“Geography of Rationality” in the World Ocean of the Irrational

Abstract

This article evaluates the limitations of an exclusively rational approach to comprehending reality, emphasizing that true understanding often extends far beyond logic and rests on irrational, absurd, random, and unpredictable elements. From the standpoint of the rational–irrational dichotomy, the paper offers a brief overview of key cultural-historical periods and the contemporary situation. Based on essential cultural-historical modes of human activity and psychological consulting practice, the author proposes a concept of five levels of consciousness (egocentric, gentile, social, cosmic, theurgical) and five levels of the unconscious (animalistic, ancestral, collective, personalistic, higher), along with their corresponding developmental tasks (adaptive, reproductive, functional, existential, awakening). This framework is intended to illustrate the subtle interplay between the rational and the irrational. The concept can be used to diagnose and differentiate dynamic interrelations between these polarities, serving as a guiding vector for formulating strategies and tactics of development or problem-solving at individual, social, and global levels. The dialectic of the rational and the irrational is exemplified through a comparison of Eastern and Western cultures. The author puts forward the hypothesis of an anthropo-socio-historical principle of complementary opposites, through which the Western tendency to incorporate irrational aspects of Eastern cultures and the Eastern tendency to adopt elements of Western culture are analyzed. The article concludes that a shift from one polarity to another – whether within the psyche of an individual, a society, or an entire civilization – leads to a dead end. Instead, the author proposes a strategy of integrating opposites as a way out of the developmental impasse. The paper highlights that historically, only a few individuals have embodied examples of true wholeness, and argues that achieving such wholeness has now become a necessary imperative from an anthropo-socio-historical perspective in order to overcome the global crisis. The solution lies in a synthetic position that unites the experiences of both poles. With regard to the inner world of the individual, this implies the development of all available capacities – rational and irrational – philosophical, scientific, artistic, and religious worldviews and perceptions.