These questions are as follows.
1. Gumilev, in contrast to the above-mentioned scientists, who for the driving forces of development of society accept a secondary or external factors, capable in fact to affect only on the acceleration or deceleration of the development of individual communities and civilization as a whole, quite adequately noted the necessity of the presence as a driving force of every intelligent being and communities of these beings of some hidden, internal "mover", having called it passionarity, but presented this property as the internal energy of an incomprehensible type, which a person replenishes in one or another volume from a reservoir of the Earth's biosphere.
Anyway, Gumilev is right in the attempt to find not some external force, but internal gradually creating dynamics both for a human, and for any group of people united by common interests.
2. Quite fairly as well Gumilev's statement that in each person a certain internal essence acts, and the degree of its activity is defined by its fullness in the person or by its level. It is this fullness that causes a person to fall into a passive state or into an active state, or both of these states are balanced.
3. It is impossible not to agree with Gumilev in the fact that every holistic human community develops unevenly, and this irregularity is determined primarily by the rise or recession at the active part of the community of some inner essence, which he refers to as passionarity, wrongly considering that the nature of this essence is energetical.
4. As for the push initiating impetuous development of community (ethnos), of course, without internal readiness any external influence, for example, some non-fatal radiation, can remain just unnoticed, or the life of community, having suddenly agitated by war or an earthquake, for some time, again will enter the former course, that is, external impacts or influences in themselves can at best accelerate or slow the movement of the community forward, but this movement is possible only if they interact with some inner essence of the person (his communities) , however they cannot replace this essence, that finds its external expression, for example, in lack of the corresponding reaction of community, if this essence has no adequate readiness, more precisely, fullness.
So, for example, all efforts of Léonard da Vinci to implement own inventions, among which there was even a helicopter, remained unnoticed by the community, unlike his pictures.
We need only to find this initial essence of the person, which he transmits to own communities, and which influences to a certain extent on all happening to him including on his development, and on development of his communities.
3. The driving force of the development of society.
Of course, Gumilev's the energetical passionarity has nothing to do with the reason for the development of human communities, because we all know perfectly well that our life is led by nothing else like our own consciousness, which certainly present in every person, and – not by an incomprehensible energy-passionarity or the unconscious will of Schopenhauer.
The problem, however, is to understand what consciousness really is, and how it changes itself and changes the entire world motion. In other words, it is necessary to understand what in consciousness is directly the driving force of development, and what is the primary source of development, and, in general, – the primary source of the indispensable activity of any living being.
We note first of all that to give such definition is not easy, as the root essences that constitute the driving force of the development of human societies at any stage, put on itself different masks, which are taken for the initial causes of the development because of the limitation of the human mind and at the same time – its self-conceit.
However, we will look that we know of consciousness under own point of view.
First we will try to find and define the driving force of the development of society, since the source of development is common to man and other living beings and it should be designated as a source of activity, which, in fact, distinguishes living beings from inanimate matter.
Idealists and materialists quite clearly note the basis of being – matter and consciousness, distributing them, nevertheless, in the hierarchy of beingness oppositely.
Be that as it may, all living beings are different from other objects of being by the presence of consciousness in them, which, in fact, makes them alive. This means that, unlike inanimate objects, they acquire new properties that allow them to replicate themselves through reproduction thanks the genetic code available in them; to be merged with the environment through metabolism; thanks to mutations, to be distributed on different types of living organisms, and, at the same time, with greater or less success, to be modified in accordance with changes in the environment, in particular, to become more complex, etc.
However, these beings in the form of flora and fauna have no subjectness. They manifest themselves in the environment only in the form of dynamic components of the environment that do not conscious themselves, although and act to give development to this environment, but act instinctively-reflexively, i.e. their consciousness is limited consumption of sensations, and it does not go beyond the environment, and the development itself is very slow in comparison with conscious actions. Therefore, such initial type of consciousness can be qualified as the lowest consciousness, the only inherent to all living beings, except for the person who has some kind of complement to it.
This restriction in the only of the lowest consciousness in any representative of the flora or fauna is removed in the person whose consciousness acquires a significant complement in the form of awareness of oneself. Thus, one gets the opportunity to become the subject of action: he understands the meaning of his actions, composing projects, correcting them on the move, that is, remaining as part of the environment, he at the same time rises above it, becoming partly its master and even the creator as in various man-made structures, mechanisms, processes, and creations of the spirit, which is reflected in various areas of art and culture.
Such actions change significantly and with accelerate not only the environment, but also the content of the person, increasing his educational and cultural level, that is, allowing him to become gradually in awareness himself all higher and higher. Therefore, this type of consciousness, which is complementary to the lower consciousness, can be qualified as the highest consciousness of the living beings, or self-consciousness, which is inherent only in people.
Thus, in human beings there are two components of consciousness – the lowest, often called unconscious, or subconscious, and the highest consciousness, or self-consciousness. the level of which can differ significantly depending on the degree of development of the person or his communities – take, for example, the person of the Stone Age and the current Nobel laureate, – the level of consciousness and in that and other case significantly other, however self-consciousness is present both here and there, without disappearing anywhere, but the lowest consciousness, which is responsible generally for functioning of an organism (body) to hold it in a live state and to do it by adequate concerning stay of a body in the environment as well as to fix and spread an organism in the environment, remains almost invariable, i.e. does not depend on time.
Both these components (hypostases) exist and act in the body and through the body in an indissoluble connection, but the highest consciousness is incapable to exist without the lowest, as the last is responsible for preservation of the living being in the environment – it is impossible to do without this, and the first – above all – for conscious and design activity of a being as individually, and in the human communities which are in a certain environment, and other natural beings always do without self-consciousness.
It is these deep entities in the form of the lowest consciousness and highest consciousness, hidden and intertwined in every human consciousness, and, consequently, in the public consciousness, with all their antagonism because of the need to solve various problems for the most part contradicting each other, really determine development of human communities at any stage.
For greater clarity, we shall give the definition of the highest and the lowest consciousness, as well as we shall point out the features of their interaction.
There are two irreconcilable creatures in each person.
One of these beings is determined by the lowest consciousness, which is the only inherent in all flora and fauna, except the person; This type of consciousness manifests itself in inseparability with the environment on the basis of sensations.
Beings with this type of consciousness are in the general stream of life, but are not capable "to rise" over it, they do not understand that they live. In this regard they remind in advance programmed mechanisms capable to sense, forming own environment and adapting themselves to it, but deprived of spontaneous or conscious memories, fantasies, notions of time, they have only a genetic memory in the absence of oral or written memory of generations, and are not able to consciously influence the habitat.
These beings do not even know that they will die, but can feel approach of death only instinctively. Similar restriction of consciousness for these beings means impossibility of any purposeful change of the environment even for the most developed their representatives – these beings are completely subordinated to it, though, at the same time, quite reasonably and effectively interact with surrounding from the position coming from their sense organs to the processing information centers of an organism, which for them is not distorted by reflections, the reminiscences and experiences peculiar to human consciousness as a whole.
In this respect, these natural organisms are more perfect than humans, and ignorance of their own essence makes them completely "happy" in existence, despite the fact that in the common natural circulation they only do that they devour each other.
And such "being" necessarily "sits" in every person, and it cannot fail to determine its existence in one way or another, no matter how tried the person to distance himself from it.
Another "being" in the person is represented by the highest consciousness, which separates it from the environment and from fellow tribesmen; it manifests itself in the realization of its own existence, for example, in the form of abstract ideas about the world and about oneself, a return to the past in the form of memories, designing subsequent actions based on consciously selected data from memory, combining them with newly received information, responsibility for the committed, the ability to make any decisions, even the most unprofitable and useless, which in fact is the most vivid manifestation of liberty of consciousness.
On this basis the person tries to set to himself the purposes, to solve various problems and to change thereby by means of the developed representations the surroundings. For example, this being is capable to build to itself the dwelling not according to the standard, but as it is pleasant to it more, thinking out new ways of supply of materials on the course of the construction, changing a palette of walls and a roof, bringing into the extent of his intelligence, these or other innovations, in contrast, for example, from the invariable standards of the anthill.
New projects and ideas develop the mind of a person, his insight, contribute to the most effective manifestation of various abilities during life, lead to the thought of beautifying life, that is, the culture of one's own beingness and beingness of the public.
In the person both these antagonistic in relation to himself and to the surrounding, hypostasis, are merged together. Therefore, they do not manifest themselves separately, but operate in a hidden way, and the degree of their domination depends on the degree of development in a person of the highest consciousness.
And the person himself often cannot predict what in the next moment will become predominant: love or hatred, anger or sympathy, sincerity or hypocrisy, timidity or courage, discretion or recklessness.
The lowest consciousness "feeds" only on the sensations that give it everything, including the harmony of existence, i.e. something acceptable and even pleasant in our understanding in a certain combination of feelings if, of course, to distract from fight of each being for survival. Therefore, it does not wish to lose the sensations at all.
Similar the type of consciousness has natural egocentrism, automatically seeking to survive, no matter what.
In the process of development of the living beings, this type of consciousness undergoes relatively minor changes, since it is not able to withdraw own basic property – an unconscious desire for survival, based on the primordial activity of any living thing.
The highest consciousness which is contained in the person at any level of its development is radical contrast to the lowest consciousness.
In the presence of the highest consciousness in the living being, it begins as though to see the light, becoming not so much "poured" in the environment, how many separated from it, and, so it acquires the opportunity to look at it and on oneself from the outside, to appreciate this ratio in attempts to consciously set to itself goals in mind certain shortcomings in one's own existence, which, in the opinion of this being, could be overcome, and to try to obtain implementation of goals in actions.
All this obviously drops out of an instinctive and reflex sphere of action of the lowest consciousness, and even begins to contradict it as the highest consciousness often neglects utilitarian reasons, chasing something to unattainable, but kind heart and mind.
Being separated in self-consciousness from the environment, this being, in the course of time, in its development in relationship with the beings, which are like him, begins to feel the need for new forms, different from the primitive communal relations of still wild people, completely absorbed in the struggle for survival. In mutual communication this creature reaches such a limit that its various conscious aspirations begin to pour into significant changes in the environment, and not just in its use.
From gathering, a person passes to cattle breeding, growing cereals, other forms of economic activity and the corresponding exchange of the labor products. Inequality, ownership, the struggle for the preservation and augmentation of property, for power and et cetera are arising, that in turn requires establishment of some institutions of order in order to avoid chaos – the local states in the bosom of a growing and improving civilization were being formed.
New forms and institutions, on the one hand, ensure the accelerated development of communities already in a structured form, that is, as the states with the bodies of governance, security, courts, etc., and on the other hand, do not allow to the states to fall apart because of the contradictions, invariably tearing-apart the last.
Despite a certain progress in development of human communities according to development of self-consciousness, the essence of human consciousness which is expressed in dualism, more precisely, in divergent life-aspirations of the lowest and highest form of consciousness does not disappear anywhere, and cannot be substantially modified.
Both these parties of consciousness continuously conflict both in the person, and in the interpersonal relations: discontent with, visible inability to change quickly, the felt limitation of intelligence, abilities, etc.; the envy and hatred to competitors instantly would rip to shreds any human community if not the state with its institutes.