Philosophy.   Philosophical  anthropology.

 

                                                 Lugutsenko T. V.

Spirituality deformations in culture of modern society

 

Processes of internal and external man’s world which lead to rather limited, inferior, formal manifestations of creating spiritual beginnings in different spheres of culture are considered. The semblances of spirituality (forms of distortion of this or that essential spiritual characteristic feature) are more often connected with man’s spiritual retardation; they are susceptible to manipulations wishing to solve their own problems very easily and quickly or they are subjected to unconscious, passive challenge to modern condition of technological consumption. All these semblances have been analyzed.

Key words: spirituality, quasi-spirituality, anti-spirituality, proto-spirituality, psycho- spiritual world.

     

². Introduction.  Today the condition of world community is characterized as a crisis one, but in many researchers’ opinion the sources of this crisis are first of all connected with deformation of man and society’s measurements, with the loss of anthrop-social and socio-natural existence unity, man’s incapability to understand deep senses and the highest mission of his existence. Modern stage of man’s development is not only a new millennium of his existence but it is a qualitatively new stage of socio-sphere evolution; namely, it is a formation of global civilization, global culture and it can be said that it is as formation of global spirituality.   

A religious aspect in its dogmatic form is losing its previous importance after active processes of life secularization. And although a number of believers is not decreased their spiritual activity acquires qualitatively new another motivation losing world-outlook deepness. Forcing out but not forced out till the end the appearance of previous God as a world foundation of existence, modern civilization hasn’t found adequate replacement to him. If earlier a single ideal of spirituality within the framework of separate religious traditions has been implanted, but today it has become obvious that none of them can be a predominant force in man’s spiritual searches.  Individual free choice of a person plays greater and greater role, however modern technological culture doesn’t create adequate conditions for his realization. Considering spiritual crisis as a system phenomenon it is important to stress that it is necessary to pay attention to its following main aspects such as: socio-cultural, anthropological, ecophene which are developed in research works of V.S. Barulin, V.D. Isaev, M.K. Mamardashvili and some others. Here it is very important to stress that a man and mankind have received new possibilities for their creative self-realization connected with STR (scientific-technical revolution), with the achievements in educational system. However, it is necessary to go over to new thinking, new consciousness, new way of life due to which all these things could acquire constructive forms. 

II. Research aim. It is necessary to state that a modern man’s world-outlook in reality has considerably changed. Individual has acquired substantial intellectual resources having scientific-rational basis under the influence of educational system. Under the conditions of liberalization of personality’s life the attention is more and more paid to external factors of his existence: material well-being, professional successes, and social status in the whole. External freedom and financial self-prosperity, independence from unstability of ideological-political, socio-economical, family-everyday situations are emphasized more and more.       

The highest beginnings at best are acquiring some abstract forms, and at worse in general they are losing any kind of importance in consciousness of rather ego-centrical and pragmatic individual. Inevitably he is looking for more harmonic reality, however, spiritual demands and the highest spiritual sufferings are replaced and changed by bright virtual cultural worlds of modern technological society. And it manifests itself under those conditions when a man must understand and realize profoundly what is happening and participate very actively in all occurring processes.  

Not in vain a number of people involved into “spiritual” processes and sometimes with rather doubtful content is growing. The breaking tendency with spiritual past traditions presenting them as dead conservative cultural structures which do harm to ongoing development of techno-engineering society is strengthening. Centuries – old systems of values and ideals are being destroyed under the concealment of modernization. Instead of them chimeras of mass consumption culture, instant by their essence and allowing increasing capital at spiritual man’s death are coming. At the same time a spiritual crisis can’t be identified with spiritual catastrophe. It is rather a factor of spiritual evolution, spiritual growth; it is a dangerous signal about that it is necessary to change our existence, to correct those tendencies which are obviously carrying a negative charge and are demanding to be renewed. Internal individual world of a man in techno-engineering society has come to the contradiction with profound natural dynamics of existence. Such a situation demands not breaking and de-mounting of the past but it demands to discover new constructive impulses under the conditions of our present time, to find out those internal forces which have accompanied a man for the whole period of history and moreover, such forces have expressed constructive man’s potential, his spirituality in the highest significance under any certain particular historical conditions. Strengthening negative tendencies in ‘near by’ spiritual environment of culture which lately are being strengthened at the level of individual and public consciousness hinder largely to express creative potential. It leads to the fact that the highest spirit senses are being lost, the threat of spiritual degradation is increasing, society and individuals are sexually abused because in such cases lifelike direction is moving from the highest ideal to the lowest one, bodily-material or even to perverted existence in which all kinds of vices are flourishing; the cult of bait, unlimited delights is claimed and so on.  

Such a problem can be considered in the context of Tricia – tome [Latin] (it means to be divided into three parts, namely “spirituality – quasi-spirituality – anti-spirituality”. Nowadays there are disputes in research literature about child’s spirituality, but nobody begins to deny that fact that a child needs in mother’s warmth, caress, kindness, he possess a potential to be not only beloved but to express undetermined love. Already at early stages of his life way a child shows his different abilities and it goes without saying they are connected with psycho-spiritual man’s world (with an ability to perceive and express the beauty, to survive the state of internal fight between good and evil and so forth).    

The same individual proto-spirituality demands thorough attention from the parents and teachers’ side because it is quite natural that a leading vector of spirituality from initial impulses aspired to harmony and perfection is deviated. At a certain stage of man’s psyche development all necessary conditions are formed in order to transform non-differentiated proto-spiritual individual’s state into more developed and differentiated personality’s structures (intellect, will, requirements, motives and so on). Originally incorrect interpretations of initial spiritual aspirations at the level of man’s psyche are inevitable under the conditions of such differentiation. Thus psycho-spiritual development is often lack behind the psycho-somatic and intellectual development. Finally it causes the different spiritual deformations in society culture which externally look like as samples of spirituality, they are perceived as free creative personality’s self-expression, however they don’t relate to spirituality at all and moreover they distort its essential characteristics. Unity is replaced by local manifestation of the highest spiritual qualities: morality and love have conditioned character; there is no rising direction to the ideal, perfection and serving to the highest good; understanding and wisdom are substituted by information chaos; there is no unselfishness in activity motives; spiritual freedom and compassion are substituted by ostentatious complicity and piety; there is no sincerity in expressing of the highest feelings and so on. Consequently, the highest spiritual in quasi – spirituality (pseudo-spirituality) can be substituted by emotional connected with life maintenance (emotional comfort and ostentatious well-being). In a given case quasi – spirituality (pseudo-spirituality) can be characterized as limited, insufficient, inferior manifestation of man’s spirit in different kinds of activity. Spirit “is flickering” in a man, his aspirations are touched down, the consequences of spiritual potential realization are rather doubtful. Thus, quasi-spirituality is not worth its full value, it presents itself some kind of substitution, imitation aspiring to the status of spirituality. In philosophy quasi-spirituality is manifested in speculative theoretical structures which haven’t any practical meaning and they wash away subjected field of spirituality. In education its essence is opened in ostentatious moralization, in abstruse spiritual theorizing and formalism to realize, to achieve the goals of bringing up. Religiousness in quasi-spirituality is often degenerated into confessional formalism which is presented unconsciousness execution of church rituals (“maybe it helps!”), ostentatious asceticism, religious pragmatism and so forth. Sometimes going to a church is becoming a peculiar spiritual entertainment. Some aspects of quasi-spirituality is seen in neo-religious cults (neo-Christian, new-oriental), they haven’t vividly expressed de-structural direction but at the same time they lead to decreasing of social adaptation and neurosis induction. Neophytes sometimes change motivations considerably; they begin to feel in themselves some kind of force, and the feeling of selected people is arising. In mass media the disclosure of profound spiritual sources is substituted by circulation of pseudo-occulted imitations, by propaganda of primitive mysticism and spiritualism, extra-sensory, UFO-logy (unknown flying objects), indigo- mania and so forth. Quasi-spirituality is directly connected with spreading of legal psycho-tort (delinquent) sub-culture including club culture, corresponding music and cinema in itself.  Quasi –spirituality is also manifested in different forms of psycho-tort “art” based either on changing the customer of “art” object into changeable state or on the demonstration of these or those phenomena of reality into particularly another phenomenon key. In every day life quasi-spirituality is expressed in extremes of “right, proper” way of life, expansion, in external respectability and conventionality, fascination with extreme, meditative practices having no spiritual ethical basis. Quasi- spirituality is acquiring greater and greater force in the activity of a whole number of public organizations propagating ephemeral projects and systems to revitalize internal and external man’s world; it is more and more important in the structures of multi-level marketing with its presentations of super-compounds transforming a man.    

III. Results. Given spirituality semblances (distortion forms of this or that essential characteristic feature of spirituality) are connected more often with spiritual backwardness, susceptible to manipulation wishing to solve their problems easily and quickly or with an unconscious, passive challenge to modern conditions of technological-consuming society. It is also necessary to note that socio-cultural oppositions (good and evil, beautiful and ugly, true and false) in real life are not equaled, “non-weighted”: one of them is life-stated, and another one is destroyed-lifeless. That’s why the approach to an organized pole of antinomy is vitally, spiritually, but the approach to a des-organized pole is lifeless, and in the whole it is without a soul, lifeless and destroyed. If finally the second vector predominates so the processes of degradation and breakup of a personality, culture and society in the whole are activated; negative potential, negative energetic in spiritual environments (“dissent” of man’s spirituality”) are growing. However, profound mechanisms of anti-spiritual manifestation could rather be revealed till the end due to the infinity and complexity of existence spiritual measurements.     

IV. Conclusions. The analysis of spirituality reveals new perspectives to understand the nature of spirituality and its place in the vital man’s world, gives the possibility to reveal deep reasons of man’s consciousness which cause the cognitive processes, gives a new paradigm understanding of both a personality’s unity and harmony, integrity of subject-objective relations in a spiritually-practical ontological turning of modern philosophy under the conditions of cultural-civilization environment transformation.   

 

The List of used literature

1.Kagan M.S. On spiritual (the experience of category analysis) / M.S. Kagan // Questions of philosophy. – 1985. – ¹ 9. – P. 45.

2. Lugutsenko T.V. Spiritual dominants in cultural epochs / T.V. Lugutsenko //"Current questions, problems and perspectives of humanitarian knowledge development in modern information environment: national and international aspects": Collection of scientific works (International scientific – practical conference of May 17-19, 2011) Chief editor Zhurba M.A. – Rubezhnoye – Lugansk: V. Dahl EUNU, 2011. – Part 1. – P 116 – 118.

3. Lugutsenko T.V. Spirituality as subjective reality / T.V. Lugutsenko //"Religion, religious, philosophy and humanitarians in modern information environment: national and international aspects": collection of scientific works (International scientific – practical conference of December 27 – 29, 2011) / chief editor Zhurba M.A. – Rubezhnoye - Lugansk:  V. Dahl EUNU, 2011. – Part 1. – P.30 – 32.  

4. Lugutsenko T.V. Culture as a system of spiritual carrying out / T.V. Lugutsenko // "Philosophical problems of a man" (materials of a scientific – practical conference of November 24-25, 2011) /Lugansk: Publishing house of V. Dahl EUNU, 2011. – P. 294 – 295.

5.  Lugutsenko T.V. Intercultural dialogue in the context of understanding different cultural values / T.V. Lugutsenko // "Achievements of socio – cultural and humanitarian sciences in contemporary Ukraine": Materials of the second All – Ukrainian scientific conference April 28, 2012: 3parts. – D.: Partnership "Innovation", 2012. –  Part 2. – P. 113 – 116.

6. Yatsenko A.I. Values and ideals / A.I. Yatsenko. – K.: 1977. – 187 p.

 

Ñâåäåíèÿ îá àâòîðå

1.Ëóãóöåíêî Òàòüÿíà Âàëåíòèíîâíà äîêòîð ôèëîñîôñêèõ íàóê, ïðîôåññîð êàôåäðû ïðèêëàäíîé ôèëîñîôèè è òåîëîãèè èíñòèòóòà ôèëîñîôèè è ïñèõîëîãèè Âîñòî÷íîóêðàèíñêîãî íàöèîíàëüíîãî óíèâåðñèòåòà èìåíè Âëàäèìèðà Äàëÿ

2. Äîìàøíèé àäðåñ: 91051, ì. Ëóãàíñê, êâ. Æóêîâà, äîì. 17, êâ. 73.

3. Òåëåôîí: 050-731-64-85

4. Ýëåêòðîííàÿ ïîøòà: telfira@yandex.ru

 

Information about the author

Lugutsenko Tatyana Valentinovna is Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, professor, the chair of applied philosophy and theology, Institute of Philosophy and psychology, V. Dahl East-Ukrainian National University

1. Home address: 91051, Lugansk, kvartal Zhukova, dom 17, kvartira 73.

2. Telephone: 050-731-64-85

3. E-mail : telfira@yandex.ru

 

Ëóãóöåíêî Ò.Â. Äåôîðìàöèè äóõîâíîñòè â êóëüòóðå ñîâðåìåííîãî îáùåñòâà

Ðàññìàòðèâàþòñÿ òå ïðîöåññû âíóòðåííåãî è âíåøíåãî ìèðà ÷åëîâåêà, êîòîðûå ïðèâîäÿò ê ïðåäåëüíî îãðàíè÷åííûì, íåïîëíîöåííûì, ôîðìàëüíûì ïðîÿâëåíèÿì ñîçèäàþùèõ äóõîâíûõ íà÷àë â ðàçëè÷íûõ ñôåðàõ êóëüòóðû. Ïðîàíàëèçèðîâàíû ïîäîáèÿ äóõîâíîñòè (ôîðìû èñêàæåíèÿ òîé èëè èíîé ñóùíîñòíîé õàðàêòåðèñòèêè äóõîâíîñòè) ñâÿçàíû ÷àùå âñåãî ñ äóõîâíîé íåðàçâèòîñòüþ ÷åëîâåêà, ïîäâåðæåííîñòüþ ìàíèïóëèðîâàíèþ, ñ æåëàíèåì ëåãêîãî è áûñòðîãî ðåøåíèÿ ñâîèõ ïðîáëåì èëè ñ íåîñîçíàííûì, ïàññèâíûì âûçîâîì ñîâðåìåííîìó ñîñòîÿíèþ òåõíîãåííî-ïîòðåáèòåëüñêîãî îáùåñòâà
       Êëþ÷åâûå ñëîâà: äóõîâíîñòü, êâàçèäóõîâíîñòü,  àíòèäóõîâíîñòü,  ïðîòîäóõîâíîñòü, ïñèõîäóõîâíûé ìèð.