Since I landed in my native Georgian lands, I got reassured, that the longing to return, was not merely a nostalgic feeling. My country was calling me and it is happy to have me back. It is happy to have any of us, numerous children, back who left for abroad. Leaving behind domestic chaos, uncertainty, poverty, political messiness, and identity vulnerability. We left for countries with stabler economics, defined structures, and dominant politics in the circulation of educational power.
Many of us Georgian children left the big mother. In the 90ies it was still a rare thing. They would call me a “firma girl/ ფირმა გოგო” when I’d return in the summer times. “Firma” signified a “product label”. It took me a while to understand the gist of the word back then. When I think of it today it was a rather adequate illustration of our relationship to the adored and idealized “West”. Foreign labels like Snickers, Xerox, and Adidas were an exotic and desired representation of “freedom” after the long-lasting era of the Soviet walls.
Only 4,7 Million Georgians are left all over the world
Over time, cheap flights reached also Georgia, and more and more people found the means to leave home. In fact so many, that according to the statistics, there are only 4,7 Million Georgians left all over the world today. That’s a shocking number. We have never been a grand-sized country, but 4,7 is rather unsettling, considering that a good million of the 4,7 is not living in Georgia today.
Ancient Georgian culture, our history, and the current threat of cultural imperialism
That hit me hard. Because, you see, we are native people to our land. Georgia is a small country with an ancient culture. Proto-Georgian tribes appear already in the 12th century BC on these blessed lands. As it was a small country, surrounded by big imperial powers Georgia experienced multiple seizures, imperializations, and colonializations. Still, we have somehow miraculously survived. That seems to me a pretty interesting historical precedence. It would be more than a pity if we’d seize to exist now, due to current cultural imperialistic politics. Cultural imperialism is a tricky one. It’s hard to spot and trace, as it doesn’t operate on a direct physical level. It works by superimposing “global North” values and narratives that lead to the extinction of local knowledge and practices.
Problematic Nationalism
In my teenagehood, like so many of my peers, I had an aversion towards Georgian nationalistic drivel. Drunken men sitting at the Supra table and flaunting rigid virtues of manhood, warriorship, and blind faith. There were not many social roles to choose from. That felt as if my freedom was being strangulated. It didn’t leave much space for other Georgian narratives and made an impression as if patriarchal values were the only true roots of our culture. It made the impression, that finding other identitary options necessitated seeking it outside.
Cultures are far more complex than the little number of approved identity options that are created due to a given nation’s historical survival necessities. Cultures are also far more complex than the identities that we take on from the global imperial powers and overlay on ourselves. Because that way, we become walking clouds. Walking clouds miss the alchemizing power of the roots. The roots are the ground where complexity can truly be digested, fermented, and harmonized.
Why are the younger generations leaving?
What if, many of the younger generations are seeking their identities in other cultures because they are given only a very scarce range to choose from in their own country? What if we can find a richness of diversity and complexity in our own roots? What if our ancient ancestors, those ones whose names we don’t know anymore, are the carriers of the wisdom of our roots? And what if I’d told you, that we can access the wisdom of the old ones, regardless of the lack of written historical sources?
How can we call our people back to our country?
Our ancestors, the ancient ones, those ones who lived far before the history books can trace, knew very well about the complexity of being. We gained our wisdom through the relationships in our natural surroundings, in our tribes, and in direct communion with the divine. They had rich reciprocal ethics and carried the wisdom of the earth and the heavens. Each one of our lines carries a particular mystery and a special gift, that can be unraveled and brought consciously forward.
There is so much richness to be explored and discovered in our roots, our lands, and in ourselves, individually and as a collective. As we get a clearer insight into who we are individually it enables also a healthier sense of interconnectedness. It allows for collective effort with that we can create exactly those structures and loving grounds that we are seeking in foreign lands.
Calling the support of our ancient, loving, and wise ancestors
How can we get to know ourselves better? How can we find our value and offer it to the world? Our ancient ancestors are a great source of insight and support. We can connect directly with them. They are so ready to offer their experience and create the means, so we can lean into our superpowers. They are so ready to support us and give us the necessary safe space so that we can explore our authentic identity and share it with others.
You probably already feel them, in your heart and in your bones. You probably already know deep, deep down, that they love you for exactly who and what you are. Give them a chance to prove that. Allow them to show you their love, and mirror to you your most precious expression of divinity.
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