Mentality is a system of originality mental life 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 their own unusual 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
To the number primary properties The Russian people, along with religiosity, the search for absolute good and willpower, belongs to the love of freedom and supreme expression her 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, " building blocks"which cemented 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 the people’s consciousness, actively resisting 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 yields Agriculture and harsh climatic conditions, in which it was easier to survive, being 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. A heightened sense of injustice among the Russian people social inequality that 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, holy fools, cripples, etc., and egalitarian tendencies in the Russian understanding 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.” Specific form Orthodoxy, introduced into Rus' again by secular authorities in the person of Prince Vladimir, appeared in Russian religiosity. Social essence 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, the way of life and the mentality generated by them 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. There has never been racial hatred in Russia, religious wars, 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 in years of difficult trials not for individuals, classes or population groups, 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.
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 necessary specific communication, his heart softens, and he somehow involuntarily begins to show his spiritual gentleness 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 their 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. In Russia there is no excessive replacement of individual relationships with social ones, 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 are the properties main source 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 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 The love of freedom of Russians 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 quarter of the 19th century, the system 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 other side high properties Russian man - the desire for complete perfection and sensitivity to the shortcomings of our reality.