Russian culture was, is and will be. The current influences on her are no stronger than those in history. The originality of Russian culture is explained by its synthetic character.
It is necessary
Unbiased attitude towards everything and simple common sense
Instructions
Step 1
The question in the headline may sound contrived, if not funny. Suffice it to recall that all world literature stands on three pillars: Homer, Shakespeare, Tolstoy. And that “Russian Venus” by Kustodiev has now surpassed in popularity “Venus in front of a mirror” by Velazquez and “Nude swing” by Goya. And that traditional Russian architecture is aesthetically no less capacious and original than Gothic or Egyptian pyramids.
But, the reader may say, this is in the past. And now? Is there our own Russian culture now, and what is it like?
Step 2
Let us first recall what culture is in general. This concept is by no means vague, since it is expressed not in some abstract speculations, but in things. Culture is the worldview of people expressed in objects, their feelings, reflections, moods. It comes from the Latin cultura - cultivation, and was first used in an agricultural sense. However, already the ancient Romans, comparing the miracle of the development of a powerful plant from a small grain with the appearance of elegant products from the rough hands of a not always competent artisan, extended it to the spiritual sphere.
The crop product can also be of natural origin. Several sea pebbles brought from rest, tastefully laid out on a shelf at home, are a cultural product of their owner. If a cultural object is made according to some technology, then it will already be a cultural artifact, that is, the creation of the hands of its creator.
Step 3
Let's move on to the first question: is there a peculiar Russian culture now? For example, let's take the most labor-intensive, utilitarian and durable cultural objects - architectural structures. If there is any cultural tradition here, then it is also in other cultural areas.
The figure at the beginning of the article shows the world famous Church of the Intercession on the Nerl. And in the illustration to this paragraph - the residential complex "Tricolor" in Moscow. It would seem that everything in the pictures is different, except for the color of the sky. But you can see something in common, isn't it? Some vague general impression.
Step 4
It’s not so vague, it’s an impression. We will discuss it below, but for now take a look at the next figure in the text. This is the Church of San Isidro in Spain by Francico Goya. The compositional solution and coloring (color scale) are similar to the Church of the Intercession, the architecture is just as simple and refined. But the impression is completely different. It is immediately clear that this is a product of a completely different culture. Not the worst and not the best, as strong and bright as the Russian, but different. Why?
Step 5
Now it's time to answer the second question. Since cultural objects come from a person (sea pebbles need to be found, selected, washed, laid out in a suitable place), it would be more correct to look for the essence of Russian culture based on psychology. Then everything falls into place in the most natural way.
There are two types of mental organization of people (not to be confused with temperaments): introverts and extroverts. In a vulgar-primitive sense, an introvert is bad, and an extrovert is good. In fact, both of them, if they are mentally healthy and properly educated, will be full-fledged members of society, not experiencing problems in relations with others and fruitfully working.
Basically, the difference is in how they approach the next task. The extrovert seeks to project himself onto her, as it were. This is expressed in the approach: "Let's try like this, and see what happens." The introvert, on the contrary, first tries to absorb the initial conditions into himself and how to comprehend them. Simply put: take a closer look, think it over, and then decide what and how to do. Until psychology was sufficiently developed, it was believed that the extrovert is more material, and the introvert is spiritual.
An extrovert will do better where you need to quickly get at least some meaningful result. An introvert is where one should first of all comprehend the far-reaching consequences. And those and others together constitute the mass consciousness and public morality of civilization.
Step 6
And what is the Russian originality? Probably, the fact that we are half introverts, half extroverts, if you take the Russian civilization as a whole. The same mysterious duality of the Russian soul from the standpoint of the achievements of modern science.
Western cultures are more extroverted; in "San Isidro" by Goya, this is expressed in the fact that it is impossible to imagine the church he depicted with quiet solitude, like the Church of the Intercession. Eastern civilizations are more prone to introversion.
Like the general psychotype of a person, the appearance of human civilizations is determined not only by the type of organization, but also by many other external and internal factors. And in Russia, their set is extremely unique, starting with the unparalleled size of the territory. Therefore, Russian culture, actively interacting with both the East and the West, will remain so as long as there is Russia and the Russians.
Step 7
Finally. Russian President Vladimir Putin calls for instilling respect for Russian culture. Under no circumstances should this be understood as violent “Russification”. You just need to develop Russian culture, its potential is incredibly huge and is far from being exhausted. Like the western one, it is not at all so degraded as it might seem.
