The Problem of Human Spiritual Experience in I. A. Ilyin’s Works

Abstract

Introduction. The problem of spirituality is one of the topical in science and very important in practice. The article is devoted to the analysis of the concept in spiritual experience, developed by the famous Russian philosopher I. A. Ilyin. Materials and Methods. I. A. Ilyin considers spiritual reality as an integral part of the world, which every person inevitably has to face as an ontological basis for the need in spiritual experience. It has special properties that are inaccessible to sensory-empirical knowledge. Therefore, it cannot be detected using traditional methods of cognition and described using the usual categories of analysis of the material world. In order, to discover and comprehend it, special “spiritual organs – evidence, conscience, sense of justice, artistic vision, love” are required [6, p. 102]. Spiritual reality appears to a person in the form of subjective phenomena: moral, aesthetic, intellectual experiences. But this does not deny the fact of its existence. Conclusion. I. A. Ilyin has convincingly proved this in his works. A necessary condition for comprehending spiritual reality is the spiritual being of a person. As one gains spiritual experience, a cardinal change of a person takes place, his transformation into a “spiritual personality”. Spiritual experience is not innate, but every normal person is predisposed to assimilate it. It depends on himself, since the spiritual experience is perceived personally. Other people can create the necessary conditions for this, but they cannot replace the subject. The modern education system is incapable of forming genuine spiritual experience in the younger generation. I. A. Ilyin warned about the negative consequences of people’s lack of spirituality.