Igor Antonovich Zakharenko

Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Professor at Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography Russia, Moscow

Global Knowledge of Culture

N.K. Roerich saw in the culture the most important evolutionary link in the attainment of peace on earth, the possibility of restructuring the way people live through culture as "the supreme treasure of mankind". In order to understand global and regional processes in nature and society is the need to rely on the concept of "global culture" - a synthesis of world experience as the relationship between man, society and nature, which is the basis of intercultural and inter-ethnic relations, cooperation and collaboration of East and West. Here, culture is not only a transformed human nature, but as knowledge of the world in order to adequately reflect the reality. In the knowledge of cultures around the world lies the very essence of the human way of being in the world.

In this context, the concept of "global culture" - is that the existing potential of the historical and scientific analysis and synthesis of relations between nature, man and society as a mosaic of geographical space and the unity of the peoples living on it, which makes possible the existence of global culture. In this context, Roerich defined the concept of culture: "Culture is the worship of Light, Culture is the love of a man, and culture is a fragrance, a combination of life and beauty. Culture is a weapon of Light. Culture is salvation. Culture is the engine. Culture is the heart. If we collect all the definitions of culture, we find the synthesis of active welfare, education and the creative hotbed of beauty" (2. P. 62-63).

It seems to us extremely important and relevant to consider the whole and diverse scientific and creative activity of N.K. Roerich from the perspective of the problem we posed. Our study is organically built on several major areas of fundamental research to solve this problem: methodological, geopolitical, country knowing, oriental and cult urological.

Scientific discoveries of N.K. Roerich carry a great opportunity for Global Studies related to the study of space, time and man. Dialectical method, which was used by Roerich as a historian, his progressive aspirations allows us to consider him one of the greatest thinkers and scientists of his time. He pointed to a number of important trends in historical scholarship, which then were further developed. In the definition of these areas played a role Roerich′ gift of scientific foresight, and his sharp insight and matured throughout life concept, which was based on deeply realized the future solar reality of planet.

The Great researcher worried about the problem of knowledge of the principles and laws governing the development of culture as a planetary phenomenon. Scientist and humanist, N.K. Roerich provided guidance, "not a simple accumulation of data, but the expansion of world view and striving for the highest will display people from the depths of life". Violation of this principle now leads the world in the global danger - the unity of ignorance and the latest achievements of science. "This is a monster nest in a much more numerous canyons, than expected. The most dangerous violence, as a terrible form of ignorance, not live in some courts, or about thrones and chairs, no, she has hidden pockets in family and social life" (1. P. 46, 131).

Philosopher and thinker Nikolai Roerich discovered the law of self-culture - a deep connection of human thought in all ages and races. Human civilization survive or die depending on the external communications and internal stability of constantly boosting culture, spirituality of society, the accumulation and interpretation of historical experience and knowledge, a wise measure between innovation and tradition. With the destruction of spirituality of the world's people - whether great or small nations - will be eliminated human culture as such, then inevitably follow the destruction of nature as a human habitat, and with it will disappear humanity itself. As prophecy sounds N.K. Roerich′ stern warning: "Someone is trying to seize by the throat ... the space itself. It is hard to imagine what would happen if mankind will enter on a path of violence. One thing is clear that people in the mutual hatred can lead to the action of the most terrible destructive power. If at this moment is not happening yet some terrific explosion or some other deadly epidemics, it does not mean that they cannot in general be" (1. P. 93).

Working in the archives of Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Chita, Ulan-Ude, Irkutsk and Kyakhta, Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Omsk, Moscow and Leningrad I gradually came to believe in the total internal spiritual connection of such prominent scholars as Asia Plano Carpini and Vilgeym Rubruck, Marco Polo , Chang Chun, Fyodor and Nikolai Baikov, Spafary, Jesuit missionaries Zherbilon, Verbiest and Pereira, Peter Pallas, Hyacinth (N. Bichurin) and Palladium (Kafarov), Peter Kropotkin, Alexandervon Humboldt and Carl Ritter, Nicholas Przewalski, Grigory Potanin, and Gregory Groom Grzhimailo, Peter Kozlov and Sven Hedin. Nicholas Roerich was a great follower of scientific traditions laid down by his predecessors. But he went his own way- "He was always attracted by ancient migrations of peoples, as a factor in a broad cultural interaction (3. P. 18).

Conceptual installation of N.K. Roerich was not go to study the specific characteristics of any particular culture but look for something that tied many cultures across time and space. He was looking for a general similarities rather than differences. He was interested in broader issues of cultural interaction paths of different peoples, the mechanism of succession in the formation of multi-traditional cultures, and, finally, the search for ancient sources to create entire cultural communities. Roerich kept his research in wide limits of long and complex processes that built the cultural and historical community of mankind as a whole (3. P. 14-15).

Spirituality of the East, the accumulated knowledge of man for thousands of years by Indian sages, explains the phenomena of spirit and nature always conceptualized N.K. Roerich. It was the search for common cultural roots of peoples and civilizations, the study of similar forms of material and spiritual culture in different regions of the world, the historical focus of the interaction and the possibility of mutual enrichment of cultures, perspectives of development. The Orientalist came to the conclusion that the similarities in the cultures of different nations are greater than the differences. "And our optimism - he noted in this context - is not the result of far-off dream, but is the result of studying dozens of countries and a broad exposure to different peoples, with a completely different, psychology. And in the end, despite these differences, they are one" (3. P. 17).

Sagacity of Nicholas Roerich confirmed in his report to the International Congress of Asian and North-African studies «ICANS37» the Russian Orientalist academic E.M. Primakov, who explicitly stated that the Orientalists showed specificity and distinction of different cultures, but did not show the way to interaction and did not disclose the possibility of interpenetration of Western and Eastern civilizations and cultures. This means that the development of world civilization through the development of cultures which component it, a lot of oriental works remained unfulfilled.

In this regard, very important to us is theoretical and methodological approach of Nicholas Roerich to scale cultural and historical evolution of humanity: "Each level of review has its advantages". Lower "level narrows the review, but allows you to see specific details and time-limited processes. ... High level of "review" Nikolai Konstantinovich managed to maintain even when he descended into the region of a particular history today. He was very keenly aware of the historical time, saw patterns, connected together the past, present and future, and could find in this stream of time that which was capable of further development, something that formed "wonderful stones" of human culture" (3. P. 17).

Consider the scientific heritage of N.K. Roerich from the perspective of regional geography knowledge of Asia. During the study of geo space "East - West" we raised the question of mutual learning and mutual enrichment of civilizations and cultures. The term "culture" is given new meaning as a culture of mutual learning, understanding the characteristics and identity of nations and peoples. The image of the historical concept of N.K. Roerich expressed in three small circles, concluded in general terms, as an expression of the unity of past, present and future in an uninterrupted ascent to the heights of human mind.

Knowledge about the world, the laws of its formation are the result of a complex and controversial long-term learning process. People, and then with the development of society and humanity in the process of life ever got to know the world around us. Thus the knowledge of the geographical space has passed an initial path from the study of the man and his family area residence - "acumen", then of the people living in the region - "civilization", with the final release on the study of space and time on a planetary scale - "The Universe".

On the formation of an expanding cultural geographic environment L. Mechnikov wrote: "With the passage of time on Earth goes on an evolution of cultural geographical environment: in the beginning it is limited to a few pools nonsingular extensive cultural and historical rivers. ... Then, at a certain point, it expands and takes on the character of Mediterranean, after a while - covers the Atlantic Ocean, and finally spreads his arms to take in all the inhabited areas of the globe". Thus, in contrast to the static nature of the geographical environment the cultural geographical environment has a tendency to expand: Formed initially as a local phenomenon, it gradually expanded to all-planetary phenomena (4. P. 121).

Considering the culture of the local, national, regional and global levels, we arrive at the notions of 'civilization', 'nation', 'state', 'the people'. Global level or world civilization is reflected in two types of geographical space - East and West. At the regional level in terms of the spread of religious world-view we see the Catholic world, the Orthodox, Muslim, Buddhist, Confucian, etc. Such a variety of historical and cultural regionalization of the world leads us to an understanding of civilization's culture as historically certain level of knowledge of the world of humanity, creative efforts and abilities to develop the knowledge, organization and find ways to systematize the processes and phenomena of cultural development.

In the process of understanding of geo space author raised the question of mutual learning and mutual enrichment of civilizations and cultures. Taking geo culture as a basis for research, we believe that the earth's surface is recorded not only with the distribution of organic bodies, but also with the destinies of nations. So to explore the culture of the people is impossible without knowledge of the history of its geographical formation and development in a particular landscape, the historical development of the bearer of this culture.

Based on the findings of N.K. Roerich, we take the process of the knowledge of the cultures as reflection of the world through the consciousness and it is the basis development of the world. But the history of the cognitive activity of the mankind is viewed through the stages of historical development of knowledge: pragmatically cognitive, philosophically cognitive, and scientifically cognitive, and by the cognitive means of neo sphere. In the structure of each stage of learning is important to determine the dominant component, the kernel, which is a clot of cognitive activity and knowledge. This framework through the main ideas gradually becomes dominant and affects the creation of the world picture which is emerging from the complex interplay of real existence of this era and its material and spiritual life. Here each new stage of cognition differs from the previous to their world view, a universal concept - acumen, world, existence, matter. Its basis is the carrier of spiritual and material human interaction with nature, the development of culture and science.

In religion the structure of the world cultural space paradoxically combines the stability and variability. And it must be talked about main bodies of cultural-religious regions or areas, peripheries and transition zones. This question is complicated, but we can say that the spread of cultural and religious phenomenon comes from the center to center, already established areas of cultural ties with the parallel development of spheres of influence of individual centers.

All the foregoing regional system allows us to introduce western culture in contact with Eastern cultural tradition. European colonization from the fifteenth century becomes a phenomenon of world-historical scale. Opening of new trade routes and countries, political and economic expansion of the West to the East, favour primary accumulation process of capital, the birth of the world market and initiate the era of modern colonialism. Colonialism we take as the politics of European countries with colonial expansion of political and economic influence and division between them in the East. It should be noted that at this time flourished in the East trade, including transit. Before the XV-XVI centuries East was richer and better equipped, to say nothing of its high cultural level. Colonial trade is not as important as income but as the fact of global bonds, the possibility of borrowing and accelerating development. Transit trade is expensive, and it was one of the important incentives that led Europeans to seek new ways to India and China - the sea ways, the most simple and cheap.

And not only the West has studied the East but eastern countries actively studied the Europe. The beginning was started by the ancient Huns. The mass movement of the Huns to the west from the 70s IV gave impetus to the Great migration of peoples. The promotion of the Huns to the west was halted by their defeat on the Catalan fields in 451. In the future the border of the Tiurk Kahanat closed at the end of the VI in the west with Byzantium, to the south by Persia even by India and in the east by China. A huge role of the colonization in Eurasia played Mongolian, Manchu and Chinese empires. Equally significant was the impact of Arab and Turkish influence on the European peoples.

The most interesting to me as a researcher is a grand Manchurian region, where entwined are geopolitical, economic and cultural interests of the largest states in the world. Why and how it happened - the answer to this question is the purpose of my several years` standing scientific research. The method of investigation was suggested by Nicholas Roerich. He "marked with his milestones precisely the enduring elements in the cultural traditions of those peoples with whom he dealt on his expedition route. These milestones have not lost their importance now. Just not disappeared and have not lost their significance the ancient fortresses and monasteries, ancient temples and legends, the original agricultural festivals and worship of the Sun" (3. P. 16).

So one of the most interesting for me in the scientific heritage of N.K. Roerich is the least known his expedition to Manchuria - a great and mysterious area of the East. Working many years in the field of the Far East regional studies and research dealing with Manchuria and Mongolia, I was bound to come into the field of scientific and geopolitical interests of Nicholas Roerich. The need for such studies is clear. It is insufficient to speak about the subject of research, having only theoretical knowledge and relying on the testimony of his predecessors. It is necessary to see what saw Roerich, feel what felt great thinker. "Milestones, which he has placed in his paintings and diaries of the expedition, were the milestones in these processes. Identify the exact meaning of the concept of the milestones one can only passing the route of the expedition" (3. P. 14-15).

Here we rely on the civilization approach generated by N.K. Roerich, recognizing the unity of the world as historical and cultural process, and the presence of multiple unique cultures with their own path of development due to natural geographic, historical, cultural, socio-economic and other factors. This approach is based on a study of the history of the East and is one of the principal laws of social development, namely, the desire for mutual learning people is dependent on the development of world civilization and the level of political, economic, scientific, cultural, environmental cooperation between the countries of East and West. It is the implementation of this law as the basis for fruitful cooperation between Russia and the countries of East and West as the need to achieve national social and public interests of all countries.

Thus, arguing that the global crisis of culture determines all the other global problems of present, the author proposes to resolve this problem through scientific historical occurrence of western culture in the east with a gradual transition from one region to another through the border area of the world. So the Western culture organically goes into the attended field of oriental culture. And only through the interaction of cultures thus will be possible the implementation of a dialogue between East and West.

On the vast space of Eastern Siberia near the great Baikal Sea in the pearl of the region - the Selenga Dauria, being a child I first saw a painting of Roerich. It was the picture of the "Great Rider", which my father was given by Mongols. Then during my youth, interpreting the hidden depths of the genius paintings I discovered also the books of N.K. Roerich and himself as an amazing storyteller. It seems to me, I have walked all over the vast spaces of Asia with Roerich and made up my mind to ask the question - "Whether the heart of Asia is alive and where is it now?" That is my serious work on the specified path stated by N.K. Roerich:

"I brought you to the wide rivers and unbounded lakes.
And I showed you the ocean.
Who has seen the infinite cannot be lost in the finite.
For no endless forest is there.
And every swamp may be ignored" (5. P. 143).

Since that time I am going on this wonderful and inexhaustible path of knowledge as a homecoming Pilgrim from Europe to Asia.

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Literature

1. Рерих Н.К. Человек и природа. М., 1979.
2. Рерих Н.К. Избранное. М., 1979.
3. Шапошникова Л.В. От Алтая до Гималаев. М., 1987.
4. Круть И.В., Забелин И.М. Очерки истории представлений о взаимоотношении природы и общества. М., 1988.
5. Рерих Н.К. Письмена. М., 1974.

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• The Roerich Pact and the Banner of Peace as a Remarkable Phenomenon of the World Culture
Reports and Speeches at the International Social and Scientific Conference.
Delhi – Kullu – Shimla – Kalimpong October 22– November 5 2010