What is the difference between spirituality and morality. On the key concepts of spiritual and moral education

Spirituality in Russian society, especially in recent decades, is undergoing a serious crisis. Lost are the old, Soviet ideals that inspired all the people. There are no new ones that correspond to them yet. There is serious confusion in the public mind. There is no clear boundary between good and evil, patriotism and cosmopolitanism. And what is disinterestedness - rarely anyone remembers, especially representatives of the new generation who grew up after the violent 90s of the last century.

The spiritual and moral education of young people in this sense is of particular importance in public life countries. Each newly emerging generation from childhood should understand the true, and not superficial spiritual values ​​of the Fatherland, which for centuries helped it survive in the most difficult years, build its country, inspire its science and culture. Without knowledge of these values, a person will not have guidelines that will help him move on as worthily as his ancestors. This is the beacon of the future, the support of descendants.

Every student must realize the highest spiritual meaning as own life, and the whole society and the state, because only people with high morals are able to reasonably organize their activities and make a worthy and positive contribution to life, improve it and make it attractive to everyone in the end. Pedagogy plays a special role in this. It is designed to find adequate and effective methods that would not only meet the needs of today, but also look a little further.

Goals, objectives, problems of education

The most important topics for the spiritual and moral education of children are now those that allow students to learn the basics of not their usual, completely immoral, but proper behavior in life. These include:

• humanity, which at school should be instilled at the level of relations between students;
• culture in communication with each other;
• sense of duty - at the level of personal relationships in the classroom, school, as well as in the family and society;
• diligence - instilling in children the idea that this is the only way to achieve something in life;
• environmental consciousness: love and respect for nature;
• prosperous life in the family, approved by society;
• knowledge of the environment and self-education.

Strategic goals of spiritual and moral education and tactical tasks are adjusted to these areas, allowing them to be solved most optimally. The main goal of the process leading to the spiritual and moral upsurge of a child's personality is the creation of adequate conditions at each stage of education, not only by teachers, but also by parents . The latter circumstance depends on a number of problems:

• absence in modern society positive ideals, which makes it difficult for the younger generation to choose a truly valuable guideline;
• immoral phenomena in the surrounding world that are not sufficiently suppressed by the authorities and incline young people to the opinion of permissiveness;
• poor organization of leisure and cultural events with children;
• superficial attitude of the state and school to physical development students;
• insufficient attention of the authorities, teachers and parents to the negative addictions of children. These include: alcoholism, drug addiction, tobacco smoking, too early onset of sexual activity. This leads to general licentiousness;
• corrupting information in the media and the Internet, inclining young people to a carefree, aggressive, unhealthy lifestyle, as well as to cruelty and extremism;
• extremely low culture of speech and behavior in society.

All these factors by no means contribute to the formation and development of personality in the spirit of the ideals declared in pedagogy. Schoolchildren, seeing something completely different on the street, in the family and on TV, simply do not believe their teachers, despite all their persuasiveness and pedagogical gift. To overcome this skepticism of the younger generation, all the efforts of the family, the state, and with him - educational institutions.

On their own, children, due to their naivety and maximalism, are simply not capable of doing this. On initial stage life, only adults can become their moral guides and indicate possible guidelines for moral creation. And the sooner adults do this, the greater the likelihood of a happy future for young people.

Childhood is the most convenient time, when it is still almost unhindered to put into the head and soul of a little man those thoughts and feelings that will help him steadfastly and joyfully build his life, relying on worthy examples from the past, and not be distracted by the petty squabbles of reality.

A child is a creature very receptive to everything that happens around. Therefore, it is preferable to teach him only good things from childhood. Kindness, sympathy, self-criticism, hard work, love for people, animals, nature, understanding of the problems that other people have, and much more is laid at an early stage of life. School - perfect place for this.

Theoretical foundations of spiritual and moral education

Raising a child in the spirit of high morality is a difficult task. In modern preschool and school pedagogy, it is customary to solve it in three aspects:

• philosophical and methodological;
• psychological;
• directly pedagogical.

The philosophical and methodological aspect substantiates the normative grounds for the spiritual and moral education of children of different ages. Therefore, the approach to teaching in junior and senior grades should be differentiated. From this position comes the development of methods in teaching. They are designed to give students the concept of spirituality, morality, morality, spiritual and moral education and development - the basic foundations of general education.

Spiritual and moral education in this case is interpreted from the point of view of philosophy, religion, sociology, cultural studies. Comprehensive at the same time is an interdisciplinary approach to education, which provides for a variant consideration of it from the positions of both materialism and idealism.

The task of philosophical methods of spiritual and moral education is to instill in students a speculative view of the world. This is the position that makes it possible to compare the natural-scientific and religious approaches to truth, asserting its relativity.

Organization principles educational process at the same time, the upbringing of schoolchildren in the spirit of activity, consciousness, scientific character. The answers of schoolchildren in the lessons should be consistent, holistic, teaching should be as clear as possible: using thematic excursions, specially selected pictures, diagrams, symbols, etc.

The psychological aspect of spiritual and moral education provides for a dialogue between the teacher and the student. The teacher must necessarily take into account the psychology of each age and, based on this, build the educational process.

In the elementary grades in which children study, learning is based on the game. Through game situations artificially created by the teacher, the child emotionally masters the basics of spiritual and moral education. Some of them later become a habit and become the leading motive for behavior in life.

In high school, issues related to spirituality and morality are already resolved at the level of consciousness; they are more complicated and closer to real life. effective method learning is modeling a problem situation, the way out of which the student, as in real life, must find himself, based on previously accumulated knowledge.

The pedagogical aspect in the education of spirituality and morality is based mainly on analytics. In the first place here is a comparison of individual situations drawn from life. At the same time, students evaluate the merits and demerits of certain behavioral options and choose the most, in their opinion, adequate from the point of view of the spiritual and moral concept being analyzed.

Directions of spiritual and moral education and development

In modern school pedagogy, a complex impact on the consciousness of the educated person is practiced in several areas, each of which reflects one or another side of a person's life. They are based on the attitude towards the following institutions:

• religion;
• family;
• creativity;
• society;
• the state.

Religious education forms in the child a system of views associated with God, with the divine origin of all things, which sets the highest level of spiritual and moral behavior for a person. It is carried out through:

• the closest environment, believing in God - family members;
• school teachers;
• clergy;
• religious organizations;
• mass media;
• religious literature.

Education is instilled in lessons, lectures, seminars, religious holidays (in the church), excursions of a pilgrimage nature. There are many forms of influence. All of them reflect the sacred dogmas of the religious denomination to which the child is close, and develop in him certain views and behavior in life.

Family education becomes one of the main ones for a child. It is ideal:

• supports the physical, spiritual and moral health of the child;
• provides him with economic and moral freedom to realize all available opportunities;
• gives the child to comprehend the world in its diversity;
• forms an aesthetic position, a sense of beauty;
• creates an atmosphere of love, home warmth and comfort, conducive to maximum self-realization of the individual;
• instills in a small person his moral values, culture, sets an example of the moral attitude of close people to each other: care, compassion and mercy:
• sets the first moral foundations of sex education, attitudes towards other people;
• attracts to family traditions;
• excites attention to the pedigree, cementing the unity of generations;
• educates a child as a citizen, a patriot of his Fatherland;
• maintains harmony in the development of the personality of a growing person.

Creative education develops the aesthetic and cognitive side of children's consciousness. The modern student, his language and culture are influenced by the cultures of other peoples. From TV screens, other people's cartoons, detectives, horror films splash out on children. Their heroes become the heroes of our children, replacing our good cartoons, our fairy tales, our moral heroes.

The only thing that still firmly retains its place in the minds of children is folklore. The child receives the first examples of oral folk art in the family. The school develops this tradition in every possible way and uses it as a means:

• psychological impact on students;
• exploring their emotional world;
• formation of spirituality and high moral qualities;
• development of aesthetic views;
• to develop metaphorical thinking with the help of images of Russian fairy tales;
• increasing the vocabulary of children due to emotionally expressive words.

Social and patriotic education are largely similar areas. A true patriot and a true citizen are close concepts. Both include humane ideals, respect for other people regardless of their nationality, as well as for law and authority.

The spiritual and moral education of a patriot and citizen at school develops in students:

• attachment to native places;
• respect for one's language;
• observance of the interests of society and the state;
• the desire to protect the Fatherland and loyalty to it in the most difficult moments.

Conclusion

The education in children of a spiritual and moral attitude to everything that happens around is a guarantee of not only personal well-being, but also general well-being, including the well-being of the Motherland. At school, it is the leading moment in education and makes meaningful the process of comprehending all other sciences.

#morality #spirituality #society

“What good is it for you to gain the whole world if you have harmed your soul?” (Book of Ecclesiastes)

This is exactly what is happening now in our society - we have gained everything, but harmed our souls. We have all conceivable material and social benefits, but the soul has become empty, sinful, immoral, unspiritual. The crisis, which came at the right time, slowed down the consumption race. Sociologists write that in pre-crisis times, the average family in Russia bought two or even three times more food than was really necessary.

People bought household appliances, jewelry, real estate, etc. Wealth, comfort, a favorable social position in society - have become the main values. The search for truth, conscience, morality - true - were relegated to the margins of society. In ancient Buddhist texts there is such a prophecy: “There will come a time when society will reach the highest level selfishness and lack of spirituality." Those times have come. Selfishness goes hand in hand with ever-increasing material consumption, and the replacement of spiritual values ​​with material ones has created an unspiritual background in society.

Look around: that is always spiritual, replaced by sexuality, beating around like a dirty fountain of water from underground. Sexuality pours from TV screens, computers, cinemas, concert halls. She is in everything - in the manner of dressing, behaving in society, in behavior, in ways of getting to know each other. And where there is too much sexuality, immorality always increases in society. Once, a well-known psychologist in Moscow gave an interview in which she said that most often young couples who had been married for a couple of years come to her for advice. When she begins to ask why their young family has problems, the following picture emerges.

As a rule, their main activities are sex, TV, computer and food. And nothing more…. After a year of such a life, young people can no longer look at each other or at the TV. Respectful attitude in society was replaced by neglect. They stopped respecting those who are smarter and more experienced, more professional and intelligent. But in society such concepts as “glamour”, “cool”, “cool” are built into a cult. They do not respect the elderly, life expectancy in the country has decreased, the death rate of the elderly has increased, and they stand in line at the savings banks in worn clothes and look for promotions in stores to buy pasta cheaper.

They do not respect children whose fragile souls need special treatment. They are not brought up with patience, but they are yelled at, pulling them up every minute. A small note flashed on the Internet that the mortality rate of infants under one year old in Russia has doubled in recent years. Open any news portal on the Internet, from there a stream of terrible information will pour on you: in this region of Russia, a drunken policeman threw his wife and small children out of the window, in that region schoolgirls disappeared - they were found killed, and somewhere a whole group of boys left home and did not return - a week later they were found dead in a sewer manhole.

The tragic list can be continued for a very long time. Take Moscow, for example, that huge metropolis that my daughter sadly called "the city that burns out hearts." TripAdvisor, an American travel research consultancy, ranks major cities based on the opinions of tourists who have visited them. So, Moscow is in 3rd place in the "least friendly city" category and in 3rd place in "the most poorly dressed residents". Gallup conducted a survey over 5 years (2005-2009) in 155 states in order to identify "the most happy country" in the world. Respondents were asked to rate on a 10-point scale how satisfied they are with life in their country.

This concept included: do people feel respected, intellectually in demand, healthy. The survey results were published by the Forbes website. Russia is in 73rd place, ranking honorably behind Costa Rica, Brazil and Panama. In the first places - the Scandinavian countries - Denmark, Finland, Norway. Let's also look at the statistics of the first crisis year of 2008, according to which Moscow was in 1st place among all European capitals in terms of the number of murders; stood at the head of the rating of the most corrupt regions of Russia; was in the top twenty most polluted major cities in the world.

I think that enough facts have been given to create a clear and sad picture. Moscow - the center of Russia, has become one of the dirtiest cities in the world, both externally and internally. Lots of luxury and money, lots of power and show. There is little culture and spirituality, morality and decency. Every year in Russia, on Christmas night, a solemn service from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is broadcast on TV. All those in power, the most influential people in the state, come. I also turn on this beautiful and festive spectacle every time.

I look for a short time - half an hour, at most. I can never watch to the end. Why is that? Tightened, too pretentious and luxurious. But Jesus Christ was not pretentious and pompous. He thought divinely light, saying, "Be like children, and then you will enter into the kingdom of God." He taught in parables and allegories. And he died on a simple wooden cross. And when he saw merchants in the temple, he became angry and began to drive them out of there. What is the current religion? Hasn't she become like the same merchants who trade in human faith in the name of their own interests?

I respect the beliefs of any people, be they Orthodox, Lutherans, Jews, Muslims. I can go to any church and feel comfortable in it, sit on a bench in a Lutheran church, stand near the icons in Orthodox church touching the cross in the catholic cathedral. I respect faith as one of the highest truths. Many roads lead to God - through Love, through creativity, through culture, and through faith. I think that any person can come to God by the road of faith. If religion helps him in this, then we can say - thank God. But does the current religion carry the light of faith? Or maybe there are too many dogmas and prejudices in it? Does it support morality in society? Does it develop? Let's try to understand this issue. Religion has not changed much in the last two millennia. The inviolability of their norms and rules is what all the major religions of the world are trying, by all means, to preserve. When you try to talk to one of the "holy fathers", you run into a wall of stubbornness and dogmatism. Let me give you an example from one of my conversations. I ask: "A

Why is there God, the Holy Spirit, and God the Son in the Holy Trinity? But after all, God and the Holy Spirit are one, so maybe the Holy Trinity should look like this - God - God-son - God-daughter? You should have seen with what withering glances they answer me, obviously regretting that the times of the Inquisition and the bonfires on which witches were burned have passed.

And no one was able to answer this question for me clearly, intelligently and without rushing to quote the Bible. The Bible is one of the most serious and intelligent books on Earth, but has it come down to us the way it was written? I think no. The Bible is a collection, over time everyone added something of his own, and most of all our venerable church added “his own”, reshaping it according to his needs. I will bring interesting examples: The Catholic Church is against contraception and condoms.

And in Latin America and Africa - the AIDS epidemic, from which condoms at least somehow, but protect. Any appeals to the church for approval of their use fall into the void. At the same time, representatives of the Vatican explain that sex should only serve to procreate. In this matter, the church not only does not keep pace with the times, but also promotes ignorance and immorality. We also recall the recent scandals that shook the Vatican, when a number of clergymen were accused of molesting minor parishioners. Of course, the church does a lot for people - this includes the construction of hospitals, and the provision of assistance to the poor, and other charitable activities.

But, having put this side of the church and religion on one side of the scales of life, we must put the unsightly side on the other side of the scales. It will be fair. Is morality possible without religion? I think yes. Spiritual morality, filled with the light of kindness, culture and education. I peer into the various religions of the world and observe sad phenomena. Churches remember to hold rituals and holidays, observe all ceremonies, sew solemn clothes embroidered with gold thread, and the number of teenagers who become drug addicts is increasing every year in the world. Of course, it is very difficult to fight drug addiction, it is like an infection spreading all over the world. It is difficult to completely cure drug addiction, more difficult than alcoholism, because. the human brain suffers irreversibly, especially the unformed brain young man. But you have to try! Where the influence of the Catholic Church is especially strong - in the countries of Latin America, there are the main drug hotbeds. Islam from one of the world's oldest religions turns into a militant dogma: "Beat, blow up the infidels."

Recently, the National Geographic Channel showed documentary about Islam, about how the Koran, with specially inserted phrases calling for violence, is printed in millions of copies specifically for distribution in Europe, Russia, America. Mankind has existed not for two thousand years, but much longer. Researchers such as, for example, Ernst Muldashev, generally talk about the existence of ancient civilizations before homo sapiens. Did they have morality? Undoubtedly, although there were other religions or they did not exist at all at some period of history.

Is religion related to morality? Morality should be the basis of any religion, and, obviously, when religions were created, it was so. But over time, there have been great changes in people's lives, and in the public consciousness, and in the concept of what "true values" are. The current religions no longer fight for our morality, for our souls. They fight for power, for influence, for finances, for social well-being.

Albert Camus wrote: "It is no secret to us that all the churches are against us ... they all claim to possess the eternal." Eternal cannot be possessed, just as one cannot possess starry sky. The Church has become the vicar of God on Earth, but did God empower her to do so? Especially for such long time? Yes, even with undivided power over human souls! Intermediaries are not needed to communicate with the Divine. Just listen to your heart. I like the idea that we must learn to feel God within ourselves, to look for the path to Eternity in our soul. How to do it? Think, read, learn. And for those who cannot do it on their own and who asks: “Reveal to me what you are looking for, my eyes, alas, are weak”, to teach and help them. This is a simple idea and not at all new. But this is the only way to knowledge and spiritual search. One of my favorite cartoons is "Hedgehog in the Fog" directed by Yuri Norshtein. Not without reason, at the animation film festival in Japan, this particular cartoon was called "the film of all times and peoples." This cartoon is not just about the path of the hedgehog, it is about our wanderings to the light, to the eternal fire of truth. We are all wandering in the fog, meeting help from someone or, hopefully, a snow-white horse. In this film, there is even the concept of Tao and Zen, so inherent in Eastern philosophy.

Tao - when a hedgehog stood in an enveloping fog, in which anything could be hidden, and a dry leaf that unexpectedly fell on a hedgehog is Zen, a moment that says so much and that does not repeat itself, in which there is beauty and surprise, there is reflection. Why do I remember this cartoon? It is not only about the path to the light and how to find the way home, how to get out of the fog of ignorance and lack of spirituality. It is about kindness and beauty, without which morality is impossible.

They helped the hedgehog all the time - either the dog brought the lost bundle, then the fireflies lit the way through the dark forest, then "someone" in the river carried him to the shore. There is so much beauty in this film! Morality goes hand in hand with kindness and beauty. True kindness when a poor girl is given not one of her many Barbie dolls, although this is good for a start, but her only toy. When they sacrifice their time and effort, and not just money. When they learn to love disinterestedly, to make friends faithfully, to study with interest.

True beauty is the beauty of a flying seagull over the sea, and not latest model car; the beauty of a sunset, not a dress sprinkled with diamonds. Philosophers, sociologists, scientists all over the world say that a new era is coming. Mankind can no longer live as before. Indigo children are born who think differently, who have a different view of the world, new abilities. We can no longer ignore climate change which will soon have a strong impact on all countries of the world.

Nobody will be left behind. Humanity will face the following main problems: hunger, the quantity and quality of food; climate change and the resulting natural natural disasters; problems of migration and resettlement of peoples. Against the backdrop of these global problems our civilization, the question arises - how necessary will religion and morality be? Man is so arranged that he always needs to believe in something. No wonder, everything the best works of world culture are filled with ideals that a person imitates and strives for. Faith is one of the divine truths. When sometimes there is nothing left in life, not even hope, only faith can help to survive. But do the current religions filled with dogmas correspond to the new spiritual level of the coming era? I think no. And if they want to get in new era, they will need to change or create something new.

Emmanuel Kant once remarked: "Only two things in the world are worthy of surprise: the starry sky above us and the moral law within us." Starry sky - for the incomprehensible mystery and infinity of beauty and perfection. And the moral law - because it is the basis of human society, the core of any personality. A very important definition of Kant is "the moral law is within us". This is probably the best definition of morality ever given. Morality is a law, a set of true rules that any person must abide by.

The measure of their observance is the conscience within a person. When a person violates the moral law, he always feels it - his conscience makes him understand this. Another thing is that a person tries to drown out the voice of his conscience with other, selfish arguments. If many people violate the moral law, then dark times come in society. We can say that now they have come, when lack of spirituality and immorality were superimposed on the economic crisis and on natural anomalies that caused a number of natural disasters.

The basic moral law in earlier ages was the Ten Commandments, which, according to history, were given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, so that he would teach people to observe them. The lists of these commandments in different religions are different. Theologians argue which of the commandments should be considered the first, which the second. For example, the Lutheran and Catholic churches split the 10th commandment into two. Although is the form important in this case? Maybe only the content makes sense?

Here is the text of the 10 commandments according to the Synodal translation of the Bible and look at them through the eyes modern man and not the time of Moses:

1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

2. Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in heaven above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth; do not worship them and do not serve them, for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, punishing children for the guilt of their fathers up to the third and fourth generations that hate Me, and showing mercy to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

3. Do not pronounce the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who pronounces His name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; work for six days and do all your work in them, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: do not do any work on it, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, neither your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor the stranger that is in your dwellings; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

5. Honor your father and your mother, that you may be well, and that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

6. Don't kill.

7. Do not commit adultery.

8. Don't steal.

9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his cattle, nor anything that is your neighbor's. Modern man thinks differently than the Jews in the time of Moses. He has a different outlook, a different education, the ability to quickly and any communication using mobile communications, obtaining all kinds of information from the Internet and TV, even a different lexicon and manner of speaking.

And part of the commandments is no longer perceived as before, with the same reverence and respect. Moreover, many people do not even know them or remember only some of them. And if the commandments “do not kill” and “do not steal” are understood quickly and correctly, then the commandment “do not commit adultery” is perceived with curiosity and with the question: what is adultery? And if this is treason, then to whom? And if a person is not married or not married, but simply meets with someone, as many now, then how? “Do not pronounce the name of the Lord in vain” - unfortunately, many people, especially young people, not only in vain, but rarely turn to God and neglect prayer, although this can be a great opportunity to talk with God within themselves. 10th commandment: “Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his livestock, nor anything that is with your neighbor', repeats in many ways the 8th: 'Thou shalt not steal', and 7th: "Do not commit adultery", in fact, if you carefully read them, then they are one and the same. You can, of course, say that the 10th commandment is about envy, but for a modern person this is too vaguely worded.

Today's people think more concretely, especially since they do not understand the mention of oxen and slaves. The 4th commandment is the least feasible for today's people: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; work for six days and do all your work in them, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: do not do any work on it, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, neither your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor the stranger that is in your dwellings; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

Modern life is such that many people work on Saturday and Sunday, whether they want it or not - by virtue of their profession, for example, electric train drivers, shop assistants, etc. Even if you ask many women, it is on weekends that they begin to wash, clean, wash, cook, because on working days they work in the service on an equal basis with men.

Of course, if you think about the meaning - then, probably, this commandment that we are all mired in fuss, that we need at least one day a week for spiritual and non-fussy rest, communication with each other and children, in order to to be in nature, to read a serious book. In any case, what was suitable for people of previous centuries is no longer suitable for people of the 21st century. And if we criticize and reject something, then we need to offer something: new way, new ways of thinking, new rules of morality, spiritual and free from religion. Whoever wants to can follow the old commandments, but someone will like the new ones. A person should always have a choice.

Morality, as the basic law of human existence, will always be necessary. It was in demand thousands of years ago and will be important in the future.

And, probably, the new moral commandments should look so that they are more understandable to modern man with his completely different ideas about life than a couple of thousand years ago:

1. God is Love, spiritual and pure. Strive for that kind of love. And do not elevate anything else to the level of God - material, social.

2. Do not kill, because a person's life is priceless, it was not you who gave it and it is not for you to take it away.

3. Do not steal, because it does not belong to you.

4. Respect your parents - because. they brought you into this world.

5. Take care of children - they follow in your footsteps and you are responsible for them.

6. Be loyal, do not change the one who loves you and whom you love.

7. Do not envy, it is rust that destroys the soul.

8. Do not take revenge, because. this will not only destroy the fate of the one you are taking revenge on, but also yours.

9. Do not deceive, a lie is like a sticky web of an insidious spider that entwines both you and the deceived.

10. Do not show anger, because it humiliates, hurts another person painfully and, at times, kills.

11. Like is always punished by like, remember this, because what you send to this world will return to you many times over.

12. Love another more than yourself! And if we observe such moral commandments ourselves, as well as teach them to our children, then we have a chance to return such a concept as “spiritual morality” into our lives.

Poorly written books on the spiritual development and self-improvement of man brought a lot of confusion to the issues that they, on the contrary, should have clarified and made clear to the inexperienced reader. Often their authors put the words "morality" and "spirituality" side by side and use them almost as synonyms, which in reality fundamentally contradicts the original meaning of these terms. It is enough to open any dictionary to be convinced of the obvious fact: morality and spirituality are not the same thing. In other words, moral person may not necessarily be a spiritual person, but spiritual man may well turn out to be highly immoral. Morality is a set of norms that determine human behavior, or human behavior based on such norms. The definition of spirituality is as follows: spiritual, intellectual nature, the essence of a person, opposed to his physical, bodily essence; striving for perfection, the height of the spirit.

It is easy to see that morality belongs to the sphere of interpersonal relations and is a characteristic of the rules of behavior established in society. A moral act is not necessarily a consequence of high spirituality. A person may act “morally” out of habit, upbringing, or out of fear of being punished. None of this can be considered truly moral behavior, requiring, first of all, awareness and a clear understanding of the reasons for one's own actions. From the point of view of an outside observer, a person can behave morally, but at the same time not have any motives in his soul to commit such acts. He just blindly copies the standards of behavior established by society, so as not to look like a black sheep.

Spirituality is a broader concept, since it includes all manifestations of the intangible nature of man. In other words, not only moral, but also immoral behavior, thoughts and deeds should be attributed to the spiritual area. Therefore, the word "spirituality" does not make sense if applied to the human person, because everything that we feel or think refers primarily to the sphere of the spirit. Only animals can be called soulless, and then because of the imperfection of our knowledge of their inner world. All people are spiritual beings, just some are more focused on the material things of this world, while others are interested in issues of inner life, the search for truth or the meaning of their own existence. The former should be classified as less spiritual than the latter, but it would be wrong to call them completely unspiritual. Their spirit is more asleep than dead.

So, we have established that spirituality and morality are not synonymous and that moral behavior is not always the result of high spirituality. It remains to answer the last question: “Can a highly spiritual person behave immorally?” There are a fair number of Buddhist stories that sometimes describe the immoral behavior of enlightened masters (see Abhayadatta Lions of the Buddha), but I would not like to use these instructive and largely fictional stories as serious evidence. Instead, I will use quotations from two books that cite real cases that have already occurred in our time. For example, Jack Kornfield says: “I found a well-known meditation teacher, but at first glance he seemed to me a stupid person; his robe dragged on the ground; he smoked Burmese cigarettes, spent most of the day sitting near the temple and chatting with women in a completely unmonastic manner... Sometimes he seemed angry, sometimes he was busy with trifles. ... Every time I saw him sitting, smoking cigarettes and talking to women; this sight was terribly frustrating for my practice... It took me two months to grasp the fact that its outward form did not diminish the value of what I had received from it. To judge and compare external forms, to look for the Buddha in the teacher, means simply to create new suffering for oneself ”(“ Modern Buddhist Teachers ”). In his book Unholy Saints, Archimandrite Tikhon told another story about how Father Raphael, who came to the church to serve the liturgy, found there a drunken hooligan lighting a cigarette from the lamp near the icon of the Mother of God. Father Raphael dragged him out of the temple and hit him with such force that he almost killed him. According to the rule of the holy apostles, a priest who hit a man is subject to canonical punishment and is prohibited from serving, but Father Raphael was forgiven. The deeds of a Buddhist teacher and Orthodox priest were immoral, because they violated the norms of behavior established for them, but they in no way testified to their “lack of spirituality”.

From what has been said, it does not at all follow that a highly spiritual person can behave as he pleases. The main task of the mentor is to help students rise above themselves and move into a new state of awareness. Any suitable method is suitable for this, including cases of physical violence and even self-mutilation described in Zen koans. Here, however, an important caveat should be made. Many false teachers use stories like this to justify their own misbehavior in the eyes of their followers. In other words, not everyone who hits a student on the head with a stick is an enlightened master, even if he ascribes such a quality to himself. At the same time, distinguishing a real teacher from a false one is not as difficult as it seems. It is enough just to look at his students to understand whether he helps them advance along the path of personal self-development or, on the contrary, hinders this in every possible way. It is easy to see that one of the main hallmarks totalitarian societies is a ban on voluntary withdrawal from the sect, which we do not observe in any of the world's religions. In Buddhism, a student is always free to change a teacher if for some reason he does not like it. And in the same way, in Christianity, a person is completely free to choose another confessor for himself if he does not receive proper help and instructions.

The highest goal of the teacher is to free the student from the shackles of vain everyday life by awakening in him an inner strength that will help him move forward without the help of a mentor. Incorrect or false interpretation of the terms allows dishonest businessmen to sell whatever they want under the guise of "spirituality" and "morality", without caring at all about the consequences of their actions. As a result of their activities, the meaning of these words was blurred to a complete loss of semantic content. Based on the above definitions, anything can be called spiritual development: reading philosophical books, studying the Kama Sutra, and even terrorist acts of martyrs who believe that committing suicide opens a direct path to God for them. However, here we are not dealing with spirituality at all, but with various kinds of obscurations and obsessions. A person can be obsessed with acquiring new and completely unnecessary knowledge, or in a state of clouded mind, blow himself up along with innocent people. All this, in the presence of a sophisticated mind, can be summed up under the concept of "spirituality". In order to eliminate this confusion from our reasoning, it is necessary to clean out everything superfluous and superficial from the definition of spirituality. Having done this, we will eventually come to a more accurate word that characterizes the internal needs of a person in self-development of the personality, and this word will be “awareness”. It is awareness that spiritual wanderers are looking for, regardless of which philosophical or religious teachings they consider themselves to be. To be mindful means to be able to get rid of your own habits and fears, to look at the world with wide eyes, and not entangle it with all sorts of concepts and theories, and learn to distinguish what really matters from the vain flickering of vicious illusions. Thus, speaking of spirituality, we mean, first of all, a high degree of awareness, unclouded by any obscurations and obsessions.

Development and improvement

A different kind of confusion arises from the misunderstanding and use of the words "development" and "improvement", to which many unjustifiably attribute a purely positive meaning. It is believed that in the process of development or improvement, a person and the whole society as a whole become better, but there is no direct connection between these concepts. The question of whether society has become better in the course of its evolution is debatable, and the answer to it largely depends on the personal experience and preferences of each individual. Some people think yes, others have the exact opposite opinion on this matter. In my opinion, there is no doubt that over the past five thousand years, humanity has significantly improved the mechanisms of mass enslavement and extermination of people, passing long haul from stone and club to gas chambers and atomic bombs. Personally, I doubt that such development can be called a boon for those who have fallen victim to technological progress and erroneous ideas about civilization.

Things are not the best in the spiritual realm, because much of what we used to call "spiritual development" is not really such. For example, contrary to popular belief, Buddhists are not at all engaged in "self-improvement", moving through an endless series of rebirths to a higher moral state of the individual. The main task of Buddhism is liberation from the eternal cycle of samsara, and not the progress of each individual person. Belief in the existence of an individual Self is generally considered a major sin in Buddhism, because all other delusions and obscurations are born from it. Where there is a conviction in the existence of one's own Self, the concepts of "mine" and "alien" and all the many troubles that are associated with them immediately arise. On the other hand, in Christianity there is a belief in the existence of the soul, but this religion also considers the main goal not to be the development of the personality, but its gradual ascent to God through purification from sins and rejection of self-will for the sake of fulfilling divine commandments and commands.

With the advent of the era of capitalism, focused on the exaggerated glorification and nurturing of individuality, the old religions with their call to overcome selfishness in the name of love of God or to liberation from all desires began to rapidly lose popularity. Capitalism calls on everyone to look after their own interests first, to indulge their own desires and put themselves above everyone else. The result of the widespread dissemination of such ideas has been a colossal crisis of confidence in society, an explosive increase in crimes committed for selfish motives, and the discrediting of religious institutions that prevent the transformation of the planet into a global supermarket. In a society where no one trusts anyone, there is a great need for an army of faceless officials and police officers who enforce laws as abstract as the entire state machine. And since the maintenance of this machine in working condition requires huge funds, it became necessary to constantly increase the rate of production and consumption of goods and services, a significant part of which is not needed by society at all. Today, for many people, it is enough to work only 10 hours a week to provide for themselves and others. decent level prosperity, which their great-grandfathers could not even dream of, but the capitalist system found in human desires an inexhaustible source of resources for its development.

All religious and philosophical systems focused on curbing desires were ridiculed or completely destroyed, often along with their adherents. People today are only required to consume desires and desire what others consume. However, a sad example Soviet Union showed that people cannot comfortably exist in a religious vacuum, because they retain a not always conscious desire to believe in something. For such seekers of spirituality, all sorts of esoteric and magical teachings were invented, built on the basis of the same ideology of selfish self-aggrandizement and increase in needs. Ancient religious teachings and magical practices have undergone significant simplification and distortion, after which they easily turned into a sought-after product in the market of "spiritual services". There is no need to list books like "Zen for Managers" or "The Tao and Sales Growth" - these are just the tip of the iceberg. In its hidden part, a continuous and Full time job to grind the ideas that emerged in the pre-capitalist era into a homogeneous product that inflames the desires of those who have lost control of their own needs. More money, more power, more desires - these are the main ideas of popular literature on self-development and self-improvement that flooded the Internet and bookstore shelves. To develop in such conditions means to inflate your own ego to the scale of the Universe, until there is nothing left around but the all-consuming “I want!”.

Of course, a person who learns to earn and consume more also develops and improves himself in his own way, but progress can hardly be considered a development of the personality. The human person does not gain anything from a new car or TV, but on the way to these desired things, he loses precious time, which will be impossible to return. All things will sooner or later go to the trash, the pleasure of consuming them will be erased from memory, and no one will return to a person the life spent on obtaining countless toys that even their creators do not need. Likewise, some people spend decades reading esoteric literature and magical rituals and as a result remain with nothing. In the end, they do not receive any power, or wisdom, or even respect from others. One has to look far for examples: many members of the illustrious magical order of the Golden Dawn died in poverty and disgrace, like Aleister Crowley. Their more businesslike successors amassed good fortunes by deceiving simpletons, but they also only served as an ideological prop for the capitalist propaganda machine, glorifying selfishness and total mistrust.

The words "development" and "consumption" are too closely connected in the consciousness of modern man, therefore, if we do not want to fall into the trap set for us by the faceless ideologists of the newest era, we must reveal the very essence of the word "development" in relation to spirituality or, as we have set higher awareness. Turning to the most authoritative texts of world religions, we will find that the word "purification" will be the most suitable synonym. In other words, “spiritual development” should be understood as the purification of consciousness from all kinds of obscurations, illusions, imposed desires and needs. The famous sages and great teachers of the past possessed such a purified consciousness, thanks to which they penetrated into the essence of things and helped other people to escape from the vain everyday life that enslaved their consciousness and took over their lives. It is to the purity of one's own consciousness that everyone who wishes to embark on the path of spiritual development and live your life enjoying every moment of it.

The semantic pyramid of rebirths

Absolute, Creator, Creator, God, finally, this is an endless ocean of thinking energy, but it is an intangible void. Emptiness cannot feel itself, it can only realize itself that it is, but what it is, it does not see itself, and does not feel. To do this, the thinking substance, in itself, has created a figurative illusion.
The structure of our world clearly demonstrates this principle.
The light that illuminates our world is not visible in itself, but the world consists of the smallest dense formations, let it be neutrinos, from which a variety of forms are created. Therefore, the light itself is not visible, but we see the surfaces illuminated by it, photons, these are particles illuminated by light, of which there are infinitely many and they move at great speed along given trajectories, creating an intricate pattern that creates a common hologram of the Universe.
But all the same, light is only a different frequency of modulation of electrical impulses, on which all sensations, both visual and tactile, are built.
Thus thought made itself visible, to itself,
that is, she made a mirror for herself in order to see her reflection. But in order for this visible hologram not to be a meaningless static picture, it is given movement, and movement is achieved by moving graphic images, but so that this movement is not chaotic, a program was given to it, and so that, in turn, the program was not a meaningless action, was the semantic scenario of the Universe called "Life" was created.
All the principles according to which the Universe exists are this scenario. These are the principles of harmonious movement of energy.

All objects in the Universe, from neutrinos to stars, are a holographic image containing the smallest fragment of the Consciousness of the Absolute, and also a person is the same holographic, electronic object that contains a particle of the Absolute. But this holographic image isolates this tiny part of the Consciousness from the general ocean of thought, so everyone feels alone in the Universe. This feeling is created by the program "Personality", it is also "Ego".
The only thing to understand is that the Consciousness is inside an insulating object - a "physical body" (electronic capsule), inside the "personality" program.
To understand this, one does not need to destroy the personality, one just needs to understand the principle of building life.
And since all this holographic design "The Universe" is located inside the Creator himself - the Mind, this design is the Creator himself, relatively speaking, his "body".
The Creator is not somewhere deep inside or far outside, he is everywhere and in everything.
He himself is the Universe.
Therefore, the entire virtual structure must contain all the qualities of the Creator - the Absolute. And the Absolute has only one quality, it is absolute love. If he exists alone in himself, then in what state can he be, only in absolute love for himself.
Therefore, all of his particles of Consciousness, (the cells of his body "Soul"), which are enclosed in a form ( physical body), after completing their task - the implementation of the life program, again return to the ocean of thought, but they must preserve the true qualities of the Absolute.
Therefore, our whole long way of being in a material form leads to the comprehension of the qualities of the Absolute itself, which is called the acquisition of the Higher Consciousness, to the comprehension of love and goodness.
There is only one condition - "the nature of the ego."
All particles of the Higher Consciousness, enclosed in a personal form - "personality", are aware of themselves as separate personalities and show all the power of love only for themselves.
Divided in personalities, people cannot understand that they are one common whole, and this is the main task and meaning of life, to understand this.
So, as soon as people understand this, then the happiest life, full of pleasures from life, will be possible.
IN THE KINGDOM OF THE EGO, A HAPPY LIFE IS IMPOSSIBLE, since everyone serves only their own interests, not taking anyone else into account, and, if possible, exploiting others to achieve their own pleasures, to the detriment of others.
But this is how it works, just an artificial program "personality"

Therefore, our whole life, struggle, battles, survival, is just a performance invented by the main director Mind. All the tragedies of life, all the negativity, are given to us for the realization of love and goodness, this is the same mirror, goodness and love can be reflected in the mirror, just like light can only see itself through reflection.

The entire Universe is an illusion, everything that can be seen or felt is just wave vibrations of the frequency spectrum, visible and invisible ranges, that is, visual, audible and tactile
After all, what is Mind is just a thought that exists.
All other relationships of thoughts are already a game of thought with itself. But in order for these thoughts to be both tangible and visible, it is necessary to give them sensory properties. An electrical impulse allows you to do this.

Is it worth it to pray?

The science of Kabbalah asserts that the Creator is the law of nature.
Does it follow from this that it is useless to pray to him?

To pray means to wish. Prayer is all our desires, everything that we feel in our hearts, and not what we say in words.
The nature surrounding us is called the Creator, and we are constantly in interaction with it. With our desires and thoughts, we influence nature and receive a certain reaction from it.
It does not take into account simulated external actions or words, but only the true desire of the heart. Therefore, a person should think about how to direct desires in the right direction, towards the right goal. And then this true, innermost desire of a person will be a prayer, it will lead him correctly. And everything else does not affect the world.
For thousands of years, humanity has been praying, screaming, suffering, crying, erecting altars, offering sacrifices, lighting candles. Who does it help?
The Creator is not a person and not some kind of creature that can be moved to pity or convinced of something. The Creator is a system of nature that feels everything we do. And if we do not try to direct our thoughts and actions correctly, then we automatically work under the influence of nature. That is, in fact, we are not considered at all to be something that exists in nature, as independent part.
Suppose there is some mechanism - let's call it a "little man" - that functions as it was programmed, and nothing can be expected from it. If he begins to develop, independently rushes to the goal, if this creature somehow manifests itself, its independence, its individuality, then the Creator (Nature) is interested: what in his creation appeared different, additional to what was created.
This additional desire is called prayer. It tells about what a person aspires to, what he wants. And in accordance with this, Nature can interact with a person, treat him as a partner, develop him. Only in this case, a person can independently turn to Nature.

I apologize to dear readers, because I am writing about concepts that are almost elementary and well known to everyone. I'm afraid to seem annoying. Too often, however, headline discussions lead to irresolvable arguments. Arguments are irresolvable as opponents speak different languages. The words are pronounced the same, but the meanings are different. As a result, disputes have no reasonable outcome. Spat, dispersed, the curtain. And the result is significant.

Our society is fragmented, first of all, due to the fact that there is no morality accepted by the whole society and a dominant spiritual system. I will try to make a fundamental distinction between these concepts, so that our disputes regarding morality, morality and spirituality become more objective and contribute to unity, and not split.

It is not easy to find an adequate answer on the Internet, oddly enough. I haven't been able to find a definitive explanation. If my attempt is successful, then please refer to the posts and articles. If not... Do not charge! I am neither a philosopher nor a sociologist. I am an amateur in these matters, but extreme necessity makes me invade other people's professional spheres. These questions are important and very sensitive for many. There are many disputes, there is no agreement! But it is precisely on this ground that it is vital and possible to reach an agreement. So ... "Not for self-interest", but only for good!

So:

Moral is a set of norms of behavior adopted by a certain society as mandatory for its members. Often this concept is confused with the concept of morality, including professionals (philosophers and sociologists). They are really close. I specifically share these concepts for greater clarity. More defining words - clearer meanings!

Morality- in addition to the list of norms of behavior accepted by society, it includes the definition of correct (from the point of view of this very morality) motives for behavior and an explanation of the reasons why the behavioral norm is mandatory.

To draw the line between morality and morality, I will tell a classic story. This story occurs many times in the literature with different actors. In the earliest (of the versions known to me), the main character is Socrates. But the situation looks more convex in the presentation of the well-known Christian author Abba Dorotheus. So, Abba Dorotheos drew attention to one young monk who, with absolute equanimity, accepted reproaches and even insults addressed to him. When the abba asked this monk, how is he in such young age won such humility and easily endures reproach in his address, then he heard an answer that struck him extremely. Something along the lines of, "Why on earth should I care about what these worthless people say?" In the variant with Socrates, the great philosopher compared those who scolded him with dogs from the gateway.

From here, the boundary between morality and morality is clearly visible. The moral Christian norm prescribes a person not to respond in the same way to reproaches and abuse addressed to him. Main character performed it with success. The moral of the story is that a Christian should do it for the exact opposite reason. Because of the awareness of their own shortcomings and guided by the desire to imitate Christ. What in our tradition is called: "For the sake of Christ!".

Spirituality This is morality unfolded in time. In move. But if morality is a public concept, then spirituality is, first of all, an essence that belongs to the individual. Spirituality presupposes not only the presence of an ideal, but also a sincere desire of a person to achieve this ideal. Assumes a clearly articulated path to achieve this ideal. And the work done by a person to achieve the chosen ideal. This means that while making a spiritual path, a person constantly evaluates how much he corresponds to his ideal, constantly sets himself specific tasks and constantly evaluates how effective his efforts are.

Spirituality is different. It is determined, first of all, by the ideal. Different ideals are offered by different societies, or by different religions and atheism. And different paths are offered to achieve the ideal. For example, many spears have been broken about the difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism and other Christian denominations. But the root of all differences is one - it is a different way to achieve the Christian ideal. Everything else is sprouts from this root.

All these three concepts are related to each other like nesting dolls built into each other. The smallest matryoshka is morality, and the largest is spirituality. In addition, I argue that morality and morality is an essential attribute of any society. Just like spirituality is an integral attribute of the human personality. And the term "lack of spirituality" is more of an allegory that seeks to express a negative attitude towards a very specific image of spirituality. So, for example, the philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov studied Islam and did not find there a description of the ideal that a true Muslim should strive for. Even if this is so, this does not mean at all that a particular Muslim society does not have spirituality. And one can only welcome when a Muslim leader declares: "We share the ideals of Holy Rus'."

It seems to me that this conceptual apparatus will make it possible to more productively discuss the pressing issues of the moral foundation of society. I did not include the concept of ethics in my system - it seems to me that this is simply a translation of the word spirituality into atheistic language. Just the word "spirituality" immediately scares atheists. Perhaps they think that it refutes their materialism. And they gave him a replacement. I am aware that the word itself is not new and it comes from ancient Greek, but its current meaning and application is precisely the substitution of spirituality, that is, a term that was born later.

There are a few questions that keep popping up in our discussions that remain unanswered to the satisfaction of both parties:

What is the source of morality and morality?

Are there objective laws of the universe that determine the content of morality and spirituality?

Is it possible to compare the various images of morality and spirituality offered by the centuries-old history of world culture?

Does society need a single morality and is it possible to develop it in modern Russian conditions?

In his recent fundamental article, Aleksey Kravetsky quite reasonably noted that inserting thoughtful questions into the text without your own answers is not serious! I will try to give my answers to these questions without claiming a final verdict.

If we argue on the first question: “What is the source of morality and morality?”, then from the definition of these concepts given by me it follows that they always belong to a particular society. There is no morality and morality in general. Do you want to argue about morality and ethics? Decide on the time and place of the subject of the dispute. What kind of morality are we talking about? Only after these reservations can one argue about the sources.

In the comments to the article "Text about texts" the question arose whether the Bible is a source of morality? One of the participants in the discussion reasonably noted that for him - no. And he's right! It is his right and his choice. Everyone is free to choose their own morality. And each morality can have its own sources.

But if we talk about the morality of not our own or not our society, then we should, if possible, abandon our own interpretation of the sources. If an atheist, for example, talks about Christian morality, then he must abandon his own interpretation Holy Scripture. For a substantive conversation with an opponent, it is necessary to use the interpretations adopted by the Christian society itself. In your circle, interpret as you wish! Morality must be explained by the carrier of this morality. Otherwise verbiage is obtained, and the bearer of this morality has every right to say: “This is not about me!”

By the way, the Bible is not the primary source of Orthodox Christian morality. The source, of course, but not the first. This is the Protestant slogan: "Only Scripture." In Orthodoxy, the Holy Tradition is the primary source. That image of Christ, which his contemporaries fixed in their minds and which is transmitted from generation to generation in the bosom of the Church, is the primary source of Orthodox Christian morality.

If we try to refute moral postulates by saying that they are not observed by everyone, not always and not completely, then, firstly, we jump into the next category - into spirituality. It is spirituality that controls the fulfillment of moral postulates (see paragraph 3). And secondly, this is logic not certified by Aristotle. Rules traffic do not cease to exist from the fact that someone constantly, crossing two continuous, drives in the opposite direction.

If we talk about the morality of modern Russian society in general, it must be recognized that it is very fragmented and heterogeneous, which is a big problem. But with some assumption, I state that its basis is Christian Orthodox morality. She was just beaten and raped for a long time. That is why she looks like a person under investigation from the Dalniy police department of the city of Kazan. Doesn't look like herself.

To the second question: "Are there objective laws of the universe that determine the content of morality and spirituality?" - I will give an answer from the point of view of Orthodox Christianity.

Yes! Man is a creature that lives according to very specific laws. And human society exists according to very specific laws that do not change over time. Just like physical laws, for example. However, I have heard similar statements from convinced atheists.

Just as we who live now, so people of antiquity learned the spiritual laws of man and society from the experience of life. Newton's laws existed and operated before Newton. And people knew and understood them and used this understanding in practice. People shot arrows before Isaac Newton formulated his first law. Then the time came, and a suitable person was found who could formulate these laws on paper. Similarly, spiritual religious systems formulate the objective laws of human society, forming moral codes and creating spiritual systems and practices. Those societies whose spiritual systems more fully express the objective laws of the universe survive in this world. Competition between societies is not only in the field of technology and military art! What is common in different moral codes formulated in different societies and at different times is a reflection of objective truth. In the end, you can’t drive in an oncoming lane, not because the traffic rules forbid it, but because you will crash to death. This is the objective truth.

But this is not the whole truth. In the Orthodox tradition, this is called natural theology. Theology because the world and the laws of its existence and development are given by God, and they reflect the essence of God. This natural level is accessible to everyone. The experience of many people and their personal spiritually gifted people embodied in integral spiritual systems. But as none of the scientists can create scientific theory for all time, so none of the people are able to create a comprehensive spiritual teaching. But Christianity is precisely what it claims to be!

Everything that Christ said in his commandments about man is not a wish or command to us. But there are descriptions of the norm of human life. This is the most complete and accurate description of the laws of existence of the human person and human society. But this is not just a declaration! Everything that Christ said, he embodied in his earthly life. That is His greatness and uniqueness.

And the Christian faith is not just a recognition of the fact of the existence of God, but the belief that the commandments of Christ are the true conditions for a full-fledged human existence. Conditions for finding happiness! Everything, everything, even what we categorically do not like in these commandments or seems unfulfillable or it seems that it will ruin our life, such as “turn the other cheek” or “love your enemies” - all these are integral signs of a full-fledged person. And the degree of our faith is measured not by the number of prayers and the severity of fasting. And not by the number of candles placed and donated money. But to the extent that we fulfill the commandments of Christ, such is our faith.

Accordingly, breaking the commandments, we should not expect punishment from God. Violating the objective laws of the universe, we punish ourselves. We are the best at this! If you drove into the oncoming lane through two continuous ones, then, being stopped by the traffic police inspector, do not think that a fine or deprivation of rights is a punishment. You need to hug and kiss the inspector as a father and savior! Most likely, he saved you from death. And he also taught a lesson. And I read a lecture on traffic rules. Thank him. And Him too!

Such a teaching is not even close to being found in any other moral, ethical, or religious system. It is very harsh: “You cannot serve two masters…”, “You cannot drink the cup of demons and the cup of the Lord…”, “He who breaks one commandment is guilty of everything”, “Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect”. Such a doctrine could not be invented by man. For him, this is TOO! It's uncomfortable for him! Therefore, we affirm that Christianity was created by God. And therefore the source of Christian morality is not the Bible. Who gave the laws of the universe, He is the source of Christian morality.

And it is necessary to check the truth of Christianity by fulfilling the commandments. Fulfilled the commandment - look what happened. Truth is not volumes of evidence read from other people's books, but come and see for yourself.

And one can be convinced of the existence of God only by fulfilling the commandments of Christ, and not by scientific experiments.

And you can meet God only on the path of fulfilling the commandments. He Himself goes out to meet those who want to know the truth. Of which I myself was convinced.

Is it possible to compare the various images of morality and spirituality offered by the centuries-old history of world culture? Yes, you can! Comparing moral precepts and their moral justification, you can choose the best for yourself. It is possible to compare those ways of achieving the ideal offered by various ethical and religious systems. The most important way to make right choice is to compare the best representatives of various spiritual concepts. On the part of Christianity, there is a huge choice of “combatants”. A host of saints, and especially "reverends", that is, the most similar to God, those who devoted their entire lives without a trace to the achievement of the Christian ideal. There are warriors, and politicians, and scientists, and completely ordinary people. Everyone can find a mentor for themselves on the path of life.

Does society need a single morality and is it possible to develop it in modern Russian conditions? Today in our country there is, in fact, Civil War. While mostly cold. There are various reasons for this war. But the root of all causes is the same - it is a war for different spiritual values. And the war will continue until either the country collapses or Russia becomes a single spiritual space. Although in the event of a victory for the liberal forces, Russia will still fall apart. Or it will no longer be Russia.

Will we be able to win this war and not let Russia die? Don't know. But we have no other choice.

Spirituality is often confused with morality. Meanwhile, these are quite different, albeit overlapping, concepts.

A truly spiritual person is, first of all, a person of conscience, living according to its clear and precise laws. Moreover, this life is extremely sincere, there is no ambiguity and slyness in it. There is not and cannot be a double bottom in spirituality. Either she is, or she is not. The spiritual principle affirms the priority of the spirit and the Higher Principle in human life. Genuine spirituality is inseparable from religiosity. It connects a person with God, makes us voluntarily follow His highest imperatives.

Morality is a less ontological concept. She is something more external than internal, and allows for acting, acting, forgery, pretense. Sometimes a person enters a high moral image invented by himself and grows together with it so much that everyone begins to believe in this created image. Example: one doctor without fail met all the requests of people, went to the patient at night to the ends of the world, supplied medicines free of charge, gave advice.

And only the old priest, who confessed as a doctor, knew that he did all this out of vanity and love of glory.

So often outwardly our neighbor is a saint without five minutes. In fact, worse than the devil.

Some will say - so what? The main thing is that a person helped his neighbors and did good deeds. Is it objectively good? Fine! Why dig into his soul and look for nuances that no one needs? You never know what's going on in someone's soul? And done good - it is good. And the destiny of those - one hundred percent paradise.

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, the most famous Russian ascetic and theologian, once said approximately the following: if a person were justified only by his good deeds of the heart, then the coming of Christ would not be needed. And really, it's not enough good people lived in centuries past. There were those who with their good covered many deeds of today's Christians. They saved someone in a fire, served bread to the hungry, gave the last shirt to the beggar, helped the widow plow the field and feed her children. Even on the Egyptian tombs there were inscriptions: “I did not kill anyone, did not shed tears, did not mock the old man, did not upset my father, indulged my mother, shared bread with the hungry, freed the weak from the strong within my capabilities, did something useful to the ruler and told him the truth , did not offend the widow, gave a boat for crossing to the other side of the Nile. Then I died."

However, the entire collective experience of mankind shows that people in all their parameters have fallen so much that without help from above they will never rise again. Our lives are evidence of this. We want good, but we do evil. The whole history is a continuous series of craftiness, deceit, wars, violence and cruelty. Rare years of a truce - and everything repeats again from the beginning ...

So - regarding human goodness: it is always connected with some subtle passions and emotional states that live in us. When doing a good deed, we, without noticing it ourselves, often do it for certain reasons - out of subtle vanity, because of the desire to hear praise, or because we don’t want someone to condemn, or, conversely, we do good only with that so that the hated supplicant will lag behind us once and for all. In general, we act like people in whose souls good and evil are mixed in such a way that sometimes we ourselves do not understand why we are doing something this way and not otherwise.

And it happens differently. A person does good deeds out of a frankly mercantile calculation, hoping for gratitude and reward from the one to whom he is beneficent. He visits, for example, a lonely old man, brings him food, cleans his apartment, and in his heart he cheerfully arranges it for himself as a reward for his labors.

The Lord requires from us unselfishness and self-sacrifice. After all, if we think sensibly, a person by himself cannot even take a step without the Higher Beginning, which gives him both breath, and strength, and life itself. Moreover, all this is given absolutely free of charge, on the basis of great and all-encompassing love. The Giver of good also expects the same from man. Therefore, any good that is not purified from selfishness and ambition, from calculation and mammon, is not accepted by God, and He does not consider such deeds to be a manifestation of our love for Him. So just good deeds do not save - you must first consider their components and understand the driving motives. It is not labor that is saving, but the humility and awe that is born from it before the Higher Beginning, which bestows upon us all that is good. So a student who has successfully done something does not thank himself, but his teacher. Without this vertical, good deeds always carry inevitable dark fragments, a fly in the ointment.

Let me give you one more example. After the war, military instructors worked in many schools, who taught military affairs. Often these were front-line soldiers who went through the battles of the Great Patriotic War, were injured and received medals "For Courage". They, as a rule, did not have a family and lived entirely in the interests of the school and children. They had their own corner in the communal apartment, where they slept and had disturbing war dreams. These were the real heroes. So, let's say one of them constantly worked with schoolchildren, taught them how to use weapons, demanded from them high morality, courage and true male friendship. Moreover, he taught a chivalrous attitude towards girls, disappeared with the guys in the game "Zarnitsa" - in short, he was a real father and an authoritative educator for them. And along with the ideals of goodness and humanism that this military instructor planted in the souls of the guys, he told them that all priests are crooks, that there is no God and cannot be, and that all churches must be closed. His words, no doubt, fell on the soul of the guys as a guide to action. They grew up resolute and courageous, worked not for fear, but for conscience, supported the weak, defended women ... and at the same time became ideological haters of God and sincerely believed that the fight against religion was one of the most important and most useful things in their lives.

Question: was that military instructor moral?

Try to answer honestly.

There are any number of polite people, giving way to you, distinguished by human decency, high principles, devotion in friendship and readiness to help in trouble, but at the same time unbelievers. They do not recognize the Higher Beginning and consider it superfluous. They are doing well as it is. And here is the question - is their morality saving for them, is it useful?

With regard to temporary benefits - obviously.

But as for salvation - it is extremely difficult to say. Such morality is limited in its perfection and gradually degrades, because, as a rule, it is fed only by human ambition and love of glory, which has no support from above. The autonomous principle in man has its limits. To replenish the spent energy, he needs food from the outside. To do deeds of love and decency, he needs spiritual support. From himself, as a limited being, he cannot receive it. Hence the gradual degradation of the morals of such "autonomous" people. In fact, their condition is extremely problematic. It is enough to criticize them in some way, even if it is extremely benevolent, and you will immediately see how all the pretty masks will fly off of them, and they will show their true face. As the same Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov wrote: “The doer of human truth (that is, formally moral deeds - ed.) is full of self-conceit, arrogance, self-deception ... pays with hatred and vengeance to those who would dare to open their mouths for the most thorough and well-intentioned contradiction to his truth ; recognizes himself worthy and worthy of earthly and heavenly rewards ”(Collected Works of St. Ignatius, vol. V, p. 47).