Order of the repentants

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In the Middle Ages, there was such a spiritual and entertaining practice - flagellation. It was usually performed during a variety of pestilence, unsuccessful military campaigns, drought and other manifestations of the punishment of the Lord.

It looked something like this: a certain number of people dressed in frivolous linen piles of BRE gathered in the city square or in the Church and excitedly tortured themselves with whips. The whip was recommended three -tailed, a spike or nail was inserted into each knot, and went.

Flagellation was invented by the Franciscans in order to pacify the flesh and redeem sins. In the χιιι their leader Francis, Assisian, in accordance with the idea of the benefits of ascetic being and killing the flesh, which was widespread in Catholicism, was the people of miracles of humility: for example, he walked naked, ate hay and thistle, and subjected himself to beatings. After some time, the parades of “dull flaglinds” became an ordinary business on the streets of medieval Europe.

Seriously, there are several basic reasons for the popularity of self -flagellation.

Firstly, this is an attempt to gain control of the world that a separate small person is not able to control. The loss of control is quite typical if you are dealing with epidemics, military campaigns that begin and end your feudal lords for your own goals, and other great historical events.

Secondly, this is an almost magical perception of what is happening as a resulting from above, which happened contrary to, under the influence of some kind of midnight or at least unknowable circumstances.

Thirdly, this, of course, facilitates the existence of the idea of sin as an essential category. In this situation, any trouble is the punishment of God, and the best way to turn it away from yourself is to repent a collectively or individually. How well the average flagellat, covered by a collective impulse, understands what he is repenting of is another question. Some researchers of self -flagellitarians sometimes attribute them to one of the types of mental epidemics, and in the mental epidemic a rational aspect is not the main thing. The main thing is the general mood and collective action.

What does Russia seem to do with it? With all. Even the adored Ekaterina Schulman claims that Modus Operandi of the modern Russian state is a “riot counterclockwise”. The state insists that it protects and revives the memory of ancestors and traditional values, it loves archaic practices. And so, on the one hand, we began the aggressive wars exactly at the end of the pandemic, on the other hand, the progressive public is engaged in flagellation on all social networks. People are happy to beat themselves with my baths. I work a lot with people and I see it constantly.

The reasons, in general, are clear. A full-scale war has been going on for almost a year, but for the Russian opposition it remains unexpected and absurd. At first we had a cention about “you can’t believe it” and “How did it happen?” - A rather typical of existence in the country, in which politics is almost located in the field of occult: it cannot be understood by the mind, not to measure it with arshin, it is not always possible to predict the actions of even political scientists.

But actually, in recent years, the Russian political elite has been doing exactly what he promises. She promised the reconstruction and collecting of land - here you are, please. She promised scrapers - I succumbed. The gap is more likely to pass through the expectations of the “progressive community”, which is in our priest’s position: yesterday we slept in our bed, in the 21st century, and today we woke up in Popov and police with a wooden sword in his hand. And with this wooden sword we are sent to war to a neighboring country: steal washing machines and kill people. Of course, we are surprised, because for too long we thought that the strategies of the Russian state are some kind of cunning game, aimed primarily at an external observer. A nuclear club is needed not to use it, but to shake it, right?

In short, while society is perplexed and wall, events take place in Buch and Irpen. And here we are already collectively comprehending who and what exactly does in this war. It turns out that we do monstrous things - in the sense, collective "we".

The brain does not cope with this. Firstly, many of us still did not kill anyone. Many did not even vote for Putin. Some even sat in specialists for beliefs. But the catastrophe still happened, and it arouses in us this truly traditional feeling of the essential and unknown sin. As a result, the fellow people no longer believe that they will return home, and internulate the approach corresponding to the spirit of the time - they become flagellates.

The concept of modern domestic flagellation is simple: a Russian passport is an essential sin. Neither past acts, nor political beliefs, nor assistance to the injured side are released from him. There is no person in the country who would not in any way lumble about this very “Russianness”, imperial - one joke, the other for too long reassured that there would be no war, the third before the full -scale invasion did not dream of the collapse of Russia. Any action committed by a person with a burgundy passport is marked with a shadow of sin.

For example, we lived under Putin. How they lived, why they lived - all this had a importance before the war, when there was an individual. After February 24, we think differently: we lived, did not die, which means we passively supported. The idea of “passive support” is popular in many critical theories that consider social problems. Is it only an active opponent of conditional social evil can be considered a good person? Can I not love Putin and not be an activist? Where does a passive disagreement end and the action begins and what of this gives us a pass to the sky?

In principle, this is all a matter of faith, beliefs and private choice. Passive disagreement for personal purposes and interests, even noble ones, is permissible in conditions in which a separate human life, its aspirations and aspirations are considered as value. In short, this is a calm world without higher purposes, on the altar of which you need to put yourself. We no longer live in such a world and are now trying to figure out how to blame for this.

We understand, according to the laws of large historical events, through self -flagellation.

Everything has already come down here: belonging to the collective egregor of guilt, with which it is not clear what to do; the idea of a square that falls on the heads of sinners; The complete absence of subjectivity, which the state has first nurtured in us, and now with pleasure supports the whole world, and we ourselves. So we lug ourselves that there is urine in the hope that our repentance will be noticeable and the miracle will happen. They may even regret us a little, but this person still wants to. A person does not really want to be a cannibal in the eyes of others, and the Russians beat themselves, of course, from these selfish considerations.

Generally speaking, self -flagellation is such a form of acting in the complete absence of subjectivity. Because if I recognize myself as the worst sinner on Earth - this, on the one hand, can no longer be corrected, and on the other, I have a huge responsibility. All because of me.

This is the main problem of the narrative about the fact that you need to cry and repent. The repentance of this kind, in my opinion, is an absolute imitation of action, it is a ritual. And, ritualizing, practice loses its meaning. In the Russian -speaking media Pol, this is absolutely obvious: all the posts are that Russians in Moscow, Tbilisi, Yerevan and in all cities of the vast world do not live like that, not those lectures are given, not about that and they are not injured. That they are resting and celebrating holidays, that sometimes smile at the time when there is a war. What is this alternative? How does the unceasing sprinkle of the head with ash stop the war and what can it give you, except for a sense of self -importance and huge injury? Why do you need an injury when, instead of retrospectively mourn life elections, you need to take actions?

I am an activist and work with injured people every day: soldier mothers, burned out by volunteers, people with disorders who wave their hands in exacerbation, trying to close the gap in all possible services and help as many people as possible. Many of them are also trying to self -flagrant. Others come to our psychological support service to ask what to do: to work, you need to at least sometimes let yourself go, switch your attention, stop blaming yourself, but this does not fit into the Ethical Code.

In short, people really want to be good. Not "good Russians", just good. They really suffer, really empathize. They have all this for real, observing other people's suffering kills them. And at every opportunity they remind them that they would die correctly on this mountain, because Putin decided to destroy the Ukrainians. Delicate you, purely for balance.

Of course, there is logic in this, but it is again some kind of very archaic. Type, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. If this is the world in which we will now have to live, then it is not a question, of course. But if we fight for another future and therefore try to stop the war, destroy the dictatorship, help our neighbor, then something does not develop here.

Recently, at the therapeutic session for the PVR volunteers (temporary accommodation point.-Approx. “Cold”) the psychologist noted that only three months later, politically active people allowed themselves to mention anything but the war on social networks, and, for many, this moment exaggerated the return of performance. Because the focus of attention at least a little switched, the brain adapted to new conditions and accepted them, ceased to exist in this infinitely stretched minute.

This is good. You did not become scum after that. You most likely gained a resource and will now save the world more productive.

This means that the support groups that are supervised by such a tired and little man -adapted person, like me, will soon not need so much. And I will finally be free. Unless, of course, you do not catch your eye that you should urgently return to the injury at light speed, because only every second suffering and multiple autoflagellations can you justify your existence.

It is beautiful if you are going to get to Paradise. But no one will let you into paradise, because at least you have been indulged in gluttony more than once. And do not ask where I know.

If you really like the idea of mass psychosis that you do not want to abandon it, let's move from collective self -flagellation at least to dance epidemics.

Seriously, the Russian state is really fighting over time, it spreads archaic as an infection everywhere, where it sticks. But we should have at least some progressive public, which will provide an era of revival, albeit in a remote perspective. If right now we are all internalizing the archaic world and we will begin to live according to its laws, then no change of power will help us deal with the problem. Because what's the difference, the good king on the throne or evil, if there is a king, the throne and crowds of flaglinds.

And I, as I am sung in the song of the group “Morning over Babylon”, “I do not want to live like my ancestor and die like an ancestor.” And I do not advise you.

The author’s opinion may not coincide with the opinion of the editorial office.

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