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DOI: 10.24234/wisdom.v26i2.1001
THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PERCEPTION OF PHENOMENA IN EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLKLORE
Vachagan GRIGORYAN 1 * © | Ara ARAKELYAN 2 © | Ani NAZARYAN 1 D | Naira ISKANDARYAN3
1 Gavar State University, Yerevan, Armenia
2 Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
3 Russian-Armenian University, Yerevan, Armenia
* Correspondence Vachagan GRIGORYAN, Street 10, Hrazdan 2318, Armenia, 2318 E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: The two main principles of perspective of phenomena are analyzed in the study for the first time. The epic works of European and the Near East are interpreted with the help of comparative, combinative, and historical - investigation methods.
In European heroic epics, the privilege is given to spatial dimensions, meanwhile in Eastern epics and in the Bible time recognition is more important. The spatial interpretation of the phenomena and Homer's approach to creating the characters is spread upon the European epic works. The characters do not undergo sufficient changes in time; they go out of the process of action just the way they have gone inside.
In European works, time is a representation of some historical events and is connected with social life changes. In Eastern works the changes connect to the civilization's long-lasting time, which refers to one's inner world.
Keywords: spatial perception, time perception, East, West, Western epic, "Gilgamesh and the Land of the Immortals", "Sasna Tsref'.
Introduction
Comparative literature is the main way to explore Armenian and European epic research. It is mainly focused on the analogy of the works. The discovery of plots and heroes is taken into consideration. This initial principle gives the basis for the investigation of the events and appearances of the heroes. Our study aims to investigate the folklore works on the edge of Eastern and Western worldviews. The analysis of the quality of mentality is more prioritized than that of the
events, which is connected with spatial and time perceptions.
Time and space are general ways of life. E. Kant (2006) links that they are given to one a priori and at the same time he separates different levels of their perception (pp. 64-91). If space is the consequence of the way of our "outer experience", then time is that of "inner experience" (Cassirer, 2006, p. 78). Almost the same approaches we see in Spengler's (2007) thoughts: "The understanding of space is "outer experience" itself... the one that is present, it exists in
our emotional world, while time is a discovery which can be realized by thinking only" (p. 207).
This differentiation of time and space is expressed in different types of art, specifically in the East and the West. In the Eastern cultural matrix time is important, while in the Western one space is. This idea has been expressed in different comments in the works of E. Cassier, C. Yung, and A. Toynbee.
The ancient Greek philosophy of consciousness presents the best evidence for Western spatial thinking. Consider first Socrates, then Aristotle, Euclidean geometry, and so on. The prophecies, and the science of death, are the best example of the timing culture in the East.
The contradiction over time and space is expressed in literature and folklore. Sergei Aver-intsev contrasts Greek and Near East literature and thus singles out two main principles of understanding a person and an environment (Aver-intsev, 1971, p. 66). This division spreads upon the folklore works in the first place as those represent human mentality and outlooks characteristics. The Bible world is "Olam", and the world is considered to be a history. Olam is the century, the stream of time, and it possesses everything within itself. Space within "Olam" is represented in a temporal mode and as a "repository" of irreversible events... The Greeks live in the present, while the Easterners live within the time. "The poetics of the Near East is the poetics of a fable (the "Bible" is its complete example): so, the time limits the Greek "cosmos", and people are represented in the connections of meanings while "Olam" streams in time and is eager to get through the limits of the meanings; the story revolution outreaches its borders and the moral of the fable passes through its morals" (Averintsev, 1971, p. 66).
The epic time of the tales in European folklore, such as "The Song of Nibelung", "The Song of Roland", "The Song of El Cid", "Prince Marco" (Bulgarian epic), and so on, are strictly limited and connected to a historical event. The Eastern works, such as "The Return of Gilga-mesh", the Iranian "Avesta", "Sasna Tsrer", "Mahabharata" and the "Bible" as well, are about the civilizational timeline: it is not the change of the social life but the change of the person that becomes the problem to be solved during millenniums. The characters in European folklore almost don't change psychologically:
the persona with positive or negative character traits remains the same, while the Eastern works are meant for a person's rebirth.
Spatial Dimensions in the West, and Time Dimensions in the East
The comparative examination of Armenian and European epics shows that the basic principles of phenomena depiction clearly define folklore works as an expression of Eastern and Western thinking. In Eastern mentality, time is prioritized, meanwhile, in Western one, they prioritize spatial dimensions.
The cultural achievements created in the East - "The Return of Gilgamesh", the Bible, "Sasna Tsrer" - are located in the temporal mode. The Greek epic, as the main principle of phenomena characteristic of the West, emphasizes spatial dimensions.
The epics of the Near East and the Bible differ from the Western ones in terms of their starting point and the problems they pose, which is closely related to the basic principle of understanding phenomena.
The epics "The Return of Gilgamesh" and "Sasna Tsrer" have become typical characteristic works of Eastern linguistic thinking and overcome the borders of history. Just like this, the stories in "Old Testimony" strive to overcome the borders of history. This is the poetics of epic, the morality of which overcomes the borders of the genre.
Homer's "Iliad" is a record of events that take place within certain limits. Everything is definite, both in terms of space and time. The events during the tenth year of the Trojan War are told here. Homer tells a story that leads to a conclusion in a purposeful order, and the result obtained as a result of the unfolding of events is important to him.
Homer's purpose in telling the story is to bring it to its end. Moreover, the last events referring to the war are not included in the work. It ends with the description of Hector's death and funeral. Everything is definite within these borders and no continuation is needed as there is no second and inner plan or metaphor. This is a one-layer structure with a combination of further extensions of the space What is essential here is the object, not the subject, that is - the teller, who
tells the truth. The impulse comes from the object so the environment, the heroes, their movements, feelings, etc. are important here.
It turns out that Homer hadn't been telling about Ilion (Troy), although the title indicated that. The tale here is about Achilles' rage.
"Sing, O muse, of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans" (Butler, 2021, p. 7).
It is the thirteenth year that the Trojans have been facing the siege of the Achaean (Greek) forces. The forces concentrated mainly on the plain between the city and the sea, in front of the ships which are anchored on the shore. The Achaeans destroy the nearby settlements, capturing people. The main action takes place in this area. The Trojan Council observes the events happening on the battlefield.
This time Homer gives detailed descriptions of the separate characters. Achilles gives his weapons to Patrocle. During the fierce battle, he forgets that Achilles had told him not to leave the Greek camp and return to the military base. Excited by the success, Patrocle reaches the Trojan Gates. The parts describing Achilles' shield with illustrations are the phenomena that had to be depicted in the space and these phenomena are considered to be the highest peak of the poem (Butler, 2021). Hephaestus "has miraculously sculpted many wonderful sculptures" (Aver-intsev, 1971, p. 355). The sky and the land, the sun, the moon, and the stars, as well as two splendid cities with descriptions of weddings, parties, etc., are highlighted here (Apresyan, 2015, pp. 31-46).
It is obvious that Homer follows or creates the Greeks' perception of phenomena, that is -the dominant principle of showing the images, events, and heroes in space. Spacious images depict everything in the present. The Greeks live in the present. The poem seems to be a play - the audience is following the actions which take place on the stage.
The space meant for gods is wider. In this case, the discourse is not about horizontal spacious images but about vertical ones. Ultimately, the Greek mythical approach differentiates Heaven, the Earth, and Hell. They make unity (Apresyan, 2015).
Mythical understanding differentiates personal and transpersonal space with a slight demarcation. In general, the "Iliad" and the general,
great time are separated. Everything here breathes with the anxiety to endow the future generation with a heroic story. This is a curious and demarcated environment. Here those who fought and fell for their fatherland have to be praised for personal authority and glory. To accomplish this goal, Homer created a separate world where everything develops according to the gods' will - everything is parred for the course andfar from any ambiguity.
The spacious perception of phenomena at some point contributed to the accomplished development of the characters as well. Their initial description or some trait typical for the character seems to remain the same in the development of the action or in time. This refers to the people of the high class, of the morals formed by the noble, and to their attitude. The highest point of the poem is Achill and Priam's meeting. Here we see a different characteristic of Achill; he is forgiving and affectionate. This is reckoned as another spacious image that continues the other images.
Homer speaks about the social elite class. He isn't interested in other classes. From this point of view, the "Iliad" is a story about the Aristocracy's morals, passions, and undertakings.
The story of the aristocratic class is represented in the French "Song of Roland". The base is the feat of Count Roland. He participated in Charlemagne's 778 expeditions to Spain. Roland was killed while defending the French rearguard regiment. Chivalric pride does not allow him to blow the pipe in the hope of help. In the French epic, everything is centred around the battle in Roncevaux Pass where the knights lose their lives for the sake of 'sweet France". Returning, Carlos kills all the Moor, and orders to cut Ganelon into four pieces but still, it was impossible to revive Roland. As the epic is made of an example of some events and the lives of historical characters, space and time are especially important in it. It is a boundary environment. The images here are strictly definite and as a result, everything is concluded by the hero's death.
"In the beginning, was story ... and the story was the song of a secular poet - a living story for those who, not knowing literacy and Latin could not have known the history of the written prose in the Latin images of withered and dead clergy" (Menendez Pidal, 1959, 429-430).
The same may be said about the Spanish epic ("The Song of My Cid") where the hero fights
against the Moor, reunites with the king, marries his daughters with descent men, becomes worthy of everyone's love, and so on. "Even though "The Song of My Cid" is less majestic than "The Song of Roland", it is less barbaric and more realistic at the same time. It is more living, more humanistic, and more understandable for people of all times (The Library of the World Literature, 1976, p. 19).
The discovery of individual passions is the core of the German epic "Song of the Nibelungs" (Arakelyan, 2007). Although the mythic layer is obvious, the cases and events are closely related to individual human psychology and practices. Compared to the previous epics, this poem is multi-layered, the mythical in it is combined with the historical. Everything is subject to the author"s sober intelligence. Interestingly, the theme is not so much about national problems, but about the events based on one's awakening innermost world, and passions. With all this, the passage of time is quite slow, it is even difficult to talk about epic time, purely in the sense of duration. Here it stretches for thirty-eight years. After that, Kriemhilda devotes twelve years to the problem of avenging her husband. "Song of the Nibelungs" is as close as possible to the novel genre. The author tells in detail about the preparation of the road, clothes, and preparation of the army. All this testifies to the author's aesthetic principle of creating spatial images and seeing phenomena.
The plots within "The Song" show that the way of representing the action, the person, or the item, was very important for the author "How Siegfried Saw Kriemhild" in "The Song of Nibelungen " (2007), "How Siegfried Made his way to the supporters" and "How the Burgundians were fighting" in "The Song of Nibelungen" (2007) (Arakelyan, 2007).
The main principle of Homer's character creation is extended to "The Nibelungs". Heroes' ages do not change, they do not change their character. They leave the field of the actions the way they enter it. The author of the song looks at the Burgundians and Nibelungs impartially just as Homer looked at the opposing heroes. However, even with the presence of different courses of time, "The Nubelungs" hasn't become a "PanGerman worth" because there wasn't any background for historical Germany to be united again (Arakelyan, 2007). It is obvious that German
thinking was practical: it was making its history and the events that had happened even more meaningful, and if there was something that didn't become a reality, it was excluded from the borders of the tale.
Generalizing, we can say that heroic epics are mostly meant to make the historical timeline meaningful ("The Song of Roland", "The Song of My Cid", "Carl Marco: The Bulgarian Epic", and "The Song of Nibelungs") are meant to represent the epic song of a nation that did not reunite. These are the works representing some certain time, thus they make the historical period meaningful. Here the spatial and time dimensions are primary. The French, the Spanish, the Germans, and the Bulgarians live in the present just like the Greeks; for them, the spatial dimensions are the essential starting point to start outlining the phenomena.
Unlike the West, the East lives inside the whole time. That's why it is difficult to speak about time restrictions or the time of some historical events. In this sense, the significant works of the East, like "Gilgamesh", the Indian "Maha-bharata", "Sasna Tsrer", and the "Bible" also are not interrupted in time. The poetics within them remains as the poetics of a fable, where there isn't much importance in transforming the description of phenomena into an object, but it is even more essential to discover the meaning of the connections between them. Spatial dimensions concede time dimensions and visual images concede hearing ones.
Generally, the history of the cultures is a history of a conversation. The cultures make a dialogue, just like The West and the East, but that does not concede the borders and the essential settlements of mindset between them. The European epics mainly emphasize the changes that taking place in social life, for example in the Balkans, Marco Kralevich is a historical character. He is not chained and may leave the cave (Stefonovich, 1987, pp. 425-426). On Christmas Eve, an angel appears to Dane Holger, who was sleeping under Kronborg Castle in Elsinore. When asked about the situation in Denmark, he replied that everything was fine in Denmark and that he was sleeping (Andersen, 2017, p. 5).
The Irish hero, who is also a wizard, Gerald, Earl of Kildare, sleeps with his retinue in a shelter on the ground floor of the castle. Every seven years he goes out on horseback and roams
the Curragh Plains in County Kildare (Irish Legends and Fairy-Tales, I960, p. 98).
Once the earl went to the Curragh at night, a passer-by entered the open cave and unwittingly woke one of the warriors, who asked: "What, it's time?" He ingeniously answers: "Not yet" and runs away from the cave (Poetry of Ancient East, 1982).
In the West, heroes' goals are very specific and related to changes in social structures. They primarily aim to protect and reign over their homeland.
In the East, the individual is not oriented to the transformations of public life, but to the transformations taking place in a person's internal world. In this sense, expectations are related to the future, and the West prefers the present.
Conventionally, it can be said that in the West, epic songs give meaning to historical time, and in the East, to civilizational time, which together with the material forms a certain spiritual-cultural level.
French historian Fernand Braudel (2015) distinguishes three time periods: short, long, and medium (pp. 32-40). He calls the long time civilizational, the middle-time economic, and the short time related to political history. In European epics, the time related to political history prevails, that is - historical time; in the East, civilizational time prevails, which has incomparably wide boundaries and emphasizes the improvement of spiritual qualities of a person next to material achievements.
The unique epic book of the ancient East is Gilgamesh, which precedes the Bible in terms of creation. The earliest mentions date back to BC. 2500 years ago. Babylonian literature evolved from Sumerian in terms of plot. If in the last case, Gilgamesh appears in separate sections, then the Babylonian one is a monumental whole, built with an author's clear attitude. The depth of thought and the tragedy of the characters gather the rest of the topics around their axis. Sumerian heroes are shown as if they are in fairy tales, they owe to a powerful patron, Babylonian Gilgamesh stands through time (Poetry and prose of the Ancient East, 1973). In the beginning, he is the frenzied Duke who goes through the stages of mental development, to root out evil, the despair of the death of a friend, the rejection of Siddur's love, the hope of finding the flower of eternal youth, and finally the awareness of his defeat.
The main conflict is the death of his friend Enkidu, which changes the course of Gilgamesh's life. He is looking for immortality. In the Sumerian "Novel of Gilgamesh", for this purpose, on the advice of the god of the sun, the hero goes to the land of Aratta (Armenia), where the sources of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers were located, the southern borders of which were bordered by the Masu mountains (Masius in the Greek version).
In Mesopotamia, the poisonous serpent Gilgamesh and the land of the immortal were the sources of the Akkadian epic, Gilgamesh.
The idea of immortality implied the eternity of time itself, so spatial dimensions hadn't been able to enclose it within the borders. Although recent research found out that this hero is a historical character, the fifth leader of the First Dynasty of Uruk (27-26 centuries BC), the Eastern mindset still sees a philosopher and a fighter for eternity in him, not a historical figure. Here it is about the linear time, not the vertical one. One's tragedy is about the impossibility of reaching immortality (Myths of the World Nations, 1980, p. 250).
This is not a historical stage, but the civilizational time where there is no declaration of the fact: the duration of knowing the life and the man is being discovered in time.
Gilgamesh, being a defeated hero and experiencing deep disappointment, differs from the logic typical of ordinary fairy-tale heroes. The feeling of vanity will not let him go. Gilgamesh is different from Logi. This subject is the main point of "The Ecclesiastes" of the Bible. The famous conclusion is "Vanity of vanity, all is vanity" (The Old Testimony, 1994). As a result, "they are unable to satisfy men completely and internally" (Kalandzakis, 2020, p. 490). He is a defeated hero, experiencing deep disappointment, and is therefore typical of heroes in common folklore. The feeling of vanity will not let him go.
The methodology for creating scriptures is: also related to Gilgamesh. It is a world that exists in time and it never ends. Even if it is an individual story, there is no end because it is a topic related to a big era.
"The Book of Hob" is an exceptional example of creating a character, revealing the psychology of an individual in time in world literature. Here, spatial images are replaced by
internal connections being unfolded in time.
A decent and innocent man, without any reason, is put to the test, who "though he was a heathen born of an idolatrous environment, yet showed a powerful devotion to the worship of the true God" (Kalandzakis, 2020, p. 460).
Hob was a lucky Easterner, the devil suddenly hits him with a series of misfortunes. No matter how sympathetic the friends are, they explain, Hob is not satisfied with their rational interpretations. In the end, God intervenes and refers to Hob "the effects of His omnipotence, wisdom, justice, and mercy, so that Hob's inability and impotence in examining God's will be clear" (Kalandzakis, 2020, p. 471). In the end, Hob again becomes happy and the owner of a great fortune. But this is not the important thing. The point is that Hob changes psychologically, he rediscovers God through suffering, and he understands that he is God's son, that God gives and God takes away (Rohr & Martos, 2002, pp. 112-113).
The transformation of human psychology is one of the important qualities of the Old Testament. In this sense, the Iliad and the Odyssey are inferior to the heroes of the Testament, which take place in time.
"Avesta", which is considered an ancient Iranian poetic heritage, is established over time. It is about one of the most mysterious characters in the East - Zoroaster (7-6 centuries BC). The topic here refers to the uniqueness of perception of the thinking, and the phenomena. The doctrine of Zoroaster has a dualistic essence. The kind lives in the light, while the Evil lives in the dark. This theme is the main drama in Zoroastrianism. Ahura Mazda has given Ahrimani three thousand years of diverse authority, and another three thousand years of diverse authority must follow that, and after another such kind of authority, Ahriman must accept his defeat. The encounter of kind and evil has only a defensive essence. According to Zoroaster and his disciples, will provide the victory of kind against evil (Poetry of Ancient East, 1982).
The Armenian "Sasna Tsrer", as an expression of Eastern thinking, represents the flow of actions mainly in time, not in space.
Unlike the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey", "Sasna Tsrer" presents the unfolding of phenomena in time and not in space. In the Armenian epic, it is impossible to show such details in the descrip-
tion of events that have spatial dimensions. They are not descriptions of a place or an event, but developments in time. Nothing stops here, everything moves, and everything is transformed. The Greek approach to seeing the phenomena in space has limited the process of developing the psychological changes, which cannot be referred to as "Sasna Tsrer" where time is always in the continuation.
Of course, space could not be missing in "Tsrer", it can be said that it is second to time. Here the space does not have a detailed description, which is the starting point for the "Iliad", which ends at the end of the given story.
In "Tsrer", absolute time rules over everything. If Homer emphasizes the incident or the hero and brings it to the foreground and only time and space are noticeable in its background, then in "Tsrer" the hero or the incident is immersed in time, in this sense, everyone is equal.
Archaic thinking conditioned the perception of time in many ways. Two actions cannot happen at the same time, they continue each other. If necessary, one action can be interrupted and then continued to another, and so on. There is no going back to the past with memory in "Tsrer", although the possibilities were great. To justify their actions, in this case, revenge, the heroes could go to the past, recall what had happened before, and then also "continue the present". There is nothing like that in the epic, everything follows each other, and the principle of the irreversibility of events and time is mainly preserved.
Everything is happening in the present, the past is brought to the present. The self-recognition of the heroes is delineated within the now which is the most real, the most touchable time compared with the past and the future as well.
Even a dream comes closer to the natural stream of time with its duration. Concluding, we can say that the fabula time aligns with the plot time. The main and the secondary events are represented with equal importance and duration.
In "Tsrer", if the action is interrupted for another one to start, nothing happens to the previous character, everything remains the same until the plot gets a logical ending. After that, the story connected with the previous character is continued.
Moreover, space also has a time dimension, which is primary and becomes an important
means of measuring phenomena. What is important for the speaker is not to represent the distance, but the action determined by time. In Tarontsi Krpo's version of "David of Sassoon or the Door of Mher", the fight between David and Msramelik, which has a central place in the structure of the Armenian epic, is subjected to the measurements of time:
"Msramelik went on a three-day journey
And he came hastily, struck a hammer, and said:
You are soil, now become soil again" (Daredevils of Sasoun, the Armenian National Novel, 1977, p. 32).
Pulse strength is measured not by distance but by pulse after 3 hours of driving. The order of temporal expansion by the loop is preserved.
But in doing so emerges a larger and more general time that encompasses all four of his branches of epic poetry. The space in Agravakar is so small and in the case of Mher, who says almost nothing, there are a couple of candles and a tree in it which have a purely symbolic sense has nowhere to go, and in the sense of time, Mher has overcome the present, the times and lives to reach a perfect time worthy of the human description on impulse (Hovsepyan, 1977, p. 507).
This approach is not related to Mher only. There are versions that Mher's behaviour is determined by the life David had lived, and the experience he had gained. Consequently, such an idea becomes complete in the entire internal logic of the creation of the epic (The House of Sasoun, 1951).
"Sasna Tsrer" in this sense becomes one of the high cultural points of both in the East and the West (Mher as an individual who opposes the accepted order). The goal that Mher has set before him is much more realistic and practical than what we see in the case of "Gilgamesh", where the hero for the first time deeply contemplates life and death. For him, the goal, the flower of eternal youth, becomes an overriding problem.
The Armenian epic "stopped" Gilgamesh long ago. The flower of youth being the equivalent to the biblical tree of life he received from the Armenian plateau, is never mentioned in the Armenian epics (Movsisyan, 1992). The issue of immortality is at stake here too, but it is already in the sense of human progress. All evil forces
and all tyrants eventually drop out of the survival process. The only acceptable, real, and immortal thing is people and their improvement. Mher does not ask the gods for immortality, nor, like Gilgamesh, wanders from world to world to obtain the Great Flower. For him, immortality is a punishment, not a reward. This is the greatest and heaviest punishment a human being can receive. For Mher, the problem is not to remain immortal, but to become human.
This philosophy, developed in Sasna Tsrer, overcomes the impasse problem of the Sume-rian-Baverian epic that portrays the East. The serpent steals mankind's dreams because otherwise, it would not be possible. "Sasna Tsrer" suggests a more realistic and non-abstract method. The "phenomenological" annual cycle of endlessly repeating years has often had social significance, but it has a very different meaning. The rejection of the accepted world order and the previous rejection of human behaviour by the new material order. With the new description, the spare drive becomes the primary drive.
But the story doesn't end here. Mel lives in a completely different time logic in Van's Stone. God's will have no power here. Mel forgets asking for his death and awaits his second coming. He has other concerns. The main character is interested in how the world has changed since he entered the stone. She followed the instructions of an old man who brought an egg rolled in a handkerchief to her godfather, accidentally walked through her mother's open door, and who, if not the girl her mother told the horses to graze, can you provide complete information? The message sent to the cave protagonist from the outside world is evident from a single word, as well as her desire to complete the mission. The answer is unexpected: Girl, tell me your name.
"I only know my old man
I put you in front of your horse" (Shekoyan, 2008, p. 126).
Feeding a horse with the tip of a spear is unacceptable for a hero.
Since the impulses from the world do not suggest anything good to him, then there remains an incomprehensible answer for the reporter from the world: "My horse doesn't like grass." This answer is addressed to the world, but more important is Mher's conclusion from the ageing world to himself.
"Mher says - This world is cruel,
I will not live in this world" (Shekoyan, 2008, p. 126).
So, the world is still evil and that does not satisfy the hero. But there is a more important conclusion: he cannot live in an evil world. Why? It can have only one answer - Mher has become kinder than the evil world where he can't live. Or the world has become eviler during his absence.
At the end of the epic is an important symbol, the egg, which is directly related to the idea of regenerating the Earth. This image is completely Christian in nature. Associated with the hope of spring, it is located in the symbolic tradition. In Easter rituals, the egg is a symbol of rebirth. There is a series of myths that the emerging egg symbolizes origin, existence, and microcosm, from which all forms of life emerge (Tresidder, 2005, pp. 431-432). The myth of the birth of the world tends to be a symbol of rebirth. For example, the bird Phoenix dies in a fire and is reborn from an egg, and Dionysus, the rebirth of nature's spring, is represented by an egg. Mher conveys the expectation-desire of rebirth to the world, they are in a mutual relationship. The longing to be reborn is in humans as well as in Mher. Otherwise, they would not have waited for him.
Mher is oriented towards waiting for millennia, where a year has a duration of one minute. (Hovsepyan, 1977, p. 507) He presents humanity with a problem that will take millennia to solve. Mher will come out when the world order will completely changes. The primary thing for him is the moral improvement of a person, the birth of a new person. In the new time, weapons and power will no longer work, all that will be replaced by a spiritual order.
Mher's goal is not related to the idea of the prosperity of his country or the strengthening of the House of Sasna. His expectations are moral, which is not related to spatial images but is meaningful in time.
Conclusion
We can testify that the folklore and cultural works created in the East have a naturalistic content, in contrast to the West, where the utilitarian nature of the interpretation of phenomena is quite significant. "Gilgamesh", "Bible", and
"Sasna Tsrer" work unfolding on the universal landscape. They present problems of a civilizational nature, which are primarily related to the improvement of the moral profile of a person, his essence. The realization of those tasks unfolds in time, and the realization of goals is connected with the future.
In contrast to the East, Western thinking sees the unfolding of phenomena in space. The difference in the perception of phenomena, in one case spatial, in another case temporal, conditions the peculiarities of character creation. The heroes in space are excellently performed in an unchanged state, while the heroes in time are having psychological changes.
The heroes of Western epics ("Iliad", "Song of Roland", "Song of the Nibelungs", "Song of my Sid", "King Marko: Bulgarian epic", etc.) address social issues that are connected with the present, while in the East, the goals are civilizational, related to the future, their poetics is the poetics of a fable and goes beyond the limits of what can be said ("The Return of Gilgamesh", "The Bible", "Sasna Tsrer").
Acknowledgements
The research has been made with the financial support of the Committee of Science of RA in the bounds of the scientific program under the code 21T-6B038.
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