Odvěkou cestou - Zkoumání běloruského světového názoru – Abdziralovič Ihnat (2022)

Where does Belarus belong? To the West or to the East? What connects it with its closest neighbors and what distinguishes it from them? Is there such a thing as a 'Belarusian worldview'? It is precisely this Belarusian worldview that Ihnat Abdziralovič (real name Ihnat Kančeuski, 1896–1923) focuses on in his now-classic essay The Eternal Path, written and published in 1921 in Vilnius. The author was an exceptional figure for his time: he studied natural sciences and literature, participated in the Ukrainian national movement, was active in the Belarusian cooperative movement, was interested in both Western and Eastern philosophies, including yoga and theosophy, and was considered a visionary by some contemporaries... Unfortunately, his premature death from tuberculosis did not allow him to fully develop his talent, but he left us at least this essay, which is regarded as a foundational work of Belarusian philosophy of the 20th century and to which new generations of Belarusian intellectuals continue to return. The cultural, historical, and geopolitical questions (and answers) that the author managed to formulate remain relevant even today, as Belarus struggles to find its way from post-Soviet authoritarianism to democracy.