Old Abrahamic religious mindsets in new IT companies (part 2)

⟵ Old Abrahamic religious mindsets in new IT companies (part 1)

The musical examples from the previous part (around the issue of a psychological walled garden) were about the basics of the situation in such Asian cultures, they are not specifically about Islam. It is about an awareness of the complexity of the world that seeped from the feminine mindset into the overall culture, making the men aware too about it to some extent.

Islam is about a masculinity that finds valuable this view of the complexity of the world and notices how easier it is to make some sense of the simplified psychological fluidity within such a walled garden when also adding the classical masculine worldview of knowledge as control of the situation. With this approach of seeking the control of the narrative, the original “Land of Mess” beyond the psychological walled garden turns into the Land of War that has to be converted to your beliefs. The same as Christianity, Islam takes over some feminine expertise in dealing with the complexity of the world and treats it according to the classical masculine worldview of knowledge as control of the situation.

This is an expertise in taking in consideration a huge amount of information about the world and in realizing the importance of paying attention to the “software” the people have in their minds. In the specific feminine approach to life assumed by Christianity, the woman leaves to a mythical masculinity the responsibilities in facing the complexity of real life, while she expands the scope of the “software” of that masculinity. In the approach assumed by Islam, the woman is facing herself all that complexity, it is like in this Disconnected advertising for Maersk, in which you do not rely anymore on the established roads of the classical human knowledge and you need to connect yourself the dots in that complexity.

With this realistic view of life, you kind of notice the limits of your expertise and there may be a tendency to develop a psychological walled garden within which you can keep that complexity in some manageable limits. The start of this walled garden appears to be also related to the classical masculine way of making sense of the world, with knowledge as control of the situation, which makes the man end up living mentally in a narrow-minded psychological bubble, as I get into more detail at Perceiving complexity series.

For the classical man, this bubble is not in “walled garden” terms, he is rather clueless or he does not care about what is beyond because he can project control of the situation in everything he notices. He is enjoying the “truth” he is developing in that bubble and he is ready to defend it with his strength. Given the lack of strength, the classical woman is much more conditioned by what is beyond that bubble, thus much more aware of that. Moreover, staying mentally within that psychological bubble while having such awareness prevents her becoming adult according to such an expanded awareness. What for a classical man is full-fledged adulthood with knowledge as control of the situation, for a woman with such expanded awareness turns into childishness. An adulthood would suppose taking in consideration what is beyond that bubble.

In that basic Asian approach, an adult woman may not necessarily seek staying psychologically within such a walled garden, but she may have impulses from an innocent side of her to appreciate such a closed-off space when she does not know how to consider what is going on beyond her psychological clout (like in O’zbegim of the Uzbek singer Kaniza). Or it may be an ongoing relation between an adult side of her and an innocent side of her (like in Apa and Apa 2 of of the Kazakh singer Ruslan Satenov).

To give some other musical examples, Bir Yaralı Kuştum (“I was a wounded bird”, translation in the description of the video) of the Turkish singer Gaye Su Akyol starts with a move back and forth between that inner space where she can think more directly about the situation and the outer world where she thinks in terms of the image she projects. And then she steps out of the car to really walk by herself in the “Land of Mess”. Another take of stepping out of the car into the unknown, in Sevda Yanığı (translation) of the Turkish singer Funda Arar, “I have seen so many, […] if only I could still be a child”. In Aldading of the Uzbek singer Janob Rasul, with him coming out from an inner mental space into a world where he lost the control of the situation, you can see a male take on this awareness that seeped into the broad culture about a larger complexity beyond your bubble.

Some examples of happier coming out of that inner space to bathe in the fluidity of the world (which supposes a perception of the complexity of the world beyond a bubble of knowledge) in Cheshmat (translation) of the (US-based) Iranian singer Mehrnoosh or in Ya Hayati Ana Jambak of the Tunisian singer Latifa (Tunisia is obviously not in Asia, but the singer is immersed in the basics of the mindset I write here about). Also those like Oyge kaytır yullar bar ele of the Tatar singer Aygul Barieva or Teläklärem sezgä of the Tatar singer Albina Karmışeva, seeking to do something about the social issues noticed through that view of the complexity of the world like the tangle of threads around Albina Karmışeva.

Or seeking to work with a psychological organization adequate for the psychological fluidity beyond a classical human bubble of knowledge, like in İstikrarlı Hayal Hakikattir (“Consistent fantasy is reality”, translation in the description of the video) of Gaye Su Akyol, with her in moments when she takes over the existing knowledge as control of the situation and expands it with perceptions beyond its bubble. This psychological fluidity follows a plurality of diachronic threads concomitantly and one can let unfold along the way all kinds of perspectives that really have a vivid diachronic life of their own, yet with some overall coherence (unexpected for a classical masculine mind), like those people happening to ride the bus, with individuals from various Turkish social backgrounds.

An example of an initial masculine take on this expansion of the possibilities of the mind beyond static thinking, in Erkekpin men (“I am a man”) of the Kazakh singer Gazizkhan Şekerbekov, with a side of the man continuing the sense of control of the situation and another side coming out of that inner space as in the feminine mindset and exploring the world. The thing about a side of him remaining in control of the situation is that this feminine mindset does not seem to offer ideas about how to make sense of the world with this larger perspective. It is something that developed on the sideline of the classical masculine control of the situation, without directly assuming overall responsibilities.

Also Gazizkhan Şekerbekov in the more recent Dostarga (“To friends”), with Meyrambek Besbaev, when he starts to realize the serious consequences of the perception of the complexity of the world. Initially, it may feel like in Erkekpin men, wow, this fluid perception is so rewarding, adventurous, satisfying. But it does not take long to realize the complexity such a perspective supposes, when everything starts to feel like a “Land of Mess”. In the case of Dostarga, they have some success to assess the situation with that classical feminine approach of immersing in the possible evolutions of the situation, like in Ayrilamiz of the Uzbek singer Shahzoda.

When this feminine mindset seeps into the broad culture and the men end up thinking from its perspective, some of them may find overwhelming to think in terms of being out of that inner space, venturing into the complexity of the world and deal with the feminine expertise about it. What for a woman feels like a satisfying conquest of the man with a plurality of thought threads overwhelming him in Shou Hal Hala of the Lebanese singer Najwa Karam, for the man it may feel like in Şımarık (translation) of the Turkish singer Tarkan. He ends up running away and, in this specific case, finding refuge in kissing a small girl on the forehead. On the one hand, this is what can make him feel in control of the situation as in the classical masculinity, on the other hand, this is his level of adulthood as revealed by that complex view of the world.

I don’t know what to say specifically about Tarkan, there is a vibe of innocence about him, the pedophiles I saw in real life have a peace of mind of finding an easy way to be in a flat control of the situation, they have a clear mind and make some self-centered sense of the complexity of the world while they swim through its fluidity, like in this Muslim call to prayer. Tarkan does not have this flat control of the situation and he does not appear interested in it. He feels like the opposite of it, himself open to that mental fluidity that a pedophile wants to control in a child.

I also noticed him in Nereye Böyle (translation) of the Turkish singer Nazan Öncel, who was sexually abused in her childhood by her step-father and in this song appears to deal with the issues. Tarkan appears as a sort of an innocent male animus, free of these issues. He appears to her as the kind of man that can open those closed avenues of self-expression blocked by a man who used the small girl to feel good about himself and in control of the situation. Maybe even he gives her the vibe of a victory of that openness and of the innocence in oppressive circumstances.

Also the way he portrays himself in Dudu, that woman feels like his anima, in the way this inner side of the human personality appears more clearly at the Altaic people. She feels more experienced than him in that fluid psychology beyond the classical human bubble of knowledge and he is open to let her unfold. His general expressivity (not only in this video) seems to suggest that he is open to let his anima unfold in relation with real life women more experienced than him, but he may end up in situations in which he feels insecure.

My current impression is that a pedophile satisfaction is very crippling for a man’s psychological connection with the richness of perceptions beyond that classical bubble of knowledge. It is something inhumane not only for the girl, but also for the man. The men that I paid attention to in real life give that vibe of a satisfaction of control of the situation in a contained space that is not so dreadfully complex for them. I am not entirely sure if this is all, I wonder if there can be pedophiles that can stay innocent and connected with the larger complexity of world. Theoretically, as far as I understand the situation, a pedophile could not have such a vibrant anima like in Dudu. There is the possibility to go to “the other side of the Moon” to manipulate the situation so that it serves a self-righteous narrative. I don’t know if such manipulation could still keep a sense of authenticity and vibrancy.

My own perceptions about such issues are around how I notice that adult experienced women can make me feel stressful, as such Asian cultural backgrounds can make the man much more aware of the female psychology (while they may not necessarily offer also enough male expertise for such a psychological expansion). I was noticing how small girls were not making me stressful, but it was like the character Yamcha from Dragon Ball when asked by Puar how comes that he is not stressed out by Chi-chi when they cross ways. He replies that she is just a small girl (in the idea that she is incapable of unfolding that dreadful psychology of an adult woman). And then he just minds his own business since there was no sexual interest to begin with that would trigger his mental blockage when in presence of attractive adult women.

As far as I understand, the pedophile attraction, or at least that kind of attraction that is embedded in the Islamic ethos, offers an easy way to have a fulfilling sexual satisfaction when aware of a mind-blowing feminine psychology like in Shou Hal Hala of Najwa Karam. From a Yamcha type of perspective, while being so drawn to seek satisfaction in femininity and while feeling such moments of satisfaction so abyssal and disruptive for the sense of self, the idea of a pedophile way out of the conundrum feels like a crippling limited controlled satisfaction, there is no satisfaction in that.

There is also the morality of the situation, but, when I see men with pedophile interests and I am wondering what is my take on this, before even reaching the morality aspect, the salient issue is that I don’t see satisfaction in that, what is the purpose of this interest? I have already an image of what is that satisfaction capable of and the pedophile option appears to offer a crippling surrogate. In parallel, there are also thoughts in the area of morality and solidarity with other people, considering that there are cases in which this really happens in real life. These thoughts blend with the wonderment about what satisfaction can be in this.

When getting back after a while to wonder about what satisfaction could be, my impression is that even if I had just a mental relief in small girls with seemingly no further interest, like the psychological path in Şımarık with that end, it would have been too crippling for the level of complexity I am working with when I write such texts, it would have destroyed it and I would not have been able to reach this level of understanding. Such specific mental relaxation would have meant a loss of connection with more profound complexities of the world, I always have a mental abyss in my mind. And when offered palliative ways to avoid it, this abyss feels like the obvious normality in relating to real life (an ongoing fluid diachronic normality, hence rather abyssal for the tools of a classical masculine mind), it has psychological relevance.

Considering how I sense the relieving peace of mind and satisfying psychological fluidity of men with such interests in small girls, I seem to have some idea about how this can turn into a fulfilling satisfaction. But, considering the way I work with the psychological fluidity and the original profound satisfactions with an adult woman and their relevance in relating to the complexity of the world, even before the aspect of morality, this prospect appears so limiting and crippling. Plus the moral aspects of a very real life destruction of other’s childhood and of the personal sense of childhood.

I was wondering about this because I understand the masculine stressful situation from Şımarık, I also noticed how small girls don’t make me feel stressful, but I did not think of such a psychological relief like at the end of the video. And when I think about it after noticing Tarkan’s solution, besides the morality, it appears very crippling for my psychology. As for the men who find this relieving, my impression is that there is a range. Some can just seek some psychological relief, others want sexual satisfaction.

I wonder if Tarkan would advertise it in public if it were more than what appears there. In a rather pudic Turkish cultural context, you can end up thinking around sexual topics without reaching officially with the mind direct thoughts that “this is about sex” and thus not even realize how some other aspects get entangled with the realm of sexuality. Even in a context like that from the video that is after all about sexual tension in relations with women, in a Turkish context that represses a lot of direct thinking about sexuality, the mind can slide into thoughts that do not trigger any official awareness that “this is about sex”.

Also, in the Turkish cultural context, people use to pamper random children and celebrate childhood in general. And probably there would be people selecting only this last interpretation to be applied also in this video and ignore officially anything else from the video, while in parallel thinking also about the sexual aspects of that “anything else”. In this environment, some individuals may slide informally in just a psychological relief like what is visible at the end (which is not an excuse), while others may conveniently unfold full-blown pedophile interest.

Some other aspects pop up in my mind, I notice I can be attracted to women like the one from Apa and Apa 2 of Ruslan Satenov, who have both an overly mature and an overly child-like side of them (I realize that, after all, they kind of mirror my personality). But the child-like sides of each of us are not regimented to provide a controlled way for the adult side to make sense of the world, they continue to have a non-adult life of their own, ultimately they kind of need to grow up. It is not about an interest in using the child-like side to make easier the classical human adult understanding of the world, which probably makes the woman feel like in Nereye Böyle. A child-like side of the woman like in the previous two videos probably is the nightmare of a pedophile. He may be interested in some of that mental fluidity, but in a limited controlled manner.

My take on the initial situation from Shou Hal Hala of Najwa Karam is about facing how I can end up psychologically powerless in gender relations, like in Taram-taram of the Uzbek singer Farruh Komilov. And, like at the end of the video with him noticing instead that doll, I notice how I would like to control the woman to the point she is like a doll. It is about controlling what is so desirable, yet so disrupting at a woman, to the point where what is desirable is no longer so threatening. The question is what are you going to do further on? This is about relating to women in general, the incipient situation, not specifically about pedophilia, as that is just one of the palliative outcomes if you don’t address the situation, which probably requires the creation of some synapses in the brain to find in it sexual satisfaction and then go with it as an easy way.

It is good to see and face this situation, not to fool yourself and end up in all sorts of palliative refuges. In the very fact of facing it there is the unsettling and inquisitive feeling of some aspects that need further investigation, that likely down the road will start opening the mind like for Farruh Komilov two years later, in Mini-mini. You may start understanding rationally the larger view of the complexity of the world, which also reveals you are not adult enough for that. The aforementioned Dragon Ball also appears to be something along these lines, with some other nuances. The adult Yamcha is too stressed by adult women, in time he is increasingly relaxed with Bulma, while the children Son Goku and Chi-chi grow up and take the center stage later on.

These are not situations in which you have a defining classical adult gaze upon the child-like mental fluidity, as that means still having an adult mental structure to rely on. Instead, your overall sense of adulthood is crumbled (like the moment it crumbles down in Mini-mini when they realize better what is going on with them), while you still need to assume adult responsibilities in real life and thus you need to find out what a new adulthood taking in consideration that complexity would look like. You are yourself child-like, you are having too much of it, you simply cannot live like that on long term, you need to find a new sense of adulthood (what I write in Perceiving complexity and other texts are some perceptions of such adulthood still in development).

O’zbegim of Kaniza is an example of an adult gaze upon the child-like mental fluidity. In this case, the child-like side has the reaction to retreat from the complexity of real life, it is not about showing the adult side what is beyond their bubble of classical thinking. In both cases of O’zbegim and Apa 2, the child-like side has a deep awareness of what is beyond, but its reaction depends on the balance with the adult side. If it feels that the adult side loses control of the situation in the complexity of real life, the reaction is to nudge it into staying within the bubble. If it feels that the adult side has control of the situation, which likely means that it is ignoring much of the complexity of the world in order to achieve that, the reaction is to shock it into noticing what is beyond.

In Kaniza’s case, when she feels the nudge to stay within the bubble, her reaction is to also like the mental fluidity of the child-like side of herself. Subsequently, she is kind of exploitative, she wants to have the cake and eat it too. She wants that mental fluidity, but she does not want to deal with the complex view of the world it supposes. She treats the nudge to stay within the bubble as a moment when the child-like side is caught on wrong foot in a moment of weakness. She casts a classical adult gaze upon it that can control such mental fluidity in a bubble of knowledge that was originally tailored specifically for the classical human sense of adulthood.

The concept of childhood rather turns into a regimented caricature to serve the classical human adulthood need for controlled mental fluidity, it is some sort of a mild self-pedophilization (and maybe some degree of real life caricatural interest in small girls as I noticed at some women; but there are also women with full-blown pedophile interest in small girls). It looks mild because it does not seem to have those stifling consequences of pedophilia as expressed in Nereye Böyle. In both cases it feels like freezing the surface of a river with this classical human adult satisfaction of controlling this mental fluidity. But it is impossible to entirely freeze it, below some frozen depth the river partly continues to flow. Nazan Öncel in Nereye Böyle feels like sensing that there is somewhere a mental fluidity, like the light coming from the underground in the video, but she does not know how to reach it, because the focus was too much on the frozen surface.

Kaniza is not so entirely interested in leaning mentally on the mental relaxation given by the regimented frozen surface, she appears to have a range of perceptions. Initially, she likes the mental relaxation of controlling the mental fluidity in an closed-off ecosystem, but then, when she watches the unfoldment of the caricatural childhood on the stage, it feels like she is also drawn to the fluidity below the surface she has previously frozen, she would want to be like that herself, but she can’t find a way for that. If you want that, you are going to eat the cake and then you will not have it anymore, you step into the complex view of the world.

This can turn out like in Apa and Apa 2 of Ruslan Satenov or like in Ayrilamiz of Shahzoda, in which the relationing with the child-like side of herself and of the partner is natural, but you face all those complex perceptions of the world (a commentary of Ayrilamiz in Part 1 of Perceiving complexity). In a case of child-like side apprehension about the larger complexity like in Apa (which has about the same premises as in O’zbegim), the woman simply is not interested in relying on the organizational structure of a classical human adult gaze over this child-like side and she really has to deal with the situation. The specific solution form this video to bribe this side is not good either, but at least the approach is facing frontally that psychological complexity that the child-like side is standing for.

Such a situation of really facing this psychological complexity beyond the classical human organization can also turn into such a valuable and powerful expertise in working with that mental fluidity, like in Ana meen (translation) of Najwa Karam, but probably you need to have some code of conduct to reach that. Initially, Najwa Karam had a rather depersonalized public presence, she was careful to not step into creating a sense of ego from the point of view of the classical human sense of knowledge as control of the situation (I wrote more in detail about how I see her evolution at Some Lebanese female singers facing static mental plateaus).

The particular nuances from this video also mean that lots of responsibilities are left to the man, if he is so eager to be in control of the situation. The message from the song is “Who am I? If they ask me who I am, I tell them I am you, I am from your ribs”. But this “I am you” is likely to find a man who does not have much expertise to deal with such a mental fluidity, and he rather turns into the woman’s puppet. Exactly because he wants to keep the woman as a puppet, he turns himself into the woman’s puppet.

I should add that I do not see as something bad a feminine approach like in Shou Hal Hala of Najwa Karam as long as the woman is really open to face the complexity she is unleashing. Probably such a woman should wonder, am I really open to face the complexity I am unleashing or am I just dumping on the man all the incumbent responsibilities? Probably this would mean for a woman to pay more attention and learn how to be immersed in that psychological fluidity as a world in itself, not just expect the man to provide overall meaning out of nowhere (a straightforward self-restrain would probably mean a reduction in the quality of such expressivity).

See Jean qui rit, Jean qui pleure (translation) of Riff Cohen. This appears to show how a Jewish woman immerses in the psychology of a Jewish man. It feels like going through a desert and, even though after a while she is back in social life, another thread of herself continues walking in that desert, since the man is so utterly aware of the complexity beyond the classical human sense of social life, while he does not know how to make sense of that (and thus it feels like walking in a desert). Plus that girl following her, as the classical human sense of adulthood is not so relevant in such a psychological environment. And, as she keeps exploring, at the end of the video it is revealed the core aspect of this environment, a mental abyss.

Women in general don’t seem to sense what effects has on the man the understanding of what is beyond his bubble of knowledge. For women it is something natural, taken for granted, especially if they lean on men for facing the abyssal diachronic unknown of real life. The next year, Riff Cohen came up with Que du bonheur, which feels like a new approach after her mind was opened to how the man sees the situation. She is much more aware that she has to take that complexity as a world in itself and give some psychological ideas to the man about how to streamline his mind.

In basic terms, the difference between the social life and the desert from Jean qui rit, Jean qui pleure is in similar lines to the issues from O’zbegim of Kaniza. There is much more to notice with your brain beyond the existing human social structure, but how to take it in consideration? The difference from Jean qui rit, Jean qui pleure is that Kaniza does not know how to take in consideration what is beyond the human organization. It is not necessarily to understand it, but at least to take it in consideration, even though it turns into a mental abyss.

Kaniza explores the topics from O’zbegim also in other videos, like the interest in the traditional Uzbek culture in Hotira or in Marvarid, as opened by that child-like side feeling under pressure from the complexity of the world. But, further on, she does not seem to know how to deal with the ongoing fluidity necessary to work with this culture at present tense. She knows about this fluidity, but she does not know how to understand it from the perspective of the classical human organization, she keeps seeing it in rather (involuntary) caricatural, condescending terms, like in O’yna. She appears to have herself moments with a natural expressivity of this fluidity, in situations when push comes to shove, like in Hammasigayam, in which she unleashes herself that mental fluidity with an insider non-caricatural perspective, taking everybody in a psychological whirlwind. But probably she does not know how to consider that and assume it in a responsible manner.

She appears to have a side immersed in the old wisdom from the depths of the mind (reflected in the interest in the accumulated Uzbek culture from the past) and a child-like side, like the woman from Apa and Apa 2 of Ruslan Satenov, but she sees this too much through the classical human synchronic concept of “reality”. Maybe some ideas about how to deal with this situation are in Hayat Şaşırtır! (“Life surprises!”, translation) of the Turkish singer Aydilge. The singer feels like living mentally in a world from a century ago (the side immersed in the old wisdom), then a realization of what this child-like view of the world is about in itself and you are immersed in the authenticity of the present tense, seeing everything with a fresh gaze. I should add that you may not necessarily continue all the time in this state of mind, the huge amount of perceptions may be too much on long term. After all, the singer disappears at the end of the video. But you may have moments of such fluidity when necessary.

As for the side immersed in the old wisdom from the depths of the mind, something like İstanbul Ağlıyor of the Turkish singer Gülay can give ideas about its fluid gist. It is that inner space that appeared to Kaniza as a walled garden in relation to the complexity of the world in O’zbegim (and the small girls praise the Uzbek culture accumulated in the past, when under that stress). However, seeing it as walled garden like in O’zbegim means that its perception is too much conditioned by the classical human concept of “reality”, it is seen too much through its prism.

In fact, it is a world in itself with some unexpected diachronic fluid coherence. İstanbul Ağlıyor can give some ideas about sensing that, the objects there may appear disparate, but they have some unexpected coherence. The emergence of this inner space appears to have been rather as a result of a disconnection from that concept of reality and of processing diachronically in an abyssal manner what is going on in real life.

In the current historical context of lack of human psychological tools to deal with the larger complexity of the world, I see natural a female worldview like in Sevadi yorim mani of the Uzbek singer Ziyoda, who is progressively immersing in the present tense the more the moment of meeting the boyfriend is getting closer (initially a setting from the beginning of the 20th century, then middle of the 20th century, then present tense). Or Jononim mani, which looks like an introspection of this state of mind, what is it about? Initially, with a traditional Uzbek dress, then a retro dress, then she resolves that an atemporal dress expresses best this state of mind.

She is respectful of the abyssal unknown beyond the existing human organization (no vibe of caricatural gaze, it is in terms of Jean qui rit, Jean qui pleure, not of O’zbegim) and she assumes herself some responsibilities about it. She has moments of mental fluidity, like in Sevaman or in Sevib qol when she feels it’s the case and she appears to have some understanding about what effects this mental fluidity has upon a man, like in O’yna-o’yna.

And, regarding children, it is not that they have to go on a rampage as a mark of childhood. It has to be an adult gaze, but the sense of order it provides has to take in consideration the mental abyss, which requires some humanity and strive to think beyond the usual classical human static thinking processes. In such Asian cultures there is ingrained a deep awareness of the fluid mental abyss beyond such static thinking, some of the people kind of feel that they are losing much of that fluidity if they just go with the classical human sense of adulthood. They see the children still with that mental fluidity, they would want that, but they do not feel like giving up the cozy lazy-minded perks of the narrow-minded classical human sense of adulthood. If you want to be an adult with that mental fluidity, you need to accept the abyss beyond the classical bubble of knowledge and see what to do with its complexity. Notice the obsession of the North Korean regime with small children performing in a very controlled environment, as an extreme case (this is not an isolated video, there is a big North Korean trend in this sense).

To give also a positive example, the Tatar singer Äminä Ähmätjanova in Tugan jiremä appears to have been lucky with an adult gaze that has some openness to face the complexity beyond the bubble of knowledge, thus realizing how to let her grow her own perspective and experience while keeping in mind that this is real life and some overall responsibilities are necessary. It is neither a caricatural celebration of childhood as it tends to appear in many Asian cultural products, nor a predatory self-centered use of this mental fluidity.

Not all these Asian adult gazes towards childhood are necessarily seeking to be exploitative when they notice that they want too that fluidity. It can be with a pathos and a vibe that “something is going on with me, probably I need to do something about it, but I don’t know how”, like in this Ellerin Oldu of the Turkish singer Seyhan Güler with that boy bringing her back some psychological fluidity when her mind is getting melancholic and heavy from immersing in those complex perceptions of the world, while not knowing how to streamline them (it still has some vibe of idealizing the boy and not sensing the gist of this mental fluidity). Or the two boys from Eteği Belinde of the Turkish singer Manuş Baba who can keep a natural vibe when everyone else is immersed in the complex feelings of the wedding day.

The adults can seek to take measures to change something, like in Küñel 17dä of the Tatar singer Zäynäb Färhetdinova. She feels authentic, good for her, but but how can she be confident in being natural at her age and not think it in terms of being “like a 17 years old”? How can this grow into a psychological expertise to make this natural and satisfying for the respective age? I should also add that I do not see “natural and satisfying for the respective age” implying segregation between various stages of adulthood, not necessarily each demographic as a world in itself. There can very well be people like Zäynäb Färhetdinova in a disco frequented by youth if it feels natural and/or interesting /challenging in a creative way.

See also Tuganlık jılısı of the Tatar singer Yasmin. She feels authentic, she is herself a producer of this mental fluidity, but how could this plenitude be understood in adult terms? My take on this is what I start to write at Perceiving complexity series, but that is from the perspective of having too much of this child-like mental fluidity, I want to be more mature and this is how things turn out in this quest.

Some of these people want to have that fluidity, others have too much of it and they seek some maturity. Yasmin produces some of this mental fluidity, but she does not really have (or she does not let unfold) a strong child-like side of herself to interfere in her psychology, hence she is noticing children as a fulfillment of this state of mind. The woman from Apa and Apa 2 of Ruslan Satenov has too much of that, she is not so interested in celebrating children per se, she is herself partly like that, at most she would rather want to be more mature. Also the woman from Ayrilamiz of Shahzoda, she is herself like that. When Shahzoda creates videos about children, it is rather from a motherly perspective, like in Chicco.

If you don’t let it unfold, it feels like something important is missing. If you let it unfold, it can feel like having too much of it. You can’t really have the cake and eat it too (unless for underhanded methods). You kind of need to face the psychological complexity opened by this child-like side and see what it going on.

I notice now also a difference between Küñel 17dä of Zäynäb Färhetdinova and Tuganlık jılısı of Yasmin. In the former video, it is rather about people who experience themselves that plenitude, it is not that they are necessarily stuck in a classical adult gaze upon youth, it is only that they do not know how to process it in the existing social terms of their own age. In the latter video, Yasmin appears to feel this plenitude in the terms of a classical adult meaning of being a child, she does not seem to have the concept that she can be herself like that, as in Küñel 17dä. And thus the children appear for her as the natural expressivity and fulfillment. I do not see the initial feeling of plenitude as bad in itself, but you should realize that this child-like feeling is part of the adulthood and it can at least go in a direction like in Küñel 17dä. It is a child-like side of an adult, you are yourself like that, and from this perspective you can unfold and develop a much more interesting and valuable emotional life and also let the children grow with empathy and without the adult infantilizing freezing gaze like in Tuganlık jılısı.

Probably the phenomenon best known in the West at this moment around this issue is the kawaii infantilizing trend in Japan. But there is also (a less prevalent) otona(ppoi) trend of people who are physically mature, but they don’t feel psychologically so mature, and thus they are in a quest for maturity. Some of it appears to be about just “looking mature” though. The previous video Chicco is not so much in kawaii terms, as it was rather about some empathy for the child as it needs to be nurtured in its growth. It is about the child itself, not subsumed to revolve around the adult’s needs for psychological fluidity. O’zbegim of Kaniza has some kawaii nuances, in which a moment of child-like insecurity in relation to the complexity of the world is seen by the adult side as a context when the child-like side is caught on the wrong foot. The adult side exploits the situation to use the child-like side for providing mental fluidity in a simplified walled garden framework, in terms of having the cake and eating it too (by avoiding the larger complexity). Chicco has empathy and senses the gist of childhood, while something like Tuganlık jılısı is a flat idealization serving a narrow-minded classical adulthood (which is the problem in the superficial side of these cultural infantilizing trends in some Asian cultures).

For the people who have a strong child-like side, what I write here does not mean that they should repress it because of this exploitation from some Asian cultures. It is something natural and if they have an internal balance about it, this may mean that they have a deeper understanding of the world beyond the classical human sense of adulthood. I see very normal a public expressivity like that of the Turkish singer Sabahat Akkiraz, at times it is visible that she has a strong child-like side, as in this interpretation of Akıttın Gözümden Yaşı. On other occasions, she has a side with deep emotions and perceptions (after all, this makes possible the flourishing of the child-like side beyond the classical adulthood), like in Değme Felek, something similar to the older side of the woman in Apa 2 of Ruslan Satenov.

It should be made a difference between this expressivity with a sense of authenticity and responsibility and the lazy classical adult gaze upon childhood that does not really seek to pay proper attention to this state of mind, only to subsume it to a self-centered classical adulthood. Not all these Asian cultural products are necessary lazy like in the latter case, but it should be paid some attention to this distinction. This also does not mean that the child-like side is the way to go, on the long term some new sense of adulthood needs to grow. But the first step to that is to take the child-like side properly in consideration (and most likely to realize how inadequate is the classical human concept of adulthood for that, as in Mini-mini).

It looks like I stumbled upon a huge topic, although the main theme should be about Abrahamic mindsets in some IT companies. It started with wondering what is going on with Tarkan and then, from thought to thought, it opened such an unexpected perspective about this topic. Now all kinds of experiences about these cultures come to my mind from this perspective. This is especially prevalent at the Altaic people, where there is some perception that this state of mind is not really adult (which is so much better than thinking you are an adult when in practice you have a strong child-like side; this perception has consequences).

You can find adults who seek among themselves to have that fluid connection that they associate with childhood, like for example in Çocuk (“Child”) of the Turkish singer Neslihan Demirtaş. The lyrics are about losing the connection in terms of childhood. So, in this case it is about child-like aspects between adults.

Something like Seni ko’rdim of the Uzbek singer Shaxriyor is not necessarily so much about knowing the woman from childhood, but more like an effort to grow the authenticity of their child-like sides into adult terms of love (the effort being in continuing that authenticity). Most likely, many viewers connect with the concept of managing the continuation of that authenticity, rather than that of knowing each other from childhood. This is also a good example of what I said previously, the children form the video are not like real-life children, they are rather acting child-like sides of some adults.

Previously, I have noticed some of these cultural aspects, like in Ayrilamiz of Shahzoda (which is an example in which the adult side has some understanding for the child-like side and does not make it unfold in adult terms as in the previous Seni ko’rdim, and thus the psychology is much more valuable). But I didn’t see them from the bigger picture perspective that grew in this text. Lots of things may unfold in front of your eyes, but you may be clueless about them if you did not stumble upon some awareness towards them. People live with all kind of things without noticing the bigger picture.

→ Old Abrahamic religious mindsets in new IT companies (part 3)