The mindset of the populations of Siberian origin (part 13)

Part of the series Perceiving complexity

⟵ The mindset of the populations of Siberian origin (part 12)

In the previous part I wrote about how nature can be a valuable organizational environment to support the fluid diachronic psychology. It is like in Habeit Ya Leil of the Lebanese singer Nawal El Zoghbi, but not relying as in this video on the classical masculine organization, it has a huge unfoldment of its own. The initial reaction can be to just use it as such, but after a while the accumulated experience shows how the classical human psychological organization is not something to be taken for granted by default.

It is not as simple as opening the mind of the men to a huge unfoldment like in nature and that’s it. If you do this, you still rely on the classical human type of ecosystems of meaning. And it is further revealed much more clearly how such ecosystems are supported with the power to suspend the belief in them while tweaking them to preserve their appearance of static synchronic coherence in contact with real life. If you rely on the meanings created by such ecosystems with the mind following diachronic unfoldments without suspending the belief when necessary, you may be likely to feel every tiny diachronic difference from other people threatening the entire edifice of meaning. And some other way to sustain meaning does not appear so readily.

For a man, if he continues to suspend his belief in the ecosystem and work with it with an external gaze while immersed in the diachronic psychology, it is not so much about ending up in spirals of retorts or dictatorial behavior. But, as he is paying attention to all kind of unexpected angles popping up in the mind like in Aerılmagız of the Tatar singer Leyna after a plateau like in her Malay na belom Barse and he is following all kind of diachronic perspectives like in Ayrilamiz of the Uzbek singer Shahzoda (not necessarily with the apprehensive nuances about the unknown from these videos, it can be neutral and positive as well), he is likely to end up with a mind like an operating system full of bloatware, functioning slower, and slower, and slower, like in Kusa of the Kyrgyz singer Guljigit Satıbekov. And he wants himself to go in the nature, like the man in this video. This is in order to get that plurality of threads in the “cinema seat” like in Habeit Ya Leil, which is necessary for refreshment. The ebru type of thinking with a single thread in the “cinema seat”, like in Sargardoringman of the Uzbek singer Umidaxon or in Yar Ali Senden Medet of the Turkish singer Yıldız Tilbe is valuable, as it can work to some extent with the notions of the classical human thinking while using the diachronic fluidity. But from time to time you need refreshment of the perspective, with a plurality of threads in the “cinema seat”.

A problem in this sense is that many of the women who use the ebru thinking usually do not assume themselves responsibilities about social organization, while they expect the men to continue to provide coherence. They may be under impression that this ebru thinking simply can work as such. Hence you see men like the Kazakh singer Serikbol Saylawbek in Eñ sulu, parading the ownership of a decrepit car to the woman he is courting, in the idea to make her understand that her wish for a fluid life under the umbrella of his organization cannot be fulfilled so easily. The video is not at all shy of showing the drudgery in the repetitive life of the woman, the man’s point of view is something like “yes, I understand and acknowledge your situation, but your push for an outright solution is not the right way”.

In Men auıldıñ balasımın, you can see Serikbol portraying himself as a successful man with an expensive car, as there is no pressure from women to sustain coherence with an ebru fluid thinking. He senses when things start to get stale, full of bloatware in his mind and he proposes to the other two men to go for a while to the countryside (which has the same refreshing value as the nature). They refresh themselves so much that at the end three boys enter in the car and ride it away (in the idea that they became mentally fresh like a boy).

Another example of this kind, Qızdar-ay qızdar of the Kazakh singer Amanğali. It starts with the singer cool and smirking, as he can suspend the belief in the ecosystem of meaning, while the woman is too caught in it and she probably expects coherence support from him. He abandons her for a trip to the countryside, where he finds another woman. This is too self-centered and unrealistic in his impression that the other kind of woman would be quiet and less assertive. The same about his smugness towards the initial woman. He does not understand himself some things (videos like the previous Eñ sulu or Ay-hay karaşların of the Tatar singer Guzelem are more understanding, which is good not only for the woman, but also for the man himself). But I could not find other example that shows so well how it is like the mental passage to the other thinking when immersed in nature, when the city side of him has a psychological opening about what is with the countryside side of him.

To give also an example of a city guy who has a better understanding of the situation while immersing in the refreshing atmosphere of the countryside, see Ätteñ-ätteñ of the Kazakh singer Nurjan Kermenbaev. The possibility to suspend the belief in the ecosystem goes in this environment rather towards contemplating masculinity, like the way he is tinkering with that tractor. I still sense in this case that it is good for a man to experience how it is like to melt down the classical masculine organization until you remain only with the driving wheel out that classical masculine psychological machinery, like in Oşko of the Kyrgyz singers Totomidin and Surma. Not necessarily with this controlling attitude towards the woman, this is what I am writing about in this series after all (including about responsibilities in facing real life).

Nurjan Kermenbaev appears to have some blockages around reaching such fluidity as a result of women who became too narrow-minded from the impression of having a better understanding of real life and a better resolution in facing it, like in Jalğız-aq bile. Even though the video is about a success in this sense, it still feels like there is a mental blockage in that kind of narrow-minded abyssal female gaze, he is revolving around it, he can’t find his own take on that fluidity. It should not revolve around such women, it should not be “against the system”, but a personal unfoldment, natural like in the previous Men auıldıñ balasımın.

It is not about avoiding that female gaze, it is good to face the situation like in Jalğız-aq bile. Probably it would also be necessary to have some understanding about what is causing this female stance (in order to not just feel a mental abyss you don’t know where and how to start) and see what to do with the situation. In this manner, you can afford to see how decrepit can be the classical masculine organization when the women expect simplistic coherence as usually, like in the previous Eñ sulu. Many times, they rely more than men on that simplistic organization. As they do not experience themselves how it really works, they may end up seeking to uphold the men responsible for its functioning, as though it should function well by itself, but the men are using it badly.

Bas äle of the Tatar singer Guzelem is an example of a music video about this tension between facing seriously and resolutely real life and the staleness it can create if the woman ends up too invested in the ecosystem of meaning. In this case, Salavat’s mother, who is about facing resolutely real life, is pushing the son to do something and keep some stability and coherence. She is not so invested in an ecosystem of meaning and this push can go for the man in the direction of immersing himself in that fluidity while paying attention to the overall stability. There is still a problem in the way Guzelem frames her initiative as “against the system”, it should be as a direct focus on that unknown. She is relying herself on that simplistic organization when she is against it, that is the framework that provides overall meaning.

In Baram, baram of Salavat Minnikhanov, you can see how she is expecting herself at times for that resolute organization to simply work with that kind of simplistic coherence. Salavat has already experience about how it is to face the abyss of real life while relying on that simplistic coherence. He is immersing in the fluidity as a direct focus on the unknown and it turns into one of those Altaic music videos about going through life and experiencing fluidly the unknown.

At the beginning, the sight of that good quality car gives him a great feeling, but then it is revealed that it is not his own. His own is behind it, a decrepit one. How relieving it can be for a man to not depend on the woman’s good will for his own self esteem and well being (plus the increased well being from being immersed in more profound perceptions about real life). That decrepit car is about making a point, you can see in his vlogs how he has a good quality car in real life.

Such increased masculine perceptions about what is going on beyond the narrow field of classical masculinity can show much more realistically what happens when the man is focused on the classical masculine sense of control of the situation. What may look like a man feeling like the center of the world and in control of the situation, in practice can be like in Taram-taram of the Uzbek singer Farruh Komilov.

See also some music videos like Qiyal qız of the Kazakh singer Ahan Otınşiev or Og’alari bor shuni of the Uzbek singer Begzod Ismoilov, with Altaic masculine wonderment around the classical expectations of masculinity. The seriousness in facing the complexity of real life remains valid and new approaches need to be figured out, as much of the classical expectations of masculinity look ridiculous. Maybe you are already familiar with the vibe from these videos from better known Korean and Japanese contemporary cultural products.

These two Central Asian videos are also about reverberations of Middle Eastern masculinity that is supposed to show every time the classical masculine control of the situation. Something like Taram-taram is how it feels like when going along with this expectation while the woman has the background control, which explains the otherwise mind-boggling Middle Eastern self-assured haughtiness mixed with countless conspiracy theories about how the others control them and do whatever they want with them.

Some Turkish music acts like bringing to surface the bottled-up difficulties of the Middle Eastern masculinity, like in Yeter of Ferdi Tayfur. In Aramızda engeller var of the same singer, the man is refusing the woman’s help, as he does not feel it addressing the mental abyss he is experiencing. The woman acts as though the classical masculinity has a core that works with the diachronic psychology. When the woman stops not knowing what to do further on, but still blocked by the lack of fulfillment in the relation with him, he feels her too like experiencing that mental abyss, thus having a common wavelength and, as he does not feel bound anymore by the expected male competence from the woman, he feels free to let himself plunge into that abyss.

To remind of other nuances around the possibility to end up in a tension between facing resolutely real life and the staleness that can be created with a too narrow-minded approach of this kind, I mentioned in the previous part situations with women upholding a resolute stance in facing real life that do not necessarily end up like in Jalğız-aq bile. Sometimes the woman may inadvertently still have a vibrant fluid side of herself while focused on seriousness of real life and this can rather translate for the man under her organizational umbrella into a never-ending chase of hedonistic satisfactions, like in Oppoq aka of the Uzbek singer Asilbek Amanulloh (and the man himself may be under impression of stumbling upon a very good quality car out of nowhere, like in Amaney of the same Asilbek Amanulloh).

Or the woman herself can continue the cultivation of the satisfying fluidity while paying attention to the seriousness of real life, like for example the Tatar singer Irkä Gaynemhametova in Milyaşkaem monsulanma (“Don’t be silly”, notice also that Altaic feminine stance that does not see the men so strong by default) and in Tala-tala. In this case, it still depends how things would unfold in a relation, if she realizes that the ecosystem of meaning is like a decrepit car or she is under impression that there is a core of the ecosystem that works, only that men apply it badly (and it also depends on the man to put some effort around these topics).

The Hungarians, Tatars, Russians and other populations from the Volga-Ural area or originally from there tend to have a better perception of the distinction between the organizational possibilities given by the nature and those given by the classical human organization. It is about working also with the suminagashi type of thinking, which uses a plurality of threads in the “cinema seat” (like in Habeit Ya Leil of Nawal El Zoghbi, but with some nuances different from the Middle Eastern ones). It appears to come from the Finno-Ugric influence and it appears to be something related originally to the Volga-Ural area as a combination of ebru and suminagashi. The Hungarians use suminagashi in the first place and ebru in the second place, the Tatars and Russians use ebru in the first place and suminagashi in the second place.

The Tatar nuances can be like in Ezledem-tabalmadım (“I am looking for you, I can’t find you”) of Damira Saetova, with lyrics like “I am looking for you in the plains, you are looking for me in the city”, making the distinction between the world of nature and the world of city (the latter as the classical human simplistic organization). The two pairs of women and men around the singers are the anima and animus. In Bul, eyde, minem hatın of Ayrat Imaşev, the man is realizing himself the distinction. A while after noticing the real life woman, he is realizing how he is creating a film in his mind and he is noticing so directly the anima in the background. Then his anima is helping him to create an atmosphere to connect with the real life woman.

This Güzel Qırım by a group of Crimean Tatar singers starts with an immersion in how the past before deportation is growing through the imagination of their ecosystem of meaning (which is kept at an innocent level). Then it comes a time when they sense they need to pay attention to the real life, the wind is taking the veil off the woman’s shoulders. The vibe of the video is about having some understanding about how things are processed in such an ecosystem and see what to do from now on in relation to real life. It can give ideas to those who became too invested in an ecosystem of meaning, it is not so much about fighting it and entering in an “against the system” loop (in which you still rely on the organization of the ecosystem, even though you are officially against it), but more about how you should have some understanding for the overall situation.

There is the situation when you are on the sideline of the classical masculine organization and you notice so many possibilities to do things better and more fulfilling for everybody, like in Oyge kaytır yullar bar ele of Aygul Barieva. But when you are really thinking by yourself what can be done to improve the situation in general, it starts to feel like the entanglement of threads around Albina Karmışeva in Teläklärem sezgä (for a woman, this supposes really thinking by herself about this, not just having the better perceptions on the sideline around the existing organization and the impression that there is a core in the classical masculine organization that can work with them).

This diachronic thinking can open the mind to all kinds of unexpected nuances around the existing organization, but, when you are using it directly to face real life and follow its ramifications, it turns into such a deep complexity. Here is where the mind has some understanding for other parts of the mind that simply go along with the classical masculine stereotypical organization, turning something like Oyge kaytır yullar bar ele into something like Tatarin of Rinat Safin. You realize that at this moment in human history there are not so many psychological tools to work directly with the diachronic psychology. They need to honed, investigated by seeing how to relate the stereotypical organization with the larger immersion in diachronicity, like the relation between the first part and the second part of Güzel Qırım.

The Russian nuances can be like in Oy, Dusya, oy, Marusya of Otava Yo. The men notice through the binoculars another version of themselves in nature, in the distance. All the band appears in white undergarments and they proceed to travel and find that other version. They discover old cultural nuances, the women discover an abyssal tough version of themselves. They go in different directions as the plurality of threads in the “cinema seat” and the door is opening. The initial image is probably inspired by this photo of Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky.

The men can jump with their minds by leaps and bounds in this environment. These psychological possibilities are kind of perceived in contrast to the simplistic organization, as better than that, not so much as a world in itself, given the European veneer (which is not a given, probably there can be deeper perceptions, if they pay further attention). Such nuances as better than the simplistic organization can also increase the bovaryst tendencies that I mentioned before, like in Ty takoy (translation) of Doni and Natali or in Küme Düşersin of the Turkish singer Oğuz Yılmaz. To achieve something of substance you may need to see what is the wisdom around them.

The novel Anna Karenina of Leo Tolstoy is another example of this kind, with the study of the world of the city and the world of nature. He largely manages to have an immersed unfoldment about how things are, but he still draws some simplistic conclusions that the world of nature is better. They were simplistic because they were “against the system”, they were still revolving around the organization provided by the world of the city.

Paradoxically, with such simplistic conclusions you still stay mentally in the world of the city, like the path from Taatta to Çeeke and Toñnuñ daa of the Yakut singer Künney. Only that he treats this understanding in classical masculine manner as control of the situation, not like a woman who is relying on the coherence provided by a man while immersed herself in nature, as in Künney’s case.

This is going to haunt him later on, with all kind of unexpected angles coming after such a simple plateau and decimating his beliefs, like Aerılmagız of the Tatar singer Leyna coming after Malay na belom Barse (Leyna does not enter too much in a decimation situation, it is more about to see what to do with such perceptions, as she did not have such a strong investment in the coherence of the ecosystem of meaning in the first place). If some things are not clear, I will get into more detail later on about how I see Tolstoy’s evolution in time.

About the Hungarians, there is a feeling of plenitude with some unexpected coherence in itself and some level of organizational strength in nature, like in Szerelem of Rúzsa Magdolna. This permits to fluidize the world of the city without entering in an “against the system” spiral. Conversely, when you are mentally in the world of the city, you can find the way to the world of the nature without entering in an “against the system” reliance on the former, like in Erdő, erdő of Holdviola. There is still a difference from the previous direction, in this case a small girl appears when finding the way to nature. The mind keeps the framework of the world of the city as an organizational prop, but with the deeper psychology of the world of nature. Paradoxically, the awareness of the deeper psychology keeps you mentally like a child when you have that framework, if you don’t want to enter in the simplistic classical human adulthood based on the world of the city (while you still need to have some practical adult relation with real life).

The Japanese use too the same as the Hungarians suminagashi in the first place and ebru in the second place, only that in their case they tend to keep some more control over the suminagashi unfoldment. They like the unevenness of nature, but many practical uses can be controlled with a kind of an “ikebana thinking”, not really raw nature.

The Alevi Turks also reached an angle of some better understanding of the difference between the world of city and the world of nature. They were defeated by the Ottomans, persecuted and they could not fulfill their own organizational intentions. Additionally, the Middle Eastern context is very fragile about feminine manifestation and the Alevis feel like hitting a social wall when including also the feminine perspective, like in Kirvem of Arzu or Niye Böyle Dargın Bakarsın of Musa Eroğlu and Güler Duman.

In this context, they reached some better understanding about the larger organizational possibilities. To give an idea, the music video of this Bugün Yasta Gördüm by Tanbura Trio is set in a derelict building with nature growing through it, while the man and the woman with that piercing gaze explore the larger psychology with a comfortable feeling. It is about the same thing as in Eñ sulu of Serikbol Saylawbek, only that here the woman too realizes (or is brought into the realization of) some aspects about the classical human organization as an ecosystem, not as a normality by default.

→ The mindset of the populations of Siberian origin (part 14)