Minsk hosted the discussion on Ihnat Abdziralovich from the series of public lectures.

The series of lectures of the Flying University “Adviečnym šÍacham” (Belarusan — “The eternal way”), named by analogy with the Ihnat Abdziralovich’s essay, was a certain discovery for every participant, who took part in the lectures. And the work by the Belarusan thinker of the early 20th century was a certain rite of initiation. As the moderator of the event, philosopher and writer Ihar Babkou noted, “a Belarusan before reading and after reading Abdziralovich are two different Belarusans.”

Ihar Babkou

The EuroBelarus Information Service visited the event.

“Abdziralovich is an undiscovered miracle. If we didn’t have him it would be worth inventing him,” the philosopher and methodologist Uladzimir Matskevich said.

He described the work of Ihnat Abdziralovich as a “synopsis of thinking of the time that we haven’t yet realized.”

“A great genius, who could have been revealed, used to live in Belarus. It all happened in our peasant Belarus, which at that time didn’t have any clear form and didn’t even try to find it.”

Uladzimir Matskevich added that the time we had back then could be compared with the present, as we have no form either, but only look for it and create it:

 “The text by Abdziralovich should not only be included in the essential anthology of the Belarusan thought, but also become the ground of a thorough work on studying its development.”

Uladzimir Matskevich

The professor of the European State University, Doctor of Philosophy Tatiana Shchyttsova speaks about Ihnat Abdziralovich as about a phenomenon:

“We needed a historical perspective, from which his versatility would be visible. In our eyes Abdziralovich looks like our contemporary. What he says about Belarus has come true right now.”

Tatiana Shchyttsova noted that the author of the essay distinguishes between the social and political forms of life. Nation building is possible if there is sovereignty and no external coercion.

According to the philosopher, the essay draws attention to the difference between the East and the West and the analysis of the borderline of this or that social formation. Tatiana Shchyttsova noted that Abdziralovich touches upon the ambivalence of Belarusan ethos that has a ring of the definition of the Belarusan people as ironic.

Tatiana Shchyttsova

And a philosopher, poet, and translator Michail Bayaryn wondered what does the time when the essay “Adviečnym šÍacham” was created have in common with today’s reality that makes us think about this text a hundred years later?

“In my opinion, it is the rejection of the existing form as ours. Just like the Belarusan nationalism didn’t accept cultural and state forms as its own, today we don’t accept the Republic of Belarus.”

On the other hand, the philosopher said, if we compare “what we wanted” with what we “received”, we can say that our national project is formally completed. There is a set of national standards: the state, the army, symbols, borders, and language. They might not be what we wanted, but we have them. The tasks set by the Belarusan nationalism in early XX century are fulfilled. Nevertheless, the national project isn’t considered complete, since we are in a situation of not recognizing what we have as ours.

Michail Bayaryn

According to Michail Bayaryn, it is the absence of philosophy that differs that time and the present. It were practically oriented people aimed at business and actions that were at the cradle of that nationalism:

“Belarusans were allowed a lot, but were not allowed to think.”

So today, according to the philosopher, Belarusan intellectual tradition is being established. And it emerges when there are students:

“We have two paths: either we insist on creating our own form (which means having our own culture and civilization of great style), or we accept someone else's form,” Michail Bayaryn presented everyone with the choice.

Journalist Siarhei Dubavets, in his turn, drew attention to the fact that the text by Abdziralovich is a national project of ethics, and this is what makes it attractive:

“Nationalism in the form of a project of ethics emerged in the early 1980s. It was beautiful, and good always won over evil. And now we have a national project, which is completely deprived of ethics. We need to return it the ethics and the concepts according to which the western civilization lives. To return Abdziralovich to Belarus means to fill the national project with ethics.”

Siarhei Dubavets

The participants of the meeting noted that the essay didn’t come easy for them the first time. Iryna Dubianetskaya, Bible scholar, theologian, and Academic Director of the Belarusan Collegium said she hasn’t been able to grow fond of Abdziralovich for a long time because he “was writing about Belarus and didn’t notice it.” The thing is that he is talking about Belarus, which originated at the crossroads of 19th — 20th centuries. And from what used to be in Belarus before, only Francysk Skaryna is mentioned:

“The main thing that makes Abdziralovich special is the demand of constant creativity. And if something has already happened, it ceases to be a creating process and becomes a creation. The idea of ​​“when creating, we destroy” is the core of both the center and the core between huge civilizational entities, i.e. the East and the West according to Abdziralovich.”

Iryna Dubianetskaya reformulated Siarhei Dubavets, calling his “ethics” for “beauty”:

“In 1980s Belarus used to be both an object and a subject of the creative process. It was beautiful, attractive, and ethical. It was something that Uladzimir Karatkevich mentioned: Belarus of beauty.”

However, the journalist contradicted, saying that the events of those times haven’t always been “beautiful”.

Iryna Dubianetskaya

Philosopher Pavel Barkouski said that for him Ihnat Abdziralovich is a mystical writer: every time when reading him, he finds a part that he didn’t seem to read before.

Pavel Barkouski said that he still sees no viable reason for realization of what Abdziralovich forecasts and dreams about:

“Nothing leads to making possible the realization of a Belarusan project, which would be based not on the frozen forms of political thinking, but an open project, which relies on the civil society.”

Pavel Barkouski

“It is for 19 years now that the classes in the department of philosophy and literature in the Belarusan Collegium start with reading “Adviečnym šÍacham” by Abdziralovich,” spoke the philosopher and writer Valiantsin Akudovich.

He proposed to publish an anthology dedicated to the heritage of the thinker.

Valiantsin Akudovich

EuroBelarus.Info reference

Ihnat Abdziralovich (Kancheuski) is a Belarusan philosopher, poet, essayist; the author of the program essay “Adviečnym šÍacham” (1921).

The basis of the Kancheuski’s worldview and stand in life is his loyalty to the work for Belarus, love for his motherland, self-sacrificing work for the benefit of the people. In a philosophical essay “Adviečnym šÍacham” he revealed the drama of the historical fate of Belarusans and their desire to preserve their independence. According to him, the main goal of the people is state independence, which he considered to be a universal ideal. He believed that the bureaucratic state system is one of the main problems. He saw the civilized solution of social problems in free creative process, free forms of people’s social unions, in the choice of a “third, peasant and craftsman way of free brotherhood and cooperation — between the wild capitalism and the tyrannical socialism.”