In general, all movements inspired by the ideas of the East are characterized by a cosmological aspect, a thirst for dissolution in impersonal cosmic energy, to achieve a holistic experience of reality. This is nothing but a reaction to the rationalism of Western science and its utilitarian materialism, which deprives the nature of the soul even when it deifies it, perceiving it as the only reality. The Far East carries a sense of mystery, returning the soul to the universe, in all who were under the influence of Eastern cults and teachings, an interest in the mysteries of the spiritual world and a belief that it affects human destinies was awakened. Hence almost all movements inspired by the East are characterized by the awakening of interest and enthusiasm for spiritualism. Summoning spirits has now become a favorite pastime in Europe and America. In spiritism, there was a strange symbiosis of ancient and Christian Gnosticism and Eastern magic, rooted in the polytheism of the ancient East. What is most characteristic of such spiritualism is the loss of the ability to "discern spirits," a kind of magical violence against the spiritual world, the extortion of the discovery of innermost secrets and the explanation of mysterious events in one's daily life, predictions of the future. Spirits are required to provide new knowledge, deliverance and salvation from life's misfortunes.

For example, the Swedish movement "Findhorn Community" (founded by David Spangler), was created, as they say, by the inspiration of the "small voice" of a spiritual being. Its founder, inspired by spirits, came to the conviction that human earthly life should become an all-encompassing Unity. The "Findor University of Light", established in 1974, set itself the goal of helping man to become "part of the harmony of the New Age" with the help of its "flower gardens", i.e. associations that establish the right relationship with nature, associations that thus become "centers of light".

The feverish activity of Western man, born of excessive greed for material goods and the acquisition of knowledge, as well as the unnatural pace of life imposed on him by technocratic civilization, have caused the deepest stress, fatigue and illness, physical and mental. Because rationalized Western Christianity, with its moralism and social utilitarianism, is unable to offer a counterbalance to the existential confusion and the search for mystical experience that are increasingly characteristic of the desolate, tired man of Western consumer society, it is more and more willingly and easily carried away by Eastern methods of mastering the inner psychic space, and with their help experiences that divine and cosmic reality. that they offer.

One movement of this kind that has gained many adherents in Europe and America is the Hari Krishna movement. Its spiritual leader is Swami Prahupada (arrived in New York in 1966, where he began to preach his hippie teachings). The goal of his teachings is to develop "Krishna consciousness" that would save man from the blindness of the modern world. He teaches that this consciousness develops from the constant chanting of the name of God – "Hari Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hari Hari, Hari Rama..." Incessant singing and pronouncing of the holy name helps a person to free himself from anxiety and darkness and to aspire his soul to God. In order to approach Him, one must follow the path of devotion (bhakti yoga), i.e., renounce the four earthly elements that captivate the soul, make it a slave to the lower passions and the darkness of ignorance (maya) – to stop eating meat, fish and eggs; use drugs, alcohol, tea and coffee; not to enter into close relations that are not aimed at the birth of children; Do not gamble. Read the holy scripture "Bhagavad Gita" daily. Vegetarianism and abstinence, adherents of Krishna, are borrowed from the ancient Indian heritage and it must be admitted that they saved many drug addicts from certain death. Meanwhile, there is something unnatural and chilling about the way Krishna's groups express their "absolute devotion" to him, and many former Hare Krishnas have spoken of horrific violence against members of these groups at meetings accessible only to the initiated.

An even more widespread movement in the world is the so-called Transcendental Meditation movement. It is headed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a certified physicist, a disciple of the famous Indian sage Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, recognized as Guru Devi – the Divine Teacher. Maharishi's world fame was facilitated by the Beatles, who for a long time considered him their spiritual teacher. When they left him, he secluded himself in the silence of the Himalayas, however, his centers of "transcendental meditation" exist and develop to this day, arousing great interest among scientists, psychiatrists, sociologists, due to its beneficial psychosomatic effects. This is one of the most numerous movements, especially popular in America. Transcendental meditation in the search for the "fourth" dimension of consciousness, i.e., the state when consciousness is unburdened by anything but itself and rests on the eternal Being, who is the essence and foundation of all that exists. Such penetration into the eternal space of the Absolute is experienced as a new birth. "Truly," says Maharishi, "the deepest wisdom is to contemplate at the same time the wholeness, the unity of the Absolute and the diversity of the visible world." According to his teachings, the goal of TM is to become a bridge between the disconnected science and religion. Like the Krishnas, TM places great importance on the mantra received from the guru (Om is the holy name), which is constantly repeated and meditated in self-concentration and self-contemplation. In practice, TM attaches magical significance to the meditation technique; identification of human and cosmic energy with the energy of the Deity, in fact, professes a kind of pantheism.

And many other gurus who find their adherents in Europe and America also speak of one divine power that is poured out into the world through great teachers – Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Mohamed. According to this theory, when a lie completely darkens human souls, then the divine energy is incarnated and the Creator Himself appears to the world. Some gurus consider themselves to be the embodiment of divine energy. "I have come," says one of them, "to show light in this age of darkness." The same guru, Maharaj Yi, calls himself a perfect teacher. His father, Sri Hans Yi Maharai, also recognized by his devotees as a great teacher, worshipped his son as the savior of the world, the Lord of the universe, the embodiment of light, love, peace, unity and eternity. Whoever accepts its knowledge enters into eternal bliss, this knowledge dissolves the layers of the false self, our lower, selfish, mortal self, and gives knowledge of one's own original nature, the nature of the eternal Being and that primordial energy which is at the basis of all creation, which was, is and will be in eternity, beyond time and space. Guru Maharai Yi considers himself to be the savior from maya, and he must put an end to the dark times of kaliyuga and usher in a new, golden era of satyuga. This guru requires absolute submission and devotion, without which there can be no perfect enlightenment. He calls for a fight against the mind, this monster that must be tamed. "Listen to me, and you will hear God... I am always with you, and you are the one who should be with me." "You, in your Western world," he says, "have become rigid in materialism. Come to me, and I will heal you of your sickness. Your eyes are blind and cannot see the spiritual. Come to me, and I will enlighten you."

To Western scholars and professors-theoreticians, all these Eastern enlighteners seem almost saints, singing the glory of God. "Love God," one of them echoes them, "for He is Love. Sing His glory with a word, for He is the Word. Listen to the heavenly harmony, for He is the Harmony from which the universe is derived." All of them are characterized by a sense of the sanctity of life and the universe, an awareness of the changeability of the external and sorrow for it.

In our time, there is also an interest in Islamic mysticism, especially in Sufism, in the context of theosophy and other Eastern movements.The fact that this interest is not only theoretical, but also practical, is evidenced by the emergence of the so-called Sufi dance, the dance of the "universal world". Adherents of this kind of mysticism claim that the founder of Sufi dance was the famous Jalaludin Rumi in the 13th century; a new wave of this movement has already appeared in our time, thanks to Luis, the "herald of the new time". Sufism, according to the theory of the "messenger", has always existed, it was born in Arabia, brought up in Persia and spiritually formed in India. The influence of the East on the West in recent decades has prepared the ground for the sprouts of the seeds of Sufism. The spiritual dance is performed in the name of God, and its basis is the holy word Wazif (mantra), which is rhythmically repeated to the music, it evokes the presence of Allah. The dancer (dervish, Sufi) becomes identical with God, combining in his dance all the elements of the human being, from the visible to the invisible. The ultimate goal of this mystical movement is to create the dances of all religions and move on to the "angelic dances" that lead to perfection.

What is characteristic of all the Eastern movements that offer the materialized West their ways of salvation is the integration of all human capacities, physical and spiritual, but on a deeper ontological level. Thus, even what for a Western person is simply physical gymnastics, for an Eastern person has an anthropological, cosmological and soteriological aspect. An example is the aikido movement, which grew out of Zen-Buddhism and oriental martial arts, and spread (1945) throughout the world. Its founder is Master Morihai Weshiba. The goal of this "noble defensive" discipline is to achieve harmony of spirit and body, to unite with the soul of the world, i.e. with cosmic energy, to transform the whole world into one family. The word aikido itself means a method (do) or a way of comprehending harmony (ai), mental energy (ki) or harmony of the spirit.

В то время как дзюдо , боевое искусство того же происхождения, целью которого , по словам его основателя, было «процветание и добро, лучшее применение силы», превратилось со временем в жажду победы, демонстрацию силы, цель айкидо — «искоренение зла, ради соединения с душой мира». Оно должно быть искусством, с помощью которого человек достигает симфонии с космическим духом, чтобы люди объединились между собой и с космосом. Во всем необходимо следовать закону космоса, потому что, всякая тварь несет в себе один дух, одну энергию, которая правит миром. Все природные и человеческие феномены имеют один и тот же источник. Поэтому разум человека должен быть в согласии с разумом вселенной. Приверженцы айкидо считают , что жажда материальных благ западной цивилизации, вытеснила духовные ценности и этим вызвала ощущения страха и смятения — разрыв теории и практики, науки и религии, человека и природы, человека, природы и вечной духовной энергии. Это отчуждение от души вселенной породило разбитость человеческого существа и оставило в нем глубокую рану, которая может быть исцелена только возвратом духа внутреннего единства, взаимопроникновения всего существующего .

В нашем кратком очерке мы коснулись нескольких, наиболее крупных духовных движений восточного происхождения. Восток, особенно за последние полтора столетия, оказал огромное духовное влияние на Запад. Переводы и изучение священных писаний Ближнего Востока, перенятие культов, идей и различных видов искусств, связанных с духовным наследием индуизма и буддизма, все это оказало и оказывает значительное влияние на западные, по традиции христианские, народы. Этому влиянию поддались не только отдельные великие ученые, писатели и философы, как например, Шопенгауэр и Толстой, Юнг и Герман Гессе ; с помощью рассмотренных нами и многих других религиозных движений, особенного боевых искусств, с религиозной подоплекой, оно охватило и охватывает очень широкие слои общества. Все это заметно в распространившихся спиритизме и учениях о реинкарнации и других, связанных с восточными верованиями и сотериологическими понятиями. Подведем же итог некоторых основных идей этих и других движений, нашедших отклик в душе западного человека и имеющих сотериологическое значение и характер.

1. Как уже было сказано, главным общим свойством всех этих движений является синкретизм — поиск одной универсальной истины во всех религиях.

2. Обещание и ожидание Новой эпохи, связанные с учением о реинкарнации и явлениями Божественного откровения в определенные исторические периоды, ради пробуждения мира и освобождения его от мрака .

3. Органическое переплетение космологии и антропологии, поиск всеобъемлющей вечной духовной энергии изменчивого мира, как его сущности и души, как вечной Полноты и всеобщего единства.