Historical forms and manifestations: theological representations and interpretations of religious values

From the history of mankind it is known that faith, people's beliefs were initially formed on the basis of deification of nature. Ancient ideology bore the features of a communal way of life. The living of people in communities (by birth and by tribes) was determined by the need to jointly search for responses to changes in the environment. Of particular importance were the specific conditions of the territory, climate, flora and fauna.

In those days the way of life of people was closely connected with the phenomena of nature. Each tribe represented the surrounding reality on the basis of their primitive material and spiritual needs. Gradually began to emerge myths, legends and legends, reflecting the connections between people and the phenomena of nature. For example, in the most ancient times, light, spring and summer were presented as symbols of well-being, good and good deeds; And winter, frost, darkness - as symbols of oppression, evil and destruction.

Views, based on legends and traditions, we call mythological (the word myth in Greek means tradition). Primitive religions, such as totemism, animism, fetishism were formed on this basis. They reflected various naive ideas and views on the eternity of the soul, on the presence of supernatural forces in various things and phenomena of nature.

For example, totemism is a dogma about the cult of animals and plants. This term is taken from the language of the Ojibwe tribe, who lived in North America. Totemism means the kinship of humanity with certain species of plants, animals or with other elements of nature. Such beliefs are also found in the life of some nationalities. For example, the Hindus consider a cow, Australians are a kangaroo, Kyrgyz are a white rams with animals that bring happiness. Our ancestors idolized the bird Humo. Therefore, this bird is depicted in the arms of our state.

As noted above, primitive people believed that all things have a soul, they feel, they think. Various rituals were held, prayers were read in the hope that they would bring good and prevent evil. Thus, animism was formed, which calls for believing that there is a soul in every thing (animism is from the word anima, spirit, soul)

Fetishism (in French fetiche means magic, idol, idol) is a belief that recognizes the cult of inanimate things as objects of blind worship. In its sense, things and their inherent properties can help people achieve their intended goals, to some extent they can affect people's lives. This influence can be either positive or negative.

In subsequent periods of human history, as a result of progress, religious systems were formed, such as Hinduism, Judaism, Confucianism.Hinduism as a form of Brahmanism (from the IX-X centuries BC) is a polytheistic religion of predominantly Hindus.

Confucianism is a doctrine founded by the Chinese sage Confucius (VI-V centuries BC).

In all these religions many national traditions, elements of the way of life of peoples are concentrated. They served as state ideologies at certain periods. Philosophical ideas also formed certain systems, turned into beliefs and world outlook of people. In the process of explaining various approaches to the problems of the origin of the world, to the peculiarities of its existence, to its foundation, such philosophical currents as monism, dualism, pluralism, idealism, materialism and others appeared.

Monism (from the Greek word mono - one) considers the basis of everything in the world to be some one beginning (either material or spiritual).Dualism (from the Latin word duo - two) teaches that in the world there are two principles - the material and the ideal.

Pluralism protects the idea that the world has arisen as a result of a combination of many things and ideas.Idealism believes that in matters of the creation of the world and man, in the creation of laws of existence and development of reality, in matters of being and nonexistence, the supremacy belongs to spiritual and ideological principles; Absolutizes these principles.

Materialism teaches that the world and man are not created by divine or any spiritual power, they arose as a result of the gradual development of matter.In addition to the listed trends in the world there are ideologies such as chauvinism, cosmopolitanism, nihilism and many others.Thus, chauvinism is an extremely aggressive ideology of nationalism, which calls for the supremacy of a particular religion, state or nation over other ideologies, beliefs, states and nations.

The above philosophical currents are not always considered as forms of ideology. But there are sometimes teachings coming from them. Absolutization of certain ideas in these teachings can be the cause of various ideological errors and disagreements. For this reason it is desirable to know the essence and content of these currents.

Some ideologies, depending on certain social conditions, are transformed into state ideologies. Some of them, although they lose their position over time, but acquire historical significance as sources of universal human values.

From time immemorial, there are ideas that cause controversy, disagreements among different ideologies or unite them. These processes continue to influence the various ideologies of humanity even now. For example, they have a long history of disputes between idealism and materialism, internationalism and nationalism, between atheism (godlessness) and theism (the doctrine of God).

The desire of some states to solve problems by violence, to satisfy their predatory and predatory ideas at the expense of other peoples led to the emergence of aggressive nationalism and extremism. They bring a lot of suffering to the whole of mankind, slow down its progress, along the path of progress.

From the experiences of ancient and medieval history, it becomes evident from the lessons of modern times that the ideas and ideologies existing in the world, despite the differences in forms, primarily take strength from the two senses in the heart of man - from striving for creation or destruction.

In short, if we take (from the ideological point of view) the history of mankind, then it is an uninterrupted process of the emergence, practical realization and mutual relations of different ideas and ideologies with each other. In this process, ideas differ from each other, depending on what goals and objectives are pursued by the dominant forces and authorities, whose interests they express.

Ideological weakness and ideological instability damage the unity of nations, the power of mankind. For example, we know well from history that individual rulers could not mobilize the people in the era of the invasion of Genghis Khan, the conquests of tsarism, our country fell into oppression.

From all that has been said, the following conclusions stem from the historical conclusions: the historical forms, the content of ideas and ideologies, have been determined over the centuries by the struggle between good and evil, creation and destruction. Everyone, including students of colleges and lyceums, should know this well, direct their life and all their energy to good deeds.

Used sources: