In the era of individuality and freedom of speech, everyone only strives to be “not like that”.

Everyone stands out with what they can: clothes, creative eyes, talent and even opinion. But among the bright and progressive there will always be that same “gray” and inconspicuous person who absolutely does not think that his life is going nowhere.

To save yourself from the meaninglessness of being, you must first get rid of mediocrity. What is it, and how to fix it - read on.

The concept of "ordinary"

It is believed that mediocrity is a concept that is characteristic of ordinary people who do not have their own opinions and ideas.

Such people do not stand out in any way, they are completely primitive and mediocre.

Do not confuse an ordinary person with a normal person.

An outstanding personality is just as normal, and behaves adequately, but has the courage to show his characteristics and personal opinion.

On the other hand, the problem is that a mediocre person does not live a full life and wastes it.

How to recognize yourself

Ordinary people are not born, but become. Often this is due to upbringing or fear. Therefore, it is important to determine in time that life is rolling into a pit of dullness and stop the process.

Distinctive features of an ordinary person:

• The center of life is work (even if one does not like work, a person does not do anything, does not change; the feeling of happiness depends on the situation at work; thoughts about work do not leave even during rest).
• Dependence on social networks and media (replacement of human communication with social media; man succumbs great influence media and builds its opinion based on the media).
• Too busy (great preference is given to routine affairs and work; do not allocate time for hobbies and travel).

• Gossip (a person spends his time comparing with others and looking for their shortcomings).
• Same type of vacation (a person cannot develop if he spends his only vacation in the same place every year).
• Comfort over love (inability to leave a relationship that is based on fear of being alone or loss of comfort).
• Everyone owes (a person thinks that the whole world and all people owe him; constant complaints about the world around him).

What threatens

Mediocrity is not a mortally terrible diagnosis, with this phenomenon a person can live calmly and quietly, but is it worth it?

It is important to understand that when mediocrity appears in life, it loses its meaning. All affairs and events become of the same type and do not bring a feeling of joy. Routine absorbs and.

Ordinary people often do not do what they would like, they are cold and indifferent. Is it worth spending such a precious opportunity as life on a gray existence?

Sometimes mediocrity enters the lives of happy people. Such a period is usually called stagnation, and this is quite normal stage that every person must go through.

It happens that we are confused and do not know what we want, things are not going so well, and nothing interesting is happening around. At such a moment, the main thing will stop and remember that life is the greatest gift, and it should not be missed.

How to get rid

If you feel that life has lost its meaning, and every new day resembles the previous one, then urgently fight mediocrity.

• dream

It is your only cherished dream that will always distinguish you from the gray crowd. Listen to yourself, remember what makes you happy and find your dream.

• Do what you want

Don't get used to doing what you have to. Every day a person is forced to do what he supposedly has to do. This often happens at work or at home. If you don't feel happy with what you're doing, stop. Do as you personally wish.

Don't be the person everyone likes. You can't please everyone. The main thing is to be the kind of person you like. Do not live someone else's life and listen only to your inner voice.

Don't get stuck in your comfort zone. Take on difficult cases if it is necessary for your personal growth. Otherwise, most likely, you will regret the lost opportunities.

• Ask yourself a question

“If you had 6 months to live, would you be doing what you are doing now?” This question will help put everything in its place and understand whether you live correctly. If a person does what he likes, he is already happy and follows the right path.

The culture of primitive man had a syncretic character (primitive culture is also called a primitive syncretic complex). This means that scientific knowledge, religion and mythology, art did not exist in isolation from each other, but in an inseparable unity, and each member of the tribe was the bearer of all the components of culture. The first scientific knowledge was of an applied nature and was numerous. To ensure the survival of the genus, a person had to store information about the characteristics of plants, about the habits of animals, about cyclical changes in nature. Production, which was the main condition for the existence of people, necessarily assumed the accumulation of correct, sound knowledge about the world. The needs of practical activity made the appearance of a calendar necessary, which presupposed the emergence of astronomical knowledge. The original calculation of time was probably based on the moon. Then came the solar calendar. At the same time, a map of the starry sky was formed: constellations were distinguished, they were given names.

parking .Undoubtedly, the existence of religion and fine arts in the Late Paleolithic. Suffice it to mention the famous painting of the caves of Altamira (Spain), Lascaux, Montespan, La Madeleine (France), etc., which has forever entered the golden fund human culture. People of the primitive society organized holidays with various kinds of entertainment: music, songs, dances, pantomimes, games, running competitions, wrestling, etc. Some dances were ritual in nature, but this was far from being the case with all.

Religion . Primitive forms of religion are usually divided into 4 elements related to each other: 1) fetishism; 2) totemism; 3) magic (magic); 4) animism.

Fetishism: the essence of religion and the problem of the time of origin. Fetishism is considered the most primitive and perhaps the most ancient form of religion. Doctor of Historical Sciences Yu. P. Frantsev analyzed Siberian shamanism - this is the most primitive form of religion, which is based on totemism. In the 70-90s of the twentieth century, another point of view was formed: fetishism is not a separate religion, but an integral part of all religions. The word "fetishism" was introduced by the French scientist De Broc. By fetishism, he understood the belief of primitive people in the presence of supernatural properties in inanimate objects. Fetishes for different occasions. A fetish is an object made of either bone, stone, or wood. De Brocq did not believe in the existence of a soul in fetishism (Christina, please check this point in your lecture, it’s written in a strange way, I can’t understand who didn’t have a soul: a fetish or De Broca?). De Brock explained fetishism in the following ways: 1) helplessness of a person; 2) human ignorance.

Fetishism is most studied in Africa. Until now, African fetishism (especially Western) is considered the most studied. Rudiments are preserved in world religions: in Christianity, the cult of relics that can heal, the cross. The term "fetishism" is derived from the Portuguese "fetish", which means "magical, wonderful." De Broc added "ism" to the name. Until now, fetishism remains the least studied person, although traces of it are known among many tribes in Asia, Africa and Australia. If totemism is the property of peoples who are at the initial stages of the development of culture, then fetishism is found wherever "sacred things" exist. Fetishism was common among all primitive peoples. There is no single point of view on the origin of fetishism. In the 18th century, Voltaire spoke out on the problem of the origin of religion: "Religion appeared when the first cunning met the first fool." Voltaire himself was an atheist, he believed that the shamans deceived fellow tribesmen in order to obtain benefits. He spoke out against the church, then expressed the point of view that religion should be supported, but it should be without a church. In the twentieth century, a different concept is emerging, in which the views of Voltaire are denied. It is believed that the French figure of the Enlightenment interprets religion too simply. Historians of the 20th century come to the conclusion that the shamans did not even have a conscious deceit in their thoughts, on the contrary, they tried to help. Another point of view appears in the European science of the 20th century. Its adherents believe that fetishism is a distortion of the alleged original monotheism. Mostly church ministers believe in this.

Totemism: the essence of religion and the problem of the time of origin.

Totem is a word taken from the language of one of the Indian peoples of North America - the Algonquins. Originally it sounded like "from the father". Totem is an animal, an ancestor of a primitive collective, a progenitor. As it is right, either large predators or large game animals (most often bison) acted as totems. Now in historical science the following interpretation of totemism has developed: totemism is a belief in the mystical connection between man and animal. The term "totemism" was introduced into science by Lewis Morgan in the second half of the 19th century. By the end of the 20th century, Australian totemism was the most studied. The social and psychological meaning of totemism: a person wanted to become like an animal. People revered totems because they wanted the same qualities as animals. Totemism is characterized by such a concept as "panpsychism" - endowing any object with a soul. This idea has been preserved in many religions, but not in Christianity. By the beginning of the second half of the Early Paleolithic, the specialization of each of the primitive human herds in hunting one of the animal species was more or less clearly defined. The life of every primitive collective, and thus of all its members, turned out to be closely connected with animals belonging to one particular species. Hunting for animals of this species was the main source of food for the people of this group, the main source of life's blessings. The fate of the collective and all its members depended on the success of hunting for animals of this species. This objectively existing connection of a certain human collective with a certain kind of animals could not but be realized by the members of this collective.

Magic: the essence and problem of the time of generation. Magic was formed during the periods of the middle and late Paleolithic (approximately 120-15 thousand years ago). An early form of religion. Under magic is meant a system of ritual actions based on the belief of a primitive person in the ability to control supernatural forces: the spirits of nature, dead people. If a person wants, he will force these people to serve him. Shamans appear - people who better manage everything, most often people with physical and mental disabilities became shamans, and a tribe of such people fed. Fraser George (Englishman) in the 20-30s of the twentieth century creates labor (maybe not labor, but just some writes a work) "The Theory of Magic", in which he proposed a classification of magical rites. The essence of the theory is set out in two principles:

rituals are divided according to the criterion: "like gives birth to like." He believed that magic is imitation. I was also sure that the origin of the cave drawings was the work of magic. The same hunting scenes were the details of magic. Under the guidance of a shaman, these rites were held, black and white magic does not exist. All magical rituals are based on hunting, gathering and fishing.

Impact on a person with the help of an object, or a part of the body that belonged to him. If they wanted to harm a person, then black magic was used, if they wanted to help, then white magic.

At this time, basically all the rites are associated with love (sex) magic. Some rituals are associated with coaxing brownies. In the 60s, the Soviet scientist S. A. Tokarev proposed a different classification: magical rites can be viewed from the point of view of necessity in the areas of public life:

meteorological magic - rituals associated with the forces of nature. Most often - causing rain.

Love (sexual) - the desire of a person to bewitch someone.

Hunting (trading) - rituals associated with the success of obtaining food.

Medical (quackery) is based on gathering. Welcomed in any tribes. Often the positions of the medicine man and the shaman coincided (in the event that the shaman was bright).

Reasons for the appearance of magic. Fraser suggested that magic is the first form of human consciousness. I did not think that magic is the same as religion. Religion eventually supplanted magic. After religion came scientific consciousness. Fraser writes that magic differs from religion in that it actively influences the world. But there is no religion: they only humbly pray there. Fraser brings magic closer to religious science. Both affect the world, but magic is negative, but religion is not. Fraser's theory caused disapproval in the USSR. Tokarev said that it is wrong to separate magic from religion. According to him, religion = magic. Scientists attribute the time of the emergence of magic to the period of primitive society, more precisely, to the era of the Stone Age. There is evidence that magical rites and beliefs already existed among the Neanderthals, who lived 80-50 thousand years ago. We are talking about burials (warehouses) of bear bones in the Mousterian caves of Drachenloch (Switzerland), Peterschel (Germany), Regurdu (France), which are considered as evidence of hunting magic (cave bears at that time were one of the main objects of human hunting). Primitive people, some scientists believe, by preserving bear skulls and bones, hoped that this would enable the killed animals to return to life and thereby increase the number of these animals. Many tribes that preserved their primitive way of life as early as the end of the 19th century and had similar rites for burying the bones and skulls of dead animals gave just such an explanation to these rites.

Animism: the essence and the problem of the time of generation . The term "animism" was introduced in the 19th century by the famous English ethnologist Edward Burnett Tylor. He designated them as a primitive religion, created, in his opinion, by a "savage philosopher" who was trying to understand the causes of being. It is very important that the researcher himself wrote this word with a capital letter - Animism and distinguished its two main varieties: beliefs about souls and spirits associated with the human body, and beliefs about spirits leading an independent existence. Further, based on the fact of widespread animism, Tylor put forward the formula: "Animism is the minimum definition of religion." This formula was used by many religious scholars in their constructions, however, during the discussion of Tylor's concept of animism, its weaknesses were also revealed. To date, the use of this term in the Taylor formula is practically not used. According to other sources, the term "animism" was first introduced into circulation by the German scientist G.E. Stahl. In his Theoria medica (1708), he called animism his doctrine of the soul as a kind of impersonal life principle underlying all life processes. But here we are dealing with the consumption of the term not in its true religious meaning. In fact, there are quite a few definitions of the concept of animism. This concerns, first of all, with the choice for this term of the first and main word in the definition, which would reflect the very essence of this concept: some call animism a great religion, others - a worldview, others - a system of beliefs, fourths - a complex of cults, fifths - a doctrine, sixths - a kind of spiritualism and much more. Many of these definitions appeared as a result of simple ignorance in the field of the original meaning of the term, which has recently become a really urgent problem of modern society. However, all these definitions of animism have one root - animus (soul). In the early stages of development, due to the fear caused by the inability to explain natural phenomena and imagine one’s place in the world, a person ascribes the supernatural to everything around him and, first of all, to objects directly related to his life: the animals that surround him, which he hunts on which his life depends; natural phenomena that he is not able to predict and on which success in agriculture and, again, his life depends. This was expressed in the fact that a person began to transfer his properties and sensations to the whole world around him. Thus was born the belief that nature is alive. Stones, trees, rivers, clouds - all these are living beings, only unlike a person, just as a tiger, an elephant, a bear are unlike him. And those that differ too much from a person may have completely special, incomprehensible and inaccessible to people properties. Fire burns, lightning kills, thunder rumbles in a way no man can shout. A sensitive, watchful, attentive man of ancient times simply could not help but feel the force invisibly present in the world, on which both life and death depended. We can learn the first ideas of our ancestors about the supernatural beginning in the whole surrounding world from archaeological excavations. And the first such knowledge arose among scientists after finding burials of skeletons and skulls of Neanderthals (if these are Neanderthals, then the era is the early and middle Paleolithic, the remains of a Neanderthal were found at the end of the 19th century near Düsseldorf). These finds were perceived as evidence of the existence of a funeral rite. In Neanderthal man, the ability to abstract has increased markedly. Abstraction, while providing a person with great opportunities for understanding the world around, at the same time creates a prerequisite for separation from reality, an irrational explanation of the connections in the world around. That is why the Neanderthals had a belief in the supernatural, i.e. religion.

myths . In the primitive era, literary works also arose: sayings, proverbs, stories, fairy tales. Special place myths occupied among them. In its original form, a myth is a narrative in which certain natural or social phenomena are interpreted and explained as the results of the actions of the heroes of this story. The first object of such an interpretation, explanation was the actions of people, but not ordinary, understandable to everyone, but ritual, ritual, handed down from generation to generation and performed by virtue of tradition. The original myths arose from rituals. The first myths were totemic. Performed by members of the collective dressed up as a totem animal, ritual totem dances began to be interpreted as scenes from the life of distant ancestors, and these ancestors began to be regarded as creatures that were both people and animals, as half-humans, half-animals. The descriptions and explanations of these rites, handed down from generation to generation, began to unfold into more or less coherent narratives about the life and adventures of totemic ancestors. When the formation of totemic myths was completed, the rites that were their basis acted as dramatizations of these myths, dramatic illustrations for them. In the future, myths began to arise independently of rituals. In them, the actions of certain creatures began to explain a variety of phenomena. Myths about cultural heroes - creatures who introduced certain customs, norms of behavior, social institutions, elements of material culture - have become widespread. Initial ideas about cultural heroes are very close to ideas about totemic ancestors.

18) The development of elements of spiritual culture at the stage of the early primitive tribal community.

The period of the early tribal community - this is a period of active development of spiritual culture and rational knowledge.

Accumulation of knowledge about nature helped to survive, and in this regard, the knowledge of ancestors even exceeded the knowledge of modern man: they could easily find water, food, knew all the plants and animals of their countries, edible plants there were more than they were subsequently cultivated.

Medicine is developing: there are various methods of primitive surgery, they treated wounds, fractures, and performed craniotomy.

There is an accumulation of arithmetic knowledge. It is believed that the modern world has inherited a decimal number system from primitive man, which is not very convenient, by the way (such examples appear quite early: for example, the Sungir culture, the Sungir horse). You can see a rhythm common in the Paleolithic, based on the seven. In those days, the calculation of time did not concern larger periods: it covered either the time of day or the seasons: river floods, bird migrations. Apparently, at that time there were no calendars with a clear starting date, and all dates were associated with specific events. A person could explain his age by saying that he was born in the year when there was the biggest flood of the river or famine. There were ideas about how to measure the distance: long distances were measured by days of travel, smaller ones by the flight of a spear, and even smaller ones by the length of human organs (arms, legs). The calculation of distance could not be purely geographical, but social: geographical and social factors could be combined when measuring distances: for example, a clan where close relatives live could be considered closer than a closer geographical clan where non-relatives live. Among Europeans, the opinion is accepted: what will be ahead, and what was behind. For some African peoples, the opposite is true. The distance could also be divided into one's own, mastered, and someone else's.

The fine arts continued to develop actively: cave paintings of the Upper Paleolithic are realistic: there were images of mammoths, bison, horses, images of people are much less common, and images of plants are practically not found. In some caves, there are a large number of images of hands, and in some places there are “macaroni”: the wall of the cave was smeared with clay, and then winding lines were drawn with five fingers. In the Mesolithic, there is a turn towards a conventional image, images of people appear in greater numbers. You can also remember the sculptures.

Music develops: flutes, various plucked and percussion instruments appear. Collective dances appeared, imitated some scenes from hunting, life, were associated with cult practice.

In general, primitive thinking differed from modern thinking, it was characterized by some inseparability, illogicality, emotionality, and most likely there was no clear distinction between the natural and the supernatural: often everything that surrounded people (animals, plants, natural objects) was endowed with a soul. And all this humanization of the surrounding world is called animatism: for example, a man was walking along the road, stumbled on a stone and fell - the stone is to blame, he does not love a person. Or a man ran away from an animal, a stone fell under his arm, a man threw a stone and killed the animal - a good stone. Gradually, with the development of the worldview and thinking of people, ideas about universal living creatures and some kind of supernatural substances appear: spirits and gods. For example, a spirit lives in a tree, and it depends on it whether a house will be good from this tree. The notion that everything around is alive is called animism.

Ideas about the soul appear. For example, in some tribes it was believed that a person could have several souls: soul-blood, soul-breath, soul-heart, soul-lung, soul-shadow, soul-reflection, and they can leave a person, after which he gets sick. During sleep or a serious illness, the soul leaves a person, then returns. In many nations, the soul is represented in the form of a bird or a butterfly. Some peoples had ideas about the soul, which penetrates the whole person, and they sought to preserve the body as long as possible. Therefore, they had facial vessels in which parts of the body were placed. Some natural objects appear to be alive, because some kind of spirit lives in them, good or hostile to man.

Various propitiatory actions (sacrifices) appear, which can precede or complete a deed. Entire systems of things or products are being developed that need to be sacrificed in some case.

Shamanism appears, or an ecstatic way of communicating with space, when a person, with the help of drugs and music, brings himself into a trance and sincerely believes that he has fallen into other world to return the soul of a sick person, or to guide the soul of a dead person, or to consult with the spirits about hunting. Another way to influence the spirit was magical actions - magic, for example.

Magic meant the automatic achievement of the goal with the right action. Various researchers have developed various classifications of magic.

One of the first such researchers was the Englishman J. Fraser. He divided magic into positive (witchcraft, when you need to do something) and negative (taboo, when you need to not do something). For example, among the Caucasian peoples, if the husband goes hunting, the wife should not wash her hair and tell someone where her husband went, so that the animals would not hear and the animals would not be washed away with water. Frazer in positive magic emphasized:

Initial magic, when the result was achieved automatically;

Imitative magic: “like is called like”: in order for it to rain, you need to pour water (blood, milk). You need to harm someone - make an enemy figure and harm it;

Partial magic: influence on a part of an object in order to influence the whole. It was believed, for example, that it is possible to influence a person in his footsteps. In the Middle Ages, at the courts of the eastern rulers, there was a man who had to eat the trimmed nails of the Sultan so that no one would touch them and hurt him. Miklouho-Maclay had to exchange his hair strands for Papuan hair strands in order to conduct anthropological research.

Another researcher S.A. Tokarev proposed a classification of magic not according to the method, but according to the purpose of the action and singled out the types:

Malicious magic; - Therapeutic and protective; - Love; - Military magic - directed at the entire enemy army, it includes protective rites for its troops; - Fishing magic (hunting, fishing). The Itelmens, the peoples of the north, first made images of whales from grass and ate them, and then went to whaling; - Meteorological; - "Industrial" - a magical technique that should ensure the correct firing of dishes, the manufacture of tools.

Speaking about the cult practice of that period, we will put in the first place fishing cults (ensuring successful hunting and fishing) and rituals associated with a sociostructural cult - totemism: ideas about the relationship of a given kindred group with some kind of animal, less often a plant. All genera had such ancestors and ancestors. Their choice is not entirely clear, since strong predators were not always taken as their quality. Sometimes a tree, stream, rain, rainbow acted as the ancestor. There is no special religious organization headed by priests, but in each clan there is a shaman, healer, sorcerer, soothsayer. Sometimes there may be a separate shaman and sorcerer. During this period, there are no established dogmas and books, beliefs are a chaotic structure of images.

Myths appear that explain the world around us, the origin of things. Sometimes they have supernatural beings as characters. A characteristic feature of myths is that they do not concern global things, but specific ones: not why did lakes arise, but why did this particular lake arise? For example, a woman went with a jug to the river, took water, then stumbled, the jug broke, and this particular lake turned out. Where did the rainbow come from, why does it rain? Sometimes myths define social phenomena. The myth of where death came from is popular.

19. Changing the elements of spiritual culture of the late primitive tribal community.

The development of agriculture and animal husbandry has led to the development of new knowledge in the field of breeding: new varieties of agriculture are emerging. crops, new breeds of animals, etc. In Melanesia, at the stage of the late tribal community, 52 varieties of bananas, ten varieties of yams, 14 varieties of breadfruit were known, the Iroquois knew 11 varieties of corn. In South America, the division into llamas and alpacas quickly occurred. The development of a prestigious economy, exchange led to the development of knowledge in the field of arithmetic, there are ways to calculate the harvest, which requires operating with large numbers. Calculation tags appear, heaps of stones, knots, by and large, the word calculation comes from the Latin "calculus" - a counting stone. The distribution of land between plots led to the development of geometry. There is multiplication, division. The development of pottery contributed to the emergence of the first knowledge in the field of chemistry: how to choose the right clay, how to add any substances to it correctly. The first geographical maps appear, depicting specific routes, and not the territory of the surrounding area. Writing is emerging, although primitive, apparently in the form of pictography - picture writing. With the help of drawings, they managed to write entire chronicles: the most famous is the chronicle of the North American Gelovar tribe “Valam Olum”: it consisted of 184 drawings and told about the history of the tribe from its inception to the arrival of Europeans. A knotted letter appears among the South American Indians, and the Iroquois wrote with the help of embroidery from shells, beads, and messages appeared - wampums. In the visual arts, the conditional manner of writing is in the first place. Simplicity is characteristic of painting, symbolic images are used in large numbers: circles, spirals, painting acquires a plot character. A decorative trend in art is developing: ornamentation on ceramic vessels, artistic painting on the same vessels, bone carving, and embroidery. Musical instruments appear. Abstract thinking develops, religious beliefs become more complex. In religious life, agricultural and pastoral cults come to the fore. Cosmogonic (about the creation of the world) and anthropogonic (about the creation of man) myths continue to develop. Totemism gradually fades into the background and is replaced by the cult of anthropomorphic, but quite real ancestors. A pantheon of gods begins to take shape, in which an important role is played, on the one hand, by the gods responsible for natural phenomena (the god of thunder, the god of the sun, the god of rain), and, on the other hand, the gods of cattle breeding. The Iroquois had three sister goddesses: the goddesses of maize, beans and pumpkins. In Indonesia, one of the supreme goddesses was the mother of rice. The most important holidays are the spring holiday associated with sowing, and the autumn holiday associated with harvesting. There are myths about a dying and resurrecting god - the god of grain. And another innovation is the myths about cultural heroes, who, on the one hand, were perceived as the winners of the forces of chaos (Hercules, Theseus), and on the other hand, the heroes-producers of cultural goods, who either stole something and gave it to people (Prometheus), or they themselves came up with something and taught people (Hephaestus - pottery, Athena - weaving).

TICKET No. 20. The spiritual culture of society in the era of politogenesis.

Politogenesis - a concept proposed by L.E. Kubbel and denoting the genesis and development of the political subsystem of society, which can be transformed into a state or its analogue. As a result of politogenesis (and especially as a result of the formation of the state), administrative, forceful and legal methods begin to play an ever greater role in the management of society.

Qualitative shifts took place in the evolution of spiritual culture, which found, in particular, their expression in the division of labor that had begun and in the establishment of a fundamentally new form of accumulation and transmission of information - writing.

The development of agriculture, especially irrigation, required an accurate determination of the beginning of field work, irrigation dates, etc., and thereby the streamlining of astronomical and calendar knowledge. The use of the simplest astronomical instruments began. The first lunar calendars were lunar, i.e. based on the change in the phases of the “non-permanent” Moon, with the complication of economic activity, the transition to more accurate solar calendars began.

The development of other branches of useful knowledge was also connected with the practical needs of the era. The construction of fortifications and megalithic cult complexes, the construction of such improved land and water vehicles as a wagon and a sailing ship, contributed to the development not only of mathematics, but also of mechanics. With the advent of the smelting of ore metals, metallurgy and, to some extent, chemistry were born. Long-distance trading expeditions and military campaigns, land and sea, served to accumulate the same astronomical observations, as well as to develop the rudiments of geography and cartography.

The beginnings of social science, primarily historical, knowledge were still closely connected with religious and mythological ideas about the miraculous nature of everything that exists.

With the emergence of the state and law, legal knowledge began to emerge. They were also intertwined with the psychological attitudes of the communal-tribal way of life, religious ideas, and so on.

In the era of politogenesis, new types of art appeared, and art as a whole began to differentiate into elite and common people.

Monumental architecture emerged. Cyclopean or adobe fortifications, temples, tombs appeared, which, as can be traced in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, are directly related to the emergence of major leaders. For the most part, the emergence of monumental sculpture - tomb statues - is also associated with leaders or outstanding warriors.

The development of the craft was accompanied by a remarkable flourishing of applied arts, the best images of which were again created for the needs of the leaders. They were adorned clothes jewelry, expensive weapons, household utensils, etc. Artistic casting, embossing, gilding of metal products, the use of enamel, inlay with precious stones, mother-of-pearl, bone, horn, tortoiseshell, etc. have become widespread. First stage artistic processing of metal is reflected in skillfully forged and engraved with totem signs copper plates of the northwestern Indians, flourishing - in the famous Scythian and Sarmatian products, decorated with realistic or conditional images of people, animals, plants.

As for religion, a belief in personal patrons developed, most often known as nagualism (the area of ​​\u200b\u200bmodern magical esoteric knowledge, the magical teachings of the Toltecs (The people who lived before the Aztecs in Mexico City, laid the first foundation for arts and agriculture in this country)). With the spread of agriculture and cattle breeding, fertility cults were established. They are characterized by erotic rites and human sacrifices, symbolizing the transfer of human sexual potency to the earth, as well as images of dying and resurrecting spirits associated with the agricultural cycle.

With the development and complication of the cult, a special category of its servants, the priests, emerged. If at one time cult abilities were in principle recognized for all, or at least for many members of the collective, and the corresponding functions were usually performed by leaders only as its representatives, now these abilities were attributed only to certain individuals who were considered owners of strong patron ancestors, miraculous qualities, secret knowledge and etc. In this regard, even a special form of religion has been developed - shamanism, consisting in the allocation of certain persons - shamans, who are credited with the ability to enter into direct communication with spirits by bringing themselves into a state of ecstasy.

In the era of politogenesis, religion for the first time became not only a perverted worldview, but also a means of ideological influence on the exploited masses.

21. The concept of "Ancient East": historical geography and chronological framework of history. Historical Geography. concept "The Ancient East"- a scientific term that developed in Europe in the 18th - 19th centuries. The science dealing with the history of the Ancient East is called Orientalism (Oriental Studies). During this period of time, the countries of the Near and Middle East were attributed: Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran and the countries of South and East Asia. In the 20th century, the countries of Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Transcaucasia began to be referred to the concept of "Ancient East". The territorial boundaries of the countries of the East are very extensive, they cannot be reduced to any one civilization. A large geographical zone, conventionally called the Ancient East, extends from west to east from modern Tunisia, where Carthage was located, to modern China, Japan and Indonesia, and to the north - from modern Ethiopia to the Caucasus Mountains and the southern shores of the Aral Sea. In ancient times, there were numerous states on this territory that played an important role in history: the great Ancient Egyptian kingdom, the Babylonian state, the Hittite state, the huge Assyrian Empire, the state of Urartu, small state formations on the territory of Phenicia, Syria and Palestine, the Phrygian and Lydian kingdoms, the state of the Iranian Highlands, including the world Persian monarchy, which included the territories of the Middle East and almost the entire Middle East, the state formations of Central Asia, the states of Hindustan, China, Korea and South - East Asia. The Ancient East is a collection of several civilizational centers: - Egyptian(North African - Egypt) ; - Mesopotamian(Near East); - Iranian(in ancient times, the Iranian center meant Persia, but then the concept of "Iranian center" included not only Persia); - Indian(South Asian - India); - Chinese(Far East - China).

Around each country were satellite countries. At a certain stage of development, satellite countries became independent (for example, Arabia, a country that eventually became the center of the Arab Caliphate). Satellite countries of the largest civilizations of the Ancient East: 1) Egyptian: Ethiopia, Libya, Sudan (Nubia). 2) Mesopotamian: Arabia, Syria, Transcaucasia, Asia Minor, Phoenicia, Palestine. 3) Iranian: Afghanistan, Parthia (Turkmenistan + Iran), Khorezm (Western part of Uzbekistan from the sea), Bactria (Uzbekistan), Sogdiana (northern Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan). Parthia considered itself the heir to Iranian civilization. The Iranian center was a worthy rival of the Roman Empire. Both powers competed for the Great Silk Road. 4) Indian: Ceylon (Sri Lanka: never part of India, nevertheless, experienced cultural and religious influence), Burma (east of India: the language is Chinese, and the culture is Indian), Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia, Malaysia (Malacca; Islam came only in the XV century, there is an influence of Buddhist culture). 5) Chinese: Vietnam (south), Korea (west), Turkestan (east; the Chinese call Xinjiang; the population spoke either Tibetan or Turkic.

Chronological framework of history. In contrast to our modern times, in none of the countries of the Ancient East there was a single initial date from which it was possible to count time and start from with an accurate fixation of ongoing events. The starting point of history is the time of the appearance of the most ancient state formations: approximately 5000 years ago (XXXI - XXX centuries BC). The most ancient states arose in different parts of the East: Egypt (Nile Valley), Sumer (Euphrates and Tigris), Proto-Indian state. The starting point of the history of the Far East is the formation of the Chinese state (4 thousand years ago). From the 18th century BC, the history of the Chinese state begins (Shan-Yin - the first dynasty). The completion of the ancient history of the countries of the East is the arrival of Alexander the Great (4th century BC). Ancient history India and China are studied until the 5th century BC, the conditional milestone is the Great Migration: the Chinese Wall collapsed, the Huns reached India and adopted Indian culture. The 5th century BC milestone is important, but not recognized by all civilizations. China - from the 30th century to the 5th century BC, Egypt - from the 20th century to the 4th century BC.

Thus, in historical science there are no generally accepted criteria by which one can clearly define the chronological framework of the history of the East as a whole, that is, each civilization has its own starting point and its own end point for the existence of civilization. Attempts at a common civilization are arbitrary, although many stories use this periodization:

the era of early antiquity (3 and 2 thousand BC). Archeology: Eneolithic and Bronze Age. The very first civilizations arise.

The heyday of the ancient civilizations of the East (from 2 and 1 thousand BC to the end of 1 thousand BC).

The era of late antiquity (from the end of the 1st millennium BC to the middle of the 1st millennium AD). Ancient civilizations are in crisis: some are falling apart.

A person can stand out from the background of other people in different ways, depending on his mental abilities and desires corresponding to these abilities. However, a person with truly outstanding mental abilities does not need recognition and exclusivity, such people change everything around them, including the way of thinking and worldview of other people. It is not by chance that I touch upon the topic of mental abilities, given the growing number of requests to me by people who are dissatisfied with themselves, I decided to go deeper into this issue and for some it is possible to put everything in its place. I am sure that those who thoughtfully read this article will understand the essence of the definition of a person's mental abilities, which will undoubtedly affect the self-esteem of such people and their future way of thinking. First of all, a person simply cannot be dissatisfied with himself, it is so easy for us to say when the results of our activities, and life in general, do not fully satisfy us, or do not satisfy us at all.

And we can be dissatisfied precisely with the result, which, despite the fact that it is the result of our mental activity, is still not completely predictable under any conditions. I think that for many it is obvious that the strength of any person lies in his mental abilities, I have already written about this, and more than once, so I will not prove this axiom, but will focus your attention precisely on those very abilities of our brain that we we call mental activity. The result of our mental activity, depending on its success, that is, on how much the achieved goal corresponds to the set one, of course, is an indicator of a person’s mental abilities, but not the only one, since there is also an indicator of what generally determines your goal. Often I am approached by people who are dissatisfied with the results of their lives, but at the same time they have a fairly good way of thinking, they are constructive, pragmatic, reasonable, and in principle they can solve a number of tasks that they set for themselves.

There is one problem - the very setting of tasks is incorrect, plus, the order in which these tasks are performed is also wrong. Of course, our psyche is significantly affected not only by the negative result to which we come, but also by the very process of thinking, which we do not understand, because if you act according to the instructions, you do not delve into the meaning of what you are doing, and many of us do this. The essence of the work of the human brain lies in the calculation, it is essentially the same computer, only more advanced. Given the fact that our world is all mathematics, that everything in it can be calculated, and everything is arranged according to certain algorithms, it becomes clear why the brain is so important, because no other human organ has the ability to carry out calculations. Even the same intuition is nothing more than an unconscious process of brain calculations that is not controlled by us, which is why it is so weak. But for the operation of any computer, including such a complex one as the human brain, data is needed, which we upload to our brain, then it processes, spending its power and our time on it.

The data, in turn, comes to us from the outside world, in fact, for this we need training. And no reading of the information field or background, which is professed in Eastern philosophy and other esoteric sources, provides such necessary information, as does the external tangible and understandable world through our organs of perception. From birth, a person has a set of basic data in the form of instincts, which, through the processing of his still not very developed brain, help him adapt to this world and join the development process. This process can take place in different people in different ways, someone is in a more adequate and more informative environment, someone is in less favorable conditions for development, hence the different levels of mental abilities. If a person was born without any mental and physical pathologies, if he is completely healthy, this is already a successful and very smart person, or rather an example of such a person, because the data is loaded into his head, and now this is the most important process.

The essence of any learning comes down, firstly, to forcing the brain to do its job, that is, to perceive information correctly, to carry out the calculations and analysis necessary for its structuring, and secondly, to upload information from outside into your database, to memorize it , not just to passing through itself. A person will then use this information both when planning his actions and for recognizing what he observes. When a person thinks, he is engaged in the calculation through his brain and the available information, while processing both the information in his head and the incoming, real-time or recently received information. The signal from the outside is the same impulse that requires a response, and we constantly receive such informative impulses, giving them our answer in the form of a reaction. That is, a pre-prepared answer, or in the form of a result of their calculations, which, of course, will always be more adequate than a more or less suitable answer. In general, I can talk about such obvious things, but unfortunately not everyone understands them, I can for a very long time, because as you yourself understand Dear friends, along the logical chain, you can continue to analyze our mental activity for a very long time and thoroughly.

I will make such an analysis in my other articles, but for this article it’s time to summarize what has been said, so that people who have an idea about their mental abilities perceive them the right way and use them correctly. The bottom line is that no matter how you think you are as a person, in terms of your mental abilities, you are actually smart people, in the sense that your brain can perform the same algorithmic functions as the brains of the greatest people, as far as if they weren't great. The difference can only be in the data that you have in comparison with other people, and in your desire to think at all. Since the process of mental activity, when the brain makes various calculations, is in itself very complex, requires a lot of energy, time and stress, very few people are engaged in this process, replacing the concept of thinking, asking questions and looking for answers to them, correct answers through calculations, by enumeration the data already in your head. Here is such a bust, it's the same as rereading old book several times, in order to get something new out of it, which, by the way, is sometimes very good at doing.

But this is not a calculation in itself, the calculation should have more data and, by processing such data, produce a completely new result, since each new situation in our life is unique to a certain extent. Given the above, you, like me, in principle, cannot recognize authorities in this life, they simply do not exist, each of us is unique in his own way, and above all for himself. Having the same set of data as a person with extraordinary abilities, using your brain, setting a task for him to achieve this or that result, you can repeat the path of absolutely any genius, or go your own. As for the desire itself, the topic of which I also touched upon at the beginning of the article, it is also formed from your innate qualities and, accordingly, your vital needs, plus it is influenced by external factors. Therefore, when choosing, and everything in this life is based precisely on your choice in terms of the final result, which is already a technical issue, we are guided by natural needs, either to a greater or lesser extent.

That is, to set a goal that is stupid in nature, you can be guided by incorrect ideas about the outside world, in itself, mental abilities in this case are expressed only in the data loaded into the human head. The inaccuracy of such data can be understood by a person either on an intuitive level, which by the way often happens, or through experience, one’s own or someone else’s, it already depends on the freezes of your brain, which I will write about some other time. In general, reading smart books and communicating with people who have achieved some success in life, as it was, and remains the most the best way load useful data for human life, processing which and guided by which, you can significantly increase the number of successfully set and successfully completed tasks, and such tasks that really make a person's life better. I would also like to add a few words about the speed of thinking, because you also agree that it is not an unimportant factor, which, meanwhile, trains throughout your life.

In general, like human muscles, the brain will work as fast as it becomes a habit, therefore it is necessary to train the brain as often as possible, set yourself tasks and look for ways to solve these tasks, only for your own good, set tasks that affect your life , that is, bringing specific beneficial results. Here, in fact, you have an analysis of the extraordinary mental abilities of a person, which in fact are not, not some kind of gift, not something else exceptional that some people possess, and not all. Even people who have physiological defects from birth or who have received them during their lives can live a full life in terms of mental abilities, since the missing parts of the brain are replaced by others, which has been repeatedly proven during experiments and confirmed by examples from life. Can you dear friends after that, so to speak, take a steam bath in relation to yourself and your abilities, can you have complexes in front of others?

Yes, of course not, because if something doesn’t go well with you, then this is not a sentence, your strongest part is your mental abilities, you can be reconfigured at any time and you can solve any task assigned to you. The most basic problem of many, of course, is the unwillingness to use their brains and inappropriate real world data, the processing of which also leads to errors and, as a result, to not the results that should have been according to the desires of a person. Yes, and the desires themselves are often erroneous, and are imposed, because if you do not have your own idea of ​​\u200b\u200bsomething, you will be guided by someone else's, which primarily meets the interests of its author. Study and study again, learn the right and necessary things in life, communicate with smart people, focus on the strong, and of course, process all the information loaded into yourself, and no matter who you are in this moment life, it won't make any difference to who you want to be.

Any problem, any tasks will be solved by you taking into account your interests, nevertheless you will not be insured against mistakes, they always have a place in life, but this is not so scary, because an error in itself is also a result, only a different result not the one you planned. Compare your thinking to the template I have presented, find the problem and fix it, the basic qualities of thinking that we all admire so much are in everyone. Only separate parts can be a malfunction, such as information that you are guided by or lack of it, and of course laziness too, as I said, unwillingness to think is a problem.