(colour ME red! I sent this to Nate by accident...meant to send it to
youse all...)
I've been reading a book on late ColdWar Russia (1980s), and finding it
quite fascinating really, a sort of well-researched
fictional account of what-if scenarios - taken with a dose of "maybe/maybe
not" of course: it isn't a true representation, and yet
it is - apparently - reasonably accurate in terms of Moscow
culture/social/historical/political goings-on during the late 1980s.
What caught my eye and what recurs is the observation that Russians speak
often of the Russian soul, but never
of the heart. Americans, similarly, speak gallantly of a patriotic heart,
but never of a "soul" - interesting to read Luria's thoughts here,
posted by Nate some time ago, and the reference to the soul in the last
line... (reminding me of the Tin Man's remark, "Now I know I have a heart
because
it's breaking...") - the thinking here is that Russian history needs to
be realized in contexts that exceed mortality and are relegated to higher
spiritual realms
whereas American history
thrives on a value of mortal success and sacrifice, the individualized
historical and all that.
Nevertheless, understanding the intellectual traditions of Russia
benefits, perhaps, from recognizing this difference of "soul" and "heart"
and the place it
has in cultural/intellectual consciousness?
Ah, truly a random observation.
Thanks.
Cheers.
diane
vygotsky@charter.net writes:
>“There is no hope of finding the sources of free action in the lofty
>realms of the mind or in the depths of the brain. The idealist approach
>of the phenomenologists is as hopeless as the positive approach of the
>naturalists. To discover the sources of free action it is necessary to
>go outside the limits of the organism, not into the intimate sphere of
>the mind, but into the objective forms of social life; it is necessary
>to seek the sources of human consciousness and freedom in the social
>history of humanity. To find the soul it is necessary to lose it".
>A.R Luria
'Lord Ronald said nothing; he flung himself from the room, flung himself
upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.'
Stephen Leacock,
"Gertrude the Governess, or Simple Seventeen."
***************************************************************************************************
diane celia hodges
university of british columbia, centre for the study of curriculum and
instruction
vancouver, bc
mailing address: 46 broadview avenue, pointe claire, qc, H9R 3Z2
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