The book of the St. Petersburg writer, author of many works on the analytics of our time, laureate of the intellectual competition "Idea for Russia," expert of the international association "Russian Culture" tells exactly how the main parameters of the Russian national character were formed. Why Russians are more prone to feat (heroic effort) than to daily measured labor. Why do they neglect formal legality, preferring justice to it. Why the state is a special super-value in the Russian national consciousness and why Russians can live only in a great power. Why did the Russian nation form a strange "empire on the contrary" and what constitutes national universalism characteristic of the Russians. The book also answers an important question: what is a national idea, what are the patterns of its formation and why a national idea is necessary for modern Russia.