Sakha People Doctrine Of “Kut-Sur” As A Human Ego’s Model

Abstract

The northern people of Sakha have the traditional faith “Aiu” (Creation), which divides the world into three parts: Upper (god and deities), Middle (people, insects, plants, birds, animals), Lower (negatives of human life). God created man from these three parts which determine his behavior. A person is brought up in the environment that has 9 levels: family, nature, work, hierarchy of life organization, creative artisans, spiritual mentors, gifted people, creative people, wise leaders. Human development is governed by “Kut- Sur “, where “Kut” means soul, and “Sur” – an aura. In childhood, man is controlled by parents, relatives; in adolescence, self-education, improvement of congenital abilities are carried out. The article analyzes the concept of self-improvement of the personality of a modern student, which implies the will which develops by changing consciousness, faith in the soul of a young person. Fundamentals of the program of self-improvement are a family, love of mother, brothers and sisters. Manifesting his abilities in nine stages, the person implements his personal potential. The evaluation criterion is the awareness of the need for a particular level of development, starting from the desire to prove oneself. Updating and adopting "Kut- Sur" to the modern requirements, the concept of education of the younger generation of northern people is being developed.

Keywords: Educationfaith, self-improvementpersonal potentialimplementation

Introduction

Developing the extreme northern areas, the northern people survived and increased their number. Their skills and abilities for rational arrangement of life were described by scientists, travellers (Nogovitsyn, 2004). Their achievements were due to Aiu (Creation) and "Kut- Sүur ". The root of the word " аiu" is means "to create." The word “aiu” expressed the concept of a cyclic life force, which passed from one life to another. Aiu is a life force, eternity, life. The word “Create” means the root of everything created in nature: light, good, strong, growing, reasonable, eternal, i.e. “Aiu” is a process and a result of the activity of God and deities.  “Kut” is the soul. It means "pour". This must be connected with the concept of filling the human essence as a vessel. If we imagine the human body in the form of a vessel, the filling it with life elixir is the filling of a person with the content of his life, achieved by education and training. “Kut” enters the outer shell of a person. The ancestors of the Sakha people called this protective power “Sur” (aura). "The ancient Iranian" sur, sura means "strong", "in the Yakut language "sur" is the spiritual strength of a person" (Gogolev, 1993). “Tengri” means god. The semantic translation of the word “tan” means “to collect”, “to complete”.  The world is divided into three components: lower, middle and upper. In the lower world "abaaһy" live (negatives of human life). In the middle world, people, animals, birds, insects, etc. live, In the upper world, “tangara” (god and deities) live. Creative activities of Tangara are "Kut-Sur ".

Problem Statement

The article aims to solve the problem of development, self-improvement of a modern personality, identify the proportion of spiritual and material components of his life, through updating the ethnocultural experience of ancient traditions of “Kut-Sur”.

Research Questions

Observational data on the first doctrine "Kut-Sur" implemented in the process of identity formation were used.

Purpose of the Study

The article aims to analyze the doctrine of implementation of personal potential, self-improvement abilities of the modern Sakha schoolboy based on "Kut-Sur".

Research Methods

To solve the tasks, the following methods were used: interview, observations, experiments, analysis and synthesis of historical and statistical data, forecasting, literary material generalization, qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Findings

The peoples of the North associated the world creation with outer space and the sun, dividing the world into the Lower, Middle and Upper, and its development was identified with the vertebral column or a growing tree, whose steps were called "heaven". Deities lived on 9 levels of the sky of the Upper World, which predetermined human development. "First Heaven" was associated with the deity of love and birth, it determines the physical body, corresponds to the genome of a person, makes up his intellect. Intellectual development involves preparing a person for moral life (Pankin, 2017). Earth, water, air, interacting to form a fire, the source of life which was called Kut (soul). Kut has a form of a lightning ball. It was like solar energy, which passes from one body to another. “The Divine is the innermost, living (or moving) Fire, and the eternal witnesses to this invisible Presence is Light, heat and Moisture, this trinity contains everything in itself and is the cause of all phenomena in Nature” (Blavatsky, 1988, para. 4). The cold body of the earth is warmed up by the radiation of the Sun and inside the earth – by radioactive energy (Vernadsky, 2001). The duplicate processes determined the existence of life by recycling cosmic energy, transferring it to other species in the process of feeding, breeding, settling on the Earth surface." The processes of free radical oxidation in tissues of living organisms is carried out in all molecular structures due to the natural background of ionizing radiation, the ultraviolet component of solar radiation, some of the chemical components, ozone air". Due to the energy of the reaction of tissue hydrocarbons with oxygen, in capillaries of the alveoli, electronic red blood cells are excited. The reaction of free-radical oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids of the membranes takes place. Oxygen is produced within the cell. The dying process is a sequential disintegration or dissolution of four internal elements: earth (dense body matter), water (its liquid components), fire (heat) and air (energy, movement)” (Dalai Lama XIV, 2013). After the death of a person, “Buor Kut” returns to the earth, “Iye Kut” remains in his offspring, “Salgyn Kut” goes to the Upper World. The purpose of human life is to ensure the spiritual transition of a person from one level of development to another.

"Second Heaven" is due to the communication with the spirits of nature (rivers, lakes, mountains, grass, trees, birds, animals, etc.). The "third heaven" is associated with a deity of power, "fourth heaven" – with a deity of authority, "fifth heaven" – with a deity of profession, "sixth heaven" is a lord of thunder. He is assisted by the spirit of homeland, it helps a person to pass over the twofold (low-lying passions and spiritual beginning) position in the middle world. "Seventh Heaven" is associated with three deities predicting fate. This is a level of earthly prophets. "Eighth Heaven" is associated with deities which created the concept of three worlds. The ancestors having reached a high level of spiritual development, living at various levels of the Upper World, help their descendants if they do not forget them. The Ninth Heaven is associated with a deity having the solar power. He is a creator of everything that exists on the Earth. But God is not visible, he communicates with the middle world through the Sun (Afanasyev, 1993).  God is called Lord the Lord of the Universe (Kondakov, 1997). The sun rules life on the Earth. People living under the laws of the natural environment are people of the solar tribe, blood relatives of the creators. The month of the summer solstice has only five days (six days in leap years). In antiquity, this short month was the thirteenth month and the holiday of the Sun (Krivoshapkin, 2008).

A person must move from one “heaven” to another one and achieve perfection in the ninth “heaven”, balancing material and spiritual needs, which, like two hemispheres of the brain, like two arms and legs, should be harmonious, have equal opportunities. With a harmonious combination of spiritual and material, a person can overcome any life troubles. A person who has overcome the first three levels of development is able to organize his life. A person who has discovered five levels of development can establish his own kind for future generations. A person who has discovered seven levels of development, attains solid well-being in life. For a person who has discovered nine levels of development, life is full of meaning (Teris, 2002). In the Yakut language, there is a word to charge. A person can be charged with an example and instructions in choosing a positive behaviour. Parents and paternal relatives are responsible for this. With aging, a person becomes aware of behaviour instructions and begins the process of self-education.

Self-education or self-improvement brings a person to the realization of a personal potential, which is achieved by changing his own consciousness. The assessment criterion is to realize the need of a certain level of development, starting from the desire to express himself, which can be described as follows:  awareness of starting a family dictated by instincts; awareness of a rhythm of the organism commensurate to environmental rhythms (nature), dictated by intuition;  the need for perfection of physical energy through labour dictated by instincts and intuition; an ability to manage his mental, emotional, physiological state dictated by vital needs, reason and intelligence; independent acquisition of skills, skills to ensure their own and other essential material goods originating from intuition, reason and intellect;  spiritual foundations of the human essence by overcoming evolutionary vices proceeding from the rational and mental personality;  mind, consciousness, intelligence based on natural instincts, intuition and mentality of the person;  creative level of the mentality; the noospheric mind.

To implement his desires, the person has to have faith formed by folk tradition, transmitted to the baby through mother and father and teenagers through male members of the family. A person always believes in kindness of his mother, father, relatives, in the spirits of natural phenomena (lakes, rivers, mountains, individual activities, the spirit of fire) ; inexhaustible energy, strength and power of a person;  leaders, devotion to his family, people;  humanity, spiritual beginning ;  wonderful future of his children and grandchildren;  creative power of a bright dream.

It is difficult to describe the impact of human faith in the environment. But the basic concepts are embedded in the minds of each representative of the northern peoples. "Aiu" (Creation) does not force a person. For creation and creativity, it is necessary to pay attention to the importance of innate abilities, intellect, mind, human consciousness and choose a profession as an overriding life factor. In our opinion the Sakha doctrine as a model of human development can be integrated into modern systems of education and training. The concept can be summarized as follows:

1. To charge the person with a positive childhood and relationships and make him toleran to the outside world, it is important to know education principles and methods based on love and affection (prenatal pedagogy). By the age of 6–7 years, the brain structure is formed. Mental abilities, speech functions, stable social relationships are formed (Child's brain development, 2019). In the womb, during the fourth week, the baby’s brain can remember touches, eyesight, hearing, during the fifth week – smell, during the six week – balancing, during the eighth week – taste (Medina, 2017). 

2. The teacher s "Seerkeen Seһen " (an interesting narrator, interlocutor) can speak, show, teach tricks of natural phenomena. Games, interviews, stories, epics, parables, proverbs, sayings, explanations, should be consistent with the rhythm of nature. The effectiveness of schooling from August to June with a break in the winter months of the North can be an indicator of the development of students' creative abilities.

3. Trainers that strengthen the spirit, develop the body and improve the mind prepare a person to overcome his negative qualities, troubles of everyday life, not to be afraid of difficulties, not to give up, but to win. In the old days, the priority was the means of training a warrior, a defender; currently, harmony in development is more crucial. The traditional games, methods of educating warriors have turned into modern methods of physical education, developing motor skills.

4. The development and manifestation of leadership qualities inherent in nature, the ability to captivate with one’s ideas should have an advantage in choosing a leader. A gifted leader, a smart leader is created by nature. 

5. Professional abilities and skills transmitted from one generation to another were highly valued by consumers. In any kind, there are people of various specialties. Having developed all internal abilities, they become famous, mentors of young people. 

6. People who can evaluate and fairly resolve disputes, conflicts are needed. There is an assumption that the legal profession will lose relevance and disappear. But, as long as there is poverty, theft, robbery, assassination, terrorist attacks, confrontation, feuds, it will be difficult to establish a universal humanization of mankind. Methods for the prevention of offenses depend on moral education of a person.

7. The abilities of people who protect and heal are some of the most needed by society. Such people – healers, shamans, mediums, etc. – have helped people, saved their lives. Healing has three directions: 1. Healing with extrasensory abilities, words, advice, suggesting faith in herbs. 2. Healing with modern medical scientific knowledge. 3. Disease prevention with the help of “information medicine”.

8. In any society, we have to listen to advice of wise persons.  In the “good old days”, people had a saying: “Use the advice of an old man, carry it with you in your bag”. The North people has a great potential for rehabilitation, education, development of their abilities and capabilities. But excessive state support took away the basis of creation, wisdom of the mind weakened. Against this background, the processes of compulsory education and training faded. A person must arrange his life himself, pave a life path, create conditions for self-improvement of his abilities. Excessive guardianship makes the next generation helpless, irresponsible.

9. The ability to lead the people, society to a prosperous life is a great responsibility. This position resembles the universality of his abilities, commensurate with the experience of life. It is clear that a person without life experience cannot cope with duties of a leader. In any social formation, the first position of a leader is held by a person who creates future, the second position – by person who can fulfil tasks, the third position – by a person who is able to unite people. 

Since the late 60s of the XX century, the term paradigm (Kuhn, 1962) began to be used to define a system of views, concepts dominating a certain historical stage. Many scientists have written about future changes in the world. For example, "bifurcation age” predicts profound evolutionary transformation of the civilization saturated with qualitative rearrangements (Laszlo, 1995). These predictions will affect the Siberian territories, as the North and the Arctic Ocean have enormous resources which will cause the unprecedented competition degrading the dignity of many people.

Knowing the shortcomings of human consciousness, the teaching staff of the school where Sukhomlinsky (2018) worked, developed moral rules "Ten unworthy things that humiliate a person" (para. 8). The mission of a student is of the utmost importance for the society and the state, which largely depends on the teaching level (Khutorskoy, 2018). The effectiveness of a specialist determines personality. The basis of morality is conscience, adequate human behaviour. The actions performed by a person are governed by conscience. The meaning of conscience is described in oral folklore, fictions, federal educational standards. For example, in the Tuvan people, the program of conscientious attitudes is formed in 15 sections: in relation towards himself and other people, home, homeland, head of the family and clan, neighbours, games, folk art, knowledge, individuals, pets, spiritual and material objects, nature, labour, culture of nomads, spiritual objects of nature (Sunduy, 2014).

Conclusion

The model of development of students based on the traditional teachings of the Sakha people may accelerate positive predictions of world-renowned futurologists. They can improve the human nature, transform the social, scientific and technological development of society.

1. Our research on Kut- Sur specifies the opinion of researchers believing that beliefs of the Sakha people are philosophical. Ideas of Aiu ” (Creation) based on Tengrinism are the research stage. Further scientific substantiation of the ideas are required for the education and training of schoolchildren and youth through the renewal of folk traditions and improvement of the principles of development of the non-formal education system. 

2. Testaments of the Sakha ancestors about the development of gifts, abilities of the northern people have become relevant. The doctrines can contribute to the realization of the personal potential.

3. It is necessary to search for identical methods and ways of implementing Kut- Sur of the Sakha people as a model of the human self in the context of modern achievements of pedagogical thought. The use of the Kut-Sur doctrine " for the non-formal education and training of students can achieve a goal of harmonious development of material and spiritual components of life.

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