The Concepts and Ideas of ‘Spirituality’ Within Worldviews of Alternative Religiosities in the Post-Communist Region: Vissarionites and Anastasians

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 241-264
Author(s):  
Rasa Pranskevičiūtė-Amoson
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
New Age ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
New Age Spirituality

Abstract The article presents research on contemporary religiosities related to individuality and subcultural features, influenced by the processes of social change and religious diversification in the post-communist region. Its aim is to discuss individual and communal thinking (orientated to esotericism, magic, and ecology) typical for representatives of two nature-based spirituality movements—Vissarionites and Anastasians, which is expressed through concepts of New Age spirituality of Oriental origin. The concepts of energy, non-violence, vegetarianism, karma, and reincarnation are used in both movements and appear as an example of how such concepts arrived through Western cultural influences, transformed, and took root in the post-communist cultural context of New Age spirituality. The findings are based on data obtained from fieldwork in 2004–2015, including participant observation and interviews with respondents in the Baltic states and Russia.

Becoming a Being of Pure Consciousness

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-59
Author(s):  
Susannah Crockford
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Small Town ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
New Age ◽  
Pure Consciousness ◽  
The Social ◽  
Unexplored Area ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
New Age Spirituality

Fasting is an unexplored area of New Age spirituality. Using material that is primarily ethnographic, based on long-term participant observation fieldwork in Sedona, Arizona, a small town renowned for its New Age associations, this article examines some forms of fasting that are commonly recommended and attempted in New Age spirituality. The ethnographic data are supplemented with material drawn from two New Age spiritual leaders who are connected to Sedona, both of whom recommend fasting. Fasting is analyzed as a form of managing and organizing interspecies relationality, following the work of Graham Harvey. The consequences are framed in terms of the effects fasting has on the social organization of relatedness, or kinship, and on accusations of being dangerous or exhibiting “cult-like” behavior.

scholarly journals Russians among the Peoples of the Baltic States: the Origins of Mutual Perceptions and Relations

2015 ◽  
pp. 124-134
Author(s):  
R. H. Simonyan ◽  
T. M. Kochegarova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
European Continent ◽  
Baltic Countries ◽  
Historical Responsibility ◽  
Reliable Knowledge ◽  
The Baltic

The Baltic countries - the next neighbors of Russia, whose history is closely linked with our country in the period of Kievan Rus, the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and today in a broad European context. Both Russia and the Baltic states are the states that make up the Baltic region. The role of this region in the European integration is the key. The border between Russia and the European Union, Russia and the EU are in direct contact, there is a direct interaction between the peoples of Europe, divided by confrontations of the twentieth century. In this border area sociocultural diffusion occurs between the two parts of the European continent. Factor of cooperation of neighbors is an essential guarantee of stability of the world system. For this cooperation to be productive, you must have an adequate view of the neighbors, about the processes that take place there. Knowing immediate environment in a globalized world is a prerequisite for good neighborly relations. The condition of willingness to help, if needed. In the current civilization elevated risk mutual definitely be in demand. Historical experience shows that the lack of objective knowledge is the cause of misunderstanding, and often the source of origin of enmity. This is not only of interest to neighboring nations, but the need to have certain knowledge about them, are closely linked to historical responsibility. Feature stories is that it is inextricably linked with modernity. For public decision-making needs of reliable knowledge about the processes that led to the present, the historical conditions of social psychology folding neighboring nations, forms of expression of their national characteristics. On the basis of sociological methods - from the study of documentary and literary sources, analysis of the results of mass surveys to group discussions and participant observation - analyzes the problems of mutual Russian and Baltic peoples.

scholarly journals Phenomenon of the Baltic singing revolution in 1987-1991: Three Latvian songs as historical symbols of non-violent resistance

Muzikologija ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 27-39
Author(s):  
Jānis Kudiņs
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Political History ◽  
Folk Song ◽  
Objective Analysis ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Nonviolent Resistance ◽  
The Baltic

The denomination singing revolution (coined by Estonian artist Heinz Valk, b. 1936) is commonly used for events in Baltic States between 1987 and 1991 that led to the restoration of the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Three songs - the folk song P?t, v?ji?i! (Blow, Wind!), the choir song Gaismas pils (The Castle of Light) by the national classical composer J?zeps V?tols (1863-1948) and the song Saule, P?rkons, Daugava (Sun, Thunder, Daugava) by the composer M?rti?s Brauns (1951) - at that time in Latvia had a special significance in society. Each song represented references to different layers in Latvian cultural and political history. The characteristics of the three songs in the Singing Revolution process are based on the approach and methodology of distant (objective) analysis of cultural context and recent historical experience. As a result, this article reveals the meaning and reception of the three songs as symbols of nonviolent resistance during the fall of communist regime in Latvia in the late 1980s.

Baltic States in the European Union

2006 ◽  
pp. 118-132
Author(s):  
R. Simonyan
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
The Baltic

The article analyzes social and economic changes, which have occurred in the Baltic states after their EU accession. It reveals new tendencies in the development of this new region of the united Europe that plays a significant geostrategic role for Russia.

PARTICIPATION OF UZBEK SOLDIERS IN THE LIBERATION OF THE BALTIC STATES

2020 ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Ilkhomjon M. Saidov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Socialist Republic ◽  
Soviet Socialist Republic ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Soviet Historiography

The article is devoted to the participation of natives of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in the Baltic operation of 1944. The author states that Soviet historiography did not sufficiently address the problem of participation of individual peoples of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War, and therefore their feat remained undervalued for a long time. More specifically, according to the author, 40–42% of the working age population of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Such figure was typical only for a limited number of countries participating in the anti-fascist coalition. Analyzing the participation of Soviet Uzbekistan citizens in the battles for the Baltic States, the author shows that the 51st and 71st guards rifle divisions, which included many natives of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, were particularly distinguished. Their heroic deeds were noted by the soviet leadership – a number of Uzbek guards were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In addition, Uzbekistanis fought as part of partisan detachments – both in the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine, the Western regions of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and Moldova. Many Uzbek partisans were awarded the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War” of I and II degrees.

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