What is the phenomenon of Peter Mamonovtranslated

Yuri KURBATOV

axis mundi

Many nations have gone through difficult eras, when the entire society seems to be plunged into darkness, loses its bearings, and loses its way, like a blind man. This may be preceded by famine, war, or serious historical upheavals. Or it may happen that the people simply lose the meaning of existence, lose the axis of the world, axis mundi. The philosopher Mircea Eliade, retelling the observation of anthropologists Spencer and Gillen about the Australian Arunta aborigines, writes: “... if the sacred pillar was broken, the whole tribe was seized with melancholy, its members wandered for some time, and then sat down on the ground and died.”

Something similar happened with the late USSR. The more pathetic the official speeches about the eternity of the totem pole sounded, the more reality became overgrown with anecdotes. Why be surprised if in one company one could meet a man in a German uniform with an iron cross on his chest, an explorer of parallel worlds, a bearded Orthodox man in a hat and a Hare Krishna devotee hung with garlands of flowers. Moreover, they could all talk completely peacefully about their personal search for this very truth. And although the paths to it led in different directions, everyone agreed on one thing: in the old Soviet forms...