The Charm Of Simplicity
Lviv hosted a very important and representative conference in December, devoted to present-day religious problems in the post- communist world in general and Ukraine in particular. Judging by the number of scholars who came to Lviv from various countries, our religious affairs arouse considerable concern in the international community. Among those who came were well-known serious researchers, authors of thick opuses, and connoisseurs of all the subtleties of religious life in many countries and regions of the world. It is a privilege indeed to rub shoulders with and hear the papers of this kind of people. But we are going now to focus our attention on the way some foreign guests behaved rather than on serious scholarly problems or burning problems. We will concentrate precisely on the guests, although the conference was attended by many researchers from various cities of Ukraine. It was a pleasure to listen to our young scholars who displayed the knowledge of pressing problems, original ideas, systemic thinking, and a decent command of English, the language of the conference.
As it became clear very soon, Western academics greatly differed in appearance from ours whom I have been communicating with for many years since the Soviet times. I can recall, for instance, the way a modest and shy doctoral student strikingly metamorphosed after she defended the dissertation and was awarded a Ph.D. For, in spite of the notorious Soviet-time shortages, there was an unwritten “dress code” for those entitled to an academic degree-related pay increment. As is known, clothes have always played a considerable social, or even sacral, role in our Eastern European lands; moreover, it affected the behavior of the wearer, instilled self-confidence and self-respect in him/her, and could in many instances supersede everything — from erudition to good manners.
When I first saw a small crowd of Western academics, participants in the aforesaid conference, at the entrance to Lviv National University, I could in no way identify them as foreigners or “members of high society.” No chic, not a single fur coat or luxury suitcase. Many of them, both men and women, arrived wearing backpacks, coarse hiking shoes, casual sporting anoraks, and woolly hats. A not so young gentleman came without any headgear at all — not to get frozen, he put his neck scarf on the head the way women usually do. He wandered around Lviv in this outlandish gear throughout the excursion without anybody pointing an accusing finger at him. Naturally, academics are not the richest stratum of Western society. But still... Speaking of wealth, incidentally: many Western academics go abroad at their own expense to attend such conferences; they also make sizable contributions to various international associations that promote democratic renaissance in Eastern Europe.
This simplicity and naturalness was also typical of the manner of communication among the foreign guests and between the latter and the Ukrainians. What kept the participants from being too unceremonious was the English language which, as is known, has dropped the personal pronoun, thou. They addressed one another by the first name, irrespective of the academic degree and age. Nobody even asked permission for this. Whatever one says, I personally like it.
The international conference in question is convened once in two years in different countries. This is why most of the participants know and greet each other as if they were close relatives, i.e., with joyful outcries and even kisses which I once considered the exclusive prerogative of Politburo (may It rest in peace) members. They take special care of the “novices” like me, helping us to relax, become part of the company, and feel at home.
It soon transpired that this company highly appreciated jokes, even not so refined ones. In any case, the joker is cheered up if not with laughter then with a smile. Sometimes, they even resort to games. Take one example. The plenary session was to have been addressed by Dr. Richardson (incidentally, a subtle and authoritative researcher of the problems of societal attitudes toward the newest religious movements in various countries). As he failed to arrive for some reason, his paper was read by a British lady professor. She climbed the rostrum and said, “For me to better assume the role and for you to easier accept the replacement, I...”, and she put... a man’s hat on her thick curly gray hair! The audience burst into laughter and then began to listen attentively to Richardson’s report without paying any attention to the hat.
As almost usual, the conference ended with a modest repast at the hotel restaurant — it was a routine dinner without alcoholic drinks. There were 60 or 70 of us in the room. A foreign lady suddenly rose, asked all not to touch food, and began to go round the tables with a bottle of some whisky in hand. She was pouring a teaspoonful of “hard stuff” into each of the glasses set on the tables. It takes time to go round all the tables and fill all the glasses. But the lady successfully accomplished her voluntary mission and came back to her seat to the cries of gratitude. Then somebody made a speech, somebody else lodged a protest against being made an alcoholic, and we all drank to the next conference.
