Folk wisdom developed over centuries, a rule of behavior or a law of nature? Below I will try to show that this is the same universal law of nature as, say, the law of universal gravitation.

The concept of the golden mean is far from new. Confucius (551...479 BC) and Aristotle (384...322 BC) also wrote about him. Nevertheless, this concept has not yet found wide application in life, which is explained by a number of reasons: the disorder, fragmentation and inconsistency of our knowledge, a large number of misconceptions, as well as the uncertainty of the scope and vagueness of the very formulation of the concept, which states that the truth is usually in the middle. You can often hear: “The rule of the golden mean is wrong. What good is it if there are mediocrities in politics or science, i.e. people with average abilities? Or is the student a mediocre student? However, these examples are unsuccessful. The rule, more precisely, law of the golden mean(ZZS) is not applicable to the degree of perfection, for example, to the measure of evaluation of beauty, intelligence, truthfulness, honesty, diligence, health, justice. The principle “the more the better” applies here. It is also inapplicable to purely geometric parameters, for example, to the middle of Europe, the center of the Earth, etc. ZZS is applicable only to intensity parameters: very little - little - medium - a lot - very much, for example, cold - normal - hot, quiet - normal - loud, low - medium - high (human height), etc. There are a lot of such parameters in the world and therefore the ZZS is quite universal. And the degree of perfection reaches its maximum, as I will show below, precisely at medium intensity parameters. But in order to effectively apply the ZZS, we first need to organize our knowledge, i.e. free from contradictions and make it holistic.

Causes of global crises of our time

At the turn of the 2nd and 3rd millennium, we are forced to admit that our “tree of knowledge” is increasingly branching and splitting into parts isolated from each other. The gaps are growing not only between the natural sciences and the humanities, but also between individual scientific areas within these fields of knowledge. We are witnesses (and participants) of the construction of a new, now scientific, “Tower of Babel” that is leading to a dead end. What is the reason for this situation?

Friedrich Nietzsche predicted at the end of the last century that the 20th century would be a century of revaluation of all values. On the one hand, numerous religious and transcendental worldview systems are gradually losing their persuasiveness under the pressure of science and the facts of real life. On the other hand, fragmented science is not able to propose new moral and ethical standards of life. Outdated religious moral commandments (more precisely: prohibitions) are replaced not by new, scientifically based norms, but by emptiness, vacuum, and immorality. Hence the loss of orientation, uncertainty about the future, the growth of crime and nihilism, life according to the principle “after us there’s a flood.”

But such a transitional state of society cannot last long. Burning global ideological, environmental and energy problems must find their solutions as quickly as possible in a new holistic worldview, otherwise the world will finally be mired in the chaos of the “end of the world.” The real world is integral, all its parts are causally connected, intertwined, therefore knowledge, ideas about this world, reflections of this world must be integral. Man is an integral part of nature and therefore can develop only according to the same laws as nature itself, and not according to laws invented by clergy, politicians or power-hungry madmen. The laws of social development are a continuation of the laws of the evolution of nature, which, however, have not yet been finally identified and formulated (and here, as will be shown below, ZZS can help).

Our knowledge today seems like a boundless ocean that cannot be contained in one head. Or a giant tree with an infinite number of fact leaves. But if we move from the leaves closer to the trunk of the tree of knowledge, we can see that the number of fundamental principles of natural science and the humanities is limited and is quite amenable to analysis. And this analysis reveals the following fundamental contradiction.

Our knowledge, including scientific knowledge, is an arbitrary mixture of contradictory absolute (ideal, unlimited, independent) and relative (comparable, finite, interdependent, i.e. interconnected) ideas. However, the absolute (for example, absolute zero temperature, absolute emptiness, absolutely solid, absolutely black or absolutely transparent body, ideal mirror, ideal converter of one type of energy into another, i.e. perpetual motion machine, etc.) has never been observed and was not found or achieved in experiments. In addition, the absolute contradicts the principle of causality, it breaks cause-and-effect relationships (for example, an absolutely solid body is not deformed at all, there are no traces of influences on it). And if we want to remain grounded in reality, we must admit that the absolute does not exist in the real world (but only in the head, in the imagination, in mathematics). If we trace history from this angle, we can be convinced that in the process of human development, the share of its absolute ideas gradually decreases and is replaced by relative, comparable, causally related, holistic ones. Humanity is gradually, through trial and error, approaching the Truth.

Absolute in natural science

As is known, physics is considered the foundation of natural science. If we analyze the fundamentals of physics for the presence of absolutes, we will find a large number of them there. How to recognize them?

The fact is that ideal objects are characterized by parameters equal to zero or infinity. An absolutely solid body has infinite hardness, an absolutely transparent body has zero absorption of light, an ideal thermal insulator has zero thermal conductivity. Typically, each parameter has its own “antiparameter”: thermal conductivity - thermal resistance, electrical conductivity - electrical resistance, thermal losses - quality factor (for oscillating systems), etc. For ideal objects, one of the pair parameters is equal to zero, and the second is equal to infinity. So, the presence in any theoretical model of at least one parameter equal to zero or infinity is a signal of the need to check it for falsity.

Let's take Einstein's theory of relativity, considered the highest achievement of the human mind. In fact, these are two theories (special and general) that contradict each other. In one, for example, ether is rejected, in the other it is considered necessary. The model of empty space (with zero average density) adopted in the special theory is absolute, as is the absolutely constant and limiting speed of light for moving systems. In the modernized theory of “physical vacuum,” the average density of space remains equal to zero. Dozens of books have been published around the world refuting the theory of relativity (for more details, see the author’s book “The Golden Mean...”).

This theory is the basis for the cosmological model of the Big Bang of our Universe, which also contains absolutes (errors in the foundation of the building of science are multiplying on all floors). One of them: zero time, i.e. the sudden emergence of an expanding universe out of nothing and without any reason. According to this model, the Universe arose by chance, and just as by chance, hundreds of its parameters correspond to the possibility of the existence of life and intelligence in it. Our really existing Universe according to this theory is extremely unlikely, i.e. simply put, impossible!

Due to the emptiness of space, quantum mechanics was forced to invent “statistical” causality, “probability density”, “wave-particle dualism” and other models that do not fit into common sense, especially for the microworld. Therefore, it is still unknown what elementary particles are made of and why they have these particular parameters. And all this was proclaimed a “victory over philistine common sense,” and mathematics with its ideal concepts, and not real practice, became the “guiding star” of physics. One of the side effects: a complete lack of understanding of such physics by non-professionals, which means lack of control and inefficiency in spending billions of dollars.

Absoluteties can also include world physical constants (for example, the gravitational constant, the speed of light, the parameters of elementary particles, etc.), which, according to modern ideas of physicists, remain absolutely unchanged for billions of years, which leads, for example, to absurd conclusions in paleoclimatology, for example , hot climate due to the greenhouse effect.

Other branches of natural science adopt the false absolute concepts of physicists and also fall into dead ends. Geology has accumulated hundreds of facts proving that the globe is gradually growing in mass and volume and is heating up from the inside, and the lithosphere is fragmenting into smaller and smaller continents, which are moving away from each other. But physicists’ idea of ​​empty space blocks the replacement of the outdated model of continental plate tectonics (with a constant radius of the Earth) with a new model of growth and expansion (expansion) of the globe (since there is “nowhere” for new matter to come from in the bowels of the Earth). And climate warming, caused by the gradual heating of the Earth’s interior, is used by “nuclear” energy producers to eliminate their “coal” competitors who emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, allegedly leading to the greenhouse effect. At the same time, whipping up panic makes it easier to fish money out of taxpayers' pockets.

In biology, the causes and mechanisms of the evolution of living things have not yet been established. Evolution is supposedly random and “purposeless”; Darwinism is contradictory and unconvincing. Under these conditions, the Creator hypothesis receives a second wind. Statistical analysis of open chemical systems with arbitrary composition at the energy level of their interatomic bonds shows that these systems select substances from the environment that gradually reduce their free energy, i.e. stabilize, ultimately bringing them to a temperature of 37°C and the chemical composition of the human body (see the series of publications by the author from 1982 to 1999).

Conscious elimination of the “remnants” of the absolute makes it possible to construct a simple, visible and holistic picture of the world. If we accept that space has the properties of a liquid with very low viscosity and density (an analogue of the quantum liquid of helium-II), then all the structures of the Universe from elementary particles to galaxies and physical fields can be represented in the form of vortices (vortex rings, vortex filaments) of this liquid. In this case, quantum mechanics becomes a branch of hydrodynamics (Madelung showed this possibility back in 1926). Vortex structures in this environment are easily formed and exist for a long time, so they accumulate (P. Dirac). This results in a slow, unidirectional change in physical constants, which is the cause of time.

Evolution (development, self-organization) in this holistic picture of the world can be presented as a continuous process of extinction of unstable and therefore short-lived extremes and approaching a stable golden mean at all levels of organization of the universe, for example. in physics (the most stable elementary particles have average parameters), in chemistry (chemical bonds with average parameters are most common), in biology (average parameters of living organisms are most common, living things tend to an average temperature of 310 K or 37 ° C, etc.

From the history of the absolute in society

As the history of mankind shows, extreme states in society are also unstable and therefore exist for a relatively short time, for example. absolute power of pharaohs, kings, dictators, etc. France even had an era of absolutism under Louis XIV. More “modern” forms of absolute power are called totalitarianism (Nazism in Germany, Bolshevism-Stalinism in the USSR, Maoism in China). In the West, which calls itself democratic, the power of money dominates, with the help of which politicians are manipulated and the “fourth” power – the media – is paid.

Fanaticism or extreme religious conviction is also absolute. There are also scientists who are absolutely convinced that they are right, although the essence of true science is the periodic revision of what has been achieved and the constant search for the Truth.

In the fight against religious dogmatism, which turns a person into a sheep manipulated by an absolute shepherd, the Enlightenment movement began in the 17th century (Descartes, Voltaire, Rousseau, etc.), which then also grew into extremes (the pendulum of history cannot stop in the middle!). The human mind was absolutized, and the idea of ​​the “almighty conqueror of nature,” including human nature, arose. And not only did the Siberian rivers almost flow back, but also from the “human mass” they began to mold a special “Soviet builder of communism” with distorted ideas about their past and an emasculated national identity. And although these experiments, which cost hundreds of millions of victims, failed, “supermans” stubbornly continue them in the West in the form of a so-called “multicultural society.”

The postulate of absolute equality of people was the theoretical basis of socialism-communism. The theory of a multicultural society is based on the equality of the rights of citizens of a given country and “human rights,” which means a foreigner (if you look into the future, a multicultural society will sooner or later become monoethnic: the one who reproduces the fastest wins, a recent example is Kosovo, the Turks in Germany they know this too). The resistance of “indigenous” citizens to the dominance of foreigners is suppressed under the guise of the fight against racism, Nazism, etc. At the same time, the rights of peoples to self-determination are somehow ignored. So at the beginning of this year, almost 30% of Austrians suddenly turned out to be “right-wing extremists” and are subject to threats and blackmail from democrats (!) all over Europe. It looks like Russian Germans will have to build socialism once again, this time in a “united Europe.”

The absolutization of the “historical guilt” of the Germans, taken out of the historical context of the bloody “world revolution” approaching from the East, serves to educate submissive people who are ready to pay ever new, growing billions of dollars in “compensation”, although the victims of Nazism have almost died out. It turns out that the guilt of the criminal and the suffering of the victim can be inherited, from generation to generation! And the significantly larger number of victims of Bolshevism-communism did not even receive moral compensation. This “policy” is fraught with new explosions.

Absolutization of personal freedom (liberalism) leads to selfishness and individualism and weakens feelings of solidarity and mutual assistance. The absolutization of economic freedom (neoliberalism) leads to the emergence of transnational octopus corporations, whose financial power exceeds the power of governments in a given territory, to the collapse of national states, to the so-called globalization, the goal of which is world domination by a handful of bankers. Today, about 300 multi-billionaires have as much wealth as the poorest half of humanity!

Unlimited “free love” devalues ​​the relationship between a man and a woman. Today, the “pioneers of the sexual revolution” (USA, Sweden) have already realized that love, fidelity and family are more beautiful and stable than limitless (animal!) sexual freedom. For some reason, everyone is surprised why the number of rapes, especially of children, is growing in the West. This is the price of sexual freedom. Accomplices in this crime are “progressive” television moderators, who diligently destroy the latest sex taboos and expose shy (well-mannered!) people to ridicule.

About a holistic and objective policy

There is a holistic medicine that views the patient not as a “moving stomach”, “walking heart” or “pill swallowing device”, but as a whole person, since all his organs are interconnected and influence each other. There is also a holistic worldview (holistics), which explores the world as a whole. Politics has not yet reached this stage of development.

There are many “narrowly specialized” political parties in the world. Liberals fight for freedom, socialists fight for equality, greens fight for the preservation of the environment. Some parties fight for the preservation of their nation, others - for the religious structure of society, for monarchy, anarchy, etc. There are parties of motorists, beer lovers, pensioners, etc., etc.

But at the center of politics should be a person who wants to be both free and equal, to live in a clean and safe environment, to have a secure future for himself and his children. “Man is the measure of everything,” said Protagoras 450 BC. The goal of politics should be to simultaneously satisfy all the material and spiritual needs of a person; the policy should be holistic. But this is not enough, it must also be objective.

Political scientist Philip Tetlock from the University of Ohio (USA) has been collecting forecasts from political experts about upcoming political events for many years. After analyzing the forecasts, it turned out that they were confirmed in approximately 51% of cases. According to probability theory, confirmation for random events would be exactly 50%. So the foresight power of well-paid experts is practically no higher than that of... a tossed coin!

But this is not a manifestation of the stupidity of experts, but a characteristic of the chaos, unpredictability, and subjectivity of politics. Who can explain the essence of Mikhail Gorbachev’s “new thinking”? Or Helmut Kohl's "geistig-moralische Wende"? Or "Ruck durch Deutschland" by Roman Herzog. Or the difference between Kohl’s “old” middle and Schroeder’s “new middle”? These are all unanswered questions. How to free yourself from subjectivity in politics?

The one-dimensional political scheme of “right-left” is long outdated and leads to confusion and subjectivity. Designations such as right or left liberal, right or left patriot, social democrat, etc. can be represented as combinations of the three political dimensions or parameters discussed below (just as any color is a combination of three primary colors). Each politician (or citizen) can be represented in this three-dimensional political space as a point. Parties consist of factions, wings, etc. and form “clouds” of points of their members.

Three-dimensional political space

The first dimension reflects human freedom, which extends from zero (slavery, totalitarianism) to 100% (anarchy). As a first approximation, we can distinguish five levels of human freedom:

1. I renounce my own interests and devote my life to God, the Tsar, my dear CPSU, Hitler, etc.
2. I have rights and desires, but I limit them, because the interests of my master, my party, my state are more important.
3. My personal interests are no less important than the interests of society.
4. My pleasures are the most important to me, but unfortunately I have to work and pay taxes.
5. I am the highest value for myself, my pleasures are the most important for me, no matter at whose expense.

Obviously, society is most stable with 50% freedom, i.e. when the freedom of citizens is balanced by their sense of responsibility, i.e. conscious self-limitation of one’s freedom in the interests of society, which corresponds to the third stage.

The second, national dimension extends from extreme national masochism or inferiority complex (0%) to extreme, hypertrophied nationalism (100%). According to the five-step scheme we have adopted, it looks like this:

1. We Germans are not the salt of the earth, our history shows that we are potential criminals, the sooner Germany disappears from the face of the Earth, the better.
2. Foreigners are usually better than us Germans, we should accept them for who they are.
3. We Germans are no worse, but not better than other peoples. Everyone has had dark and light times in their history. The German people also have the right to self-determination.
4. We Germans are smarter, more hardworking, more punctual, and more democratic than other peoples.
5. We Germans are the best in all respects. Other nations must obey us.

The stable middle - the third stage - corresponds to the balance between self-respect and respect for other nations and peoples and can be called healthy patriotism.

The third dimension, social (poor - rich) describes the degree of evenness in the distribution of wealth. Equal distribution (socialism) destroys the incentive to work conscientiously and therefore has no future (proof: the collapse of the “socialist camp”). Extremely uneven distribution, when a multi-billionaire is millions of times richer than a poor person (capitalism) is also unstable, since it violates the fair labor principle:

1. Poor people of all countries unite to rob the rich of their wealth.
2. Even though we don't earn much, we pay more taxes than the rich.
3. Those who work hard and honestly should live prosperously. To each according to his work.
4. You need to become rich by any means, then you will have everything.
5. We rich people own everything in this world. With our money we will buy everything, including power.

And here the third step is also the most reasonable. Human abilities are limited (like everything in this world!) and vary only 5...10 times. This means that billions cannot be earned, but only appropriated. This injustice can be eliminated not by a new proletarian revolution, but by introducing an upper income limit through a scientifically based (and not based on the intuition of politicians, as now) tax system (details in the author’s mentioned book). At the same time, other laws that contradict the principle of labor must be repealed: interest on lending money, as well as private ownership of land and minerals. Money should not multiply during storage, but “grow old”, “dry out”, like any products of which they are equivalents. The foundations of such a reform were developed at the beginning of the 20th century by the Swiss economist Silvio Gesell. These measures will radically improve the moral atmosphere in society.

The goal of a holistic policy is to formulate and implement laws under which society would be as close as possible to the average state simultaneously along all three named political dimensions (in the future, additional dimensions can be introduced, if necessary, for example, environmental). The objective middle is always a dynamic balance of opposites.

We must abandon primitive black and white binary either/or thinking and move towards a ternary balance of opposites: left-middle-right. Not “either competition or solidarity” according to Kropotkin, but “both competition and solidarity.” Not the Bolshevik “who is not with us is against us,” but “for normalization and a reasonable balance of interests.” The path to a “bright future” lies between the Scylla of absolute equality (socialism) and the Charybdis of absolute inequality (capitalism), between extreme nationalism and multiculturalism, between totalitarian unfreedom and unbridled anarchy, in approaching the peak of rationality, beauty and justice, to the golden mean !

The main philosophical movements: materialism (matter is primary, consciousness is secondary, being determines consciousness) and idealism (spirit is primary, matter is secondary, spirit determines being) are two sides (extremes) of the same “coin” - a holistic philosophy, the essence of which can be visually depicted in the form ring “being determines consciousness, and consciousness in turn determines being.”

Numerous moral and ethical standards arose and developed from people’s desire for a stable, i.e. fair life. Holistic ethics rejects any absolutizations such as religious commandments (unlimited: goodness, self-sacrifice, obedience, tolerance, etc.) and the mythical “original sin” and sets as its goal the prosperity of all humanity on the basis of balanced moral standards based on common sense.

In conclusion, it should be emphasized that the outlined strategy of the golden mean can become an effective tool in the fight against extremist forces seeking world domination.

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7. Oesterle O. Goldene Mitte: Unser einziger Ausweg. Vom zersplitterten zum ganzheitlichen Wissen. 1...203, Universal Experten Verlag, 1997, Rapperswil, Switzerland.
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0 In our country, and in any other, excellent knowledge of the native language and the figures of speech included in it should become the calling card of any young man who wants to show himself on the positive side. However, not everyone can confidently operate with bright phraseological units, and therefore we decided to help citizens in this difficult matter. Today we will talk about an intuitive expression, Golden mean, you can find out the value a little lower.
However, before I continue, I would like to recommend reading a couple of other interesting publications on the topic of proverbs and sayings. For example, what does it mean to put in a long box; how to understand the phrase Prodigal Son; the meaning of the expression Sing praises; what does it mean to suck from a finger, etc.
If you liked our content, do not forget to add our website to your bookmarks.
So let's continue meaning Golden mean? This term was coined by the Roman philosopher and poet Horace, and in Latin the saying sounded like " aurea mediocritas", which can be literally translated as " golden moderation".

Golden mean- this expression denotes the optimal choice between two extremes

Golden mean- something characterized by the absence of any extremes

Golden mean- this is something that can help avoid risky and extremely dangerous steps

Example:

Russia does not need to go to extremes, between bombing Washington or surrendering all our positions to it. It is necessary to find a middle ground, and then everyone will be happy, except the liberals, but this is not surprising.

I don’t want to give advice to the EU, it’s unlikely that they need it, but nevertheless, you still have to choose a middle ground.

It is worth noting that the word “golden” in most languages ​​is synonymous with something good, kind, and correct. From this we can conclude that the “golden mean” is a kind of correct mean, a pleasant mean.

Some especially inquisitive citizens may have a question, what is this very middle?

Middle- this is the central part of something, a place equidistant from the edges, ends of something, be it an abstract concept or an object

Essentially, the middle is the area where opposing forces are in balance, and where no extreme point or solution can " pull the blanket"on yourself. If we talk about such concepts as " action" or " thought", then the phrase "golden mean" is consistent with the expressions " balanced thoughts, balanced actions".

Usually, " golden mean“is called the action that is correct in a certain situation. Usually people who choose the “golden mean” throughout their lives are characterized as not prone to adventures, conflicts, indecisive, and not quarrelsome.
Although, if you look from a different point of view, then the ability to find and maintain such a “golden mean” is a sign of a far from mediocre mind.
People, during an argument, trying to find the so-called consensus, just end up finding the one " golden mean".

Known in narrow circles Machiavelli(Italian thinker, philosopher, writer, politician), noted that failures in business occur due to the fact that people for the most part try to adhere to the “golden mean”, remaining indecisive and unable to take anyone’s side.
Even allies are afraid of such personalities, because you don’t know what they might do at a certain moment. And only uncompromising people occupy high positions in life and are able to influence the history of not only the country, but also the world as a whole.

After reading this article, you learned meaning Golden mean, and now you can explain this expression to your acquaintances and friends.

The golden ratio is a proportional division of a segment into unequal parts, in which the entire segment is related to the larger part as the larger part itself is related to the smaller one; or in other words, the smaller segment is to the larger as the larger is to the whole a: b= b: c or c: b= b: a. The mathematical symbol for the “golden ratio” is the number 1.62.
In modern literature, as a historical fact, it is noted that the golden ratio was first mentioned in Euclid’s Elements. According to other data, the “father” of the concept of “golden ratio” is considered to be the ancient Greek mathematician and geometer Pythagoras, who in turn borrowed his knowledge from the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, who knew and used this proportion in the construction of pyramids. The ancient Greeks and Romans knew about the golden ratio. Ancient philosophers wrote about it and ancient mathematicians studied it. During the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Luca Pacioli discussed the Golden Ratio. Scientists have discovered the golden ratio in everything that exists: living and inanimate nature, but they cannot explain its origin

The principle of the golden ratio is the highest manifestation of the perfection of the whole and its parts in art, science, technology and nature. A form built on the principle of the golden ratio is the most harmonious and beautiful

“Everything living and everything beautiful - everything obeys the divine law, whose name is the “golden ratio.” So what is this perfect, divine combination? Maybe this is the law of beauty? Or is he still a mystical secret? Scientific phenomenon or ethical principle? The answer is still unknown” (Angel de Coitiers).

Golden mean

A special case of “divine proportion” is the concept of the “golden mean”. “Golden mean” - “Aurea mediocritas” - the desire to avoid extremes in actions and judgments

- “Auream guisguis mediocritatemDíligít, tutús caret óbsoléti. Sordibús tectí, caret ínvidénda. Sóbrius áula" - “He who is faithful to the golden mean, Wisely will avoid the wretched roof, And that in others that feeds envy, Wonderful palaces"(Quintus Horaius Flaccus "Odes")
- “Cibi, potus, somni, venus omnia modereta sint” - “Food, drink, sleep, love - let everything be in moderation”(ancient Greek physician Hippocrates)
- "Medio tutissimus ibis - The middle path is the safest" (Ovid)
- “The average position in society is most conducive to the flourishing of all virtues and all the joys of life: peace and contentment are its servants; moderation, temperance, health, peace of mind, sociability, all kinds of pleasant entertainment, all kinds of pleasures are his blessed companions. A person of average income goes through his life’s path quietly and serenely, without burdening himself with either physical or mental backbreaking labor, without selling himself into slavery for a piece of bread, without tormented by the search for a way out of complicated situations that deprive the body of sleep and the soul of peace, without suffering from envy, without secretly burning with the fire of ambition. He glides freely and easily through life, rationally tasting the sweets of life that do not leave a bitter aftertaste, feeling that he is happy, and every day comprehending this more clearly and deeply.” ("Robinson Crusoe")

What is the "golden mean"? How to spell this word correctly. Concept and interpretation.

golden mean that the Optimal position, devoid of extremes. This refers to a situation, course of action, behavior (P), in which they try to find a middle, least conflicting path, and try to avoid risky decisions. book ? R is the golden mean. In the role of additional or subject The order of the component words is usually fixed. Rubtsov-Emnitsky was a flexible man and in his work he loved not the golden mean, but extremes. S. Babaevsky, Knight of the Golden Star. The carriages parted. The mother even cried: “You always manage to bring passions to critical extremes.” Ah, Fike, how good it is to know the golden mean. V. Pikul, Favorite. There were conflicts, misunderstandings, and cases of complete mutual misunderstanding. Sometimes you just had to give in to capricious and demanding old people, and it was not easy to find the “golden mean” - the opportunity to cooperate with the patient in his own interests. Week, 1985. [Host:] If you say that it was easy for you to win today, why didn’t you choose the red carpet [where you can’t make mistakes even once]? [Participant:] I prefer the golden mean. t/n "Clever Men and Clever Women", 2002. I think that both of these theories are extremes. We need a golden mean. How can I find it? (Speech) Everything would - the mind would wander in extremes - / But the golden mean / Everything was not given to him! A. Blok, Retribution. On the other hand, maybe this is the temptation of the devil. It’s so easy to justify your own weakness by caring for loved ones. And where is that golden mean, having found which, you can live in complete harmony with your conscience and not deprive the people who depend on you? Ch. Abdullaev, Ideal target. cultural commentary: phraseology. is a tracing paper from Lat. expression aurea mediocritas, belonging to the ancient Roman poet Horace (Berkov V.P., Mokienko V.M., Shulezhkova S.G. Large dictionary of winged words of the Russian language. M., 2000. P. 187), in whose texts the golden mean appears as the best, ideal position from the point of view of moral, philosophical and everyday positions; for example: “You will live more peacefully, without striving, Licinius, Often into the distant seas, where storms are dangerous, But without crowding to the uneven and unreliable shores. He who is in the golden mean (emphasis added by me. - I.Z.) is faithful, Wisely will escape both the wretched roof, and that which envy feeds in others, - wondrous palaces.” (Antique lyrics. M., 1968. P. 393.) Image of phraseology. goes back to this idea and, through the golden component (from gold), correlates with the natural material code of culture, i.e., with the totality of substances and objects existing in nature that, in addition to their natural properties, carry meanings that are functionally significant for culture. Since ancient times, gold has had ambiguous symbolism (see commentary on THE GOLDEN AGE). In this case, gold is conceptualized as smth. extremely valuable, the best, and is symbolically associated with the idea of ​​the indisputability of truth (cf. the golden ratio, the golden rule, the golden words; cf. also with the French le juste milieu - literally “the fair, correct mean”). phraseol. in general acts as a standard, i.e. measure, balance, optimal and most favorable position. Other European languages ​​have similar figurative expressions; for example, in English - the golden mean.

golden mean- translation of the expression: aurea mediocritas, used by Horace (Od. II, 10, 5) to mean proper... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron

golden mean- Express. A way of action, behavior, devoid of extremes; intermediate position. Rubtsov-Emnitsky would...

The golden mean is the mean between extremes, the unity of opposites, excluding extremes.

An extreme is an opposite, excluding, displacing, not allowing another opposite.

The extreme is undesirable or even dangerous. The dangerous extreme is either Scylla or Charybdis.

“Rush to extremes” - violate the measure.

“Golden mean” - image-symbol of measure

Our shortcomings are a continuation of our strengths

Any excess is a vice.

Ancient aphorism

Optimus: “It turns out that if something, any advantage, exceeds a certain quantitative limit and becomes something too intrusive, then it’s definitely a disadvantage, huh?”

Paracelsus said: there are no medicines or poisons; it's all about the dose. This statement is also true for the person himself. Any excess of a certain measure or dose leads in most cases to undesirable consequences. Pride turns into arrogance, arrogance; modesty - into self-abasement. Caution leads to cowardice, and courage leads to recklessness. Tolerance turns into connivance, intolerance into fanaticism.

But it is also important not to make the measure or norm absolute. After all, this is also an extreme. Measurement is needed in everything, even in observing it.

People need food, but excess food leads to obesity and disease. Patriotism is a good thing, but its absolutization in the form of nationalism and chauvinism is dangerous and harmful. It’s good to be logical and reasonable, but in moderation. Otherwise, prudence turns into rationality, and taking logic to the extreme turns into empty formalism.

The golden mean can be like a razor blade or like walking on a tightrope

The happy medium can be like a razor blade or like walking on a tightrope (balancing). A little to the side and you'll fall off.
In the movie "Scaramouche" a description of such a golden mean is given: you need to hold the sword like a bird - you cannot squeeze the handle too much (you will strangle the bird), you cannot squeeze it weakly (the bird will fly away).

Or this example of the golden mean: pay attention to how deftly an experienced rider rides a horse. He sits on it while moving, slightly moving to the right, then to the left, then forward (towards the head), then back (towards the croup) or slightly bouncing. An inexperienced rider does not immediately find the golden mean in his body movements: he can shift strongly to the right side of the horse or to the left, forward to the horse’s head or back to its croup, to the point that he risks falling off the horse.

Being between Scylla and Charybdis is another image of such a golden mean.

The principle of the golden mean does not always work

The principle of the golden mean does not always work. For example, you cannot look for a middle ground between good and evil, life and death.
Also, you can’t look for a middle ground between intelligence and stupidity. If intelligence is not always good, as my opponent claims, then stupidity can be good. This conclusion follows from his statement. The darkness of “clever” paradoxists is ready to recognize stupidity in some cases as good, and intelligence as evil. Especially if the words “smart” and “stupidity” are used not in their main meanings, but in peripheral, so to speak, rarely used meanings. Mind is intelligence because it serves good (in the fundamental sense) and not evil. This is a truism. And my opponent is trying to challenge this truism.

In cases where intelligence is not good, it is no longer intelligence, but stupidity!

________________________________________ ________

From correspondence

The golden mean between strictness and permissiveness

Vladimir Ryabchenko:

“As I promised in the winter, I began to get acquainted with your works... I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that instead of theologizing society with certain priorities by inculcating various theosophical disciplines in schools (no matter what they are called), it is better to deepen the knowledge of philosophical and economic directions. .. but, I’m afraid, increasing the level of general education is not included in the plans of our shepherds... as well as creating a happy life for the people... everything somehow looks more like a farce.”

Lev Balashov

Thank you for your letter. As for the state of affairs in our country... I don't look so gloomily. And the church does not always offer bad things, and our society is not so simple as to give itself up to be devoured by the church. I think the current boom in religiosity in our country is a temporary phenomenon, generated by the previous time of militant and rabid atheism. The swing swung the other way. A little time will pass (10-20 years) and our society, I think, will find a middle ground between the archaic conservatism of Orthodoxy and Islam, on the one hand, and unbridled licentiousness - everything​ the permissiveness of Western culture, the Western way of life. I personally believe in Russia and humanity.

* * *

“I-I” - the formula for the golden mean

Dear Evgeniy!

You wrote: “Any person has probably asked himself the following question: is human thought and reason something limited and imperfect, or can the intellect solve any problem and learn any secrets of the world?” From my point of view, this is a false dilemma like “Is alcohol poison or medicine?” I have a book called How Do We Think? It explains in detail what the human mind can and cannot do. The human mind is neither stupidly limited nor capable of solving all problems, revealing all the mysteries of the world. He is somewhat limited, weak, and at the same time capable of “going beyond”, solving increasingly complex problems. The human mind is like man himself. A person is perfect in some ways and imperfect in others. The poet Derzhavin said about man: “I decay with my body in dust, I command thunder with my mind. I am a king - I am a slave, I am a worm - I am a god!

Your questions reveal that you are an either/or thinker, i.e. strict disjunction. Meanwhile, there is a lot in life that involves a search for a golden mean of the “both-and” type, this and that. Sometimes finding the golden mean is like walking on a razor blade.

Absolute and relative are other opposites that some people stumble over. Truth is either absolute or relative - this is what some people think. In fact, truth is in some ways absolute and in some ways relative. I wrote about the extremes of absolutism and relativism in my book “Errors and Distortions of Categorical Thinking.”

L. Balashov

* * *

Contrasting “I want” and “need” is stupid

"COMMANDMENT 3

I don't owe anyone anything

A whole series of psychiatrists should be devoted to the sense of duty (“I owe”, “I am owed”). Classics of the genre: I hate cooking (washing, cleaning), but I have to. And instead of simply giving up things we don’t like, we force ourselves, getting irritated with everyone, turning into an embittered “aunt”. (...) The heroine of the film “You Never Even Dreamed of” responds to the tediousness of the class teacher: “My girl, when you grow up, you will have a husband. You will understand how good it is when a person has a sense of duty,” she answered like this: “But in my opinion, only love has the right to rule everything.”

COMMANDMENT 4

I don't care what people say. The main thing is what I think about myself.

And you only need to think well of yourself. And if someone thinks differently, that’s his problem. Only the “aunts” worry about “what Lyuda should say.” “Girls,” like Castaneda’s warriors, “seek impeccability only in their own eyes.”

My comment:

Contrasting “I want” and “need” is stupid. Human life is based on the game-interaction of these two approaches. I want without need - self-will, selfishness, individualism, immorality. What does “I don’t owe anyone anything” mean? I don’t owe it to my parents, I don’t owe it to nature, to society? What kind of philosophy is this? Yes, with such a philosophy, we will simply die out if we do not die from mutual alienation first. Without “should” there is no will, no conscience, no shame, no honor and honesty, no decency.
(There are, of course, situations when “I want” and “I need” are opposed to the point of antagonism and there can be no compromise between them. Yes, there are, but this does not give anyone grounds for categorically asserting “I don’t owe anyone anything.” should not\").
And the phrase “I don’t care what people say. The main thing is what I think about myself” is simply immoral. How can you ignore people's opinions?! This is impossible. She said absolute nonsense. I have met women who try to be guided by this phrase in life. They are very awkward to communicate with and simply repulsive.
Man always tries to find golden mean between “want” and “need”, between what he thinks about himself and what others think and say about him.

* * *

Democracy is a constant search for compromises, a golden mean

On the website “CHOICE 2012” (http://vybor2012.com) the topic “Parties settled by numbers” is discussed. Already 249 comments. And what do I see in these comments: a sea of ​​hatred and anger against each other, especially against United Russia.

Guys-commentators, you will never see real democracy with such feelings and thoughts. Because democracy is, first of all, mutual respect between opposing parties. Without mutual respect between those in power and the opposition, there are only barricades, blood and violence, only chaos. Or are you trying to achieve this in order to “fish in troubled waters”? I remember the parable-fable of Aesop, the ancient Greek, about the gardener and the potter. The gardener prayed for rain, the potter prayed for it not to rain. Likewise, in society there is such a difference of interests that, if the elements give free rein, there will be a bloody showdown and war.

We need to look for compromises, a middle ground, and not, figuratively speaking, break each other’s heads. “United Russia” has a certain force (part of the people) and it must be respected, just as a potter must respect the interests of a gardener.

As long as the opposition continues to throw mud at each other and United Russia, we will not have normal democratic institutions. And United Russia, of course, still needs to learn and learn to respect the opposition...