Today we will talk about what soulfulness is. This word is loved by both ordinary people and advertisers. It means that some emotional experiences are connected with it among the people. But let's talk not only about this, but also about a related concept - spirituality. What is meant by it today and what is meant by it in general.
Soulfulness is an untranslatable word into other languages
The title is not a tribute to the now fashionable “Russianness”, on the contrary, it is a linguistic fact. And all because it is very difficult to define the concept of soulfulness in Russian, but it is worth a try. So, sincerity is a sincere appeal to another person. Genuine and disinterested interest in the point of view or problems of another person. Spirituality has no boundaries. This quality is possessed by men, women, and children, but most of all, perhaps, the latter, because they are sincere, have not yet learned to deceive, lie, play up, pass off black for white and white for black. Of course, the culture says that we have more sincere women, but this is not true.
To ascertain the sincerity of men, you can recall the film "The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!" In it, the heroes celebrate the New Year. Having thoroughly picked up, they tighten the song "Under the wing of the plane." And at first they sing cheekily, they shout too much. And Lukashin tells them: "Guys, be more sincere." And immediately everyone as one understands what it means. And they approach things in a completely different way. They sing penetratingly, carefully, cautiously. In a word, mentally. As can be seen even from the example, the concept under consideration can be replaced by different words. Let's talk about synonyms separately.
How to explain what soulfulness is to a foreigner or an ignorant Russian? Synonyms
Most of all, as an alternative to "soulfulness", the term from psychology - "empathy" is suitable. It is the ability to empathize and empathize with another person. But empathy is a complex concept. In fact, in Russian there is no full-fledged replacement for the term "soulfulness". No matter how we shuffle the words, there is still no complete analogue. There is something in this combination of sounds and letters … extremely sincere and at the same time remaining in the shadow all the time. Soulfulness is a mystery.
For example, if an advertisement says that such and such a drink is spiritual, then the viewer, if he is a native speaker of Russian, understands what this means only on an intuitive level. If we undertake to interpret, we will immediately find ourselves in an awkward position, because the adjective “soulful” is (if we are talking about a drink) “tasty”, “fresh”, “invigorating” and much more that comes to mind, but together with something else untranslatable tothe language of symbols, but understood only by the gut.
However, if the reader asks us sternly: “How is this to be understood - "soulfulness"? Can you find synonyms for this word or not? We will honestly provide the list:
- Sincerity.
- Openness.
- Genuine interest.
- The ability to empathize.
The reader, having caught the general tone of the linguistic substitutions of the concept of "soulfulness", can easily play this game himself. And it's time for us to move on.
Is it possible to develop soulfulness in yourself?
Of course, when answering this question, one can adhere to two points of view. First: it is, they say, an innate quality, and it is useless to learn it. Probably, there are supporters of this point of view, but there is another opinion. The second version: a person does not have a rigidly set, rigid nature, so almost everyone can learn anything, you just have to want to. Sincerity is painstaking daily work on oneself.
Understanding another person is difficult because it involves certain personality traits such as kindness, tolerance, altruism. If a person who wants to learn soulfulness is angry, selfish, rude, then without internal rebirth, only imitation, a simulation of soulfulness, is available to him, although it can be enough to achieve some goals.
Techniques for the development of sincerity
If we talk about specific methods and techniques, then there are several ways to achieve the development of empathy:
- Reading fiction.
- People watching.
- The development of imagination and fantasy on the topic of what it is like to be this and that. Yes, an important addition: this is not about Napoleons, but about ordinary people, perhaps acquaintances and friends or neighbors.
All these simple tricks will allow a person to understand a brother and expand the range of his life experience.
Disputes about spirituality and soulfulness
Why is the question of the distinction between spirituality and soulfulness relevant at all? Firstly, because these concepts are often used as synonyms, and this is a mistake. Secondly, because spirituality itself is misunderstood, exclusively in a religious sense. Let's deal with these misconceptions.
For example, sincerity in a relationship - what is it? And is it possible to say this: "spirituality in relationships"? Answer: the first option is understandable and sounds in Russian, and the second one is perceived a little strange even by ear. Why? Because they are not synonymous.
When a man says that he and his wife have a spiritual relationship, then friends or random fellow travelers understand: the spouses get along, everything is in order both at home and in bed.
If the same man says: “My wife and I have a spiritual relationship!”, others will start to look askance at him and suspect evil. And all because this kind of relationship does not involve sex. Spiritual relationships and platonic relationships are synonymous. But, from the point of view of the language, it is easy to make a mistake here, because one thing is the meaning of the word "soulfulness", and the other is the meaning of the word "spirituality". With this it is necessarybe very careful not to sit in the galosh.
Is "spirituality" a purely religious term?
Answering the question in the title: "Of course not!" Spirituality is any non-material production. Spirituality absorbs all the phenomena of human genius - from science to religion. Naturally, literature is also included in this area. Now there is the term "spiritual literature", that is, religious. But this is not a completely correct option, because all literature is spiritual. The question is, why is there confusion? Everything is very simple. Now there are quite a lot of believers, and the religious consciousness is somewhat different from the secular. For example, the first believes that absolute truth is only his department. Also, religious people, even Christians, often sin with intolerance to other people's opinions and expressions, which is why they believe: if literature or art is associated with God, then these forms of human activity are spiritual, and they deny the rest of this quality.
The point is also that the term "spirituality" is now in wide demand, because a lot of people are passionate about Orthodoxy. But, as is often the case, when people use a word they don't bother to look it up in a dictionary. In addition, it is human nature to err. And Francis Bacon identified four types of errors of the subject in the knowledge of the world. There is no need to list all four here, we are only interested in the "idols of the market place" - the phenomenon boils down to the fact that people use words thoughtlessly, and everyone puts their own meaning into them. This, in turn,makes it very difficult to understand. As an example, we can take the meaning of the word “spirituality”: a religious person understands one thing by this term, and a non-religious person means something completely different. The sad thing is that they will never agree among themselves.
Fortunately, the meaning of the word "soulfulness" does not cause such difficulties for people. It is still associated in the human mind with something good and good. We hope that our reader will not continue to confuse related concepts. Every educated person should know the difference between the terms "spirituality" and "soulfulness", of course, if he wants to say that he really knows the Russian language.
