Psychological Aspects of Systematization of Forms and Kinds of Faith

Faith, as the key element of the mass psyche, manifests itself in the public mind and the collective unconscious. Systematization of the diverse phenomenology of faith, the distinction of its scope, forms and kinds allows us diagnose its nonadaptive variants and develop the specifi c principles and methods of correction and therapy. Rational understanding of the typology of faith allows developing the techniques of strengthening and consolidation of the inactive and poorly perceived, but productive in its effect faith. Analysis of the psychological literature has shown that the classifi cation of faith in scientifi c papers was performed by S. Arteberna, J. Felton, V. Bondar, T. Yatsenko, O. Pedchenko, A.I Klymyshyn, E. Fromm, J. Pratt, N.V Inina. According to the American scientists S. Artebern and J. Felton, the religious faith is considered to have two forms: "healthy" and "toxic". According to the scientists "a healthy faith", is focused on God, accompanied by self-respect, as well as the desire to develop and become better; it enriches people spiritually, being oriented towards the harmonious interpersonal relationships. "Toxic faith" is associated with pathological religiosity [15]. In a joint research V.I. Bondar, T.S. Yatsenko and O. Pedchenko examining the specifi city of the religious faith, have defi ned the authentic (genuine) and the inauthentic (nongenuine) religious faith. According to the scientists’ opinion the authentic faith assumes the active life position. It determines the purpose and the meaning of life, promotes the development of maturity of the personality through its self-improvement and disclosure of its inner powers. Inauthentic faith is expressed in the false forms of religiosity. It is characterized by the rigidity and formation of the infant position of the personality. It actualizes the feeling of inferiority of a person and brings the feeling of disharmony of the inner world [1]. Within the Christian-oriented approach O.I. Klymyshyn has marked out the following forms of the religious faith: 1) organismic-vital everyday faith which is mostly unconscious; its essence is predetermined by mostly poor human needs; 2) existentially-cultural faith, which is associated with the sensecreation and appears as a state of the inner conscious creation and adoption of images constructs that form a holistic way of life; 3) the ontological one, which is a manifestation of the dialogue between man and God [3]. Erich Fromm distinguished two types of faith: the rational and irrational. Rational faith, according to Erich Fromm, is a deep conviction based on the productive, intellectual and emotional inner activity. This faith is based on the person′s own experience, confi dence in the power of the mind, observation and reasoning. The basis of the rational faith is the productivity. The rational faith is based on the human experience; it is a manifestation of the true inner activity of the personality. Erich Fromm emphasized the link between the rational faith as an idiosyncrasy, and the object a person believes in. In his work Erich Fromm argued that the rational faith is manifested in the faith in the other person, faith in oneself and faith in humanity. According to the scientist, faith in the other person is based on the confi dence in the reliability and constancy of its personality. However, Erich Fromm said that faith in the other person is possible only upon condition that this person has faith in oneself. Belief in oneself is connected with awareness of own existence and the nature of own personality as being unchangeable throughout the entire human life regardless of different circumstances and volatility of thoughts and feelings. This is the same reality, in which the confi dence of a man in his own identifi cation is based. Belief in oneself is connected with responsibility. Only a person, who has faith in himself, is capable to believe in other people, because only such a person can be sure that in future he will be the same as at the current moment, that he will act just as he acts today. The culmination of faith in others is the faith in humanity, manifested in the religion, as well as progressive political and social ideas [12]. At the same time the irrational faith was understood by the scientist as faith in a person, idea or a symbol, based not on their own intellectual or sensitive experience, but on the emotional subordination to a certain irrational authority. Irrational faith is a fanatical belief in something or someone, the essence of which is in the personal or out-personal subordination to the irrational authority [12]. The Russian scientist N.V. Inina classifi ed forms of faith based on the relationship of two criteria, such as awareness and activity. Each form contained different kinds of faith. The fi rst form of faith, in which the relationship between the human consciousness and U.D.C. 159.923:165.43