We are writing a social studies essay on the topic. Leo Tolstoy wrote about civilization Leo Tolstoy wrote in an immoral society

Question: Please help social studies 8th grade workshop 1. Find the definition of the word?? PERSONALITY and SOCIETY in two or three dictionaries. Compare them. If there are differences in the definition of the same word, try to explain them. 2. Read the figurative definitions of society given by thinkers of different times and peoples: “Society is nothing more than the result of a mechanical balance of brute forces”, “Society is a vault of stones that would collapse if one did not support the other”, “Society “It is a yoke of scales that cannot lift some without lowering others.” Which of these definitions is closest to the characteristics of society outlined in this chapter? Give reasons for your choice. 3. Make as complete a list of various human qualities as possible (a table of two columns: Positive qualities Negative qualities) Discuss it in class 4 L.N. Tolstoy wrote: “In an immoral society, all inventions that increase man’s power over nature are not only not good, but undoubted and obvious evil.” How do you understand the words “immoral society”? Considering that the above idea was expressed more than 100 years ago, has it been confirmed in the development of society over the past century? Justify your answer using specific examples. 5. Reveal the meaning of the Arabic proverb “People are more like their times than their fathers.” Think about how the life of society in our time differs from what it was like at the time when your parents finished school.

Please help social studies 8th grade workshop 1. Find the definition of the word?? PERSONALITY and SOCIETY in two or three dictionaries. Compare them. If there are differences in the definition of the same word, try to explain them. 2. Read the figurative definitions of society given by thinkers of different times and peoples: “Society is nothing more than the result of a mechanical balance of brute forces”, “Society is a vault of stones that would collapse if one did not support the other”, “Society “It is a yoke of scales that cannot lift some without lowering others.” Which of these definitions is closest to the characteristics of society outlined in this chapter? Give reasons for your choice. 3. Make as complete a list of various human qualities as possible (a table of two columns: Positive qualities Negative qualities) Discuss it in class 4 L.N. Tolstoy wrote: “In an immoral society, all inventions that increase man’s power over nature are not only not good, but undoubted and obvious evil.” How do you understand the words “immoral society”? Considering that the above idea was expressed more than 100 years ago, has it been confirmed in the development of society over the past century? Justify your answer using specific examples. 5. Reveal the meaning of the Arabic proverb “People are more like their times than their fathers.” Think about how the life of society in our time differs from what it was like at the time when your parents finished school.

Answers:

Personality is a specific living person with consciousness and self-awareness. A society of people who share common interests, values and goals.

TOLSTOY Leo

To be kind and to live a good life means to give to others more than you take from them. – Lev Tolstoy

To be yourself, to believe and think in your own way - is it really so difficult, is it impossible under any circumstances and conditions?.. – Lev Tolstoy

It is impossible to introduce a substance alien to it into a living organism without this organism suffering from the efforts to free itself from the alien substance inserted into it and sometimes dying in these efforts. – Lev Tolstoy

There is only one undoubted happiness in a person’s life - to live for others! – Lev Tolstoy

In true faith, what is important is not to talk well about God, about the soul, about what was and what will be, but one thing is important: to know firmly what should and should not be done in this life. – Lev Tolstoy

In a true work of art there are no limits to aesthetic pleasure. Every little thing, every line, is a source of pleasure. – Lev Tolstoy

There is a side to a dream that is better than reality; in reality there is a side that is better than the dream. Complete happiness would be a combination of both. – Lev Tolstoy

In a world where people run around like trained animals and are incapable of any other thought except to outwit each other for the sake of mammon, in such a world they may consider me an eccentric, but I still feel within me a divine thought about the world which is so beautifully expressed in the Sermon on the Mount. In my deepest conviction, war is only trade on a large scale - the trade of ambitious and powerful people with the happiness of nations. – Lev Tolstoy

At my age, I have to hurry to do my plans. There is no time to wait anymore. I'm heading towards death. – Lev Tolstoy

In our youth, we think that there is no end to our memory, our abilities of perception. As you get older, you feel that memory also has limits. You can fill your head so full that you can’t hold it anymore: there’s no room, it falls out. Only this, perhaps, is for the best. How much garbage and all sorts of rubbish we stuff into our heads. Thank God that at least in old age the head is freed. – Lev Tolstoy

In science, mediocrity is still possible, but in art and literature, whoever does not reach the top falls into the abyss. – Lev Tolstoy

In our time, the life of the world goes on as usual, completely independent of the teachings of the church. This teaching has remained so far back that the people of the world no longer hear the voices of the teachers of the church. And there is nothing to listen to, because the church only gives explanations for the structure of life from which the world has already grown and which either no longer exists at all, or which is being uncontrollably destroyed. – Lev Tolstoy

In our time, it cannot but be clear to all thinking people that the life of people - not just the Russian people, but all the peoples of the Christian world, with its ever-increasing need of the poor and the luxury of the rich, with its struggle of all against all, revolutionaries against governments, governments against revolutionaries, enslaved peoples against enslavers, the struggle of states among themselves, between West and East, with their ever-growing armaments that absorb the strength of the people, with their sophistication and depravity - that such a life cannot continue, that the life of Christian peoples, if it will not change, it will inevitably become more and more miserable. – Lev Tolstoy

In our time, only a person completely ignorant or completely indifferent to the issues of life sanctified by religion can remain in the church faith. – Lev Tolstoy

There are no boundaries for a person in the area of goodness. He is as free as a bird! What prevents him from being kind? – Lev Tolstoy

In the field of science, research and verification of what is being studied are considered necessary, and although the subjects of pseudoscience themselves are insignificant, i.e. everything that concerns serious moral issues of life is excluded from it; nothing absurd, directly contrary to common sense, is allowed in it. – Lev Tolstoy

The vast majority of letters and telegrams say essentially the same thing. They express sympathy for me for the fact that I contributed to the destruction of false religious understanding and gave something that was beneficial to people in a moral sense, and this alone makes me happy in all this - precisely what public opinion has established in this regard. How sincere it is is another matter, but when public opinion is established, the majority directly adheres to what everyone says. And this, I must say, is extremely pleasant to me. Of course, the most joyful letters are from people, from workers. – Lev Tolstoy

In one smile lies what is called the beauty of the face: if a smile adds beauty to the face, then the face is beautiful; if she does not change it, then it is ordinary; if she spoils it, then it is bad. – Lev Tolstoy

You can't say stupid things into a bullhorn. – Lev Tolstoy

In the old days they kept slaves and did not feel the horror of it. When you go around the peasants now and see how they live and what they eat, you feel ashamed that you have all this... They have bread with green onions for breakfast. For an afternoon snack - bread with onions. And in the evening - bread with onions. There will be a time when the rich will be as ashamed and impossible to eat what they eat and live as they live, knowing about this bread and onions, as we are now ashamed of our grandfathers who kept slaves... - Lev Tolstoy

In intelligent criticism of art, everything is true, but not the whole truth. – Lev Tolstoy

There is one law in private and public life: if you want to improve your life, be ready to give it up. – Lev Tolstoy

What is the purpose of life? Reproduction of one's own kind. For what? Serve people. And what should we do for those whom we will serve? Serve God? Can't He do what He needs without us? If He orders us to serve Himself, it is only for our good. Life cannot have any other purpose than goodness and joy. – Lev Tolstoy

In an immoral society, all inventions that increase man's power over nature are not only not good, but undoubted and obvious evil. - Lev Tolstoy

In the matter of cunning, a stupid person deceives smarter ones. - Lev Tolstoy

In money matters the main interest of life (if not the main, then the most constant) and in them the character of a person is best expressed. - Lev Tolstoy

God lives in every good person. – Lev Tolstoy

In a moment of indecision, act quickly and try to take the first step, even if it’s the wrong one. - Lev Tolstoy

In the periodic forgiveness of sins in confession, I see a harmful deception that only encourages immorality and destroys the fear of sin. - Lev Tolstoy

I always feel worse in the presence of a Jew. - Lev Tolstoy

In the very devotion to another being, in the renunciation of oneself for the sake of the good of another being, there is a special spiritual pleasure. - Lev Tolstoy

In the best, most friendly and simple relationships, flattery or praise is necessary, just as greasing is necessary for the wheels to keep them moving. - Lev Tolstoy

Bringing people together is the main task of art. - Lev Tolstoy

In the old days, when there was no Christian teaching, for all teachers of life, starting with Socrates, the first virtue in life was abstinence and it was clear that every virtue should begin with it and pass through it. It was clear that a person who did not control himself, who had developed a huge number of lusts and obeyed all of them, could not lead a good life. It was clear that before a person could think not only about generosity, about love, but about selflessness and justice, he had to learn to control himself. In our opinion, this is not necessary. We are quite confident that a person who has developed his lusts to the highest degree to which they are developed in our world, a person who cannot live without satisfying hundreds of unnecessary habits that have gained power over him, can lead a completely moral, good life.

In our time and in our world, the desire to limit one’s lusts is considered not only not the first, but not even the last, but completely unnecessary for leading a good life.

Lev Tolstoy

There are no accidents in fate; man creates rather than meets his destiny. - Lev Tolstoy

While we are the living graves of killed animals, how can we hope for any improvement in living conditions on earth? - Lev Tolstoy

What is important has always been and will be only what is needed for the good of not just one person, but of all people. - Lev Tolstoy

It is not the quantity of knowledge that is important, but its quality. No one can know everything. – Lev Tolstoy

It is not the quantity of knowledge that is important, but its quality. No one can know everything, and it is shameful and harmful to pretend that you know what you do not know. - Lev Tolstoy

...We are all flying away into the distance on the same planet - we are the crew of the same ship. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Without the belief that nature is subject to laws, there can be no science. Norbert Wiener

Good nature has taken care of everything so much that everywhere you find something to learn. Leonardo da Vinci

The closest thing to the Divine in this world is nature. Astolphe de Custine

Wind is the breath of nature. Kozma Prutkov

In an immoral society, all inventions that increase man’s power over nature are not only not good, but undoubted and obvious evil. Lev Tolstoy

In undeveloped countries it is deadly to drink water, in developed countries it is deadly to breathe air. Jonathan Rayban

In nature, everything is connected to each other, and there is nothing random in it. And if a random phenomenon occurs, look for a person’s hand in it. Mikhail Prishvin

In nature there are both grains and dust. William Shakespeare

In nature, nothing is lost except nature itself. Andrey Kryzhanovsky

Time destroys false opinions, and confirms the judgments of nature. Mark Cicero

In its own time, nature has its own poetry. John Keats

All the best in nature belongs to everyone together. Petronius

All living things are afraid of torment, all living things are afraid of death; recognize yourself not only in man, but in every living creature, do not kill and do not cause suffering and death. Buddhist wisdom

In all areas of nature... a certain pattern prevails, independent of the existence of thinking humanity. Max Planck

In his instruments man has power over external nature, while in his ends he is rather subordinate to it. Georg Hegel

In the old days, the richest countries were those whose nature was most abundant; Today the richest countries are those in which people are most active. Henry Buckle

Every thing in nature is either a cause directed towards you or an effect coming from us. Marsilio Ficino

Until people listen to the common sense of nature, they will be forced to obey either dictators or the opinion of the people. Wilhelm Schwebel

The one who is not happy with what happens according to the laws of nature is stupid. Epictetus

They say one swallow does not make spring; But is it really because one swallow does not make spring that the swallow that already feels spring should not fly, but wait? Then every bud and grass will have to wait, and there will be no spring. Lev Tolstoy

Great things are done with great means. Nature alone does great things for nothing. Alexander Ivanovich Herzen

Even in his most beautiful dreams, a person cannot imagine anything more beautiful than nature. Alphonse de Lamartine

Even the smallest pleasure given to us by nature is a mystery, incomprehensible to the mind. Luc de Vauvenargues

The ideal of human nature is orthobiosis, i.e. in human development with the goal of achieving a long, active and vigorous old age, leading in the final period to the development of a sense of saturation with life. Ilya Mechnikov

The search for goals in nature has its source in ignorance. Benedict Spinoza

He who does not love nature does not love man is a bad citizen. Fedor Dostoevsky

Whoever looks at nature superficially easily gets lost in the boundless “Everything,” but whoever listens more deeply to its wonders is constantly brought to God, the Ruler of the world. Karl de Geer

Our callousness, our selfishness encourages us to look at nature with envy, but she herself will envy us when we recover from our illnesses. Ralph Emerson

There is nothing more inventive than nature. Mark Cicero

But why change the processes of nature? There may be a deeper philosophy than we have ever dreamed of - a philosophy that reveals the secrets of nature, but does not change its course by penetrating it. Edward Bulwer-Lytton

One of the most difficult tasks of our time is the problem of slowing down the process of destruction of living nature... Archie Carr

The fundamental law of nature is the preservation of humanity. John Locke

Let us thank wise nature for making what is necessary easy and what is heavy unnecessary. Epicurus

Until people know the laws of nature, they blindly obey them, and once they know them, then the forces of nature obey people. Georgy Plekhanov

Nature will always take its toll. William Shakespeare

Nature is the house in which man lives. Dmitry Likhachev

Nature is dispassionate towards man; she is neither his enemy nor his friend; It is either a convenient or an inconvenient field for his activities. Nikolai Chernyshevsky

Nature is an eternal example of art; and the greatest and noblest object in nature is man. Vissarion Belinsky

Nature has invested in every good heart a noble feeling, due to which it cannot itself be happy, but must seek its happiness in others. Johann Goethe

Nature has endowed humans with some innate instincts, such as hunger, sexual feelings, etc., and one of the strongest feelings of this order is the sense of ownership. Peter Stolypin

Nature is always stronger than principles. David Hume

Nature is one, and there is nothing equal to it: mother and daughter of herself, she is the Divinity of the gods. Consider only her, Nature, and leave the rest to the common people. Pythagoras

Nature is in a sense the Gospel, loudly proclaiming the creative power, wisdom and all the greatness of God. And not only the heavens, but also the bowels of the earth preach the glory of God. Mikhail Lomonosov

Nature is the cause of everything, it exists thanks to itself; it will exist and operate forever... Paul Holbach

Nature, which endowed every animal with the means of subsistence, gave astrology as an assistant and ally to astronomy. Johannes Kepler

Nature mocks the decisions and commands of princes, emperors and monarchs, and at their request she would not change her laws one iota. Galileo Galilei

Nature does not make people, people make themselves. Merab Mamardashvili

Nature knows no stop in its movement and punishes all inactivity. Johann Goethe

Nature does not presuppose any goals for itself... All final causes are only human inventions. Benedict Spinoza

Nature does not accept jokes, she is always truthful, always serious, always strict; she is always right; mistakes and delusions come from people. Johann Goethe

Patience most closely resembles the method by which nature creates its creations. Honore de Balzac

What is contrary to nature never leads to good. Friedrich Schiller

A person has quite enough objective reasons to strive to preserve wild nature. But, ultimately, only his love can save nature. Jean Dorst

Good taste suggested to good society that contact with nature is the very last word of science, reason, and common sense. Fedor Dostoevsky

Man will not become master of nature until he has become master of himself. Georg Hegel

Humanity - without being ennobled by animals and plants - will perish, become impoverished, and fall into the rage of despair, like a lonely person alone. Andrey Platonov

The more one delves into the actions of nature, the more visible the simplicity of the laws that it follows in its actions becomes. Alexander Radishchev

Name any three features that unite industrial and post-industrial societies.

Answer:

	Point
The following similarities can be named: high level of development of industrial production; intensive development of equipment and technologies; introduction of scientific achievements into the production sector; the value of a person’s personal qualities, his rights and freedoms. Other similarities may be mentioned.
Three similarities are named in the absence of incorrect positions
Two similarities are named in the absence of incorrect positions, OR three similarities are named in the presence of erroneous positions
One similarity has been named OR, along with one or two correct features, incorrect position(s) are given, OR the answer is incorrect
Maximum score

The American scientist F. Fukuyama, in his work “The End of History” (1992), put forward the thesis that human history ended with the triumph of liberal democracy and a market economy on a planetary scale: “Liberalism has no viable alternatives left.” Express your attitude to this thesis and justify it with three arguments based on the facts of social life and knowledge of the social science course.

Answer:

(other wording of the answer is allowed that does not distort its meaning)	Point
The correct answer must contain the following elements: graduate position, for example, disagreement with the thesis of F. Fukuyama; three arguments, For example: in the modern world, both societies with market economies and societies with traditional and mixed economic systems coexist; the applicability of the liberal democracy model in a particular country is limited, for example, by the mentality of the nation; in the modern world there are both societies based on the values of liberal democracy and authoritarian, totalitarian societies. Other arguments may be given. Another position of the graduate can be expressed and justified.
The position of the graduate is formulated, three arguments are given
OR the graduate’s position is not formulated, but is clear from the context, three arguments are given
The position of the graduate is formulated, two arguments are given, OR the graduate’s position is not formulated, but is clear from the context, two arguments are given,
The graduate’s position is formulated, but there are no arguments, OR the position of the graduate is not formulated, one argument is given, OR the answer is wrong
Maximum score

A comment

This content section tests knowledge of the most general concepts and problems of the social science course: society, social relations, the systemic nature of society, problems of social progress, the current state and global problems of society. It is the significant degree of theoretical generalization, requiring a high level of intellectual and communication skills, that gives this material its particular complexity.

Graduates experience the greatest difficulties in identifying signs of a systemic society and manifestations of the dynamism of social development. The identified problems can be associated with the nature of the educational material: mastering philosophical categories of a high level of generalization requires serious time investment and causes serious difficulties, especially in a group of poorly prepared students. It also seems possible that the influence of established teaching practice, characterized by weak integrative connections, allows using the material of other subjects to show the phenomenon of systematicity and dynamism as one of the characteristics of systemic objects.

Let's look at some of the most problematic issues.

The tasks for the content unit “Society as a dynamic system,” with all their formal diversity, essentially come down to three questions: What is the difference between the broad and narrow definitions of society? What are the features of a systemic society? What signs indicate the dynamic nature of society? It is advisable to focus special attention on these issues.

The experience of the Unified State Exam shows that examinees experience the greatest difficulties when completing tasks to identify the characteristics of society as a dynamic system. When working on this issue, it is important to clearly distinguish between systemic features and signs of the dynamism of society: the presence and interconnection of structured elements characterize society as a system (and are inherent in any, including a static system), and the ability to change and self-development is an indicator of its dynamic nature .

It is difficult to understand the following relationship: SOCIETY + NATURE = MATERIAL WORLD. Usually, “nature” is understood as the natural habitat of man and society, which has qualitative specificity in comparison with society. Society, in the process of development, became isolated from nature, but did not lose contact with it, and together they make up the material, i.e. real world.

The next “problematic” element of content is “The relationship between the economic, social, political and spiritual spheres of society.” The success of completing tasks largely depends on the ability to identify the sphere of social life by its manifestations. It should be noted that graduates, confidently completing the usual tasks to determine the sphere of social life by manifestation with one answer choice out of four, find it difficult to analyze a number of manifestations and select several of them related to a certain subsystem of society. Difficulties are also caused by tasks aimed at identifying the interconnection of subsystems of society, for example:

The public organization, at its own expense, publishes a cultural and educational newspaper in which it criticizes government policies towards socially vulnerable groups of the population. What areas of public life are directly affected by this activity?

The algorithm for completing the task is simple - a specific situation (no matter how many spheres of society it has to be correlated with) is “decomposed” into its components, it is determined which sphere each of them belongs to, the resulting list of interacting spheres is correlated with the proposed one.

The next difficult element of content is “The variety of ways and forms of social development.” Approximately 60% of graduates cope with even the simplest tasks on this topic, and in the group of examinees who received a satisfactory grade (“3”) based on the Unified State Examination results, no more than 45% of exam participants can identify the characteristic features (or manifestations) of a certain type of society.

In particular, the task involving the exclusion of an unnecessary component of the list turned out to be problematic: only 50% of the subjects were able to detect a characteristic that did not correspond to the characteristics of a certain type of society. It can be assumed that such results are explained, firstly, by the insufficient time allocated to studying this topic, secondly, the fragmentation of material between history and social studies courses, the program for grades 10 and 11, the lack of proper interdisciplinary integration when studying this issue, and also poor attention to this material in the basic school course.

To successfully complete tasks on the topic under consideration, it is necessary to clearly understand the characteristics of traditional, industrial and post-industrial society, learn to identify their manifestations, compare societies of different types, identifying similarities and differences.

As the practice of conducting the Unified State Exam has shown, certain difficulties for graduates are presented by the topic “Global Problems of Our Time,” which seems to be comprehensively discussed in various school courses. When working through this material, it is advisable to clearly define the essence of the concept of “global problems”: they are characterized by the fact that they manifest themselves on a global scale; threaten the survival of humanity as a biological species; their severity can be removed through the efforts of all humanity. Next, we can identify the most important global problems (ecological crisis, the problem of preventing world war, the problem of “North” and “South,” demographic, etc.), identify and specify their characteristics using examples of public life. In addition, it is necessary to clearly understand the essence, directions and main manifestations of the globalization process, and be able to analyze the positive and negative consequences of this process.

Tasks for the section "Human"

Both human activity and animal behavior are characterized by

Answer: 2

What is characteristic of humans as opposed to animals?

instincts

needs

consciousness

Answer: 4

The statement that a person is a product and subject of socio-historical activity is a characteristic of his

Answer: 1

Both man and animal are capable

Answer: 1

Man is a unity of three components: biological, psychological and social. The social component includes

Answer: 1

Man is a unity of three components: biological, psychological and social. Biologically determined

Answer: 1

Determining the possible consequences of benefit reform (monetization of benefits) is an activity

Answer: 4

The farmer cultivates the land using special equipment. The subject of this activity is

Leo Tolstoy about civilization
14.11.2012

Selection by Maxim Orlov,
Gorval village, Gomel region (Belarus).

I observed ants. They crawled along the tree - up and down. I don't know what they could have taken there? But only those that crawl upward have a small, ordinary abdomen, while those that descend have a thick, heavy abdomen. Apparently they were taking something inside themselves. And so he crawls, only he knows his path. There are bumps and growths along the tree, he goes around them and crawls on... In my old age, it’s somehow especially surprising to me when I look at ants and trees like that. And what do all the airplanes mean before that! It's all so rude and clumsy!.. 1

I went for a walk. A wonderful autumn morning, quiet, warm, green, the smell of leaves. And people, instead of this wonderful nature, with fields, forests, water, birds, animals, create another, artificial nature for themselves in cities, with factory chimneys, palaces, locomobiles, phonographs... It’s terrible, and there’s no way to fix it... 2

Nature is better than man. There is no bifurcation in it, it is always consistent. She should be loved everywhere, because she is beautiful everywhere and works everywhere and always. (...)

Man, however, knows how to ruin everything, and Rousseau is quite right when he says that everything that comes from the hands of the creator is beautiful, and everything that comes from the hands of man is worthless. There is no integrity in a person at all. 3

You must see and understand what truth and beauty are, and everything you say and think, all your desires for happiness, both for me and for yourself, will crumble to dust. Happiness is being with nature, seeing it, talking to it. 4

We destroy millions of flowers in order to erect palaces, theaters with electric lighting, and one color of burdock is worth more than thousands of palaces. 5

I picked a flower and threw it away. There are so many of them that it’s not a pity. We do not appreciate this inimitable beauty of living beings and destroy them without sparing - not only plants, but animals and people. There are so many of them. Culture* - civilization is nothing more than the destruction of these beauties and their replacement. With what? A tavern, a theater... 6

Instead of learning to have a love life, people learn to fly. They fly very badly, but they stop learning about the life of love, just to learn how to fly somehow. It's the same as if birds stopped flying and learned to run or build bicycles and ride them. 7

It is a big mistake to think that all inventions that increase the power of people over nature in agriculture, in the extraction and chemical combination of substances, and the possibility of great influence of people on each other, such as ways and means of communication, printing, telegraph, telephone, phonograph, are good. Both power over nature and an increase in the possibility of people influencing each other will be good only when people’s activity is guided by love, the desire for the good of others, and will be evil when it is guided by selfishness, the desire for good only for oneself. Excavated metals can be used for the convenience of people's lives or for cannons, the consequence of increasing the fertility of the earth can provide adequate nutrition for people and can be the reason for the increased spread and consumption of opium, vodka, communication routes and means of communicating thoughts can spread good and evil influences. And therefore, in an immoral society (...) all inventions that increase man’s power over nature and means of communication are not only not good, but undoubted and obvious evil. 8

They say, and I also say, that book printing did not contribute to the welfare of people. This is not enough. Nothing that increases the possibility of people influencing each other: railways, telegraphs, backgrounds, steamships, guns, all military devices, explosives and everything that is called “culture” has in no way contributed to the welfare of people in our time, but on the contrary. It could not be otherwise among people, the majority of whom live irreligious, immoral lives. If the majority is immoral, then the means of influence will obviously only contribute to the spread of immorality.

The means of influence of culture can be beneficial only when the majority, albeit small, is religious and moral. It is desirable that the relationship between morality and culture be such that culture develops only simultaneously and slightly behind the moral movement. When culture overtakes, as it does now, it is a great disaster. Perhaps, and even I think, that it is a temporary disaster, that due to the excess of culture over morality, although there must be temporary suffering, the backwardness of morality will cause suffering, as a result of which culture will be delayed and the movement of morality will accelerate, and the correct attitude will be restored. 9

They usually measure the progress of mankind by its technical and scientific successes, believing that civilization leads to good. This is not true. Both Rousseau and all those who admire the savage, patriarchal state are just as right or as wrong as those who admire civilization. The benefit of people living and enjoying the highest, most refined civilization, culture, and the most primitive, wild people are exactly the same. It is just as impossible to increase the benefit of people through science - civilization, culture - as it is to make sure that on a water plane the water in one place is higher than in others. The increase in the good of people only comes from an increase in love, which by its nature equals all people; Scientific and technical successes are a matter of age, and civilized people are just as little superior to uncivilized people in their well-being as an adult is superior to a non-adult in their well-being. The benefit comes only from increased love. 10

When people's lives are immoral and their relationships are based not on love, but on selfishness, then all technical improvements, the increase in human power over nature: steam, electricity, telegraphs, all kinds of machines, gunpowder, dynamites, robulites - give the impression of dangerous toys that are given in children's hands. eleven

In our age there is a terrible superstition, which consists in the fact that we enthusiastically accept every invention that reduces labor, and consider it necessary to use it, without asking ourselves whether this invention that reduces labor increases our happiness, whether it does not destroy beauty . We are like a woman who tries to finish the beef because she got it, although she doesn’t feel like eating, and the food will probably be harmful to her. Railways instead of walking, cars instead of horses, hosiery machines instead of knitting needles. 12

Civilized and wild are equal. Humanity moves forward only in love, but there is no progress and cannot be from technical improvement. 13

If the Russian people are uncivilized barbarians, then we have a future. Western peoples are civilized barbarians, and they have nothing to expect. For us to imitate Western peoples is the same as for a healthy, hard-working, unspoiled fellow to envy the bald young rich man from Paris sitting in his hotel. Ah, que je m"embete!**

Do not envy and imitate, but pity. 14

The Western nations are far ahead of us, but ahead of us on the wrong path. In order for them to follow the real path, they need to go a long way back. We only need to turn a little off the wrong path that we have just embarked on and along which the Western peoples are returning to meet us. 15

We often look at the ancients as children. And we are children in front of the ancients, in front of their deep, serious, uncontaminated understanding of life. 16

How easily what is called civilization, real civilization, is assimilated by both individuals and nations! Go through university, clean your nails, use the services of a tailor and hairdresser, travel abroad, and the most civilized person is ready. And for the peoples: more railways, academies, factories, dreadnoughts, fortresses, newspapers, books, parties, parliaments - and the most civilized people are ready. This is why people are grasping for civilization, and not for enlightenment - both individuals and nations. The first is easy, requires no effort and is applauded; the second, on the contrary, requires intense effort and not only does not arouse approval, but is always despised and hated by the majority, because it exposes the lies of civilization. 17

They compare me to Rousseau. I owe a lot to Rousseau and love him, but there is a big difference. The difference is that Rousseau denies all civilization, while I deny false Christianity. What is called civilization is the growth of humanity. Growth is necessary, you cannot talk about it whether it is good or bad. It is there - there is life in it. Like the growth of a tree. But the bough or the forces of life growing into the bough are wrong and harmful if they absorb all the force of growth. This is with our false civilization. 18

Psychiatrists know that when a person begins to talk a lot, talk incessantly about everything in the world, without thinking about anything and only rushing to say as many words as possible in the shortest possible time, they know that this is a bad and sure sign of a beginning or already developed mental illness . When the patient is completely confident that he knows everything better than anyone else, that he can and should teach everyone his wisdom, then the signs of mental illness are already undeniable. Our so-called civilized world is in this dangerous and pitiful situation. And I think - it is already very close to the same destruction that previous civilizations suffered. 19

External movement is empty, only internal work liberates a person. The belief in progress, that someday things will be good and until then we can arrange life for ourselves and others in a haphazard, unreasonable way, is a superstition. 20

* Reading the works of N.K. Roerich, we are accustomed to understanding Culture as “veneration of light”, as a building, calling moral force. In the above quotes from Leo Tolstoy here and below, the word “culture,” as we can see, is used in the meaning of “civilization.”

** Oh, how bored I am! (French)