, Moroccans, Americans, French, Germans, Chinese...

They died not from old age, but from longing for their Fatherland and cried when the USSR authorities allowed them to return. They infected those around them with their love, and today Spaniards and Danes, Syrians and Greeks, Vietnamese, Filipinos and Africans come to live in Russia.

4. Unique generosity

Russian people are generous and generous in everything: material gifts, wonderful ideas, and expressions of feelings.

The word “generosity” in ancient times meant mercy, mercy. This quality is deeply rooted in the Russian character.

It is completely unnatural for a Russian person to spend 5% or 2% of his salary on charity. If a friend is in trouble, then the Russian will not bargain and gain something for himself, he will give his friend all the cash, and if it is not enough, he will throw his hat around or take off and sell his last shirt for him.

Half of the inventions in the world were made by Russian “Kulibins”, and patented by cunning foreigners. But Russians are not offended by this, since their ideas are also generosity, a gift from our people to humanity.

The Russian soul does not accept half measures and knows no prejudices. If in Russia someone was once called a friend, then they will die for him, if he is an enemy, then he will certainly be destroyed. At the same time, it doesn’t matter at all who our counterpart is, what race, nation, religion, age or gender he is - the attitude towards him will depend only on his personal qualities.

5. Incredible hard work

“The Russians are very lazy people,” Goebbels’ propagandists preached and their followers today continue to repeat. But that's not true.

We are often compared to bears, and this comparison is very apt - we have similar biological rhythms: summer in Russia is short and you have to work hard to have time to harvest, and winter is long and relatively idle - chop wood, heat the stove, remove snow, and collect crafts . In fact, we work a lot, just unevenly.

Russian people have always worked diligently and conscientiously. In our fairy tales and proverbs positive image The hero is inextricably linked with skill, hard work and ingenuity: “The sun paints the earth, but labor paints man.”

Since ancient times, labor has been famous and revered among peasants and artisans, scribes and merchants, warriors and monks, and has always been deeply linked to the cause of defending the Fatherland and increasing its glory.

6. The ability to see and appreciate beauty

The Russian people live in extremely picturesque places. In our country you can find large rivers and steppes, mountains and seas, tropical forests and tundra, taiga and deserts. Therefore, the sense of beauty is heightened in the Russian soul.

Russian culture was formed over a thousand years, absorbing parts of the cultures of many Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes, as well as accepting and creatively processing the heritage of Byzantium and the Golden Horde and hundreds of small nations. Therefore, in terms of richness of content, it cannot be compared with no other culture in the world.

The awareness of the immensity of his own wealth, material and spiritual, made the Russian person friendly and understanding towards other peoples of the Earth.

A Russian person, like no one else, is able to highlight the beauty in the culture of another people, admire it and recognize the greatness of achievements. For him there are no backward or underdeveloped peoples, he has no need to treat anyone with disdain out of awareness of his own inferiority. Even from the Papuans and Indians, Russians will always find something to learn.

7. Hospitality

This national character trait is associated with our vast spaces, where it was rare to meet a person on the road. Hence the joy from such meetings - intense and sincere.

If a guest comes to a Russian person, a laid table, the best dishes, festive food and a warm overnight stay await him. And all this is done free of charge, since it is not customary for us to see in a person only a “wallet with ears” and treat him as a consumer.

Our man knows that a guest in the house should not be bored. Therefore, a foreigner who comes to us, when leaving, can hardly put together the memories of how they sang, danced, rode, fed him to the full and watered him to amazement...

8. Patience

The Russian people are amazingly patient. But this patience is not reduced to banal passivity or “slavery”; it is intertwined with sacrifice. Russian people are by no means stupid and always endure in the name of something, in the name of a meaningful goal.

If he realizes that he is being deceived, a rebellion begins - the same merciless revolt in the flames of which all the moneylenders and careless managers perish.

But when a Russian person knows for what purpose he endures difficulties and works hard, then national patience gives incredible positive results. For us to cut down an entire fleet in five years and win world war or industrialization is the order of the day.

Russian patience is also a kind of strategy for non-aggressive interaction with the world, solving life’s problems not through violence against nature and consumption of its resources, but mainly through internal, spiritual efforts. We do not plunder the property given to us by God, but slightly moderate our appetites.

9. Sincerity

Another of the main features of the Russian character is sincerity in the manifestation of feelings.

A Russian person is bad at forcing a smile, he does not like pretense and ritual politeness, he gets irritated by insincere “thank you for your purchase, come again” and does not shake hands with a person whom he considers a scoundrel, even if this could bring benefits.

If a person doesn’t evoke emotions in you, then you don’t need to express anything - just walk in without stopping. Acting in Russia is not held in high esteem (unless it is a profession) and those who are most respected are those who speak and act as they think and feel as God put it on my soul.

10. Collectivism, conciliarity

A Russian person is not a loner. He loves and knows how to live in society, which is reflected in the sayings: “in the world even death is red,” “alone in the field is not a warrior.”

Since ancient times, nature itself, with its severity, has encouraged Russians to unite into groups - communities, artels, partnerships, squads and brotherhoods.

Hence the “imperialism” of Russians, that is, their indifference to the fate of a relative, neighbor, friend and, ultimately, the entire Fatherland. It was because of conciliarism that for a long time there were no homeless children in Rus' - orphans were always sorted into families and raised by the entire village.

Russian conciliarity, according to the definition of the Slavophile Khomyakov, is “a holistic combination of freedom and unity of many people based on their common love for the same absolute values,” Christian values.

The West was unable to create such a powerful state as Russia, united on spiritual principles, because it did not achieve conciliarity, and to unite peoples it was forced to use, first of all, violence.

Russia has always been united on the basis of mutual respect and mutual consideration of interests. The unity of the people in peace, love and mutual assistance has always been one of the basic values ​​of the Russian people.

Andrey Szegeda

In contact with

Russia cannot be understood with the mind, it cannot be measured with a common yardstick: it has become something special - one can only believe in Russia. Fedor Tyutchev.

If the holy army shouts:

“Throw away Rus', live in paradise!”

I will say: “There is no need for heaven,

Give me my homeland."

Sergey Yesenin.

Who are these strange Russians, and what strange laws do they live by?

What is so special about the Russian character, and why doesn’t even a similar mentality exist anywhere in the world?

Why is the behavior of a Russian person abroad so recognizable, and for what reason are we either adored or hated, but never simply indifferent?

All attempts by the government to build in our state a state that lives strictly according to the laws and consciously observes them have failed with a deafening crash. Any imposed Western-style values ​​are rejected by our people like a foreign body.

What is the reason? After all, everything has stood and prospered on these principles for many years now. Western Europe and America.

Together with that revolutionary ideas Lenin and, which have no analogues anywhere in the world and are not supported by any other countries, were received with a bang, and in just two decades they turned the political system upside down, creating a society that was fundamentally different in its mechanisms of existence.

What was it? Utopian idea that has taken root in an atypically thinking society?

You can't understand Russia with your mind,

The general arshin cannot be measured:

She will become special -

You can only believe in Russia.

Fedor Tyutchev.

Faith has always occupied a special place in the life of Russian people, but at the same time we have always been tolerant of people of other faiths. Many nationalities have always coexisted in Russia, and each had its own religion.

Russian character has always been a mystery to any foreigner. Completely illogical actions - this strange tendency towards daring recklessness, ostentatious, inexplicable generosity, reaching the point of wastefulness, love for luxurious expensive things, even for one day, even without a penny in his pocket, as if it were his last day, and then take it and give it away everything to anyone, even to the first person you meet - no, it’s impossible to understand.

Terrible, brutal crime, total corruption and thieves' laws, which are observed better than the criminal code - is this also a feature of the national character or a dead end into which the whole country has reached?

Can our people abroad become so “at home” that they feel happy?

What determines the Russian character - heredity, climate, social system or landscape conditions?

Read on for the most comprehensive and most unexpected answers...

National character. Hot blood of the cold steppes

Russian character is psychological picture the whole people, the mentality of the state, and not even Russia alone. It is partially present in every Russian person; these are the features that unite us, make us similar, create the basis on which we understand each other a little better than people with a different mentality.

The formation of national character took place over many centuries, the foundation for this was the special geopolitics of one of the great leaders of the past - Genghis Khan.

The unique combination of endless steppes and impenetrable forests created the preconditions for the emergence of the urethral-muscular mentality, which forms the basis of the Russian character.

The specific role of the representative of the urethral vector is the leader, the head of the tribe, his task is to preserve the living matter of the flock, advance it into the future or develop new lands.

Unpredictable strategic thinking, complete absence of fear and high endurance are the properties that ensure the implementation of its species role.

The highest rank, the first right to bite, given by nature, cannot be challenged or doubted. Anyone who encroaches on his primacy will instantly know what urethral lion wrath is. There can only be one leader in a pack; when a second one appears, everything is decided by a mortal fight, the outcome of which is either the death of one of them or expulsion. The defeated one, at best, leaves to look for his pack.

He himself does not obey anyone and does not recognize any restrictions, having an innate sense of mercy and justice. Merciless towards strangers and the most tolerant towards his own, he forgives everything except crimes against the pack, for which he punishes immediately - cruelly and mercilessly.

The interests of the pack are of the highest value to him; personal interests are always deeply secondary. His pleasure is in giving, in the realization of his animal altruism. That is why the communist ideas of building an ideal society, where everyone works for the good of the country, receiving as much as they need to live, turned out to be so close to the hearts of the Russian people.

The most generous and selfless, he will give his last shirt to the one who needs it most. With this he satisfies his needs for bestowal and receives his pleasure. A fur coat from a master's shoulder, expensive gifts and fabulous tips - all this is a manifestation of urethral generosity, a kind of evidence of his highest rank, his status.

Hence the love for fame and luxury - the leader must have everything that is most expensive, luxurious and unique, but at the same time he has absolutely no intention of keeping, saving or hoarding it all. These are trifles, albeit royal ones, but compared to his goals and values, all these are trifles that he can give to anyone he meets whenever he wants.

Risk is a noble cause!

This expression is typical only for Russians. A leader cannot have fear. He is always the first to rush into battle, the first to attack, conquer new unexplored horizons, and commit actions that no one else is capable of. He was born for this, the whole flock follows him, he does not and cannot have any other way. Only for the flags, only forward, contrary to common sense, logic or experience. Restrictions, rules, laws are for others, he has a purpose and nothing else matters. And this goal is to preserve the flock, even at the cost own life, the goal is still more important.

Only a representative of the urethral vector is capable of making the decision to ram or rush into an embrasure, as the Heroes of the Great Patriotic War did, defending the Motherland, their people, even at the cost of their own lives.

The Russian man is a simple man

The impenetrable taiga and other forest areas of Russia are the closest and dearest place for representatives of the muscle vector: only they can accurately navigate and feel quite comfortable among dense forests.

The properties of the muscle vector are basic for all living beings, so they simply dissolve in the desires of other vectors, strengthening them.

The perception of oneself, characteristic of the muscle vector, as only an inseparable part of the common collective “we” and a wary attitude towards strangers is strikingly mixed with urethral generosity, tolerance and hospitality, turning into so-called xenophobia in reverse. This was manifested by our inexplicable love for foreigners, for whom we always set a sumptuous table, organized holidays, gave gifts, and gave the most beautiful girls as wives.

It is thanks to this property that a wide variety of nationalities with their own culture, traditions and religions coexisted peacefully in our vast country.

A muscular person will never take more than he needs for life, he simply does not have such a need and such a desire, and in combination with urethral altruism, he would rather give his own than take what is extra. , it was the muscular people who were ready to work for the good of the Motherland practically for free all their lives.

We have always lived this way - at the call of our souls

The reasons are obvious why the sound idea of ​​Lenin and Trotsky, pushed forward by the urethral commissars and which found a response in the inner world of every Russian person, in such a short time brought such significant results and radically changed the face of the country.

Close to the urethral mentality, such values ​​of the anal vector as honesty, decency, friendship, respect for elders, for the traditions of the past became widespread and became generally accepted, especially during the anal phase of human development, which ended with the end of the Great Patriotic War.

With the transition to the Russian people who until recently considered themselves Soviet, they found themselves in a contradictory situation.

On the one hand, the urethral mentality was and remains, but at the same time new values modern society are sharply counter to this mentality.

The basis of all properties of the skin vector are restrictions that absolutely cannot be perceived in the urethral mentality. Any laws, rules, regulations, which are mandatory mechanisms for regulating skin society, are rejected by the Russian character, which is based on an unrestricted urethral mentality.

The cutaneous phase of human development, like any other, is inevitable for everyone, including Russians. To judge her as good or bad would be wrong. It continues, and Russia also lives in a world of consumption, high technology and law. Somewhere it’s clumsy, somewhere it’s different, but we are learning to adapt the landscape in such strange conditions for us. This is development, moving forward, a kind of evolution, overcoming obstacles.

It is impossible to fence off the endless steppe, it is simply impossible. Making a leader obey is even more impossible. He would rather die in a mortal fight, but would not bow his head, especially in front of some leather worker, who by nature has a rank significantly lower than the leader. This behavior is contrary to the entire urethral nature. He didn’t care about any skin laws. The law is his word! This is how nature sets it, this is how he feels and simply cannot live any other way.

His urethral laws are the most correct, since they are based on real mercy and justice without a shadow of personal gain, only for the good of the pack, for the same reason they completely contradict logical and rational skin values ​​and cannot be understood.

Representatives of the urethral vector, who have not received sufficient development of their properties before the end of puberty, and often, on the contrary, are beaten at home and driven into the school confines, run away from home in search of their pack, which they find on the street, among street children. Perceiving the world as hostile, as it was throughout childhood, they learn to defend themselves from it and protect their pack, living by their own laws and turning into a crime boss.

The laws of thieves, for all their cruelty, are fair, but they are fair for a primitive society, for an animal pack and are, in fact, a manifestation of the archetypal program of the urethral vector.

In which feelings of mercy, justice and responsibility for others are brought up, he perceives the entire society as his flock and is capable of bringing socially useful benefits into it like no one else.

Representatives of the Western skin mentality, being next to Russians, subconsciously feel their lower rank due to our urethral mentality. It manifests itself in any case, even if we are talking about a person with a skin vector, who, it would seem, has every chance of harmoniously fitting into a developed consumer society. A Westerner gets enormous stress from the way Russians spend money, because for him saving is a priority, rational logical thinking in everything that does not fit into urethral habits. Many Western women are captivated by the passionate, generous Russian nature, but at the same time they are alarmed by inexplicable behavior and illogical life decisions, and men are humiliated by the position of a lower rank next to the leader, even if all these points are not clearly manifested in behavior.

Misunderstanding of the behavior of Russians abroad is due to the peculiarities of the national character, which simply cannot be understood in a skin society due to the significant remoteness of innate properties. Only awareness of one’s own nature and the qualities of another person makes it possible to harmoniously communicate with a representative of any vector or mentality, since there are no bad or good vectors, everything depends on the level of development and degree of realization of the properties of each individual person.

A society with a urethral mentality is where the next phase of human development will begin, based on spiritual altruism. Read what awaits us in the next article.

We are Russians...
What a delight!
A.V. Suvorov

Reflections on the character of the Russian people lead us to the conclusion that the character of the people and the character of an individual do not have a direct correlation. The people are a conciliar, symphonic personality, therefore it is hardly possible to detect in every Russian person all the features and properties of the Russian national character. In general, in the Russian character one can see the qualities of Peter the Great, Prince Myshkin, Oblomov and Khlestakov, i.e. both positive and negative properties. There are no nations on earth that have only positive or only negative traits character. In reality, there is a known relationship between both. Only in the assessment of some peoples by others does a false idea arise, giving rise to stereotypes and myths, that another (not our) people has mainly negative character traits. And, on the contrary, there is a desire to attribute all kinds of positive characteristics superlatively to his own people.

In the character of the Russian people, such properties as patience, national fortitude, conciliarity, generosity, immensity (breadth of soul), and talent are often noted. BUT. Lossky, in his book “The Character of the Russian People,” begins his study with such a trait of the Russian character as religiosity. “The main, deepest character trait of the Russian people is their religiosity, and the search for absolute good associated with it... which is feasible only in the Kingdom of God,” he writes. “Perfect good 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: to love God more than yourself, and your neighbor as yourself. Members of the Kingdom of God are completely free from selfishness and therefore they create only absolute values ​​- moral goodness, beauty, knowledge of truth, benefits that are indivisible and indestructible, serving the whole world" [ 1 ].

Lossky puts emphasis on the word “search” for absolute good, thereby he does not absolutize the properties of the Russian people, but seeks to designate their spiritual aspirations. Therefore, in the history of Russia, thanks to the influence of the great holy ascetics, the ideal of the people became not powerful, not rich, but “Holy Rus'”. Lossky cites the insightful remark of I.V. Kireevsky, that in comparison with the businesslike, almost theatrical behavior of Europeans, one is surprised by the humility, calmness, restraint, dignity and inner harmony of people who grew up in the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church. Even many generations of Russian atheists, instead of Christian religiosity, showed formal religiosity, a fanatical desire to realize on earth a kind of kingdom of God without God, on the basis of scientific knowledge and universal equality. “Considering that the main property of the Russian people is Christian religiosity and the search for absolute good associated with it,” wrote Lossky, “in the following chapters I will try to explain some other properties of the Russian people in connection with this essential feature of their character” [ 2 ].

Lossky calls such derived traits of the Russian character the ability to higher forms of experience, feeling and will (powerful willpower, passion, maximalism), love of freedom, kindness, giftedness, messianism and missionism. At the same time, he also names negative traits associated with the lack of the middle area of ​​culture - fanaticism, extremism, which manifested themselves in the Old Believers, nihilism and hooliganism. It should be noted that Lossky, when analyzing the features of the Russian national character, has in mind the thousand-year experience of the existence of the Russian people and in fact does not give assessments related to the trends characteristic of the Russian character in the 20th century. For us, what is important in Lossky’s works is the basic feature of the national character, the dominant that determines all other properties and sets the vector for the analysis of the problem posed.

Modern researchers of this topic take more into account the trends in the development of the Russian national character of the 20th century, without denying the tradition that throughout thousand years of history Russia and the Russian people formed these properties. So, V.K. Trofimov in the book “The Soul of the Russian People” writes: “Acquaintance with the national-physical and spiritual determinants of the psychological properties of the Russian people allows us to identify the fundamental internal qualities of national psychology. These fundamental qualities, which constitute the essence of national psychology and the national character of the Russian people, can be designated as the essential forces of the Russian souls" [ 3 ].

Among the essential forces he considers the paradoxical nature of mental manifestations (the inconsistency of the Russian soul), contemplation with the heart (the primacy of feeling and contemplation over reason and reason), the immensity of life's impulse (the breadth of the Russian soul), the religious desire for the absolute, national resilience, “We-psychology” and love of freedom. “The essential forces inherent in the deep foundations of the Russian soul are extremely contradictory in the possible consequences of their practical implementation. They can become a source of creation in economics, politics and culture. In the hands of a wise national elite, for centuries the emerging features of national psychology served prosperity, strengthening of power and Russia's authority in the world" [ 4 ].

F.M. Dostoevsky, long before Berdyaev and Lossky, showed how the character of the Russian people combines the base and the sublime, the holy and the sinful, the “ideal of Madonna” and the “ideal of Sodom,” and the battlefield of these principles is the human heart. In Dmitry Karamazov’s monologue, the extremes and boundless breadth of the Russian soul are expressed with exceptional force: “Moreover, I cannot bear that another person, even higher in heart and with a lofty mind, begins with the ideal of the Madonna, and ends with the ideal of Sodom. It is even more terrible who is already with "The ideal of Sodom in his soul does not deny the ideal of the Madonna, and his heart burns from it and truly, truly burns, as in his young, blameless years. No, the man is broad, too broad, I would narrow it" [ 5 ].

Consciousness of their sinfulness gives the Russian people an ideal spiritual ascent. Characterizing Russian literature, Dostoevsky emphasizes that all the timeless and beautiful images in the works of Pushkin, Goncharov and Turgenev were borrowed from the Russian people. They took from him simplicity, purity, meekness, intelligence and gentleness, in contrast to everything that was broken, false, superficial and slavishly borrowed. And this contact with the people gave them extraordinary strength.

Dostoevsky highlights another fundamental need of the Russian people - the need for constant and insatiable suffering, everywhere and in everything. He has been infected with this thirst for suffering from time immemorial; a stream of suffering runs through its entire history, not only from external misfortunes and disasters, but wells up from the very heart of the people. For the Russian people, even in happiness there is certainly a part of suffering, otherwise happiness for them is incomplete. Never, even in the most solemn moments of his history, does he have a proud and triumphant look, but only a look of tenderness to the point of suffering; he sighs and lifts up his glory to the mercy of the Lord. This idea of ​​Dostoevsky found clear expression in his formula: “Whoever does not understand Orthodoxy will never understand Russia.”

Truly, our shortcomings are a continuation of our strengths. The polarities of the Russian national character can be represented as a whole series of antinomies expressing positive and negative properties.

1. breadth of soul - absence of form;
2. generosity - wastefulness;
3. love of freedom - weak discipline (anarchism);
4. prowess - revelry;
5. patriotism - national egoism.

These parallels can be increased many times over. I.A. Bunin gives a significant parable in “Cursed Days”. The peasant says: the people are like wood, from it you can make both an icon and a club, depending on who processes this wood - Sergius of Radonezh or Emelka Pugachev [ 6 ].

Many Russian poets sought to express the total immensity of the Russian national character, but A.K. succeeded especially fully in this. Tolstoy:

If you love, so without reason,
If you threaten, it’s not a joke,
If you scold, so rashly,
If you chop, it’s too bad!

If it's too bold to argue,
If you punish, that's the point,
If you forgive, then with all your heart,
If there is a feast, then there is a feast!

I.A. Ilyin draws attention to the fact that immensity for a Russian person is a living concrete reality, his object, his starting point, his task. “Such is the Russian soul: it is given passion and power; form, character and transformation are its historically vital tasks.” Among Western analysts of the Russian national character, these features were most successfully expressed by the German thinker W. Schubart. The greatest interest in contrasting two diametrically opposed types of worldview - Western (Promethean) and Russian (Johnnian) - is a number of positions proposed by Schubart for comparison, which are saturated with diverse specific material. Let's reproduce one of them. The culture of the middle and the culture of the end. Western culture is the culture of the middle. Socially it rests on the middle class, psychologically on the mental state of the middle, balance. Her virtues are self-control, good manners, efficiency, discipline. “The European is a decent and diligent, skilled worker, a flawlessly functioning cog in a large mechanism. Outside his profession, he is hardly taken into account. He prefers the path of the golden mean, and this is usually the path to gold.” Materialism and philistinism are the goal and result of Western culture.

The Russian moves within the framework of a peripheral culture. Hence the breadth and immensity of the Russian soul, the feeling of freedom right up to anarchism and nihilism; feelings of guilt and sinfulness; an apocalyptic worldview and, finally, sacrifice as the central idea of ​​Russian religious morality. “Foreigners who came to Russia for the first time,” wrote Schubart, “could not get rid of the impression that they found themselves in a sacred place, set foot on holy land... The expression “Holy Rus'” is not an empty phrase. A traveler in Europe is immediately carried away by the noisy rhythm its active forces; the high melody of labor reaches his ears, but this - with all its greatness and power - is a song about the earth" [ 7 ].

However, a simple listing of certain qualities of the Russian national character will be very incomplete or haphazardly redundant. Therefore, in further analysis, one should take a different path: to determine sufficient grounds (criteria) according to which it is possible to summarize the characteristics of the Russian character. In modern scientific literature There has long been a discussion about what is the determining principle in the study of national identity: “blood and soil”, or “language and culture”. And, although most researchers pay attention to language and culture, nevertheless, the national genotype and natural and climatic conditions are directly related to the formation of the qualities and properties of the national character.

In my opinion, the following basic factors should be considered as the initial formative foundations of the Russian national character:

1. Nature and climate;
2. Ethnic origins;
3. The historical existence of the people and the geopolitical position of Russia;
4. Social factors (monarchy, community, multi-ethnicity);
5. Russian language and Russian culture;
6. Orthodoxy.

This order is not at all accidental. The analysis of factors should begin with external, material, physical and climatic ones, and end with spiritual, deep ones, defining the dominant character of the national character. It is the religiosity of the Russian people (N.O. Lossky), rooted in Orthodox Christianity, most researchers of this issue are considered as the deep basis of the Russian character. Consequently, the order of importance of these factors is arranged in an ascending line.

Threats and challenges to the existence of national identity and Russian character undoubtedly exist. As a rule, they have objective and subjective content and greatly increase their negative impact during periods of unrest, revolutions, social breakdowns and crisis situations. The first objective trend leading to a threat to the existence of Russian national identity is associated with the collapse of the USSR (historical Russia) at the end of the 20th century; it was this tendency that called into question the very existence of the Russian people, and, consequently, their national identity. The second objective trend is associated with the “reform” of the economy, which, in fact, was a complete collapse of the economy of the entire country, the destruction of the military-industrial complex, a huge number of research institutes that had provided priority areas development of the country. As a result, the economy of post-Soviet Russia has acquired an ugly, one-sided character - it is entirely based on the production and export of hydrocarbons (oil and gas), as well as on the export of other types of raw materials - ferrous and non-ferrous metals, wood, etc.

The third objective trend is the depopulation of the Russian people, associated with the low birth rate, big amount abortions, low life expectancy, high mortality from road accidents, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide and other accidents. Over the past 15 years, the population of Russia has been declining by 700-800 thousand people annually. The depopulation of the Russian people is a consequence of the above objective trends and leads to a sharp increase in migration flows, often uncontrolled, from the Caucasus, Central Asia and China. Already today, 12.5% ​​of students in Moscow schools are Azerbaijanis. If migration policy is not strictly controlled, then in the future this process will lead to the replacement of the Russian people by migrants, to the displacement and extinction of Russian national identity. Depopulation is largely a consequence of the crisis processes of the 90s. XX century.

Subjective tendencies leading to threats to the existence of Russian national identity can be summed up as a loss of identity. However, this provision requires decoding and detailing. The loss of identity is associated with the invasion of the world of Russian national self-awareness by external influences alien to the Russian person, aimed at transforming national self-awareness and Russian character according to the Western model: in the field of education - accession to the Bologna Charter; in the field of culture - replacing traditional examples of Russian culture with pop culture, pseudoculture; in the field of religion - the introduction of various sectarian movements associated with Protestantism, occult and other anti-Christian sects; in the field of art - the invasion of various avant-garde movements, emasculating the content of art; in the field of philosophy - the frontal offensive of postmodernism, which denies the originality and specificity of national thinking and tradition.

We see how diverse the ways of denying national identity are every day in various media programs. The most dangerous among them is Russophobia - denial and contempt for Russian culture, national identity and the Russian people themselves. It can be assumed that if the Russian national identity is replaced by the Western mentality that has been introduced in our country for a decade and a half, then the Russian people will turn into a “population”, into ethnographic material, and the Russian language and Russian culture, in the future, may share the fate of dead languages ​​( ancient Greek and Latin). The denationalization of culture, the suppression of national consciousness, its transformation into a comic-clip consciousness, the distortion of Russian history, the desecration of our Victory, the lulling of defense consciousness is becoming an everyday phenomenon.

The country's unfavorable economic situation, the permanent political crisis of the late 20th century, and the crime situation led to a "brain drain" - the mass emigration of scientists to other, more prosperous countries. Scientists who went abroad filled research centers and universities in the USA, Canada, Germany and other Western countries. Estimated Russian Academy Sciences, over 15 years, about 200 thousand scientists left the country, including 130 thousand candidates of science and about 20 thousand doctors of science. In fact, this is a disaster, an almost complete loss of the country's intellectual property. Talented graduates best universities Russians tend to go to rich business corporations or go abroad. This led to the loss of the middle-aged level of RAS research workers. Today, the average age of doctors of science at the Russian Academy of Sciences is 61 years. There is a “brain drain”, the steady aging and impossibility of replenishing scientific personnel, the disappearance of a number of leading scientific schools, and the degradation of scientific research topics [ 8 ].

How can we counteract these negative trends leading to the erosion of Russian national identity?

Firstly, we need a balanced program (ideology) for a long-term historical perspective, which must correspond to the national interests of Russia, take into account the limits of national security in the development of Russian culture, school and university education, science, and the protection of the moral, religious, and ethnic values ​​of the people. At the same time, such an ideological program should outline the prospects for the development of the economy, agriculture, military-industrial complex and other spheres of production that could ensure the independence of our country at the proper level. The so-called “national projects” developed and implemented by the administration of President D.A. Medvedev, are very fragmented and do not have the character of a universal national program. As I.A. wrote Ilyin, Russia does not need class hatred or party struggle, tearing apart its single body, it needs a responsible idea for the long term. Moreover, the idea is not destructive, but positive, state-owned. This is the idea of ​​cultivating a national spiritual character in the Russian people. “This idea must be state-historical, state-national, state-patriotic, state-religious. This idea must come from the very fabric of the Russian soul and Russian history, from their spiritual integrity. This idea must speak about the main thing in Russian destinies - and past and future; it should shine for entire generations of Russian people, making sense of their lives, pouring cheerfulness into them" [ 9 ]. Today there is already experience in developing such promising programs [ 10 ].

Secondly, it is necessary to educate the Russian national elite, whose aspirations would correspond to the national interests of Russia and the Russian people. The foreign and heterodox elite will always push the country either to another revolution (in essence, to a redistribution of power and property), or, in the words of F.M. Dostoevsky, will once every few decades “let go of a convulsion,” i.e. carry out the next crisis situation. As the experience of the tragic 90s for Russia shows. XX century, such an elite - the "Chicago boys" - was directed and controlled by external forces hostile to Russia, contrary to the national interests of the country.

Thirdly, it is necessary to educate new generations of Russian people in the spirit of love for the Motherland, in the spirit of patriotism, and this requires a fundamental restructuring of the entire system of education and upbringing. Only in this case can you overcome Negative consequences modern national nihilism and Russophobia. “The Pepsi generation”, brought up under the motto - “Take everything from life!” is a social product of the destructive processes of the 90s.

Fourthly, it is necessary to combat negative traits Russian national character - with anarchism and extremism, with disorganization and "hoping for chance", with lack of formality and hooliganism, with apathy and loss of the habit of systematic work, which was largely the result of the crisis phenomena of the last decade and a half. This struggle should not be waged through “outbursts of revolutionary spirit,” but through the development of persistent self-discipline, continuous self-control, patience and endurance, spiritual sobriety and obedience. S.N. Bulgakov spoke about Christian asceticism, which is continuous self-control, the fight against the lower sinful sides of one’s self, asceticism of the spirit. Only on this path can the negative tendencies of the Russian national character be neutralized to some extent, which in an era of historical unrest lead to the destruction of the essential forces of the people, when the “underground” comes to the fore human soul"When a people is on the verge (and even beyond) of physical existence, it is difficult to demand from them compliance with highly moral behavior. This requires measures of a social, political, economic nature, but, above all, spiritual. Only in this case is there hope for prosperous, positive result in the development of Russia, the Russian people and their national identity.

If the Russian people have sufficient national and social immunity, then they will again return to their own national identity. Historical experience gives us sufficient grounds for an optimistic scenario for the development of events. Russia and the Russian people overcame the most difficult situations and found a worthy Answer to the Challenge of History. Such an analysis of the Russian national character by Dostoevsky, who revealed the deepest contradictions, gives hope that the abyss of fall in which the Russian people find themselves today will sober them up, and they will overcome the stage of yet another self-destruction, going through repentance and suffering.

Here the question involuntarily arises: how did the Russian people, who have positive qualities along with negative ones, become seduced at the beginning of the 20th century? ideas of the revolutionary reorganization of Russia and atheism, which resulted in regicide, destruction of temples, renunciation of the faith of their ancestors and impoverishment people's soul. We find the answer to this question in Dostoevsky. For a Russian person, in his opinion, it is typical to forget every measure in everything. Whether it is love, wine, revelry, pride, envy - here some Russian people give themselves up almost selflessly, ready to break everything, renounce everything, family, custom, God. “This is the need to reach over the edge, the need for a frozen sensation, having reached the abyss, hanging halfway into it, looking into the very abyss and - in special cases, but very often - throwing yourself into it like a crazy person upside down.

This is the need for denial in a person, sometimes the most non-denying and reverent, the denial of everything, the most important shrine of his heart, the most complete ideal of his, the entire people's shrine in all its fullness, which now he was only in awe of and which suddenly seemed to have become unbearable to him somehow a burden, - this is how Dostoevsky characterizes the traits of self-denial and self-destruction characteristic of the Russian national character. - But with the same strength, the same swiftness, with the same thirst for self-preservation and repentance, the Russian man, as well as the entire people, saves himself, and usually when he reaches the last line, that is, when there is nowhere else to go. But what is especially characteristic is that the reverse impulse, the impulse of self-restoration and self-salvation, is always more serious than the previous impulse - the impulse of self-denial and self-destruction. That is, it always happens on the account of petty cowardice; whereas the Russian person goes into restoration with the most enormous and serious effort, and looks at the negative previous movement with contempt for himself" [ 11 ].

In conclusion, let us once again turn to the listing of the main features of the Russian national character. The natural and climatic conditions of Russia have formed such traits in the character of the Russian people as patience, endurance, generous nature, and hard work. This is where the passionarity and “native” character of the people come from. The multi-ethnicity and multi-confessional nature of Russia have instilled in the Russian people brotherhood, patience (tolerance) towards other languages ​​and cultures, selflessness, and the absence of violence. The historical existence of the Russian people and the geopolitical position of Russia forged in its character such properties as national resilience, love of freedom, sacrifice, and patriotism. The social conditions of existence of the Russian people - the monarchy, the community - contributed to the formation of a monarchical sense of justice, conciliarity, collectivism, and mutual assistance. Orthodoxy, as the main dominant of Russian national identity, formed in the Russian people religiosity, the desire for absolute goodness, love for one’s neighbor (brotherhood), humility, meekness, awareness of one’s sinfulness and imperfection, sacrifice (readiness to give one’s life for one’s friends), conciliarity and patriotism. These qualities were formed in accordance with the gospel ideals of goodness, truth, mercy and compassion. In this we must see the religious source of Russian fortitude and patience, endurance and strength of sacrifice of the Russian people.

Every Russian person should clearly know the negative properties of his national character. The breadth and immensity of the Russian soul is often associated with maximalism - either everything or nothing. Weak discipline leads to revelry and anarchism; from here lies a dangerous path to extremism, rebellion, hooliganism, and terrorism. The immensity of the soul becomes the source of a daring test of values ​​- atheism, denial of tradition, national nihilism. Absence in Everyday life ethnic solidarity, the weakness of the “tribal instinct”, disunity in front of “outsiders” makes the Russian person defenseless in relation to migrants, who are characterized by cohesion, arrogance, and cruelty. Therefore, migrants in Russia today feel like masters to a greater extent than Russians. Lack of self-discipline often leads to the inability to work systematically and achieve your goal. The above-mentioned shortcomings increase many times during periods of unrest, revolutions and other crisis social phenomena. Gullibility, a tendency to temptation, makes the Russian people a toy in the hands of political adventurers and impostors of all stripes, leads to the loss of the immune forces of sovereignty, turns them into a mob, into an electorate, into a crowd led by a herd mentality. This is the root of all social unrest and disasters.

However, negative properties do not represent the fundamental, dominant traits of the Russian character, but rather are reverse side positive qualities, their perversion. A clear vision of the weak traits of national character will allow every Russian person to fight them, eradicate or neutralize their influence in himself.

Today, the topic related to the study of Russian national character is extremely relevant. In the conditions of a permanent social crisis at the end of the 20th century - beginning of the XXI centuries, when the Russian people were humiliated, slandered, in to a large extent has lost his vital forces, he needs confirmation of his merits, including at the level of research into the Russian national character. Only on this path can the connection of times be realized by turning to tradition, to the deeds of our great ancestors - heroes, leaders, prophets, scientists and thinkers, to our national shrines, values ​​and symbols. Turning to the national tradition is like touching a healing source from which everyone can draw faith, hope, love, willpower and an example for serving the Motherland - Holy Rus'.
Kopalov Vitaly Ilyich, Professor of the Department of Philosophy, IPPC at USU. A.M. Gorky, Doctor of Philosophy

Notes:

1 - Lossky N.O. The character of the Russian people. Sowing. 1957. Book. 1. P.5.
2 - Ibid. P.21.
3 - Trofimov V.K. The soul of the Russian people: Natural-historical conditioning and essential forces. - Ekaterinburg, 1998. P.90.
4 - Ibid. P.134-135.
5 - Dostoevsky F.M. Brothers Karamazov // Dostoevsky F.M. Full collection op. In 30 volumes. T. XIV. - L., 1976. P.100.
6 - Bunin I.A. Damn days. - M., 1991. P.54.
7 - Schubart V. Europe and the soul of the East. - M., 1997. P.78.
8 - Fourteen knives in the body of Russia // Tomorrow. - 2007. - No. 18 (702).
9 - Ilyin I.A. Creative idea of ​​our future // Ilyin I.A. Collection op. V. 10 vol. T. 7. - M., 1998. P.457-458.
10 - See: Russian Doctrine ("Sergius Project"). Under the general editorship. A.B. Kobyakov and V.V. Averyanova. - M., 2005. - 363 p.
11 - Dostoevsky F.M. Writer's Diary. Featured Pages. - M., 1989. P.60-61.

Restoring the sense of one’s own “I”, that is, the self-identification of a people who were in long-term unconsciousness, is, first of all, the revival of historical memory and national self-awareness. To understand who we are now, we need to understand what we were like, including what the Russian national character was. Most of all, the character of a people is evidenced by its historical fate. Here we should repeat obvious historical facts, which, due to prevailing prejudices, are not at all obvious to public opinion - both domestic and foreign. Not a single civilized people has survived in such unprecedentedly difficult climatic, natural and geopolitical conditions, having mastered the largest spaces in history, forming the largest state in the world, without destroying or enslaving a single people, creating great culture. It is clear that the people committing these unprecedented acts have unique qualities.

Apparently, the East Slavic tribes, capable of mastering the most harsh spaces on the Eurasian continent, were initially distinguished by their dynamic and hardworking character, hardy and stubborn, brave and violent. The contradictory properties of the Slavic epileptoid type of character (as defined by Ksenia Kasyanova) were genetically transmitted to Russian people. In ordinary situations, the epileptoid is calm, patient, thorough and thrifty, but is capable of breakdown in an irritating situation; if you put pressure on him for a long time, he is explosive. He sets his own pace of life and goal setting, strives to act at his own rhythm and according to his own plan. He is characterized by thoroughness, consistency, and perseverance in achieving goals, which can turn into stubbornness. Such people produce leaders or leader-organizers who either perceive national interests and strive with incredible persistence to realize them, or maniacally impose their ideas on the people. The epileptoid character is characterized by slow reactions, some “viscosity” of thinking and actions ( Russian guy is strong in hindsight). In calm states, the epileptoid type is prone to mild depression: lethargy, apathy, bad moods and decreased activity tone, which was characterized as Russian laziness. Switching to another type of activity is difficult, and the mobilization of forces for this is slow, because it takes time to “build up” and get used to new circumstances. But as a result, the Russian people gave an adequate response to the challenges of fate, because the naturally talented people for centuries honed their minds and ingenuity in the most difficult struggle for survival. That is why The Russian takes a long time to harness, but goes quickly. Compared to Europeans, Russians are more restrained in their manifestations, but also more constant in their states - both calm and violent.

The dominance of the emotional sphere in an epileptoid is fraught with the fact that in an affective state his protective mental mechanisms and moral barriers fail. The violent nature of the Slav is tamed by Orthodox education. Orthodox rites, traditional rituals, as well as the exacting state structure compensated for the lack of internal energy in calm near-depressive states or extinguished excess energy in situations of emotional overload and breakdowns, aligned the emotional cycles characteristic of an epileptoid, mobilized in time or switched energy to the current sphere of activity. Habits-rituals “rocked” the epileptoid in states of “freezing”, saved his strength, and gently switched him to everyday activities. Festive rituals decorated life, aligned and strengthened it with preventive relaxation and unloading of the psyche. But with the destruction of the traditional way of life, the people fell into turmoil and the holidays were replaced by incessant drunkenness and revelry.

Perhaps only a people with such a character could adapt to the harsh, unstable climatic and geopolitical cycles of northeast Eurasia. But at the expense of losses and gains, at the expense of aggravating some character difficulties. Weaknesses and painful qualities were compensated by the way of life: the Russian way of life is a continuation of the Russian character and vice versa. But when traditions and ties with deep national guidelines collapsed, Russian people lost themselves, degraded, and surrendered to false authorities or utopias. The feeling of the meaninglessness of life for a Russian person is worse than any test. Periods of unrest in Russian life have always been caused by the destruction of statehood and the violation of traditional foundations by the ruling classes. At the same time, certain painful forms are more characteristic of Russian people: distorted sacrifice, nihilism as a desire for destruction and self-destruction, where secularized apocalypticism displaces Christian eschatology. A manic European creates an iron order within himself and seeks to enslave everyone around him. The Russian, having lost his traditional foundations, obsessively destroys everything around him, self-immolating - something like this is almost never seen in Europe.

Genetically, Russian people are prone to individualism and isolation. But education in the Orthodox conciliar culture instilled in the people a value motivation of duty, in contrast to the rational motivation of benefit that dominates in the West. In our society, people’s behavior is no longer assessed by results, but by compliance with accepted standards, actions - not by benefit, but by correctness. This is associated with a strong conciliar sense of self - its unity with the social and national whole and its organic place in it. Therefore, the conciliar motives for action for the sake of land, peace or in the name of a common cause always proved to be dominant. Among Russian people there is often a type who strives for self-denial and even heroic sacrifice, which cannot bring individual benefit. At the same time, he is intuitively convinced that actions in fairness correspond to some higher benefit. And indeed, only service to a higher duty and the ability to self-sacrifice ultimately bring incomparably greater benefits to society, which can, sooner or later, result in sublime benefits for the actor himself. Well, if it doesn’t work out here, it will certainly be rewarded from above. This metaphysical confidence and spiritual self-satisfaction are nurtured by Orthodoxy. Russian public opinion, as a rule, highly values ​​ascetics, because they awaken the cultural religious archetypes inherent in us.

The need for self-preservation in harsh conditions and demanding religious ideals fostered restraint, self-restraint, asceticism, and the priority of the spirit over the flesh. The uniqueness of the national character of the Russian people is that they are not able to be inspired by consumer ideals, because Russian culture is little focused on material wealth. Hoarding and the desire to get rich at any cost were not common among Russians, and in public opinion a person's dignity was assessed more by internal qualities, and not according to financial situation. The principle of ascetic sufficiency and self-restraint operated even in rare periods of prosperity - in the name of accumulating strength in the harsh struggle for survival and for more pressing spiritual interests. Therefore, Russian culture is little focused on the production and accumulation of material wealth. Russian people, unlike Europeans, are not able to devote all their efforts to material prosperity, to arranging their life and maintaining sterile cleanliness. It is more typical for us to strive to clear away the natural chaos, to pacify the elements just enough to preserve ourselves and preserve strength for the main issues of life - manifested in different forms at different levels of culture, but invariably spiritual, heavenly, eternal. Achievements in the material field are possible for a Russian person only if they are a function of higher goals: the defense of the Motherland, the development of earthly spaces, the realization of a social ideal or individual self-realization. Russians are more inclined to search for the meaning of life, but they also suffer more from the loss of the sacred in life, from the meaninglessness of existence.

Contrary to popular opinions about Russian barbarism and cruelty, Russian history is more virtuous than European history, and public morals- more demanding. In Rus', indulgences, the Inquisition, and scalps were in principle impossible; in Orthodox life it is impossible to imagine the depravity that reigned in the monasteries of Catholic Europe and in the Vatican; it is impossible to detect such a decline in morals as was common in European cities of the Humanist era, or a mass bloody massacre such as on St. Bartholomew's Night in France, during the Hundred Years' War in Germany, during the burning of “witches” throughout Europe. At the same time, Russian chronicles impartially call evil evil, while the Europeans, despite all the atrocities in Europe and the extermination of aborigines on all continents, considered themselves the most civilized in the world. By annexing vast territories and many peoples, the Russians showed national and religious tolerance unprecedented in Europe. The people of the cathedral nature have perceived and assimilated many cultures for centuries. At the same time, he invariably digested alien archetypes implanted by the elite, the ruling stratum, mutely resisting them, adapting, but maintaining his own spiritual constitution.

The Russian people have unprecedented survival in the most difficult conditions, and therefore the ability to adapt to them through the formation of themselves, and not through the destruction of the surrounding world. Such people are characterized by incredible tenacity and inflexibility in fulfilling their historical mission. The people are capable of unprecedented long-suffering, but only if the hardships of life are justified by higher goals. He can withstand enormous hardships, but he will not survive the loss of the meaning of life. Russian people are not very responsive to any kind of radical reforms: they like to preserve, not destroy. Moreover, long-suffering ends precisely when the traditional way of life is forcibly destroyed for a long time and traditional values ​​are violated.

In the absence of a mobilizing organic national ideal, the Russian people withered away. In this case, the people resisted the establishment of a hostile way of life by the authorities with passivity, indifference, showing creative dynamism only in areas close to their vital interests. The people preferred to die out rather than accept completely alien forms of life. This was the case during the communist period, and these trends also manifested themselves in the nineties of the twentieth century. From this it is clear how salutary an organic national ideal is for the Russian people, which will indicate national goals, mobilize the national spirit and awaken the energy of life and struggle.

The Russian people are characterized by over-mobilization in extreme situations and demobilization in ordinary situations, which was also dictated by the need for self-preservation. The mobilization-demobilization pendulum corresponded to the unstable cycles of the harsh Eurasian continent. Periods of inaction and extraordinary patience with a long-term difficult situation could suddenly give way to either violent activity or rebellion. A Russian person has little ability to mobilize for the sake of selfish material goals, but he makes extreme efforts in the name of high ideals: preserving the Motherland and sacred values ​​for him or fulfilling a global historical mission. Such a people can endure many ordeals and humiliations from their own power, but in the face of mortal danger from the outside, they are invincible. Being defeated by an external enemy - as during the Tatar-Mongol invasion, or from an internal enemy - under communism, the people, having suffered great sacrifices in resistance, found the strength to self-preserve and “digest” the hostile force. Apparently adapting to it, but in essence gradually changing its nature and ultimately adapting it to its own national archetype. Therefore, of all the disasters, Russia miraculously came out stronger than she was before them.

The causes of the Russian catastrophe of 1917 were primarily external, and spiritual poisons into the national body were brought from outside. At the same time, some traits of the Russian character left the people defenseless against the most insidious spirits of evil in history. Over the decades, the communist regime has poisoned the soul of the people, changing many primordial character traits for the worse, burning out virtues and strengthening vices. “The long-standing traits of the Russian character (which good ones were lost, and which vulnerable ones were developed) made us defenseless in the trials of the 20th century. And our once openness - didn’t it also turn into an easy surrender to someone else’s influence, spiritual spinelessness? It recently had such a bitter effect on the repulsion of our refugees from the republics. This insensitivity of Russians towards Russians is amazing! Rarely do any people lack national cohesion and mutual assistance as much as we do. Maybe this is just the current collapse? Or a property ingrained into us by Soviet decades? After all, for centuries we had the most friendly fraternal artels, there was a vibrant community life, maybe this can be restored? The Russian character today is all over the top. And where will it lean? We've lost our feelings one people» (A.I. Solzhenitsyn).

It is clear that the Russian people, in the struggle for self-preservation in a mortally dangerous situation, lost some of their inherent advantages and gained both positive and negative experience. But, since he is alive, he managed to preserve those properties that are the basis of his self-identification. Of course, many of them have changed, some beyond recognition. Even at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the life of the majority of Russian residents remains on the verge of unbearable. So in the countryside central Russia every tenth family lives at the poverty level. About sixty percent of the population is apparently poor, select answer. That is, the standard of living of seventy percent of the rural population is still unsatisfactory. You can survive in these conditions only by reducing your needs to almost zero. The traditionally ascetic Russian character in these conditions shows extreme asceticism.

In camp conditions, in order to survive, the prisoner tried to minimize his needs as much as possible and save energy whenever possible. When the life of seventy percent of the population is close to camp conditions, this is not “laziness,” but a desire for self-preservation. The vital instinct tells people that any tension in conditions when the majority of the population of a huge country is poor will most likely not produce results, but will end in breakdown. Therefore, the absolute majority of peasants are convinced that their personal well-being depends on the state of the entire country. As from time immemorial, today the conciliar feeling tells the Russian people that both prosperity and adversity can only be experienced the whole world. In this communal sense of life, the feeling of a large homeland is inseparable from the feeling of a small homeland - right down to your village, your neighbors.

Many centuries of harsh conditions have accustomed Russian people to gradual, proven changes in the forms of life, because drastic reforms are fraught with the destruction of the precarious balance of the existing way of life. And the permanent revolutions in the countryside under the communist regime and the liberal Bolsheviks of the nineties made us even more afraid of drastic changes. Those sensible business executives who want to revive rural life today are forced to rely on the ineradicable properties of the national character. In particular, one has to reckon with widespread theft, but not from a neighbor (for neighbors are the microenvironment of common survival, only they can be relied upon in difficult times), but from the state or from enriched farmers.

In the character of the modern dispossessed villager one can see signs of contradictions and polarities that were formed in extremely difficult and unstable conditions of survival, contradictory changing life circumstances, which permeate most historical periods. At the same time, in the Russian peasantry to this day the properties of the fundamental archetypes of national character are revealed: conciliarity, communalism, livability, sedateness, caution, emotionality, intuitiveness, otherworldliness or mystical pragmatism, ambivalence.

Thus, in more or less normal periods of history, these qualities were expressed in sublime and creative forms. In unbearably difficult times (with which Russian fate is filled), character traits were suppressed and reduced, but even changed beyond recognition, they remained the basis of survival. At the same time, in extreme conditions that burned out many qualities of character, the national psyche fought for survival, mobilizing the properties of its foundation - the cathedral, communal genotype - showing miracles of resistance to the most severe adversities, the properties of survival in spite of everything, the whole world sharing hardships, losses, successes and victories. But as soon as the threat to existence was overcome, the people singled out from their midst strong creative individuals who became carriers new wave passionarity, made creative breakthroughs, led the national elements, were pioneers and discoverers in various spheres of life, enterprising resourceful explorers of new forms of life. The bulk of the people, according to the laws of the pendulum of extreme survival (over-mobilization - demobilization), relaxed after mortal overexertion to the tension of everyday - not at all easy life, in conservative, protective forms, the reliability of which has been tested by many generations. For any retreat towards dubious novelty threatened to destroy the tensely unstable established structure, which inevitably added to the disaster. For these reasons, it is common for Russian people to be suspicious of “upstarts” who stray from the team. But if it turned out to be a strong person who managed to win people’s trust and love through exploits, service, work or creativity, he became a generally recognized informal leader. Leaders, heroes and righteous people are inseparable in the national destiny from the workers of the Russian land.

The relationship between individualism and collectivism in our society is quite unique to this day. According to modern sociological surveys, the majority of Russian society is inclined in favor of the collective rather than the individual. The team is relatives, work colleagues, neighbors; People tend to trust their group; its opinion must be taken into account. We behave more freely towards members of an out-group, and often simply ignore them. “A manifestation of this is, for example, the shocking contrast among Europeans between the sensitivity of Russians towards their acquaintances and their unceremonious rudeness in public transport.”(A. Fenko). In the collectivist consciousness of the Russian person, the first place is occupied by the interests of his family, respect for parents, happiness and well-being of children, while professional success, independence, creativity, self-improvement and a pleasant pastime are relegated to the background. Still, despite the Westernization of recent decades, the vast majority believe that parents should help adult children (70%), children are obliged to agree with their parents on how to spend the money they earn (60%) and get their approval before getting married (63%) . But, at the same time, Russian people are not one hundred percent collectivists, because more than half believe that personal interests are the main thing for a person, and only 40% agree to limit their interests in favor of the state and society. On the one hand, despite all the trials, the archetype of the combination of individualistic and collectivist tendencies remains at its core. But the ugly way of life under communism and the liberal Bolsheviks of the nineties disfigures their manifestations: individualistic energy is squeezed out into anti-collectivist spheres of activity, and collectivist will is only enough for joint resistance to imposed alienation.

Russian people, more than other peoples, were a conformist in relation to “their” group, which, in addition to loved ones and neighbors, included representatives of sacred centers - the Church and the supreme power. In relations with everything that pressed and forced into hateful tension - with other and higher classes, with representatives of power and the views and opinions that prevailed there - Russian people have always lived to one degree or another in disagreement. The more alien the prevailing social norms were, the more deep-seated disagreement and disdain for them became apparent. But in those days when the government personified national interests, it enjoyed nationwide recognition and support. In those periods of history when the creative individualistic activity of the Russian person was completely suppressed by the authorities, it was realized in the forms eccentricities And tyranny. But the collective always treated them with love precisely because they saw in this an attempt at self-preservation of creative individualistic energy, which would awaken and organically manifest itself as soon as the conditions for this appeared, as soon as life became more or less bearable.

Despite unprecedented historical trials, the Russian national character is indestructible in its fundamentals, as long as the people live: “research of the last decade convincingly proves that the basic values ​​of our people remain traditional... In the hierarchy of values ​​of the Russian population, the leaders, of course, are those that are associated with a person’s worldview, such as “a calm conscience and spiritual harmony" Among the outsiders were “power,” “recognition,” and “success.” Even in such exceptionally difficult times as recent years, there was no increase in the importance of material well-being values ​​among respondents. The fact that the value system in Russia turned out to be very stable instills faith in our people, who, despite any liberal media that corrupts them, have for the most part retained the ability to distinguish between good and evil.”(N.Ya. Laktionova). Thus, everyone who lives in Russia must admit that the virtues of the Russian national character - the backbone of the nation - need to be improved and strengthened first of all - again the whole world.

Therefore, during periods of unrest and the collapse of the organic way of life among Russians, the number of suicides and drunkenness sharply increases.

Basic national archetypes have survived to this day, having survived the Westernism of the pre-revolutionary ruling stratum, the Westernism of Marxists, and the Westernism of modern democrats. The people basically did not accept either the communist utopia or the Westernized utopia, and today, one might say, they have not responded to the aggressive nationalist, chauvinistic ideology.