Religion and Spirituality

Abstract

The article attempts to understand the nature of religion and spirituality in the form of a philosophical dialogue. Immersion in the depth of the phenomenon of spirituality led N.V. Shelkovaya to the understanding of its ineffability by the method of affirmations, but only the possibility of an apo-phatic delineation of its contours (it is not consciousness, not religiosity, not morality) and the identification of certain essential attributes (unio mystica with the Spirit by withdrawing from one’s ego, intent on “non-I” based on love for the entire world). M.Yu. Sergeev sets out the approach to spirituality in a different perspective - from the position of his theory of religious cycles, and considering religion as a living organism that passes through the initial, orthodox, classical, reformist and critical phases of development. He substantiates the deep unity of all religions by bringing out common ideas (mystical union with God, ideas of the moral foundation of the universe and the variability of the world). During the dialogue, discrepancies in views on the vision of the nature of the reason and its relationship with spirituality and religion were revealed. However, although Sergeev and Shelkovaya see differently the way out from the contemporary spiritual crisis of humanity (for Shelkovya - it is a mystical experience of uniting with God, for Sergeev - a new religious paradigm), both agree that the existing ratio-centrism is destructive for humankind.