The Meaning of Life’s problem in the philosophy of Nikolai Berdyaev

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of the meaning of human life in Berdyaev's philosophy, not yet studied in the research literature. The ideas received as a result of interpretation of Berdyaev's lectures (still not widely known) are explored in details for the first time. The topic of meaning is considered as arising at a certain stage of spiritual evolution of the thinker. The authors describe metaphysical grounds of the problem of meaning by Berdyaev, and reveals the philosopher's logic of the denial of the common concepts of the meaning of life as present in the public consciousness. It is established that the core of the solution of the problem of meaning as suggested by this religious philosopher consists in God-Human character of the source of meaning. It turns out that finding of meaning is connected with spiritual awakening of a human being. The meaning reveals itself as the energy of love. The article also describes correlation of Theocentricism, Christocentricism and Pnevmacentricism in spiritual evolution of the thinker. It is shown that Berdyaev, by exposing the insufficiency of the extremes of the assessment of life from the points of view of pessimism and optimism, comes to positions of a Creative Eschatologism.