The Enigmatic Russian Soul

Russia... The biggest country in the world with the population about 150 million people. People of different nationalities, who live in different climatic conditions, who have various characters, habits and thoughts. And there is only one thing that units them: they live in Russia.

There is something indeterminate, mysterious, even irrational about Russia and Russian identity. Various poets and philosophers since about the middle of the ninetenth century have characterized Russia as a "Sphinx." For many Russia has also been a "riddle". The young Nikolai Berdiaev began his 1915 article on "The Soul of Russia" by speaking of the need to "solve the riddle of Russia". For Berdiaev, Russia was a "riddle," an "unsolved mystery" . More recently philosopher E. V. Barabanov characterizes Russia as a "problem-riddle" . The word "riddle" is applied to Russia again and again from the beginnings of Russian philosophy down to the present day. Sometimes, as well, Russian thinkers make sarcastic reference to the "enigmatic soul" of Russia. And all this is quite apart from the fact that Western observers speak too much of "the riddle of Russian identity." Most famous, of course, is Sir Winston Churchill's characterization of Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." This phrase gives a brief but precise description of Russian character. The character which is based on extremes and contradictions that make it mysterious and difficult to understand. Speaking about Russian character we need to remember that it was formed in the Soviet Union and was oppressed for iron curtain and only now swims out. Everything new is a mystery.

Russia possesses huge territories where different resources, like coal, gas and oil, can be mined. But Russian people are too lazy to spend their time on mining these fields. Moreover, Russians do not appreciate what they have until they lose it.

Russian people think that people in Europe and America live better than they do, but when they go abroad they get homesick and think that “there is no place like home”. On the one hand, Russians are generous and hospitable. On the other hand, the level of the corruption is one of the highest in the world. The same can be said about unpredictability: Russians can be reserved and can be emotional, even unstable.

In 1886 Fedor Tiutchev wrote his famous quatrain on the need to believe in Russia:
Russia cannot be understood with the mind,
Nor can she be measured with the ordinary yardstick.
There is in her a special stature:
You can only believe in Russia.

To sum up, Russian soul is unic and it cannot be understood in a rational way. Who is going to solve this mystery and to find a key to it’s heart?