Oleg Maltsev (psychologist)
Oleg Viktorovich Maltsev | |
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Born | |
Known for | Founder of the Applied Sciences Association, Head of the Odessa Regional Office of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences |
Oleg Viktorovich Maltsev (born on April 17, 1975 in Odessa, Ukraine) is a member of non-Governmental organization Ukrainian Academy of Sciences,[1] who teaches a variation of the Fate Analysis method developed by Hungarian psychoanalyst Leopold Szondi through his organization called Applied Sciences Association. He is also a teacher of martial arts and has published extensively on European mysticism.[2] Exponents of the anti-cult movement in Russia and Ukraine have criticized his association as a cult.[3]
Biography
Oleg V. Maltsev was born in Odessa, Ukraine, on April 17, 1975, into a Jewish family that moved to Sevastopol in the same year 1975.[4] He prepared for the military career at the school of Moscow Cadet Corps (Russia),[5] where he learned the basic of several martial arts, and had as a mentor Viktor Pavlovič Svetlov (pseud. of Avraam Michelssohn, 1919–1998), whose ideas and techniques of self-improvement had a long-lasting influence on Maltsev.[6] At the same time he studied law, and was admitted to practice as a lawyer first in Russia and then in Ukraine.[7] Svetlov was the heir of a Soviet tradition of the study of memory, and Maltsev developed an interest in psychology, later encountering the theories of Leopold Szondi, which eventually became "one of the pillars" of Maltsev' worldview.[8]
Initially in cooperation with Svetlov, who however died in Moscow in a car accident on April 27, 1998,[9] and then with a small number of disciples, Maltsev established several organizations, particularly after moving back from Sevastopol to his native city of Odessa in 2014, shortly before the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. These include The International Schicksalsanalys [Fate Analysis] Community Research Institute, The Scientific Research Memory Institute, and The Scientific Research Institute of World Martial Arts Traditions Study and Criminalistic Research on Weapon Handling, with the Applied Science Association serving as an umbrella organization for all three institutes, all following the theories of Maltsev, who obtained his PhD in Psychological Sciences at Odessa State University on June 26, 2017.[10]
Maltsev is a prolific author and lecturer, and thousands have attended the lectures and seminars he offers in several countries and online.[11] As of June 2018, an annotated bibliography compiled by scholars associated with the Italian center for the study of new religious movements CESNUR listed 40 books, 23 translation of martial arts and fencing treatises from Italian, Spanish, German, and English, and 38 documentary videos and movies, most of the latter the result of "expeditions" Maltsev organizes to various countries in search of archival and historical materials.[12]
Scientific activity
Oleg Maltsev investigates coping, behavior patterns of people in stressful situations. He defended his Ph.D. thesis on "Coping as a factor of personal security in the contemporary social space" where he examined the way people act in war-time on the example of the war in Donbas.[13][14] The research was carried out by means of a sample of the Ukrainian-speaking population of Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa, and Mariupol. Analyzing the relationship between stress, coping and personal safety, Oleg Maltsev proved that a subjective sense of security helps an individual to overcome the negative attitude towards himself and the world. The sense of security is facilitated by the support of close ones, psychological support, religious and social activities.[15]
The results of these studies were presented in a Ph.D. thesis defense, 2017 "Сoping as a factor of personal security in the contemporary social space" at the I.I. Mechnikov Odessa National University.[14]
One of the activities is to popularize the concept of fate analysis, which was introduced by a Hungarian psychoanalyst Leopold Sondi. Oleg Maltsev founded International Schicksalsanalyse Community Research Institute, where in particular, one of Sondi's books, "I-Analysis" was translated from German for the first time.[16] Fate analysis, cognitive-experimental and genetic-psychological theories, transactional stress theory was used for coping research during the Russo-Ukrainian war.[14][17]
As part of the development of the fate analytical concept, Oleg Maltsev collaborates with the Sondi Institute (Zurich) .[18] The scientific work of Oleg Maltsev was distinguished by the Italian scholar of sociology of religions, Professor Massimo Introvigne, who was interested in Fate analysis as one of the areas of academic science.[19]
In August 2019, Ph.D. in Psychological Sciences Oleg Maltsev together with Doctor of Law Olexander Sainchin and Doctor of Law Alexander Sotula presented a monograph dedicated to the investigation of serial killings.[20] The authors of scientific work are Oleg Maltsev and Alexander Sainchin. Authors hope that their work is a step to the acceptance of a "serial killing" concept at the legislative level, which has not been adopted yet in the legislative system of any country.[21] The monograph consists of three sections. Two of them include a comparative legal study of the criminal law of Ukraine and other countries within the Romano-German line, the theoretical basis of investigations, tactics of tracing and detaining suspects, and the third section is devoted to the description of psychological portrait of serial killers.[22]
Fate Analysis and the Legacy of Szondi
Maltsev's work in the field of psychology follows both the studies of memory by Soviet academics Grigory Semenovich Popov and Alexei Samuilovich Yakovlev[23] and the tradition of Leopold Szondi, which represents a minority trend within psychoanalysis with respect to the majority schools of Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung, both of whom befriended Szondi and held him in high esteem.[24] Szondi's core theory was that, in addition to Freud's individual unconscious and Jung's collective unconscious, a "family unconscious," which represents the presence of our near and remote ancestors in our psychic field, has a crucial importance in determining our choices, i.e. our "fate."[25] When we become aware of our family unconscious, we become able to transcend our "compulsive fate" and operate more freely in making our life's most important choices.[26]
Maltsev teaches an original version of Szondi's system, which is largely focused on analyzing the "blocks" in our memory, where the family unconscious is also at work, and on techniques to explore and interact with the memory blocks, developing our skills.[27] This combines Szondi's Fate Analysis with a doctrine originally developed by Svetlov and known as "pedestal" (pastament), a "science of task implementation" guiding us to select the most effective solutions to problems we encounter in life.[28]
Maltsev also believes that Szondi's Fate Analysis may be usefully applied to a variety of fields, including historical investigation. For example, Italian psychologist Raffaella Di Marzio has analyzed how Maltsev uses Fate Analysis in his documentary movie on Sicilian bandit, Salvatore Giuliano, No Fear No Regret. The movie, according to Di Marzio, "tests Fate Analysis against Salvatore Giuliano" and shows how Szondi's method "may actually help disentangling the real Giuliano from the mythological one." The movie, Di Marzio claims, insists that "the mythological Giuliano exhibits traits that are not compatible with a Sicilian family unconscious and are typically American," and declares the "Sicilian" traits genuine and the "American" ones spurious.[29]
Expeditionary activity
Oleg Maltsev is the founder and head of the Expeditionary Corps. Under his leadership in the course of more than 5 years, 35 expeditions were carried out to different parts of the world, including Mexico, Italy, Spain, Germany, the US among many other countries.[30] Expeditionary Corps dedicates particular consideration to the study of European mysticism.[31][32]
Mysticism
Maltsev's work goes beyond psychology, as he argues that by studying memory we are necessarily confronted with the question of God.[33] In fact, Maltsev claims, there are three different Gods. We are all born with only one representation of God, which is present in our memory as an innate notion of "justice, compassion, and truth," while we create with our imagination a second image of God, an entity "up in the sky" who rewards and punishes, and life teaches us a third notion of a "Ship God," the captain of the ship we call society and a model replicated in innumerable social organizations.[34]
In European history, Maltsev claims, three systems are at work, which he calls Athos, Rhine, and Venetian. The Athos system, named after the Greek Mount Athos monastic center, uses the "sky God" to keep humans in a state of submission and fear. The Rhine systems, which deals with the Ship God, constantly reacts against the Athos system, but both were created by the Venetian system, the only one who knows the existence of the three Gods and deals with the Memory God.[35]
Mysticism was the spirituality of the European ruling classes, also known as "Truth." It is a lost and secret teaching but, Maltsev claims, it can be restored through an initiation process progressing through stages that are part of a Minor Lodge and a Grand Lodge. Some scholars have called this part of Maltsev's system "esoteric," although he believes that esotericism is only a part of mysticism, and perhaps not the most important one.[36] In 2018, the newsletter of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, in reviewing scholarly articles about the issues, reported approvingly that "although Maltsev himself would deny that his teachings are part of 'esotericism,' outside observers may have reasons to conclude that they are included in the larger notion of the 'esoteric paradigm.'"[37]
In Maltsev's system, the Grand Lodge degrees are connected with the interaction between the "request objects," sixty-four mysterious characters who are part of our ancestral unconscious. In the words of Italian scholar Massimo Introvigne, Maltsev teaches that "we can learn the secret names and keys to interact with the 64 request objects in the ancestral unconscious. These request objects are invisible and do not understand human language. However, we can derive significant knowledge about them, learn about access mechanisms to the request objects, and even find their names, by carefully analyzing the books of the Bible's Ancient Testament," as well as certain degrees and rituals of Freemasonry.[38]
Activities of the Odessa regional office of UAN
Oleg Maltsev is a member (academician) of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences since 2019, he was appointed as head of Odessa regional branch of UAN.
On May 28, 2019, there was the opening ceremony of Odessa regional branch of UAN headed by Oleg Maltsev.[39] During the opening ceremony, UAN President Aleksey Onipko presented Oleg Maltsev a mace as a sign of respect and authority over the world of new scientific discoveries of the Southern region, which he entrusted to the head of the Odessa branch of the UAN.[40]
During Oleg Maltsev's activity at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, on his initiative together with the support of partners from Germany, they organized an independent grant system for young scientists. The first grantee was Vitaliy Lunev, who received a grant to take part in the scientific expedition to Mexico.[41]
Under the patronage of UAN, Odessa Photographic Society was revived. Oleg Maltsev was elected as chairman of the Society. It consists of 20 members from Ukraine and other countries. The first meeting of the revived scientific Odessa Photographic Society took place on August 29, 2019.[42]
Also, within the framework of the educational activities of the Odessa regional office of UAN, Oleg Maltsev conducts seminars and roundtables, which examine relevant issues.[43] For instance, the first seminar was devoted to information security and the next one to environmental problems in southern Ukraine.[44]
Martial Arts and Criminal Traditions
Maltsev believes that a number of truths about European mysticism are conserved in the world's criminal traditions, including the Sicilian Mafia: when a certain knowledge was lost in mainstream society, parts of it survived in criminal societies.[45] The mysticism of European chivalry was also expressed in techniques of weapon handling, fencing, and martial arts, which, according to Maltsev, have a deep spiritual component.[46] Maltsev has devoted considerable time to exploring both the criminal traditions of several countries and ancient treatises of fencing and weapon handling, translating a number of classics, particularly Spanish and Italian, into Russian.[47]
Illustrative of Maltsev's work in this field is its exploration of The Numbers Gang and other South African criminal organizations, focusing both on their weapon handling techniques and their "religious-philosopical worldview" based on the divinization of Mzuzephi Mathebula, known as Nongoloza, the founder of the Umkosi Wezintaba movement that present-day gangs regard as their ancestor.[48] A summary of Maltsev's work on South African gangs was published in the Russian edition of the National Geographic in 2018.[49] Maltsev has devoted similar studies to Russian criminal organizations, the so called Russian mafia (a label he regards as inaccurate), concluding that it is "a criminal system that had been forming in the course of 11 historical periods," and that "tradition" describes this milieu, which has its own language, folklore, rituals, and even "unified religious beliefs of an unconventional nature," better than the commonly used expression "subculture."[50] In addition to the Mafia in Sicily, Maltsev has also explored its counterpart in Calabria, the 'Ndrangheta, emphasizing that the Calabrian criminal subculture is different from the Sicilian, and claiming that both its "culture" and weapon handling techniques were influenced by German and Spanish chivalry and even by the spirituality of the Franciscans.[51]
In the field of martial arts, Maltsev, as reported in an article in the Russian edition of National Geographic, is mostly known for his study and teaching of the Spanish tradition of fencing knowns as Destreza, in both its Spanish and Sicilian incarnations, and the translation into Russian of works of Spanish fencing luminaries such as Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza and Luis Pacheco de Narváez.[52] In 2018, he offered a course in Neapolitan fencing and weapon handling in Palermo, Sicily, a city that was once an important center of these techniques.[53]
Maltsev maintains that, through various channels, the psychological and mystical principles governing traditional fencing were inherited by certain techniques of modern boxing, as evidenced by the activities of legendary American coach Cus D'Amato, the manager of Mike Tyson, to whom Maltsev devoted two books Non-compromised Pendulum and Lighting rod that strikes faster than lightning itself and three documentary movies.[54]
Controversies
As Italian sociologist PierLuigi Zoccatelli noted, "Martial arts and the teaching of weapon handling techniques are highly competitive fields, and competitors have tried to use the accusation that Maltsev operates a 'cult' in order to warn students from enrolling in his courses. Interminable quarrels about his credentials in the field of weapon handling followed, with some accusing him of being a parvenu without a credible pedigree, while luminaries in the field such as Jon Rister endorsed Maltsev and even co-authored books with him."[55] Lloyd De Jongh, an expert of South African criminal traditions,[56] also co-authored a book with Maltsev.[57]
In fact, competitors in the field of martial arts used criticism against Maltsev as a "cult leader" that was developed by exponents of the anti-cult movement in Ukraine and Russia since 2012.[58] According to the reconstruction of Willy Fautré, director of the NGO Human Rights Without Frontiers, the "discontent of a lady in Odessa called Maria Kapar about the content of Maltsev's classes that she attended in the Applied Sciences Association" led her to contact the Russian affiliate organization of the European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism (FECRIS), led by Russian anti-cult activist Alexander Dvorkin. The anti-cultists in turn contacted Ukrainian media, and a campaign was launched criticizing Maltsev as the leader of a "dangerous cult," using brainwashing to control his followers. The controversy reached its climax in 2015–2016 and declined thereafter, due to the effective resistance by Maltsev and his lawyers – Maltsev is himself a partner in the Redut law firm, which is part of the Applied Science Association network.[59]
Notes
- ^ Андрей, Выгодский (24 November 2018). "Учёный из Одессы стал академиком УАН". Общественный прибой (in Russian). Retrieved 15 December 2018.
- ^ Introvigne (2018a).
- ^ Fautré (2016); Fautré (2018).
- ^ Introvigne (2018b), p. 14.
- ^ Zoccatelli (2018), p. 4,
- ^ Introvigne (2018b), p. 17.
- ^ Zoccatelli (2018), p. 4.
- ^ Di Marzio (2018), p. 40.
- ^ Introvigne (2018a).
- ^ Introvigne (2018b), pp. 15-16.
- ^ Introvigne (2018a).
- ^ CESNUR (2018).
- ^ Мальцев, О. В. (2015). "Концепція емпіричного вивчення копінгу як чинника суб'єктивної безпеки особистості в сучасному соціальному просторі". Освіта та розвиток обдарованої особистості. p. 9. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ a b c "К41.051.07 психологічні науки". onu.edu.ua. December 12, 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
- ^ OV Maltsev (2016). "PREVIOUS TESTING OF THE SCALE OF SOCIAL COPING RESOURCES TO UKRAINIAN SAMPLE". farplss.org. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
- ^ "«Я-Анализ» Леопольда Сонди. Перевод и разбор книги - Твоя Судьба". your-fate.com. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ Maltsev, O. V. (2016). "Previous testing of the scale of social coping resources to Ukrainian sample". Fundamental and applied researches in practice of leading scientific schools. 14(2): 79–89. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Историческое событие в науке. Одесские ученые в Цюрихе(Швейцария) в Szondi-Institut". ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫЙ ПРИБОЙ (in Russian). 26 October 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Почему профессор Интровинье согласился приехать в Одессу?". ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫЙ ПРИБОЙ (in Russian). 15 November 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "В Україні видадуть книгу про умисних і серійних убивць". Інтерфакс-Україна (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "В Украине издадут монографию о серийных убийцах". LB.ua. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Теоретические основы расследования умышленных убийств: уголовно-правовые, криминалистические и психологические аспекты. Психологический портрет серийного убийцы". Интерфакс-Украина (in Russian). Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ Introvigne (2018b), pp. 18-19.
- ^ Hughes (1992).
- ^ Szondi (1953).
- ^ Szondi (1953), pp. 15-34.
- ^ Introvigne (2018b), pp. 18-19.
- ^ Introvigne (2018a).
- ^ Di Marzio (2018), p. 41.
- ^ Тарусова, Дарья (6 September 2019). "Украинские ученые штурмуют Флоренцию". Гранит Науки (in Russian). Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Украинский учёный Олег Мальцев про научные аспекты Европейского Мистицизма". tureligious.com.ua.
- ^ "Наследие Европейского Мистицизма – Правдань. Игра, которая правит миром". tureligious.com.ua. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ Maltsev (2015); Maltsev (2016).
- ^ Maltsev (2015); Introvigne (2018b), pp. 22-23.
- ^ Maltsev (2016); for an analysis, see Introvigne (2018b), pp. 24-26.
- ^ Zoccatelli (2018), pp. 10-11.
- ^ European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (2018), 3.
- ^ Introvigne (2018b), p. 32.
- ^ "Відкриття нового офісу Одеського регіонального відділення Української академії наук (УАН)". UAN. May 30, 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Открытие Одесского отделения Украинской Академии Наук". ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫЙ ПРИБОЙ (in Russian). 28 May 2019.
- ^ "Европейские гранты для молодых украинских ученых". Телеграф (in Russian).
- ^ Тарусова, Дарья (29 August 2019). "Наука и фотография. Возрождение старейшего Одесского фотографического общества". Гранит Науки (in Russian). Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Мальцев Олег Вікторович". Вікіпедія (in Ukrainian). 12 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "В Одесском отделении УАН состоялся круглый стол, посвященный экологическим проблемам Южного региона Украины". ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫЙ ПРИБОЙ (in Russian). 31 August 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ Zoccatelli (2018), p. 5.
- ^ Zoccatelli (2018), p. 5.
- ^ CESNUR (2018), pp. 87-97.
- ^ Pechersky (2018).
- ^ Maltsev (2018).
- ^ Engelmann (2018).
- ^ La Voce di New York (2018).
- ^ National Geographic Russia (2018).
- ^ Bonfardino (2018).
- ^ See CESNUR (2018), pp. 85 and 107-108. For reviews of the books by specialized boxing websites, see World Boxing News (2017a), World Boxing News (2017b), World Boxing News (2017c), World Boxing News (2018), Asociación Española de Boxeo (2017), Doran (2018). For a review in the sports page of a Ukrainian daily, see Telegraf (2018).
- ^ Zoccatelli (2018), p. 5; see Maltsev and Rister (2017).
- ^ See e.g. De Jongh (2017).
- ^ CESNUR (2018), p. 75.
- ^ Fautré (2016).
- ^ Fautré (2018), pp. 59-62.
References
- Asociación Española de Boxeo (2017). “La Autoridad Criminal de Cus D´Amato, El Libro ’Parar el Rayo con el Pararrayos.’”. December 13.
- Bonfardino, Rosaura (2018). "Sciabole da ogni parte del mondo a Palermo, la scherma napoletana torna alle origini: 'Venite a conoscerla'". Palermo Today, June 27.
- CESNUR (2018). "Applied Sciences Association: An Annotated Bibliography and Filmography of Primary Sources." The Journal of CESNUR, 2,3(2018):66-114. ISSN 2532-2990. doi:10.26338/tjoc.2018.2.3.5.
- De Jongh, Lloyd (2017). "The Reality Of Edged Weapon Attacks". Fighting Arts, 2017.
- Di Marzio, Raffaella (2018). "No Fear No Regret: Oleg Maltsev and the Mythical History of Salvatore Giuliano." The Journal of CESNUR, 2,3(2018):36-53. ISSN 2532-2990. doi:10.26338/tjoc.2018.2.3.3.
- Doran, Niall (2018). "The World's First Book About Cus D’Amato's System." Boxing News and Views, September 2018.
- Engelmann, Sergej (2018). "Russian Mafia: Criminal Subculture or Criminal Tradition?". VNY – La Voce di New York, April 16.
- European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (2018). ESSWE Newsletter 9(1), Summer 2018.
- Fautré, Willy (2016). "Followers of Jewish Psychiatrist Leopold Szondi Accused by FECRIS Vice-President Alexander Dvorkin of Belonging to a ‘Cult.’"Human Rights Without Frontiers, September 5.
- Fautré, Willy (2019). "Anti-Cult Wars in Europe: FECRIS, Alexander Dvorkin and Others. The Case of the Applied Sciences Association in Odessa." The Journal of CESNUR, 2,3(2018):54-65. ISSN 2532-2990. doi:10.26338/tjoc.2018.2.3.4.
- Introvigne, Massimo (2018a). "Applied Sciences Association". World Religions and Spirituality Project (Virginia Commonwealth University), May 19.
- Introvigne, Massimo (2018b). "In Search of Mysticism: Oleg Maltsev and the Applied Sciences Association." The Journal of CESNUR, 2,3(2018):14-35. ISSN 2532-2990. doi:10.26338/tjoc.2018.2.3.2.
- Hughes, Richard A. (1992). Return of the Ancestor. Bern: Peter Lang. ISBN 0820417904
- La Voce di New York (2018). "Visiting Calabria: Do All Democracies Have a Mafia?". VNY – La Voce di New York, April 3.
- Maltsev, Oleg (2015). Корабельный Бог (Ship God). Odessa: International Schicksalsanalyse Community Research Institute.
- Maltsev, Oleg (2016). "TRUTH": The Game That Rules the Word. Odessa: The Memory Institute.
- Maltsev, Oleg (2018). "Люди-звери." National Geographic (Russian edition), August 31.
- Maltsev, Oleg, and Jon Rister (2017). Eternal Pain: Mexican Criminal Tradition. Odessa: Scientific Institute of World Martial Art Traditions Study and Criminalistic Research of Weapon Handling.
- National Geographic Russia (2018). "Дестреза: история испанского фехтования как науки и искусства" (Destreza: The History of Spanish Fencing as Science and Art)". National Geographic (Russian edition), May 28.
- Pechersky, Volodymyr (2018). "Гангстери Кейптауна" (Cape Town Gangsters)" Tyzhden, July 29.
- Szondi, Leopold (1953). Mensch und Schicksal. Elemente einer dialektischen Schiksalswissenschaft (Anankologie). (Wissenschaft und Weltbild 7). Vienna: Verlag Harold.
- Telegraf (2018). "О системе бокса легендарного тренера Майка Тайсона Каса Д'Амато вышла книга". Telegraf, September 4.
- World Boxing News (2017a).“Online marathon dedicated to memory of legendary trainer Cus D’Amato.” World Boxing News, November 1.
- World Boxing News (2017b). "Spanish roots of Cus D'Amato's style explored for new book." World Boxing News, December 13.
- World Boxing News (2017c). “Exclusive: History of Cus D'Amato - Broadcast from Genoa, Italy.” World Boxing News, December 17.
- World Boxing News (2018). “Non-compromised Pendulum: Cus D'Amato book breaking down coaching system released in English.” World Boxing News, September 3.
- Zoccatelli, PierLuigi (2018). "Introduction: Mysticism, the Esoteric Paradigm, and Oleg Maltsev." The Journal of CESNUR, 2,3(2018):3-13. ISSN 2532-2990. doi:10.26338/tjoc.2018.2.3.1.