Magic of the Renaissance Magic allows the scientist not to be just a passive observer, it makes it possible to act, to actively comprehend Nature, to cooperate with it, not to transgress its laws, but to follow them, delving into their essence, into this driving force that supports eternal life.

Both magick and religion are born and function in situations of emotional stress, such as life cycle crises and dead ends, death and initiation into tribal mysteries, unhappy love and unsatisfied hatred. Both magic and religion offer a way out of situations and states that have no empirical solution, only through ritual and belief in the supernatural. This area of ​​religion encompasses the belief in ghosts and spirits, mythical keepers of tribal secrets, primitive messengers of providence; in magic - faith in its primordial strength and power. Both magic and religion are based strictly on the mythological tradition, and both exist in an atmosphere of miracle, in an atmosphere of constant manifestations of miraculous power. Both of them are surrounded by prohibitions and regulations that delimit their sphere of influence from the profane world.

What, then, distinguishes magic from religion? We have taken as our starting point the most distinct and clear distinction: we have defined magic as a practical art in the realm of the sacred, consisting of actions that are only means to an end expected as their consequence; religion - as a set of self-sufficient acts, the goal of which is achieved by their very fulfillment. Now we can trace this difference more deeply. The practical craft of magic has its own limited, narrowly defined technique: a spell, a rite and the presence of a performer - this is what forms its simple trinity, a kind of magical Trinity. Religion, with its many complex aspects and aims, does not have such a simple technique, and its unity can be found not in the form of its actions or even in the uniformity of its content, but rather in the function it performs and in the value sense of its faith and ritual. And again, belief in magic, in keeping with its uncomplicated practical nature, is exceptionally simple. It always consists in the belief in the ability of a person to achieve some specific results through certain spells and rites. In religion, we have a whole world of supernatural objects of faith: a pantheon of spirits and demons, the benevolent forces of the totem, the guardian spirit, the tribal All-Father and the image afterlife form the second supernatural reality of primitive man. The mythology of religion is also more diverse, complex and creative. Usually it is centered around various articles of faith and develops them into cosmogony, tales of the deeds of cultural heroes, gods and demigods. The mythology of magic, for all its significance, consists only of invariably repeated reaffirmations of primary achievements.

Magic, special art, intended for special purposes, in any form becomes once the property of man and then must be passed along a strictly defined line from generation to generation. Therefore, from the earliest times, it remains in the hands of the elect, and the very first profession of mankind is the profession of a sorcerer or medicine man. Religion, on the other hand, under primitive conditions is the work of all, in which everyone takes an active and equal part. Each member of the tribe must undergo initiation, and then he himself participates in the initiations of others, each laments, mourns, digs a grave and commemorates, and in due time each, in turn, will also be mourned and remembered. Spirits exist for everyone, and everyone becomes a spirit. The only specialization in religion - that is, early spiritual mediumship - is not a profession, but an individual gift. Another difference between magic and religion is the play of black and white in witchcraft. Religion in the early stages is not inherent in such a clear opposition of good and evil, beneficent and harmful forces. This is also due to the practical nature of magick, which aims at concrete, measurable results, while early religion, although it is the bearer of morality in its essence, it operates with fatal, irreparable events, and also comes into contact with forces and beings much more powerful than man. It is not her business to remake human affairs. The aphorism - fear first created the gods in the universe - seems definitely wrong in the light of anthropology.

In order to fully understand the difference between religion and magic and to have a clear picture of the tripartite constellation of magic, religion and science, let us briefly outline the cultural function of each. The function of primitive knowledge and its meaning have already been considered, and it is really not difficult to understand them. By acquainting man with his environment, allowing him to use the forces of nature, science, primitive knowledge, gives him a huge biological advantage, raising him high above the rest of the universe. We have come to an understanding of the function of religion and its significance in the survey of beliefs and cults of the savage presented above. There we showed that religious faith justifies, consolidates and develops all useful attitudes, such as respect for tradition, harmony with the outside world, courage and self-control in the fight against difficulties and in the face of death. This belief, embodied in cult and rite and supported by them, is of great biological significance and reveals to the man of primitive culture the truth in the broader, pragmatic sense of the word.

What is the cultural function of magic? We have seen that any instinct and emotion, any practical occupation can lead a person to a dead end or lead him to an abyss - when the gaps in his knowledge, the limitations of his ability to observe and think at a decisive moment, make him helpless. The human body reacts to this with a spontaneous outburst of emotions, in which the rudiments of magical behavior and a rudimentary belief in its effectiveness are born. Magic fixes this belief and this rudimentary rite, casts them into standard forms, consecrated by tradition. Thus, magic provides primitive man with ready-made ritual modes of action and beliefs, certain spiritual and material techniques, which at critical moments can serve as bridges over dangerous abysses. Magic allows a person to confidently engage in their important affairs, to maintain the stability and integrity of the psyche during outbursts of anger, in fits of hatred, in unrequited love, in moments of despair and anxiety. The function of magic is to ritualize human optimism, to strengthen his faith in the victory of hope over fear. Magic is evidence that for a person confidence is more important than doubt, perseverance is better than hesitation, optimism is preferable to pessimism.

Looking from afar and from above, from the heights of our developed civilization, it is easy for us, much more securely protected, to see all the vulgarity and failure of magic. But without its power and guidance, early man could not cope with his practical difficulties as he did, could not advance to higher stages of cultural development. That is why, in primitive societies, magic has such a universal reach and such great power. That is why we find magic an invariable companion of any important occupation. I think we should see in it the embodiment of the lofty folly of hope, which to this day remains the best school of human character.

3. Magic and religion

Before proceeding to a detailed description of totemism, it is necessary to determine the real place of another phenomenon. It is usually relied on in attempts to separate religious faith from popular prejudices, presenting it as a higher “moment” of spiritual life, independent of the regional conditions of a particular historical era. It is about the relationship between magic and religion and the alleged difference between them.

In fact, it is unthinkable to completely separate the concepts of magic and religion. Each cult includes magical practice: all kinds of prayers, from primitive to modern religions, is, in essence, a form of naive and illusory influence on the outside world. It is impossible to oppose the religion of magic without breaking with science.

The relations between man and nature that have been established since time immemorial have always had a twofold character: the dominance of omnipotent nature over helpless man, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the impact on nature that man sought to exercise, even if in limited and imperfect forms characteristic of primitive society. - using their tools of labor, their productive forces, their abilities.

The interaction of these two only outwardly incomparable forces determines the development of peculiar methods by which primitive man sought to exert an imaginary influence on nature. These techniques, in fact, are magical practice.

Imitation of hunting techniques should contribute to the success of the hunt itself. Before going in search of kangaroos, the Australians rhythmically dance around a picture depicting the much-desired prey on which the existence of the tribe depends.

If the people of the Caroline Islands want a newborn to become a good angler, they try to tie his newly cut umbilical cord to a pirogue or shuttle.

The Ainu people, the indigenous population of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and the Japanese island of Hokkaido, catch a little bear cub. One of the women of the clan feeds him with her milk. A few years later, the bear is strangled or killed with arrows. The meat is then eaten together during the sacred meal. But before the ritual sacrifice, the bear is prayed to return to earth as soon as possible, to let himself be caught and continue to feed the group of people who raised him in this way.

Thus, by origin, witchcraft practice is not opposed to religion, but, on the contrary, merges with it. It is true that magic is not yet associated with any privileges of a social nature (in primitive society everyone can try to "pressure" the forces of nature). However, individual members of the clan begin to advance very early, claiming to have special data for this. With the advent of the first "sorcerer", the concept of "priest" also arises.

All these are indisputable signs of the formation of a religious ideology.

We have already noted that primitive society is characterized by a naive materialistic understanding of life, nature and social relations. The elementary needs of the first people, who owned everything in common and did not know the private appropriation of the means of subsistence, were evenly satisfied or not satisfied. The history of nature and the history of people merged into one: the second, as it were, continued the first.

The basic contradiction between man and the forces of nature, underlying primitive society, is not in itself sufficient to explain the emergence of the idea of ​​the other world, and even more so of the idea of ​​"evil", "sin" and "salvation". The contradictions rooted in differences in kinship, age and sex do not yet have a class character and have not given rise to any form of truly religious departure from life. It took people to realize the limitations that the new structure of society imposed on their daily life, so that, along with the decomposition of society into classes, there also arose a need for some kind of “spiritual” element (as it is customary to express it in theological and idealistic philosophy), which is opposed to nature, bodily, material.

Strictly speaking, the first forms of religiosity cannot even be recognized as manifestations of ritual practice based on some kind of "supernatural" idea and thus opposed to the normal everyday customs of man. The relationship between people and their totem - an animal, plant or natural phenomenon - does not go beyond the primitive materialistic worldview with all the absurdities characteristic of it, which are preserved and retained in the beliefs of subsequent eras. Magic itself at first appears as a kind of material pressure of a person on nature or society in order to obtain certain tangible results.

Collective life could not of itself "objectively manifest itself in myth and ritual," as various representatives of the French sociological school from Durkheim to Lévy-Bruhl argue. A society without social contradictions could never give rise to religious "alienation."

When the primitive community, based on the equal participation of its members in obtaining and appropriating products, disintegrates and gives way to a regime of private property, for this period the religious ideas of people did not go beyond the imaginary connections of the primitive group with certain animals or plants on which its members ate (such as hare, turtle, porcupine, kangaroo, wild boar, eagle, bear, deer, various types of berries and herbs, trees). But the stratification of the family and the emergence of classes led to a bifurcation of ideology, which was of exceptional importance, and gave rise to different views on nature, on the one hand, and, on the other, on the world of phenomena, which were henceforth recognized as supernatural.

four . From animal kin to animal ancestor

Totemism is the most ancient form of religion that we know in the history of mankind before the era of the emergence of classes.

What exactly does "totem" mean? This word, as we have already seen, originally meant a relationship between members of a certain group of people and their alleged or actual ancestor. Later, this relationship was extended to animals and plants that serve this group to maintain existence. This expansion of ideas is itself a certain religious process. From the idea of ​​a totem, over time, a cult of animals, plants and natural phenomena will develop, which determine human life.

It is often argued that totemism cannot be considered a religious phenomenon, since the mythical kinsman and patron of the group is not yet recognized as standing above man and is not identified with any deity. Proponents of this point of view, which is supported by theologians and some rationalist scientists, simply do not take into account that the process of establishing the idea of ​​a higher being, and even more so a personified deity, could not begin before privileged groups began to prevail in society, leading strata, social classes.

In a society with a division of labor based on kinship relations and age differences, kinship relations naturally become the main type of religious ties. The animal upon which the clan's food supply depends is at the same time regarded as a relative of the group. Members of this clan do not eat its meat, just as men and women of the same group do not marry each other. This prohibition is expressed in the word of Polynesian origin - "tabu" ("tapu"), which was first heard by the navigator Cook in Tanga (1771). The original meaning of this word is separated, removed away. In a primitive society, taboo is everything that, according to the primitive man, is fraught with danger.

The taboo is imposed on the sick, on corpses, on strangers, on women at certain periods of their physiological life, and in general on all objects that, as it seems to primitive man, have an extraordinary character. Later, tribal chiefs, monarchs and priests would enter the same category. Everything that is taboo is untouchable and carries an infection; however, these ideas gave rise to some healing and cleansing prohibitions.

All these beliefs are explained in various forms of real life and social relations, the effect of which people experienced for themselves. It was not religion that gave birth to the idea of ​​pure and impure, holy and mundane, permitted and forbidden, but social practice, which created the reflected world of legends and rituals called sacred. But, having been born, these ideas have gone the way of independent development. And the conclusion that the way of life of people and the mode of production, and not their way of thinking, led to certain ideas does not at all mean neglect of the specific meaning of ideology or the explanation of questions of religion by simple economic references.

Which of the researchers of primitive society can deny the decisive role of social relations of production?

A group of people lives by hunting, which has everywhere been an obligatory stage in the development of society. But in order to overtake the prey, it is necessary to master the extremely complex hunting art, the ideological reflection of which can be seen in the so-called rites of passage, to which only men are so far allowed. This is the purification, initiation and introduction of the young man into the number of hunters (or fish catchers).

During ritual festivities, often lasting weeks, the initiate symbolically dies in order to be reborn to a new life and be able to fulfill his duties towards society. We are still far from the ideas of redemption and salvation that arise only in the era of the highest development of slavery, when salvation, which was impossible on earth, was transferred to the realm of fiction, to the other world. But the transition of a young man into a more responsible category, in connection with his age or the skills he has acquired, bears in itself the germ of the idea of ​​​​the rites that will later develop in the religion of the "mysteries" and in Christianity itself.

Powerless in the face of nature and the collective, primitive man identifies himself with the animal ancestor, with his totem, through complex and often painful ceremonies, which ultimately increases his dependence on nature and the social environment. Out of the rite, out of the details of the cult, there arises little by little the striving to interpret reality from the point of view of myth and tradition.

When restoring the process of development of the first forms of religious ideology, it is always necessary to beware of attributing to a person cares and beliefs that can arise only in subsequent phases of the development of society.

There is no doubt that when we seek to judge the customs and attitudes that belong to an era in which the exploitation of man by man did not yet exist, it is difficult for us to get rid of the burden of old ideas accumulated over thousands of years, which are reflected in the very language in which we speak about all these issues. . It is as difficult as it is to describe now, even in in general terms, those changes that will take place in the character, morals and mind of people with the disappearance of classes and the establishment of a society where freedom and equality will not, as they are now, dubious expressions.

When, for example, we speak of a cult, we introduce a concept that could not make sense at the earliest stage in the development of human society.

For, etymologically, the idea of ​​a cult is connected with the practice of cultivating the land and presupposes a society in which production relations are already based on a primitive form of agriculture and on a corresponding division of labor between old and young, especially between men and women.

It was the women that the tribe entrusted during this period, in addition to cooking, field work, growing fruits and plants, while at the same time, men were still engaged in hunting. This period in the history of primitive society includes the advancement of women in society, which characterizes the era of matriarchy.

Traces of this era are preserved not only in religious life, in folk traditions and language, but also in the customs of many peoples of our time: in the Malay Peninsula, in India, in Sumatra, in New Guinea, among the Eskimos, among the Nile tribes, in the Congo, Tanganyika, Angola and South America.

The era of matriarchy explains why the most ancient fertility rites known to us are primarily characterized by the cult of a woman or the attributes of a woman (schematic representations of the details of a woman's anatomy, magical vulvar cults, etc.).

But before forcing the land to submit to the will of the person who cultivates it, society went through a period of collecting the means of subsistence, in which everyone was engaged in equal rights, a period of hunting, cattle breeding and shepherding. As long as the division of labor took place within the framework of age and kinship relations, the connection between the individual and the totem could not yet acquire the character of a genuine cult.

Each group of people within a larger association - the terms clan and tribe suggest already a fairly developed social organization - specializes in hunting a certain animal: boar, deer, snakes, bear, kangaroo. But in a society where the individual depends on others for food, this animal eventually ceases to be separated from the group itself - it becomes its symbol, its patron, and finally, its ancestor.

Complex ceremonies gradually turn the notion of a biological connection into an imaginary one. And little by little, from such ideas, the cult of ancestors arises, which is possible with a much higher degree of social differentiation and has been preserved among various peoples of India, China, Africa and Polynesia.

A person of a certain totemic group treats his animal ancestor with special reverence. Those who hunt the bear, for example, avoid eating its meat, at least during the holy fast, but feed on game taken by hunters of other groups who have a different totem. The community of people formed on the site of the disintegrated primitive horde is like a vast cooperative in which everyone must take care of food for others and in turn depends on others for their livelihood.

Blurred, but the stadial commonality can be traced everywhere. Relationship between art and religion In general, the close relationship between art and religion is determined by a number of common points. Most importantly, they express a person's value attitude to reality, to the world of being, to the meaning of one's own life and the future of one's land. Art and religion were closely intertwined in the structure of the ancient syncretic...

According to the tribes of the present time, which are in similar conditions. And again, the main manifestation of the initial stage of the development of religion is totemism. It is especially pronounced among the peoples of Australia. This form of religion lies in the fact that each clan, tribe is magically related to its totem animal or object. Each member can have his own totem, there is also sexual totemism, i.e. one...

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Introduction

Magic… This word itself is a veil behind which a mysterious and mysterious world is hidden!

Even for those who are alien to the attraction to the occult, who do not know the burning interest that is fueled by fashion today, even for those who are characterized by the clarity of scientific thinking, the meaning of this word has a special attraction.

To some extent, this is explained by the hope to find in magic some quintessence of the most important aspirations of primitive people and their wisdom. The value of such knowledge cannot be disputed, whatever its content.

But, in addition, it is impossible not to admit that the word "magic" seems to awaken in us dormant spiritual secrets, the hope for a miracle hidden in the recesses of the soul, faith in the undiscovered possibilities of man.

The subduing power of the words "magic", "charm", "witchcraft", "magic" in poetry appears with all evidence and remains beyond the control of time.

As far as religion is concerned, it is certainly faith. Religion is always nourished by a religious feeling, which has a very ancient origin.

But just as in magic, in religion there is an element of unknowability, something that has unknowable power.

magic religion mythology

1.1 Concept of the term

There are various definitions of magic.

But all of them invariably note one of its features: it is always based on belief in supernatural powers and in the ability of a person with the help of these forces to control the world.

Magic - this is a rite associated with belief in the ability of a person to supernaturally influence people, animals, natural phenomena, as well as imaginary spirits and gods.

A magical action, as a rule, consists of the following main elements:

a material object, that is, a tool;

verbal spell - a request or demand with which supernatural forces are addressed;

certain actions and movements without words.

Magic seems so dark and incomprehensible, even to those who study it seriously, only because the student from the very beginning goes into complex details, in which he becomes confused.

To understand what magic is, one must first of all penetrate with the idea that all striking senses, objects of the external world are only visible reflections of invisible ideas and laws that can be deduced by the thinking mind from these sensory perceptions.

What should interest a person in the personality of another? Not his clothes, but his character and manner of his actions.

Clothes, and especially the manner of wearing them, indicate approximately the upbringing of a person; but this is only a faint reflection of his inner world.

Consequently, all physical phenomena are only reflections, "clothes" of higher entities, ideas.

A stone statue is the form in which the sculptor embodied his idea.

A chair is a material transfer of a carpenter's thought. And so it is in all nature: a tree, an insect, a flower - there are material images of abstractions in the full sense of the word.

These abstractions are not seen by the scientist, who is concerned only with the appearance of things, and who has enough to do with them.

1.2 Occultism and magic

The occult sciences represent an integral sphere of world culture.

The very word occultism - latin and means " secret, hidden" and has in mind hidden, inaccessible to man forces.

Why is a person so attracted to them? I would like to answer these questions.

First reason is that humans are naturally curious. Everything that is surrounded by some kind of mystery attracts him. A person feels that there is still another, inaccessible world, and he has always attracted a person. In addition, a person has a kind of memory. This memory, passed down from generation to generation, constantly reminds a person of his once happy life in paradise, in close communion with God. The Fall corrupted man and now he is drawn to the other world, no matter what world.

The second reason Man's attraction to the occult takes us one step further. The fact is that the human soul is always looking for something. It comes from God and only in Him does it find its final rest. And if the soul does not have this contact with God, if it does not find shelter and food? Then she starts looking for something on the side. And what is there, in this other world? A person is always interested in everything secret, secret, and, having found this secret, it seems to him that he has finally found something for his soul. But this is just a cheap substitute.

Third reason people's attraction to the occult lies in the desire to know the future in advance. After all, the strengthening of the influence of the occult is noticed precisely when uncertainty and fear reign in society.

Today society feels the nearness of the end of the world. The madness of the arms race cannot continue indefinitely. And although recently attempts have been made to disarm and bring peoples closer together, the military-industrial complex has become such an independent force that it will not allow itself to be destroyed. And if in the future we may be able to avoid bloodshed between individual peoples, then it seems to me impossible to avoid the most severe struggle between arms manufacturers and peace-loving forces.

Stocks of raw materials are not eternal, the nature around us is dying. The Earth's climate is changing, global warming has already reached almost 2 degrees, causing disastrous droughts in some places, and floods in others. As a result of the melting of the glaciers of Greenland and Antarctica, the beginning of the rise in the level of the world ocean is approaching. The protective ozone layer of the Earth is becoming thinner, and in some places it is almost gone, ozone holes have appeared.

What will become of humanity, of us?

Occultism seems to offer man a way out. Psychics offer harmonization of all internal processes of a person, a return to cosmic harmony, which a person allegedly lost.

Modern occultism instills confidence in people both in life and even beyond the threshold of death. Death is a connection with the Universe, or with a great spirit, of which we are all allegedly a part. Already now it is possible to look for ways to this state through yoga and meditation.

Fourth reason attraction to the occult lies in the loneliness of man.

Fifth cause is the weakening of the testimony of the Church of Christ. She is either trying to win a position in society and is engaged in opportunism, or she is so busy with herself, building new houses of worship or business that she does not have enough time to pay attention to the needs of those around her.

For at least five millennia, occultism has developed according to its own laws, being in the same context with other areas of human intellectual reflection.

It is pleasant to recall that scientific chemistry could not have arisen without alchemy, that astronomy would not have been possible without astrology, that psychology was born in the shell of occultism.

I would like to emphasize that occultism does not need justifications, and its right to exist is not at all determined by the fact that it once provided assistance to a different, rationalistic knowledge.

The occult exists and is interesting in itself. It is valuable in itself because it is one of the "eternal companions of mankind."

The difference between magic and general occultism is that magic is a practical science, while general occultism expounds theory.

To wish to make magical experiments without knowledge of the occult is like driving a locomotive without knowing the mechanics.

Just as the dream of a child who was given a wooden saber to become a general is unrealizable, so is the dream of a person familiar with magic "by hearsay". What would the soldiers say if a child with a wooden saber began to command them?

To stop the flow of water or the movement of the sun with the help of a spell memorized by heart, you can only brag to your friends.

Before you can manage the power contained in the grain, you must learn to manage yourself. Before you get a professorship, you have to go through school and a higher educational institution. Those who find it difficult can become, for example, a bartender, for this it will take only a few months of training.

Practical magic requires knowledge of the relevant theories, like all applied sciences.

You can study mechanics at a higher educational institution and become an engineer, or - in a locksmith's shop and become a locksmith. It's the same with magic.

There are people in the villages who produce interesting phenomena and cure certain diseases. Art that they adopted from others. Usually they are called "sorcerers" and it is absolutely in vain to be afraid of them.

Along with these "locksmiths" of magic there are people who have studied the theory of the magical phenomena they produce. And here they are, just will be the "engineers" of magic.

Magical actions could be both individual and collective. In all the variety of magical rituals, the outstanding Soviet scientist Sergei Alexandrovich Tokarev singled out types of magic , which differ in the technique of transferring magical power and protection from it:

· Contact magic associated with direct contact with the source or carrier of magical power ( amulet, talisman, man) with the object to which the magical action is directed. The nature of the contact could be different: wearing an amulet, taking a drug inside, touching a hand, and the like.

· Initial magic. The magical act is directed here also at the object. But due to its inaccessibility, only the beginning of the action is really produced, and magical power must end it.

· Partial magic. The magic ritual is associated with the impact not on the object, but on its substitute, which is part of the object ( hair, nails, saliva, animal organ) or an object that was in contact with it ( clothing, footprint, personal items).

· imitative magic. The magical action is directed to such a substitute for the object, which is the likeness or image of the object.

· Apatropeic (repulsive) magic. If the types of magic listed above transfer magical power to an object, then this type of magical rites aims to prevent close to a person or object of magical power ( amulets, gestures, sounds, fire, smoke, magic lines). It was also believed that in order to avoid harmful magical influences you can hide from them avoid magically dangerous places to cover different parts of the body).

· Cathartic magic includes rites of purification from the negative influence of magical power ( ablution, fumigation, fasting, drugs).

A separate type is word magic - conspiracies and spells. Initially, the word, apparently, was merged with magical action. But later it turns into an independent magical force.

The magical rite was associated not only with certain actions and words, but included various symbolic objects.

The shaman's costume reflected the original structure of the universe, the chest decoration made of shiny stones or metal served as a symbol of a magic mirror designed to see the hidden, the mask acted as a symbol of the spirit with which one must make contact, the tattoo was a system of magical signs.

During the magical rite, the shaman, and often the rest of its participants, entered into a state of trance or ecstasy. This was facilitated by the use of a drum or tambourine, as well as the rhythmic repeated pronunciation or chanting of certain words. As a result, people really had a feeling of moving to a different plane of being ( voices were heard, visions appeared).

What was the effectiveness of the magical rite?

Serving the practical needs of primitive man, he would inevitably have to be rejected if he does not bring real results. The thing is that magical rites were performed only in a situation of fundamental unpredictability and mortal threat. Where chance and uncertainty prevailed, where there was no guaranteed luck, where there was a great opportunity to make a mistake, there man used magical rites.

Thus, the scope of magic is an area of ​​​​high risk. Magic was a "plan of activity" that included all the reserves of the spirit, body and social relations.

The psychological impact of a magical rite is associated with suggestion and self-hypnosis. Reconstruction of a holistic image of reality, its ordering and symbolic control over the world saved the tribe from a sense of uncertainty and impotence. Thus, magic was the first ideal of man's active relation to the world.

The magical rite modeled creative activity, created new forms of communication, and exercised human control over nature in an idealized form.

2. Religion

The main question for every person has always been and remains the question of the meaning of life. Not everyone can find the final answer for themselves, not everyone is able to substantiate it sufficiently. But in every normal person there is an ineradicable need to find this meaning and its reasonable justification.

Modern man is surrounded by a large number of diverse faiths and ideologies, but all of them can be united around two main worldviews: religions and atheism.

The third, often called agnosticism, in essence, cannot claim a worldview status, since it denies a person the possibility of knowing such worldview realities as the existence of God, the soul, the immortality of a person, the nature of good and evil, truth, and more.

Religion and atheism should be considered as theories of the existence (or non-existence) of God, in which the relevant scientific and other criteria are applied: the presence of confirming factors and the possibility of experimental verification of the main provisions of the theory.

A system that does not meet these criteria can only be considered as a hypothesis.

In this scientific context, religion and atheism appear as follows:

Religion offers a huge number of such facts that testify to the existence of the supernatural, non-material world, the existence of a higher Mind (God), the soul, and the like.

At the same time, religion also offers a specific practical way of knowing these spiritual realities, that is, it offers a way to verify the truth of its statements. Let's take a look at how and which religions present their faith to us.

2.1 Concept of the term

"Religion " is a Western European term.

In Latin, by the early Middle Ages, the word " religion" began to point to God's fear, monastic lifestyle".

The formation of this new meaning in Latin is usually derived from the Latin verb " religion" - " bind" .

The largest representative of Russian religious philosophical thought Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky wrote: " Religion is a system of actions and experiences that provide salvation for the soul." .

Talcott Parsons , one of the leading American sociologists - theorists of the 20th century, argued: " Religion is a system of beliefs" non-empirical and valuable" , in contrast to science," empirical and non-valuable" … "

Thus, the term "religion" has many definitions.

But one thing is certain: religion is the belief in the existence of higher powers.

2.2 Magic and religion. Differences

Both magic and religion arise in situations of emotional stress: an everyday crisis, the collapse of the most important plans, death and initiation into the mysteries of one's tribe, unhappy love or unquenched hatred.

Both magic and religion indicate ways out of such situations and dead ends in life, when reality does not allow a person to find another way, except for turning to faith, ritual, the sphere of the supernatural.

In religion, this sphere is filled with spirits and souls, providence, supernatural patrons of the family and messengers of its secrets. In magic, it is the primitive belief in the power of the magic of a magic spell.

Both magic and religion directly rely on the mythological tradition, on the atmosphere of miraculous expectation of the revelation of their miraculous power.

Both magic and religion are surrounded by a system of rites and taboos that distinguish their actions from those of the uninitiated.

What separates magic from religion?

Let's start with the most specific and conspicuous difference:

In the sacred sphere, magic acts as a kind of practical art that serves to perform actions, each of which is a means to achieve a specific goal.

Religion - as a system of such actions, the implementation of which in itself is a certain goal.

Religious mythology is more complex and varied, more imbued with creativity.

Usually religious myths are centered around various dogmas and develop their content in heroic narratives, in descriptions of the deeds of gods and demigods.

Magical mythology, as a rule, appears in the form of endlessly repeated stories about the extraordinary achievements of primitive people.

Magic, as a special art of achieving specific goals, in one of its forms once enters the cultural arsenal of a person and then is directly transmitted from generation to generation. From the very beginning, it is an art that few specialists master.

Religion, in its most primitive forms, appears as a common cause of primitive people, each of whom takes an active and equal part in it.

Each member of the tribe goes through a rite of passage ( initiation) and subsequently initiates others himself.

Each member of the tribe mourns and weeps when his relative dies, participates in the burial and honors the memory of the deceased, and when his hour comes, he will be mourned and remembered in the same way.

Each person has his own spirit, and after death, each person becomes a spirit. The only specialization that exists within religion is that primitive spiritual mediumship is not a profession, but an expression of personal talent.

Another difference between magic and religion is the play of black and white in sorcery, while religion in its primitive stages is not much interested in the opposition between good and evil, beneficent and malefic forces.

What is important here is the practical nature of magic, aimed at immediate and measurable results, while primitive religion is turned to fatal, inevitable events and supernatural forces and beings, and therefore does not deal with problems related to human impact on the world around.

"There are no peoples, no matter how primitive they are, without religion and magic," says an outstanding British anthropologist and theorist Bronislav Malinovsky.

Myth, religion, magic, according to Malinovsky, constitute a necessary organic part of social life.

Separating religion and magic from the practical life of primitive society, Malinovsky does it excessively mechanically, believing that people resort to the assistance of the supernatural only where real practical knowledge and skills are powerless. This is an obvious simplification of the real situation, contrary to the facts.

The same applies to the distinction between magic and religion. In general, their functions, according to Malinovsky himself, are very close: if magic grew out of the need to prevent potentially dangerous, threatening phenomena and events, religion arose from the desire to reduce the feeling of anxiety that takes possession of people in critical, crisis periods of life associated with the transition from one states into another, such as birth, puberty, marriage, and death.

Primitive religion sanctifies people, it affirms socially positive values.

At the heart of religion are, according to Malinovsky, not reflections and speculations, not illusions and delusions, but the real tragedies of human life.

3. Magic and religion from Fraser's point of view

According to Frazer, the difference between magic and religion lies in the very content of the representations. From his point of view, "magic is based on the erroneous application of the psychological law of the association of ideas by similarity and contiguity: the connection of similar or adjacent ideas was taken by primitive man for the real connection of the objects themselves."

Frazer believed that magic is based on the same principle on which science is based: the belief in the constancy and uniformity of the action of the forces of nature.

Religion, from Frazer's point of view, differs from both magic and science in that it allows the arbitrary intervention of supernatural forces in the course of events. The essence of religion lies precisely in the desire to favor these forces, which he considers to be superior to himself. And magic is completely opposite to religion: magic is based on a person’s belief in his ability to directly influence an object and achieve the desired goal, the performance of a magical rite must inevitably lead to a certain result, while a prayer addressed to God or some kind of totem can be heard or not heard by the deity.

M.A. Kastren thought the same way. He saw in magic a direct manifestation of man's dominance over nature, and he also believed that it was completely opposite to faith in a deity.

4. Similarities between magic and religion

Powers beyond the ordinary include both magic and religion. In this regard, the question arises about the relationship between these two phenomena, each of which is characterized by communication with the sacred. Without going into details, we will only note that magic means the manipulation of an impersonal force with the help of special techniques, sorcery in the name of achieving specific goals that correspond to the interests of the individual and are not related to moral assessments. Its effectiveness depends on the accuracy of the performance of ritual magical actions, adherence to tradition. Magic is associated with the stereotyping of human activity, while the religious rationalization of human activity is carried out in a different context - when existence is no longer fully ensured by tradition, and the sacred from an impersonal force spilled in the world is transformed into a divine person, towering over the profane world.

At the same time, there is a structural similarity between magic and religion - Weber draws attention to this when he introduces the concept of "magic symbolism". At a certain stage, a real victim is replaced, for example, in a funeral ceremony, by a symbolic victim, a drawing of a sacrificial animal, some parts of its body, etc. To a greater or lesser extent, the magical meaning of the ritual action is preserved in religion. To understand religion, it is important, therefore, to identify the differences between religious symbols, not only from magical ones, but in general from non-religious ones.

If the deity, i.e. omnipotent "other being" is in another world, then people get access to this power in those actions that constitute the practice religious life(cult activity) and whose purpose is to serve as a connecting bridge between "this world" and the "other world", - a bridge along which the mighty power of a deity can be directed to help powerless people. In the material sense, this bridge is represented by "holy places" that are both in "this world" and beyond (for example, the church is considered the "house of God"), mediators - "holy people" (clergymen, hermits, shamans, inspired prophets), endowed with the ability to establish contact with the forces of another world, despite the fact that they themselves still live in this world.

This "connecting bridge" is represented not only by cult activity, but also in mythology and ideas about incarnations, reincarnations of deities who manage to be both deities and human beings. Mediator - be it real human(for example, a shaman) or a mythological god-man, is endowed with "boundary" features: he is both mortal and immortal. "The power of the Holy Spirit" - a magical power in the general sense of "sacred action", but it is also a sexual power - is able to impregnate women.

An important characteristic of every religion is its attitude towards magic and religion as "ideal types", i.e. the degree of presence of magical elements in it and the degree of its rationalization: in some religions there is more than one, in others - the other. Depending on this, the type of attitude towards the world inherent in this religion is formed.

Conclusion

Primitiveness seems to us today the distant past of mankind. And the remains of archaic tribes are perceived as museum exotics.

However, traces of primitiveness continued to exist throughout the history of mankind, organically woven into the culture of subsequent eras.

At all times, people continued to believe in signs, the evil eye, the number 13, prophetic dreams, fortune-telling on cards and other superstitions that are an echo of primitive culture.

Developed religions have retained a magical attitude to the world in their cults ( faith in the miraculous power of relics, healing with holy water, the sacrament of unction and communion in Christianity).

It is safe to say that the basic structures of the primitive worldview live in the depths of the psyche of each modern man and under certain circumstances break out.

Crisis state of society; phenomena that science cannot explain and deadly diseases that it cannot cure; unpredictable, dangerous, but significant situations for a person - this is the foundation on which old myths and superstitions are reborn and new ones grow, a new strength and craving for religion is reborn.

Bibliography

1. Religions of the world. Under the editorship of Corresponding Member. RAS Ya.N. Shchapova Moscow: "Enlightenment", 1994.

2. Sociology. Osipov G.V., Kovalenko Yu.P., Shchipanov N.I., Yanovsky R.G. Moscow: from "Thought", 1990.

3. Socio-political and scientific journal "Russia" number 1-2, 1994.

4. Socio-political and scientific journal "Russia" number 3, 1994.

Internet resources

1. http:// h- sciences. en/ culture/68-6- pervobytnaya- culture. html

2. http:// scepsis. net/ library/ id_305. html

3. http:// www. theology. en/ taintva3. htm

4. http:// natives. people. en/ origins_ of_ religion16. htm

5. http:// www. bibliofond. en/ view. aspx? id=78217

6. http:// www. verigi. en/? book=152& chapter=1

7. http:// enc- dic. com/ islam/ mekka-414

8. http:// www. verigi. en/? book=1& chapter=20

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