Mykhailo Bernov as a Pioneer of Hiking Tourism: Travel through Spain and Algeria (Part I. Spain. November 1893 — February 1894)

This article considers the formation of hiking in the Russian Empire and Europe in the late 19th century. Its socio-cultural context is also defined. Particular attention is paid to the person of Mykhailo Bernov as one of the founders of hiking in the Russian Empire and Europe and his multifaceted activities in the development of communication between peoples, social actualization of knowledge about the world. Biography, information about popularization activity and publishing activity of Mykhailo Bernov are also given.In the first part of this study, the route of Mykhailo Bernov’s journey from France to Spain, and then through Spain, Algeria and the Sahara in 1892–1893, was reconstructed on the basis of his “travel notes” “Spain, Algeria and the Sahara” (St. Petersburg, 1899) and periodical data.Mykhailo Bernov left detailed descriptions of nature, countryside and major cities of Spain, monuments of history, culture and art, accompanied by historical excursions, interpretation of their own names. Special attention is paid to the peculiarities of Spanish opera and theatrical life.It is concluded that sincere interest and respect for local traditions, thorough general training allowed Mykhailo Bernov to create in his notes a broad and colourful canvas of life of the country and people of Spain in the late 19th century, to capture the features of national culture and character. Bernov’s “travel notes” are based on direct communication with the Spanish common people, representatives of the elite and the administration, acquaintance with folk culture, examples of high art and literature. In his notes he makes comparisons of Spanish people with other nations. Bernov tried to understand Spain and its people, sought common socio-cultural features and values, and explained the features of “otherness” by nature, religion, state foundations, the course of history, and so on.Mykhailo Bernov’s notes on his travels in Spain as a source, in our opinion, contain a lot of useful and interesting information for researchers on the history of hiking, monuments, archaeology, ethnography, etc.

“Between the Mouth of the Two Rivers”

This contribution offers an anthropological view of holy waters, springs, sacred rivers, and trees in the ancient Mesopotamian religious framework. Water is omnipresent in Mesopotamian myths and rituals, particularly in association with the cosmic Apsû, the primeval source of all waters. The pristine waters flow out through springs in the mountains and form the flowing bodies of rivers. For the Babylonians and Assyrians, rivers and watercourses were sacred and cosmic entities, often worshipped as deities. The Tigris and the Euphrates particularly appeared as river deities, with life-giving, motherly, healing, and judging roles. This essay considers the interrelationships between the Apsû, springs and sacred rivers, and the associated sacred trees, mountains and anthropomorphic deities, to shed new light onto ancient Mesopotamian notions about nature, religion, and the cosmos.

Martin Versfeld

Martin Versfeld (1909–1995) is one of South Africa’s greatest philosophers, appreciated by academics and activists, poets and the broader public. His masterful prose spans the tension between disquiet and joy. Detractor of the violent trends of modernity, a critic of apartheid from the first hour, he was among the first philosophers of ecology. At the same time he celebrated the generosity of the world and advocated an ethics of simplicity, drawing on mediaeval theology and Eastern wisdom. His philosophy offered food for thought in dark times of the 20th century, as it still does for us in the 21st century. This first book-length study on Versfeld is an invitation to think with him on justice and exploitation, cultural difference and human nature, religion and the environment, time and connectedness.

Martin Versfeld

Martin Versfeld (1909–1995) is one of South Africa’s greatest philosophers, appreciated by academics and activists, poets and the broader public. His masterful prose spans the tension between disquiet and joy. Detractor of the violent trends of modernity, a critic of apartheid from the first hour, he was among the first philosophers of ecology. At the same time he celebrated the generosity of the world and advocated an ethics of simplicity, drawing on mediaeval theology and Eastern wisdom. His philosophy offered food for thought in dark times of the 20th century, as it still does for us in the 21st century. This first book-length study on Versfeld is an invitation to think with him on justice and exploitation, cultural difference and human nature, religion and the environment, time and connectedness.

Moral aspects of environmental protection

Environmental protection is considered an important element in most religions. The article is devoted to the philosophical understanding of the problem of the influence of religion on the environment, human behavior and attitude to nature. Religion has always touched upon the problem of the relationship between man and the world around him. In the existing religious traditions, various ideals of the relationship between man and nature have been formed. As a result, the ideological functions of religion acquire special significance. In our time, religions can be a spiritual source for the development and formation of environmental ethics and natural aesthetics. Religious ethics awakens in people a consciousness that is different from material and technological thinking. Religion helps people understand that their control over the living and inanimate world is unlimited and that cruelty towards nature will turn to them. Religion teaches people that the purpose of life is not to maximize consumption. While technology gives man the physical strength to create or destroy the world, religion teaches virtue. Directly or indirectly, religion can be a powerful source of environmental protection. Therefore, we need to use the power of the influence of religion to protect nature. The nature of the influence of religion on the current state and development of society largely depends on the relationship between people of different faiths. The religious consciousness of people developed in the direction of knowledge of the world and its laws, methods of practical use. Some religious ideologies deify human nature and reflect people's responses to their environment. Religion, as a form of social consciousness, has always, in one way or another, taken care of man's relationship with the natural world, traditionally expressed a certain moral and ethical concern for the environment and determined the moral obligations of man in relation to the environment.

„Wspólnota kosmologiczna”. Natura i sacrum w liryce Jerzego Harasymowicza

The paper is dedicated to the issues of nature, religion and sacral architecture of Polish–Ukrainian borderland, as well as the metaphysical understanding of nature in Jerzy Harasymowicz’s poetry. In addition to that, the article refers to the question of the unique cosmological communion between humans and other parts of God’s creation according to Christian perception of the world. The first chapter contains some general theses, which deal with the subject of nature in Harasymowicz’s poetry, but the issue of sacrum is also mentioned. The second part of the essay brings a reflection dedicated to pantheism and hylozoism present in the large collection of poems written by the poet from Puławy. Metaphysics, which is a crucial part of his achievements, is also mentioned here. The last part of the article discusses the relations between nature and culture located in the wider context of Eastern Christianity as well as Slavic paganism. The text, written in the year of the twentieth anniversary of Harasymowicz’s death, includes some crucial issues of the poet’s achievements from his whole life.

Book Review: Bhattacharyya, M. (2020). Rabindranath Tagore’s Śāntiniketan Essays: Religion, Spirituality and Philosophy. London & New York: Routledge

Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was the first non-European poet and lyricist who received the most coveted of international awards, the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, “because of his profound sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West.” (www.nobelprize.org ) His most notable work highly praised and duly appreciated by The Swedish Academy was Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912), a collection of poetry, but Tagore is also famous for having written a variety of genres, including drama, essay, novel, novella, short-story, dance-drama, and song. While Tagore is recognized today mostly for his poetry, his short stories also proved to be extremely popular in what is called the Bengali-language version of the genre, and his essays reveal another facet of his personality, and that is his philosophical thought in which he distinguished himself as a language innovator. Rabindranath Tagore’s Śāntiniketan Essays were translated and published by Medha Bhattacharyya in 2020 in a book celebrating Tagore’s “fundamental meditations on life, nature, religion, philosophy, and the world at large.” (Flyer, Bhattacharyya, 2020)

Discursos de ciencia, naturaleza, religión, historia y poder en los feminismos de La Mujer Mexicana (1904-1907)

El propósito de este trabajo es plantear las diversas maneras como las escritoras de la revista feminista La Mujer Mexicana (1904-1907) entendían la relación entre feminidad, naturaleza y búsqueda del conocimiento. En las páginas de esta publicación, distintas autoras expresaron ideas sobre ciencia, religión, historia y poder. A través de este ejercicio de análisis, no sólo se busca contribuir a la comprensión de los feminismos durante el porfiriato, sino hacer patentes las complejidades discursivas con que en la revista en cuestión, entre otras fuentes, se expresó una gama realmente amplia y plural de visiones sobre el papel que las mujeres de entonces debían desempeñar en la sociedad mexicana.Palabras clave: Discurso, Feminismo, Historiografía, Prensa femenina Discourses of science, nature, religion, history and power in the feminisms of La Mujer Mexicana (1904-1907)SummaryThe purpose of this work is to present the different ways in which the writers of the feminist magazine La Mujer Mexicana (The Mexican Woman) (1904-1907) understood the relationship between femininity, nature and the search for knowledge. In the pages of this publication, different female authors expressed ideas about science, religion, history and power. Through this exercise of analysis, it is not only sought to contribute to the understanding of feminisms during the Porfiriato, but to make patent the discursive complexities with which in the magazine in question, among other sources, a truly wide and plural range of views about the role that women of that time had to perform in Mexican society was expressed.Keywords: Speech, Feminism, Historiography, Women's press Discours de science, nature, religion, histoire et pouvoir chez les féminismes de La Mujer Mexicana (1904-1907)RésuméLe but de ce travail est celui d’exposer les diverses manières à travers lesquelles les écrivaines de la revue féministe La Mujer Mexicana (1904-1907) comprenaient la relation parmi féminité, nature et recherche de la connaissance. Dans les pages de cette publication, diverses auteures ont exprimé des idées sur science, religion, histoire et pouvoir. À travers cet exercice d’analyse, on ne cherche pas seulement à contribuer à la compréhension des féminismes pendant le Porfiriat, mais aussi contribuer au fait de mettre en évidence les complexités discursives avec lesquelles la revue mentionnée a exprimé, entre autres sources, une gamme vraiment grande et plurielle des visions sur le rôle que les femmes d’autrefois devraient jouer dans la société mexicaine.Mots clés : Discours, Féminisme, Historiographie, Presse féminine

Har en hund Buddha-natur?

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Ecologization of Buddhism makes sense in both a mod-ern and posthuman perspective. Initiatives and institutions based on socially engaged Buddhism with sustainability, biodiversity and ecology as ideals have spread in recent decades in both East and West. There are arguments from both classical Pali Buddhist literature and East Asian Mahayana philosophy to justify Buddhist nature symbiosis from both ontological, ethical, and soteriological perspectives. Critical analysis can easily deconstruct such ideals as anachronistically constructed, primarily based on modern naturalism, reform Buddhism and con-temporary philosophy of nature. Such an ‘invented Buddhism’ is, however, genuinely authentic, and it is argued that an ecological perspective on both historical and contemporary Buddhism can legitimize other possibilities of interpretation, including the view of an ontological continuum with room for also animistic and posthuman 'nature religion', in which a dog on several levels can be said to possess Buddha nature. DANSK RESUMÉ: Økologisering af buddhismen giver mening i både et moderne og posthumant perspektiv. Initiativer og institutioner baseret på socialt engageret buddhisme med bæredygtighed, biodiversitet og økologi som idealer har de sidste årtier bredt sig i både Øst og Vest. Der er argumenter fra både klassisk pali-buddhistisk litteratur og østasiatisk mahayana-filosofi til at godtgøre buddhistisk natur-symbiose ud fra både ontologisk, etisk og soteriologisk perspektiv. Kritisk analyse kan sagtens dekonstruere sådanne som anakronistisk konstruerede idealer, primært med afsæt i moderne naturalisme, reformbuddhisme og nutidig naturfilosofi. En sådan ’opfundet buddhisme’ er dog helt autentisk, og der argumenteres for, at netop et økologisk perspektiv på både historisk og nutidig buddhisme kan legitimere andre fortolkningsmuligheder, herunder anskuelsen af et ontologisk kontinuum med plads til også animistisk og posthuman ‘natur-religion’, i hvilken en hund på flere planer kan siges at besidde buddha-natur.