Analysis of the concept of the cultic milieu using the method of conceptual integration

The purpose of this study is to test the method of conceptual integration within the framework of cognitive linguistics using the example of a concept from the field of the Cultic Milieu. A feature of the chosen example is its vitality in the discourse of unconventional religiosity. The scientific novelty of the study consists in identifying the initial mental spaces, the way of their integration and the isolation of new emergent properties that contribute to maintaining the concept in a homeostatic state. As a result of the study, it was determined that the method of conceptual integration could be effectively used in interpreting cult concepts from the field of unconventional religiosity. The genesis of the ideas of the Cultic Milieu takes place at the individual level within the framework of the cognitive work of consciousness, and translation and further transformation become an accessible object of study within the framework of approaches to the sociology of religion. Nowadays, no attempts have been made to identify the mechanisms of the emergence of quasi-religious concepts at the level of mental representations of the individual. Previous attempts to analyze synthesized and diverse religious phenomena were limited to generalizations using the terms “syncretics” or “eclectics.” As an example, this study used the idea of the Cultic Milieu once popular in public discourse - the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, this is an analogue of the biblical catastrophe. Our chosen example is unique in its own way in that it integrates religious narratives and technological elements of the surrounding reality. This kind of synthesis is quite rare. Most cultic ideas combine elements of mytho-magical heritage with elements of actual reality. As a result of this study, a toolkit for analyzing ideas and images of the Cultic Milieu appeared.