The Geseriade as a part of world culture

The epic as part of culture is expression of national mentality, it may help guess the nationality of an individual. Besides, the communicative function of folklore enables exchange of achievements among certain human communities and individuals. This function also provides for the possibility of communication in the sphere of folklore in the form of dialogue. The communicative function makes possible the creation of the international cultural fund. The processes of globalization help bring peoples and their cultures closer to each other. The interaction of Tibetan, Mongolian, Buryat, Tiurk and other cultures made it possible to create different variants of the heroic epic of Geser. One of the functions of culture is associated with the social and individual factor, that is with the differentiation of social, national and other communities of peoples, on the one hand, and their integration, on the other hand. The international image of the world, globalization of positive and negative tendencies is evidence of integration of formerly isolated human communities. Cultures are not isolated from each other and they are of no great significance if taken alone, just all by themselves. Each culture carries in itself the energy of the neighboring and other cultures. In this context the idea that it is very difficult to understand the other, “lien” cultures is not relevant at present. The idea of each culture being of a peculiar nature, of the contribution of each nation to the culture of mankind is obviously quite clear but it does not contradict the idea of a certain coherence of all cultures. The words “harmony” and “understanding” should become the key notions of the contemporary world view. People belonging to different cultures should treat each other with the greatest understanding. The dialogue of cultures as interpretation of “the other or the alien ” calls for a special mentality which would take into account all aspects of world perception of cultures and peoples, the new ontology - “world with man” or “man with world” or “man in nature” rather than “nature for man”. It is very important to recognize the priority of the spiritual entities in the whole life of the contemporary man, the ecological imperative, the nature-correlating tendencies. Internationalization, globalization brought world civilizations and cultures closer to each other, the world has become more cohesive and coherent. In the context of the theory of cultural pluralism the culture is taken to be the linking element among nations. Therefore understanding and respect of cultural values and traditions of peoples is not going to be the fact of being educated but rather the precondition of harmonious development. There is the idea of solidarity that recognizes cultural pluralism. One cannot say with confidence that there is a more civilized culture or a less civilized, just a backward culture. Now the contacts among different communities are becoming wider, the direct communication is becoming more frequent and diversified. Now we witness the growth of planetary unification though we still recognize the necessity to know our own “roots”, our ancestors. We witness the interest in genealogies, many people are interested in their own origin. The man who is not aware of his forefathers and cultural traditions feels as if he were a black sheep, he feels as if he were a loser in some circumstances. Chingis Aitmatov, a well-known Kirgiz writer, gives the following historical fact that evidences of the fact that in the ancient times they also recognized the importance of kinship ties. The ancient Kirgiz people had the custom, which was as follows. When they captured a man from another tribe they did their best to make him forget his past. They tied his head very tight so that the hair began to grow inside. In the brain of the unhappy man there occurred the processes that turned him into an obedient slave. They are known as mankurts, the people who do not know their origin, their roots, their ancestors, their traditions and rituals. But the fact is that each man would like to share the knowledge of his own culture with other people, to speak about it, to exchange cultural experience, i.e. to be involved in intercultural communication. Each culture has the right to exist. Many people are of the opinion that in the XXI century there might be a certain opposition of civilizations and cultures. They think that the motivation for conflicts will be culture rather than ideology or economy. Differences among civilizations are quite evident, i.e. different history, language, traditions, beliefs and religions. The world comes to be not too spacious, the interaction among representatives of various civilizations is becoming all the more intense. The processes of economic modernization, social changes and intensive migration break up the traditional identification of the people with their residence, their customary location. People sometimes do not associate themselves with a concrete place of living.

Now we are in need of a humanistic approach. The Buryat epic made it clear that Man is microcosm, that the whole might of the Universe is concentrated in Man. The Buryat epic shows the historical stage of the development of mankind in the ancient and medieval centuries, the period of the so called cosmogenic civilization which was based on the use of tools and manual technology and was largely dependent on natural forces, when the cosmic forces determined the sense of life and dictated its laws.

The epic shows the evolution of the three kinds of substance: non-living, living and mental in their active forms, in their interconnection and mutual penetration. This manifests the main contribution of the Buryat epic in the general knowledge of mankind. This cannot be overestimated because it is just the idea that makes the essence of the conception of coevolution of Man and Nature or the principle of ecological imperative, i. e. the idea of joint evolution of Man with Nature, ecological ethics as well as ecological responsibility. The epic is also in favour of the principle of non-violence and friendliness in group and interpersonal relations, patience and tolerance. There is the culture of know-how as an aspect of being civilized and there is the culture of being well bred as an aspect of morality. Folklore and namely epic can contribute to education and breeding a highly moral personality.