Ilyin about the Russian idea. Russian idea in the works of I.A.

Preamble
Russian nationalism is Love to the Russian people, faith to his strength, will to his prosperity and his contemplation. This system of actions

When we look forward and into the distance and see the coming Russia, we see it as a nation state, protecting and serving Russian national culture. After a long revolutionary break, after a painful communist international failure Russia will return to free self-affirmation and independence, find its sound instinct of self-preservation, reconcile it with its spiritual well-being and begin a new period of its historical prosperity.

Russia is a protecting and serving state
Russian national culture

The Russian people have endured humiliation for thirty years, and it seems there is no end to it. For thirty years dark and criminal people have trampled on his hearths and altars, forbidding him to pray, they beat his best people - the most religious, the most persistent, the bravest and the most nationally devoted, suppress his freedom, distort his spiritual face, squander his property, ruin his economy, disintegrate his state, wean him from free labor and free inspiration.

For thirty years they have treated him as if he were deprived of national dignity, national spirit and national instinct. These years of violence and shame will not be in vain: it is impossible for the people's body“ban health” - he will break through to it at any cost; It is impossible to extinguish the people's sense of their own spiritual dignity - these attempts will only awaken them to new awareness and new strength.

What the Russian people are experiencing now is a strict and long apprenticeship, a living school of spiritual purification, humility and sobriety. The first awakening may be passionate, immoderate and even bitter; but the future will bring us new Russian nationalism with its true power and in its true measure. It is this nationalism that we must now articulate and formalize.

We must speak out and formalize the new Russian nationalism

In contrast to all internationalism - both sentimental and ferocious; as opposed to any denationalization - everyday and political, we affirm Russian nationalism, instinctive and spiritual, we profess it and raise it to God. We welcome its revival. We rejoice in his spirituality and his uniqueness. And we consider it precious that the Russian people should not bind themselves to any internationalist “sympathies” or “obligations.”

Every people have a national instinct given to him from nature (and this means from God), and the gifts of the Spirit poured into him from the Creator of all things. And for each people, instinct and spirit live in their own way and create a precious originality. We must value this Russian originality, take care of it, live in it and create from it: it was given to us from time immemorial, in embryo, and its development was given to us throughout our entire history. By revealing it, realizing it, we fulfill our historical destiny, which we have neither the right nor the desire to renounce. For every national identity reveals the Spirit of God in its own way and glorifies the Lord in its own way.

Denationalization can be domestic or political

Each nation marries, gives birth, gets sick and dies in its own way; heals in his own way, works, manages and rests; grieves in his own way, cries, gets angry and despairs; smiles, jokes, laughs and rejoices in his own way; walks and dances in his own way; sings and creates music in his own way; speaks, recites, jokes and orates in his own way; observes, contemplates and creates painting in his own way; explores, cognizes, reasons and proves in his own way; in his own way he is begging, charitable and hospitable; builds houses and temples in his own way; prays and acts as a hero in his own way...

He is lifted up in spirit and repents in his own way. It is organized in its own way. Every nation has its own special sense of right and justice, a different character, a different discipline, a different idea of the moral ideal, a different family structure, a different church life, a different political dream, a different state instinct. In a word, every nation has a different, special mental structure and spiritual and creative act.

This is the case from nature and from history. This is how it is in instinct and in spirit. This is what we have all been given from God. And this is good. This is wonderful. Various herbs and flowers in the field. Trees and clouds are different. Rich and beautiful is the garden of God; abundant in forms, sparkling with colors and views, shining and pleasing with diversity...

Everyone wants to sing and praise God:
Dawn, and lily of the valley, and feather grass,
And the forest, and the field, and the road,
And the wind blowing dust.
Fedor Sologub

And in this are all things, and all people, and all nations are right. And it is appropriate for every nation to be, to show off, and to glorify God in its own way. And in this very diversity and polyphony, praise is already being sung and exalted to the Creator; and one must be spiritually blind and deaf not to comprehend this.

In Russia there is extreme nationalism, as well as extreme internationalism
are of non-Russian origin

That is why the idea of extinguishing this diversity of praise, of abolishing this wealth of the historical garden of God, of reducing everything to dead similarity and monotony, to the equality of sand, to indifference after the difference that has already shone in the world, can only be born in a spiritually dead, sick soul. This flat and vulgar chimera, this all-destructive, anti-cultural and godless idea is the product of a rational soul, evil and envious - it doesn’t matter whether this chimera strives to militantly crush all peoples under one people (the chimera of German National Socialism) or to dissolve all national cultures into colorlessness and formlessness of all-confusion (the chimera of Soviet communism). In any case, this ugly chimera, in which extreme nationalism meets extreme internationalism, is of non-Russian origin, as, indeed, all nihilism is of non-Christian origin, as, indeed, all egalitarianism.

Christianity brought to the world the idea of a personal, immortal soul, independent in its gift, in its responsibility and in its calling, special in its sins and deeds and self-active in contemplation, love and prayer - that is, the idea of the metaphysical originality of man. And therefore the idea of the metaphysical originality of the people there is only a true and consistent development of the Christian understanding: Christ is alone in the universe. He is not for the Jews only and not for the Greeks only, but His gospel goes to both the Greeks and the Jews; but this means that all nations are recognized and called, each in its own place, with its own language and with its own gifts (see Acts 2:1-42; 1 Cor. 7:7).

Nationalism manifests itself primarily in the instinct of national self-preservation

The Monk Seraphim of Sarov once expressed the view that God cares about every person as if he were His only one. This is said about a personal person. What should we think about the individual people: that they are condemned by God, rejected and doomed? The Lord dresses each lily in special and beautiful vestments, feeds and feeds each bird of the sky, and counts the hairs falling from a person’s head, but rejects the uniqueness of the people’s life, given and given from Him, the creative praise of the living nation that ascends to Him? !.

With all their history, all their culture, all their work and singing, each people serves God as best they can; and those peoples who serve Him creatively and with inspiration, become great and spiritually leading nations in history.

And so, nationalism is a confident and strong feeling that my people also received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that they accepted them with their own and instinctive sensibilities and creatively translated them in their own way, that their strength is abundant and called to further creative achievements and that therefore My people deserve cultural “independence” as a “guarantee of greatness” (Pushkin) and as independence of state life.

Nationalism must have its manifestations in love,
sacrifice, courage and wisdom

Therefore, nationalism manifests itself primarily in the instinct of national self-preservation, and this instinct is a true and justified state. One should not be ashamed of it, extinguish it or suppress it; it is necessary to comprehend it in the face of God, to spiritually substantiate and ennoble its manifestations. This instinct should not lie dormant in the soul of the people, but should be awake. He does not live at all “beyond good and evil”; on the contrary, he is subject to the laws of good and spirit. He must have its manifestations in love, sacrifice, courage and wisdom; he must have his festivals, his joys, his sorrows and his prayers. From it must be born national unity, in all its instinctive “bee-likeness” and “ant-likeness.” It must burn in the national culture and in the creativity of the national genius.

What is Russian nationalism?

Nationalism is love for the historical appearance and creative act of one’s people in all its originality. Nationalism is faith in the instinctive and spiritual strength of one's people, faith in their spiritual calling. Nationalism is the will for my people to bloom creatively and freely in God's garden. Nationalism is the contemplation of one’s people in the face of God, the contemplation of their soul, their shortcomings, their talents, their historical problems, their dangers and their temptations. N nationalism is a system of actions, flowing from this love, from this faith, from this will and from this contemplation.

That is why national feeling is a spiritual fire, leading a person to service and sacrifice, and the people to spiritual flourishing. This is a kind of delight (Suvorov’s favorite expression) from contemplating one’s people in God’s plan and in the gifts of His grace. This is thanksgiving to God for these gifts, but at the same time, sorrow for one’s people and shame for them if they are not up to the level of these gifts. In national feeling hidden source of dignity, which Karamzin once designated as “people's pride”, and the source of unity that saved Russia in all the difficult hours of its history, and the source of state legal consciousness that binds “all of us” into a living state unity.

Nationalism is the source of dignity, people's pride
and the source of unity of the Russian people

Nationalism experiences, professes and defends the life of its people as a precious spiritual self-empowerment. He accepts the gifts and creations of his people as his own spiritual soil, as starting point of your own creativity. And he's right about that. For the creative act is not invented by each person for himself, but is suffered and nurtured by an entire people over the course of centuries.

The mental way of work and life and the spiritual way of love and contemplation, prayer and knowledge, with all its personal originality, also has a national nature, national homogeneity and national originality. According to the general socio-psychological law, similarity unites people, communication enhances this similarity and joy being understood opens souls and deepens communication.

That is why the national creative act brings people together and awakens in them the desire to open up, speak out, give “what is cherished” and find a response in others. Creative a person always creates on behalf of his people and addresses himself first and foremost to his people. Nationality is, as it were, the climate of the soul and the soil of the spirit, and nationalism is a true, natural craving for one’s climate and one’s soil.

It is no coincidence that Russian cordiality and simplicity of manner have always shrunk and suffered from the callousness, stiffness and artificial tension of the West. It is no coincidence that Russian contemplation and sincerity have never been valued by European reason and American efficiency.

Russian contemplation and sincerity have never been valued
European intelligence and American efficiency

With what difficulty does a European grasp the peculiarities of our legal consciousness - its informality, its freedom from dead legalism, its living craving for living justice and at the same time its naive indiscipline in everyday life and its craving for anarchy. With what difficulty does he listen to our music - to its naturally flowing and inexhaustible melody, to its daring rhythms, to its unlike anything else? tonality and harmonies of Russian folk song. How alien to him is our non-rational, contemplative science. And Russian painting - most wonderful and significant, along with Italian - has not yet been “discovered” and is not recognized by the snobbish European. Everything beautiful that had hitherto been created by the Russian people came from their national spiritual act and seemed alien to the West.

Meanwhile, only those who are established in the creative act of their people can create something beautiful, perfect for all peoples.

A “world genius” is always and first of all a “national genius,” and any attempt to create something great from a denationalized or “internationalized” soul gives, at best, only an imaginary, “on-screen” “celebrity.” True greatness is always rooted. A true genius is always national, and he knows this about himself.

The coming Russia will be a national Russia

And if prophets are not accepted in their homeland, it is not because they create out of some “supernational” act, but because they deepen the creative act of their people to a level, to a depth that is not yet accessible to their same-tribal contemporaries .

A prophet and genius is more national than his generation in the highest and best sense of the word. Living in the uniqueness of their people, they carry out a national act of classical depth and maturity and thereby show their people its true strength, its calling and future paths.

So, nationalism is a healthy and justified mood of the soul. What nationalism loves and serves is indeed worthy of love, struggle and sacrifice. And the coming Russia will be national Russia.

If our generation has had the lot to live in the most difficult and dangerous era of Russian history, then this cannot and should not shake our understanding, our will and our service to Russia. The struggle of the Russian people for a free and dignified life on earth continues. And now, more than ever, it is fitting for us to believe in Russia, to see its spiritual strength and originality, and to speak out for it, on its behalf and for its future generations, its creative idea.

this is what we must protect and cultivate in ourselves, educate in our children and in future generations, and bring to real purity and fullness of being - in everything, in our culture and in our way of life, in our souls and in our faith, in our institutions and laws. The Russian idea is something living, simple and creative. Russia lived it in all its inspired hours, in all its good days, in all its great people. We can say about this idea: it was so, and when it happened, the beautiful was realized; and so it will be, and the more fully and powerfully this is implemented, the better it will be...

What is the essence of this idea?

The Russian idea is the idea of the heart. The idea of the contemplative heart.

A heart that contemplates freely and objectively; and transmitting his vision to the will for action, and thought for awareness and speech. This is the main source of Russian faith and Russian culture. This is the main strength of Russia and Russian identity. This is the path of our revival and renewal. This is what other peoples vaguely sense in the Russian spirit, and when they truly recognize this, they bow down and begin to love and honor Russia. In the meantime, they don’t know how or don’t want to find out, they turn away, judge Russia down and speak words of untruth, envy and hostility about it.

1. - So, the Russian idea is the idea of the heart.

Russian Orthodoxy perceives God with love, sends him a prayer of love and turns with love to the world and to people.

And all this is not an idealization or a myth, but the living force of the Russian soul and Russian history. Ancient sources, both Byzantine and Arab, unanimously testify to the kindness, affection and hospitality, as well as the love of freedom of the Russian Slavs. Russian folk tales are all imbued with melodious good nature. Russian song is a direct outpouring of heartfelt feeling in all its modifications. Russian dance is improvisation arising from an overflowing feeling. The first historical Russian princes are heroes of the heart and conscience (Vladimir, Yaroslav, Monomakh). The first Russian saint (Feodosia) is a manifestation of real kindness. Russian chronicles and edifying works are imbued with the spirit of heartfelt and conscientious contemplation. This spirit lives in Russian poetry and literature, in Russian painting and in Russian music. The history of Russian legal consciousness testifies to its gradual penetration by this spirit, the spirit of fraternal sympathy and individualizing justice. And the Russian medical school is its direct offspring (diagnostic intuitions of a living suffering personality).

So, love is the main spiritual and creative force of the Russian soul. Without love, a Russian person is a failed creature. Civilizing surrogates of love (duty, discipline, formal loyalty, hypnosis of external law-abidingness) - in themselves, are of little use to him. Without love, he either vegetates lazily or is inclined towards permissiveness. Believing in nothing, Russian people become an empty being, without an ideal and without a goal. The mind and will of the Russian person are brought into spiritual and creative movement precisely by love and faith.

2. - And with all this, the first manifestation of Russian love and Russian faith is living contemplation.

Contemplation was taught to us, first of all, by our flat space, our nature, with its distances and clouds, with its rivers, forests, thunderstorms and blizzards. Hence our insatiable gaze, our dreaminess, our contemplating “laziness” (Pushkin), behind which lies the power of creative imagination. Russian contemplation was given beauty that captivated the heart, and this beauty was introduced into everything - from fabric and lace to housing and fortifications. From this, souls became more tender, more refined and deeper; contemplation was also introduced into internal culture - into faith, prayer, art, science and philosophy. Russian people have an inherent need to see what they love live and in reality, and then express what they saw - with an action, a song, a drawing or a word. That is why the basis of all Russian culture is the living evidence of the heart, and Russian art has always been a sensual depiction of insensibly perceived conditions. It is this living evidence of the heart that lies at the basis of Russian historical monarchism. Russia grew and grew in the form of a monarchy not because the Russian people gravitated towards dependence or political slavery, as many in the West think, but because the state, in his understanding, should be artistically and religiously embodied in a single person - living, contemplative, selflessly loved and publicly “created” and strengthened by this universal love.

The human spirit is a personal, organic and self-active being: it loves and creates itself, according to its inner needs.

Freedom is inherent in Russian people, as if by nature. It is expressed in that organic naturalness and simplicity, in that improvisational lightness and ease that distinguishes the Eastern Slav from Western peoples in general and even from some Western Slavs. This inner freedom is felt in everything: in the slow fluency and melodiousness of Russian speech, in Russian gait and gestures, in Russian clothing and dancing, in Russian food and in Russian life. The Russian world lived and grew in spatial open spaces and itself gravitated towards spacious unconstrainedness. The natural temperament of the soul attracted the Russian person to straightforwardness and openness (Svyatoslavovo “I’m coming to you”...), transformed his passion into sincerity and elevated this sincerity to confession and martyrdom...

Even during the first invasion of the Tatars, the Russian people preferred death to slavery and knew how to fight to the last. It remained this way throughout its history. And it is no coincidence that during the war of 1914-1917, out of 1,400,000 Russian prisoners in Germany, 260,000 people (18.5 percent) tried to escape from captivity. “No nation has given such a percentage of attempts” ( N.N. Golovin). And if we, taking into account this organic love of freedom of the Russian people, take a mental look at their history with its endless warriors and long-term enslavement, then we should not be indignant at the relatively rare (albeit cruel) Russian riots, but bow before that power of state instinct, spiritual loyalty and Christian patience, which the Russian people have demonstrated throughout their history.

So, the Russian idea is the idea of a freely contemplating heart. However, this contemplation is intended to be not only free, but also objective. For freedom, fundamentally speaking, is given to a person not for self-restraint, but for organically creative self-formation, not for objectless wandering and arbitrariness, but for independently finding an object and staying in it. This is the only way that spiritual culture arises and matures. This is exactly what it consists of.

The entire life of the Russian people could be expressed and depicted like this: a freely contemplating heart sought and found its true and worthy Object. In its own way the heart of a holy fool found him, in its own way - the heart of a wanderer and pilgrim; Russian hermitage and eldership devoted themselves to religious objects in their own way; in its own way, the Russian Old Believers clung to the sacred traditions of Orthodoxy; in its own way, in a completely special way, the Russian army nurtured its glorious traditions; in their own way, the Russian peasantry carried out the tax service and in its own way, the Russian boyars nurtured the traditions of Russian Orthodox statehood; in their own way, those Russian righteous people who held the Russian land and whose appearances were artistically shown N.S. Leskov. The entire history of Russian wars is the history of selfless objective service to God, the Tsar and the Fatherland; and, for example, the Russian Cossacks first sought freedom, and then learned objective state patriotism. Russia has always been built by the spirit of freedom and objectivity, and has always staggered and disintegrated as soon as this spirit weakened - as soon as freedom was perverted into arbitrariness and encroachment, into tyranny and violence, as soon as the contemplative heart of the Russian person clung to pointless or anti-objective contents...

This is the Russian idea: freely and objectively contemplating love and life and culture determined by this. Where the Russian man lived and created from this act, he spiritually realized his national identity and produced his best creations - in everything: in law and in the state, in solitary prayer and in social organization, in art and science, in the economy and in family life, in the church altar and on the royal throne. God's gifts - history and nature - made Russian people exactly like this. This is not his merit, but this determines his precious originality among the host of other peoples. This determines the task of the Russian people: to be like this with all possible fullness and creative power, to guard their spiritual nature, not to be seduced by other people’s ways of life, not to distort their spiritual face with artificially transplanted features, and to create their life and culture precisely by this spiritual act.

Based on the Russian way of life, we should remember one thing and take care of one thing: how can we fill the free and loving contemplation given to us with real objective content; how can we truly perceive and express the Divine - in our own way; how can we sing God’s songs and grow God’s flowers in our fields... We are called not to borrow from other peoples, but to create our own in our own way; but in such a way that this is ours and in our own way, created in reality, true and beautiful, i.e. Subject-wise.

So, we are not called to borrow spiritual culture from other peoples or imitate them. We are called to create our own and in our own way: - Russian, in Russian.

Since ancient times, other peoples had a different character and a different creative way of life: the Jews had their own special, the Greeks had their own, the Romans had their own, the Germans had another, the Gauls had another, the English had another. They have a different faith, different “blood in their veins,” different heredity, different nature, different history. They have their own advantages and disadvantages. Which of us would want to borrow their shortcomings? - Nobody. And the virtues are given to us and given our own. And when we are able to overcome our national shortcomings - through conscience, prayer, work and education - then our virtues will blossom so that none of us will even want to think about strangers.

So, for example, all attempts to borrow their strong-willed and mental culture from Catholics would be hopeless for us. Their culture grew historically from the predominance of the will over the heart, analysis over contemplation, reason in all its practical sobriety over conscience, power and coercion over freedom. How could we borrow this culture from them if in our country the relationship of these forces is the opposite? After all, we would have to extinguish in ourselves the powers of the heart, contemplation, conscience and freedom, or, in any case, give up their predominance. And are there really naive people who imagine that we could achieve this by drowning out the Slavs in ourselves, eradicating the eternal influence of our nature and history, suppressing our organic love of freedom, throwing out of ourselves the natural Orthodoxy of the soul and the immediate sincerity of the spirit? And for what? In order to artificially instill in ourselves the alien spirit of Judaism, which permeates Catholic culture, and further - the spirit of Roman law, the spirit of mental and volitional formalism and, finally, the spirit of world power, so characteristic of Catholics?.. And in essence, for this , in order to abandon our own historically and religiously given culture of spirit, will and mind: for in the future we will not have to remain exclusively in the life of the heart, contemplation and freedom, and do without will, without thought, without life form, without discipline and without organizations. On the contrary, we have to grow from free heartfelt contemplation our own, special, new, Russian culture of will, thought and organization. Russia is not an empty container into which you can mechanically, arbitrarily, put anything you want, regardless of the laws of its spiritual organism. Russia is a living spiritual system, with its own historical gifts and tasks. Moreover, behind it stands a certain divine historical plan, which we do not dare to renounce and which we would not be able to renounce even if we even wanted to... And all this is expressed by the Russian idea.

This Russian idea of contemplative love and free objectivity does not in itself promise or condemn foreign cultures. She just doesn’t prefer them and doesn’t make them her law. Each nation does what it can, based on what it is given. But the bad people are those who do not see what is given to them, and therefore go begging under other people’s windows. Russia has its own spiritual and historical gifts and is called upon to create its own special spiritual culture: - a culture of the heart, contemplation, freedom and objectivity. There is no single universally binding “Western culture”, before which everything else is “darkness” or “barbarism”. The West is not a decree or a prison for us. His culture is not an ideal of perfection. The structure of his spiritual act (or rather, his spiritual acts) may correspond to his abilities and his needs, but it does not correspond to and does not satisfy our strengths, our tasks, our historical calling and spiritual structure. And we have no need to chase after him and make a model out of him. The West has its own errors, illnesses, weaknesses and dangers. There is no salvation for us in Westernism. We have our own paths and our own tasks. And this is the meaning of the Russian idea.

However, this is not pride or self-aggrandizement. For, wishing to follow our own paths, we do not at all claim that we have gone very far along these paths or that we are ahead of everyone. Similarly, we do not at all claim that everything that happens and is created in Russia is perfect, that the Russian character does not have its shortcomings, that our culture is free from delusions, dangers, illnesses and temptations. In reality, we affirm something different: we are good at this moment in our history or flesh, we are called and obliged to follow our own path - to purify our hearts, strengthen our contemplation, exercise our freedom and educate ourselves towards objectivity. No matter how great our historical misfortunes and downfalls may be, we are called to be ourselves, and not to crawl in front of others; create, not borrow; turn to God, and not imitate your neighbors; to look for Russian vision, Russian content and Russian form, and not to go in pieces, collecting for imaginary poverty. We are neither students nor teachers of the West. We are students of God and teachers of ourselves. The task before us is to create a unique Russian spiritual culture - from the Russian heart, with Russian contemplation, in Russian freedom, revealing Russian objectivity. And this is the meaning of the Russian idea.

We must understand this national task correctly, without distorting it or exaggerating it. We must care not about our originality, but about the objectivity of our soul and our culture; originality “will come on its own, blossoming unintentionally and directly. The point is not at all to be like no one; the demand “be like no one” is incorrect, absurd and not feasible. To grow and blossom, you don’t need to look askance at others, trying not to imitate them in anything and not to learn anything from them. We must not push ourselves away from other peoples, but go into our own depths and ascend from it to God: we must not be original, but strive for God’s truth; we must not indulge in East Slavic delusions of grandeur, but to seek with the Russian soul objective service.And this is the meaning of the Russian idea.

This is why it is so important to imagine our national calling as vividly and concretely as possible. If Russian spiritual culture comes from the heart, contemplation, freedom and conscience, this does not mean that it “denies” will, thought, form and organization. The identity of the Russian people does not at all lie in being in lack of will and thoughtlessness, enjoying formlessness and vegetating in chaos; but in growing the secondary forces of Russian culture (will, thought, form and organization) from its primary forces (from the heart, from contemplation, from freedom and conscience). The originality of the Russian soul and Russian culture is expressed precisely in this distribution of its forces into primary and secondary: primary forces determine and lead, and secondary ones grow out of them and receive their law from them. This has already happened in the history of Russia. And it was true and wonderful. It should continue to be this way, but even better, more complete and more perfect.

1. - According to this, Russian religiosity must continue to be based on heartfelt contemplation and freedom, and always observe its act of conscience. Russian Orthodoxy must honor and protect the freedom of faith - both its own and that of others. It must create, on the basis of heartfelt contemplation, its own special Orthodox theology, free from the rational, formal, deathly, skeptically blind reasoning of Western theologians; it must not adopt moral casuistry and moral pedantry from the West, it must proceed from a living and creative Christian conscience (“you are called to freedom, brethren,” Gal. 5.13), and on these foundations it must develop the Eastern Orthodox discipline of will and organization .

2. - Russian art is called upon to preserve and develop that spirit of loving contemplation and objective freedom that has hitherto guided it. We should not be embarrassed at all by the fact that the West does not know Russian folk songs at all, is barely beginning to appreciate Russian music, and has not yet found access to our marvelous Russian painting. It is not the business of Russian artists (of all arts and all directions) to worry about success on the international stage and on the international market - and to adapt to their tastes and needs;

It is not appropriate for them to “learn” from the West - neither its decadent modernism, nor its aesthetic winglessness, nor its artistic pointlessness and snobbery. Russian art has its own covenants and traditions, its own national creative act:

there is no Russian art without a burning heart; there is no Russian art without heartfelt contemplation; there is no one without free inspiration; it does not exist and will not exist without responsible, substantive and conscientious service. And if this is all, then there will continue to be artistic art in Russia, with its own living and deep content, form and rhythm.

Russian science cannot and should not be a dead craft, a burden of information, indifferent material for arbitrary combinations, a technical workshop, a school of unscrupulous skill.

The Russian scientist is called upon to saturate his observation and his thought with living contemplation - in natural science, and in higher mathematics, and in history, and in law, and in economics, and in philology, and in medicine. Rational science, which knows nothing except sensory observation and experiment and analysis is a spiritually blind science: it does not see the object, but observes only its shells; her touch kills the living content of the object; she is stuck in parts and pieces, and is powerless to rise to the contemplation of the whole. The Russian scientist is called upon to contemplate the life of a natural organism; see a mathematical subject; to discern in every detail of Russian history the spirit and destiny of one’s people; grow and strengthen your legal intuition; see the integral economic organism of your country; contemplate the holistic life of the language he is learning; to comprehend the suffering of your patient with a medical eye.

This must be accompanied by creative freedom in research. The scientific method is not a dead system of techniques, schemes and combinations. Every real, creative researcher always develops his own, new method. For the method is a living, searching movement towards an object, a creative adaptation to it, “research”, “invention”, getting used to, feeling into the object, often improvisation, sometimes transformation. The Russian scientist, by his entire nature, is called upon to be not a craftsman or an accountant of phenomena, but an artist in research; a responsible improviser, a free pioneer of knowledge. Far from falling into comic pretentiousness or the amateurish swagger of self-taught people, the Russian scientist must stand on his own two feet. His science should become a science of creative contemplation - not by abolishing logic, but by filling it with living objectivity; not in trampling on fact and law, but in seeing the integral object hidden behind them.

4. - Russian law and jurisprudence must protect themselves from Western formalism, from self-sufficient legal dogma, from legal unprincipledness, from relativism and servility. Russia needs a new legal consciousness, national in its roots, Christian-Orthodox in its spirit and creative and meaningful in its purpose. In order to create such a legal consciousness, the Russian heart must see spiritual freedom as the objective goal of law and the state, and be convinced that a free personality with a worthy character and objective will must be raised in the Russian person. Russia needs a new political system, in which freedom would open up hardened and weary hearts, so that hearts would cling to the homeland in a new way and turn to the national government in a new way with respect and trust. This would open the way for us to seek and find new justice and true Russian brotherhood. But all this can be realized only through heartfelt and conscientious contemplation, through legal freedom and substantive legal awareness.

Wherever we look, no matter what side of life we turn to - to education or to school, to the family or to the army, to the economy or to our multi-tribalism - we see the same thing everywhere: Russia can and will be renewed renewed in its Russian national structure precisely by this spirit - the spirit of heartfelt contemplation and objective freedom. What is Russian education without a heart and without an intuitive perception of a child’s personality? How is it possible in Russia for a heartless school that does not educate children for subject freedom? Is a Russian family possible without love and conscientious contemplation? Where will the new rational economic doctrinaire, communistically blind and unnatural, lead us? How will we solve the problem of our multi-tribal composition, if not with our hearts and not with freedom? And the Russian army will never forget the Suvorov tradition, which asserted that a soldier is a person, a living center of faith and patriotism, spiritual freedom and immortality...

This is the main meaning of the Russian idea I formulated. She is not made up by me. Her age is the age of Russia itself. And if we turn to its religious source, we will see that this is the idea of Orthodox Christianity. Russia received its national mission a thousand years ago from Christianity: to realize its national earthly culture, imbued with the Christian spirit of love and contemplation, freedom and objectivity. The future Russia will also be true to this idea.

This text is an excerpt from the work “Education as a Part of Russian Culture.”

To more accurately determine the characteristics of the Russian people and designate their special national idea, let us consider the work of the famous philosopher I. A. Ilyin “On the Russian Idea” (1948).

Ilyin speaks of a creative idea that “should express Russian historical originality and at the same time – Russian historical vocation.” And further, “We have no one and nothing to borrow this creative idea from: it can only be Russian, national.” These phrases contain the idea that the idea should be based on national characteristics, and only this can ensure a decent life for the people on earth and make it possible to fulfill their historical calling.

The colossal importance of the idea in education, culture and the entire life of the people is also considered: the national idea “is something that we must protect and nurture in ourselves, educate in our children and in future generations and bring to real purity and fullness of being in everything: in our culture and in our way of life, in our souls and in our faith, in our institutions and laws.”

If we talk about the essence itself, then Ilyin states: “The Russian idea is the idea of the heart.” Russian identity, Russian spirit and soul are all in this idea of the heart. “She claims that the main thing in life is love, and that it is through love that life on earth is built, for from love will be born faith and the entire culture of the spirit.”

This idea, of course, has its roots in Orthodox Christianity, which “Russian people accepted ... not by the sword, not by calculation, not by fear or mentality, but by feeling, kindness, conscience and heartfelt contemplation.”

Byzantine and Arabic sources, the originality of Russian folk tales (and other written monuments), songs, and dances speak about the kindness and love of freedom of the Russian Slavs. There are also examples of personalities in which this idea was clearly expressed: Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir Monomakh, the first Russian saint Theodosius.

Drawing a certain conclusion, Ilyin writes: “Believing in nothing, Russian people become an empty being without an ideal and without a goal. The mind and will of the Russian person are brought into spiritual and creative movement precisely by love and faith.”

Living contemplation is the first manifestation of the Russian idea. Dreaminess and contemplation “we were taught primarily by our flat space, our nature with its distances and clouds, with its rivers, forests, thunderstorms and blizzards.” Hence the tenderness of the soul, the need to see what you love in reality and then creatively express what you saw. Even monarchical power is not so much a gravitation towards political slavery as it expresses the desire to embody the state (contemplated) in a single person (the creative result of contemplation).

Moreover, without freedom, contemplation is impossible, as is creativity. And in free contemplation is the spirit of the Russian person. Freedom, along with contemplation, is felt in everything: “in the slow smoothness and melodiousness of Russian speech, in Russian gait and gestures, in Russian clothes and dances, in Russian food and in Russian life,” in the sincerity and broad soul of the Russian person, in his tolerance towards foreign cultures.

Thus, the Russian idea is the idea of a freely contemplating heart. However, contemplation must not only be free, but also objective, otherwise freedom leads to unbridledness and tyranny. “Based on the Russian way of life, we should remember one thing and take care of one thing: how can we fill the free and loving contemplation given to us with real objective content; How can we truly perceive and express the Divine - in our own way.<…>We are called not to borrow from other peoples, but to create our own in our own way; but in such a way that this is ours and in our own way, created in fact, is true and beautiful, that is, objectively.”

Ilyin writes that since ancient times other peoples have had a different character, a different nature, a different history, their own advantages and disadvantages. “So, for example, all attempts to borrow their strong-willed and mental culture from Catholics would be hopeless for us. Their culture grew historically from the predominance of the will over the heart, analysis over contemplation, reason in all its practical sobriety over conscience, power and coercion over freedom.”

Earlier it was said in the words of Ushinsky that the popular idea changes over time. One might think that Ilyin has contradictions in this regard. But then he quite rightly asserts that “... in the future we will not have to live exclusively in the life of the heart, contemplation and freedom and do without will, without thought, without life form, without discipline and without organization. On the contrary, we have to grow from free heartfelt contemplation our own special, new Russian culture of will, thought and organization. Russia is not an empty container into which you can purely mechanically, at will, put anything you want, regardless of the laws of its spiritual organism.”

Thus, Ilyin affirms the upcoming and necessary evolution of the Russian idea, and insightfully notes the requirements of the modern historical situation.

At the same time, the Russian idea and words about originality are not an expression of pride. Western culture is not a standard for other peoples, but the Russian vocation is not to consider itself an ideal. “In reality, we say something different: whether we are good or bad at this moment in our history, we are called and obliged to follow our own path...<…>We are not students or teachers of the West.”

According to this, art must “develop that spirit of loving contemplation and objective freedom that has guided it hitherto,” there is no need to learn from the West “neither its decadent modernism, nor its aesthetic winglessness, nor its artistic pointlessness and snobbery”; art for art's sake is not characteristic of the Russian spirit.
Our science must also be original and have the beginnings of living contemplation, heart, conscience, filling with this universal human logic and striving for objective truth.
Russian law must “protect itself from Western formalism, from self-sufficient legal dogma, from legal unprincipledness, from relativism and servility.”

Ivan Aleksandrovich Ilyin (1883-1954), a great national thinker, religious philosopher and publicist of the last century, occupies a special place among the figures of the Russian religious and philosophical renaissance. He lived and worked in an era of tragic upheavals that befell our state. Having steadfastly accepted the revolution in Russia, I.A. Ilyin always remained true to his ideas, was always convinced of his spiritual rightness. For this, in 1922, the Bolsheviks expelled him from Russia and he was unable to return to his homeland until the end of his days. However, I.A. Ilyin, like no one else, was faithful to his duty all his life, which he saw in selfless service to Russia and the cause of the national revival of the Russian people. While in exile, he wrote and published dozens of works, among which the most significant were “On Resistance to Evil by Force” (1925), “Axioms of Religious Experience” (1953), “The Path of Nomadism” (1954), “Our Tasks” (1948-1954). ) and etc.
Philosophy I.A. Ilyin’s character, sources and method are qualitatively different from the philosophical concepts of the Russian revival of the early 20th century. Ilyin never indulged in philosophy for the sake of philosophy; he thought and wrote primarily about how the Russian public lived. His ideas are based not on abstract theorizing or intellectualism, but on the direct spiritual experience of life. Ilyin believed that true philosophy should not be built from a rational systematization of speculative philosophical concepts, a method that was adopted by Russian thinkers from German philosophy. On the contrary, he based his reasoning on the experience of living religiosity and spirituality, noting more than once that his philosophy is simple, quiet, accessible to everyone, born of the main organ of Orthodox Christianity, the contemplative heart.
It is from the height of such a gaze that Ivan Aleksandrovich considers the meaning of the Russian idea. This concept, however, is not his innovation. For the first time, F.M. spoke about the Russian idea. Dostoevsky, highlighting it as a national idea, but at the same time universal and objectively valuable for all peoples. Subsequently, major Russian philosophers B.C. made a certain contribution to the development of the Russian idea. Soloviev, N.F. Fedorov, N.A. Berdyaev, S.L. Frank, A.F. Losev and others. The result of their work was the understanding of the Russian idea as an integral part of the universal Christian idea, which has deep national characteristics and is expressed in terms of dialectical philosophy. Essentially all of Russian philosophy became the theoretical formulation of various aspects of the Russian idea. This is exactly how one can evaluate the creative heritage of I.A. Ilyina. The Russian idea was for him, first of all, a creative idea, an idea that the Russian people already possessed, which constituted its strength and identity among all other peoples. At the same time, it reflected the calling of the Russian people, its high historical task and spiritual path. Russian idea in philosophy I.A. Ilyina was never an empty speculative definition, but served as the main guideline on the path to the liberation of the Russian people from godless totalitarianism and the revival of its traditional spiritual values.
The Russian idea is defined by I.A. Ilyin as the idea of “a heart that contemplates freely and objectively, and transmits its vision to the will for action and thought for awareness and speech.” The concept of “heart” appears here as a philosophical concept of the human soul and its innermost world. The Russian idea, therefore, is the “idea of the heart,” which asserts that the main thing in life is love, on the basis of which all life together on earth and the “culture of the spirit” are built. The Russian soul was initially predisposed to feeling, and this feature was historically developed in our country by Orthodoxy. Russia has always been characterized by faith “not by will and mind, but by the fire of the heart,” and this, as Ivan Ilyin believed, determined the root of the Russian idea, which was expressed in the desire for perfect quality, for an objective ideal. The desire to see true perfection manifested itself in the spirit of Russian life, Russian art, Russian science. Ilyin is convinced that without this aspiration, without faith and without love, Russian people become an empty being, without an ideal and without a goal.
The main manifestation of love and faith in Russian life is “living contemplation.” This term is directly related to religiosity and is central to Ilyin’s philosophy. Life in “heartfelt contemplation” means, first of all, being in spirituality, which fills the human soul and underlies all human existence. “Heart contemplation” is a special state, a kind of internal “vision” aimed at perfection and revealing spiritual objects to a person. This is a characteristic Russian trait, which is expressed in the need “to see what you love alive and in reality and then express what you saw with an action, a song, a drawing or a word. That is why the basis of all Russian culture is the living evidence of the heart, and Russian art has always been a sensual depiction of insensibly perceived conditions.” This is the manifestation of the Russian idea in people's life. Nurtured by the endless breadth and beauty of Russian nature, “heartfelt contemplation” was embodied in the spiritual and creative power of the people, and in the well-known Russian mentality and “contemplating laziness.”
However, heartfelt love and contemplation inevitably disappear in the absence of freedom. In Ilyin’s philosophy, two types of freedom can be distinguished: internal and external. The latter is only a necessary condition for the development of the former, which in turn is embodied in the heartfelt desire for perfection. According to I.A. Ilyin, the desire for freedom, both external and internal, is a primordially Russian phenomenon, to which the Orthodox concept of Christianity corresponded: not formal, not legalistic, not moralizing, but liberating a person to living love and to living conscience. Freedom has always been the most important component of the Russian idea, historically reflected in the “organic love of freedom” that the Russian people showed in the era of foreign enslavement and serfdom. Nevertheless, the possession of freedom should not turn into self-will and self-liberation, therefore contemplation should not only be free, but also objective. Objectivity in human life, according to I.A. Ilyin, is a “beautiful and sacred” spiritual goal of life, significant both objectively and subjectively, for the sake of which it is worth “living, fighting and dying.” Objectivity instills in a person a sense of joyful service, spiritual dignity and supreme responsibility. In Russia, service to the Subject was reflected in many spheres of public life, from religious traditions to the idea of righteous patriotism in the Russian army.
Thus, the Russian national idea appears in the works of I.A. Ilyin as the idea of contemplative love and free objectivity, delving into which we can ascend to God. In this regard, Ilyin divides all human states into “primary forces” (heart, contemplation, freedom, conscience) and “secondary forces” (will, thought, form, organization). From this position, the meaning of the Russian idea can be expressed differently as the subordination and formation of secondary forces on the basis of primary ones, i.e. creation of spiritual culture. This also determined the character of Russian religiosity, based on contemplation, freedom and conscience, which were manifested in Orthodox discipline and organization; and in Russian art, where deep ideological content is expressed in external form; and in Russian science, which reveals the subject in its entirety thanks to free creative research.
In the sphere of socio-political organization of the state, according to I.A. Ilyin, the most acceptable form of government for Russia is Monarchy. “Russia grew and grew in the form of a Monarchy not because Russian people gravitated toward dependence or political slavery,” the thinker wrote, “but because the state, in his understanding, should be artistically and religiously embodied in a single person, selflessly loved and strengthened by universal love.” . The power of the Monarch in Russia has always played the role of a consolidating force, a symbol of the power and independence of the Russian state. Like many other philosophers of the Russian Renaissance, Ivan Ilyin believed that the Monarchy in Russia has purely existential foundations, which were expressed, first of all, in the “living evidence of the heart.” This was a reflection of the essence of the Russian idea in the sphere of the historically established socio-political system of Russia. According to the fair observation of many researchers, in the works of I.A. Ilyin, along with the works of I.L. Solonevich, M.V. Nazarov and L.V. Tikhomirov, the theory of monarchical government was most fully reflected.
The historically established originality of the spiritual culture of the Russian people is our integral calling and historical task. I.A. Ilyin defined its meaning as the need for the Russian people “to be like this with all possible completeness and creative power, to guard their spiritual nature and not be tempted by other people’s ways.” Everything that is given to Russia as a national identity, be it a feature of the state structure, prayer, everyday life, art or science - all this is a gift from God and our calling. Ivan Aleksandrovich was convinced that the borrowing of Western culture was ruining Russia, that “we are neither students nor teachers of the West. We are students of God and teachers of ourselves,” and in this he saw the meaning of the Russian idea.
Without a doubt, I.A. Ilyin left a deep mark on the history of Russian religious philosophy. A.V. Gulyga noted in this regard that “in the 20th century in Russia there was no more sober and profound political thinker than Ivan Aleksandrovich Ilyin.” In his work, the features of Russian spiritual and political originality not only received clear design and comprehension, but, above all, were designated as the path of national revival of Russia. This idea does not lose its relevance in our time, a time when the Russian people have lost the continuity of their true culture and mentality, when we especially need national spiritual renewal. And in this regard, the creative heritage of I.A. Ilyin and his ideas are a fundamental guideline for us on the path to the revival of Russia.

We have no one and nothing to borrow this creative idea from: it can only be Russian, national. It must express Russian historical originality and at the same time Russian historical vocation. This idea formulates what is already inherent in the Russian people, what constitutes its good strength, in what it is right in the face of God and is unique among other peoples. And at the same time, this idea shows us our historical task and our spiritual path; this is what we must protect and cultivate in ourselves, educate in our children and future generations, and bring to real purity and fullness of being, in everything, in our culture and in our way of life, in our souls and in our faith, in our institutions and laws. The Russian idea is something living, simple and creative. Russia lived it in all its inspired hours, in its good days, in all its great people. We can say about this idea: it was so, and when it happened, the beautiful was realized; and so it will be, and the more fully and powerfully this is implemented, the better it will be...

What is the essence of this idea?

The Russian idea is the idea of the heart. The idea of the contemplative heart. The heart of the contemplative is free and objective; and transmitting his vision to the will for action, and thought for awareness and speech. This is the main source of Russian faith and Russian culture. This is the main strength of Russia and Russian identity. This is the path of our revival and renewal. This is what other peoples vaguely sense in the Russian spirit, and when they truly recognize this, they bow down and begin to love and honor Russia. In the meantime, they don’t know how or don’t want to find out, they turn away, judge Russia down and speak words of untruth, envy and hostility about it.

1. So, the Russian idea is the idea of the heart.

She claims that the main thing in life is love and that it is through love that life together on earth is built, for from love will be born faith and the entire culture of the spirit. The Russian Slavic soul, with an ancient and organic predisposition to feeling, sympathy and kindness, historically accepted this idea from Christianity: it responded with its heart to God’s gospel, to the main commandment of God, and believed that<Бог есть любовь>. Russian Orthodoxy is Christianity not so much from Paul as from John, James and Peter. It perceives God not with the imagination, which needs fears and miracles in order to be afraid and bow before<силою>(primitive religions); not by a greedy and imperious earthly will, which at best dogmatically accepts a moral rule, obeys the law and itself demands obedience from others (Judaism and Catholicism), not by a thought that seeks understanding and interpretation and then tends to reject what seems incomprehensible to it (space ). Russian Orthodoxy perceives God with love, sends him a prayer of love and turns with love to the world and to people. This spirit determined the act of Orthodox faith, Orthodox worship, our church hymns and church architecture. The Russian people accepted Christianity not by the sword, not by calculation, not by fear or mentality, but by feeling, kindness, conscience and heartfelt contemplation. When a Russian person believes, he believes not by will or mind, but by the fire of his heart. When faith contemplates it, it does not indulge in seductive hallucinations, but strives to see true perfection. When faith desires it, it does not desire power over the universe (under the pretext of its orthodoxy), but perfect quality. This is the root of the Russian idea. This is her creative power for centuries.

And all this is not an idealization, not a myth, but the living force of the Russian soul and Russian history. Ancient sources, both Byzantine and Arab, unanimously testify to the kindness, kindness and hospitality, as well as the love of freedom of the Russian Slavs. Russian folk tales are all imbued with melodious good nature. The Russian song is a direct outpouring of heartfelt feeling in all its modifications.

Russian dance is improvisation, flowing from an overflowing feeling.

The first historical Russian princes are heroes of the heart and conscience (Vladimir, Yaroslav, Monomakh). The first Russian saint (Theosius) is a manifestation of real kindness. Russian chronicles and edifying works are imbued with the spirit of heartfelt and conscientious contemplation. This spirit lives in Russian poetry and literature, in Russian painting and in Russian music. The history of Russian legal consciousness testifies to its gradual penetration by this spirit, the spirit of fraternal sympathy and individualizing justice. And the Russian medical school is its direct offspring (diagnostic intuitions of a living suffering personality).

So, love is the main spiritually creative force of the Russian soul. Without love, a Russian person is a failed creature. The civilizing surrogates of love (duty, discipline, formality, loyalty, the hypnosis of external law-abidingness) in themselves are of little character to him. Without love, he either vegetates lazily or tends toward permissiveness. Believing in nothing, Russian people become an empty being, without an ideal and without a goal. The mind and will of the Russian person are brought into spiritually creative movement precisely by love and faith.

2. And with all this, the first manifestation of Russian love and Russian faith is living contemplation. . .

First of all, our flat space, our nature, with its distances and clouds, with its rivers, forests, thunderstorms, blizzards, taught us contemplation. Hence our insatiable gaze, our dreaminess, our contemplating<лень>(Pushkin), behind which lies the power of creative imagination. Russian contemplation was given a beauty that captivated the heart; this beauty was introduced into everything from fabric and lace to housing and fortress buildings. From this, souls became more tender, more refined and deeper; contemplation was also introduced into internal culture in faith, prayer, art, science and philosophy. The Russian person has an inherent need to see what he loves alive and in reality, and then to express what he saw in action, song, drawing or word. That is why the basis of all Russian culture is the living evidence of the heart, and Russian art has always been a sensual depiction of insensibly perceived conditions. It is this living evidence of the heart that underlies Russian historical monarchism. Russia grew and grew in the form of a monarchy, not because Russian people gravitated towards dependence or political slavery, as many in the West think, but because the state in his understanding should be artistically and religiously embodied in a single person, living, contemplated, selflessly loved and popularly<созидаемом>and strengthened by this universal love.

3. But the heart and contemplation breathe freely. They demand freedom, and their creativity fades away without it. The heart cannot be commanded to love, it can be ignited with love. Contemplation cannot be prescribed what it should see and what it should create. The human spirit is a personal, organic and self-active being: it loves and creates itself, according to its internal needs. This corresponded to the original Slavic love of freedom and the Russian-Slavic commitment to national-religious identity. The Orthodox concept of Christianity corresponded to this: not formal, not legalistic, not moralizing, but liberating a person to living love and to living conscience. This was facilitated by the ancient Russian (both church and state) tolerance of all other faiths and all foreign tribes, which opened Russia up the path to imperial (not<империалистическому>) understanding of their tasks (see the wonderful article by Prof. Rozov:> Christian freedom and ancient Rus'> in N10 of the yearbook<День русской славы>, 1940, Belgrade).

Freedom is inherent in Russian people, as if by nature. It is expressed in that organic naturalness and simplicity, in that improvisatory ease and ease that distinguishes the Eastern Slav from Western peoples in general and even from some Western Slavs. This inner freedom is felt in everything: in the slow fluency and melodiousness of Russian speech, in Russian gait and gestures, in Russian clothing and dancing, in Russian food and Russian life. The Russian world lived and grew in spatial open spaces and itself gravitated in spacious unnaturalness. The natural temperament of the soul attracted the Russian person to straightforwardness and openness (Svyatoslavovo<иду на вы>. . .), transformed his passion into sincerity and elevated this sincerity to confession and martyrdom. . .

Even during the first invasion of the Tatars, the Russian people preferred death to slavery and knew how to fight to the last. He remained this way throughout his entire history. And it is no coincidence that during the war of 1914-1917, out of 1,400,000 Russian prisoners in Germany, 260,000 people (18.5%) tried to escape from captivity.<Такого процента попыток не дала ни одна на ция>(N.N. Golovin). And if we, taking into account this organic love of freedom of the Russian people, take a mental look at their history with its endless wars and long-term enslavement, then we should not be indignant at the relatively rare (albeit cruel) Russian riots, but bow before the power of the state instinct, spiritual loyalty and Christian patience, which the Russian people have demonstrated throughout their history.

So, the Russian idea is the idea of a freely contemplating heart. However, this contemplation is intended to be not only free, but also objective. For freedom, fundamentally speaking, is given to a person not for self-unbridling, but for organically creative self-formation, not for pointless wandering and arbitrariness, but for independently finding an object and staying with it. This is the only way that spiritual culture arises and matures. This is exactly what it consists of.

The entire life of the Russian people could be expressed and depicted like this: a freely contemplating heart sought and found its true and worthy object. In its own way the heart of a holy fool found him, in its own way the heart of a wanderer and pilgrim; In their own way, Russian hermitage and eldership were devoted to religious premise; in its own way, the Russian Old Believers clung to the sacred traditions of Orthodoxy; in its own, completely special way, the Russian army nurtured its glorious traditions; in its own way, the Russian peasantry had a non-competitive service and in this way the Russian boyars nurtured the tradition of Russian Orthodox statehood; Accordingly, those Russian righteous people who held the Russian land and whose appearance was artistically shown by N. S. Leskov affirmed their objective vision. The entire history of Russian wars is the history of selfless objective service to God, the Tsar and the Fatherland; and, for example , the Russian Cossacks first sought freedom, and then learned objective state patriotism. Russia has always been built by the spirit of freedom and objectivity, and has always staggered and disintegrated as soon as this spirit weakened, as soon as freedom was perverted into arbitrariness and encroachment, into tyranny and violence, as soon as the contemplative heart of the Russian person clung to pointless or anti-objective contents. . .

This is the Russian idea: freely and objectively contemplating love and life and culture determined by this. Where the Russian man lived and created from this act, he spiritually realized his national identity and produced his best creations in everything: in law and in the state, in solitary prayer and in social organization, in art and science, in economy and in family life, in the church altar and on the royal throne. God's gifts of history and nature made the Russian person exactly like this. This is not his merit, but this determines his precious originality among the host of other peoples. This determines the task of the Russian people: to be like this with all possible fullness and creative power, to guard their spiritual nature, without being tempted by other people’s ways, not to distort their spiritual face with artificially transplanted features, and to create their life and culture precisely by this spiritual act.

We are called not to borrow from other peoples, but to create our own in our own way; but in such a way that this is ours and what we created was actually true and beautiful, that is, objective.

So, we are not called to borrow spiritual culture from other peoples or imitate them. We are called to create our own and in our own way: Russian, in Russian.

Since ancient times, other peoples had a different character and a different creative way of life: the Jews had their own, the Greeks had their own, the Romans had their own, the Germans had another, the Gauls had another, the English had another. They have a different faith, a different<кровь в жилах>, different heredity, different nature, different history. They have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Which of us would want to borrow their shortcomings? Nobody. And the virtues are given to us and given our own. And when we fail to overcome our national shortcomings through conscience, prayer, work and education, then our virtues will flourish so that none of us will even want to think about strangers.

And are there really naive people who imagine that we could achieve this by drowning out the Slavs in ourselves, eradicating the eternal influence of our nature and history, suppressing our organic love of freedom, throwing out of ourselves the natural Orthodoxy of the soul and the immediate sincerity of the spirit? And for what?

In order to artificially instill in ourselves the alien spirit of Judaism, which permeates Catholic culture, and then the spirit of Roman law, the spirit of mental and volitional formation, and, finally, the spirit of world power, so characteristic of Catholics? . But in essence, in order to abandon our own historically and religiously given culture of spirit, will and mind: for in the future we will not have to remain exclusively in the life of the heart, contemplation and freedom, and do without will, without thought, without life form, lack of discipline and without organization. On the contrary, we have to grow from free heartfelt contemplation our own, special, new Russian culture of will, thought, organization. Russia is not an empty container into which you can mechanically, arbitrarily, put anything you want, regardless of the laws of its spiritual organism. Russia is a living spiritual system, with its own historical gifts and tasks. Moreover, behind it there is a certain divine historical plan, which we do not dare to renounce and which we would not be able to renounce even if we wanted to. . . And all this is expressed by the Russian idea.

This Russian idea of contemplative love and free objectivity does not in itself judge or condemn foreign cultures.

She just doesn’t prefer them and doesn’t make them a law. Every nation does what it can, based on that. what was given to him. But the bad people are those who do not see what is given to them, and therefore go begging under other people’s windows. Russia has its own spiritually historical gifts and is called upon to create its own special spiritual culture: a culture of the heart, contemplation, freedom and objectivity. There is no single universally binding<западной культуры>, before which everything else<темнота>or<варварство>. The West is not a decree or a prison for us. His culture is not an ideal of perfection.

The structure of his spiritual act (or rather, his spiritual acts) may correspond to his abilities and his needs, but it does not correspond to and does not satisfy our strengths, our tasks, our historical calling and spiritual structure. And we have no need to chase after him and make a model out of him. The West has its own errors, illnesses, weaknesses and dangers. There is no salvation for us in Westernism. We have our own paths and our own tasks. And this is the meaning of the Russian idea.

However, this is not pride or self-aggrandizement. For, wanting to go our own ways, we do not at all claim that we have gone very far along these paths or that we have conquered everyone. Similarly, we do not at all claim that everything that happens and is created in Russia is perfect, that the Russian character does not have its shortcomings, that our culture is free from errors, dangers, illnesses and temptations. In reality, we affirm something different: whether we are good or bad at the moment of our meeting, we are called and obliged to follow our own path, purify our hearts, strengthen our contemplation, exercise our freedom and educate ourselves towards objectivity. No matter how great our historical shortcomings and failures may be, we are called to be ourselves, and not to crawl before others; create and not borrow; turn to God, and not imitate your neighbors; look for Russian vision, Russian content and Russian form, and not go to pieces; collecting for imaginary poverty. We are neither students nor teachers of the West. We are students of God and teachers of ourselves. The task before us is to create a unique Russian spiritual culture from the Russian heart, with Russian contemplation, in Russian freedom, revealing Russian objectivity. And this is the meaning of the Russian idea.

The point is not to be like anyone else; requirement<будь как никто>wrong, absurd and impracticable. To grow and bloom, you don’t have to look askance at others, trying not to imitate them in anything and not to learn anything from them. We need not to push away from other peoples, but to go into our own depths and ascend from it to God; we must not be original, but strive for God’s truth; one must not indulge in the East Slavic delusions of grandeur, but seek with the Russian soul objective service. And this is the meaning of the Russian idea. This is why it is so important to imagine our national calling as vividly and concretely as possible. If Russian spiritual culture comes from the heart, contemplation, freedom and conscience, this does not mean that it<отрицает>will, thought, form and organization. The identity of the Russian people does not lie at all in being in lack of will and thoughtlessness, enjoying formlessness and vegetating in chaos: but in growing the secondary forces of Russian culture (will, thought, form and organization) from its primary forces (from the heart, from contemplation, from freedom and conscience). The originality of the Russian soul and Russian culture is expressed precisely in this distribution of its forces into primary and secondary: primary forces determine and lead, and secondary ones grow out of them and receive their law from them. This has already happened in the history of Russia. And it was true and wonderful. It should continue to be this way, but even better, more complete and more perfect.

1. According to this, Russian religiosity must continue to be based on heartfelt contemplation and freedom, and always observe its act of conscience. Russian Orthodoxy must honor and protect the freedom of faith, both its own and that of others. It must create, on the basis of heartfelt contemplation, its own special Orthodox theology, free from the rational, formal, deathly, skeptically blind reasoning of Western theologians; it should not adopt moral causticism and moral pedantry from the West, it should proceed from a living and creative Christian conscience (<к свободе призваны вы, братья>, Gal. 5, 13), and on these foundations it must develop the Eastern Orthodox discipline of will and organization.

2. Russian art is called upon to preserve and develop the spirit of loving contemplation and objective freedom that has guided it hitherto. We should not be embarrassed at all by the fact that the West does not know Russian folk songs at all, is barely beginning to appreciate Russian music, and has not yet found access to our marvelous Russian painting. It is not the business of Russian artists (of all arts and movements) to worry about success on the international stage and on the international market and to adapt to their tastes and needs; it's not appropriate for them<учиться>the West has neither its decadent modernism, nor its aesthetic winglessness, nor its artistic pointlessness and snobbery.

Russian art has its own covenants and traditions, its own national creative act: there is no Russian art without a burning heart; there is no Russian art without heartfelt contemplation; there is no one without free inspiration; there is not and will not be his irresponsible, objective and conscientious service. And if all this happens, then there will continue to be artistic art in Russia, with its own living and deep content, form and rhythm.

3. Russian science is not called upon to imitate Western scholarship, either in the field of research or in the field of worldview.

She is called upon to develop her own worldview, her own research. This does not mean at all that for a Russian person<необязательна>a single universal human logic, or that his science may have another goal other than objective truth. It would be in vain to interpret this call as the right of the Russian person to scientific lack of evidence, irresponsibility, to subjective arbitrariness or destructive ugliness. But the Russian scientist is called upon to bring into his research the principles of contemplation, creative freedom and living responsibility of conscience. The Russian scientist is called upon to love his subject with inspiration the way Lomonosov, Mendeleev, Pirogov, Sergei Solovyov, Gedeonov, Zabelin, Lebedev, and Prince Sergei Trubetskoy loved him. Russian science cannot and should not be a dead craft, a burden of information, indifferent material for arbitrary combinations, a technical workshop, a school of unscrupulous skill.

The Russian scientist is called upon to saturate his observation and his thought with living contemplation, both in natural science, and in higher mathematics, and in history, and in jurisprudence, and in economics, and in philology, and in medicine. Rational science, which does nothing except sensory observation, experiment and analysis, is a spiritually blind science: it does not see the object, but observes only its shells; her touch kills the living content of the object; she is stuck in parts and pieces, and is powerless to rise to the contemplation of the whole. The Russian scientist is called upon to contemplate the life of a natural organism; see a mathematical subject; to discern in every detail of Russian history the spirit and destiny of one’s people; grow and strengthen your legal intuition; see the integral economic organism of your country; contemplate the holistic life of the language he is learning; with a medical eye to comprehend the suffering of your patient.

This must be accompanied by creative freedom in research. The scientific method is not a dead system of techniques, schemes and combinations. Every real, creative researcher always develops his own, new method. For method is a living, seeking movement towards an object, a creative adaptation to it,<исслеедование>, <изобретение>, getting used to, feeling into the subject, often improvisation, sometimes transformation. The Russian scientist, by his entire nature, is called upon to be not a craftsman or an accountant of phenomena, but an artist in research; a responsible improviser, a free pioneer of knowledge. Far from falling into comic pretentiousness or the amateurish swagger of self-taught people, the Russian scientist must stand on his own two feet.

His science should become a science of creative contemplation, not by abolishing logic, but by filling it with living objectivity; not in trampling on fact and law, but in seeing the integral object hidden behind them.

4. Russian law and jurisprudence must protect themselves from Western formalism, from self-sufficient legal dogma, from legal unprincipledness, from relativism and servility.

Russia needs a new legal consciousness, national in its roots, Christian Orthodox in its spirit and creatively meaningful in its purpose. In order to create such a legal consciousness, the Russian heart must see spiritual freedom as the objective goal of law and the state, and be convinced that a free personality with a worthy character and objective will must be raised in the Russian person. Russia needs a new political system, in which freedom would open up bitter and weary hearts, so that hearts would cling to their homeland in a new way and turn to the national government with respect and trust in a new way. This would open the way for us to seek and find new justice and true Russian brotherhood. But all this can be realized only through heartfelt and conscientious contemplation, through legal freedom and substantive legal awareness.

Wherever we look, no matter what side of life we turn to, to education or school, to the family or the army, to the economy or to our multi-tribalism, we see the same thing everywhere: Russia can and will be renewed in its Russian national structure precisely with this spirit, the spirit of heartfelt contemplation and objective freedom. What is Russian education without a heart and without an intuitive perception of a child’s personality? How is it possible in Russia for a heartless school that does not educate children for subject freedom? Is a Russian family possible without love and shared contemplation? Where will the new rational economic doctrine, communistically blind and unnatural, lead us? How will we solve the problem of our multi-tribal composition, if not with our hearts and not with freedom? And the Russian army will never forget the Suvorov tradition, which asserted that a soldier is a person, a living center of faith and patriotism, spiritual freedom and immortality. . .

This is the main meaning of the Russian idea I formulated. She is not made up by me. Her age is the age of Russia itself.

And if we turn to its religious source, we will see that this is the idea of Orthodox Christianity.

Russia received its national mission a thousand years ago from Christianity: to realize its national earthly culture, imbued with the Christian spirit of love and contemplation, freedom and objectivity. The future Russia will also be true to this idea.

Ilyin about the Russian idea. Russian idea in the works of I.A.

What is Russian nationalism?

1. - So, the Russian idea is the idea of ​​the heart.

1. - So, the Russian idea is the idea of the heart.