Филологические науки / 3. Теоретические и методологические проблемы

К.ф.н., доцент Д.И. Хизбуллина

Башкирский государственный университет, Россия

Delia I. Hizbullina

Candidate of Philology, Docent

Bashkir State University, Russia

East and West: universal symbols and common concepts

The world is rapidly changing. Actually a universal informational space is being created similarly to the universal world of nature we live in. The opportunities to exchange information are growing. At the same time the borders between cultures are narrowing. And it happens not only due to the mass media. On the other hand, the policy of multiculturalism seems not to justify great expectations. There can be exemplified numerous ethnic collisions in many eastern and western countries, various scandals around religious symbols, etc.

Some philosophers guess that the major tendency of our society development should become a dialogue of cultures on the base of human mutual understanding (M. Buber, М.M.Bakhtin, V.S.Bibler). Obviously a dialogue would be successful if the participants know and understand the topic. Inter-coexistence of two / several cultures presupposes one more parameter – civilization. A dialogue could take place on the condition of people’s mutual morality. All these factors will surely contribute to setting aside the reasons for any misunderstanding and conflicts.

Nations all over the world have been constantly contacting. History as “Book of Nations” has always been registering these interconnections and mutual enrichment. In different parts of the globe, both in the East and West, in different historical periods, by the well-known great personalities there were formulated and taught one and the same norms of the sane human society [1, c.94].

Culture is a complex text with many meanings created by people’s activity. In the semantic plurality of the world the words acquire sense uncertainty. The language becomes mythological which means that it reflects the mythological thinking of a human being. Mythological symbols turned to universal symbols as the reflections of some early mostly forgotten knowledge. A symbol reflects the history of the mankind and turns to a sign – a general denotation of certain knowledge entity. A combinability of myths, symbols, verbal / non-verbal signs forms a concept as a notion of some generalized totality of knowledge.

Symbols and myths in different cultures show striking similarities and identities. They represent a language of universal symbols which is the only common language created by the mankind [2, c.29]. In many mythologies, eastern and western, the Sun and the Moon were supreme deities, forefathers of the whole mankind, or of kings and royal families, the so-called solar and lunar dynasties. Cf. Soma in Ancient Hindi, Ra and Thoth in Egyptian, Mithras in Persian, Amaterasu in Japanese, Tonatiuh in Aztec, Selene in Greek, Helios in Roman mythologies. The Earth personified the Great Mother of the mankind. Cf. Isis in Egyptian, the goddess Gaia in Greek, Rhea in Roman, and Mother-Earth in Slavonic traditions, etc. The Sky was the divinity master of the world. Cf. the Egyptian gods Nut and Horus, the Turkic sky god Tengri, the Greek god Uranus [3]. In modern languages we observe the traces of that ancient adoration and animation. Cf. ME sun’s eyelashes, Bashkir ай битен йыуа ‘rain in the new moon’ [literally: the moon washes its face], Russian солнечный удар ‘sunstroke’, небу жарко было (about some strained actions) [literally: it was hot for the sky], ME mother-earth, to hug the ground, Bashkir ер аяғы-ер башы ‘far-far away’ [literally: the foot of the earth – the head of the earth], күк йөзө / бите ‘the firmament, dome of heaven’ [literally: the face of the sky], Russian земной поклон ‘a low bow’ [literally: to bow till the ground], etc. [4].

In ancient Babylon the moon symbolized the light from the sky to the human’s world. In ancient Egypt it was a symbol of prosperity and growth. For the citizens of Byzantine the moon became the symbol of safety as by the legend the bright moon light saved them from the invaders. The Emperor Konstantin proclaimed Virgo Maria with the moon in her hands as “Heavenly Queen” and a patroness of Byzantine. In Christianity the symbol of the moon as an attribute of the Virgin Maria got the meaning of a light in the night darkness. One thousand years later the Turkish sultan Osman chose the moon as a symbol of Islam [5]. The ancient worship of the Earth as the Mother of human beings expresses a simple truth that people are the children of one Mother-Earth and all have the equal rights to live on it and to be loved / fed by it [6]. The well-known proverbs say: East or West – home is best; there is no place like home. Really the Earth is our common and still the only home in the Universe.

Today the informational society stands before the problem to distinguish between information and disinformation. We need to have much more knowledge and wisdom to see it. To avoid further misunderstanding and conflicts it is vitally important for the mankind to find a true way between globalization and cultural pluralism, the culture of war or the culture of intelligence.

Literature:

1. Фромм Э. Здоровое общество / пер. с англ. – М.: АСТ, 2009. 539 с.

2. Фромм Э. Забытый язык / пер. с англ. – М.: АСТ, 2010. 315 с.

3. Мифология: энциклопедия / гл. ред. Е.М.Мелетинский. – М.: Большая Российская энциклопедия, 2008. 736 с.

4. Хизбуллина Д.И. О космологических представлениях по данным языка // Вестник Томского государственного университета. № 336 (июль 2010). С.26-31.

5. Хизбуллина Д.И. Символ / знак / концепт Луны в культуре Запада и Востока // Актуальные проблемы контрастивной лингвистики, типологии языков и лингвокультурологии в полиэтническом пространстве: Материалы научной конференции. – Уфа: БашГУ, 2011. 292 с. – С.267-273.

6. Хизбуллина Д.И. Земля в истории культуры и языке // Человеческий фактор в языке и культуре: Сборник научных статей. – Уфа: БашГУ, 2011. 258 с. – С.247-251.