A person is characterized by many qualities: caring, sympathy, conflict-free. It can be principled, conservative or liberal, soft or hard, sincere or spiritual. The word "spiritual" is now often used in different meanings: a believer, a representative of the clergy (spiritual person), just an educated and cultured person.
No one will argue that the spirituality of society depends on the people who make it up. Asking the question of what is the spiritual essence of man, one can hear many different opinions. Of course, which one to choose the degree of immersion in the spiritual, everyone decides for himself. Someone has just begun to take the path to excellence, someone has already made significant progress along it, and to someone this way seems so burdensome that they turned off it.
What is a spiritual person?
If you look at the dictionaries, you can see the emergence of the modern concept of "spiritual man." At a time when there were few atheists, society was built on faith in God, a divine spark was recognized in man. V. I. Dahl did not include this concept in the dictionary at all (1863), and interpreted the word “spiritual” as “belonging to the spirit”. Regarding the use of the word "spiritual" in relation to a person, he gives the following interpretation: "Everything in it, relating to God, soul, moral strength, mind and will."
D. N. Ushakov also does not include the concept of “spiritual man” in the dictionary (1935-1940). He points to the colloquial version of the use of the adjective in combination “a person of spiritual rank”, making a distinction between the spiritual and the secular. S.I. Ozhegov in 1949 described the word "spiritual" as referring to religion (music, academy, school).
S. 1998 Kuznetsov in 1998 distinguishes two understandings: the first - relating to religion and the second - having a philosophical view of the world. It is interesting that the definition of a spiritually undeveloped person in the Dictionary of Synonyms looks more than unpresentable: cattle, backward, wretched.
Psychologists about spirituality
From the end of the nineteenth century in psychology begins the study of spirituality as a psychological category. They clarified the connections of the so-called spiritual activities representing art and culture with the human psyche. After there were still studies - collective spirituality, higher spirituality as a source of creative inspiration and others. As a result, it was established that a person’s spirituality is something subjective. It is impossible to research using science.
It was determined that spirituality distinguishes a person from other forms of life, bears a social character. A person can use spirituality, and from the extent to which he does this, he learns the meaning of his life and his role and place in it.
Now psychologists consider the physical, material nature of man only a part of him. The second part, no less important, is spirituality. That is, the totality of his moral and moral values. Considering a person as a spiritual being, it became possible to talk about the psychology of spirituality.
The definition of a spiritual person
Psychologists acknowledge that now in society it is impossible to meet an absolutely spiritual person. This is utopia, but everyone must strive for excellence. Then society will change its focus on destruction. In other words, peace and harmony with nature, society and oneself is the goal of modern man.
High moral standards are characteristic of a spiritual person; he shows wonderful qualities that characterize him as a balanced person, capable of high deeds, ready to come to the aid of his neighbor. He strives for truth, learns it and lives in harmony with it.
Man as a spiritual being cannot be satisfied only with material well-being. He can and is ready to sacrifice it to satisfy his spiritual needs. There are cases in history when a person, having lost the meaning of life, faded away and even died. And, on the contrary, having an important goal (usually much more valuable than his own life), a person survived in difficult conditions. All these facts indicate that it is impossible to simplify human nature and reduce it only to physical well-being.
Freedom of the Spiritual Man
Lawyers have the concept of "the spirit and letter of the law." Since everyone lives according to the laws that he formed in his "I", a spiritual and moral person will act in the spirit of the law, and not in letter. Example: A married employee offers an intimate meeting. The wife will not know about her. What choice will he make?
When a person is subjected to any temptation, the soulless succumbs to him and loses his freedom - he becomes dependent on the temptation. A spiritual person will not lose freedom, will not be tempted. Psychiatrists claim that a constant struggle with oneself to do what one does not want leads to a neurosis. Therefore, spirituality preserves mental health - a person does what he wants, but he wants to follow moral ideals. He will cease to respect himself if he follows his wishes.
Right to choose
All people have the right to choose how to live, how to act. What moral values to possess. A person who wants to get what he wants takes care only of himself. Having received the desired, he does not find satisfaction. A spiritual person thinks not only about himself. He sees his place in society, his role in it. And correlates his own desires with that which is higher and more significant than himself.
For some, this is service to God, for someone - science. Such people are happy with what they can give - “it is more blessed to give, not receive, ” as recorded in Acts 20:35. These are the spiritual people.
Spirituality imposes responsibility
A spiritually mature person realizes that along with the freedom to act as he considers right, responsibility for the application of this freedom also comes. Regarding this, there is such an example: an airplane can roll on the ground, but not this makes it an airplane. Now when he is already in the sky, then it becomes obvious that this is an airplane. So with spirituality there is no situation in which the spiritual qualities of a person appear, it is not visible. But when the decisive moment arrives, everyone becomes aware of its high moral nature - it manifests itself in this situation.
Psychology considers spirituality, freedom and responsibility as the most important components of a personality. They are closely related. A soulless person will not want to be responsible for his actions, he will seek out the guilty person. A spiritual man, having made a mistake, admits it.
The spiritual sphere of society
The society of people is divided into spiritual and material spheres. Of course, the material sphere is important - it provides a physical existence. But in order to manifest himself as a spiritual person, he needs an appropriate sphere.
The spiritual sphere of man includes religion, science, morality, culture, art, law. Pedagogy found that grafting the basics of culture from an early age allows you to bring up a harmonious, responsible personality. Doctors have found that the connections in the brain that are formed when playing musical instruments expand the mathematical abilities of a person. The development of creative abilities, which provides art, expands the scope of freedom and teaches you to make innovative decisions.
The spiritual realm has a powerful effect on the individual. The conclusion is obvious: a person, as a social being, cannot fully develop without society.
Spiritual guidelines
In society, there have always been accepted norms that were considered spiritual guidelines. A huge role in their formation was played by the Holy Scriptures. The two largest religions based on it - Christianity Islam - profess 33% and 23% of the world population, respectively. On the basis of the Ten Commandments, social, economic and criminal laws and the Constitutions of many countries are compiled.
The golden rule recorded in Matthew 7:12 calls for what you would like people to do. This is not just maintaining neutrality according to the formula “do no harm to anyone, that you should not do harm” and is not a common saying calling for retribution “like you to me and I to you”. This was taught by many philosophers of antiquity. Christ taught actively to do good, so that he himself would be given good. And he added that this is the whole law and the prophets.
The spiritual guidelines of a person as a person are even more connected with Scripture, even if he never read it. Due to public morality, the concepts of bad or good, decent or dishonest, acceptable or unacceptable keep the individual within certain limits. Literature is being built on the basis of public morality - a powerful means of educating spirituality. A detailed description by the author of the deep motives of the hero's actions make it possible to obtain their own experience. Among the great writers who indicated spiritual guidelines are L. N. Tolstoy, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. P. Chekhov, C. Dickens, and E. M. Remarque.
Spiritual Hero in Literature
The writer's mission was expressed by A. S. Pushkin in the work “The Prophet”. It echoes the biblical account of the calling of the prophet Isaiah. In the book bearing the name of the prophet, chapter 6 is devoted to this. The verb, that is, the word, to burn the hearts of people - this is the task of the prophet and writer who is gifted.
Daniel Defoe described the life of Robinson Crusoe away from civilization. Thanks to moral values from the Bible, he created a beautiful world on the island. Not wild, but melted in a difficult test.
Jonathan Swift endowed his Gulliver with moral qualities. Some of his actions became common nouns.
The little Prince of Exupery impresses with the wisdom of simple logic based on love.
The heroes of Jan Eyre, A. I. Kuprin, Jack London, V. Kataev have been accompanying many since childhood. Life difficulties are experienced with them, their character qualities are worthy of imitation.
Personal qualities
In pedagogy, they distinguish qualities that are brought up to form a spiritual personality. This is the ability to take responsibility for their actions, understanding their influence on others. A spiritual person is, first of all, a moral person. He is characterized by honesty, decency, inner purity, nobility. He despises lies and theft. He is characterized by tolerance for everyone, respect for people of the opposite sex, mutual assistance, concern for those in need, self-control.
The behavior of such a person is not limited to the above qualities. He constantly works on himself to achieve even higher ideals. This is ensured by internal freedom - personal autonomy. He does not violate the laws of society, not because of fear of punishment, but because they are the laws of his personality.
Influence on the society of socially spiritual person
No man has influenced history more than Jesus Christ. He taught his followers to spread what they learned. How many times have they tried to destroy them, as Christ himself! But they still carried the truth into the world. Religion is named after their teacher, the beginning of a new era is considered from his birth.
John Gutenberg invented the printing press to spread the scriptures, and this had a huge impact on the culture of the whole world. Books became much cheaper, and everyone could afford to buy them. Cyril and Methodius, Greek missionaries, created the Slavic alphabet for translating the Holy Scriptures and this enriched our language. Many Russian proverbs are actually taken from the Bible.
Leo Tolstoy highly appreciated the Word of God and in his works comprehensively examined good and evil. His novels were highly appreciated by M. Gandhi, who led the struggle for the liberation of India. He spoke about the importance of Christian doctrine that all world problems would be solved if people really adhered to it.
As can be seen from these examples, even one spiritual person is an undoubted benefit for society.
