It is my deep conviction. Dmitry Likhachev: “I have been dealing with Russia all my life and there is nothing more dear to me than Russia. About love for the Motherland

DEAR FRIENDS!

Before you is the book "Letters about the Good and the Beautiful" by one of the outstanding scientists of our time, the chairman of the Soviet Cultural Foundation, Academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev. These "letters" are not addressed to anyone in particular, but to all readers. First of all - young people who still have to learn life, follow its difficult paths.

The fact that the author of the letters Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev is a person whose name is known on all continents, an outstanding connoisseur of domestic and world culture, elected an honorary member of many foreign academies, bearing others honorary titles major scientific institutions makes this book especially valuable.

And the advice that you can get by reading this book applies to almost all aspects of life.

This is a collection of wisdom, this is the speech of a benevolent Teacher, whose pedagogical tact and the ability to speak with students is one of his main talents.

For the first time the book was published in our publishing house in 1985 and has already become a bibliographic rarity - this is evidenced by numerous letters that we receive from readers.

This book is being translated into different countries are translated into many languages.

Here is what D.S.Likhachev himself writes in the preface to the Japanese edition, in which he explains why this book was written:

Likhachev Dmitry Sergeevich (1906-1999) - Soviet and Russian philologist, culturologist, art critic.

“It is my deep conviction that goodness and beauty are the same for all peoples. They are one - in two senses: truth and beauty are eternal companions, they are one among themselves and are the same for all peoples.

Lying is evil for everyone. Sincerity and truthfulness, honesty and unselfishness are always good.

In my book "Letters about Good and Beautiful", intended for children, I try to explain with the simplest arguments that following the path of good is the most acceptable and only path for a person. He is tested, he is faithful, he is useful - both to a person alone and to society as a whole.

In my letters, I do not try to explain what good is and why a kind person is beautiful inwardly, lives in harmony with himself, with society and with nature. There can be many explanations, definitions and approaches. I strive for something else - to specific examples based on the properties of general human nature.

I do not subordinate the concept of good and the accompanying concept of human beauty to any worldview. My examples are not ideological, because I want to explain them to children even before they begin to subordinate themselves to any certain ideological principles.

Children are very fond of traditions, are proud of their home, their family, as well as their village. But they willingly understand not only their own, but also other people's traditions, someone else's worldview, they grasp what all people have in common.

I will be happy if the reader, no matter what age he belongs to (it happens, after all, that adults read children's books), finds in my letters at least a part of what he can agree with.

Harmony between people different nations- this is the most precious and now the most necessary for humanity. "

LETTERS TO YOUNG READERS

For my conversations with the reader, I have chosen the form of letters. This is, of course, a conditional form. In the readers of my letters, I imagine friends. Letting my friends make it easy for me to write.

Why did I arrange my letters this way? At first I write in my letters about the purpose and meaning of life, about the beauty of behavior, and then I move on to the beauty of the world around us, to the beauty that is revealed to us in works of art. I do this because in order to perceive the beauty of the environment, a person himself must be mentally beautiful, deep, stand on the right life positions... Try to hold the binoculars in trembling hands - you will not see anything.

D.S. Likhachev. Letters about the good and the beautiful / Comp. and general ed. G.A. Dubrovskaya. - Ed. 3rd. - M .: Det. lit., 1989 .-- 238 p. ISBN 5-08-002068-7 (Excerpts from the book)













ABOUT CAREERISM



It is my deep conviction that goodness and beauty are one for all peoples. They are united in two senses: truth and beauty are eternal companions, they are one among themselves and are the same for all peoples.

In my book "Letters about Good and Beautiful", intended for children, I try to explain with the simplest arguments that following the path of good is the most acceptable and only path for a person. He is tested, he is faithful, he is useful - both for a person alone and for all of humanity as a whole.

My letters are not an attempt to explain what good is and why a kind person is internally beautiful, lives in harmony with himself, with society and with nature. There can be many explanations, definitions and approaches. I strive for something else - for specific examples, based on the properties of general human nature.

I will be happy if the reader, no matter what age he belongs to (it happens, after all, that adults read children's books), finds in my letters at least a part of what he can agree with.

Consent between people, different nations is the most precious and now the most necessary for humanity.

According to D. Likhachev(168 words)

Exercise

  1. By graphically explaining the setting of a dash between subject and predicate.

DEAR FRIENDS!

Before you is the book "Letters about the Good and the Beautiful" by one of the outstanding scientists of our time, the chairman of the Soviet Cultural Foundation, Academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev. These "letters" are not addressed to anyone in particular, but to all readers. First of all - young people who still have to learn life, follow its difficult paths.
The fact that the author of the letters, Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, is a person whose name is known on all continents, an outstanding connoisseur of domestic and world culture, elected an honorary member of many foreign academies, and bearing other honorary titles of major scientific institutions, makes this book especially valuable.
After all, only an authoritative person can give advice. Otherwise, such advice will not be heeded.
And the advice that you can get by reading this book applies to almost all aspects of life.
This is a collection of wisdom, this is the speech of a benevolent Teacher, whose pedagogical tact and the ability to speak with students is one of his main talents.
For the first time the book was published in our publishing house in 1985 and has already become a bibliographic rarity - this is evidenced by numerous letters that we receive from readers.
This book is being translated in different countries, translated into many languages.
Here is what D.S.Likhachev himself writes in the preface to the Japanese edition, in which he explains why this book was written:
“It is my deep conviction that goodness and beauty are the same for all peoples. They are one - in two senses: truth and beauty are eternal companions, they are one among themselves and are the same for all peoples.
Lying is evil for everyone. Sincerity and truthfulness, honesty and unselfishness are always good.
In my book "Letters about Good and Beautiful", intended for children, I try to explain with the simplest arguments that following the path of good is the most acceptable and only path for a person. He is tested, he is faithful, he is useful - both to a person alone and to society as a whole.
In my letters, I do not try to explain what good is and why a kind person is beautiful inwardly, lives in harmony with himself, with society and with nature. There can be many explanations, definitions and approaches. I strive for something else - for specific examples, based on the properties of general human nature.
I do not subordinate the concept of good and the accompanying concept of human beauty to any worldview. My examples are not ideological, because I want to explain them to children even before they begin to subordinate themselves to any certain worldview principles.
Children are very fond of traditions, are proud of their home, their family, as well as their village. But they willingly understand not only their own, but also other people's traditions, someone else's worldview, they grasp what all people have in common.
I will be happy if the reader, no matter what age he belongs to (it happens, after all, that adults read children's books), finds in my letters at least a part of what he can agree with.
Consent between people, different nations is the most precious and now the most necessary for humanity. "

LETTERS TO YOUNG READERS

First letter
LARGE IN SMALL

In the material world, the big cannot fit into the small. In the sphere of spiritual values, it is not so: in the small, much more can fit, and if you try to fit the small in the big, then the big will simply cease to exist.
If a person has a great goal, then it should be manifested in everything - in the most seemingly insignificant. You have to be honest in the inconspicuous and accidental: only then will you be honest in fulfilling your great duty. A great goal encompasses the whole person, is reflected in each of his actions, and one should not think that a good goal can be achieved by bad means.
The adage “the end justifies the means” is destructive and immoral. Dostoevsky showed this well in Crime and Punishment. The main thing actor of this work - Rodion Raskolnikov thought that by killing a disgusting old woman-usurer, he would get money, with which he could then achieve great goals and bless humanity, but suffers an internal collapse. The goal is distant and unrealizable, but the crime is real; it is terrible and cannot be justified by anything. It is impossible to strive for a high goal with low means. You have to be equally honest in both big and small.
General rule: to observe the big in the small - it is necessary, in particular, in science. Scientific truth is the most precious thing and must be followed in every detail. scientific research and in the life of a scientist. If one strives in science for “small” goals - for proving by “force”, contrary to the facts, for the “interestingness” of conclusions, for their effectiveness or for any forms of self-advancement, then the scientist will inevitably fail. Maybe not immediately, but ultimately! When exaggerations of the research results obtained or even minor juggling of facts begin and scientific truth is pushed into the background, science ceases to exist, and the scientist himself, sooner or later, ceases to be a scientist.
The big thing must be resolutely observed in everything. Then everything is easy and simple.

Second letter
YOUTH IS ALL LIFE

Third letter
THE BIGGEST

And what is the biggest goal of life? I think: to increase the goodness in the environment around us. And good is, first of all, the happiness of all people. It is composed of many things, and every time life presents a person with a task that is important to be able to solve. You can do good to a person in small things, you can think about big things, but small things and big things cannot be separated. Much, as I have already said, begins with little things, arises in childhood and in those close to you.
The child loves his mother and his father, brothers and sisters, his family, his home. Gradually expanding, his affections spread to school, village, city, his entire country. And this is already a very large and deep feeling, although one cannot stop there and one must love a person in a person.
You have to be a patriot, not a nationalist. There is no need to hate every other family, because you love yours. There is no need to hate other nations because you are a patriot. There is a deep difference between patriotism and nationalism. In the first - love for your country, in the second - hatred for everyone else.
The big goal of good begins with a small one - with the desire for good for your loved ones, but, expanding, it captures an ever wider range of issues.
It's like circles on the water. But the circles on the water, expanding, become weaker and weaker. Love and friendship, expanding and spreading to many things, acquire new strength, become ever higher, and the person, their center, is wiser.
Love shouldn't be unaccountable, it should be smart. This means that it must be combined with the ability to notice shortcomings, to deal with shortcomings - both in a loved one and in those around them. It must be combined with wisdom, with the ability to separate the necessary from the empty and the false. She doesn't have to be blind. Blind delight (you can't even call it love) can lead to dire consequences. A mother who admires everything and encourages her child in everything can bring up a moral monster. Blind admiration for Germany ("Germany above all" - the words of a chauvinistic German song) led to Nazism, blind admiration for Italy - to fascism.
Wisdom is mind combined with kindness. A mind without kindness is cunning. Cunning, however, gradually withers away and, sooner or later, certainly turns against the cunning one. Therefore, the cunning is forced to hide. Wisdom is open and reliable. She does not deceive others, and above all herself wise man... Wisdom brings the sage a good name and lasting happiness, brings happiness, reliable, long-term and that calm conscience, which is most valuable in old age.
How can I express the commonality between my three positions: "Big in small", "Youth is always" and "Biggest"? It can be expressed in one word, which can become the motto: "Loyalty." Loyalty to those great principles that a person should be guided by in big and small, loyalty to his impeccable youth, to his homeland in the broad and narrow sense of this concept, loyalty to family, friends, city, country, people. Ultimately, fidelity is fidelity to truth - truth-truth and truth-justice.

The fourth letter
THE BIGGEST VALUE IS LIFE

"Inhale - exhale, exhale!" I hear the voice of a gymnastics instructor: “To breathe in deeply, you have to exhale well. First of all, learn to exhale, to get rid of the “exhaust air”.
Life is, first of all, breathing. "Soul", "spirit"! And he died - first of all - "stopped breathing." So they thought from time immemorial. "Ghost out!" - it means "died".
It is "stuffy" in the house, "stuffy" and in moral life. Thoroughly exhale all the petty worries, all the vanity of everyday life, get rid of, shake off everything that impedes the movement of thought, that crushes the soul, does not allow a person to accept life, its values, its beauty.
A person should always think about the most important for himself and for others, throwing off all empty worries.
We must be open to people, tolerant of people, to look for the best in them first of all. The ability to seek and find the best, simply “good,” “obscured beauty,” enriches a person spiritually.
To notice the beauty in nature, in a village, city, street, not to mention in a person, through all the barriers of little things, means expanding the sphere of life, the sphere of that vital space in which a person lives.
I have been looking for this word for a long time - sphere. At first I said to myself: “We need to expand the boundaries of life” - but life has no boundaries! Is not land plot enclosed by a fence - borders. Expanding the limits of life is not suitable for expressing my thoughts for the same reason. Expanding the horizons of life is already better, but still something is not right. Maximilian Voloshin has a well-invented word - "okoy". This is all that the eye contains, that it can grasp. But here, too, the limitations of our everyday knowledge interfere. Life cannot be reduced to everyday impressions. We must be able to feel and even notice that which is beyond the limits of our perception, to have, as it were, a “presentiment” of something new that is opening or that can open to us. The greatest value in the world is life: someone else's, one's own, the life of the animal world and plants, the life of culture, life throughout its entire length - both in the past, and in the present, and in the future ... And life is infinitely deep. We always meet with something that we did not notice before, that amazes us with its beauty, unexpected wisdom, uniqueness.

The fifth letter
WHAT IS THE SENSE OF LIFE

You can define the goal of your existence in different ways, but the goal must be - otherwise it will not be life, but vegetation.
You must also have principles in life. It is good even to state them in a diary, but in order for the diary to be "real", you cannot show it to anyone - write for yourself only.
Every person should have one rule in life, in his purpose of life, in his principles of life, in his behavior: one must live life with dignity, so that he would not be ashamed to remember.
Dignity requires kindness, generosity, the ability not to be a narrow egoist, to be truthful, good friend find joy in helping others.
For the sake of the dignity of life, one must be able to refuse small pleasures and considerable ones too ... To be able to apologize, to admit a mistake before others is better than to play around and lie.
In deceiving, a person first of all deceives himself, because he thinks that he has successfully lied, but people understood and, out of delicacy, kept silent.

Letter six
PURPOSE AND SELF-ASSESSMENT

When a person consciously or intuitively chooses a Goal, a life task for himself in life, he at the same time involuntarily evaluates himself. By what a person lives for, one can judge his self-esteem - low or high.
If a person sets himself the task of acquiring all elementary material wealth, he evaluates himself at the level of these material goods: as the owner of a car of the latest brand, as the owner of a luxurious summer house, as part of his furniture set ...
If a person lives to bring good to people, to alleviate their suffering in case of illness, to give people joy, then he evaluates himself at the level of this humanity. He sets himself a goal worthy of a man.
Only a vital goal allows a person to live his life with dignity and receive real joy. Yes, joy! Think: if a person sets himself the task of increasing goodness in life, bringing people happiness, what failures can befall him?
Not the one who should be helped? But how many people don't need help? If you are a doctor, then, perhaps, you misdiagnosed the patient? This happens with the best doctors. But in total, you still helped more than you did not. No one is immune from mistakes. But the most main mistake, a fatal mistake - an incorrectly chosen main task in life. Not promoted - chagrin. I didn't have time to buy a stamp for my collection - it was a shame. Someone has a better furniture than yours or a better car - again a grief, and what a great deal!
Setting himself the task of a career or an acquisition, a person experiences in total much more grief than joy, and risks losing everything. And what can a person lose who rejoiced in every good deed? It is only important that the good that a person does would be his inner need, would come from an intelligent heart, and not only from the head, would not be only one “principle”.
Therefore, the main task in life must necessarily be a broader task than just a personal one; it should not be limited only to one's own successes and failures. It should be dictated by kindness to people, love for family, for your city, for your people, country, for the whole universe.
Does this mean that a person should live like an ascetic, not take care of himself, not acquire anything and not rejoice in a simple promotion? Not at all! A person who does not think about himself at all is an abnormal phenomenon and personally unpleasant to me: there is some kind of breakdown in this, some kind of ostentatious exaggeration in himself of his kindness, disinterestedness, significance, there is some kind of contempt for other people , the desire to stand out.
Therefore, I am only talking about the main task in life. And this main task in life does not need to be emphasized in the eyes of other people. And you need to dress well (this is respect for others), but not necessarily "better than others." And you need to compile a library for yourself, but not necessarily larger than that of your neighbor. And it's good to buy a car for yourself and your family - it's convenient. Just don’t turn the secondary into the primary, and you don’t need the main purpose of life to exhaust you where it is not needed. When you need it is another matter. There we will see who is capable of what.

Seventh letter
WHAT UNITS PEOPLE

Care floors. Caring strengthens relationships between people. It strengthens the family, strengthens friendship, strengthens fellow villagers, residents of one city, one country.
Track a person's life.
A man is born, and the first concern for him is the mother; gradually (after a few days) the father's care for him comes into direct connection with the child (before the child was born, the care for him was already, but was to a certain extent "abstract" - the parents were preparing for the appearance of the child, dreamed of him).
Feelings of caring for others appear very early, especially in girls. The girl does not speak yet, but is already trying to take care of the doll, babysitting her. Boys, very young, love to pick mushrooms, fish. Girls also love to pick berries, mushrooms. And they collect not only for themselves, but for the whole family. They carry it home, prepare it for the winter.
Gradually, children become objects of ever higher care and they themselves begin to show real and widespread care - not only about the family, but also about the school, where their parental care placed them, about their village, city and country ...
Caring is growing and becoming more altruistic. Children pay for taking care of themselves by caring for old parents, when they can no longer repay for caring for children. And this concern for the elderly, and then for the memory of deceased parents, seems to merge with the concern for the historical memory of the family and homeland as a whole.
If concern is directed only to oneself, then an egoist grows up.
Caring - unites people, strengthens the memory of the past and is directed entirely towards the future. This is not the feeling itself - it is a concrete manifestation of the feeling of love, friendship, patriotism. A person should be caring. A careless or carefree person is most likely an unkind person and does not love anyone.
Morality is eminently characterized by a sense of compassion. In compassion there is a consciousness of one's unity with humanity and the world (not only with people, nations, but also with animals, plants, nature, etc.). The feeling of compassion (or something close to it) makes us fight for cultural monuments, for their preservation, for nature, individual landscapes, for respect for memory. In compassion there is a consciousness of one's unity with other people, with a nation, people, country, universe. That is why the forgotten concept of compassion requires its complete revival and development.
Marvelous correct thought: "A small step for man, a big step for mankind."
There are thousands of examples of this: it costs nothing to be kind to one person, but it is incredibly difficult for humanity to become kind. It is impossible to correct humanity; it is easy to correct yourself. To feed a child, to lead an old man across the street, to make way for a seat on a tram, to work well, be polite and courteous ... and so on, etc. - all this is simple for a person, but incredibly difficult for everyone at once. That's why you need to start with yourself.
Good cannot be stupid. A good deed is never stupid, because it is selfless and does not pursue the goal of profit and "smart result". You can call a good deed "stupid" only when it clearly could not achieve the goal or was "falsely kind", mistakenly kind, that is, not kind. I repeat, a truly good deed cannot be stupid, it is beyond evaluations from the point of view of the mind or not the mind. So good and good.

Eighth letter
BE FUN BUT DON'T BE FUNNY

They say that the content determines the form. This is true, but the opposite is also true, that the content depends on the form. The famous American psychologist of the beginning of this century D. James wrote: "We cry because we are sad, but we are also sad because we cry." Therefore, let's talk about the form of our behavior, about what should become our habit and what should also become ours. internal content.
It was once considered indecent to show with all your appearance that you had a misfortune, that you were in grief. A person should not have to impose his depressed state on others. It was necessary to maintain dignity even in grief, to be equal with everyone, not to immerse in oneself and remain as friendly and even cheerful as possible. The ability to maintain dignity, not to impose on others with your grief, not to spoil the mood of others, to be always equal in dealing with people, to be always friendly and cheerful is a great and real art that helps to live in society and the society itself.
But how funny do you have to be? Noisy and obsessive fun is tiresome to others. The young man who is always "pouring out" witticisms ceases to be perceived as behaving with dignity. He becomes a jester. And this is the worst thing that can happen to a person in society, and this ultimately means a loss of humor.
Don't be funny.
Not being funny is not only the ability to behave, but also a sign of intelligence.
You can be funny in everything, even in the manner of dress. If a man carefully chooses a tie to a shirt, a shirt to a suit, he is ridiculous. Excessive concern for your appearance is immediately visible. We must take care of dressing decently, but this concern for men should not go beyond certain boundaries. A man who is overly concerned about his appearance is unpleasant. A woman is another matter. Men, on the other hand, should only have a hint of fashion in their clothes. Ideally clean shirt, clean shoes and a fresh but not very bright tie are enough. The suit may be old, it shouldn't just be untidy.
In conversation with others, be able to listen, be silent, be able to joke, but rarely and on time. Take up as little space as possible. Therefore, at dinner, do not put your elbows on the table, embarrassing your neighbor, but also do not try to be too "the soul of society." Observe the measure in everything, do not be intrusive even with your friendly feelings.
Do not be tormented by your shortcomings, if you have them. If you stutter, don't think that this is too bad. Stutterers are excellent speakers, pondering every word they say. The best lecturer of the Moscow University, famous for its eloquent professors, the historian V.O. Klyuchevsky stuttered. A slight squint can give importance to the face, lameness to movement. But if you are shy, don't be afraid of it either. Don't be ashamed of your shyness: shyness is very cute and not funny at all. It only becomes funny if you try too hard to get over it and feel embarrassed about it. Be simple and condescending to your shortcomings. Don't suffer from them. It is not worse when an “inferiority complex” develops in a person, and with it anger, hostility towards others, envy. A person loses what is best in him - kindness.
There is no better music than silence, silence in the mountains, silence in the forest. There is no better “music in a person” than modesty and the ability to keep silent, not to be promoted to the first place. There is nothing more unpleasant and stupid in the appearance and behavior of a person than importance or noisiness; there is nothing more funny in a man than excessive concern for his costume and hairstyle, calculated movements and a "fountain of witticisms" and anecdotes, especially if they are repeated.
In behavior, be afraid to be funny and try to be modest, quiet.
Never dismiss, always be level with people, respect the people around you.
Here are some tips, it would seem, about the secondary - about your behavior, about your appearance, but also about your inner world: do not be afraid of your physical disabilities. Treat them with dignity and you will be elegant.
I have a girlfriend, a little hunchbacked. Honestly, I never tire of admiring her grace on those rare occasions when I meet her in museums at opening days (everyone meets there - that's why they are cultural holidays).

I learned about academician Dmitry Likhachev quite recently. No, of course, I knew that in Russia there was such a scientist Likhachev, but in what area and what he was known for, I had no idea. I am sure that I am not alone, because Academician Likhachev died in 1999, and a lot of time has passed - enough for the person to be simply forgotten. A whole generation has already grown up that does not remember Dmitry Likhachev. Paying attention to interests modern society, youth, I am almost sure that knowledge about the works of Dmitry Sergeevich, about the greatest legacy of the scientist is reduced to a minimum, and we should all be ashamed - schools, universities, state. structures, parents ... After all, Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev is the property of Russia, a national hero and patriot of Russia, whose life has become a great feat of standing for the spirituality of our people, for our native culture, for everything good and beautiful.

The greatest gift of this great son of Russia to his people is his books, articles, letters and memoirs. His literary works were addressed not only to scientists, but also to the widest circle of readers, including children. They are written in surprisingly simple and truly beautiful language.

Throughout his life, Dmitry Sergeevich wrote more than 1000 articles, left about 500 scientific and 600 journalistic works. Including more than 40 books on the history of Old Russian literature and Russian culture, many of which have been translated into different languages. He made a significant contribution to the study of ancient Russian art. Circle scientific interests Likhachev is very extensive: from the study of icon painting to the analysis of the prison life of prisoners. By the way, the first treatise Likhachev was published while serving his sentence in the Solovetsky camp special purpose- “Card games of criminals”. (Was arrested on February 8, 1928 for participating in the student circle "Space Academy of Sciences" - served 4.5 years.)

Throughout all the years of his activity, he was an active defender of Russian culture, a promoter of morality and spirituality.

One of the most interesting and valuable books of D. Likhachev is the book-testament: "Letters about the good and the beautiful." These "letters" (46 letters) are not addressed to anyone in particular, but to all readers. First of all - young people who still have to learn life, follow its difficult paths. The advice you can get from this book covers almost all aspects of life.

This book is being translated in different countries, translated into many languages. Here is what D.S.Likhachev himself writes in the preface to the Japanese edition, in which he explains why this book was written:

“It is my deep conviction that goodness and beauty are the same for all peoples. They are one - in two senses: truth and beauty are eternal companions, they are one among themselves and are the same for all peoples. Lying is evil for everyone. Sincerity and truthfulness, honesty and unselfishness are always good.

In my book "Letters about Good and Beautiful", intended for children, I try to explain with the simplest arguments that following the path of good is the most acceptable and only path for a person. He is tested, he is faithful, he is useful - both to a person alone and to society as a whole.

In my letters, I do not try to explain what good is and why a kind person is beautiful inwardly, lives in harmony with himself, with society and with nature. There can be many explanations, definitions and approaches. I strive for something else - for specific examples, based on the properties of general human nature ...

  • … I will be happy if the reader, no matter what age he belongs to (it happens, after all, that adults read children's books), finds in my letters at least a part of what he can agree with. Consent between people, different nations is the most precious and now the most necessary for humanity. "

"From letters about good" I really liked one of the wisest sayings of the scientist:

“There is light and darkness, there is nobility and baseness, there is purity and filth: you have to grow up to the first, and should you go down to the second? Choose worthy, not easy "

I will definitely dedicate big article to this work, I will publish excerpts of the most interesting, in my opinion, letters of advice. For the most impatient I leave a link to the book. Read online or download.

Today I will publish the most disturbing thoughts of Dmitry Sergeevich about Russia and Russians, about Russian culture and art, about the Russian mentality and character of the Russian people. The most interesting excerpts from the most famous scientific works, interview.

"I have been dealing with Russia all my life and there is nothing more dear to me than Russia"

O national idea:

Russia has no special mission and never had! The people will be saved by culture, there is no need to look for any national idea, this is a mirage. Culture is the foundation of all our movements and successes. Life on a national idea will inevitably lead first to restrictions, and then intolerance to another race, to another people, to another religion arises. Intolerance is bound to lead to terror. It is impossible to seek the return of any single ideology again, because a single ideology will sooner or later lead to fascism.

About Russia:

Now the idea of ​​so-called Eurasianism has come into vogue. A part of Russian thinkers and emigrants, strangled in their national feeling, was tempted by an easy solution to the complex and tragic issues of Russian history, proclaiming Russia a special organism, a special territory oriented mainly towards the East, Asia, and not the West. From this it was concluded that European laws were not written for Russia, and Western norms and values ​​were not at all suitable for it. In fact, Russia is not Eurasia at all. Russia is undoubted Europe in religion and culture.

"Russia will be alive as long as the meaning of its existence in the present, past or future remains a mystery and people will puzzle themselves: why did God create Russia?"

On the difference between patriotism and nationalism:

Nationalism is a terrible scourge of our time. Despite all the lessons of the 20th century, we have not learned to truly distinguish between patriotism and nationalism. Evil disguises itself as good. You have to be a patriot, not a nationalist. There is no need to hate every other seven, because you love yours. There is no need to hate other nations because you are a patriot. There is a deep difference between patriotism and nationalism. In the first - love for your country, in the second - hatred for everyone else. Nationalism, fencing itself off from other cultures by a wall, destroys its own culture, drains it. Nationalism is a manifestation of a nation's weakness, not its strength. Nationalism is the worst of the misfortunes of the human race. Like any evil, it hides, lives in darkness and only pretends that it is generated by love for their country. And it is actually generated by anger, hatred, towards other peoples and towards that part of their own people that does not share nationalist views. Nations, in which patriotism is not replaced by national "acquisitions", greed and misanthropy of nationalism, live in friendship and in peace with all peoples. We should never and under no circumstances be nationalists. We Russians do not need this chauvinism.

On defending your civil position:

Even in dead-end cases, when everything is deaf, when you are not heard, be so kind as to express your opinion. Do not be silent, speak up. I will force myself to speak so that at least one voice can be heard. Let people know that someone is protesting, that not everyone is reconciled. Each person must declare their position. You cannot publicly - at least to friends, at least to family.

About conscience:

Conscience is basically a memory to which it joins moral judgment perfect. But if the perfect is not preserved in memory, then there can be no evaluation. There is no conscience without memory. Conscience is not only the guardian angel of human honor, it is the helm of his freedom, it takes care that freedom does not turn into arbitrariness, but shows a person his true path in the confused circumstances of life, especially modern one.

About the events of August 1991:

In August 1991, the people of Russia won a great social victory, which is comparable to the deeds of our ancestors during the time of Peter the Great or Alexander II the Liberator. The will of a united nation finally threw off the yoke of spiritual and bodily slavery, which for almost a century fettered the natural development of the country. Liberated Russia rapidly began to gain speed of movement towards the highest goals of modern universal human existence.

About the heads of the GKChP:

Do not fall for the hypocrisy of the so-called leaders - the leaders of the conspiracy. Which of the invaders of power in the old days did not swear to the people by their interests? Don't believe this. Because they could defend the interests of the people much earlier. They were responsible for the situation in the country, they already had power.

About Stalinist repressions:

We suffered huge, millions of victims from Stalin. The time will come when all the shadows of the victims of Stalin's repressions will stand before us like a wall, and we will no longer be able to pass through them.

On the trial of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union:

All so-called socialism was built on violence. Nothing can be built on violence, neither good nor even bad, everything will fall apart, just as it fell apart in our country. We had to judge the Communist Party. Not people, but the crazy ideas themselves, which justified monstrous crimes unparalleled in history.

On the intelligentsia:

The intelligentsia, in my life experience, includes only people who are free in their convictions, who do not depend on the coercion of economic, party, government, and do not obey ideological obligations. The main principle of intelligence is intellectual freedom, freedom as a moral category. Not single intelligent person only from your conscience and from your thoughts. I am personally confused by the widespread expression "creative intelligentsia" - as if some part of the intelligentsia in general can be "uncreative." All intellectuals, to one degree or another, "create", and on the other hand, a person who writes, teaches, creates works of art, but who does it on request, on assignment in the spirit of the requirements of a party, state or any customer with an "ideological bias" from my point of view, not an intellectual, but a mercenary.

About love for the Motherland:

Many are convinced that to love the Motherland is to be proud of it. No! I was brought up on another love - love-pity. Our love for the Motherland was least of all like pride in the Motherland, its victories and conquests. Now it is difficult for many to understand. We did not sing patriotic songs - we cried and prayed. I wanted to keep Russia in my memory, as the children sitting at her bedside want to keep in memory the image of a dying mother, to collect her images, show them to friends, tell about the greatness of her martyrdom. My books are, in essence, memorial notes, which are served “for peace”: you don’t remember everyone when you write them — you write down the most dear names, and these were for me precisely in ancient Russia.

On the murder of the Tsar's family in Yekaterinburg:

The century began in Russia with a terrible, unheard-of atrocity - the shooting of the tsar, children, servants. And without any even semblance of a court. And the fact that at the end of the century we realized this and repented is simply asking for a textbook for the edification of descendants. The century began with murder and ends with the burial of its victims. This event of a moral nature will undoubtedly affect the further fate of Russia.

On the protection of animal rights:

A person must defend the rights of animals, regardless of whether he needs them in his household or not. Dolphins, whales, elephants, dogs are thinking but dumb creatures. For them, a person is obliged to speak, write, even sue. The consumer attitude towards living things in the world is immoral.

On the attitude towards the death penalty:

I cannot but be against the death penalty, for I belong to Russian culture. The death penalty corrupts those who carry it out. Instead of one killer, a second appears, the one who carries out the sentence. And therefore, no matter how the crime grows, the death penalty should not be applied. We cannot be for the death penalty if we consider ourselves people belonging to Russian culture.

About jargon, about slang:

"And our language is getting poorer ..."

“Flaunting rudeness in language, like flaunting rudeness in manners, untidiness in clothes, is a widespread phenomenon, and it basically indicates the psychological vulnerability of a person, his weakness, and not at all about strength. The speaker seeks to suppress the feeling of fear, fear, sometimes just apprehension with a rude joke, a harsh expression, irony, cynicism.<…>Any slang, cynical expressions and swearing are based on weakness. People who “spit with words” demonstrate their contempt for the traumatic phenomena of life because they bother them, torture them, worry that they feel insecure against them.

A truly strong and healthy, balanced person will not speak loudly unnecessarily, will not swear and use slang words. After all, he is sure that his word is so weighty ”.

About the little things in life:

“… There are no unimportant affairs or duties, no trifles, no“ little things of life ”. Everything that happens in a person's life is important for him ... In life one must have service - service to some cause. Let this business be small, it will become big if you will be faithful to it.

… In the material world, the big one cannot fit into the small one. In the sphere of spiritual values, it is not so: in the small, much more can fit, and if you try to fit the small in the big, then the big will simply cease to exist.

If a person has a great goal, then it should be manifested in everything - in the most seemingly insignificant. You have to be honest in what is inconspicuous and accidental, then only you will be honest in fulfilling your great duty. A great goal encompasses the whole person, is reflected in each of his actions, and one should not think that a good goal can be achieved by bad means ... "


Academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev. Yurchenko / RIA Novosti

An excerpt from an article by Academician Dmitry Likhachev published 20 years ago. Reflections on the Russian character:

“... I do not preach nationalism, although I write with sincere pain in my native and beloved Russia. I am simply for a normal view of Russia on the scale of its history. The reader, I think, will eventually understand what is the essence of such a "normal view", in which features of the national Russian character are hidden the true reasons for our current tragic situation.

... The fate of a nation does not fundamentally differ from the fate of a person. If a person comes into the world with free will, he can choose his own destiny, he can take the side of good or evil, he is responsible for himself and judges himself for his choice, dooming recognition to extreme suffering or happiness - no, not by himself, but As the Supreme Judge of my involvement in good (I deliberately choose cautious expressions, because no one knows exactly how this judgment takes place), then any nation is also responsible for its own fate.

And you don't need to blame anyone for your "unhappiness" - neither on insidious neighbors or conquerors, nor on chances, because accidents are far from accidental, but not because there is some kind of "fate", fate or mission, but due to the fact that accidents have specific reasons ...

  • One of the main reasons for many accidents is the national character of the Russians.

He is far from united. In it, not only different traits are crossed, but traits in a "single register": religiosity with extreme godlessness, disinterestedness with hoarding, practicality with complete helplessness in the face of external circumstances, hospitality with misanthropy, national self-spitting with chauvinism, inability to fight with suddenly manifested magnificent features firmness.

"Senseless and merciless," said Pushkin about the Russian revolt, but in moments of revolt these features are directed primarily at themselves, at the rebels, sacrificing their lives for the sake of an idea that is meager in content and incomprehensible in expression.

“The Russian man is broad, very broad - I would narrow him down,” declares Ivan Karamazov in Dostoevsky.

Those who speak about the tendency of Russians to extremes in everything are absolutely right. The reasons for this require special discussion. I will only say that they are quite specific and do not require faith in fate and "mission".

The centrist positions are difficult, if not simply unbearable for a Russian person.

This preference for extremes in everything, combined with extreme gullibility, which caused and still causes the appearance of dozens of impostors in Russian history, led to the victory of the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks won partly because they (the crowd perceived) wanted more change than the Mensheviks, who supposedly proposed much less. Such arguments, which were not reflected in documents (newspapers, leaflets, slogans), I nevertheless remembered quite clearly. It was already in my memory.

  • The misfortune of the Russians lies in their gullibility. This is not frivolity, far from it. Sometimes gullibility appears in the form of gullibility, then it is associated with kindness, responsiveness, hospitality (even in the famous, now extinct, hospitality).

That is, this is one of reverse sides of the order in which positive and negative traits are usually built up in the counter-dance of a national character. And sometimes gullibility leads to the construction of lightweight plans for economic and state salvation (Nikita Khrushchev believed in pig breeding, then in rabbit breeding, then he worshiped corn, and this is very typical of the Russian commoner).

  • Russians themselves often laugh at their own gullibility: we do everything at random and I suppose, we hope that "the curve will take out."

These words and expressions, which perfectly characterize typical Russian behavior even in critical situations, cannot be translated into any language. This is not at all a manifestation of frivolity in practical issues, so it cannot be interpreted - it is a belief in fate in the form of distrust of oneself and belief in one's own destiny.

The desire to leave the state "guardianship" towards dangers in the steppe or in the forests, to Siberia, to look for a happy Belovodye and in this search to please to Alaska, even move to Japan.

Sometimes it is a belief in foreigners, and sometimes a search for the culprits of all misfortunes in these same foreigners. Undoubtedly, the fact that they were non-Russians - Georgians, Chechens, Tatars, etc., played a role in the careers of many of "their" foreigners.

The drama of Russian gullibility is aggravated by the fact that the Russian mind is by no means bound by everyday worries, it seeks to comprehend history and its life, everything that happens in the world, in the deepest sense.

  • A Russian peasant, sitting on the heap of his house, discusses with friends about politics and Russian fate - the fate of Russia. This is a common occurrence, not an exception!

Russians are ready to risk the most precious, they are reckless in fulfilling their assumptions and ideas. They are ready to starve, suffer, even go on self-immolation (as the Old Believers burned themselves in hundreds) for the sake of their faith, their convictions, for the sake of an idea. And this took place not only in the past - it is now. (Didn't the voters believe in the obviously unrealizable promises of Zhirinovsky, now sitting in the State Duma?)

We, Russians, need to finally find the right and strength to be responsible for our present ourselves, to decide our own policy - both in the field of culture, and in the field of economics, and in the field of state law. Relying on real facts, on real traditions, and not on various kinds of prejudices associated with Russian history, on myths about the world-historical "mission" of the Russian people and on their alleged doom due to mythical ideas about some particularly difficult legacy of slavery, which did not exist, serfdom, which many had, allegedly the absence of "democratic traditions" that we actually had, the alleged lack of business qualities, which were super-sufficient (the development of Siberia alone is worth it), and so on. etc.

  • We had a history no worse and no better than that of other peoples.

We ourselves need to be responsible for our current situation, we are responsible to the times and should not blame everything on our ancestors worthy of all respect and veneration, but at the same time, of course, we must take into account the grave consequences of the communist dictatorship.

  • We are free - and that is why we are responsible. The worst thing is to blame everything on fate, at random and I suppose, to hope for a "curve". The "curve" will not take us out!

We do not agree with the myths about Russian history and Russian culture, created mainly under Peter, who needed to push off from Russian traditions in order to move in the direction he needed. But does this mean that we should calm down and assume that we are in a "normal position"?

    No, no and NO! Thousands of years of cultural traditions are very important. We must, it is imperative for us to continue to remain a great power, but not only in its vastness and population, but because of that great culture, which should be worthy and which is not accidental, when they want to humiliate her, they oppose the culture of all of Europe, of all Western countries... Not just any country, but all countries. This is often done involuntarily, but such an opposition in itself already indicates that Russia can be placed next to Europe.

If we preserve our culture and everything that contributes to its development - libraries, museums, archives, schools, universities, periodicals (especially "thick" magazines typical for Russia), - if we keep our rich language, literature, music education intact, scientific institutes, then we will certainly occupy a leading position in the north of Europe and Asia.

And thinking about our culture, our history, we cannot get away from memory, just as we cannot get away from ourselves. After all, culture is strong in traditions, in the memory of the past. And it is important that she preserves what is worthy of her.

For the first time, Dmitry Likhachev's article "You can't get away from yourself" was published in the magazine "New World", 1994, №6. You can read its full text.

To be continued…

Letters about the good and the beautiful

Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev

DEAR FRIENDS!

Before you is the book "Letters about the Good and the Beautiful" by one of the outstanding scientists of our time, the chairman of the Soviet Cultural Foundation, Academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev. These "letters" are not addressed to anyone in particular, but to all readers. First of all - young people who still have to learn life, follow its difficult paths.

The fact that the author of the letters, Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, is a person whose name is known on all continents, an outstanding connoisseur of domestic and world culture, elected an honorary member of many foreign academies, and bearing other honorary titles of major scientific institutions, makes this book especially valuable.

And the advice that you can get by reading this book applies to almost all aspects of life.

This is a collection of wisdom, this is the speech of a benevolent Teacher, whose pedagogical tact and the ability to speak with students is one of his main talents.

For the first time the book was published in our publishing house in 1985 and has already become a bibliographic rarity - this is evidenced by numerous letters that we receive from readers.

This book is being translated in different countries, translated into many languages.

Here is what D.S.Likhachev himself writes in the preface to the Japanese edition, in which he explains why this book was written:

“It is my deep conviction that goodness and beauty are the same for all peoples. They are one - in two senses: truth and beauty are eternal companions, they are one among themselves and are the same for all peoples.

Lying is evil for everyone. Sincerity and truthfulness, honesty and unselfishness are always good.

In my book "Letters about Good and Beautiful", intended for children, I try to explain with the simplest arguments that following the path of good is the most acceptable and only path for a person. He is tested, he is faithful, he is useful - both to a person alone and to society as a whole.

In my letters, I do not try to explain what good is and why a kind person is beautiful inwardly, lives in harmony with himself, with society and with nature. There can be many explanations, definitions and approaches. I strive for something else - for specific examples, based on the properties of general human nature.

I do not subordinate the concept of good and the accompanying concept of human beauty to any worldview. My examples are not ideological, because I want to explain them to children even before they begin to subordinate themselves to any certain worldview principles.

Children are very fond of traditions, are proud of their home, their family, as well as their village. But they willingly understand not only their own, but also other people's traditions, someone else's worldview, they grasp what all people have in common.

I will be happy if the reader, no matter what age he belongs to (it happens, after all, that adults read children's books), finds in my letters at least a part of what he can agree with.

Consent between people, different nations is the most precious and now the most necessary for humanity. "

LETTERS TO YOUNG READERS

For my conversations with the reader, I have chosen the form of letters. This is, of course, a conditional form. In the readers of my letters, I imagine friends. Letting my friends make it easy for me to write.

Why did I arrange my letters this way? At first I write in my letters about the purpose and meaning of life, about the beauty of behavior, and then I move on to the beauty of the world around us, to the beauty that is revealed to us in works of art. I do this because in order to perceive the beauty of the environment, a person himself must be mentally beautiful, deep, and stand on the right life positions. Try to hold the binoculars in trembling hands - you will not see anything.

First letter

LARGE IN SMALL

In the material world, the big cannot fit into the small. In the sphere of spiritual values, it is not so: in the small, much more can fit, and if you try to fit the small in the big, then the big will simply cease to exist.

If a person has a great goal, then it should be manifested in everything - in the most seemingly insignificant. You have to be honest in the inconspicuous and accidental: only then will you be honest in fulfilling your great duty. A great goal encompasses the whole person, is reflected in each of his actions, and one should not think that a good goal can be achieved by bad means.

The adage “the end justifies the means” is destructive and immoral. Dostoevsky showed this well in Crime and Punishment. The main character of this work, Rodion Raskolnikov, thought that by killing the disgusting old woman-usurer, he would get money, with which he could then achieve great goals and benefit mankind, but suffers an internal collapse. The goal is distant and unrealizable, but the crime is real; it is terrible and cannot be justified by anything. It is impossible to strive for a high goal with low means. You have to be equally honest in both big and small.

The general rule: to observe the big in the small is necessary, in particular, in science. Scientific truth is the most precious thing, and it must be followed in all the details of scientific research and in the life of a scientist. If one strives in science for “small” goals - for proving by “force”, contrary to the facts, for the “interestingness” of conclusions, for their effectiveness or for any forms of self-advancement, then the scientist will inevitably fail. Maybe not immediately, but ultimately! When exaggerations of the research results obtained or even minor juggling of facts begin and scientific truth is pushed into the background, science ceases to exist, and the scientist himself, sooner or later, ceases to be a scientist.

The big thing must be resolutely observed in everything. Then everything is easy and simple.

Second letter

YOUTH IS ALL LIFE

Therefore, take care of youth to a ripe old age. Appreciate all the good things that you acquired in your youth, do not waste the wealth of your youth. Nothing that was acquired in youth passes without a trace. Habits brought up in youth persist for life. Work skills, too. Accustomed to work - and work will always bring joy. And how important it is for human happiness! There is no more unfortunate person who is lazy, eternally avoiding work, efforts ...

Both in youth and old age. Good habits of youth will make life easier, bad habits will complicate and complicate it.

And further. There is a Russian proverb: "Take care of honor from your youth." All actions committed in youth remain in the memory. The good ones will delight, the bad ones will keep you awake!

Third letter

THE BIGGEST

And what is the biggest goal of life? I think: to increase the goodness in the environment around us. And good is, first of all, the happiness of all people. It is composed of many things, and every time life presents a person with a task that is important to be able to solve. You can do good to a person in small things, you can think about big things, but small things and big things cannot be separated. Much, as I have already said, begins with little things, arises in childhood and in those close to you.

The child loves his mother and his father, brothers and sisters, his family, his home. Gradually expanding, his affections spread to school, village, city, his entire country. And this is already a very large and deep feeling, although one cannot stop there and one must love a person in a person.

You have to be a patriot, not a nationalist. There is no need to hate every other family, because you love yours. There is no need to hate other nations because you are a patriot. There is a deep difference between patriotism and nationalism. In the first - love for your country, in the second - hatred for everyone else.

The big goal of good begins with a small one - with the desire for good for your loved ones, but, expanding, it captures an ever wider range of issues.

It's like circles on the water. But the circles on the water, expanding, become weaker and weaker. Love and friendship, expanding and spreading to many things, acquire new strength, become ever higher, and the person, their center, is wiser.

Love shouldn't be unaccountable, it should be smart. This means that it must be combined with the ability to notice shortcomings, to deal with shortcomings - both in a loved one and in those around them. It must be combined with wisdom, with the ability to separate the necessary from the empty and the false. She doesn't have to be blind. Blind delight (you can't even call it love) can lead to dire consequences. A mother who admires everything and encourages her child in everything can bring up a moral monster. Blind admiration for Germany ("Germany above all" - the words of a chauvinistic German song) led to Nazism, blind admiration for Italy - to fascism.

Wisdom is mind combined with kindness. A mind without kindness is cunning. Cunning, however, gradually withers away and, sooner or later, certainly turns against the cunning one. Therefore, the cunning is forced to hide. Wisdom is open and reliable. She does not deceive others, and above all the wisest person. Wisdom brings the sage a good name and lasting happiness, brings happiness, reliable, long-term and that calm conscience, which is most valuable in old age.

How can I express the commonality between my three positions: "Big in small", "Youth is always" and "Biggest"? It can be expressed in one word, which can become the motto: "Loyalty." Loyalty to those great principles that a person should be guided by in big and small, loyalty to his impeccable youth, to his homeland in the broad and narrow sense of this concept, loyalty to family, friends, city, country, people. Ultimately, fidelity is fidelity to truth - truth-truth and truth-justice.

The fourth letter

THE BIGGEST VALUE IS LIFE

Life is, first of all, breathing. "Soul", "spirit"! And he died - first of all - "stopped breathing." So they thought from time immemorial. "Ghost out!" - it means "died".

It is "stuffy" in the house, "stuffy" and in moral life. Thoroughly exhale all the petty worries, all the vanity of everyday life, get rid of, shake off everything that impedes the movement of thought, that crushes the soul, does not allow a person to accept life, its values, its beauty.

A person should always think about the most important for himself and for others, throwing off all empty worries.

We must be open to people, tolerant of people, to look for the best in them first of all. The ability to seek and find the best, simply “good,” “obscured beauty,” enriches a person spiritually.

To notice the beauty in nature, in a village, city, street, not to mention in a person, through all the barriers of little things, means expanding the sphere of life, the sphere of that vital space in which a person lives.

I have been looking for this word for a long time - sphere. At first I said to myself: “We need to expand the boundaries of life” - but life has no boundaries! This is not a land plot enclosed by a fence - borders. Expanding the limits of life is not suitable for expressing my thoughts for the same reason. Expanding the horizons of life is already better, but still something is not right. Maximilian Voloshin has a well-invented word - "okoy". This is all that the eye contains, that it can grasp. But here, too, the limitations of our everyday knowledge interfere. Life cannot be reduced to everyday impressions. We must be able to feel and even notice that which is beyond the limits of our perception, to have, as it were, a “presentiment” of something new that is opening or that can open to us. The greatest value in the world is life: someone else's, one's own, the life of the animal world and plants, the life of culture, life throughout its entire length - both in the past, and in the present, and in the future ... And life is infinitely deep. We always meet with something that we did not notice before, that amazes us with its beauty, unexpected wisdom, uniqueness.

The fifth letter

WHAT IS THE SENSE OF LIFE

You can define the goal of your existence in different ways, but the goal must be - otherwise it will not be life, but vegetation.

You must also have principles in life. It is good even to state them in a diary, but in order for the diary to be "real", you cannot show it to anyone - write for yourself only.

Every person should have one rule in life, in his purpose of life, in his principles of life, in his behavior: one must live life with dignity, so that he would not be ashamed to remember.

Dignity requires kindness, generosity, the ability not to be a narrow egoist, to be truthful, a good friend, to find joy in helping others.

For the sake of the dignity of life, one must be able to refuse small pleasures and considerable ones too ... To be able to apologize, to admit a mistake before others is better than to play around and lie.

In deceiving, a person first of all deceives himself, because he thinks that he has successfully lied, but people understood and, out of delicacy, kept silent.

Letter six

PURPOSE AND SELF-ASSESSMENT

When a person consciously or intuitively chooses a Goal, a life task for himself in life, he at the same time involuntarily evaluates himself. By what a person lives for, one can judge his self-esteem - low or high.

If a person sets himself the task of acquiring all the elementary material goods, he assesses himself at the level of these material goods: as the owner of a car of the latest brand, as the owner of a luxurious dacha, as part of his furniture set ...

If a person lives to bring good to people, to alleviate their suffering in case of illness, to give people joy, then he evaluates himself at the level of this humanity. He sets himself a goal worthy of a man.

Only a vital goal allows a person to live his life with dignity and receive real joy. Yes, joy! Think: if a person sets himself the task of increasing goodness in life, bringing people happiness, what failures can befall him?

Not the one who should be helped? But how many people don't need help? If you are a doctor, then, perhaps, you misdiagnosed the patient? This happens with the best doctors. But in total, you still helped more than you did not. No one is immune from mistakes. But the most important mistake, a fatal mistake, is the wrongly chosen main task in life. Not promoted - chagrin. I didn't have time to buy a stamp for my collection - it was a shame. Someone has a better furniture than yours or a better car - again a grief, and what a great deal!

Setting himself the task of a career or an acquisition, a person experiences in total much more grief than joy, and risks losing everything. And what can a person lose who rejoiced in every good deed? It is only important that the good that a person does would be his inner need, would come from an intelligent heart, and not only from the head, would not be only one “principle”.

Therefore, the main task in life must necessarily be a broader task than just a personal one; it should not be limited only to one's own successes and failures. It should be dictated by kindness to people, love for family, for your city, for your people, country, for the whole universe.

Does this mean that a person should live like an ascetic, not take care of himself, not acquire anything and not rejoice in a simple promotion? Not at all! A person who does not think about himself at all is an abnormal phenomenon and personally unpleasant to me: there is some kind of breakdown in this, some kind of ostentatious exaggeration in himself of his kindness, disinterestedness, significance, there is some kind of contempt for other people , the desire to stand out.

Therefore, I am only talking about the main task in life. And this main task in life does not need to be emphasized in the eyes of other people. And you need to dress well (this is respect for others), but not necessarily "better than others." And you need to compile a library for yourself, but not necessarily larger than that of your neighbor. And it's good to buy a car for yourself and your family - it's convenient. Just don’t turn the secondary into the primary, and you don’t need the main purpose of life to exhaust you where it is not needed. When you need it is another matter. There we will see who is capable of what.

Seventh letter

WHAT UNITS PEOPLE

Care floors. Caring strengthens relationships between people. It strengthens the family, strengthens friendship, strengthens fellow villagers, residents of one city, one country.

Track a person's life.

A man is born, and the first concern for him is the mother; gradually (after a few days) the father's care for him comes into direct connection with the child (before the child was born, the care for him was already, but was to a certain extent "abstract" - the parents were preparing for the appearance of the child, dreamed of him).

Feelings of caring for others appear very early, especially in girls. The girl does not speak yet, but is already trying to take care of the doll, babysitting her. Boys, very young, love to pick mushrooms, fish. Girls also love to pick berries, mushrooms. And they collect not only for themselves, but for the whole family. They carry it home, prepare it for the winter.

Gradually, children become objects of ever higher care and they themselves begin to show real and widespread care - not only about the family, but also about the school, where their parental care placed them, about their village, city and country ...

Caring is growing and becoming more altruistic. Children pay for taking care of themselves by caring for old parents, when they can no longer repay for caring for children. And this concern for the elderly, and then for the memory of deceased parents, seems to merge with the concern for the historical memory of the family and homeland as a whole.

If concern is directed only to oneself, then an egoist grows up.

Caring - unites people, strengthens the memory of the past and is directed entirely towards the future. This is not the feeling itself - it is a concrete manifestation of the feeling of love, friendship, patriotism. A person should be caring. A careless or carefree person is most likely an unkind person and does not love anyone.

Morality is eminently characterized by a sense of compassion. In compassion there is a consciousness of one's unity with humanity and the world (not only with people, nations, but also with animals, plants, nature, etc.). The feeling of compassion (or something close to it) makes us fight for cultural monuments, for their preservation, for nature, individual landscapes, for respect for memory. In compassion there is a consciousness of one's unity with other people, with a nation, people, country, universe. That is why the forgotten concept of compassion requires its complete revival and development.

Surprisingly correct thought: "A small step for man, a big step for mankind."

There are thousands of examples of this: it costs nothing to be kind to one person, but it is incredibly difficult for humanity to become kind. It is impossible to correct humanity; it is easy to correct yourself. To feed a child, to lead an old man across the street, to make way for a seat on a tram, to work well, be polite and courteous ... and so on, etc. - all this is simple for a person, but incredibly difficult for everyone at once. That's why you need to start with yourself.

Good cannot be stupid. A good deed is never stupid, because it is selfless and does not pursue the goal of profit and "smart result". You can call a good deed "stupid" only when it clearly could not achieve the goal or was "falsely kind", mistakenly kind, that is, not kind. I repeat, a truly good deed cannot be stupid, it is beyond evaluations from the point of view of the mind or not the mind. So good and good.

Eighth letter

BE FUN BUT DON'T BE FUNNY

They say that the content determines the form. This is true, but the opposite is also true, that the content depends on the form. The famous American psychologist of the beginning of this century D. James wrote: "We cry because we are sad, but we are also sad because we cry." Therefore, let's talk about the form of our behavior, about what should become our habit and what should also become our inner content.

It was once considered indecent to show with all your appearance that you had a misfortune, that you were in grief. A person should not have to impose his depressed state on others. It was necessary to maintain dignity even in grief, to be equal with everyone, not to immerse in oneself and remain as friendly and even cheerful as possible. The ability to maintain dignity, not to impose on others with your grief, not to spoil the mood of others, to be always equal in dealing with people, to be always friendly and cheerful is a great and real art that helps to live in society and the society itself.

But how funny do you have to be? Noisy and obsessive fun is tiresome to others. The young man who is always "pouring out" witticisms ceases to be perceived as behaving with dignity. He becomes a jester. And this is the worst thing that can happen to a person in society, and this ultimately means a loss of humor.

Don't be funny.

Not being funny is not only the ability to behave, but also a sign of intelligence.

You can be funny in everything, even in the manner of dress. If a man carefully chooses a tie to a shirt, a shirt to a suit, he is ridiculous. Excessive concern for your appearance is immediately visible. We must take care of dressing decently, but this concern for men should not go beyond certain boundaries. A man who is overly concerned about his appearance is unpleasant. A woman is another matter. Men, on the other hand, should only have a hint of fashion in their clothes. A perfectly clean shirt, clean shoes and a fresh but not very bright tie are enough. The suit may be old, it shouldn't just be untidy.

In conversation with others, be able to listen, be silent, be able to joke, but rarely and on time. Take up as little space as possible. Therefore, at dinner, do not put your elbows on the table, embarrassing your neighbor, but also do not try to be too "the soul of society." Observe the measure in everything, do not be intrusive even with your friendly feelings.

Do not be tormented by your shortcomings, if you have them. If you stutter, don't think that this is too bad. Stutterers are excellent speakers, pondering every word they say. The best lecturer of the Moscow University, famous for its eloquent professors, the historian V.O. Klyuchevsky stuttered. A slight squint can give importance to the face, lameness to movement. But if you are shy, don't be afraid of it either. Don't be ashamed of your shyness: shyness is very cute and not funny at all. It only becomes funny if you try too hard to get over it and feel embarrassed about it. Be simple and condescending to your shortcomings. Don't suffer from them. It is not worse when an “inferiority complex” develops in a person, and with it anger, hostility towards others, envy. A person loses what is best in him - kindness.

There is no better music than silence, silence in the mountains, silence in the forest. There is no better “music in a person” than modesty and the ability to keep silent, not to be promoted to the first place. There is nothing more unpleasant and stupid in the appearance and behavior of a person than importance or noisiness; there is nothing more funny in a man than excessive concern for his costume and hairstyle, calculated movements and a "fountain of witticisms" and anecdotes, especially if they are repeated.

In behavior, be afraid to be funny and try to be modest, quiet.

Never dismiss, always be level with people, respect the people around you.

Here are some tips, it would seem, about the secondary - about your behavior, about your appearance, but also about your inner world: do not be afraid of your physical disabilities. Treat them with dignity and you will be elegant.

I have a girlfriend, a little hunchbacked. Honestly, I never tire of admiring her grace on those rare occasions when I meet her in museums at opening days (everyone meets there - that's why they are cultural holidays).

 

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