Turkmen Mentality in Global World: Pro and Cons
67th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, Gotemba 2025
Mentality is, in simple words, a certain “way of mind”, a set of mental, emotional and cultural attitudes, value guidelines characteristic of one or another ethnic group, people, nation. This article reveals the lifestyle of our ancestors and methods of surviving and preservation of the national language as a treasury of national culture, tradition, ethics, beliefs, culture of relationship between the people in society. Turkmens as other nations live in a modern world and use all conveniences which offer new technologies. Modern life and our beliefs, some contradictory notions in our mind and reality gives us opportunity to compare images of our vision and models of behavior in our national mentality. Since the consciousness and psyche of the subject as a whole are determined by the genotype, the environment and the subject’s own spiritual creativity, the mentality is determined, firstly, by the characteristics of the genotype, secondly, by the uniqueness of natural and social conditions and, thirdly, by the quality and degree of the subject’s own spiritual activity as a form of self-determination. Revealing values of the Turkmen national mentality expressed in our epics, legends, fairy tales, proverbs and sayings we try to draw attention of young generation and educate them in national traditions. Mentality, being the core of personal and group culture, the strategic cultural program of an individual and collective subject, functions as part of the main contradictions of society.