TO PRETEND TO BE AND TO BE: MEANINGFULL LIFE ORIENTATIONS OF AN INDIVIDUAL IN A CHANGING WORLD

Abstract

The subject of the article is one of the fundamental issues facing any person in the process of his spiritual formation and self-realization. The choice in favor of being imposes on the individual a difficult duty to achieve real results in the chosen profession, which is impossible without long efforts and hard work. Choosing imitation as a life meaningful strategy opens an easy path to success. However, the results of imitation activity, having an external resemblance to the products of genuine creativity, ultimately turn out to be only foam on the surface of the historical stream of creation. There is no direct and immediate connection between the nature of the social environment in which a person is formed and acts, and the meaningful life choice of the latter. The social environment creates a certain range of opportunities that open up before a person in the course of his self-realization. It is shown that the system of relations developed in modern Russian society, orienting a person to personal success as the highest goal of life, favors the choice in favor of imitation. The education system is the most important element of the social environment. It is designed not only to involve students into the cultural achievements, but also to set a grid of ideological coordinates for the emerging personality. From this point of view, the strategy of reforming the domestic education system, which is based on the liberal mythology of "returning Russia to the bosom of world civilization", is critically analyzed. Since, as it is now obvious, the aforementioned return ended in complete failure, a radical change in the vector of the country's development is necessary. In the light of the new realities, the only strategy to preserve Russia's political and historical subjectivity is to pursue self-sufficiency. Current educational system should not aim students at increasing the chances of personal success in the life racing, but at socially positive creative self-realization, which ultimately leads to an increase in the civilizational potential of society.