"Theory and Practice" resumes the tradition of talking about the words of the Russian language, which cause difficulties in use and are not always understood correctly. In the new issue of the heading " Vocabulary"Let's deal with important figures in the history of mankind - passionaries - and understand how this concept applies to each of us. About those whose ambiguous ideas turn the world upside down, and why in the history of every nation there comes a “time of wimps” - in the T&P material.

Passionarity is an internal thirst for activity aimed at achieving some goal, which, as a rule, is difficult for a person to control and explain to himself. It is related to the ability to receive external environment more energy than is required for individual and species survival. A passionate personality (passionary) subconsciously uses excess energy to create a state of internal overstress and fixation on a certain idea. Such ideas are always associated with a change in the surrounding world. The desire for activity in such individuals may be conscious or not. Their goals are often illusory, outside of rational explanations and objective circumstances, but to them the need to achieve them may seem more important than their own lives, and even more so the lives and happiness of other people.

Most of the actions performed by people are somehow dictated by the instinct of self-preservation - personal or species. The latter is manifested in the desire to reproduce and raise offspring. Passionary, for the sake of his goals, is ready to sacrifice and own life, and the lives of their offspring, which are either not born or left without due attention. Sacrifice is the highest manifestation of passionarity. Death for the sake of achieving a goal does not frighten and does not stop such people, it does not even seem to bother them. In this sense, such a personality trait can be called an anti-instinct.

Although the philosopher and classic of modern natural science Vladimir Vernadsky spoke about the existence of the biochemical energy of living matter and its influence on the human psyche, the term “passionarity” was introduced into science in the middle of the last century by Lev Gumilyov. Perhaps it is logical that the theory of a person's ability to self-sacrifice and extra effort was developed by a person of a very difficult fate. The son of the poets Nikolai Gumilyov and Anna Akhmatova was first arrested at 25, spent a total of 12 years in correctional camps, fought at the front and, despite all this, achieved success in several fields of science (history, ethnology, archeology, geography), becoming great Soviet scientists.

The term "passionarity", one of the key in his works, Gumilyov borrowed from Dolores Ibarruri, one of the leaders and most prominent personalities in the Spanish Communist Party of the 20th century. Her performances during civil war The 30s in Spain (Ibarruri is the author of the historical phrase “¡No pasarán!”), And after that in the Soviet emigration, were bright and exciting, which is why her fellow party members called her Passionaria, which means “passionate”. Contagiousness is an important property of passionaries. Such people, as a rule, are brilliant speakers, they know how to inspire the will to win, infect with an idea or a certain attitude. In many ways, military leaders are based on a similar effect, speaking before the battle. That is why the words of coaches during breaks in sports matches are so important, and for the same reason, when one of the soldiers shouts “Hurray!” and goes on the attack, the rest rush after.

According to Gumilyov's theory, the way of life, worldview, level and direction of development of groups of people directly depend on the number of passionaries included in it.

Passionaries are individuals of a productive type: inventors, discoverers, creators who contribute to the accumulation and transformation of energy and the rationalization of life; active, enterprising and risky people. Passionary can have both high level abilities, and low. Being a feature of the mental constitution, passionarity does not depend on external factors and does not belong to the sphere of ethics, it equally easily gives rise to exploits and crimes, creativity and destruction, good and evil, but not indifference.

Among the clear examples of passionaries are Kant, Christopher Columbus, Hitler, Newton, Napoleon, Alexander the Great, Peter I, Joan of Arc, Mikhail Lomonosov. But, of course, as widely as on the pages of textbooks, passionarity is also found in Everyday life among activists, entrepreneurs and fighters for a "bright tomorrow" - not always successful, but always extremely energetic.

The type of personality that is in the middle between two passionate extremes is the so-called harmonic personalities, or harmonics. Passionarity and the instinct of self-preservation they are approximately on the same level. Gumilyov wrote about them this way: “In the vast majority of normal individuals, both of these impulses are balanced, which creates a harmonious personality, intellectually complete, efficient, accommodating, but not overactive.” We are talking here about a conscientious, reliable and responsible person, who is most often a good family man and worker. He will always do enough, but he will not do something superfluous.

Modes, that is, types of passionarity, are different. For example, pride gives birth to generals and tyrants with a thirst for power and historical glory; greed - businessmen and scientists who accumulate knowledge instead of money; vanity pushes to demagogy and creativity; jealousy causes cruelty, and when applied to an idea, creates fanatics and martyrs. Each of these inclinations, multiplied by a high energy potential and motivation, creates passionaries of a certain kind. Since we are talking about energy and impulses, and not about conscious decisions, moral assessments are not applicable here. In addition, according to Gumilyov, the level of passionarity of a person is determined from birth. The reasons for passionary shocks, that is, the appearance of a large number of passionaries in one area, the scientist considered the activation of cosmic radiation. This opinion was disputed by many of his colleagues, criticizing such assumptions for excessive mysticism.

According to the theory of Lev Gumilyov, both individuals and entire ethnic groups (peoples) have passionarity. Moreover, the way of life, worldview, level and direction of development of such groups of people, in his opinion, directly depends on the number of passionaries included in it and, accordingly, the general level of passionarity of this ethnic group. "The Passionary Theory of Ethnogenesis" is the main work of the scientist, which explains the forms of interaction, achievements, decline and death of peoples by changing the phases of ethnogenesis. Lev Nikolaevich distinguished seven such phases:

Rise - intensive growth of the passionary tension of the ethnos. It is characterized by the growth of all types of its activity;

Akmatika is a temporary stabilization of passionarity at the highest level for an ethnic group. It is characterized by the predominance of passionaries of the sacrificial type, a high frequency of events in ethnic history;

Fracture - a sharp decrease in passionary tension. It is accompanied by sharp conflicts of passionaries within the ethnic system, an increase in the number of subpassionaries;

Inertia - a smooth continuation of the decrease in the level of passionarity. Accompanied by fortification state power, intensive accumulation of material and cultural values, interest in the achievements of the past;

Obscuration - the final reduction of passionary tension to a level below zero (homeostatic) due to a significant increase in the number of subpassionaries. Degradation of the ethnic and social system, the impossibility of constructive activities, with the exception of those aimed at meeting basic needs;

Regeneration - a short-term restoration of the passionarity of the ethnos due to the passionaries who have survived on the outskirts of the area;

The relic phase is the completion of the process of ethnogenesis, the stabilization of passionary tension at an extremely low level. An existence that excludes both excesses and any historical activity.

The duration of the entire cycle of ethnogenesis is approximately 1,200–1,500 years. The first four phases, according to the theory, last approximately 250–300 years, and the final ones can be very short, because in a state of low passionarity, the probability of assimilation or destruction of the ethnic group by other peoples is high. But under favorable conditions, the last phases can last indefinitely, and the ethnos can exist as a monument to itself.

How to say:

Wrong: “This is an extremely passionate idea!” An idea can be exciting, passionate - a person or a group of people.

That's right: "We have a passionary Pasha: he won the Olympiad in physics, he does not leave the house without a galvanometer and covered all the walls in the entrance with formulas."

That's right: "The passionarity of this family is high, their initiatives exhausted everyone around."

Somehow often, in a variety of places and contexts, I hear the word "passionary" and something tells me that this is not fashion. Something is in the air, something really is and something really will be.

The tension grows. The volume of bold, seemingly contrary to common sense and self-preservation instinct projects is increasing. Increasingly, I meet people who take up non-commercial, but correct, good and truly interesting things, they say something strange about the mission, path, destiny, gifted talent ...

All this is curious. Moreover, it is inspiring and contagious. Yes, in the air - passionarity virus! I wonder who's next?

And by the way, what is he? "passionary spirit"?

In general, the concept of passionarity was proposed at one time by Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov. And this term comes from the word "passio" - passion.

In fact, passionarity- this is the ability and desire to change the environment, the violation of inertia, the potential for activity and progress, an irresistible internal desire for activity aimed at the implementation of a super-important, remote, irrational goal. BUT passionary- this is a person of an "energy-abundant" type, active, risky, enthusiastic and even obsessed, capable of sacrificial behavior in order to achieve something that he considers valuable.

Someone (I don’t remember whom) I saw the phrase - “passionary is a person who is driven by an anti-instinct”. A passionary cannot live in peace, everyday worries without a captivating and alluring goal - he is inclined to be a hero and will not stand up for the price. Moreover, he will sacrifice not only himself, but also others. “Excesses” and “overheating” are also possible, when passionarity gets out of control of reasonable expediency and turns from a creative force into a destructive one. not all leaders are considered passionaries.

The degrees of passionarity are different, but in order for it to have manifestations that are visible and recorded by history, it is necessary that there be many passionaries. In other words, this is not only an individual trait, but also a population one. People with this trait, under favorable conditions for themselves, do (because they cannot help doing) actions that, summed up, break the inertia of tradition and create something fundamentally new, including initiating new ethnic groups. That is why there is a concept "social passionarity".

It is still not clear whether passionarity is an inherited trait, but it is known that it is contagious, since it is quite ordinary people, located in the immediate vicinity of the epicenter, begin to behave as if they themselves were passionate. At the same time, having moved away at a sufficient distance, they regain their usual behavior. This phenomenon is called "passionary induction". And, in general, it is quite actively exploited. For example, in military affairs, when several passionaries are able, by their example and behavior, to raise and set fire to an entire army.

Yes, the role of passionaries in the development and initiation of breakthroughs and transitions to a new level is enormous, but their number in the general human mass is always insignificant. Yes, and they are also doomed, as they burn uncontrollably or perish ...

The main social part is formed people of harmonious type(those whose passionarity impulse and self-preservation desire are balanced) are not overactive, pacifying flashes of passionarity, maintaining homeostasis, reproducing offspring, multiplying material values according to already created samples, improving the quality of life, accommodating.

And in the phases of stagnation and regression, there are a great many " subpassionaries"- people with insufficient energy (negative passionarity) - inert, incapable of creation, devoid of imagination, but able to serve for money, creating and maintaining such rules that protect them from threats to personal comfort, "recipients of bread rations and spectators of circus performances" preaching "life for oneself", thoughtlessly calm and indifferent ...

What else can be added to this?

Gumilyov formulated the law according to which the total "work" performed by the people (ethnos) is directly proportional to the "passionary tension" (the amount of passionarity in the system, divided by the total number of people). Naturally, there are different stages and degrees of expression of passionary tension. There are seven in total:

• lifting phase- which is characterized by an increase in passionary tension
• acromatic phase– stabilization of the level of passionary voltage at the highest level
• break phase- or the beginning of a decrease in the passionary voltage
• inertial phase- an inexorable decrease in the level of passionary tension, accompanied by the strengthening of state power and social institutions, intensive accumulation of material and cultural values
• phase of obscuration (or even degradation)- an increase in the number of subpassionaries and a decrease in passionarity below zero
• regeneration phase- short-term restoration of passionarity due to the few survivors on the periphery of the system of passionaries
• relic phase– stabilization of passionary voltage at an extremely low level and vegetation

At the time of the presentation of thoughts (less than half a century ago), the author assumed that the Russian ethnos is in an inertial phase - a decrease in passionary tension. On the other hand, a crisis intensification of passionarity is possible.

Mda-ah-ah-ah… but the fact is that, as a rule, the consequence of the growth of passionarity of society is war or revolution… Are there other ways to relieve tension?

And here the fun begins! Ideas are being expressed about the possibility of creating some kind of "passionary reactors" - generators of social energy, in which passionarity could grow and be maintained without turning into an explosive force!

It's funny. People with special value-semantic attitudes alternative source energy! Moreover, managed. And why not "yes"?!

Only now the concept of passionarity has not been accepted by any scientific community and, in general, no one has experimented. But for some reason it all seems to me very, very "delicious". "Passionary reactors" operating in a certain social environment and gradually transforming society - in general, it would be nice to try.

Although what am I talking about? After all, everything has been happening for a long time - an infrastructure is being built that attracts carriers of passionarity. Business incubators, communities, networks, clubs and movements of like-minded people living in specific sites or swinging from point to point, interesting regional initiatives and projects - all this is a kind of social and energy clusters. Of course, this is not yet a "reactor", but already a way of accumulating energy, including through the mechanism of induction - infection. This is where the feeling of this very “passionary spirit” comes from, concentrating in certain places - “foci of passionarity”.

Whether something revolutionary will come out of all this over time or whether the transformations will be gradual, time will tell ... For me, a revolution is preferable, although a long distance will not frighten.

"I will always dream, and I will not stop until the bullet stops"

Ernesto Che Guevara

More than is required only for personal and species self-preservation, and to give out this energy in the form of purposeful work to modify their environment. They judge the increased passionarity of a person by the characteristics of his behavior and psyche.

Passionaries are people of a new warehouse in the population and break the established way of life, because of which they come into conflict with society. They are organized into groups consortia), those, in turn, become the nuclei of new ethnic groups, usually formed 130-160 years after the “shock”, and put forward ideologies that become their dominants.

In the context [ clarify] the definition is used in the meaning of "entrepreneurial, active and risk-taking people, striving to complete the task, overcoming the fear of death."

Sources

There are or external references in this article or section, but the sources of individual statements remain unclear due to the lack of footnotes. Statements not , may be questioned and removed. You can improve the article by adding more precise references to the sources.

• Gumilyov L. N. Ethnogenesis and biosphere of the Earth. - St. Petersburg. : Crystal, 2001. - ISBN 5-306-00157-2.
• Michurin V. A.. - M., 1993.

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An excerpt characterizing Passionaries

On the same evening, Pierre went to the Rostovs to fulfill his assignment. Natasha was in bed, the count was in the club, and Pierre, after handing over the letters to Sonya, went to Marya Dmitrievna, who was interested in finding out how Prince Andrei received the news. Ten minutes later Sonya came in to Marya Dmitrievna.
“Natasha certainly wants to see Count Pyotr Kirillovich,” she said.
- Yes, how can I bring him to her? It’s not tidied up there,” said Marya Dmitrievna.
“No, she got dressed and went out into the living room,” said Sonya.
Marya Dmitrievna only shrugged her shoulders.
- When this Countess arrives, she completely exhausted me. Look, don’t tell her everything, ”she turned to Pierre. - And scolding her spirit is not enough, so pitiful, so pitiful!
Natasha, emaciated, with a pale and stern face (not at all ashamed as Pierre expected her), stood in the middle of the living room. When Pierre appeared at the door, she hurried, obviously undecided whether to approach him or wait for him.
Pierre hastily approached her. He thought that she, as always, would give him a hand; but, coming close to him, she stopped, breathing heavily and dropping her hands lifelessly, in exactly the same position in which she went out into the middle of the hall to sing, but with a completely different expression.
“Pyotr Kirilych,” she began to say quickly, “Prince Bolkonsky was your friend, he is your friend,” she corrected herself (it seemed to her that everything had just happened, and that now everything is different). - He told me then to turn to you ...
Pierre sniffed silently, looking at her. He still reproached her in his soul and tried to despise her; but now he felt so sorry for her that there was no room for reproach in his soul.
"He's here now, tell him... to just... forgive me." She stopped and began to breathe even faster, but did not cry.
“Yes ... I will tell him,” Pierre said, but ... “He did not know what to say.

1) Passionarity- (from lat. - passion): a term introduced into scientific circulation by L.N. Gumilyov to characterize the irresistible desire of people to realize their ideals. P., according to Gumilyov, underlies all acts that leave traces in history. It is formed as a result of powerful bursts of the biochemical energy of the cosmos, discovered and described by V. N. Vernadsky, concentrated in relatively small areas earth's surface. Based on this idea, Gumilyov created a passionary theory of ethnogenesis, in the center of which is the idea of ​​an ethnos as a biospheric, non-social phenomenon of human behavior. Passionate "shocks" give rise to increased social activity, which, under certain historical and geographical conditions, contributes to the formation of new ethnic groups and ethnic systems (superethnoses). P.'s energy ensures the creation and existence in the Earth's biosphere of the entire diversity of ethnic systems - natural groups of people with a common stereotype of behavior, which is imprinted by the geographical environment, cultural tradition and ethnic environment. The passionary theory of ethnogenesis develops the concept of the natural brotherhood of the Russian people with the peoples living on the territory of Eurasia, formulated by Savitsky and other ideologists of Eurasianism. Today, this is embodied in the implementation of the initiative and the mighty will of the President of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev on the creation of the Eurasian Economic Community, other forms of cooperation and mutual assistance of the peoples and states of Eurasia.

2) Passionarity- (from lat. Passio - passion) - a term introduced into scientific circulation by Gumilyov to characterize the irresistible desire of people to realize their ideals. P., according to Gumilyov, underlies all acts that leave traces in history. It is formed as a result of powerful bursts of the biochemical energy of the cosmos, discovered and described by V. I. Vernadsky, concentrated in relatively small areas of the earth's surface. Based on this idea, Gumilyov created a passionate theory of ethnogenesis, in the center of which is the idea of ​​an ethnos as a biospheric, non-social phenomenon of human behavior. Passionate "shocks" give rise to increased social activity, which, under certain historical and geographical conditions, contributes to the formation of new ethnic groups and ethnic systems (superethnoses). P.'s energy ensures the creation and existence in the Earth's biosphere of the entire diversity of ethnic systems - natural groups of people with a common stereotype of behavior, which is influenced by the geographical environment, cultural tradition, and ethnic environment. The passionate theory of ethnogenesis develops the concept of natural brotherhood formulated by Savitsky and other ideologists of Eurasianism in Rus. people with peoples living on the territory of Eurasia.

3) Passionarity- (French "passion", "passion", "passionaire", "passionate") - a term introduced by Lev Gumilyov and describing the psychological and social type of active idealists, creators, heroic personalities that appear in different proportions at different stages historical cycle ethnogenesis.

Passionarity

(from Latin - passion): a term introduced into scientific circulation by L.N. Gumilyov to characterize the irresistible desire of people to realize their ideals. P., according to Gumilyov, underlies all acts that leave traces in history. It is formed as a result of powerful bursts of the biochemical energy of the cosmos, discovered and described by V. N. Vernadsky, concentrated in relatively small areas of the earth's surface. Based on this idea, Gumilyov created a passionary theory of ethnogenesis, in the center of which is the idea of ​​an ethnos as a biospheric, non-social phenomenon of human behavior. Passionate "shocks" give rise to increased social activity, which, under certain historical and geographical conditions, contributes to the formation of new ethnic groups and ethnic systems (superethnoses). P.'s energy ensures the creation and existence in the Earth's biosphere of the entire diversity of ethnic systems - natural groups of people with a common stereotype of behavior, which is imprinted by the geographical environment, cultural tradition and ethnic environment. The passionary theory of ethnogenesis develops the concept of the natural brotherhood of the Russian people with the peoples living on the territory of Eurasia, formulated by Savitsky and other ideologists of Eurasianism. Today, this is embodied in the implementation of the initiative and the mighty will of the President of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev on the creation of the Eurasian Economic Community, other forms of cooperation and mutual assistance of the peoples and states of Eurasia.

(from lat. Passio - passion) - a term introduced into scientific circulation by Gumilyov to characterize the irresistible desire of people to realize their ideals. P., according to Gumilyov, underlies all acts that leave traces in history. It is formed as a result of powerful bursts of the biochemical energy of the cosmos, discovered and described by V. I. Vernadsky, concentrated in relatively small areas of the earth's surface. Based on this idea, Gumilyov created a passionate theory of ethnogenesis, in the center of which is the idea of ​​an ethnos as a biospheric, non-social phenomenon of human behavior. Passionate "shocks" give rise to increased social activity, which, under certain historical and geographical conditions, contributes to the formation of new ethnic groups and ethnic systems (superethnoses). P.'s energy ensures the creation and existence in the Earth's biosphere of the entire diversity of ethnic systems - natural groups of people with a common stereotype of behavior, which is influenced by the geographical environment, cultural tradition, and ethnic environment. The passionate theory of ethnogenesis develops the concept of natural brotherhood formulated by Savitsky and other ideologists of Eurasianism in Rus. people with peoples living on the territory of Eurasia.

(French "passion", "passion", "passionaire", "passionate") - a term introduced by Lev Gumilyov and describing the psychological and social type of active idealists, creators, heroic personalities that appear in different proportions at different stages of the historical cycle of ethnogenesis.

The meaning of the word "passionary" is unknown to a wide range of people. However, it often appears in television programs and some media when it comes to famous personalities or the history of states. Therefore, it is not surprising that an inquisitive person wants to understand what the word “passionate” means. This will help the information presented in this review.

General definition

Considering the meaning of the word "passionary", it should be noted that this term refers to one of the characteristics of both the human person and the state. Today we will pay the most attention to the consideration of personality.

A passionate person seems to be gnawed from within by an irrepressible thirst for activity. It is aimed at achieving a goal that is usually difficult for him not only to control, but also to explain to himself.

It is associated with the ability of such people to receive from the external environment more energy than the one that he needs to survive - as a person and species unit.

Excessive energy by a passionate personality is subconsciously directed to the formation of an internal state of overstress and concentration on some idea.

Death doesn't scare

To understand what "passionate" means, you need to understand that the ideas about which in question are always aimed at changing the environment. Although at the same time the desire for activity is not always conscious, and the goals are often illusory.

But for people obsessed with them, they seem more important than their very lives. For the sake of their goals, they are ready to sacrifice it. Sacrifice is the highest manifestation of passionarity. This lack of fear of one's own death in order to achieve the goal can be called an anti-instinct.

Origin of the term

The idea that there is a biochemical energy of a living being that affects the human psyche was expressed by the philosopher and naturalist Vladimir Vernadsky. However, the very term "passionarity" was introduced into science by the Soviet and Russian scientist Leo Gumilyov in the middle of the last century.

It is one of the key words in his writings and is borrowed from Dolores Ibarruri, who was one of the brightest leaders and orators in the Spanish Communist Party in the 20th century. She was called Passionaria, which means "passionate."

An important property of passionate people is their contagiousness. Speaking to the audience, they are able to ignite them with the will to win, ideas, thoughts. Like, for example, military leaders who speak before battle. According to Gumilyov's passionate theory, the worldview, way of life, direction of development of the groups they belong to depend on the number of such people.

The personality of the passionary

Passionate personalities belong to the productive type. They are pioneers, inventors, creators. They contribute to the accumulation of energy and its transformation, the rationalization of life. These people are risky, active and enterprising.

At the same time, their ability level is not necessarily high. And passionarity can be directed both to exploits and to crimes, both to creativity and destruction, both for good and for evil. But indifference is completely excluded here.

Here are illustrative examples of passionaries:

• Columbus.
• Newton.
• Joan of Arc.
• Alexander the Great.
• Mikhail Lomonosov.
• Peter I.
• Hitler.
• Napoleon.

Gumilyov scale

For a better understanding of the meaning of the word "passionary", it is advisable to consider the scale presented by Gumilyov. On it he placed three types of people. At one end were passionaries, and at the other - subpassionaries.

In the middle, between the two extremes, are harmonic personalities (harmonics). Their self-preservation instinct and passionarity are balanced.

Reasons for the appearance

In conclusion, studying the question of the meaning of the word "passionate" let's talk about the reasons for the appearance of such people. According to the views, the level of passionarity of a person is set from birth.

In his opinion, the appearance in one area a large number passionaries is due to the activation of cosmic radiation. Many of his colleagues criticized this position, reproaching the scientist's assumptions for excessive mysticism.

According to the theory, there can be both individuals and entire nations. Moreover, how and in what direction social groups develop, in his opinion, is directly dependent on the number of passionaries included in them. And, therefore, from the general level of passionarity that characterizes this ethnic group.

The main work of Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov is "The Passionary Theory of Ethnogenesis". In it, he explained the forms of interaction of peoples with each other, their achievements, decline and death by changing the phases of ethnogenesis. The latter is understood as the process of formation of an ethnic community on the basis of various components.