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10Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 2 (2008 1) 250-252
УДК 291.175
Objective and Subjective Religiousness
Daniil V. Pivovarov*
Ural State University, 51 Lenin's str., Ekaterinburg 620083 Russia 1
Received 10.04.2008, received in revised form 06.05.2008, accepted 15.05.2008
If "religion" is defined as human communication with the Absolute, then it is possible to speak about two levels of religiousness. Objective religiousness is the understanding that a human being ultimately depends on the Absolute. Subjective religiousness is different forms of affirming or denying the nature of the Absolute and our communication with Him.
Keywords: Religion, absolute, objective religiousness, subjective religiousness.
According to V. S. Soloviev's generalizing formulation, religion is reunion and connection of human beings and the world with the unconditional beginning and center of all existing. Shortly speaking, religion is communication of persons with absolute. Whether this communication is universal and constant? In what measure it depends on our consciousness?
Does not cause doubt, that life on the Earth is always closely connected to cosmic laws and energies and that these laws may be especially esteemed by people as reference points of intelligent evolution of mankind. The Earth gravitates to the Sun, Solar system - to the centre of our galaxy, and last - to even more vigorous centre of a metagalaxy. Thus, according to the scientific data, there is a line of relative power centres in the world, consistently growing on the power. It is possible, inductive arguing, to put forward a hypothesis about existence of the extreme powerful centre - unconditional - the
centre of the universe, to which all hidden strings of life are attracted.
As far as in general we can reflect upon absolute reality, model of Solar system is capable to serve as a geometrical model of God-Pantokrator: planets rotate around of the Sun, centripetal and centrifugal forces are enclosed to each of them. The first force is directed on preservation of integrity of all system (is it good?), and the second tries to break a planet from its orbit (is it evil?). There was a cult of the Sun; centripetal and centrifugal forces were represented in images of God and Satan, absolute good and evil. Certainly, in view of modern astronomical knowledge the offered model is incomplete and inexact, and centrifugal force may have other explanation - for example, as an attraction of a planet to a more powerful space centre. Then, expanding this model till an image of a metagalaxy, we receive an opportunity vectorially to interpret a nature of polytheism, hierarchy of gods. From told, I believe, the opportunity logically follows to allocate two
* Corresponding author E-mail address: pivovarov_daniil@mail.ru
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levels in cosmocentric religions - an initial level of objective religiousness and a secondary level of subjective religiousness.
In my opinion, philosophers did not notice before an opportunity of the given conclusion; similar classification of levels of religion was absent till now in the scientific literature. We do not always realize own objective-real religiousness, though mankind as a whole and each of us separately (no less than any particle of the global order) actually, probably, are connected to the absolute space centre. If space is infinite, its centre takes roots in any point of the universe. Hence, the general law of the world attraction finds its theoretical explanation and sense in idea of objective-real religiousness of everyone something. Whether not therefore any certain life tends to self-expansion, to boundlessness? Whether not therefore people existentially test inescapable bent for to permanent perfection of the environment?
I shall repeat, the metaphysical hypothesis about objective-real life of the unconditional centre of space is provided with natural-science plausibility of the astrophysical induction mentioned above. Each of us finally solves a problem of the validity of the given hypothesis on the ground of spiritual belief. Search of an essence of absolute life never stops, people are guided by idea of absolute in all spheres of their activity.
In this objective sense all people are religious. All of us without exception are involved in power, material and information communications with unconditional center of the universe. The powerful waves of the space centres (the Sun, the Milky Way, etc.) penetrate each of us. Scientific understanding of these processes is not clear. Some scientists even in general, illogically, deny a reality of human communication with centers of space forces; they say that there is no hierarchy of the space centres of energy and there is nothing absolute in the global order.
Objective religiousness causes intuition of absolute reality - our direct knowledge about Completeness of Life. R. Shlejermaher treated such special intuition as feeling of draft of persons to infinite, as melancholy on boundless. Russian philosopher N. O. Lossky tried to prove that all the maintenance of the world is direct and invisibly given in intuition of learning subject. The intuitive knowledge of communication with absolute reality never shares without the rest on rational thinking; it is inexpressible to the full in concepts and sensual images, has mainly mystical character. Religious experience of people is determinated by mysticism of objective religiousness; the sacral attitude to a basis of life grows from intuition of absolute. R. Otto has isolated in sacral numinosum" as some primary reality of absolute which is thought through names of sacred essences of various religions later.
Other thing is religions of the subjective order. As forms of social consciousness they generate different pictures and dogmatic descriptions of the sacred communication (or absence of such connection) with absolute. When specialists speak about any concrete religion they usually mean the subjective religiousness which more often is shown in these or those confessional forms, apparently sacralized. It was possible to great prophets only to explicate in part during millenia the contents of subjective religiousness of people and to state it in the sum of the alternative Scriptures. Subjective religiousness is changeable: at times it disappears, turns to doubt or in disbelief, returns back again. Objectively-religious person, happens, recognizes itself as a non-believer.
Any religious doctrine grows from answers to three interconnected questions: 1) whether there is absolute reality?; 2) how can we know this reality?; 3) what practical conclusions can we bring out from stories about absolute? The various types of subjective religiousness (embodied in variety of national and world religions) were born
on cultivation of this or that image of absolute and from character of answers to these questions. Absolute may be thought or as the personal God, or as impersonal brahman, or as the final purpose (for example, nirvana) etc.
At the same time any dogma is not capable to express completeness of real communication
of a person with absolute. There is a discrepancy between objective and subjective religiousness of people serving as a source of evolution of religious ideas and faiths. Subjective religiousness is a varied image of objective religiousness.
References
Contemporary Philosophical Dictionary, Second ed. (London, Frankfurt am Main, Paris, Moscow, Minsk: Labyrinth, 1998)
D.V. Pivovarov, The Philosophy of Religion. Spirit, Soul and Faith (Ekaterinburg, 2000), in Russian.
D.V. Pivovarov, The Principal Ontological Categories (Ekaterinburg: The Ural University Press, 2003), in Russian.
A.G. Preobrazhenskyi, Etymological Russian Language Dictionary in 2 volumes (Moscow: The State Publishing House of Foreign and National Dictionaries, 1959), in Russian.
V.I. Zhukovskyi, N.P. Koptseva, D.V. Pivovarov, The Visual Essence of Religion (Krasnoyarsk, 2006), in Russian.
