What is important and what is unimportant for Russians today, why are traditional values ​​dear to them, and why is Leonid Brezhnev still remembered with a kind word? Academician Mikhail Gorshkov, director of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, reflects on this.

Mikhail Gorshkov. Photo by Yuri Mashkov/TASS

- If you try to identify five or six main life values ​​that are significant for modern Russians, what kind of value hierarchy will you get?

- Quite predictable. For example, if we compare the modern Russian scale of values ​​with the readings of the same Eurobarometer, then it is easy to see that the basic values ​​of Russians and Europeans generally coincide: family, material wealth, interesting work, respect for others, coupled with awareness of one’s place in society, good education, spiritual harmony or, in other words, a clear conscience. But there is a serious difference: any European will be surprised that in the list of values ​​of today's Russians, such a concept as democracy occupies only tenth and twelfth place.

“WE ASKED CITIZENS: “In what period of Russian history would you like to live?”
32% chose modern Russia. It is followed by the Brezhnev USSR with a margin of 10%"

In general, it is necessary to speak not about the formal points of the list of values, but about the content of each of these concepts. How do we understand family? For us, this is the creation of a unique union between members of opposite sexes. Europeans see the family differently, including in the same-sex version. But for Russians, such an idea of ​​the family is unacceptable due to traditions and primordially human nature. Nevertheless, both Europeans and Russians give the family the first place in the hierarchy of values. Due to the difference in understanding of the same values, it seems to Europeans that we are too different from them.

- And in fact?

- Firstly, why do we have to be like someone, even the inhabitants of Western Europe? Secondly, it is important to understand that a value choice determines not an abstract approach to a particular concept, but how a person perceives it, what stands behind this concept for him. And here much depends on how the same values ​​are interpreted in Russia and Europe.

Thus, Russians and Europeans explain what democracy is in different ways. For Europeans, this is the will of the people, the requirement for the authorities to take into account the interests of the people in the first place. And for Russians, democracy is more of a tool to improve the standard of living of the population. They believe that if this function is performed, the country can be considered democratic. In addition, in their opinion, democracy must ensure social order and protect the dignity of the individual before society. Agree, there is nothing wrong with such an idea of ​​democracy. However, it does not fit into the framework of the usual definitions from political science textbooks. And our European opponents cannot understand this discrepancy and its origins.

About seven or eight years ago, in one of his messages to the Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin emphasized that society, in its attitude to any phenomenon, cannot go beyond the level of political culture achieved at a given historical period. If you look at the situation from this angle, then you get a completely sensible, and most importantly, objective picture that allows you to understand why Russian society today is distinguished by precisely these, and not by any other characteristic features.

Why do we react to any attacks from the outside? Yes, because we want to be what we are, we want to maintain a sense of our own civil dignity. We do not like it when scenarios of world development and the distribution of roles in the major league of world politics are developed and implemented without our participation. Why should a power that occupies vast areas put up with this? Now, if something does not suit the United States and the leading countries of Western Europe, this is another matter. However, there is a concept of the national interests of the state, which our opponents protect very much, but for some reason we are denied this.

Photo by Natalia Lvova

- You spoke about the interests of the state, and what content do Russians put into the concept of "state"? For them, is it a force with a plus or minus sign? And what are the main qualities in this force for them, and which are secondary?

“According to surveys, in recent years, the proportion of the population that has high hopes for the state, perceives the state as the father of a large family, who will always help and show concern, has grown significantly.

It is also noteworthy that the liberal model of the economy, which implies exclusively market mechanisms, is supported by 12–14% of citizens. At the same time, a third of Russians choose a planned economy, apparently relying on Soviet experience. And the main part of the population of our country prefers a mixed type of economy. This is approximately the type that Vladimir Lenin described in his works on the NEP. The state should have commanding heights in the economy, while small and medium-sized businesses and everything related to services (medicine, education, personal services) should be both in joint management and in the hands of a private owner.

– Is it possible to say today that the country is experiencing a certain renaissance of conservative values?

– It would be more correct to speak about a certain transformation of the concept of “conservatism”. Nowadays, it is no longer perceived as a counterbalance to reform or progress. Rather, it is about striving for the golden mean, for the preservation of traditions. Moreover, it is understood as the adoption from the former spiritual and practical heritage of what is consonant with and meets the interests of today. This trend is the trend of the times. In general, this is characteristic of a normal psyche: a person cannot be constantly focused on developing something new. However, he also cannot ignore everything new.

People say that they stand for stability, but for developing stability, for acquiring a new quality, but adapted to the basics.

Photo by Valentin Sobolev / TASS newsreel

– Do you agree that in the eyes of the citizens of Russia the values ​​of Western liberal democracy are largely discredited?

Polls show that this is indeed the case. In 1992-1993, these values ​​were shared by 38% of the population, and now only 7%. What is the reason for this transformation? I think there are two factors here.

First, in Russia liberal ideas were originally called what was doomed to failure. I mean universal permissiveness, absolute freedom, or rather, the freedom of the strong over the weak. Secondly, the people finally understood what interests Europe in our country. Europeans are pragmatists, and they are mainly interested in our natural resources and the opportunity to acquire them cheaper. Even when resolving issues of Russian aid, the desire to profit at our expense comes to the fore.

Newsreel TASS

– How would you characterize the attitude of Russians to the past of their country? What is the past for them - a matter of pride or, conversely, a reason for shame? Traditions to be guided by, or experiences to be avoided?

– Our recent study pleased and surprised us: 95% of Russians attribute to the objects of their pride what is connected with the Soviet period. In fairness, I note that we actually have something to be proud of: the victory in the Great Patriotic War, the first manned flight into space, the high quality of education, achievements in science, culture, and sports.

Speaking about the history of our country in the twentieth century, we can conditionally distinguish several periods. The first is Russia before 1917, the second is the USSR under Joseph Stalin, the third is the Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev, the fourth is the country under Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. And the fifth is modern Russia of the new century.

“OUR RECENT RESEARCH
we ourselves were pleased and surprised: 95% of Russians are proud of the Soviet period”

We asked respondents to highlight some of the most significant characteristics of each of these periods. So, the period up to 1917 was characterized by success in art, love for the Fatherland, and veneration of Orthodoxy. What were the features of the USSR under Stalin? Discipline, order, fear, love for the Fatherland. The largest number of positive reviews were addressed to the Brezhnev period: social security, cheerfulness, success in education, science, technology, and industry. The time of Gorbachev - Yeltsin was assessed negatively: the difficult economic situation, interethnic conflicts, the economic crisis. The following was said about modern Russia: the opportunity to become a rich person, banditry, crime, corruption, civil political freedoms and at the same time lack of spirituality. Here is a reflection in the Russian self-consciousness of people of all eras. And after that, let someone try to call our people unsound.

– So Russians see more good or bad things in modern times?

– We asked: “In what period of Russian history would you like to live?” 32% chose modern Russia. It is followed by the Brezhnev USSR with a margin of 10%. All other periods received much less support. However, 32% of Russians in the same survey preferred this option: "I can't identify any period with an ideal one for Russia." This means that every third person in our country over the age of 18 is not able to decide with which period of his native history he could connect his dreams and ideas about the desired state for himself.

Is this a bad symptom?

- In fact, this is permissible: our state and society periodically stagger from side to side, a certain main path has not been determined, the direction changes with the advent of a new leader. Plus external circumstances, various crises. When everything is turned upside down, how can you decide on your idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe ideal model? Put yourself in the place of a simple, not too sophisticated or educated person: in such a situation, it is really difficult to give an answer. But, to be honest, I thought that there would be much fewer people who single out modern Russia, but it turned out - a third. In my opinion, this is a good sign.

- Why?

– Studies like the one described above are very fond of the Germans, they repeat them every six months. It is interesting that only in 1975, 30 years after the end of World War II, did the answer “I would like to live in modern Germany” come to the first place in a German poll. Until 2005-2006, the Brezhnev period was the leader in popularity: 56% were in favor of it, and 38% were in favor of modern Russia. In 2007-2008, the desire to live in today's Russia for the first time began to dominate the preference for the Brezhnev era. Now the advantage is 3 times.

– Do the citizens of Russia have historical authorities, figures who are unambiguously perceived with a plus sign?

- Now the concept of moral or spiritual authority has practically disappeared in society. This can be treated differently, but this is a fact. I think it's bad. There must always be some kind of authority that is a guide. Moreover, our mentality is characterized by the need for a leader. That is why I say that the modern lack of moral authority seems to me very sad. There are political authorities, but they are very few: Vladimir Putin and Sergei Shoigu. For a country like Russia, this, of course, is not enough. But only time can fix the current situation.

- And what happens to the assessment of the leaders of the Soviet era? A recent poll by the Levada Center shows that the number of citizens recognizing the positive role of Stalin is growing (52%), and 46% of Russians believe that Lenin brought more good to the country than bad. How can this be explained? Is this due to changing value orientations or are people simply becoming more objective in their assessments?

- Such changes in public opinion are explained by the social experience that the inhabitants of Russia have acquired over the past 20 years of reforms. This is a reassessment of values, fatigue from the extremes that we fell into, from the mechanical transfer of someone else's experience to Russian soil. The leaders you mentioned avoided this in their policy, they introduced their own, Russian, traditional in different, sometimes even base ways.

What is the key characteristic of Russian self-consciousness today? The understanding of the value of "one's own" has grown incredibly. This does not mean rejection of everything else. We tried to analyze people's opinions about the main lessons of the 20th century: "What do you think we should learn from what the country has experienced over the past 100 years?" The most common answers are: we need to follow our own path, hold on to our pillars and use what is new that is consistent with our traditions and values ​​​​and has proven to be effective in the modern era, and not mindlessly copy someone else's experience. And it doesn't matter to people where all this most effective comes from - from socialism or capitalism. The main thing is that it really meets the interests of Russian citizens.

DO YOU THINK THE BREZHNEV TIMES WAS A PERIOD OF SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY OR A PERIOD OF STAGGING WHICH IN THE END LEAD TO THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR? (%)

First there was a period of prosperous development, and then stagnation, which led to the collapse of the USSR
28

It was a period of prosperous development of the country
22

During this period, serious problems arose in the country, but Gorbachev and the Democrats led to the collapse of the USSR
19

It was a period of stagnation that led to the collapse of the USSR
18

Interviewed by Vladimir Rudakov

26 of my articles on the topic “Eternal Values” were published from issue to issue for several years in the journal “Nature and Man. XXI century”, after which one of the readers wrote that this was a find of the magazine, such a topic, because, “if thirty or forty years ago, when the country still had the goal of building communism and educating a new person, this topic did not come down we have from the pages of the press and literature, that is, it was not uncommon, now selfishness, jokes, idiocy, irony, relegation and debunking of all spiritual values ​​​​are fashionable.

I agree with him. One must force oneself to goodness and lofty truths, because, like physical exercises for the body, these are spiritual exercises for the soul. We ourselves will slide into evil, and without any effort. But for good, the path is uphill.

And the helpers on this path have always been and are and will be the values ​​that are considered to be universal. These are the values ​​that are important at all times and for all people. These include beauty, justice, dignity, a sense of duty, kindness, public benefit. These are the values ​​that are important for a spiritually developed person. And at all times, for all nations and for all kinds of societies, these values ​​have been eternal. And also loyalty and devotion, love for children and their loved ones, for their people and Fatherland.

There are transient values ​​that change in accordance with the level of development of society. But it is on eternal values ​​that the world rests. And no matter what happens in the world, no matter what innovations come up, eternal values ​​play an important role in the life of every person, each of us. Without them, a person has nothing to rely on, nothing to develop spiritually and feel like a person. In goodness, beauty and justice, our spiritual potential is revealed. It is difficult, if not impossible, to live life with dignity without higher values.

And in addition to the usual eternal values, you can add topics that are always interesting to think about:

• simple life,
• looking for meaning
• circle of life,
• Vera,
• prayer,
• song,
• source,
• old letters.

Everyone has their Eternal Values. Therefore, I invite all visitors to my site to send their options. Maybe with a little justification for the proposed topic-value or without it, if the value is obvious and itself leads to different thoughts. For example, time as a value or decency. This will be exactly in the spirit of the topic, which, like others like it and thought-provoking, still remains an island of common sense among the spiritual garbage that absorbs us from all sides.

Eternal values ​​are like milestones along the road of life. We recognize these milestones from childhood through the stories of adults and, seeing them, it is easier for us to move along the path of our own destiny.

Ironic opinion of the author

(almost according to Khlestakov)

Well, I had another presentation of the book, this time books "Eternal values"(I have it on my website, scroll through, read it) at an exhibition of non-fiction (intellectual) literature at the Central House of Artists.

So prepared, worried. And then I was disappointed - they don’t erect a monument, they don’t carry it on their hands with shouts of “rock it!” and why then resist ... And on the other hand, everything depends on spiritual hunger at different stages.

My classmates at Moscow State University, who were at the presentation, congratulated me with such enthusiastic eyes - they say, well done, you have risen to such a level. And I’m not particularly happy about this anymore, I think: if everyone suddenly saw all my discoveries in each chapter, it’s as if everyone’s eyes would suddenly open ...

And the chairman of the Committee on Inventions would say: “Well, brother, you discovered such, such ... we will present you for the Nobel Prize ...”

And the minister of culture himself would have come up, looked at the book, and would have fainted from overflowing feelings. And when he woke up, he would say: “Oh, what a blessing that I am a contemporary of such a book and such a writer.” We should rather give him all the awards at once and print the book in a circulation of 10, no, 100 million copies.

And President V.V. Putin, noticing the crying minister, would say: “What kind of 100 million are there, no, with a circulation of 7 billion, just for every inhabitant of the globe. And give him the title of Doctor of Science, Hero of Russia and Honored Educator of the Fatherland .. "

Then, perhaps, I would be satisfied. He would say: “Yes, damn it, we don’t slurp cabbage soup ...”

I would come home and give the dachshund a tasty bone...

February 19 at 17.00 in the hall of the Union of Writers will take placepresentation of my book "Eternal Values".

I invite everyone who likes to think, argue, ask questions. Time, unlike the presentation of the book at the exhibition of non-fiction literature on Krymsky Val, will be unlimited, so it will be comfortable: intelligent thoughts, tea or coffee, the opportunity to speak out ...

How to find a presentation place in the Union of Writers.
This is Moscow, st. B. Dmitrovka, 5/6, building 8
You need to go out to Dmitrovka Street from the Teatralnaya metro station, go to the other side, where the House of Unions is, and walk 100 meters to Georgievsky Lane.
Turn left and walk along Georgievsky lane for another 100 meters along the small arena (it is on the right).

And then turn right after him.

And climb the alley up 30 meters.

On the right there will be a fence and a school yard.

Enter through the gate into the courtyard and

on the right is a 2-storey house of the Union of Writers.

Enter and go up to the second floor. Door on the left.

Presentation of my book "Eternal Values"

in the Central House of Artists on December 1, 2017

One of the presenters: About German Arutyunov's previous book "Hours of Life", someone correctly said: "This book should be a reference book in every family" Knowledge of the layers of Russian life, Russian spirituality ... in the new book, the author takes another step into the depths of our national and world culture ... I give the floor to the author ...

Arutyunov: I'll start with mysticism. It’s a strange thing - I have 42 chapters in my book, and recently a thought suddenly struck me - isn’t there the same number of gods in Ancient Egypt who stand along the underground Nile River and ask questions to the deceased floating past them: didn’t you deceive, didn’t rob lies did not kill, did not steal, did not commit adultery, did not envy, and so on. And the soul of the deceased answers “no” to all questions ... and thus, as it were, the assembly of a spiritual person takes place, one who is already worthy of being in paradise ... In fact, this happens in many (if not all) religions when a person, in order to rise on some new stage of his life, in order to get into a new spiritual space, he must perform a certain rite ...

And I began to think: what is the connection, 42 gods, 42 chapters of the book, but I did not select the number of these chapters on purpose, there could be more, there could be less ... It seemed to happen by accident. In fact, there are no accidents, everything has a reason.

The fact is that the information space is open, and a person permeates it with his thoughts in all directions, just as a variety of information flows pass through each of us. And if we are dealing with a topic, it is like a radio wave, it penetrates the spiritual cosmos and pulls out, attracts from there those information layers that are close to our requests, our topics, what we are now living, what we are doing. Thus, 42 chapters of the book turned out, that each chapter is like an inquiring god, past whom you sail on a magic boat along the underground Nile. And we need these heads-gods for the purification and relief of the soul. So that she becomes light as a feather and can soar directly to the sun. Because everything light lightens the soul, and everything negative and dark makes it heavier. No wonder they say "a stone in the soul."

And here, like the druid priests in Stonehenge, they pass by the stones in a circle, performing a rite, and thereby accumulating positive energy, so that at some point the quantity turns into quality and there is a jump ... Passing by each value, like passing a megalith stone, is securing spiritual space, spiritual capital ...

Presenter: And how did the idea come to write all this and collect ... combine into one whole ...?

Arutyunov: For the last ten years, this has all been happening somehow automatically, as if against my will. Not an accident. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that there is no point in dwelling on the negative, we already have enough negative in our lives. In order to bring some benefit to people, one must look for the positive in life, comprehend it and concentrate it. ... About the same, that is, about the positive, one of my friends, the artist Yuri Sergeev, also told me, who, after reading the first version of my long-standing book “Enter the Picture”, suggested that, throwing out all the negative, leaving only everything positive in it ... So that, like him he says that there was something to raise his children on ... It's like a grandmother tells a fairy tale, where the emphasis is on everything good ...

I thought about it and agreed with him. Indeed, it is better to concentrate on the positive, that is, to collect light in various manifestations and open it to people...

Host: In this book "Eternal Values" there are also illustrations by the artist Yuri Sergeev. Did he inspire you for some ideas and chapters of the book, or did you already inspire him?

Arutyunov: We have been mutually inspiring each other for a long time. When we meet, ideas rush through us like comets in space, illuminating entire regions of space, and I have an idea for his new painting or he tells me something. I record our conversations with him on a dictaphone, so that all the flying sparks go into action ...

Presenter: How was the work on the book? Were there difficult moments or vice versa, everything was written in one breath?

Arutyunov: I work in the journal "Nature and Man", and there we opened a section "Eternal values", for the same reason that there is a lot of negativity, because under capitalism, playing on the base feelings of the public is profitable, as a result, all forms of art and the press are filled with violence. perversions, scandals. Under socialism, all this was controlled by censorship, besides, the state proclaimed high life goals (building communism, morality, fraternity, equality, happiness for all people), and now the state has plunged into solving current problems ... Spiritual values ​​have disappeared from the tasks that the state sets for itself . Therefore, "eternal values" - as spiritual guidelines, are not in demand among us and are almost forgotten, but if we remind them, then perhaps this will bring some benefit ...

26 of my essays were published in the magazine, and then they ended, and we temporarily closed the rubric. But readers began to write letters demanding to continue this topic. I started thinking about it, and that's how the idea for the book was born.

Presenter: And the design of the book, the drawing on the cover (scales with gold coins on one bowl and spiritual values ​​on the other) is this your idea or the publisher's? And what's the point?

Arutyunov: My idea. In the mythology of many peoples there is this idea - when a person dies, heavenly or underground judges weigh his soul or heart on some scales, and his sins on others ... And, if sins outweigh the person, darkness forever swallows him or he is devoured by a terrible monster. That is, nothing more. But we weigh everything on earthly scales, where what is heavier wins…. On these scales (on the cover - too), unfortunately, money still outweighs. But let's hope. What is temporary...

Host: in your book you often use the word “sacred”. What do you mean by this?

Aryunov: Sacredness is a sacred action, a rare word, because most people live a material life. And even among creative people there are many atheists and materialists who do not believe in God or in any non-material forces. But nevertheless, sacredness is present in their actions even against their will ... Because the act of creativity itself is a rite, that is, a series of identical repetitive actions, and this is a sacred action, that is, a sacred action, because when performing a rite, sooner or later always happens the release of energy, the creation of some new fields and a change in the state of matter, its saturation with a spiritual principle ...

Let's say an artist paints a picture, draws a brush over the canvas, but everything is somehow routine, nothing new and fresh comes to his mind. And he thinks: Well, probably today is not my day and nothing will come of it today ... And suddenly, it is not clear how, new ideas flash in his mind, and he begins to feverishly draw. What happened? The rite worked, that is, his movements of the brush across the canvas were repeated, their number accumulated, and, finally, the quantity turned into quality, a miracle of a new reality arose ... That's what sacredness is ...

Presenter: When I read your book, maybe due to my age (I'm 20 years old) I had such a conviction that you think that you should not resist the routine, that is, repeat all these actions - go to work, cook food , something to do, even if you get bored. But it seems to me that, on the contrary, if you resist the ordinary, you can achieve more ... But against the current, this is no longer a rite, because the cyclicity is violated ... Is it so?

Arutyunov: But resistance, that is, movement against the current, can also be a ritual. For example, Archpriest Avvakum, he swam against the current all the time (constantly arguing, denouncing, cursing) and yet he always performed rituals, that is, repeated actions, although directed against the current ... Mikhail Lomonosov did the same ... his curses were a constant occurrence at the meetings of the Academy of Sciences, and it was already a ritual ...

Why is routine important, because these same repetitive actions are also a ritual. I'll give you an example. Our village writer Fyodor Abramov (I don’t remember exactly, maybe Vladimir Soloukhin) has a story that describes the harvesting of beets by collective farmers together with students helping them. And it was such a hard overcast day, when it rained every now and then, and they all collected and collected, raked and raked. And they all got smeared there and suffered. And suddenly there came a moment when all of a sudden they all kind of turned off or fell into a trance. And how three hours flew by and they removed all the beets, although there was work there for another day or two, no one understood. What actually happened? The fact that this hard necessary monotonous exhausting work from the same repetitive actions became a rite and breathed incredible energy into them all, so that they quickly and smoothly (on autopilot) completed all this back-breaking work ...

This phenomenon is rare, few people notice it and few people draw attention to it. And who is this happening to and who is trying to tell about it, they say: come on, it seemed to you ... And you need to draw attention to this, because everyday life in our usual view is the death of creativity, that which interferes with our life, that irritates people, that which turns away from work. Therefore, it seems to me that if we begin to draw attention to this topic (about how everyday life and monotony turn into sacredness, into creativity), then perhaps the attitude towards monotonous work will change, and people, doing monotonous repetitive work, will begin to wait enlightenment, insight, a second wind, a breakthrough into a different state. At least many creative people are waiting for this moment when inspiration comes ...

Remember in the cartoon "Film, Film, Film" what the screenwriter did there when inspiration did not come to him? He beat his head against the wall, one, two, three ... until the insight came ... This beating of the head against the wall is just a rite, that is, a monotonous, repetitive work that ends with a surge of energy and insight ...

Question from the seat: I was on the subway today, and a violinist came in... He walks along the carriage, plays the violin, tries, but because of the noise of the train, he cannot be heard... By analogy with this example, Russian prose and poetry simply cannot survive in the noise and even the rumble of our lives (the rumble of cars, speakers, construction drills and autosaws). We are all waiting for insight, but where will it come from with such noise?

Arutyunov: I do not share your pessimism. I'll give you an example. My good friend, the artistic director of the historical and ethnographic theater Mikhail Mizyukov (by the way, the wonderful theater on Losinoostrovskaya, revives Russian national culture), we once talked with him about what is happening with folklore and what are the prospects. And I anxiously asked him: What to do? After all, the last grandmothers, carriers of folklore, are dying in the villages, their daughters and granddaughters are already living in cities, who will continue all this?

And he says: After the institute, I also thought that the last grandmothers were dying and there was no one to pick them up. But somehow we arrived 20 years later in the same village where these dying grandmothers lived and where, it would seem, no one should be left ... and we saw the same grandmothers who sing the same songs ... But looked closer - no, these are still not those grandmothers, but their daughters and granddaughters, who 20 years ago left, it seemed, forever in the city and were not going to engage in folklore at all, but then returned from the city to the village (each for its own reason),

And now they sing these songs. He then asked them: how do you know these songs, because your grandmothers and mothers didn’t pass them on to you, you didn’t memorize them, didn’t remember them ... Where did you get them from, how did you remember them ?. They say we don’t know ourselves, but let’s sing… What happened?

Spirituality permeates the information space, information (visual, auditory and other) passes through us like through a sieve, these information flows go from above, below, to the right. On the left, and something remains in us ... And if there is a certain predisposition, inclination to this or that information, then it begins to settle in us and be generated, manifest itself ... Why do they say that God gave man free will ... that is, if there is no free will, we do not let the information penetrating us settle in us, it does not settle ... (as they say, it flew into one ear and flew out of the other), and when we give it, when we allow it. Especially when we have a request that we want to sing these songs, then we begin to sing them ....

I don’t remember who, it seems Mayakovsky, said that “man is the mouthpiece of space”, and the 17th century French philosopher Blaise Pascal said that “man is a thinking reed into which God blows, sings his own melody”

Therefore, when a musician plays the violin in the subway or on the street and you can’t even hear the melody because of the noise, it still reaches the listeners ... And it doesn’t matter whether the listeners know the notes, whether they understand classical music ... this music still reaches and doing his secret work...

Imagine a five-year-old boy, sitting in the subway with his grandmother on his knees, this musician walked past him, playing. And the boy didn't seem to be listening. But now, 15 years later, he suddenly begins to get involved in violin music. He is asked why, from where? And he himself cannot say why, because he does not remember that incident in the subway.

Tatyana Ginsburg, presenter of the seminar Transcendental Adaptation (a school of adequate perception of information flows, the ability to open up to perception) together with Gennady Shirokov: Unfortunately, I was a little late and maybe I overheard. What is the main idea of ​​your book?

Arutyunov: The main idea is to place these positive truths, eternal values ​​on our life path, which, like the sacred stones of Stonehenge, give energy to those who move past them in a circle, and orient them in the right positive direction, aimed at revealing spiritual potential. In many peoples of the world in monasteries, in pagan sanctuaries, sacred ritual and ritual places, Buddhist temples, in labyrinths, there are such sacred stones as along the perimeter of sacred lakes among the Slavs, among small peoples, for example, at Seydozero in Karelia (or recesses from them) ¸ pillars of light, concentration of information and energy. And now, even where only ruins remain from such sanctuaries, groups of seekers come here, stop there and conduct initiation rites ...

Something similar, it seems to me, occurs in contact with all spiritual values. But only in the case when we open ourselves to the flow of information, when we tune in to it ...

Question from the audience: Or maybe you can outline a few "stones"?

Arutyunov: For example, the chapter "Waiting". Ask a thousand people on the street how they feel about waiting. Most are negative. The queue at the doctor, in the store, at the theater for tickets, when the performance is already starting ... It's another matter when you are waiting for something wonderful, say, on a date, it's nice and good, but more often the expectation of people is annoying.

But in fact, waiting is a pause, preparation for some event that cannot happen without a pause. And so in everyday life we ​​run and try to avoid pauses. We get annoyed when someone is late for a meeting... But if we are running, how can one experience some insight in this state of running? Our pre-revolutionary writer Gleb Uspensky has such a story, “Straightened,” where he talks about a man, a simple craftsman, who first came to the Louvre and found himself in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “Monna Lisa”. At first, as he says about his condition in which he got to the Louvre, "the soul was crumpled, disheveled, disheveled, disheveled." But near the picture, something began to happen to him, he began to calm down, and, finally, a shock occurred to him, he began to cry. And this shock happened through expectation. He stopped running through life and stopped. There was a pause, which he so lacked in his life. That is, without waiting, nothing significant happens.

Sometimes young people, being on a date, are annoyed: they say, here again, the beloved was late for 10-15 minutes. But, if these young people were prepared in a theological school, they would, on the contrary, wait with delight, scrolling in their minds all the pleasant moments associated with the person you are waiting for. And being late

it gives you the opportunity to enjoy the anticipation of the meeting even more.

And each chapter of the book of such a plan, that is, it opens up some new positive aspects of the concept, proving that it is an eternal spiritual value.

Speech from the spot: On the first day of the exhibition, I saw this book Eternal Values, leafed through it and looked through individual chapters, including this chapter “Waiting” and saw that many of my guesses about waiting and our requests for information are confirmed here . In this case, I studied my family, I was under some tension in this information space for a long time (as happens when you are looking for something). And I noticed how, in the process of waiting, close information is attracted to you and you suddenly discover something new for yourself.…

Arutyunov: Of course, like attracts like, especially through the birth canal. January 3rd is my uncle's birthday, who is now 82 years old, and on this day we all come to him. And this is already a kind of rite - we come on the same day, to the same place, the same people, and the same actions - we sit at the table, help ourselves, make toasts, remember all our ancestors and relatives.

And every time the building of our information related space takes place, when all those who have long been gone are at the table, as it were: my great-grandfather, my grandfather, my father, all brothers and sisters and other relatives, distant and close, everyone we remember .. All of them are attracted from non-existence by our request. And we all, living and non-living, all gather at the same table ...

Like the poet Arseny Tarkovsky:

“Live in the house - and the house will not collapse.

I will call any of the centuries

I will go into it and build a house in it.

That's why your children are with me

And your wives at the same table, -

And there is one table for both great-grandfather and grandson:

The future is happening now

And if I raise my hand

All five rays will remain with you.

Well, when we remember them in detail, name some details, pronounce their names, and, moreover, we think about them all at the same time, then, of course, they appear even brighter, even more concretely ... And they rejoice at their appearance among us, why, because that we only remember the good ...

The same thing happens at our Faculty of Journalism, where we, fellow students, gather every five years. This is also a kind of ceremony, also the opening of an information space, where those who no longer exist ... We already have almost 50 such people. And they appear exactly when we are going. And when and where else can they all come together, when and where else can everyone see and hear each other? And where else is such a collective information field being created, one might say, an egregor? And this egregor nourishes everyone ... As it nourishes all relatives at a birthday party, so at the bottom of graduates ...

Why do I always say: love your relatives and friends, get together, use the opportunity to come, this chance that comes to you. And, if you are invited to a funeral, a wake, just a memorial evening, a housewarming party or a name day, drop everything and come ... This is our tribal duty, this is our duty, this is our energy ...

Sergei Mikhailovich Zorin, creator of the optical theater in Russia:

Yes, our relatives are like wings behind our backs. But behind every ancestor are more and more and more, dozens of generations. I calculated here that in the thirtieth generation, this is already 140 million people, almost the population of Russia! And on the fortieth or fiftieth, probably already several billion, that is, all of humanity ...

Y. Chirkov, engineer-colonel: I haven't read the whole book yet, I just leafed through it. But I was already excited by its title "Eternal Values". A very relevant topic right now. Because we now live in an era of spiritual crisis of human civilization. 14, 15, 16 year old teenagers are already a different world, a different perception, a different psychology. And how to convey to them our spiritual values ​​that our parents passed on to us is a problem. It seems to me that if all those spiritual values ​​that we are talking about and that are discussed in this book are not included in education, then humanity will come to a dead end, just as people who are spinning in a whirlwind of acquisition are now in a dead end, which we are all constantly aiming at. capitalism. And yet capitalism aims at technology and assigns an ever smaller role to living people, turning them into cogs in various processes. And I am convinced that in order to pass on the eternal values ​​to the younger generation, it is precisely living people, teachers, thinking, talented, brought up just on such eternal values ​​that are needed. No technique

will not replace them. When I was studying, I remember that we ran to lectures by famous teachers, and came running from these lectures joyful, excited by the prospects that opened up. In general, they lived inspired by all this, not noticing the difficulties, queues in stores, the lack of some food or goods ... And if the atmosphere that we all lived then is lost, then I don’t know where we will come ... With all the best and material prosperity...

In this regard, such books give hope for the future, that at least young people have something to convey, something to draw their attention to ... And why go far, the author of the book himself is precisely the bearer of these spiritual values ​​that he writes about.

Arutyunov: I would like to add that eternal values ​​are not some kind of frozen postulates, but living directions of spirituality, because for different eras each value had its own carrier and more than once, so that some values ​​are identified with some historical figures. For example, nobility - with the ancient Greek philosopher and ruler Pericles, faith - with the frantic archpriest Avvakum, fidelity - with the widow of A. Griboyedov Nina Chavchavadze, simplicity and wisdom - with the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. That is, each eternal value is a kind of light that a person receives and brings with him into life. Moreover, some people know how to illuminate the way with this light not only for themselves, but also for others.

Another thing is that everyone should have their own eternal values. Therefore, I wrote 42 chapters, choosing my values, and someone from these 42 chapters will choose what is closer to him and will be in this information space, entering into resonance with him. Or mentally add something of his own to them ...

The fact is that when you enter into resonance with an information space that is congenial to you, resonance with the Truth, you begin to grow rapidly spiritually... Because higher spiritual centers turn on. And they already include our purpose ...

Question from the spot: What to do now, in the conditions of wild capitalism, when the media and TV promote violence and primitive entertainment, bringing all serious literature and art to it?

Arutyunov: And do nothing, that is, nothing special, just do what is possible. You can’t break a butt with a whip. And what did our saints do? They went to sketes and led their righteous life there. And they prayed... They didn't influence anyone, and then it turned out that the influence was huge. And why? And the resonance of their desire to live righteously with the desires of thousands of other people… That is, knowledge still reaches those people who are open to them. It is enough for them to want ... That is, you do not need to drag your grandson anywhere, but simply tell him what you consider important and valuable. Each of us has a palette of all colors inside. Or, as it were, the strings of all sounds. Whichever string you touch, that one will sound, that one will respond.

If it weren’t for Maxim Gorky’s grandmother Akulina Ivanovna, then we wouldn’t know any Gorky ... But her life was difficult - her grandfather hit her head against the wall and pulled out her hair. And how did she react? She combed the torn strands and said: yes, nothing, pigeons, it’s not scary, grandfather is already weak, now he swears, and is angry, worries ... What a supply of kindness and spiritual strength ... A living person, as Yura was talking about. And such people have always been and will be ... Although, of course, Gorky's grandmother did not think how to convey her ideas to her descendants, she did not bother with this ... she attracted the children's attention to everything good and it got into children's memory ... Through Gorky it came to us. But this does not mean that she only influenced him. How many children she sent to a good path, we just do not know this, because they are not writers ...

Milena Karmanova about the presentation of the book "Eternal Values"

Did not have enough time

On December 1, in Moscow, at the exhibition of non-fiction (intellectual) literature in the Central House of Artists on Krymsky Val, a presentation of German Arutyunov's book "Eternal Values" took place.

Judging by the title of the book, the current topic for the entire planet, especially for our country. Because, as the author and readers convincingly said when discussing the book,

“We are now living in an era of the spiritual crisis of human civilization, and our country is also going through a barbaric stage of spontaneous capitalism, when the state does not reach the hands of spiritual values. There is a lot of negativity, because under capitalism, playing on the base feelings of the public brings profit. The boundaries of good and evil are blurred, in the press, in books, on television, scandals, conflicts, perversions, and crime come to the fore. Under socialism, all this was strictly and skillfully controlled by censorship, besides, the state proclaimed lofty life goals (the construction of communism, morality, brotherhood, equality, the happiness of all people), and now the state has plunged into solving current problems ... Spiritual values ​​have disappeared from the tasks set by before the state. Therefore, "eternal values" - as spiritual guidelines, are almost not in demand and almost forgotten in our country, but if we remind them, then perhaps this will bring some benefit ...

And, if we talk about education, then compared to the generation of 60-70 years old, brought up on high ideals, the current 14, 15, 16 year old teenagers are already a different world, a different perception, a different psychology. And how to convey to them our spiritual values ​​that our parents passed on to us is a problem. So, if all those spiritual values ​​that are mentioned in this book are not included in education, then humanity will come to a dead end, just as people who are spinning in a whirlwind of acquisition, which capitalism constantly aims us at, find themselves in a dead end.

I agree with this statement. We really now have come to the fore material well-being, making money, for many it has become almost the goal of life. But what can such a goal ultimately lead to? To spiritual devastation, when everything is in the house, but the soul is empty. If anything can resist this, then only spiritual values, to which German Arutyunov dedicated his book.

It is no coincidence that when asked how the idea for the book came about, he answered this way:

“I came to the conclusion a long time ago that it makes no sense to dwell on the negative, we already have enough negative in our lives. In order to bring some benefit to people, one must look for the positive in life, comprehend it and concentrate it. ... About the same, that is, about the positive, one of my friends, the artist Yuri Sergeev, also told me, who, having read the first version of my early book “Enter the Picture”, suggested that, throwing out everything negative, leaving only everything positive in it ... To, as he said, had something to raise their children... It's like a grandmother tells a fairy tale, where the emphasis is on everything good ...

I thought about it and agreed with him. Indeed, it is better to concentrate on the positive, that is, to collect light in various manifestations and open it to people…”

It was about this, about the concentration of the positive, about the gathering of light, that an interesting conversation arose during the discussion of the book, in which not only the author and presenter took part, but also the readers who came to the presentation, the visitors of the exhibition. Drawing parallels with other eras, the author originally compared the reading of his book with a ritual that was performed several thousand years ago by druid priests in Stonehenge, a sacred complex in the UK of huge megalithic stones. Performing the ceremony and moving past the megalithic stones in a circle, stopping near each megalith, they seemed to be nourished by the energy of each sacred stone, charged with it, and it was like an insight, like a flash of new knowledge, as it happens when at some point the number turns into quality and a leap occurs... Passing by each value, like passing a megalith stone, is the consolidation of new knowledge, spiritual capital... So in the book "Eternal Values", the reader's movement through 42 chapters leads to small insights-discoveries, also of his own kind of spiritual ritual. An unusual and interesting comparison that turns on the imagination, makes you think.

In general, I think that such books give hope for the future, that at least the youth have something to convey, something to draw their attention to ...

Someone at the discussion of the book said that another presentation of the book would be in 2-3 months at the Union of Writers. I would also like to take part in it, because the time at the non-fiction exhibition was limited and many simply did not have time to speak out ... In addition, the book touches on such topics, and they turn at such an angle that each chapter (God, prayer, old letters , simple food, expectation, fidelity, small Motherland) you can devote a separate evening ...

Milena Karmanova,

Ph.D. in History of Arts,

old letters

New Year is not only miracles, a New Year tree, the smell of tangerines, champagne to the sound of chimes and holiday crackers. It's also congratulations. Previously, these were New Year's letters, telegrams, greeting cards. Now that the Internet has appeared, and with it the ability to communicate by e-mail and Skype, this wonderful tradition (to congratulate each other in writing on the New Year and say all sorts of nice words), unfortunately, is becoming a thing of the past. But, fortunately, not for everyone. People who live in the outback and do not have a computer, or do not know how to handle it, still write letters and send each other greeting cards for the New Year.

Recently, while sorting out the mezzanine, I came across a whole box of such old New Year's letters and postcards from relatives, friends and acquaintances that had accumulated over many, many years. Going through them and looking at the lines written in different handwriting, I suddenly caught myself thinking that maybe everything that was successful in my life was partly due to kind words and wishes, including those contained in these messages. And in general, maybe everything good in our life comes mainly from the energy of kind words and wishes expressed to us by people - relatives, relatives, friends, acquaintances ... They instill in us energy that encourages us to act, protect us from anger, envy, censure, unfair words, thrown accidentally or deliberately ...

Indeed, why not, because The word has great power. It is no coincidence that when we meet, we say to each other “hello!” or "hello!", and at parting - "goodbye!". It is no coincidence that when concluding a marriage, not only in the registry office, but also in the church, they expect the word “yes” from us, and only then continue the ceremony. It is no coincidence that in the old, now, perhaps, seemingly naive, village letters, greetings and wishes of health from all relatives were first listed, and only then it was about some business or events.

We don't think about it, but a good word accompanies us all our lives, and when no one says these words to a person from childhood, he becomes hardened in heart and begins to hate people and life itself.

There are especially a lot of kind words in letters, because writing a letter is no longer something everyday, but a spiritual impulse, when you stand on tiptoe a little and reach for something with your soul ...

“Old Letters” is one of the paintings by the artist Yuri Sergeev, with which he wanted to draw attention to this wonderful and, unfortunately, dying tradition.

“Of all the letters that I received, - the artist remembers , - I selected the most interesting, smart or simple, but written sincerely, with soul, and arranged them according to the books of my library. Then I forgot about some letter, and opened the book - it is there. I will re-read it again, I will be excited, I will rejoice.

I myself, as I used to write letters, so I write now, moreover, by hand. A few years ago, when I was in Venice, I bought there an inkwell, multi-colored ink and real goose quills, souvenirs, exactly the same as Dante wrote. I come up with funny headlines for my letters.

In fact, it is only at first glance to write letters - a couple of trifles. No, don't hit the keyboard computer, but write the words with your own hand. A lot of people are completely out of the habit of it. And some writersdespite having computers, stillthey continue to write by hand, and often not with a ballpoint pen, but with a simple pencil. Probably becausein addition to the brain, the hand itself thinks, and even our fingers .

And then, which is also very important, very important -handwritten letters . This is individual. This is what characterizes a person, conveys his temperament, his character. This is what ignites the creative fire in us,translates the person into the Word .

And besidesthere is also an ancient ritual of paper writing : take a sheet of paper, brew a cup of tea, sit back, turn on your favorite calm music, then slowly, with pauses, write, seal in an envelope, put it in the mailbox, then wait for a response letter, receive it by pulling it out of the mailbox, print it out, read ...

You experience an unusual excitement when you start writing a letter when you have a blank white sheet of paper in front of you. What is it like the field you must sow. Will something come up on it? A clean white sheet of paper requires an appropriate state of mind. If you are torn and disheveled, nothing will work. Perhaps that is why letters are written especially well in a crystal autumn or on a quiet winter evening, when peace reigns in nature.

Yes, now there is the Internet and you can learn a lot about old letters there. People talk, share their impressions, remember. For example, like this:

“Today I was sorting out the closet and found notes that many years ago they wrote to me at the maternity hospital ... Tears in three streams, everything flooded at once ... Such touching letters !!! Business and to the point letters from mom, poignant from dad, tender and caring from her husband, sister, friends...

And I immediately remembered everything ... And how my husband said that my daughter would be called only Masha (and it was not known who would be a girl or a boy), and how I called him when I went to the hospital, and he had night duty, I - I went to give birth, he was in a panic - he didn’t know what to do ... And how dad didn’t sleep all night and walked from corner to corner in the kitchen when I was giving birth ...

And my husband’s letters ... Now our relationship has somehow become simpler or something ... Some kind of tenderness has gone, perhaps it has passed into a different quality ... And then - such letters ... In general, I sit and cry ... What a pity, that now there are telephones and no need to write letters ... "

Or like this:

“I love old letters. Probably because when I'm in a bad mood, I take old letters and postcards, warm and tender, and reread them. I plunge into those old, long-resolved and passed problems. It seems to me that any problem can be solved , that everything in the world is on my shoulder, since everything was on my shoulder then .

Then, of those people who once wrote letters to me, some have already forgotten about me, and then, they were happy, upset, shared their impressions, missed me. As now in their messages, they seem to still be with me, rejoice, grieve, share their impressions, miss me ... "

The threat to creativity in us from civilization is that more and more blessings are presented to us on a silver platter, already prepared and packaged. So much more convenient, so much more comfortable. But for the soul it is deadly, because the Creator is forced out of us by a passive consumer. BUT a blank sheet of paper is unpredictable and invites to create. Coming into contact with the unpredictable, we plunge into ourselves, into the unconscious, into that creative cosmos in us that connects us with God…

For letters, our modern life has become too fast. Sometimes you are going to write a letter, a week passes, the second, but it doesn’t work out in any way - life seems to blow you all the time. And just waking up on Sunday morning, unable to pick up the usual speed and realizing that you don’t have to run anywhere and urgently do some urgent business, you finally sit down to write a letter. That is, it turns out that the rhythm of our daily life today is faster than it is necessary for letters. But is it normal when we live faster than it is necessary for the soul?

Part of world literature (especially Russian) is built on letters (novels in letters) and diaries. According to the letters of individual people, often not outstanding, but the most ordinary, historians supplemented (supplement even now) for themselves the picture of this or that era, the portrait of this or that historical personality. I.e letters have always been part of world culture.

For an American or even a European, the loss of the habit of writing letters is perhaps not as tragic as for the Russian character, with its inertia, dreaminess, contemplation, regularity and impracticality - qualities that are remarkably developed and trained in letters. These qualities are determined by our nature, landscape, vast, almost without borders, expanses in which we live. Practicality is always the limit, therefore practicality jars us, even offends us. We are disgusted by the very thought of writing a letter only for some practical purpose, about inheritance, property or money. It’s another matter to write it just like that, about this and that, by the way, so that a request or a specific question does not stick out, but arise as if by chance, unintentionally ... how: “I am writing to you ... what more, what else can I say ...”

old letters not only transport us into the past. They areshow as we were many years ago,what wonderful plans we had, what pure thoughts, how interesting we felt . In life, we change imperceptibly for ourselves, having time to get used to each change and therefore do not realize the tragedy and irreversibility of some changes. And here, when you see yourself immediately, after a few years, you suddenly see what is irretrievably gone, and what is new.

There is something we do not understand in our actions. We think: where were my eyes, how did it happen to me ... And you read old letters, and everything becomes clear - that's why it happened. 'Cause as you get older you start to read between the lineseven the handwriting already says something . You look at such familiar letters, and as if you see them for the first time. It turns out that the lettera always so strangely pitifully clinging to the lettern , and the lettert always for some reason tends to deviate from the letterand as from an enemy. This means that in this handwriting the letters behave exactly like this, that is, they reflect the character of their mistress.

The poet Maximilian Voloshin romantically wrote about old letters, sitting in his favorite wicker chair on the seashore in Koktebel and sorting through such letters:

"I love the tired rustle
Old letters, distant words...

They have a smell, they have charm
Dying flowers...
I love patterned handwriting -
They have the rustle of dry herbs,
Fast letters familiar sketch
Quietly whispers a sad verse.
Isn't it strange - we solve crosswords and charades that have nothing to do with us, and in our own lives we accumulate so many unsolved crosswords and charades by sunset. They gather dust in the form of old letters in dilapidated chests under the beds or in boxes on the mezzanines and attics, and we have no time to sort them out.

The tragedy of our society, our nation, our people is that the past was cut off, andpeople, fearing reprisals, burned all the evidence of the noble, worthy, or even more outstanding life of their ancestorsincluding letters. How many wonderful words and stories perished in the fire, on which whole generations could be brought up in families! Unless there were only harmless postcards with congratulations similar to each other, but with the native handwriting of loved ones, diligently neat or vice versa, romantically eccentric.

Yes,our national tragedy is that for the most part we are not aware of the valuable that we have . We don't appreciate it. Few people have told us and say thatthe meaning of life is to continue the line of a kind , which means you need to study this line, delve into the past. Few people have told us and say that it is possible to continue the family line only by being connected with it by blood ties: things, photographs, old letters, memory. No one has told us and is not telling us that by keeping the old things of our ancestors, we keep this connection through them, and thus from the past comes to us nourishment, a flow of energy, tips on what to do in this life.And this is immortality! And vice versa, having cut off all ties, we become like a ship in the sea without a rudder and without sails, drawn by different currents to no one knows where and for what. Nobody told us that if you do not communicate with relatives, you can simply lose yourself.

Letters did not immediately begin to disappear from our lives. At first, the phone began to replace the habit of writing letters. Spending hours on the phone talking about the need for communication, we gradually forgot how to write letters. And then practicality and the desire for comfort advancing on us from the West led to the fact that now we send SMS to each other by mobile phone, and in the store we select the appropriate cheat sheets we like with ready-made funny drawings and phrases and, adding two or three of our own, sent in an envelope as a letter. But thisnot really a letter, because the soul has not labored over it. Yes, and SMS can hardly be called a letter. True, the further development of technological progress and the commercialization of life, perhaps, will again return us to the almost forgotten epistolary genre, as to vitamins that the soul lacks.

Letters have a special role in our life - to record the high or good impulses of the soul. when you want to say something sublime or just good or wish something good. The fact that a letter is something special, that it is a special state of mind, is evidenced by the fact that even those people who have never written letters, falling in love, begin to write them.They are motivated to this by all the best that God has given us, that sleeps in each of us and awakens when we love.

And finally paper...humanity has a special relationship with paper . A sheet of paper, when we touch it, whether reading or starting to write, as if conducting an electric current. Communication with him is a kind of magic. And it happens that you have not yet read anything, but only picked up a letter, and you already guess what is in it. Or, when you are about to write, you pick up a sheet of paper and suddenly a thought arises. As if the paper introduces you into the corridor of time. In which there is no past and future, but everything is one ...

Paper is a more living and natural medium of information than a computer. It has an appearance - it can be white, yellow, pink, it has some kind of monogram of its time on it, an envelope is attached to it, on which there is also some kind of drawing and a stamp with a picture. The paper smells. It rustles, you can touch it, stroke it and even try it.It all includes a variety of our feelings. , when we are in the process, that is, when we send an email and receive it.

The artist, painting the picture “Old Letters”, thought about what to attract the attention of the viewer in the first place? And it seemed to dawn on him - to the hands of his grandmother. And indeed, when you look at her hand, it feels like she just let a sheet of paper out of her fingers, went into herself for a while ... The process has begun! It started journey into yourself. The granddaughter and the cat felt this and are shocked by the process that began before their eyes - they are witnesses of the journey that has begun. And the girl suddenly saw at once a picture of her whole future life, which for a moment opened up before her ...

We all have objective, momentary, spatial vision. When we suddenly see an entire era, it means that another level of consciousness has turned on, it has expanded. As the eye in the school of speed reading begins to cover an increasing part of the sheet, so does our three-dimensional vision, we cover an increasing time space, that which the eyes cannot cover. So my grandmother saw it all. And the granddaughter and grandmother have a direct connection, like all relatives, who, like receivers, are tuned to the same wave. And before her, too, all the images that arise in the mind of her grandmother began to emerge ...

Each of us has our own old letters in our souls. The door to this world is abandoned and covered with dust, like the door to the magical theater in old Carlo's closet in the tale of Pinocchio. And the key to this door, perhaps, lies at the bottom of the pond where Tortilla the turtle lives. But the time comes, someone finds this key and this door and opens it. And the story begins again...

At the source

Chapter from the book "Eternal Values"

At all times, a variety of human rites, all rites and rituals, everything that transforms matter into spirit, as a rule, are associated with four elements: earth, water, air and fire. And with what, in fact, they should still be connected, because the world just consists of these four elements. And exactly influencing the rite on the elements, you can change the state of the environment... This is not a hypothesis, it has been proven by many years of experience of our ancestors.

The sacred meaning of water has been recognized by people since the dawn of human history. This is confirmed by the mythology of all times and peoples. Our ancestors idolized water as a source of life, as an ever-living spring that nourishes and heals not only the body, but also the soul. And the closer, clearer and more compact was the appearance of water, the more convenient it was to worship her as a deity. Therefore, all water cults were held, as a rule, not on the coast of the ocean or the sea or even a river, but near a spring or a tiny stream from which the river began. This is how our consciousness works - it is difficult for us to humanize the ocean, but it is easy to endow it with human and above human qualities a small spring.

Why over? Because water is power. Philosophers have been arguing since ancient times: what is the origin of everything? In ancient Greece, for example, Anaximenes from Miletus (588-525 BC) considered the fundamental principle of air, Pherekides from the island of Syros (584-499 BC) - the earth, Heraclitus of Ephesus (544-483 BC) AD) - fire, and Thales of Miletus (640-548 BC) considered water to be the beginning of all things.

In fact, it does not matter what is the beginning - fire, earth, air or water. Because each of them, constantly, for millionths of a second, turning one into another, for various reasons, can become such a beginning. And, if it does, then the whole world, which arose from this element, then carries its properties in itself. Especially if we think about it, believe in it, attach importance to it. In other words, we fill the element with our thoughts and expectations.

But, if so, if we assume that water is the fundamental principle of our world, then it is easy to believe that water elevates, strengthens, purifies, washes away evil, that is, it neutralizes evil forces. Many rituals are associated with this. For example, ritual washing, which was, as it were, evidence of a "second" birth. What then formed the Christian idea of ​​baptism as a sign of spiritual birth or rebirth of a person.

People began to bring the first victims to water back in the Paleolithic and Mesolithic. For example, on the territory of Poland, a spring still springs from the ground, which for thousands of years has been the subject of such a cult - a recess has been made near it, which is filled with several layers of masonry. At the very bottom, under stones and a layer of silt, archaeologists found shards and a bronze pin with a swan neck. The source was revered for a very long time - both in the Bronze Age, and in Roman times, and in the Middle Ages.

In Greek mythology, there are references to sacred springs that were located on Mount Helikon. According to legend, from the blow of the Pegasus horse's hoof on the stone, a spring called Hippocrene arose. Helikon was the abode of the Muses, in whose honor a temple was built here. It contained statues of all nine muses. The spring of Hippocrene had a wonderful property to communicate poetic inspiration to anyone immersed in its waters.

In general, of the worship of various elements, the cult of water is the most ancient archaic ritual that can be traced among the Slavs from the 1st millennium BC to the present. Pagan sacrifices to water are recorded in the written sources of the ancient Slavs. For example, in the “History of Wars” by Procopius of Caesarea, where, mentioning the main heavenly god of the Slavs, he also notes that “They honor rivers, and nymphs, and some other deities, and make sacrifices to all of them as well…”

After the Baptism of Russia, over time, a Christian motif was added to the pagan veneration of water - the cult of the Mother of God and the saints. The Mother of God as “Mother-Cheese Earth” began to symbolize the natural generative power - something that pagan cults were previously focused on worshiping. In Russia, in the lives of legends about healing springs, associated with certain famous names of Russian saints, appear and spread from the XIV - XV centuries.

A similar process took place in Scandinavia in connection with the introduction of Christianity - the numerous opening of springs accompanied the worship of the relics of St. Olaf.

Collector of Russian fairy tales A.N. Afanasiev in the book "Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature" encyclopedically collected ideas about the water element from the Slavs. He breaks down the material according to the properties of water - fruitful, healing, cleansing and prophetic.

The cult of water continued to exist after the Baptism of Russia. This is due to the fact that in church rituals and sacred tradition, water played one of the most important roles at all levels, from practical to symbolic. The constant use of water in the Orthodox cult (baptism, consecration and the use of holy water) maintained a sacred attitude towards it.

Water collected from springs, springs and wells at Christmas, New Year, Candlemas, on Good Thursday or Friday, on Ivan Kupala was considered especially miraculous.

The Smolensk poetess Svetlana Matuzova reverently wrote about such miraculousness in her poem "Spring".

"Behind the old church in the forest,

The spring is from God.

Not a path has been trodden here,

And a big road.

How much he washed away with healing water,

Here diseases, sorrows,

How many times here asking for your

They turned their eyes to God.

And they asked in prayer

Everything is forgiven by God.

And the Lord, hearing these prayers,

He sent healing.

Departed from the pain of the soul,

Falling to the spring. -

Believing in the miracle of prayer - the cross

And Christ, remembering.

The holy place is prayed here,

Here prayer for centuries

In this place there is an invisible

The connection between God and us.

The Christian roots of source worship are numerous; in almost all cases they refer us to the Bible, where in the Old Testament God himself is identified with the source: “Me, the fountain of living water…”(Jeremiah 2:13). These ideas served to develop the theme of water in the New Testament, where it is already associated with Jesus Christ, and he is compared with the source. In the book "Teachings of the Elected from the Holy Gospel and from Many Divine Writings" by John Chrysostom it says: “Living water is a drop of the teaching of Christ, living water, grace is the Holy Spirit…”

The healing properties of water are one of the important characteristics of the revered spring. This episode was actively comprehended in Ancient Russia, as evidenced by the “Sermon about the Paralytic” by Cyril of Turov, a bishop and preacher of the 12th century.

It has become a tradition, when opening a new icon of the Mother of God or the relics of a person recognized as a saint, to associate this event with the opening of a spring and its consecration. A chapel is usually erected in this place. Pilgrims begin to flock here.

How, for example, did the icon of the Mother of God "Life-Giving Spring" appear?

It was in the 5th century AD in Byzantium. Ten versts from Constantinople grew a plane tree grove dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos. In the middle of the grove there was a wonderful spring, which only the locals knew about.

Once the future emperor, and now a simple warrior, Leo Markell, helping a lost blind man to get on the path, wanted to find water for the old man and suddenly felt that he could not move on. He looked around and saw a spring. Then he made the blind man drink and put mud on his eyes, after which the old man received his sight.

Later, after becoming emperor, Leo Markell erected a temple dedicated to the Mother of God near the spring and called it the "Life-Giving Spring". And the icon painter painted the image of the Virgin with a baby in a bowl.

Known modern revered springs are already fully inscribed in the church circle of rites. They, as a rule, are already accompanied by icons or crosses, in many cases they are located at the church, chapel or monastery; they go to such springs according to the covenant and leave offerings with them - money, matter, ribbons.

It is no coincidence in the words genus Nick, genus Noah, genus ova, genus private, genus ichi, genus residents, genus winded, genus conditional, with genus and the same root is genus. An ancient verbal code that permeates the past, present and future, including all of nature and all of humanity.

Leave any covenant at the spring is an established spiritual tradition. For example, in Karelia, near Kumozero, there is a small spring, overgrown almost on all sides with a pine forest, which has long been visited not only by residents of the nearest parish, but also from other places for water for the sick. And for the water they take, people leave next to the spring either the patient's shirt, or a piece of linen, or some kind of handkerchief.

There are many springs around Izborsk - for example, two at the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh and the Nativity of the Virgin and one in the village of Mala, four kilometers from the city. They are considered healing for the eyes.

Recently, an unusual route has been developed for pilgrims and tourists - the "Spring Ring" of Russia. It is unique in its natural, spiritual, historical and other characteristics. More than 20 holy healing springs, 12 monasteries and monasteries, 30 temples - and all this on a 200 km ring with a good road, with amazingly beautiful landscapes. The saturation of unique architectural monuments in this area is four times greater than in the country. And the very name of such cities as Shuya, Palekh, Lukh, Kho-lui, Vasilievskoye, lying along the route, awakens historical memory, returns to the origins of Holy Russia and the birth of autocracy.

The source, which has become a shrine, a place of pilgrimage, is a social phenomenon that has been developing for a long time due to various reasons and through the efforts of different people. True, even one person can open a source and settle near it ... Why not, if any fontanel is the prototype of the beginning, an integral part of the elements, which gives rise to entire worlds ... This is all the more possible now, when the spiritual movement “my family homestead” has arisen. Now, when hundreds of thousands of hectares of abandoned lands are empty in our country, when in some Russian outback you can find several hectares of land with a spring or even several springs and settle there, settle down, establish a family estate where children will be born, traditions are laid ...

The artist Yury Sergeev dreams of such a place in his painting “At the Source”. He saw different entrances-entrances to the estates. Some are large and loud, such as, for example, the entrance to Arkhangelskoye near Moscow. This is a manor-holiday, a manor-splendour, a manor-theatre, a manor-grandmour, a manor-celebration, and the entrance to it is like a triumphal procession, like the entry of Julius Caesar into Rome on his return from Egypt with Queen Cleopatra as a prisoner.

And he prefers quiet, modest, humble entrances, like this one, where you don’t enter, but enter on foot. Everything here is suggestive about peace, humility, solitude. This is a manor-skete, in which the entrance is not a gate, but a gate. Guests will come to such a host and say:

“Well, brother, you got in! But how do you live in such a remote area? It’s not that we weren’t able to enter you in a carriage with a train of 12 horses, but even in small droshky. I had to walk in…”

And he answered them:

“Why come to me? I have to get in on foot. Ha man is not a horse to ride, and not a bird to fly, he must move at his own speed, that is, to walk with your own feet, calmly, unhurriedly, in order to see life from the height of your growth, listen to it, feel its breath and be grateful to it ... "

And he's right, this master. He needs privacy, peace. Therefore, a manor-hermitage is quite suitable for him, along which he wants not to drive, but to walk on foot. After all, our thoughts depend on the distance as well as on the speed of movement. But not only to slow down our run through life, a manor-skete is needed.

Russian painting, as you know, began with icon painting. And icon painting is a spiritual service. And icon painters before each major work took some kind of obedience, for example, a vow of silence, like Andrei Rublev before the Trinity. For what? So that in the soul, as in a spring, clean water is collected. And so that the humility of the vow taken would keep this water calm. Then it will be a mirror in which the artist will see images.

For this, a manor-skete is needed. It is no coincidence that the title of the picture contains the word "source". We are talking about a spiritual source - protecting the owner from the temptations of the world, the estate-skete itself turns into a kind of spring, a source. Its owner is gaining spirituality here.

Life goes by levels, each has its own speed. On the high road, it's all over the place. And from the big road I went down to the small one, here the speed is less. My heart is already calmer. And, if you came to the churchyard, there is generally silence. Sometimes you need to come to a quiet place like this to slow down your thoughts.

If you move through life very quickly, you will not see anything. We need to slow down, maybe even stop. As a doctor in Andrei Tarkovsky's film "The Mirror", played by Anatoly Solonitsyn, fell along with the fence, lay a little on the ground, looking around, and said: “How strange, these bushes, trees, they don’t go anywhere, but everyone knows, everyone feels” ... That is, at speed you will never rise to the thoughts of a sage, at it all thoughts merge into a stream.

Such a manor-hermitage, as in the picture, with a modest narrow path, almost a path, is a deceleration that allows you to begin to distinguish something from the merged mass. When the elders go to the skete, they begin to see with a new, opened slow vision. Therefore, they know more than others. Why did all the disciples of Sergius of Radonezh leave the monasteries in the 14th century when life improved there (that is, it began to accelerate again)? They went to the forest or to the desert, where there were no people, dug a cave for themselves there in the sand and lived in it. It was the same scheme of slowing down the vain speed of life, blinding our eyes to true and transient values ​​...

This girl, who is not in a hurry to go anywhere, who comes here, to the source, she lives slowly, carefully, intently ...

Of course, not everyone makes sense to slow down the speed of life. Sometimes, perhaps, it is better not to slow it down at all, so as not to think about it for the time being. If the time has not come, if not the time to see something else in your life. It will come later. But to have a place where you can always come and slow down time would be good for everyone.

The presence of the source nearby, to which the girl came, transforms the world. The Gospel of John tells us that, while passing through Samaria, Jesus stopped near the town of Sychar, at the well of Jacob. There he met a Samaritan woman and asked her for water. She was surprised, since the Jews did not communicate with the Samaritans, considering them to be Gentiles. Jesus said to the woman: “Whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water springing up into eternal life.”

The last sentence is not accidental. Any holy spring gives us water that "flows into eternal life." Because the source is spirituality, purity. The source, as it were, shows a person how to live: modestly, disinterestedly, always be ready to help. He seems to be saying: give without expecting any reward, and you will be credited.

The source itself always works spiritually. And collecting clean water is also spiritual work. That is why a person after the source comes home enlightened, and the source itself after each communication shines with the light of a good deed.

A Russian person needs a source like a light to which he goes, like a ship sails towards the light of a lighthouse. If there is no physical source near the house in the form of a spring, he finds a spiritual source for himself, coming to the temple to the spiritual mentor.

It is no coincidence that the word "source" means the cause of the phenomenon. Life always revolves around a cause. So people begin to gather around the source, they are united by the similarity of views, as if the source turned their thoughts in a given direction. People settle here, there are more and more of them, and soon a small city grows here.

That's why every estate should have a source. It will certainly become a spiritual center, a meeting place for people who can help and who need this help. It will purify the space both physically (people drink water from it) and spiritually (from your communication with spiritual people who come to the source). BUT "purity of heart, - as one of the elders of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra said, leads to the vision of God.

The source always gives, so first one of the people becomes a source for us, and then each of us becomes a source for someone else. This is how continuity and the flow of humanity, so it does not stagnate, does not become covered with mud, does not turn into a swamp ...

Small Motherland

Chapter from the book "Eternal Values"

Everyone has their own small homeland.

“The big trouble,” writes the Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin, “is the isolation of a person from the roots. People wander, carried by the wind of fate, like faded leaves, nowhere fixed, growing together with nothing, nowhere settling, nowhere becoming faithful. And how often, deprived of roots, they lose the feeling of the Fatherland, for the Fatherland is the “country of the fathers”.

Fortunately, many, having left their native nest once, then the memory constantly returns there, remember every creak of the door, a splash of water in the well from a lowered bucket, the smell of dry leaves in the deserted autumn garden...

We write letters to relatives and friends and in them we swear love to our small Motherland, we say that we want to come, or even leave everything and return home forever. But really, it's all just talk. Someone yearns for Yaroslavl, and he buys a summer house, say, in the Moscow region and lives there ... Someone has already settled in Yekaterinburg, sews there (his own atelier), but yearns for Perm. But what prevents you from selling your new apartment in Yekaterinburg and buying it in Perm? Business? connections? Prospects? Or where the “money tap” is, there is the Motherland? Probably, after all, this is not the only thing. What else?

What we want is not always desire. Sometimes this desire is a dream, and so illusory that it is more pleasant to dream than to bring this dream closer by some actions. So small motherland here probably like a beautiful Lady, who must be somewhere far away, who must be dreamed of, because it is necessary for the soul... A certain ideal that lifts us a little above the ordinary ... We leave in order to understand ourselves and realize ourselves, sometimes we leave to distant lands, like Ivan Tsarevich for happiness, and the small Motherland remains the only criterion, as if a starting point, against which all new and new experiences...

In the businessman's dictionary and other modern books on how to quickly achieve success in life, you can read that “for an enterprising person, the small Motherland is where his business is”. But under capitalism, profit rules everything - today it is profitable for you to do this, tomorrow - something else, the day after tomorrow - the third. What a small Motherland is there ... Business, business, capital ... all these are material values ​​that change, and the small Motherland remains in the heart for life. This is a spiritual value that cannot disappear like money or property.. Another thing is that we do not often remember about it.

Except when:

we will see some object, so similar to a thing from childhood,

we will see a person who is somewhat reminiscent of someone from childhood,

we will see migratory birds that you want to follow with a long look ...

Or suddenly the old song about migratory birds will sound:

"Migratory birds fly
Search for the treasured land

They fly to distant lands

And I don't want to fly away.

And I stay with you

My native side

I don't need someone else's sun
A foreign country is not needed."

And when we remember our small Motherland, a miracle happens: pictures of childhood burst into the soul. Some are so distant, it would seem that I completely forgot about them, it turns out no, I didn’t forget, they are stored in memory and stand in front of you, as if it were yesterday ...

Here is a path to the river running in front of you, and in the early morning you yourself run along it barefoot with a fishing rod in one hand and a tin can with worms in the other. And on the sides of the path, everything grows, including nettles. It screeches on the leg, you can even jump, but ran a little, jumped out onto the shore, saw how the water was standing under steam, and the fry were playing in it, and even the thick back of the roach would pass, and forgot that nothing had happened. Or mother duck brought ducklings to bathe. They follow her, waddling ridiculously and waving their thick tails to the right or to the left in the same way. Plunge into the water, and glided across the surface like small boats. Following mom, strictly in order, as if they had been training for a long time ...

Or in late autumn, when all the apples have already been collected, you run into the garden to find the rarest - transparent, accidentally hidden on a branch, miraculously preserved, for some reason no one has noticed it until now. How could this happen ... And what a delicious - cold, honey, from another world ... What does childhood mean ...

We all come from somewhere, each of us was born somewhere, but for some reason, few are openly proud of their small Motherland, do not seek to talk about it, as if it is a taboo topic.

The painting by the artist Yuri Sergeev “Small Motherland” is a reminder of childhood.

As in the poems of the poet Sergei Smolich:

“How good it is to have a dear home,

That the roof hasn't leaked in yet.

And as if in childhood, the stove breathes bread.

And the house smells of warm milk.”

When love for a small Motherland leaves, it is a tragedy. Because we have one Motherland, there is no other.

But they say that there are unforgettable things that remain in the memory forever. And, if a person, having left his homeland, forgets it, it is only because he does not meet anything else that would remind him of it. It could be

and built a well with a crane over it,

and a stack of yellow and summer-smelling hay,

and the spire of the bicentennial bell tower,

and such native smoke, never tired of twisting from the chimney of a neighbor's house,

and the festive red outfit of the old apple tree, which survived until the very cold,

and a long potato bed covered with snow, on which so many sweats came off you ...

You will see something like this and it will pinch your heart, and you will painfully want to go to the places where you spent your childhood...

And here's what's weird... As a child, the world is actually very small., well, how much space does the native village take there, you will cross it up and down several times a day, and this world seems huge. And in our adult life, we move great distances, and our world narrows down to an apartment. where we live. As if in childhood the world expanded, unfolded, and with age it began to narrow, collapse ...

Or is it that we begin to think no longer figuratively and limitlessly, but materially, objectively, narrowly, concretely, down to earth?

It is no coincidence that when we find ourselves on the verge of life and death, pictures of childhood begin to flash in our minds:

sunny green meadow with clover, daisies and cornflowers,

warm steamy birch forest with boletus and boletus, rough lips of a cow, which you hold out half an apple,

drops of dew on the apples that attacked the table in the garden during the night ...

Childhood is also our small homeland, only not in space, but in time, a reserved country where the sky was higher, and the earth is softer, and bread is tastier when you rejoice at the smallest thing. Like a medicine for life.

What is a word for each of us? For many - nothing special, because we use tens and thousands of words in vain, that is, for the most insignificant reasons. And if we are told that by filling words with rubbish, we reduce to zero the force that caused the walls of cities to fall and the sea to open, then we simply will not believe it. And this is logical - if the walls fell from the word before, then they should fall now. And if they don’t fall, then now, in our time, there is nothing in the words ...

Indeed, it is useless to look for evidence of the power of the word in the world, except perhaps through magic, but magic is no longer the world, but beyond. In the world, however, everything has become too material for the word to suddenly manifest its spiritual power. Why on earth, if a lot is needed for the manifestation of this power: both the environment, and people, and the nature of their actions, and the corresponding Word ...

Each of us has discoveries in life. They have always been and always will be, because man is created in the image and likeness of God, which means that the Creator is hidden in us and in any of us there is a spark of creativity that must flare up and from time to time flares up with a bright flame. And creative people flare up all the time. It would seem that one could get used to it, but no, the feeling of being the Creator, even for a moment, is so amazing that a person in euphoria is filled with energy like a volcano.

As the legend says, the famous Greek Archimedes (287-212 BC) made a discovery in the bathroom, jumped out of it with a cry of "Eureka" and ran naked down the street. The Italian artist Giotto (1266-1337) at lunch in the monastery refectory saw with his own eyes the plot of the future fresco and, forgetting about food, hurried to the scaffolding to work. Our great Mikhailo Lomonosov (1711-1765), having discovered the starry sky, wrote a famous poem:

The artist Yuri Sergeev remembers well how his mother often showed one of her grandmother's shawls, rare, very expensive, carefully stored, carefully removed this shawl from an old chest. This chest itself seemed amazing - mice and moths and worms never started in it, and things were like new ... Each one could be examined for hours, there were so many interesting details and decorations on it ...

The chest itself is not just a wooden box. This is a magical symbol of being, prosperity, well-being, peace and tranquility, passed down from generation to generation. Similar in shape to an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus, in which, like in a nesting doll, there were several copies, one inside the other, hiding the pharaoh's mummy in the middle, it was the repository of the most cherished values. In each tomb, in addition to sarcophagi, there were chests decorated with amulets and spells with mysterious amulets and expensive cult and household items.

Loyalty is the key to the future

When parents are asked what they would like their children to be like in the future, most of them answer the same thing: “good people”. When a wise man is asked how he would like his disciple to be in the future, he usually answers: "a citizen." Only if parents under the concept of “good person” mean “kind, warm-hearted, attentive to other people”, then the sage under the concept of “citizen” means the same thing, and also such social qualities as commitment, sense of duty, patriotism. But what qualities should be nurtured in a child to make him a good person and citizen?

Value: love.

Qualities: value attitude to life, love for loved ones, friendliness, responsiveness.

Target: expansion of students' ideas about the eternal values ​​of mankind, about the purpose of human life as the comprehension of higher spiritual values.

Tasks:

To reveal the meaning and versatility of the concepts of "value", "universal values", "spiritual values";

Develop the ability to see value in people, events, circumstances;

To cultivate a respectful attitude towards universal human values, the spiritual experience of mankind, and towards each other.

Resources: video "Values ​​of life", handout with a list of values, a table of values ​​by the number of students, a box, hearts with the names of values.

During the classes

positive attitude(concentration on breathing)

Teacher: Guys, sit up straight without crossing your arms or legs. We are going to do the breathing exercise now. When we focus on our breath, our mind calms down. When we inhale, we will absorb peace and joy. And while exhaling, we will exhale all the worries from ourselves.

Let's get ready guys. Close your eyes, back straight, hands can be put on your knees.

Breathe in... breathe out... 9-10 times, slowly)

Take each other's hands and give a piece of your warmth to classmates, wish them and me success. Smile at each other. I am glad that you feel well, that you are comfortable, and that you are ready to work with me.

Lesson topic announcement

Teacher: Guys, today we are starting to study the topic "Eternal Values ​​of Humanity". We will talk about the meaning of the word "value". Let's find out what importance spiritual and material values ​​have in a person's life. Let's share what values ​​are important for each of you.

positive statement(lesson quote)

The teacher gives the students a quote written on the board. You need to read it and explain the meaning:

Although we are mortal, we must not be subject to corruptible things, but, as far as possible, rise to immortality and live according to what is best in us. (Aristotle)

(Students explain the meaning of the statement.)

View video(teacher's gift)

The teacher invites the students to watch the video "Values ​​in Life" which talks about the values ​​in a young person's life.

Issues for discussion:

Can we call these values ​​universal?

(Student answers)

Creative activity, group work

Position:"We believe that..."

Rationale: " Because…".

Confirmation:“This idea is confirmed by words from the text…; "We can confirm this..."

Consequence:"Hence…". The conclusion should not contradict the first statement, but may repeat it in some way.

(After discussing the texts, the speakers of the groups will present the results of the analysis carried out according to the POPS formula).

Text for the first group

Kaleria Talchuk, Kazakhstan

Tick-tock, tick-tock... This is how the steps of passing time sound. Time is the most amazing thing on earth. Until now, people have not learned to control this unbridled element. So far, no one has managed to travel in time, to subjugate it to themselves. In addition, time is the most important value of our life. Why?

Time is a relentless executioner and a generous creator. It passes, takes away something old, obsolete and brings something new, unexpected. The goal of progress is to save time. But it is still not enough for everyone: housewives, pensioners, schoolchildren. We have no time to listen to birdsong in the morning, because our ears are busy with headphones with new music; we do not find time to look at the scarlet sunset, as our eyes are fixed on the computer monitor or TV; we have no time to inhale the pure mountain air, and we breathe exhaust gases, because the foolish deeds do not let us go. Being alone with nature is a waste of time.

So where does this precious time go? To empty talk, computer games, airy dreams... Yes, now it's more important than putting your head on your mother's knees if you suddenly run out of strength and need her support and love.

Alexander Krasny is right when he said that we cannot buy a single extra minute of life for any amount of money. Therefore, we must spend all our time wisely, getting joyful pleasure from every moment. Even a fraction of a second is important, especially if it decides someone's life or, for example, the fate of a gold medal at the Olympic Games.

How often do we say to friends, parents, acquaintances: “I'm busy! I have no time! I have an important job!" But it is sometimes worth considering whether this matter is so important, whether it is worth the time spent.

Do only what needs to be done so that in the future you will not regret what you missed. And no matter how trite it may sound - save time!

Text for the second group

Daria Gvozdyk, Ukraine

I often ask myself: what do we value most in life? Money? But the time will come when no capital will be needed. Connections? But nothing is eternal. Job? But why do you need a job if you have no one to work for. What then do we value? Our loved ones - we live for them. Our feelings - while we live, we need to feel. In general, I believe that life should be valued. Life is given to us once, and every second lived, every minute and every hour will never return. Let's value life, value time.

What do we sometimes expect from life? Any miracles? But after all, it is enough to look around you - how beautiful the world is! How many amazing things in the world: beautiful people, wonderful flowers, unusual butterflies... How many bright colors are around: purple, gold, azure... How many strong feelings a person experiences: happiness, joy, sadness, sadness... How there are many smiles in the world: bright, affectionate, radiant... How many miracles are around: a drop of dew on a lush aster flower, shimmering in millions of colors and shades, a sunbeam in the shade of a branched maple... How joyful it is in the heart when a friend walks nearby when a star falls into the sea, when the rain drums on the roof. How few words are needed to say: “I live!”, “I love!”, “I am happy!”.

Let's appreciate the moments of happiness, friendship, love, light that life gives us. Let's appreciate the time! Let's appreciate life!

Text for the third group

Lina Voronina. Germany

The main value for a person is life, but the main value of life is Chance. Yes, yes, it is Randomness, with a capital letter. Someone calls it Fortune, someone Rock, someone Providence. But it is not important. The main thing is that without Her Majesty nothing happens in this world. Even the beginning of a new life is essentially nothing but the will of chance.

Believers say: "Man proposes, but God disposes." I agree with this because what is meant by the will of God is an accident, happy or not, but capable of turning everything in a different direction. But there is another wise saying: "Trust in God, but don't make a mistake yourself." It indicates that “waiting by the sea for the weather” (i.e., a suitable chance) or following events on a whim is unworthy and inefficient. It's like watching someone get hurt and not standing up.

I believe that life is an algorithm of randomness with many solutions. The task of a person is to try to find such a solution in each situation so that the next randomness is the most favorable of the number of possible ones (I apologize for the perhaps excessive mathematization, but this is how I imagine it). It follows that man is free to try to be the master of his own destiny. I say “try” because there are times when nothing can be changed and you have to wait for the end of the situation that has arisen.

Yes, after all, Randomness is the main value of any life. After all, it is she who makes every life unique, original, leaves an imprint on people, the fate of their descendants. Therefore, it is important to learn how to be prudent with Her Majesty Chance, because, as you know, she is a lady with character.

Teacher's conclusion: Everything that is dear to a person, vital, which determines his attitude to reality, is usually called values. They were formed along with the development of mankind, its culture. Human values ​​are significant for all mankind.

Game "I choose"

Teacher: Guys, now I invite you to make a choice of what is valuable for each of you. Think and decide which value you choose and why.

· health

· interesting job

· material well-being

wisdom

One person's love for life

beautiful, smart, educated children

independence

success at work

world peace

parental health

· outer beauty

· happiness

Issues for discussion:

How would you explain your choice?

Can money buy it?

What other value would you acquire if you could?

(Students choose values ​​and explain their choice.)

Generalization

- Guys, the true wealth of a person and the well-being of a person's life is possible only thanks to moral and emotional qualities. A person is truly considered rich only when he possesses the qualities necessary not only for himself, but also for the people around him. This wealth is measured not by the number of things a person possesses, but by what a person is able to give to others.

Homework

As homework, students are asked to complete the exercise "My Values". In the table of values, it is necessary to rank each according to the degree of its importance in the life of the student and explain your choice.

Active life

Health

Interesting job

The beauty of nature and art

Love

Financially secure life

Having good and true friends

Self-confidence

Cognition

freedom

happy family life

Creation

Final moment of silence

Teacher: Guys, I have a present for you. This box contains the "jewels of life". I want to give them to you so that they always accompany you in life and help you live in harmony with the world around you. And then peace, tranquility and love will reign in your souls! (Students take hearts with values ​​from the box and read them out).

Now sit back, close your eyes and think about what new and useful things you learned in today's lesson. Feel the value of your life and the lives of all people in the world. Send mental wishes of Love, Kindness and Warmth to all people.

Thank you for the lesson, bye!

Course 2

Group

Lesson 13

Theme: The Eternal Values ​​of Humanity

Target: expansion of students' ideas about the eternal values ​​of mankind, about spiritual and material values, about the purpose of human life as the comprehension of higher spiritual values; the formation of independent living skills, the socialization of the individual; deepening students' ideas about knowledge, about the sources of human knowledge, about the variety of ways of knowing the world, about achieving the wisdom and significance of the process of self-knowledge.

Tasks:
- reveal the meaning and versatility of the concepts of "value", "universal values", "spiritual values", "material values";
- develop the ability to see value in people, events, circumstances;
- develop the ability to successfully make decisions, take initiative;
- to cultivate a respectful attitude to universal values, the spiritual experience of mankind;
- educate sensitivity in the perception of reality.

IN THIS HOUSE THEY...

Henrik Ibsen

In this house they lived quietly together
Both autumn and winter.
But there was a fire. And the house crumbled
And they bowed over the ashes.

There, under it, a golden casket was kept,
Fireproof durable, imperishable.
They dug the earth with a shovel, crushed it with a pickaxe,
To find a precious treasure.

And they find, these two people,
Necklace, pendants, wrists, -
She can't find only her burnt faith.
And to him - his former happiness.

Slide talk

Slide 1 - Discussion of the epigraph.

Scale of values

1500 respondents: out of 20 valuable colored words, it was necessary to choose the 5 most important ones

Now you choose for yourself the 5 most significant values ​​for you. And then let's see how your choice coincided with the choice of the respondents.

1. Family-
2. Marriage -
3. Money-
4. Friendship -
5. Love -
6. Career -
7. Success -

8. Independence -

9. Stability -
10. Professionalism-
11. Justice -
12. Self-realization -
13. Freedom -
14. Comfort-
15. Self-development -
16. Entertainment -
17. Conscience -
18. Motherland -
19. Spirituality -
20. Creativity -

1. Family-48%
2. Marriage -45%
3. Money-38%
4. Friendship - 42%
5. Love - 28%
6. Career - 27%
7. Success - 24%
8. Independence - 22%
9. Stability - 19%
10. Professionalism - 19%
11. Justice - 15%
12. Self-realization - 15%
13. Freedom - 12%
14. Comfort - 10%
15. Self-development - 10%
16. Entertainment - 8%
17. Conscience - 8%
18. Motherland - 7%
19. Spirituality - 6%
20. Creativity - 5%

“The rich man has no count of cattle and gold, But the poor man has a winged dream.”
Kyrgyz proverb

POVERTY AND WEALTH
Eastern parable

Once Poverty and Wealth argued among themselves which of them is more beautiful. For a long time they could not resolve this issue on their own, so they decided to turn to the first person they met.
“Let the first man we meet resolve our dispute,” they decided and set off forward along the road.
Towards them was a middle-aged man. He did not immediately notice that Poverty and Wealth jumped towards him from both sides.
- Only you can resolve our dispute! - they chattered. - Tell me which one of us is prettier!
- That's trouble! - the man thought to himself, - I will say that Poverty is more beautiful, Wealth will be offended and leave me. And if I say that Wealth, then Poverty can get angry and attack me. What to do?
The man thought a little and says to them:
- I can’t tell right away when you are standing still. You first walk a little along the road back and forth, and I'll take a look.
Poverty and Wealth began to walk along the road. And so it will pass, and so on. Everyone wants to look better.
- Well? they shouted at last with one voice. - Which of us is more beautiful?
The man smiled at them and replied:
- You, Poverty, are very beautiful and charming from the back when you leave!
And you, Wealth, are simply excellent when you turn your face and come!

slide 2 discussion

The game "Buy - sell" - slide 3, 4

Slide number 5 - conclusion on the game

Legend - slide 6, 7.

Spiritual values ​​are a kind of moral capital of mankind, accumulated over millennia, which not only does not depreciate, but, as a rule, increases.

Material values ​​\u200b\u200bare the result of human activity (contribute to people's lives):

The simplest (food, clothing, housing, household items and public consumption);
higher order (tools and material means of production).
Material values ​​are not primitive things. They are designed to evoke high feelings in a person. But they also have practical significance - they influence with their table of contents the life of an individual and society as a whole.

The next section “Assignment” will acquaint students with the opinions of the Internet forum participants, will allow the teacher to determine the depth of students' understanding of the importance of spiritual values. Nicky (names) of forum participants are left in the textbook, as is customary in the Internet zone.
Read the opinions of the Internet forum participants on the topic: “What is more important: spiritual or material values?”. What opinion do you share? Why?

NOP. Why do I need money without internal harmony, but why do I need internal harmony with a crust of bread and a glass of water? Everything must be balanced.

Exvoormindin. For myself, I am looking for material values, because I have already identified moral values ​​and ideas for myself. In other people, in turn, I am looking for spiritual values. You can't talk to a bag of gold

Maripa 82. Material values ​​refer to the values ​​that determine the daily needs of a person, say, to things. Unlike material values, spiritual values ​​correspond to mental, emotional and volitional abilities, or Truth, Goodness and Beauty. I think that the spiritual is more important, remember when you had a bad heart, is it possible to think about money at the moment. Appreciate spiritual values, then you will have material ones.

Silence. Money gives a person comfort and confidence in tomorrow. But you can't buy happiness if you had at least all the money in the world. I do not believe those who think otherwise.

DesTincT. Life shows the opposite... It's one thing to think that spiritual values ​​are more important to you, but it's another thing to follow these convictions. Agree, few people want to link their fate with a low-income person - this is natural ...

Lizbur. We are important and spiritual, and material, and eternal values. Thanks to them we exist.

Slide 8 - complete the sentence. Discussion.

The circle "From Heart to Heart" completes the theme "The Eternal Values ​​of Humanity". In the textbook, in this section, a poem by the poetess Maya Borisova is offered. It can be read to a group of students. Draw students' attention to the fact that we can give a price to everyone that is in a person's life, that there are universal human values ​​that are equally equal for everyone, and values ​​that a person defines for himself. The worldview and worldview of a person depend on the depth of personal values ​​and the correctness of priorities.

Maya Borisova
There are values ​​that have no price:
A piece of paper with Pushkin's drawing,
The first textbook in the first school bag
And letters from those who did not return from the war.
There are values ​​- which have no price.
The tight folds of a marble tunic
At the thin legs of the Nike of Samothrace,
And the wings, which are absent, are visible.
There are values ​​\u200b\u200b- themselves are more valuable.
Transparent stone from a small beach,
But at night they kiss him, crying.
What is comparable to him - the gifts of the kings?
You can not tell another: so live!
But if you are busy with one concern -
Acquire something tangible
You are not worthy of anger or love.
May all your herds be whole!
Living in petty calculations -
Do well! Don't just try
On values ​​that have no price.

5 years ago

The concept of "eternal values" is interpreted differently by everyone. Some believe that this is money, others that it is a family, others that it is love and friendship. I believe that all of the above, except for money, are "eternal values", that is, what will always be in a person, in his mind, what he will strive for. Money refers to material value. Today they are needed, and tomorrow they may come up with another purchase currency. I do not deny that in our time money plays an important role, for many it is a dream and the meaning of life, but not a "value" laid down by our body. Even rich people, with their millions, seek to find friends and loved ones, fearing loneliness. What's the point of money if no one wants you? If when you come home you talk to the dog and hug the pillow. But true friendship, warm communication, mutual love, this is a value that cannot be bought, passed down from generation to generation.