Specifics of Possibilistic Thinking in the Russian Mentality

The article examines the specifics of the formation and manifestation of a possibilistic thinking, which allows a person to overcome immersion in reality and implement an effectively constructive approach to the world in the form of a strong-willed aspiration to the desired future. Using the example of ancient Greek and Egyptian cultures, the connection between a constructive view of the world and the attitude of culture to the future and the nature of the will is shown. The article analyzes the relationship of possibilistic thinking in the Russian mentality with the tradition of using the category of the possible in theological reflections on the relationship between Divine providence and free will. Based on the revealed differences in the interpretations of the consequences of a person’s free choice among representatives of Western and Eastern patristics, the forms of possibilistic thinking in the Eastern and Western Christian traditions are compared. In the Eastern tradition, where predestination takes into account the free choice of the individual through synergy (collaboration), the idea of the hierarchical superiority of man and his responsibility for the deification of the entire created world is affirmed. Russian mental culture’s assimilation of Byzantine influence has been shown to promote personal initiative, personal achievement, and personal impulse in Russian spiritual life and to reduce the influence of institutional thinking, despite the established view of the undivided dominance of collectivist attitudes in the Russian mentality, which oppress the personal principle. Thus, the possibilistic thinking in the Russian mentality is not reduced to constructive and transformative activity but reveals itself in the ascetic life of the bearers of personal righteousness as subjects of a special kind of freedom associated with total responsibility and personal initiative.