What is patriotism and why should we love our motherland. What is Soviet and modern patriotism

Patriotism is the highest moral feeling. It is expressed in sincere love for the Motherland, its people, family and loved ones. Over the past centuries, true patriots have proved to the whole world the purity of self-consciousness in this aspect. In the history of the people, the actions caused by the patriotic idea are reflected as self-sacrifices for the good of society. The character of a patriot is unshakable and firm.

Positive moral character traits are shaped by society and human behavior. Education, historical literacy and spiritual values ​​influence the formation of patriotism.

Three components of this feeling:

mentality.
The history of the people, the country.
Accurate knowledge of national rituals, culture and language.

Since ancient times, the idea of ​​patriotism has been interpreted as an inexplicable generalized behavior based on moral concepts.

Positive feeling of patriotism

A positive sense of patriotism of a person is associated with the state, nationality and region.

Speaking about the positive in the feeling of patriotism, it is worth noting that the scale of this moral foundation is different. At the level of an entire state, real patriotism is not possible without a cohesive, just society. It is obliged to know that the future lies with it, the fate of the motherland and the upbringing of the young generation.

People's love for the country is not in statements, patronage and observance of all laws. This is an interest in folklore, the leading religion and personalities who have changed the lives of everyone for the better.

On the example of the world wars connected with Russian Empire. You can clearly see the solidarity of real citizens. It is positive feelings that give such a result. And the position in society becomes unimportant when there are military actions of a protracted nature. People who understand everything without words on a subconscious level become one big family. Where respect for age is held in high esteem, the upbringing of a strong young generation.

A good level of patriotism is set in the higher military educational institutions. The officer elite of any country without honor and respect for the history of the state does not make sense.

A simple man doing good work native land, without a positive sense of patriotism is not capable of good deeds. Such a state is determined to civil patriotism. A correct society, brought up on traditions, gives a chance to pass on knowledge through generations, to preserve the purity and nobility of the nation. There is nothing to be done in labor, craft and science without a good moral school.

It is necessary to cultivate a positive attitude in a person as early as possible. Educational systems have been created for this. They provide the basis for strong-willed patriotic thinking. With age, despite the economic situation in a suitable region, sane patriots do not look for a better share on the side. This is a somewhat cowardly stage for them.

The feeling of patriotism, as one of the brightest in life, contains feelings of a moral nature. That is, changing his native region, country for a more comfortable standard of living, a person leaves spirituality in relation to nature and people as a "bargaining chip". In an age of financial values, this is not of sufficient importance to a large circle of people interested in an imposed culture. However, not knowing the native speech, one cannot feel someone else's. Societies that do not accept everyone who aspires to better share at someone else's expense, they will retain only a positive and real attitude towards patriotism for their descendants.

Negative feeling of patriotism

This feeling is called anti-patriotism. The opposite of a noble, settled feeling is complete.

It can be caused by the reaction of a person or society to a change in the conditions of existence. Economic consequences, migration or emigration. When a person enters an unusual, unstable society negative feeling patriotism stems from the rejection of the culture of a foreign community.

There is often a complete denial of spiritual native values. In this case, traditions, culture of speech and attitudes towards society are negative. A person, a group of people deny the moral values ​​given by their relatives and with maximalism promote the foundations that are comfortable, fashionable at the moment.

AT modern history the substitution of the values ​​of Russian society for cosmopolitanism is clearly seen. In this historical cycle, it was clearly shown how the anti-religious, propagandistic rudiments of reason are awakening. People voluntarily-compulsorily gave up their families, property devoted themselves to false intentions. Such behavior among the masses of people is caused not only by anti-patriotism, but also by the denial of spiritual feelings. The humanity of society in relation to others in this form is minimal. It is established not on a fair perception, but on the propaganda mood of certain sections of society.

There is a fairly high level of negativity in counter-patriotism. This feeling is based on the ideal representation of the native country, the common nation. It is also mistakenly called nationalism. In fact, nationalism does not provoke action against other nationalities. On the contrary, relying on culture, foundations and spirituality, it carries love only for its homeland and moral values.

Outcome

Subconsciously, each person has a civil position, which is worth supporting as a personal opinion on the issue of love for one's neighbor. For a positive key in relationships between people in society, be sincere with yourself and loved ones. A true patriot does not promote his ideals. He demonstrates by personal example how to treat the homeland, religion and traditions. Observing this, any society will earn respect!

Every phenomenon, taken to an extreme, turns into its opposite. There is nothing surprising in this, of course, - harmony is always verified by measure. Even the spiritual life is beautiful under the rule of moderation. Otherwise, righteousness is replaced by hypocrisy, kindness - lack of will, strictness and discipline - cruelty.

As for patriotism and nationalism - phenomena, no doubt, of a spiritual nature - when taken to extremes, they become a disgusting ugliness, an oozing ulcer on the face of the country and nation. What is "patriotism" in general sense? This is love for one's country. Just like "nationalism" is just love for one's people. However, it is precisely the bringing to the extreme of beautiful, in essence, phenomena that has become the reason that the words "patriotism" and "nationalism" are often used almost as curses. Speaking of someone "nationalist", they certainly mean a shaven-headed youngster with a swastika. Yes, and "patriot" is often used as a synonym for a scoundrel or a loser. What is the famous "Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels", words with which the liberal-democratic public in Russia is trying to discredit love for the Fatherland. However, in this case we are dealing with substitution and deceit, since S. Johnson, to whom the expression is attributed, did not mean at all that, out of hopelessness, scoundrels rush to rant about patriotism. It was rather about the opportunity for the bastard, who retained love for the Motherland, to rise and be reborn. Not all is lost for such a person. But if one does not disdain substitutions and lies, then one can safely insist on the most original statements, for example, that love for nature is associated with immorality and pathologies. Why? Just because. Everything that is incomprehensible, personally alien and inaccessible to me, can be attributed to degenerativeness. The only question is whether such an approach would not be degenerative ...

Recently, there has been a surge of patriotism in Russia. With the return of the Crimea, love for the Motherland has ceased to be funny. You can talk openly about your feelings and not be afraid of obstruction. Moreover, it has become unfashionable not to love the Motherland or to love it, wishing for all sorts of defeats, as many notorious figures do. In modern terms, patriotism is in trend today. But is it really so?

Patriotism, like any other feeling, can be different. More precisely, either a person loves his Motherland - let's agree to call it "genuine patriotism" - or not. In the latter case, a person may sincerely want to love her, but he will not be able to do this due to his personal structure. Then it is possible to squeeze out a false or immature feeling, but in this case we will talk about official patriotism, patriotism out of habit, patriotism by calculation, etc.

You can talk a lot about love for the Motherland and indifferently. It is possible, yawning, to hold events, lay flowers, write poems for the wall newspaper, but the peculiarity of “official patriotism” is that it is in no way connected with feeling.

"Patriotism out of habit" is indeed about habit. It can be a habit of the place, the house, the people around, the landscape outside the window, the customs and rituals, the routine of life. In addition, there should be a lot of snow on New Year's and Christmas, and severe frost on Epiphany, that willow blossoms before Easter, and in August they pick mushrooms and apples. Depriving a familiar environment, a person yearns for even that which he did not notice in the past. Often, “patriotism out of habit” can be found in an emigrant environment, where birch trees, black bread with buckwheat and “evenings in Russia” are tearfully recalled. About "patriotism out of habit" they also say "leavened", because it is tied to the external, to the decorative manifestations of the national spirit. But neither kvass, nor dumplings, nor even matryoshkas have yet made anyone a patriot. An analogy with faith is appropriate here - after all, you can love worship, wear headscarves and long skirts, beards and blouses, but still not become a Christian. The similarity with true patriotism is that spiritual activity is always essential, it cannot be tied to the external, it cannot be superficial, because in this case it turns into something else.

Outbursts of “patriotism by calculation” occur during periods of the rise of the country. Sometimes it may well be mistaken for genuine patriotism, but in times of decline, love for one's country is replaced by shame and hostility. The domestic is rejected, the foreign is exalted. In Russia, such patriots, with their whining and malice, drive those around them to despair, while refusing to understand that any country experiences periods of decline and rise from time to time. And that decline does not mean the end of everything. But in the best times for the country, these patriots become aggressively militant braggarts and threaten the whole world. Such patriotism turns out to be the satisfaction of some own complexes - after all, identification with a strong state gives a feeling of belonging to the force.

"Patriots of convenience" love the homeland rich and prosperous, in the days of prosperity and victories, but weak and poor - it inspires them with contempt, and at the first opportunity they try to escape. Having settled in strong America as polishers, dishwashers or maids, they are terribly proud and look down on their fellow tribesmen who have remained at home. The very move to a prosperous and powerful country elevates them in their own eyes, raises self-esteem and inspires self-satisfaction. This is the highest achievement in their life. Even though they were nobody in their native country, and even more nobody in a foreign country, all the same, participation in a powerful statehood inspires them with pride and a premonition of something unusual in the future. As a rule, they are sure that they have made a breakthrough, that their compatriots are terribly jealous of them, and that, finally, it is simply impossible for a sane person not to dream of a dishwasher career in America.

At the best of times, "patriots of convenience" make up extras and shout at every corner "my native country is wide." But they are extremely unreliable at a critical moment. Their hearts are prone to betrayal and change, and at the time of impoverishment they turn into whiners and spreaders of fairy tales about the promised lands.

Very often you can hear today: “My Motherland is the USSR” or: “I come from Russia, which we lost”, or: “Erefia is not my Motherland”. All this is very reminiscent of the stories about the city of Kitezh, but in relation to patriotism - what is this if not "patriotism by calculation"? A person loves a homeland that one likes for one reason or another. As soon as the Motherland ceases to suit and loses its former attractiveness, all patriotism evaporates. But that's the whole point, that patriotism was not in sight here. There was "patriotism by calculation." But the Motherland cannot be connected with the momentary, from the point of view of history, state structure. Motherland is a concept transcendental, timeless and, in a certain sense, extra-spatial, although it is tied to a well-defined territory.

Another thing is that the feeling of the Motherland and love for it may never appear in a person in his entire life. It is impossible, however, to charge a person with guilt that he does not love the Motherland. It is as absurd as to demand from a woman heartfelt affection for a man who inspires her nothing but disgust. In addition, there are people who do not know how to love at all, and there are those for whom love is the meaning of existence.

Whoever is not given to understand what the Motherland is, who is not given the opportunity to be imbued with the spiritual way of life common to many generations, to accept and love this way of life, to recognize himself as part of a large whole, he is inclined to convince himself and those around him that life is one and you need to live it with all conveniences. The result of this is the search for these same amenities around the world. But the more humanity becomes attached to the consumer ideology, the less it needs the spiritual, because less and less it understands anything other than financial prosperity. Therefore, it is not surprising that patriotism for the consumer society turns into a fiction, into something ridiculous, old-fashioned and unnecessary. Explaining their rejection of the Motherland, many say: “The Motherland did not give me anything!” The name, of course, means material wealth. But material goods may or may not be given by the state. The purpose of the Motherland is completely different. The main thing that any Motherland gives to any person is his identity, the right to be himself, to have a native language, to understand the world as many past generations understood it, to judge good and sin, beauty and honesty, sense and justice. . A person receives this gift from the Motherland by birth. In another country, you can not remain yourself to the fullest, you can only be a stranger among strangers. That is why it is important to have your own language, habitual climate, and territory in front of you and with you all your life, because all this explains a lot to a person in the national way of life and in himself.

A person who knows and loves the Motherland can afford the luxury of being himself, the feeling of his nationality is milestone self-knowledge. For someone who does not feel their roots, it is more difficult to answer the question: “Who am I? Where did I come from and where am I going? When Russian children are handed over for adoption in the United States, and at the same time they are convinced that the children are very lucky, for some reason it never occurs to anyone that depriving the Motherland of a person already deprived of parents is not just a mockery, but a real crime against the individual. Because the feeling of being a weed, carried around the world, has not yet added confidence and self-respect to anyone. Genuine patriotism or a sense of one's connection with the vast community of those living today and those who lived yesterday is, firstly, a manifestation of the ability to love; secondly, this is a property of a person who is cultivated and inclined towards spiritual life; thirdly, it is a necessary circumstance for self-identification. And fourthly, patriotism, as a complex feeling based on deep intuition and thoughtfulness, elevates and ennobles, makes a person more difficult than just a consumer of services, makes you look for new meanings, understand your favorite subject and care not only about your own animal well-being.

Dostoevsky, in his speech about Pushkin, argues that patriotism is a saving principle. It is the soil, and the soil is firm and unshakable. This is the core, this is the support of the soul. In "Eugene Onegin" Pushkin contrasts two images. One of them - Onegin himself - a man who does not know attachments. "He has no soil, - Dostoevsky writes about Onegin, - it is a blade of grass carried by the wind". Another image is Tatyana. “... She, both in despair and in the suffering consciousness that her life has perished, still has something solid and unshakable, on which her soul rests,- says Dostoevsky. - These are her childhood memories, memories of her homeland, the rural wilderness, in which her humble, pure life <...>There is a whole foundation here, something unshakable and indestructible. Here is contact with the motherland, with the native people, with its shrine". We add that here is just an example of genuine patriotism, which not only helps a person to understand and realize himself, but also keeps him from restlessness and offers support in hard times. Pushkin shows, and Dostoevsky draws attention to this, that the family and the Motherland - but only a loving family and a conscious, beloved Motherland - are two necessary things, without which a person, growing up, will not only not be confused, but will not lose himself.

Genuine patriotism, like any genuine feeling, does not depend on external circumstances. This feeling is direct, one of those that remain “in sorrow and in joy, in wealth and in poverty, in sickness and in health” and are not connected either with power, or with ideology, or with state policy, or with statements about the superiority of one nation over another. Chauvinism always appears where culture and education are replaced by a set of absurd ideas. Genuine patriotism has not and cannot have anything in common with chauvinism. On the contrary, true patriotism, as a phenomenon of a spiritual order, is always associated with knowledge and acceptance of the spiritual life of one's people, as well as with an interest in the achievements of the spirit of other peoples. He is alien to hatred and contempt for anyone, rather, curiosity is inherent in him. A true patriot in a sense resembles a good owner, ready to learn from a neighbor something new and useful for himself.

I. Ilyin notes that “It is precisely the one who is not inclined to hate or despise other peoples who knows how to love his homeland”. That is, according to the philosopher, love for one's country is a consequence of the ability to love in general.

Genuine patriotism is an understanding of the ways to comprehend being by one's people, the acceptance and sharing of these ways. One can speak of genuine nationalism as an attitude towards one's people as one's family. But true patriotism is by no means blind love, not noticing shortcomings, swaggering and arrogant. When the liberal public, enthusiastically pouring mud on Russia, is charged with Russophobia, in response you can hear that this is just criticism, due precisely to love, this is a call to become better, to move from hatred to self-improvement. But will, for example, Mr. Gelman "criticize" his relatives in the same way that he "criticizes" the people? Will Mr. Erofeev say about people close to him that they can't think and can't do anything at all, or that they have plebeian eyes? Hardly. This kind of "criticism" is dictated by hatred. Love finds other ways to correct morals.

Patriotism- love for the fatherland - its people, culture, language, nature and historical roots; readiness to serve the fatherland, to strengthen, develop and defend it.

Christian patriotism includes the fulfillment of the commandment of love for one's neighbor, that is, love for the inhabitants of one's country as the closest people.

Patriotism- 1) love, respect for the native Fatherland, people, culture, literature, language, expressed in the desire and readiness to defend state and public interests, protect and preserve their Fatherland, and contribute to the increase of its spiritual wealth. In addition, patriotism is manifested in the ability to rejoice in domestic achievements, in the desire to overcome common troubles and difficulties; 2) a principled political position based on a sense of duty and responsibility to the Fatherland.

Is there anything in common between sound patriotism and Ouranopolitism?

By and large, the doctrine of Ouranopolithesm is based on the position that believers must prefer the Heavenly Fatherland to the earthly one.

In its most extreme forms, Ouranopolitism boils down to the fact that since a Christian aspires to the Kingdom of Heaven, he should not and even has no right to prefer his people, his own people, to other nations and states. home country. At the same time, it is understood that this requirement is unconditional, covers all circumstances, extends to all times.

Both moderate and extremely pronounced Ouranopolitism relies on the words of Jesus Christ, who forbade serving two Lords (), and His call to collect treasures in heaven (). In addition to a strong argument in favor of Ouranopolitism, the warning of the Apostle James is considered that “A man with double thoughts is unsteady in all his ways” (), as well as the direct indication of the Apostle Paul that believers are strangers and strangers on earth (). (cm.: ).

What can be said to this? A Christian really should think about the Kingdom of God, and prefer it to all the kingdoms of this world. He should not serve "two gods" (see:). However, this does not mean that while living on earth, a person does not have the right to have a special feeling for his people, his native Fatherland. We are mainly talking about something else here: about the danger and destructiveness of a person's desire for earthly goods to the detriment of heavenly ones. After all, the blessings of this world often serve as an obstacle for a person on the path of ascent to God, they are temporary in nature, and the desire for Heaven is the desire for eternal life in union with God and His saints, to unceasing joy and bliss.

Examples of caring for loved ones, relatives, and finally, for one's own people are found in Holy Scripture and Tradition of the Church repeatedly.

From the time of the Old Testament, God taught the people of Israel to treat each other as brothers. And this was due not only to the fact that they were all united by a common faith. Indeed, according to the law, special relationships bound people even within each of the twelve tribes, although they were all called to profess the same faith.

The Lord Jesus Christ showed in the parable of the prodigal son how difficult it is to live for a person cut off from his roots, from his home. Sound patriotism just implies love for the Motherland as for one's home, perhaps understood more broadly.

Love for one's people, of course, should not be interpreted as dislike or, worse, hatred for other nations. In addition, patriotism should not be accompanied by a proud exaltation of any nation over another. Such exaltation can lead to nationalism or even Nazism. In this regard, the apostle Paul gave a completely clear instruction, saying that for those who have put on Christ: “there is neither Greek nor Jew” ().

II.3. Christian patriotism simultaneously manifests itself in relation to the nation as ethnic community and as a community of citizens of the state. An Orthodox Christian is called to love his fatherland, which has a territorial dimension, and his blood brothers living all over the world. Such love is one of the ways to fulfill God's commandment to love one's neighbor, which includes love for one's family, fellow tribesmen and fellow citizens.

Patriotism Orthodox Christian should be efficient. It is manifested in the defense of the fatherland from the enemy, work for the good of the fatherland, concern for the arrangement of people's life, including by participating in the affairs government controlled. A Christian is called upon to preserve and develop the national culture, the people's self-consciousness. When a nation, civil or ethnic, is wholly or predominantly a mono-confessional Orthodox community, it can in some sense be perceived as a single community of faith - an Orthodox people.

P.4. At the same time, national feelings can become the cause of sinful phenomena, such as aggressive nationalism, xenophobia, national exclusivity, interethnic hostility. In their extreme expression, these phenomena often lead to the restriction of the rights of individuals and peoples, wars and other manifestations of violence.
Orthodox ethics is contrary to the division of nations into the best and the worst, the belittling of any ethnic or civil nation. All the more disagree with Orthodoxy are the teachings that put the nation in the place of God or reduce faith to one of the aspects of national self-consciousness.

Opposing such sinful manifestations, the Orthodox carries out the mission of reconciliation between the nations involved in hostility and their representatives. So, during interethnic conflicts she does not take sides, except in cases of obvious aggression or injustice shown by one of the parties.

“Patriotism is undoubtedly relevant. This is the feeling that makes the people and every person responsible for the life of the country. Without patriotism there is no such responsibility. If I do not think about my people, then I have no home, no roots. Because the house is not only comfort, it is also the responsibility for the order in it, it is the responsibility for the children who live in this house. A person without patriotism, in fact, does not have his own country. And a "man of the world" is the same as a homeless person.

Recall the gospel parable of the prodigal son. The young man left home, and then returned, and his father forgave him, accepted him with love. Usually in this parable they pay attention to how the father acted when he accepted prodigal son. But we must not forget that the son, having wandered around the world, returned to his home, because it is impossible for a person to live without his foundations and roots.

<…>It seems to me that the feeling of love for one's own people is as natural to a person as the feeling of love for God. It can be distorted. And humanity throughout its history has more than once distorted the feeling invested by God. But it is.
And here is another very important thing. The feeling of patriotism should in no case be confused with a feeling of hostility towards other peoples. Patriotism in this sense is consonant with Orthodoxy. One of the most important commandments of Christianity: do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you. Or how it sounds Orthodox dogma words: save yourself, acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved. The same patriotism. Do not destroy in others, but build in yourself. Then others will treat you with respect. I think that today this is the main task of patriots in our country: the creation of our own country.
Patriarch Alexy II

For me, patriotism is not only love for the land where you were born, for the people in which you grew up and was brought up. After all, as our history has well shown, a people can betray both the land and their own soul. Patriotism is, first of all, loyalty to the Divine plan for your land and your people. For the sake of this, it is not a pity to lay down your soul, because in this way the truth of God is affirmed on earth. But in order to understand this idea, you really need to love your people very much - but honestly, without prejudice; to love and know your history, to live by the values ​​that define the spirit of the people.
Patriarch Kirill

"A man who loves his country for its power is always like an unreliable suitor, a man who loves a woman for her money."
Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Do you love your country? - a question, like a thunder among clear sky. Silence. The facial expression is as if after 50 years of marriage, the wife suddenly asks her husband: “Do you love me?”

Do you love your country? - the question is like a bolt from the blue. Silence. The facial expression is as if a husband suddenly asks his wife after 50 years of marriage: “Do you love me?”.

Often we do not think about how we feel about the country in which we live. They say something in the news about the importance of instilling patriotism in children, about the fact that programs for the patriotic education of the younger generation have been adopted at the federal level. They say yes they say, "and Vaska listens and eats."

Sometimes, however, you feel like a patriot when you root for the Russian sports team sing the anthem. You will hang the St. George ribbon on the car in honor of May 9. You remember, you sigh: “Here, they say, there used to be patriots, they gave their lives for their Motherland, and now ... the wrong people went, the patriots degenerated.”

Often you stand in Sberbank in huge queue, you will fall into an open hatch on the road, an icicle will fall on your head from the roof, and instead of words of love for your homeland, we say something completely different. We scold Mother Russia. Is this also a form of patriotism?

Are those patriots who justify the cruel massacre of the Tajik janitor by their concern for the homeland: it is necessary native land clean up dirt?

Is it possible to be a patriot in some situations, but not in others?

As you can see, today there is an ambiguous situation with the manifestation of patriotism among adult Russians. Most adults do not understand the essence of patriotism, what can we say about children, what kind of education of patriotism in these conditions occurs in them.

They echo, by and large, their parents and teachers. When necessary, patriots: they told the veterans to give flowers - they gave them, to go to the parade - they went, but few people are interested in what is going on inside the children. A beautiful picture is important.

Can we talk about patriotic education, if in family conversations, in ordinary life, children now and then encounter the conversations of adults who condemn today's Russia, with its corrupt government, resource-based economy, and soulless society?

With help systems-vector psychology Yuri Burlan, we will try to understand the essence of patriotism and patriotic education.

What is patriotism

To understand a phenomenon, the first step is to analyze its concept. In Wikipedia we find the definition: “Patriotism (from the Greek compatriot, fatherland) is a moral and political principle, social feeling the content of which is love for the Fatherland and a willingness to subordinate one's private interests to its interests.

According to the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan, the secret of patriotic education is as follows: the basis of paternal feelings, principles, and a warm attitude towards the Motherland is love. Love for one's country is back side hate. Where there is hate, there is no love.

Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov quite rightly remarked: "Patriotism is love for one's country, not hatred for someone else's".

Where does patriotism begin?

Patriotic education is the education of love for the Motherland. Love for the Fatherland, for the place where you were born and raised. The education of patriotism begins in childhood. A child comes into this world with properties given to him by nature - vectors that are initially at the basic level of development of their properties. Such a small animal with archetypal behavior. At the animal level, patriotism is the protection and defense of your territory, which ensures your survival.

"While we burn with freedom,

As long as hearts are alive for honor,
My friend, we will devote to the fatherland
Souls are wonderful impulses!

A. S. Pushkin

Or not filled.

Classics of patriotic education

It is traditionally considered that patriotic education- this is component school and family education. In addition, patriotic education of children preschool age are engaged in kindergarten. At school age, historical social disciplines are called upon to educate patriotism, the educational system of the school with the help of additional education, various extracurricular activities.

Yes, veterans are welcome. They remember significant historical dates. Concerts, exhibitions, excursions to places of military glory are held. Raising patriots.

It is believed that children's public associations and patriotic clubs play an important role in the patriotic education of the new generation.

Discord and vacillations

If we consider modern pedagogical approaches to patriotic education, then their fundamental principles are the continuity of generations, knowledge of history, tolerance.

Realizing that in practice most of the youth are consumerist, extremely cynical about the Motherland, often showing their patriotism by joining the ranks of skinheads, officials even thought about introducing separate lessons of patriotism.

Do you represent the USE in patriotism? Patriotic education is ... and options a, b, c. So far, they have limited themselves to introducing a course of secular ethics or the foundations of religion. They tried the old formula of the Minister of Education of the times of Nicholas I S. S. Uvarov - “Autocracy. Orthodoxy. Nationality" - to resurrect in modern realities. Raise patriotism in children, respect for state institutions through religion.

However, attempts to improve the quality of patriotic education remain inconclusive.

Poll results

Young people justify their anti-patriotic sentiments by saying that the words of adults are strongly dissonant with their deeds (how many children of officials serve in our army?). The most important problems in our society, instead of being solved, are either hushed up, or polished, or ridiculed, but not solved, so the education of patriotism cannot have the proper effect:

Then what is the point of living in Russia? (“Golden youth” votes with their feet.)

And what did the Motherland give me? (Because I am a Russian, my bank account was not replenished, as, say, in the United Arab Emirates.)

We came in large numbers here ... Drive everyone with a filthy broom from Russia. They interfere with my life well.

So, the fact remains: despite the long post-Soviet attempts to educate the new generation as patriots of their country, we see a complete fiasco. A large number of teenagers are either nationalists, or have a very mercantile attitude towards their homeland, or plan to emigrate. The patriotic is out of fashion.

New laws, programs for patriotic education are good, competent, but, alas, they do not work. Hostility, hatred in society only increases like a snowball.

The reasons for such a deplorable state of patriotic education in our country are revealed by Yuri Burlan at the training "System-Vector Psychology".

Be born and become a patriot

Patriotism is love for the Fatherland, for one's people, for one's history and culture. From the point of view of the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan, patriots are not born, but become, that is, all people are initially born with innate properties that a person has to develop up to and including puberty and realize throughout life. Together with proper development patriotism is nurtured. At the same time, the conditions of upbringing and the environment are essential for fulfilling natural desires.

A person becomes a person only in society, the greatest pleasure, as well as grief, comes from the communication of a person with another person. Accordingly, the level of development of society, the team into which the child enters, is very important for his personal development, his feeling of the fullness of life, since conditions are created (or not created) for the disclosure of his potential.

Patriotism is a property inherent in people who possess. For them, the life values ​​are home, family, Motherland, justice, fidelity, decency, honesty, friendship, brotherhood.

And if in Soviet time favorable conditions were created in society for the successful realization of anal people (they could easily get a good education, marry a decent, “clean” woman, achieve honor and respect at work), today it is extremely difficult for them to survive.

They do not know how to adapt, dodge to please circumstances, quickly change their principles, find benefits from any situation, like those who have a skin vector. , are “golden heads” (with upper vectors) and “golden hands”, professionals in their field who tend to work in one place for a long time and polish their skills and abilities.

Now skin values ​​are in demand in society: material wealth, a career, and there is also a demand for skin qualities - flexible thinking, the ability to quickly process information, retrain, and easily adapt to changing conditions. Skin men are more valued in the marriage market.

Accordingly, anal people have few opportunities in modern Russian society for full realization, they do not feel at ease, they feel a general dissatisfaction.

Getting into the world of skin values, the anal child does not get what he wants - there is no value of strong friendship, honesty in relationships, they do not praise and do not appreciate excellent studies. Eventually bright sides the anal vector often does not develop, especially if the upbringing of the anal child is carried out by skin parents who do not understand who is in front of them (driven, scolded for slowness and slow-wittedness), and anal teachers dissatisfied with life. In this case, the feeling of patriotism does not develop and the child becomes a nationalist. He does not love his homeland, but hates everything foreign. It doesn't look like patriotism at all.

It is much easier today for analniks who have not found a place under the sun to unite against America, against the Tajiks, against the neighboring republic, than in the name of love for Russia, since it is much easier to develop hatred, rejection of another culture than love for one's own. In a positive state, anal people love the Motherland, are ready to selflessly defend it, serve for the good of the Fatherland.

Thus, the patriotic upbringing of children cannot exist separately from the level of development of society itself; it cannot work overnight with the help of new laws. After the collapse of the USSR, personal and collective shortages of people with an anal vector, true patriots of the country, who were its powerful rear, ensured the unification of the whole society on healthy patriotism - love for the Fatherland, accumulated for a long time.

Only when creating comfortable conditions for the development and realization in society of each person (both skin, and anal, and others) can we get rid of the collective anchors that do not allow us to educate patriots (and be them ourselves), and also look confidently into the future.

Test: Matvey Vologzhanin

Patriotism is one of the almost instinctive feelings of man. The presence of this quality in us, alas, as always, is very vulgarly explained by biological laws. Here tigers would be very bad patriots, cows too, but wolves, on the contrary, would make wonderful sons of the fatherland.

The fact is that a person was originally adapted for existence in related flock groups (not very large, most likely - 6–10 people each: pairs of parents with grown children). Our methods of nutrition and self-defense were ideally suited for just such a design. At the same time, the mutual affection of members of one flock is so great with us that a person is ready to take significant risks in the name of saving relatives. And this strategy turned out to be the most advantageous for us.

For example, in ruminants that graze in large herds (buffalo, antelopes, gazelles), the “die, but protect your own” strategy turns out to be losing. James Gordon Russell, who has long studied the behavior of wildebeests in the Serengeti, repeatedly noted cases when individual animals, instead of running away from the lions that hunted them, went on a frontal attack. Two or three antelopes, each weighing a quarter of a ton, could well trample down a predator with sharp hooves and injure him. If the whole huge herd would join the actions of the “wrong” wildebeest, only a dark spot on the dusty land of the savannah would remain from the arrogant cats. However, the herd rushed at full speed away from the place of the fight. And even if the daredevils prevailed over the lions, they paid too dearly for it. Russell marked antelope fighters and saw that the wounds received often led to the depletion of the animal, its death, or, at least, to a complete fiasco on the love front. Cowardly and swift-footed selfish individuals lived much longer and multiplied much more abundantly. Therefore, patriotism is unprofitable for ruminants, just as it is not suitable for large predators, who need a large area for hunting in sole possession to feed.

In our country, those who survived and won were those who knew how to fight shoulder to shoulder with members of their flock, ready to take risks and even sacrifice. Groups grew, turned into tribes, into settlements, into the first proto-states - and in the end, we profited and won to such an extent that we created a civilization.

Greek beginning

"Patriotism" - the word Greek origin, "patria" literally translates as "fatherland", and the concept itself arose just in the era of the Greek city-states. Why did it not exist before, when, as we have seen, the phenomenon itself is a thing as ancient as the human race? Because there was no need. Before the Greeks, the idea of ​​patriotism was tied by the then ideologists mainly to symbols (usually to the symbol of their god or king) as the official embodiment of a deity, or, with a weak influence of religion on public life, as among the northern peoples or in China, to the idea of ​​"blood", that is, a sense of community with members of one's own tribe, people who speak the same language and belong to the same people.

The Greeks, who created a civilization of city-states, desperately butting heads with each other, had a complete seam on this ideological front. All of them - and the Spartans, and the Athenians and the Sybarites, and the Cretans - were Greeks. All had the same pantheon of gods (although each city chose one or two favorites who were considered its special patrons), and as a result, Greek mythology turned into a description of endless skirmishes between the gods: Apollo and Ares, Aphrodite and Hera, Athena and Poseidon etc. As for the kings, they simply did not exist in most cities, and where they did exist, the democratically minded Greeks were least of all inclined to deify them.

Therefore, they had to look for a different ideological base. And they very quickly found it, proclaiming patriotism as the first human virtue - the willingness to sacrifice one's interests not for the sake of sunny Mitra, not for the glory of the great Ashurbanipal, but simply for the sake of their fellow citizens, their city, their beloved sunny Athens with their silvery olive groves and old a mother sitting in a modest tunic at a spinning wheel and waiting for her son with a victory ...

This type of patriotism is now called "polis patriotism." (By the way, when the Greeks began to fight regularly with the Persians, their polis patriotism was temporarily, but very quickly replaced by national patriotism, and the then speakers, all these Herodotus, Thucydides and Ctesias, very quickly learned phrases like "great Hellas", "stinking Persians" and “in unity is our strength.”)

The greatest patriots are the Romans

Hellenic ancient norms of ethics, as we know, were taken by the Romans at times more seriously than they were taken by the Greeks themselves. From the point of view of the Greek, a patriot is one who regularly pays taxes, participates in public life, does not violate the laws and exposes cavalry and foot soldiers from his home to the army in case of war. In the era of the Roman Republic, patriotism was synonymous with the word "glory" and was revered above personal valor.

For the Romans, the absolute hero was not Hercules or some other Perseus who would have amused himself by spending his life in various interesting exploits, but Curtius. This semi-mythological character was a fifteen-year-old youth who, having learned that the smoking bottomless crack that crossed Rome after the earthquake, can only be got rid of by throwing there the most expensive thing that is in Rome, shouting: “The most expensive thing in Rome is its patriotic sons. !" - jumped into the crevice along with the horse (the horse, according to the myth, was a so-so patriot, because he tried weakly to recoil before the abyss, but his trick didn’t pass). Blind obedience to the law, renunciation of one's own "I" and readiness to give everything in the name of Rome, including one's own children, is the ideal program of Roman patriotism. This ideology turned out to be the most successful for the aggressor nation: tiny Rome subjugated all of Italy, and then three-quarters of Europe, the Mediterranean and a large part of Asia and Africa. (And then the Romans had to change their national patriotism to imperial, much weaker and unreliable.)

Until now, the patriotism of the era of the Roman Republic is considered a commodity of the highest grade, and many ideologists of statehood today dream in the depths of their souls that the capricious, selfish and lazy idiots called their people would go somewhere, and in return millions of true Romans*.

« Probably, I am also an ideologue of statehood. Moreover, without millions of Romans, I would have completely managed - the first point of the program would already suit me enough. Although I may just be moping: winter, lack of vitamins ... »

Christianity is unpatriotic

At first, Christians were active opponents of patriotism in any form. At best, they agreed to give to Caesar what is Caesar's, that is, to pay taxes, but they were still deeply convinced that there is no Greek, no Jew, no Scythian, no barbarian, but only the kingdom of God, in the presence of which any earthly states - dust and ashes. "Any foreign country is a fatherland for them, and any fatherland is a foreign country." There was no question of a Christian going to serve in the army, for any murder is a sin, this is quite clearly and clearly stated in the Gospel. Of course, the Roman Empire did its best to fight Christianity, because such an infection is capable of cutting through the iron foundations of the state in a matter of years.

But, as it turned out, Christianity turned out to be a very plastic thing. Firstly, it broke up into several directions, which were not a sin to fight with each other; secondly, it turned into an excellent weapon for inspiring peoples to fight against filthy non-Christs, of whom, thank God, there were still in abundance in all Asias, Africas and Americas. As for “Thou shalt not kill,” they managed to gracefully get around this issue: after all, one cannot seriously take ideal, but unattainable norms (although any early Christian would have had enough of a relative if he saw a modern priest busily consecrating an anti-aircraft missile system ). Concerning Orthodox Church, which initially relied on proximity to secular authorities, then here patriotism is a virtue not only not discussed, but simply obligatory.

Critics and the flirtatious state

In the pair "patriot - country" the latter behaves like an inveterate coquette. You must love her and be ready to sacrifice yourself in her name. For her, you are nothing. Moreover, the more insignificant a cog you feel, the more patriotic your essence (“Let me die, but my death is nothing compared to the prosperity of the motherland”). You are a booger, you are zero, you are a trifle, "the voice of one is thinner than a squeak" *).

* - Note Phacochoerus "a Funtika:
« Mayakovsky wrote this when he compared the individual and the party. They say that when he first rumbled these lines with his thunderous bass at a poetry evening, people crawled out of their chairs there. »

Fatherland has full right melancholy you crunch, chew and digest, and all other patriots will only welcome this if they consider that what they eat has benefited the body as a whole. This skewed relationship was expressed very vividly by James Joyce in his famous phrase: "I will not die for Ireland, let Ireland die for me!" (For this phrase, IRA supporters now dislike James Joyce very much.)

Patriotism manifests itself most dangerously where power in the popular imagination is a kind of quintessence of the state. Republican Romans, who perceived their elected bosses as hired servants, were in little danger in this case: they endlessly argued about what was most beneficial for Rome, and, in general, kept power in a tight grip. But where power was traditionally hereditary, despotic, where the king-priest was a symbol of the country, there the loyal patriotism of the majority of the population allowed rare outrages to occur, often dangerous not only for the inhabitants of the country, but also for the fate of the state itself.

Therefore, since the Enlightenment, there have been thinkers who have tried to modify the idea of ​​patriotism - undoubtedly the most useful for the survival of society, but fraught with the most unpleasant complications. Kant, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Hobbes, Henry Thoreau - dozens and hundreds of smartest minds tried to develop the norms of a new patriotism. And they all came to the conclusion that true patriot not only does he not have to be blind and obedient, but his first duty should be to look for spots in the sun. In order to bring your fatherland to the ideal, you need to watch him more strictly than a teenage girl - instantly stopping, albeit at the risk of life, any of his attempts to behave dangerously, stupidly or erroneously. This is how the phenomenon of “critical patriotism” arose, in which a person not only does not praise his country, but, on the contrary, meticulously examines it under a magnifying glass and yells in a loud voice when he notices some kind of filth. One of the programmatic works of this direction was the work of the American writer Henry Thoreau "On the duty of civil disobedience", in which he called the categorical refusal to comply with "wrong", "disastrous" laws for the country the primary duty of a citizen and patriot.

Critical patriots are always in favor of maximum freedom of the press. For the vigilant supervision of society over the work of officials at all levels. For honest teaching of history, no matter how ugly the role of the fatherland may look in some cases, for only such knowledge will give society immunity from repeating mistakes.

Usually, the authorities, and the majority of the country's inhabitants, do not like critics of patriots and call them enemies of the people. They are sure that love should be blind and unreasoning and perceive criticism as a humiliation of their ideals, as a betrayal.

It is not necessary to hope that both these types of patriots will ever come to an agreement.

Modern patriots

AT modern world the attitude to the concept of "patriotism" has changed a lot since the time of the Romans. Painfully close to him are such unpleasant words as "chauvinism", "Nazism" and "xenophobia". Nevertheless, it is not necessary to argue that the time of the patriots has passed: they still have a lot of things to do on this planet.

Even in Europe, which is still shaking at the memory of Schicklgruber, there is an increase in patriotic sentiment. Either in Austria Jörg Haider comes to power, then in France the ears of Le Pen proudly rise in elections, then Pino Rauti seduces the Italians with a promise to clear Milan and Parma of gypsies and Moroccans. This is Europe's response to two factors: to globalization and to the mass emigration of Asian and European residents there.

“Immigrants are uneducated, they work for pennies, they claim our benefits, they bring an outdated culture alien to us, they rape our daughters and eat our baby sons!”

“Multinational corporations are choking small entrepreneurs, they are destroying our identity, they are turning our fields and gardens into asphalt-filled sites of dull progress, they are lobbying for their idiotic laws and feeding us with their rotten McDonald’s!”

National patriotism as a rejection of alien influence is certainly appropriate in a world that wants to remain consistently diverse. Therefore, no matter how decent people frown, looking at Tymoshenko in wheat braids and at Haider in an Alpine hat, it is worth understanding: as long as patriotism of this kind remains in the position “from below”, as long as it is not supported by laws, as long as it does not call for cannibalism and pogroms - its role cannot be called exclusively negative. It is far more dangerous when national patriotism begins to walk hand in hand with state patriotism.

There are only a few countries in the world where state patriotism is one of the obligatory components of the ideology, carefully planted by the authorities. These are, for example, the USA, Russia and Japan.

In the United States, a country with an extremely heterogeneous population, it acts as a cement that holds together all that motley company that is the American people. At the same time, ethnic patriotism in the United States, as everyone understands, is practically excluded.

In Japan, national patriotism and state patriotism are one and the same. For the Japanese, it is a way to preserve their specific way of life (nevertheless, it is blurring from year to year: modern Japanese are already much closer psychologically to representatives of post-Christian cultures than their grandparents). And since the Japanese live almost exclusively in Japan, and there are very few other peoples there, then the harm from “Japan for the Japanese!” a little. Of course, for the Japanese! Please, no one mind, eat your tofu and be healthy.

As for Russia, national Great Russian patriotism, which swelled up like a mushroom in the rain after the collapse of the USSR, is now joining forces with state patriotism, which is assiduously spread by official ideology. Here the task is to concentrate power in the hands of the ruling elite and keep the country from influence centrifugal forces. Historians on this occasion again began to lie a lot, on TV they endlessly talk about evil beeches sitting around the state border, and in the evenings young people go to slaughter Kalmyks and Uzbeks as defilers of the holy Russian land. The fact that national, ethnic patriotism in a multi-ethnic country is a suicidal phenomenon, ideologists, of course, guess, but so far they cannot think of anything to eat the state-patriotic fish and avoid the popular performance of "Horst Wessel" to the balalaika.

So the time of patriotism is far from over yet. It is even possible that it will not pass in the distant future, when the entire planet will be a conglomerate of small atomized countries united in free unions and populated by people who choose their citizenship not by birth, but guided solely by personal sympathies. Still, as we wrote above, patriotism is an instinctive feeling of a person, and each of us feels the need to divide people into “us” and “them”. Even if in fact we are all our own.