The Psychology of Kindness

The monograph examines the top manifestations of the human psyche: goodness, spirituality, spiritual abilities, the meaning of life, altruism, and their expression in the Russian mentality. The author offers an original classification of meanings. The classification is based on the existential representation of meaning as a category related to human life and even directly derived from it: meanings as an idealization of instinctive drives. The factors determining the altruistic or egoistic orientation of the Russian man are highlighted empirically. The possibility of the development of spiritual abilities, their connection with the categories of "good", "the meaning of life" is analyzed. It is pointed out that only ideal meanings (life for the sake of knowledge, life for the sake of creativity, life for the sake of self-improvement) are connected with spiritual development. It is suggested that the development of spiritual abilities is better carried out indirectly, by training supersituative activity, the desire to choose from two alternatives more difficult way, rather than the most spiritual. The book is intended for psychologists, students of relevant faculties, and all those interested in existential problems of being.