The Mother Archetype as a substantial constant of socio-anthropological metaphysics

Vorob'eva Elena YUr'evna ORCID: 0000-0003-3588-9404 PhD in Philosophy Associate Professor, Department of Social and Humanitarian Disciplines, ANOO VO "Siberian Institute of Business and Information Technologies" 644116, Russia, Omsk region, Omsk, 24 Severnaya str., 196/1 velena-05@mail.ru

Introduction

In the modern era of turbulence of the present and low predictability of the future, not only has not disappeared, but even the urgency of searching for unshakable pillars of a changeable existence has increased. The archaeology of meanings can contribute to their identification. The worldview universals crystallized in ontological and other philosophical categories arise from the constructs of mythological consciousness preceding rational systems, and are their "universal" projections. In this sense, archetypes are more fundamental than "idea" and "matter", "object" and "subject", "eternity" and "temporality", etc. In the most general form, their forms are characteristic of all civilizations, but the specific content depends on cultural and historical content. The roots common to the genus, tribe, and nation go into the depths of the collective unconscious, and ultimately it is from there that we draw patterns of behavior and the content of basic attitudes. "Archetypes were and remain a spiritual life force that wants to be taken seriously, and which in a bizarre way makes sure to show itself," stated K. G. Jung ^{[1, p. 352]}. The archaeology of meanings introduces each of us simultaneously into the universal worldview space and into the space of national culture, provides access to the heritage of our ancestors, forms a position based on which crucial decisions for the world are made. But it is possible to determine the features of the civilizational mentality only in comparison with other cultural and historical systems, finding points of contact and divergence.

The problem of research can be described as the need to consider archetypes as metaphysical categories of socioanthropological systems capable of setting a worldview framework for concepts that comprehend a changing picture of the world. Within the framework of this extensive topic, we set the task of considering the archetype of the Mother as a substantial constant of Russian civilization, which cannot be done outside the general philosophical context. To study this phenomenon of cultural reality, we use the palimpsest method. They assume that fresh notes are applied on top of the erased ones, but what was written earlier inevitably shines through the "subsequent texts", marking not only the impact of the past on the present, but also the predetermined characteristics of a new way of being ^[2]. In the search for meanings concentrated in the images of the collective unconscious, it is necessary to overcome time layers so that the symbols of the present time acquire convexity and depth.

Attention to the mythological origins of modern culture is reflected in the studies of G. A. Antipov, O. A. Donskikh ^[3], A. I. Davydov ^[4], N. V. Afanasyev, K. V. Lukina ^[5]. The sociocultural aspect of constructing reality with the help of myth is considered by V. L. Tikhonova ^[6], N. P. Volkova, A. A. Volkova ^[7]. The study of archetypes and their influence on the culture of different countries and peoples was undertaken by A. Kadir and T. Tiainen-Kadir ^[8], Yu. Shaev, E. Samoilova ^[9], Yu. A. Veselov ^[10]. The sociological aspect of the symbol of the Motherland is revealed by O. V. Ryabov, T. B. Ryabova ^[11] and A. A. Romanova ^[12]. The subject of our research is the archetype of the Mother as a stable phenomenon of the collective unconscious, which has a system-forming influence on the philosophical picture of the world in conditions of uncertainty.

The archetype as a metaphysical construct

The archetype of the Mother is a universal a priori category of being present in all civilizations without exception. Inanna, Ishtar, Cybele, Nuiva, Shakti, etc. personified the processes of creating the world, managing nature, and patronizing all beings inhabiting the earth. They are older than humanity itself, because they gave life to the first people and everything related to birth and death was in their power. This archetype is most consistently represented in Jungian studies based on materials from European and Latin American culture, according to which the feminine principle was personified in the images of Cora and Demeter; the triune Virgin-Mother-Old Woman (K. G. Jung, K. Kerenyi ^{[13, pp. 121-178]}); Wild Woman (K. P. Estes ^[14]). All female images were reduced to a generalized archetype of the Great Mother (E. Neumann ^[15]), almost lost in the variety of characteristics. The "loving and terrible mother" gives good, embodies fertility and abundance, orgiastic emotionality and Stygian depths, her symbols and manifestations reflect the dream of overcoming death and at the same time promise danger. In the role of inexorable fate, the Mother is represented by moirs, Grays, Norns.

These works focus on the peculiarities of the manifestation of archetypes in national cultures, but common characteristics can also be distinguished. The universal property of the archetype of the Mother is procedural: the conjugation of a series of deaths and births into a continuous chain of life. The importance of a single being is lost before the importance of being common, and as long as the world exists, there are also those who come into it and leave it. Individual death does not matter, the cycle of life is eternal — this is the secret of immortality. The unique properties reflect the historical changes taking place in culture, the temporal aspect of the development of images of the collective unconscious, which are enriched with meanings not previously inherent.

Mother Cheese-Earth: the Archetype of the Mother in Archaic Russian culture

The archetype of the Mother in the Russian worldview contains both universal and unique characteristics. Like the European and Eastern forms, it is aimed at preserving the eternal chain of births-deaths-births, the multiplication of earthly fruits, and the manifestation of the elemental power of nature. But along with these properties, it contains the meanings of kindness and rigor, condescension and exactingness, boundless love for their children and willingness to sacrifice an individual for the sake of preserving community. At first glance, the archetype seems to be triune, but all three of its incarnations are "temporary layers", "records on top of erased records" of the ancient palimpsest.

Of all the pagan gods of the ancient Russian pantheon, Mother Cheese-Earth is most often mentioned in the extant echo of the myth - folklore. Like the ancient Gaia, she does not act as an independent heroine, but only shelters, comforts, feeds and judges the heroes. It is the common homeland of the poor and the rich, the smart and the stupid, the righteous and the sinners, the happy and the unhappy. "I am taken from the earth, I feed on the earth, I will go to the earth," is the quintessence of folk wisdom, reproduced by the Russian ethnographer of the turn of the XIX—XX centuries A. A. Korinfsky.

His studies of proverbs, sayings, songs and tales of peasants of the Nizhny Novgorod-Samara Volga region add a few more touches to this characteristic. So, the Mother's love is boundless, everyone receives her care and generous gifts: "No matter how kind someone is, but everything is not kinder than Mother-Raw-Earth: everyone shelters the family to the grave, and the earth will shelter the dead!". In response, he demands only honesty: "You can't lie, the earth hears!" ^{[16, p. 28]}. Further, Mother Earth is patient, carries every person, both good and evil, but there are crimes that she does not forgive: "Sin is discord with sin, with another and you will fall through the ground!". The violator of social and moral laws is threatened with punishment "the earth will not accept" or "will not wear". For example, in the epic about Vasily Buslaev, the following lines are embedded in the mouth of his mother:

"Then if you, child, go on a robbery,

And I will not give a great blessing.

And don't wear Vasiliy cheese on earth!" ^{[17, p. 818]}.

The punishment for the crime committed by the whole people is crop failure, infertility of the Wet-Nurse Land, putting it on the brink of survival.

The universal properties of the archetype manifested themselves in the blurring of the boundary between the living and the dead, as, for example, in the wedding song recorded by A. I. Kasterin in Poshekhonye in the XIX century. The text expresses a request to Mother-Raw-Earth to step aside and awaken the father and mother of the lyrical heroine so that she can mourn her past life, ending from the moment of marriage, and say goodbye to her deceased parents ^{[17, p. 507]}. The instability of the border was also recorded by folk tales ("Sivka-burka", etc.). Direct communication with ancestors, reflected in folk tales and traditions, is a sign of the influence of the maternal archetype in all developed cultures.

The unique property is the chthonic power of the Mother, which exceeds any other force, which is most clearly shown in the epic about Svyatogor, the leader of the heroic squad. He represented the embodiment of monstrous power, which has no direct application and has become a heavy burden not only for himself, but also for the world. The hero challenged the earth, and she responded by putting a bag in the way, in which "the thrust-the power of the earth lies." Svyatogor could not lift her, lost the duel of strength, but did not pull away from his Mother, as the Jungian Divine Child does in the process of individuation. On the contrary, he plunged into the earth, merged with it to feed the elemental power of the people, giving birth to new heroes: "And Svyatogorova's power went from that stone mountain all over the Orthodox land; and she wanders under every inch of the earth right up to the present day, appearing in the white light of God for a short time in the elemental force of the people, generating people of a heroically powerful spirit" ^{[16, p. 31]}. Such people help society survive in the bitterest days of trials — Mother Cheese-Earth keeps her children, because without them she is an orphan.

In "The Word about Igor's Regiment", Mother Cheese-Earth acquires territorial affiliation in contrast to the Polovtsian land and takes part in all the joys and sorrows of the people: sends a warning about the failure of the campaign, grieves for the dead soldiers, grieves for the princely strife leading to ruin. The work is permeated with thoughts that only such a battle, victory or death deserves recognition, which are committed not for the sake of honor and glory, but for the benefit of the Russian land; that discord in the ranks of sons leaves the Mother defenseless, and this too must be remembered.

Thus, we can identify the following properties of the first layer of the Russian archetype of the Mother:

— universal: the personification of the natural element, the embodiment of fertility, reproduction of the cycle of life and death, connection with the dead, the inevitability of punishment for crimes against the natural order of things;

— unique: the irresistible power, unity and equality of those living on earth, the military spirit of the people, their willingness to protect their Mother.

The value of joint activity for the benefit of the country and honesty towards oneself and society, inherent in the image of Mother Earth, formed the basis of the civilizational core of Russian culture.

The Mother of God: the Archetype of the Mother in Orthodox Russian Culture

With the beginning of Christianization in Russia, a high culture of the "Byzantine type" began to be created, which not only did not rely on pagan traditions, but was also directly opposed to them ^[18]. But in order for Christianity to become truly "its own" for society, it was necessary to include new meanings in the order of the former world.

The concept of "Holy Russia" arose on Russian soil, including by supplementing the archetype of the Mother with a special reading of the image of the Virgin. "Why is Holy Russia the land of all mother lands?" the hero of the folk verse asked about the "Pigeon Book" and received an answer: "And there are many Christian people in it, they believe in the baptized faith, the baptized-worshipful faith, to Christ Himself, the King of Heaven, His Mother the Lady, the Lady Theotokos; there are apostolic, pious, most reverend churches on it, they pray to God crucified..." ^{[16, pp. 34-35]}. The fundamental equality of the children of Mother-Raw-Earth was superimposed on the position "there is neither a Greek nor a Jew" and served as the source of both communality and conciliarity of the Russian people. The Mother of God becomes the heavenly guardian of the Russian land, takes an active part in significant events in the daily life of a person, society, and the state. They turn to her with a plea for the removal of spoilage or strengthening of health, increasing the yield of fields, establishing the right social order. A. A. Korinfsky cites evidence that back in the XI–XII centuries. during disputes about cross-strip possessions, it was customary to walk along the border with a piece of turf cut on the disputed field on the head, and already in the XVI Q. the same action was performed with the icon of the Mother of God on her head. To escape from troubles and misfortunes, it was necessary to collect the earth from under the plough on the first furrow and keep the Joy of All the Sorrowful behind the icon ^{[16, p. 41]}. The religious holiday in honor of the salvation of Constantinople, which the Mother of God covered with her omophorion, was interpreted in the popular consciousness as an opportunity for every Christian to resort to the protection of higher powers at any moment: "Zorka-zoryanitsa, red maiden, Mother of the Most Holy Theotokos! Cover my sorrows and illnesses with your veil! Cover me with Your veil from the power of the enemy! ^{[16, p. 507]}. The Kazan icon of the Mother of God blessed the campaign of the people's militia led by K. Minin and D. Pozharsky, which put an end to the Troubles, and Orthodox theologians noted that enemy invasions or internal crises were often preceded by the acquisition of miraculous images of the Virgin.

In Russian and Orthodox icon—making in general, the image of the Mother of God is most common, as if compensating for the limited biblical role of Mary, the Savior's parent. As you know, icons with their reverse perspective depict the distant and the higher in detail, and the near and the lower schematically, as something insignificant. Russian iconography, this "speculation in colors" (E. N. Trubetskoy), asserts the true extraterrestrial existence, "eternal life" in spiritual guise. The Russian way of being is to strive for the highest, not focusing on everyday trifles, but the Mother of God also spiritualizes earthly existence, gives it meaning. Her image is both transcendent and immanent, far and near, sacred and profane. In the archetype, the refined fruits of elite culture are combined with the roots of folk culture, the highest manifestations of consciousness with the depths of the unconscious. V. V. Rozanov stated the importance of its impact: "That is why the peoples, especially our deep Russian, worshiped and reduced almost all Christianity to the worship of the "Grieving Mother of God", the "Indestructible Wall", the "Hope of the human race". What kind of “hope"? Yes, my own grief. We are all in solidarity in it" ^{[19, p. 238]}. But the archetype forces not only the sorrow of earthly existence, it is enough to list some more names from the list of miraculous icons: "Life—giving spring", "Unintentional Joy", "Addition of mind", "The Word flesh being", "The Wrangler of Loaves", etc. - they were worshipped no less, and they reflected no less important for the people face the image of a Mother.

The historical development of elite and folk cultures endowed this temporal image of the Mother with universal properties inherent in Orthodox Christian archetypes in general, and unique, enriched characteristics of the Mother-Raw-Earth. Due to the wide range of meanings inherent in the image of the Mother of God, religious forms of consciousness are organically intertwined with the philosophical and literary practices of Russian culture. Russian religious philosophy of the late XIX–early XX centuries formulates the idea of a "common cause" (N. V. Fedorov), the essence of which is to unite all mankind to overcome death and resurrect the dead, which clearly refers us to the universal properties of the archetype, postulating immortality not only spiritual, but also bodily. This dream of the philosopher, at first glance detached from the practical side of life, gave impetus to the development of bioengineering research and cosmonautics.

V. S. Solovyov's concept of unity presupposes "the realization in fraternal union with other peoples of the ideal of all-humanity", which the Russian national spirit is able to achieve, because it is he who "can inwardly understand all other people's elements, love them, transform into them" ^{[20, p. 115]}. This is how the archetypal equality in the physical and spiritual space is manifested, expressed in community and conciliarity.

Characteristic of thinkers of this trend is the affirmation of Christian love, which differs from any other "by its mystical depth, is exposed by the fact that it is a connection of depth with depth, a bridge thrown from one abyss of the heart to another" ^{[21, p. 276]}. The image of the Mother of God was finally established as a symbol of unconditional love in the Russian culture of the XIX century, and the archetype of the Mother manifested itself as a system-forming element of transcendental schemes.

To those who have known the grief of loss, who have empathized with the sufferings of sinners in Hell ("The Walk of the Virgin in torment") and can ease the burden of earthly existence, they turn for mercy, care, support. The Mother of God does not judge, does not punish, she covers with her veil, preserves and preserves the lights of human souls trembling under the onslaught of harsh winds that torment Holy Russia. Even if a person has lost physical connection with the Russian land, the spiritual connection remains inseparable: "In emigrant poetry, the main idea associated with the image of the Mother of God becomes the idea of the Protection of the Mother of God, the idea of Protection, Heavenly Patronage. The image of the Mother of God approaches the image of the lost Russia. Poets who have lost their earthly Fatherland are looking for a Heavenly Fatherland," notes E. F. Kazakov [22. p. 207]. The cultural picture of another turning point in Russian history shows that the miraculous finding of the image of the Mother of God in prose, poetry and philosophy is not accidental.

Thus, we can identify the following properties of the second layer of the Russian archetype of the Mother:

— universal: the personification of heavenly grace, protection and patronage, the mystical aspect of unity with the transcendent, love for one's neighbor;

— unique: spiritual unity and equality, salvation from external and internal troubles, mercy, protection of health and fertility.

Motherland: the Archetype of the Mother in Modern Russian Culture

For Christianity as a world religion, confessional community is more important than territorial community, but Russian Orthodox culture is peculiar in that it united confessional and territorial community with the concept of "Moscow — the Third Rome". The new lands that were part of the Russian Empire became part of a common one from hostile ones, and state policy brought both pagans and Gentiles under the protection of the Virgin Mary, who shared the values that form the core of Russian civilization. In the 19th century, the Russian archetype of the Mother, in addition to the traditional bodily and spiritual sides, was enriched by the state component and in the 20th century was embodied in the image of the Motherland.

Archetypes are actualized when a civilization passes the bifurcation point, finds itself in a "borderline situation" and encounters a threat to its existence. The half-forgotten mythical Mother Cheese, the Land of "illiterate peasants", rejected by atheism as a symbol of "ecclesiastical obscurantism", the Mother of God, the Earthly and Heavenly Mother, reunited in the 1941-1945's to grow an ontological basis for a radically changed society. The Motherland was able to bring its people together, not to let them dissipate in the timelessness of social upheavals.

The formation of the archetype occurred at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when the appeal was made: "Brothers and sisters...". Everyone who walked the earth: happy and unhappy, smart and stupid, ardent Bolshevik and apolitical non—Partisan - not only equalized the revolutionary scrapping of estates in the social aspect, but also gathered in the civilizational circle of the Mother's children -Raw-Earth. Some researchers (for example, A. I. Vdovin ^[23], Yu. S. Voronov, N. V. Lyubozhnova ^[24]) consider this formulation of the beginning of Stalin's historical speech to be an echo of his seminarian past, but, in our opinion, it became an involuntary appeal to the fundamental archetype of the civilizational core of Russia, which was threatened with destruction. It's not who said it that matters, it's who responded. It was an appeal to the deepest layers of culture, and the response of the collective unconscious of the people followed immediately. Wartime posters show that the basic archetypes of different civilizations came together in a global conflict. The mother gathered the descendants of Svyatogor the hero into a sacrificial circle, only she was capable of this.

This aspect of the Mother archetype was fully revealed after the victory. The state, as is typical of the traditional bearer of the universal characteristics of another archetype, the archetype of the Father, glorified the dead heroes, giving them the immortality of human memory, the symbols of which have been considered cenotaphs and monuments since ancient times. The Mamaev Kurgan memorial complex, built in the 1959-1967's, included real burials in the image of the Motherland, sculptures "Motherland Calls!", calling her children to battle, and "Mother's Sorrow", referring to the Mother of God (the sculpture itself repeats the general Christian theme of "Pieta"). The memorial resource of the Motherland was set in motion, which nourished the living and the fallen with eternal life.

A special type of kinship peculiar to the Soviet era was formed on the basis of a front-line brotherhood, as V. Vysotsky would later write: "Our dead will not leave us in trouble, our fallen are like sentries." The connection of generations is found not in the territorial or religious sphere, but in the social space. The heavenly unity in eternity was rejected by atheistic culture, but social unity acquired the sacredness inherent in the images of the Mother of God and the Mother of the Raw Earth. The public space was supplemented with the meanings of "fraternal peoples", "fraternal republics", whose lands were gathered into a family of a single state under common banners and ideologies. Currently, as O. V. Ryabov and T. B. Ryabova note, "Russia is shown as a mother to representatives of all ethnic groups of the state; this is noted by the leaders of national republics (for example, the head of Chechnya, R. Kadyrov (Gamov, 2008)). The metaphor of kinship, concluded in comparing the country with the mother, implies a natural and therefore inextricable connection of all ethnic groups of the Russian Federation" ^[11].

In 2014, T. B. Ryabova and A. A. Romanova conducted a sociological survey, according to the results of which it can be concluded that our contemporaries do not share the concepts of "country" and "homeland", and treat it as something integral to existence: "Because it is strong, caring, it gives protection But she also needs to be protected, loved and protected like a mother" ^[12]. The Mother Country contains the meanings of both sacredness and natural closeness, kinship, the importance of which you notice only when you lose them. This study can be considered an illustrative illustration of the Mother archetype as an ontological constant of the value core of the Russian way of being: "An important element of national identity is not only the maternal image of Russia itself, but also the specifics of the attitude towards the country as a Mother Country" ^{[12, p. 145]}.

For her sons and daughters, Russia is more than a state, a country, or a people. In this image, the transcendental meanings of service to something higher and significant are concentrated. Despite all the social changes, the challenges she faces remain the same as they were hundreds of years ago. And the answers to these challenges remain the same as always, because they are formulated by a special attitude to the world and a specific way of being peculiar to Russian civilization.

Thus, we can identify the following properties of the third layer of the Russian archetype of the Mother:

— universal: transcendence, protection and patronage, love for one's children, gathering a "family of nations", the inevitability of punishment for crimes against the social order;

— unique: social equality, political mobilization, civic identity, memoriality.

Conclusion

Human existence in an anthropomorphic world has shifted the focus of attention from the problems of the existence of the universe to the comprehension of existence, the presence of a personality in the flow of time "here and now". Currently, thinkers prefer to fix the hyper-changeability of the world, its asystemicity and spontaneity. But neither "existence" nor "time" even tried to claim the role of the substances of being in the worldview picture, because the process cannot be a support because of its eternal movement. We live in a symbolic universe created by previous generations, and we search for substance in the presented conditions. The physis of Thales is made of water and full of gods, the "physis" of the modern philosopher is made of symbols and full of meanings. Symbols are an integral part of the picture of the world and penetrate into the structure of being, and sooner or later the researcher of archetypes comes to the conclusion of their multilayeredness, rooted in substantial depths. Step-by-step reading of layers can be called the palimpsest method, and if it is used, it is important what exactly is the object.

The traditional ontological categories of "cause—effect", "general — special", "quantity — quality", "part—whole", etc. were developed to describe the world as a metaphysical system. But the a priori conditions preceding any rational schemes are formed from the sensual and emotional experience of a people, contained in the origins of its culture. Thus, the phenomena of the collective unconscious that unite individuals into a society become peculiar ontological constants for societies.

The temporal images of the archetype described above place a person in front of something more than his earthly existence. They continue to implicitly influence those spheres of existence that they initially regulated: Mother Cheese-Earth seals oaths, preserves the bodily plan of the living and the dead, the Mother of God saves and purifies souls, keeps in touch with the transcendent, the Motherland embodies the call for protection and kinship of all citizens of the state. They embody the properties of the Mother archetype in general, and the features that form the civilizational archetype in its universal and unique dimensions.

Universal characteristics of the Mother archetype: earthly nature; protection of heaven; transcendent connection of the earthly and heavenly; love for living creatures; connection with the dead; reproduction of new generations.

The unique characteristics of the Mother archetype are: territorial and spiritual kinship; social, confessional and ethnic equality; salvation from troubles; maintaining the military spirit of the people; citizenship; storage and transmission of memory.

Thanks to these properties of the collective unconscious, Russia is ready to accept into its family all those who share the values of its civilizational core, because they determine a person's place, his worldview, motives and results of activity, which gives rise to the metaphysics of anthropomorphic worlds.