The article poses a research question, important not only in the studies on (neo-)gnosticism, concerning the relationship between the gnostic strategies of interpreting the world (and especially its typical rules of classifying people, based on the externalization of evil) and the tendency to construct a figure of "hylic" as a person embodying evil, and thus "unworthy of life". In this context, the author is interested in the dynamics of the relationship between the religious worldview declared by the authors, the one they actually profess, and their attitude towards the so-called Jewish question. Bulgarian material, which is a case of a particular kind of aporia, cognitive dissonances emerging due to tension between the pressure of cultural stereotypes, pragmatic (economic), religious, parareligious and humanistic thinking, has been analyzed on the basis of post-secular thought. The investigator posits that Bulgarian culture, despite the "economic" anti-Semitism that exists within it, did not produce a figure of a Jew the hylic that absorbs all evil and that could be inscribed (as is the case in popular Polish culture, among others) in every troublesome local political and symbolic context.
The article poses a research question, important not only in the studies on (neo-)gnosticism, concerning the relationship between the gnostic strategies of interpreting the world (and especially its typical rules of classifying people, based on the externalization of evil) and the tendency to construct a figure of "hylic" as a person embodying evil, and thus "unworthy of life". In this context, the author is interested in the dynamics of the relationship between the religious worldview declared by the authors, the one they actually profess, and their attitude towards the so-called Jewish question. Bulgarian material, which is a case of a particular kind of aporia, cognitive dissonances emerging due to tension between the pressure of cultural stereotypes, pragmatic (economic), religious, parareligious and humanistic thinking, has been analyzed on the basis of post-secular thought. The investigator posits that Bulgarian culture, despite the "economic" anti-Semitism that exists within it, did not produce a figure of a Jew the hylic that absorbs all evil and that could be inscribed (as is the case in popular Polish culture, among others) in every troublesome local political and symbolic context.
"Playing catch up". The notion of needing to accelerate a country's progress towards a civilised paradise – the Bulgarian version (a proposed entry for a dictionary of peregrinating ideas)This paper outlines the main stages in the process through which the notion of "needing to catch up" (a belief that the country was in need of accelerated development) became incorporated into the idea of Bulgarian national identity. Since the mid-19th century, Bulgarians have tended to rely on the notion of "needing to catch up" as a way of conceptualising their place among "the civilised nations," a concept they regard with varying degrees of desirability. I use the concept of "needing to catch up" in the sense of a culturally and politically functional standard or template, which nonetheless cannot function as an independent concept since it belongs to different systems of ideas with their various economic, geopolitical, religious, psychological and cultural aspects. Inseparably wedded to the idea of "needing to catch up" is the idea of "retardation", which was floated in discussions on the Bulgarian condition even before the Bulgarian state emerged as a political reality. As the national movement grew in strength, these inferiority complexes morphed into their mirror image: a belief that Bulgarians were capable of catching up with Europe in terms of cultural advancement. From the early fascination with the cultural achievements of the "enlightened nation" felt by the so-called "Orthodox Enlightenment" thinkers, through a replication of the Russian discourse, this line of reasoning culminated in Marxist ideology (including propaganda between 1945 and 1989) and the post-1989 politics of persuasion. The bell may be tolling for the time-bound idea of "needing to catch up", a notion which has exhausted its potential to excite intellectual conflict or struggle, and has very possibly resulted is a self-poisoning of the cultures which indulged in it, only to become doomed to dull, infantile repetition. "Doganianie". Idea przyspieszonego rozwoju w drodze do cywilizacyjnego raju. Wersja bułgarskaArtykuł poświęcony jest prezentacji głównych etapów procesu inkorporowania w tkankę bułgarskiej idei narodowej pojęcia doganiania (przyspieszonego rozwoju), które od połowy XIX wieku pozostaje narzędziem konceptualizacji przez Bułgarów ich (różnie wartościowanego) miejsca wśród "narodów cywilizowanych". "Doganianie" rozumiem jako kulturowo i politycznie funkcjonalny wzór rzeczy, który jest konceptem niesamodzielnym, należącym do różnych systemów idei, mającym swój aspekt ekonomiczny, geopolityczny, religijny, psychologiczny, kulturowy. Formuła opóźnienia, zintegrowana z ideą doganiania zagościła w dyskusjach nad statusem Bułgarów jeszcze przed zaistnieniem narodu politycznego. Wraz z rozwojem ruchu narodowego kompleksy otrzymały swój rewers w postaci wiary w możliwość zrównania poziomu cywilizacyjnego z europejskim. Ta linia rozumowania prowadziła od pierwszych fascynacji dorobkiem "oświeconych narodów" w ramach tzw. oświecenia prawosławnego, przez odwzorowywanie dyskursu rosyjskiego po myśl marksistowską (z jej propagandową dominantą w latach 1945–89) i polityki perswazyjne po 1989 roku. Wydaje się, że współcześnie mamy do czynienia z podzwonnym dla związanej z czasowością idei doganiania, która wyczerpała swój potencjał agoniczny a może nawet przyczyniła się do "samozatrucia" absorbujących ją kultur, skazujących się na infantylizację i nudę powtórzeń.
