Mineral – plant – animal – man. The spiral of “cosmic evolution” in the Russian esoteric writings at the beginning of the 20th century

Authors

  • Monika Rzeczycka University of Gdańsk

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26881/sgg.2019.40.03

Keywords:

theosophy, history of vegetarianism, cosmic evolution, New Age

Abstract

The article deals with the esoteric conception of “cosmic evolution” and the theory of “new man”. At the beginning of the 20th century, when occult philosophy was very popular in Europe, this theory won many followers who decided to develop in themselves a “cosmic consciousness” and to change their diet radically. The popularity of vegetarianism led to the creation of numerous vegetarian restaurants. Beore the revolutions in 1917, there were over 50 of them in Russia. The founders and clients of the most popular of these places were advocates of Leo Tolstoi’s philosophy, as well as Russian theosophists and posttheosophist. Vegetarianism inspired by esotericism was very popular among the second generation of Russian symbolists (i. a. Andrei Belyi, Maximilian Voloshin, Leo Kobylinsky-Ellis, Boris Leman-Diks, Nikolai Belocvetov, Margarita Sabashnikova, Klavdia Bugaeva).

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Published

2019-06-10

How to Cite

Rzeczycka, M. (2019). Mineral – plant – animal – man. The spiral of “cosmic evolution” in the Russian esoteric writings at the beginning of the 20th century. Studia Germanica Gedanensia, (40), 41–50. https://doi.org/10.26881/sgg.2019.40.03

Issue

No. 40 (2019): Das (Un-)Menschliche im Menschen. Studien zu einer anthropologischen Thematik in der Literatur von der Frühen Neuzeit bis zur Gegenwart

Section

Articles

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