The mindset of the populations of Siberian origin (part 6)
Part of the series Perceiving complexity
⟵ The mindset of the populations of Siberian origin (part 5)
In the previous part I wrote about the limitation to a single thread of thinking in the raw reality perspective as a core aspect of the ebru mindset. Another core aspect is the interest in the psychological power that springs from the deep fluid part of the human mind. There is the classical masculine psychological power when you are in control of your domain in the “meaningful world”, you make your own decisions etc. There is also another kind of power that is much more in tune with the raw reality.
I am not sure to what extent would the classical men be aware of and access this kind of power if left to their own devices, as it requires extensive experience about the raw reality. In general, the men get wind of this from the ongoing interactions with the women or they are even actively coached by the women in private (many times a surreptitious coaching in which the woman creates psychological contexts for the man to “discover” it by himself). For example, how did the ancient German warriors discovered the berserker state of the mind? Can a masculine mind suddenly release itself from its cozy reliance on the “meaningful world” and plunge in the complexity of a raw reality present in the berserker state of the mind? The German culture in general has some awareness of the raw reality, probably because aspects of the accumulated feminine experience became integral part of it. There are men who are going nuts by themselves, but they do not display the raw reality expertise. And the “going nuts” part is only a particular application of this kind of power, many such applications do not necessarily suppose it.
In the ebru mindset this kind of power is not so much about going nuts, it actually has a very valuable rational side, it is part of a way of thinking that also manifests itself through one raw reality thread rationalization as in the ebru paintings. It is kind of obvious that it was started by women, as the Altaic men rather struggle to keep pace with it. My impression is that the ebru mindset appeared in the difficult Siberian context, when a woman or more went even further than the general Siberian feminine assumption of a more active role in life.
The basic novelty among the populations of Siberian origin is the introduction of the raw reality perspective in the active thinking process. This perspective is left in its natural state and used as such. The second level of novelty visible at the Altaic women is something like in the music video Kazagım-ay of the Kazakh band Gaukhartas. Women who discovered how to express much more effectively the power that springs from the deep fluid part of the human mind and takes in consideration the raw reality. They can display such a psychological power and not betray the feminine allegiance to the raw reality point of view.
And what a power! It has the confidence given by the richness of the long-term feminine experience in dealing with the raw reality, it has the fluidity of thinking from the point of view of the raw reality. The classical masculine kind of power is utterly unaware of the existence of this level of self-confidence, because it is unaware of the possibilities to deal with the environment by thinking from the point of view of the raw reality. If you know about these possibilities and you have some expertise, you have a significantly increased confidence. The classical masculine power is also inflexible and thus inefficient, as the mind is stuck in the spider web of the “meaningful world”. Bits of this fluid power slip into the classical men when they have sex, as it was probably also the case for that gorilla male from the BBC video I wrote about in the part 3 of the series Perceiving complexity. But these bits do not compare with such a full-fledged expressivity.
The music video Amanat of the Kazakh band Hassak would be a good example of the effects the discovery of this power has on men. The men experience an awakening of a new perspective in them since, initially, they do not think from the point of view of the raw reality. It is not the same old sense of self as for the women in the previous video, there is no such simple continuity. The man with white eyes is the sense of self that is awakening through this power. The eyes are blank and reflect images rather than “see”, because the classical masculine mindset is not used to see the complexity of the raw reality through a multiplicity of thought threads, as this is a different way of seeing. The awakened man sees through this complexity, the male musicians of the band have this masculinity in them, but they cannot conceptualize mentally how they see. They see the complexity and work with this perceptions, but they do not conceptualize (yet) how they see.
The song may have some kitschy nuances (because of this lack of deep understanding of what is going on), but the moment when the man unleashes the arrow is damn serious. It is the moment when the side of the man that is still thinking in classical masculine terms is plunging into this new perspective and enjoys its greatness. Something like “I don’t really understand what is going on, but I am plunging into this power”. Rather than understanding, it is more about a good feeling about it, it is okay to plunge into it, the Altaic feminine input has opened the mind to some other way of understanding things, different from the “meaningful world” kind of understanding things.
A more high culture introduction for men into this perspective, in this Korean traditional dance. It comprises three parts, in the first part the woman creates a mental passage for the man to the raw reality perspective, then it is time for the second part, when things get serious, this is how you can have this fluid power in dealing with the mental abysses of the raw reality. In the third part, now that you’ve got the idea, let yourself loose and plunge into this perspective. The way the woman has a very put together way to express the authenticity of this kind of power in the second part is the novelty discovered by the Altaic women.
Most likely the initial discovery was not like that, but more like in the video of Gaukhartas, with women who have to take action in a very difficult context that the men cannot solve no matter how much the women would stimulate and incite them in the classical ways. This Korean dance appears to be an ulterior cultural refinement. I see that in all Altaic or Altaic-influenced ethnic groups the women have something of that reaction from the video of Gaukhartas when the family or the group is confronted with problems. The first option is usually to awaken in men this psychological power, and if that does not work they can get involved themselves, as this Ode of the Tatar band Zu-Lay-La relives the story of the 40 women who gave up their lives fighting the enemies to permit the rest of the group to run away.
For women, this basic experience does not suppose the emergence of a new sense of self that you are not entirely sure what to do with, like the man with white, reflexive eyes from Gaukhartas’ video. But this new masculine sense of self has consequences for women too, as it affects the structure of the Altaic society when it is assumed by the men. For women this raw reality power feels like “business as usual”, but this is because they mostly use it to inspire the men to take action from its perspective, they are not so involved in its practical use. When you are really using it in real life, you realize that it is anything like “business as usual” and you need to get your head around it. And later on, the women too need to deal indirectly with the masculine dilemmas about how to apply the raw reality perspective in the social life.
The Altaic women probably snapped out in some distant past from the usual classical human immersion in the “meaningful world” and discovered a new way of thinking based on the raw reality. With this new perspective they can shape a mental experience for men that can make the passage from their “meaningful world” spider web to the raw reality perspective. One of the aspects that gives me the impression that this emerged in long-term overwhelmingly difficult circumstances is the depth of empathy this mental experience supposes. Classical women have this raw reality perspective that supposes empathy, but they tend to use it only for immediate interests of their ego. Beyond their ego is the complexity of the raw reality and how can one really relate to it in a straightforward manner? (And yes, men have egos too, if I need to clarify this.)
The human classical female ego is orientated around the “meaningful world”, it has “meaningful world” values and uses the raw reality perspective mostly around issues pertaining to the “meaningful world”. The Altaic female mental experience as experienced by a man feels like a long-term grinding of the ego in relation with a harsh real life, which increasingly is perceived, rationally understood and faced directly more like the millenary raw reality feminine perspective (increasingly out of its informal use as a sideline to the “meaningful world”) and less like the all-knowing “meaningful world”.
This long-term grinding of the ego, with every new blunting, was not about losing your identity, but about opening the mind to a different way of organizing your sense of self. Sometimes I find this theme in science-fiction, with authors letting their mind wonder what implications on the human psyche would have a very difficult environment outside of the Planet Earth. And when I read such parts, I don’t really find this specific opening of the mind rationally to the complexity of the raw reality as it happens when you are really living in such circumstances on long term. These authors are still mentally in their “meaningful worlds”.
Another aspect that I notice around this topic is that probably it was also the right environment to open your mind to the complex perspectives by being immersed in nature. Also the fact that, if in conflict with other people, they were not so close, not breathing on your neck. It was likely a conductive environment to snap out of the “meaningful world” in this specific manner.
In my cultural repertoire I also have the Jewish millenary experience of going through long-term overwhelmingly difficult circumstances and in this case the oppressive people were always breathing on your neck, not much private space where you can really let your mind wander and register each new blunting from a detached perspective. Nevertheless, there is value also in the Jewish experience, it just shaped with some different nuances.
This grinding of the ego does not mean you are not functioning anymore as an individual, it is rather about seeing beyond the poor quality of the “meaningful world” kind of ego and opening the mind to unexpected ways to see and develop your sense of self. It actually created a very tough and determined sense of self. In this Taepyungso Sinawi of the Korean musician Gamin (Kang Hyo Sun), the line she interprets at taepyungso (the wind instrument) expresses well this determination of a sense of self ground in an environment where it could register each new blunting from a detached perspective and thus able to reorganize itself at deep levels. It is a natural determination, with an authentic inner flow of the raw reality perspective, unhindered by stale “meaningful world” mental structures. The parts of the male musicians, especially when she stops and they gather pace, feel like the overwhelming difficulties of life that in the past ground the “meaningful world” ego and now are a rational way of perceiving the world through the complexity of the raw reality.
In general lines, this interpretation is about an ethos that you can see at all populations of Siberian origin, they have this raw reality perspective due to the grinding of the ego in that harsh environment. The Altaic novelty is that these overwhelming difficulties awakened an overwhelming psychological power beyond the “meaningful world”. And the valuable aspect here is the depth of empathy the women have in creating for men mental experiences beyond the classical human female ego (you can see some glimpses in the way the two musical lines work together in the previous song). These experiences are not really outright solutions in how to use the raw reality perspective (the women don’t have them either), but they can give a start for men to really think from this perspective.
I should also add that this grinding of the ego is inherent only when it is about dealing with difficult circumstances, it depends on the person to what extent it spreads in other area of their psyche or to what extent they take it in consideration to cultivate what is valuable in it.
→ The mindset of the populations of Siberian origin (part 7)
