Why is fanaticism dangerous? Fans – who are they? The psychological nature of fanaticism. How beautiful this world is, look

The brain of a healthy person is able to process up to 10 thousand thoughts per day. For fanatics, life circumstances and actions are subordinated to one dominant thought, which is why they cannot switch to everyday problems and needs. If they succeed, it is automatically and for a short time. Fanatics live in constant stress.

Fanaticism - what is it?

“Fanaticism” is translated from Latin as “frenzy.” People suffering from this pathology have atrophied doubt - they blindly believe in an idea or a person who excites and impresses them, and deify their ideal. Fanatics differ from ordinary people in their willingness to sacrifice their own and others’ lives, their denial of criticism, social norms and common sense. Such people are not aware of the destructive consequences of their behavior.

Fanaticism is a mental illness that can affect any area. The international classification indicates 7 types of disease, some of them are normally perceived in society:

• political;
• health;
• ideological;
• scientific;
• religious;
• sports;
• cultural.

Signs of fanaticism

Fanaticism has two degrees - moderate and extreme. The middle degree is common and manifests itself in the fact that a person is subject to a dominant idea, but does not take it to the point of absurdity and does not impose it on others. The extreme degree is diagnosed less frequently and is expressed in the rigid imposition of one’s choice on other people, tyranny towards them, including torture and other types of physical violence. Symptoms of the disease manifest themselves in the following deviations from the norm:

1. The fanatic takes events concerning his idol to heart. He suffers, becomes depressed, even to the point of committing suicide because of his idol’s marriage and the loss of his favorite football club.
2. A person accompanies the object of worship on tour, is on duty at the house, and buys accessories and attributes associated with it.
3. Fanatical people constantly talk about “idee fixes” - they are not interested in other topics.
4. Interests and hobbies that used to be a joy fade into the background.
5. A fanatic reacts aggressively to any attacks from others regarding the object or subject of his worship.

Fanaticism towards a person

This type of mental disorder differs from others in that a specific person becomes the object of persecution and worship of the fanatic. Often the victim of fanaticism is a popular singer, musician, actor or other famous person. The main danger of this state is its stability - the closer the idol, the more dangerous the behavior of his fans. The modern stage knows hundreds of cases when fans in ecstasy tore the clothes of celebrities, broke into their homes, and chased them on tour.

Fanaticism can manifest itself towards a person of the opposite sex. This form of disorder is often confused with love. A woman’s love for a man implies a sober assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of her partner, while fanatical infatuation idealizes and deifies him, worships him, does not notice his shortcomings, and justifies any words and actions of his deity.

Sports fanaticism

A sports fanatic is a person who is generally accepted by society. An army of football fans comes to other cities and countries to support their favorite team. Matches end peacefully or with fights started by fans. In modern society, such behavior is considered a fan movement, or part of a sports game. You can distinguish a fan from an ordinary fan by the following characteristics:

1. Abuse of beer and other alcoholic drinks.
2. Taking doping (soft drugs, pills, energy drinks).
3. Permissiveness in words and actions during competitions and after their completion.

Religious fanaticism

Religious fanatics elevate their religion to a cult, denying the existence of other faiths. They and their like-minded people are driven by the desire to rule over people of other faiths. The group values ​​of fanatics are elevated to a cult of worship - they blindly believe in the religious leader, obey him unquestioningly and are ready to give their lives if necessary.

Muslim and Orthodox fanaticism are equally dangerous with extremist aspirations. New members of the sect are “brainwashed” in 2-3 weeks, and after 4-5 years of living according to the rules of the religious community, the changes become irreversible. Any cult shares the same characteristics:

1. They have a leader who calls himself the messiah.
2. They are ruled by a totalitarian system and philosophy.
3. Cult members unquestioningly obey the rules of the community.
4. Fanatics unquestioningly give property and money for the benefit of the community.

How do you become fanatics?

The psychology of fanaticism identifies 3 reasons that push a person to change.

1. Envy of other people's successes.
2. Low self-esteem.
3. A famous person who has achieved everything and shines.

The psychology of religious fanaticism is based on the hopelessness of a person when he finds himself in a difficult life situation and sees no way out of it. At such moments, he goes into religion and, unbeknownst to himself, falls under the influence of the adherents of the sect. They instill in him knowledge of the “right path”, sympathize, express their readiness to support and talk about problems that they themselves have recently encountered. Fanatics flee from reality into religion not out of love for God, but from their own suffering and the indifference of others.

How to get rid of fanaticism?

Fanaticism as a psychological phenomenon appeared in the 17th century, when the Catholic Bishop Bossuet introduced this concept into use. Successful recovery from the disease is possible if:

1. The fanatic will realize that his claims are false.
2. Learn to analyze and look at the situation from the other side.
3. Will switch to other events.
4. Increase self-esteem.
5. Seek help from a psychologist.

Films about fanatics

Fanaticism in love, religion, sports and any social sphere is a sign of emotional instability, impressionability, lack of leadership qualities, and suggestibility. Dozens of films have been made about fanatics - they talk about the consequences of blind faith and following idols, religious servility.

1. "Fan" with Robert De Niro - a drama about the complex relationship between a professional athlete and his fan.
2. "Master" tells about a sailor who got a job in a photo studio after the war. After a while, the former military man falls under the influence of a religious leader and begins to preach his precepts.
3. "Die, John Tucker!" The plot of the film tells about a high school macho man, against whom his three ex-girlfriends want to take revenge. They are not stopped by the fact that the bait in the insidious plan is a girl who has just arrived in the city.

“Fanaticism (from the Latin fanatismus) is a frenzied, extreme commitment to any beliefs or views, intolerance to any other views, for example, religious ones” 1.

This is how fanaticism is defined not by a short dictionary of foreign words or any other short guide for students, but by the latest edition of the TSB. The very volume of this article shows more clearly than anything else that in Russian science the concept in question has been extremely poorly understood and developed. And this despite the fact that the word “fanaticism” itself was very widely used in atheistic literature of the 20s - 80s of the 20th century, when both Francis of Assisi and St. Seraphim of Sarov, and Pope John Paul II, and priest Alexander Men, and many others.

Fanaticism was then understood, in essence, as any kind of religiosity, in particular, not quite ordinary and therefore associated with religious giftedness and the manifestation of a person’s personal nature in faith. From almost any context it is clear that the word “fanaticism” denotes some extreme form of religiosity. But what is actually the place of the term “fanaticism” among such concepts as asceticism, religious fundamentalism or extremism, fanaticism, etc.?

This concept was first introduced into circulation by J. Bossuet (1627 - 1704), a Catholic bishop who was one of the main ideologists of French absolutism and saw in Catholicism, which had quite sharply separated from Rome and essentially turned into a national religion, the official belief system for monarchical France. For him, Protestants were fanatics because they believed that all their “dreams” were inspired by God. For Bossuet, fanatics are not the Parisian bourgeoisie, who in 1572, on the night of August 24, when the day of the Apostle Bartholomew is celebrated, rushed with all their might, as Voltaire would later write, to kill, cut throats, throw them out of windows and chop pieces of their fellow citizens just because they did not go to mass 2. For Bossuet, fanatics are precisely Protestants, for they feel that their faith depends only on God, but not on church institutions or established rules accepted and approved by anyone.

Bossuet reduced religion to one morality and discipline. In Christianity he saw high morality and a model of moral behavior, but at the same time he perceived any manifestation of personal passion, feelings of God and the mystical principle as a “spiritual plague” and in every bearer of such religiosity he saw a fanatic, a sectarian and a heretic. In essence, for Bossuet, a fanatic is every non-Catholic who persists in his Protestantism. At the same time, Bossuet was a consistent promoter of religious intolerance.

P. Bayle (1647-1706) gives a fundamentally different definition of fanaticism, understanding it as superstition, the fruit of ignorance, irrational or, rather, pre-rational consciousness.

If Bossuet gives a Catholic, although, of course, not shared by Catholic scientists today, interpretation of the term “fanaticism,” then Bayle proposes that by fanaticism we understand everything that concerns the early forms of religion, and more broadly, religious feeling in general. However, both Bossuet and Bayle associate fanaticism with the sensations experienced by the believer. In essence, despite the apparent incompatibility of the two definitions of fanaticism, in both cases we are talking about an independent religious feeling, not regulated by any theological system or church structure.

As for the very etymology of the term “fanaticism,” the Latin word fanatici, found among Roman authors, was used in classical Latin exclusively in relation to the priests of Bellona, ​​Cybele, the Great Mother and other eastern deities who practiced ecstatic cults. With tambourines and tambourines, dressed in black, they walked through the streets of the city, then fell to the ground and, falling into ecstasy, tore their chests until they bled, predicted the future, etc. Moreover, this word itself is a derivative of fanum - sanctuary.

A new definition of fanaticism, which has become a classic, is given by Voltaire in his “Philosophical Dictionary” published in 1764 in Geneva. He puts forward the following position: “He who is characterized by ecstasies and visions, who takes his dreams for something real and the fruits of his imagination for prophecies, he can be called an enthusiast, but he who supports his madness by killing is a fanatic” 3. The essence of fanaticism, according to Voltaire, is that a fanatic, defending the orthodoxy of which he considers himself the guardian, is ready to execute and kill, while he always and exclusively relies on force. Voltaire calls St. Bartholomew's Night "the most disgusting example of fanaticism." Voltaire also speaks of cold-blooded fanatics - these are “judges who pronounce death sentences on those who think differently from them” 5 .

He who maintains his madness by killing is a fanatic

Voltaire, however, does not focus his reader’s attention on the fact that the fanatic sees himself as a bearer of the highest truth and considers himself a weapon in the hands of God. But it is precisely in this sense that the definition of fanaticism that was once given by Bossuet, with all its confessional limitations and obvious anti-Protestant orientation, has not completely lost its meaning. Fanatics are always convinced that “all their ideas are inspired from above.”

Voltaire also defines some features of the psychology of fanaticism. This is not just “the fruit of ignorance,” but it is always closely connected with the psychology of the crowd: “books excite fanaticism much less than meetings and public speeches.” Fanaticism is always “gloomy and cruel”; it is at the same time superstition, fever, rage and anger.

A fanatic is always characterized by a disdainful attitude towards life, both that of others and his own. Consider the horrific example of terrorist pilots who flew passenger planes into the World Trade Center buildings in New York, killing themselves and destroying thousands of human lives.

ON THE. Berdyaev, in his article “On Fanaticism, Orthodoxy and Truth,” written in 1937, emphasizes that “the intolerant fanatic commits violence, excommunicates, imprisons and executes, but, in essence, he is weak, not strong, he is suppressed by fear, and his consciousness is terribly narrowed, he believes in God less than the tolerant one” 6. For Berdyaev it is clear that “the pathos of orthodoxy, which feeds fanaticism, has nothing in common with the pathos of truth, it is precisely the opposite of it.” “Orthodoxy,” writes Berdyaev further, “is formed around the theme of salvation and destruction; the orthodox themselves are frightened and frighten others. Truth knows no fear." 7 He goes on to say that “the fanatic... seeks power, not truth” 8. This, in our opinion, is no longer entirely true. This is the phenomenon of fanaticism: undoubtedly, the fanatic, relying on force and authority, is convinced that he is saving the world, humanity, his fellow men or the truth from enemies.

That is why fanaticism is always aggressive and defensive and, most importantly, cannot exist without the image of an enemy. “Fanatism,” writes Berdyaev, considering this aspect of fanaticism, “does not allow the coexistence of different ideas and worldviews. There is only the enemy. Hostile forces are unified and presented as a single enemy" 9 . And further: “Communists, fascists, fanatics of orthodox Orthodoxy, Catholicism or Protestantism do not argue with any ideas, they throw the enemy into the opposite camp, at which machine guns are trained” 10. A fanatic, as a rule, does not realize, rather, only feels the weakness of his position, but at the same time he mobilizes all his forces precisely for the merciless defense of the truth he professes.

It would be wrong to say that fanaticism is a kind of collective madness, and that all fanatics are psychopaths. Psychologists rightly point out this: A. Aslomov and others. Rather, fanaticism is a completely natural “by-product” of the development of religious consciousness in critical eras. It is no coincidence that for Voltaire fanaticism is “the perverted child of religion” 11.

Fanaticism comes to the forefront of history in eras, firstly, of the decline of living faith and the crisis of the religious worldview, secondly, at moments of change in spiritual guidelines, when the majority of believers have an extremely poor idea of ​​what they believe in, and, finally, in those periods when new things begin to dominate in the life of society. That is why religious fanaticism, the inquisition processes, those fires in the fire of which Jan Hus, Girolamo Savonarola, Giordano Bruno and many others died, became, so to speak, the shadow of the Renaissance.

The rapid development of national languages ​​and literature, and then the visual arts (Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo), the incredibly rapid spread of printing throughout Europe and the subsequent book boom of the 16th century, great geographical discoveries and a revolution in the field of classical science (Copernicus, Keppler) changed the world beyond recognition in less than a hundred years. All this provoked that gigantic crisis in the field of religious worldview, which resulted in the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Translations of the Bible into all European languages ​​appear, new, sometimes completely unthinkable before, theological and philosophical ideas are born. All this could not but cause a reaction not only from the average believer, who in the new conditions turns out to be completely disoriented and begins to fiercely defend his truth, the truth of bygone times, inherited from his ancestors and therefore sacred, but sometimes also from a bright thinker. It was during the Renaissance that fires began to burn throughout Europe.

The 20th century is similar to the Renaissance in many ways. Telephone, radio and television, the scientific and technological revolution in general, nuclear physics and the atomic bomb, aviation, space flight, finally, the Internet and research in the field of cloning - all this has changed life around us beyond recognition, just as it was in the 16th century . A person who professes traditional values, without having time to comprehend everything that is happening around him, easily falls into the trap of fanaticism. This almost always happens if (to use the Gospel image) it is Saturday, i.e. adherence to religious norms and the letter of the law, this or that ideology or dogma, etc. turns out to be more valuable to him than another person. In essence, it is precisely this trap that Jesus speaks about repeatedly in the pages of the New Testament, denouncing the scribes and Pharisees.
And here, as Asmolov says, the “factory of fanatics” 12 turns on: the mind of ideologists, for whom all forms of fanaticism “act, first of all, as rational means of struggle for power,” begins to “technically exploit prejudices.” This is precisely the nature of the so-called Islamic, or rather, quasi-Islamic fanaticism, the horror of which all humanity experienced on September 11, 2001. Islamic scholar from Kazakhstan Ali Apsheroni writes that fanaticism is “the absurd rage of people who are blinded by anger” 13. he emphasizes that the fanatic “usually does not know what he is doing, taking credit for doing nasty things and acting unjustly... his amazing stubbornness, multiplied by his misunderstanding of the teachings of Islam... very soon lead the fanatic to the conclusion that he is simply lost in the dark labyrinth of wild ignorance” 14.

A fanatic... seeks power, not truth.

It is necessary to understand that fanaticism today makes itself felt not only in the Islamic world. Of course, in the conditions of modern society, adherents of fanaticism, as a rule, although not always (remember Martin Luther King and Father Alexander Me!), do not have the opportunity to kill or burn at the stake in the name of their idea of ​​truth, however, even in this situation they They easily adapt, moving into the media sphere, newspapers, radio, especially the Internet, where a real zone of hatred is often formed in forums and chats. A fanatic, or rather a neophyte infected with the bacillus of fanaticism, begins to identify and expose “enemies” and, above all, heretics: Catholics, Protestants, etc., fights against culture, creates a tense situation not only around himself, but also in society as a whole. fear, intolerance and heresephobia.

It’s amazing that she foresaw something similar back in March 1936. mother Maria (Skobtsova), an Orthodox nun, philosopher and poetess, who died in a fascist concentration camp for saving Jews in Nazi-occupied Paris. She believed that religion in Russia would certainly be revived, but then people raised by Soviet power would naturally come to the Church. “At first,” continues Mother Maria, “as very eager and receptive listeners, they will study different points of view, perceive problems, attend divine services, etc. And at some point, finally feeling like they are truly church people, due to their complete unpreparedness for antinomian thinking, they will say: there are several opinions on this issue - which one is true? Because several cannot be true at the same time. And if such and such is true, then the rest are subject to destruction as false. ...To make a joke, we can say that they will fine you for an incorrectly placed sign of the cross, and send you to Solovki for refusing confession” 15 .

Soviet ideology, so to speak, canonized violence and lack of freedom. A person brought up by the Soviet school, in new conditions, perceiving traditional values, both religious and political, absorbing them into himself and admiring them, very quickly begins to defend them, using the very methodology that he learned, figuratively speaking, from the newspaper “ Truth": the enemy must be found, exposed, neutralized and destroyed. In this situation, the enemy is everyone who appears to this person as a dissident. Thus, religious fanaticism, which has always grown out of the desire to protect the old, traditional, sanctified by time and the memory of the past, is gaining new breath in the post-Soviet reality.

It must be remembered that fanaticism (contrary to popular belief) does not even need a strong personality, but only a “strong” idea that quickly takes hold of the masses. This was the case, for example, with the hysterical campaign unleashed around the INN, proclaimed the number of the Antichrist, when the parachurch society, established by various kinds of leaflets, proclamations and sermons of poorly educated or, on the contrary, “technologically” advanced priests who pursued certain own goals, was no longer influenced appeals neither from His Holiness the Patriarch, nor from one of the oldest clergy of Russia, the famous Father John (Krestyankin).

Outbreaks of fanaticism lead to very serious consequences, which Voltaire warned about when he wrote that fanaticism “breaks all ties in society” 16, in other words, it has enormous destructive power that destroys society.
What is the answer of one of the Moscow priests to a radio listener’s question about what to do for the residents of the city in which Baptists built a house of worship, if not a typical example of inciting fanaticism and interreligious hostility? To this question, the priest answers that they need to collect more stones and go break the windows of the Baptists until they themselves get out of there. Does this answer have at least something in common with Orthodoxy, which is known throughout the world as a religion of sacrificial love?

Where can I find a way out of this situation? Fanatics, with a one-sided understanding of tolerance, stand up for justice only in relation to themselves. N.A. spoke about this same feature of fanaticism. Berdyaev, pointing out that egocentrism is always inherent in a fanatic. “The faith of a fanatic, his selfless and selfless devotion to an idea does not in the least help him overcome egocentrism... a fanatic of any orthodoxy identifies his idea, his truth with himself” 17. From here Berdyaev draws an extremely important conclusion: “The egocentrism of a fanatic... is expressed in the fact that he does not see the human personality, is inattentive to the personal human path” 18.

Fanaticism is incompatible with genuine faith in Christ

An Orthodox priest from Kyiv, Father Andrei Dudchenko, also writes about this. “Fanaticism is incompatible with genuine faith in Christ. It is very easy,” says Father Andrei, “to throw stones at the enemy, it is very easy to believe that in order to be saved it is necessary to do only one or another set of actions, be it self-immolation or death from exhaustion, carrying out the directives of a leader or, on the contrary, leading one’s followers. It is much more difficult to live in Christ. It is more difficult to be sensitive, more difficult to listen to brothers in faith and to those neighbors whom the Lord sends to meet me today. But it is precisely this kind of humble, genuine love of Christ that the modern world craves from the Church and Christians” 19.

See: ibid.

See: Questions of Philosophy. 1992. N3.

Passion for any activity that reaches an extreme degree of expression with the formation of a cult and the creation of idols with the complete subordination of a person and the “dissolution” of individuality is called fanaticism. More often, a fanatical attitude is formed in such areas as like a religion(religious fanaticism), sport(sports fanaticism) and music(musical fanaticism). The general characteristics of fanaticism include the development by a person of a stereotype of subordinating one’s own interests and aspirations to the interests of a confession, team, musical group, focusing attention and energy on supporting an idol and providing all-round and active assistance, missionary activity. Within the framework of deviant behavior in the form of fanaticism, a person begins to act according to the psychological laws of the group and the follower; he is not able to be critical of the statements of an idol, an idol, and to realize deviations in his own behavior, which may include separation or leaving the family, ignoring work, etc.

Due to the significance of the consequences, a special place is occupied by religious fanaticism. The destruction of families, the severance of family and friendly ties, a sharp and radical change in the stereotype of a person’s life place this problem in one of the first places in importance. A characteristic feature of religious faith is the recognition of the existence of the supernatural, which is understood as something that does not obey the laws of the surrounding world, lying “beyond” sensory objects. A special role is played by the phenomenon of “chosenness”, which forms, on the one hand, a feeling of identification with a group of like-minded people “initiated into the secret”; on the other hand, it strengthens the feeling of superiority over other (uninitiated) people.

Sectarianism is considered the most favorable soil for the emergence of deviant behavior. Followers of Christianity believe that a sect is “an organized society of people who disagree with... the church, who disagree with each other religiously” (B.A. Lyubovik). There is no unambiguous interpretation of the concept of “sect,” since interfaith confrontation is of a fundamental nature. According to representatives of “big” (old, prone to monopolizing faith) religions, distinctive feature of the sect lies in the fact that in its views it differs from the dominant one, and is not an official and widespread religion in a particular country. Such a point of view cannot be considered justified. We can agree that totalitarian religious sects use harsh psychological methods of influence in their practice, which is expressed in the formation in a person of a state of increased suggestibility due to physical and mental exhaustion, social deprivation, the use of trance states, etc. In non-traditional religions, as a rule, the emotional and psychological side plays a large role, pushing the doctrine into the background. This is expressed in the declaration of the priority of religious experience. Spontaneous manifestations of religious feelings, especially states of trance and ecstasy, are interpreted as “enlightenment”, communion with divine reality, which is what adherents of a religious group strive for (A.Yu. Egortsev). Characteristic features of the impact of totalitarian sects are considered personal (A.Yu. Egortsev): establishing strict control over the will, consciousness and feelings of sect members; formation of psychological dependence on the leader and organization.

According to V.V. Pavlyuk, a religious sect instills in its members an “avoidance reaction,” as a result of which the believer involuntarily, as if automatically, avoids those actions that are not approved by the group. Instilled during communication and upbringing in a religious group, such an emotional reaction blocks the possibility of deviation from the norms accepted in the group.

Within the framework of a religious sect, the formation of religious fanaticism is significantly facilitated, since the leader and the community itself, with the help of long-term and intense psychological influences, form a willingness not to doubt the correctness or incorrectness of behavior, remove responsibility for it and, as a result, volitional control of their own activities. The person begins to act in accordance with the behavioral pattern imposed by the group.

R.J. Lifton identifies eight elements that lead to a catastrophic change in the consciousness of a person in a religious group:

Environmental control is a rigid structuring of the environment in which communication is regulated and access to information is strictly controlled;

Mystical manipulation is the use of a planned or arranged situation to give it meaning that is beneficial to the manipulators;

The requirement of purity is a clear division of the world into “pure” and “impure”, “good” and “bad”;

The cult of confession is a requirement for continuous intimate confessions to destroy “personal boundaries” and maintain feelings of guilt;

- “holy science” – declaring one’s dogma an absolute truth;

Cult language - the creation of a special clichéd vocabulary of intra-group communication in order to eliminate the very basis for independent and critical thinking;

Doctrine is higher than personality - doctrine is more real and true than personality and its individual experience;

Division of existence - members of the group have the right to life and existence, the rest do not, that is, “the end justifies any means.”

According to E.N. Volkov, a person in a cult experiences and lives not his individual, but a group “experience”, hence the strong dependence on group processes. Responsibility for decision-making is transferred from a specific individual to a group, so the most ridiculous and strange decisions are perceived and carried out by ordinary members for granted. In the process of introducing a person to the group norms of a totalitarian sect, the formation of the phenomenon of “doubling” of personality occurs (R. Lifton), the essence of which is the division of the individual’s “I” into two independently functioning systems. At the same time, people do not experience feelings of emotional discomfort or instability. They are not inclined to critically reflect on their own situation and are capable of performing any actions with weakened volitional control.

R. Lifton's research led to an understanding of the fact that almost every individual, under conditions of massive group pressure and manipulation of basic human needs, is capable of developing deviant behavior in the form of religious fanaticism. Predisposing factors to this may be low communication tolerance, family traditions of magical and mystical thinking, and some characterological and personal characteristics.

Under the influence of the psychological influences of a totalitarian sect, in a person with established deviant behavior, first of all, all four formal signs of consciousness change (according to K. Jaspers). His sense of activity is impaired - awareness of himself as an active being; awareness of my own unity: at every given moment I am aware that I am one; awareness of my own identity: I remain who I have always been; the awareness that “I” is different from the rest of the world, from everything that is not “I”.

The variety of mental phenomena that arise as a result of a person being under cult control and radically changing his behavior towards anomalies and deviations can be grouped into the following blocks.

1. Block of changes in consciousness and self-awareness(violation of self-awareness and personal identity).

2. Block of affective phenomena-disorders: depression, panic attacks, intrusive memories and dreams, etc.

3. Block of inversion of the motor-volitional sphere(decreased volitional activity (apathy), ability to control one’s activities, loss of spontaneity and naturalness).

4. Pathological addiction block(formation of psychological dependence on a religious group, loss of the ability to be responsible for anything and autonomous in decision-making).

5. Personality regression block(stop of intellectual, cognitive, emotional, moral development, accompanied by the development of mental infantilism).

6. Block of perceptual phenomena(illusions, hallucinations, disturbances in the body diagram, time perception).

7. Block of thought anomalies(use of so-called affective logic, loss of criticality, tendency to form overvalued and delusional ideas).

8. Block of communicative deviations(withdrawal, alienation, autism, inability to establish trusting relationships, loss of empathy and social communication skills).

The motives for a person’s separation from reality and joining a group (religious, sports or music fans), subordinating oneself to an idea and leader can be different. One of the motives may be psychological problems that the individual is not able to cope with on his own, or believes that he is not capable. His departure to a group of fanatics is due to the removal of responsibility for making decisions on many life problems, the desire to become a follower, to eradicate doubts and uncertainty. Another motive for fanatical behavior in a group may be the desire to escape from a monotonous reality that does not evoke joy and emotional response. An idol, an idol, an idea, a ritual, involvement in some secret or social group, the acquisition of new experiences become a kind of addicts.



What is fanaticism - devotion or madness? This is a phenomenon as old as the world. It flourished in ancient times, when there were no mega-popular artists, football teams and kamikaze schools. The word “fan” itself comes from the Latin “altar,” and the word “admirer,” its most common synonym, speaks for itself. Worship always has a religious basis and it does not matter to whom it is performed - to God, an idea or another person.

There is something sweet and intoxicating about slave adoration. It blinds the mind and pushes to actions that are not inherent in an adequate person. The essence of fanaticism is identical to the nature of falling in love - people experience a feeling of euphoria, delight and endless devotion.

But love passion lasts no longer than three years, and the state of fanaticism can last until death, then subsiding, then flaring up again. It is known that there is religious, sports, national and cultural fanaticism. People with a phlegmatic or melancholic character type are more prone to fanaticism.

The reason for this phenomenon is a feeling of insignificance and uselessness. A person does not recognize himself as a full-fledged person, loses his individuality and therefore is forced to seek solace in false values. Usually, real fans do not have a clear life goal; they are weak and weak-willed, although they are capable of feats in a fit of emotion.

We have all heard the biblical commandment - “Do not make yourself an idol.” However, making idols is a natural subconscious human need.

It is likely that in childhood fanatics did not receive enough love and care from their parents, so they grew up notorious and unhappy.

Such teenagers easily succumb to the influence of others, which is by no means always good. It will not be difficult to gather young fans into an obedient herd that will blindly follow dubious ideas and, without hesitation, sacrifice themselves.

If a child is raised too strictly and divides the world into white and black, he will also grow up to be a fanatic of what his parents believe in. For example, if there is a Puritan order in the family, then the children will also despise earthly joys and may even go to a monastery. In this case, they will grow up to be religious fanatics. But the opposite can happen - having broken free, they will reject God and replace him with other, but worldly, deities.

For a person obsessed with fanaticism, there are no alternative opinions and positions.

He has lost the ability to analyze and develop comprehensively. For him there is only an object or idea that has captured his soul. Despite their psychological constraint, fans are very prone to aggression. While defending their point of view, they do not accept compromises. Arguing with such people is not only pointless, but also dangerous. Fanaticism is one of the most powerful forces that drive humanity. Often, inspired masses or even individual fanatics changed the course of history. The crimes of world dictators, bloody wars and terrible social tragedies - all this happens because people allow themselves to be deceived, charmed by the charisma of great villains and intoxicated by ideas that bring only destruction and grief. So, blind faith in the superiority of an idol is just as destructive as a complete lack of faith in life.

Fanaticism is not love or devotion, it is a stupid service to one’s inveterate complexes and phobias.

Unconditional blind adherence to convictions, adherence to certain ideas, beliefs or views, especially in the philosophical, religious, national or political spheres, we call fanaticism (from the Latin fanatismus). It is difficult to classify the problem of inappropriate behavior of a person or a large community of people as purely psychological; it has long become both social and philosophical.

Let's remember! In adolescence, a strong passion for something was common. Girls run to all the concerts of their favorite ensemble or performer, stand for hours at the box office for tickets, cover the walls of their rooms with cutouts of their favorite performers, and organize an autograph hunt. Boys do the same for their football or hockey team. They gather in large groups, have their own symbols and attributes, carry out public actions, and are hostile to fans of other clubs. With age, these addictions fade. In this case we are dealing with worship.

The emotional manifestation of fanaticism is characterized by a lack of an objective assessment of one’s own behavior, obsession, belief in the exclusivity of the object of one’s adoration, hostile perception of any criticism, and excessive zeal for mass demonstration of one’s views and beliefs. What separates a fanatic from an admirer? A fanatic does not pay attention to the norms and rules accepted in society; he can calmly cross them to achieve his cherished goal; a fan does not violate them.

In the classification of mental disorders, seven types of fanaticism are usually distinguished:

religious, political, ideological, health fanaticism, scientific fanaticism, sports fanaticism stands out as a separate group, fanaticism in the field of the arts. Any fanaticism in whatever form it manifests itself is dangerous for society. Even harmless “cranks” who do not want to hear or see anything around them, but live exclusively in the sphere of their own painful preferences and ideas, under certain circumstances, can commit any antisocial actions (from shooting in a supermarket to hijacking an aircraft). True fanaticism is ruthless, it dries out a person, occupies all his thoughts, and can push him to uncontrollable actions.

The most dangerous types of mass fanaticism should be called religious and political. The most dangerous representatives of religious fanaticism, which in this case is very closely related to politics, are Islamic fundamentalists who literally set themselves against the rest of the world. Their fanaticism is based on sincere faith and the holiness of sacrifice in the name of God. Suicide bombers have become a real threat to the world, from individual performances of single fans to military confrontation between states. For ephemeral purposes, Islamic fanatics keep innocent civilians in fear, sparing neither women nor children. Where do these fanatics come from? Young people with unstable psyches and weak nervous systems form the basis for recruiting Islamic suicide bombers. This is facilitated by poor knowledge of Islamic religious texts and complete isolation from canonical Islam, which rejects all violence. Islamic fanaticism is overcome by enlightenment. It is not for nothing that the first word of the Holy Quran, transmitted to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) through the Archangel Jebrail, was “read”.

Another very dangerous manifestation of mass fanaticism for society is political extremism, expressed in the activities of a number of extremely reactionary political parties of a fascist persuasion. Defending the dominant force, they preach national and racial superiority.

Fascist ideology, implicated in the preaching of national exclusivity, always finds fertile ground among young people who, in search of strength and protection, seek unification with their peers on a single ideological basis. The virus of fascist ideology, although latent in nature, is still present in the political spectrum of many states next to democratic institutions (the Baltic countries, Ukraine). And in Russia in the 90s of the last century there were organizations “Memory”, which separated from it “Black Hundred” ", recreated in 2005, the "Union of the Russian People". In principle, a fanatic can arise around any ideal. This was brilliantly shown by Yu. Mamin in the film “Sideburns” (1990). The mechanism of the formation of a totalitarian dictatorship and fanaticism in the town of Zaborsk is shown using the example of the work of A.S. Pushkin.

The famous Soviet philosopher Merab Mamardashvili wrote: “For a person who is not ready to expend effort to look for an individual answer, the easiest way is to find a banner under which to stand in the general ranks.” He called this path: “the seductive abyss of lightness”

For any civilized society built on humanistic principles, fanaticism, which turns a person into an obedient, gregarious, faceless creature, capable of breaking all moral and legal barriers for the sake of crazy ideas, is not the best acquisition. A normal democratic society should put a barrier to it!