Leadership and Traditional Culture

By Danil Mamiev. A speech given at the 9th Global Leadership Forum, Novosibirsk, Russia, 2007

Good morning, dear participants, guests.

The role of a leader in modern society is great and responsible. It is the leaders who form the rules of the "game" in the society, leaders who dictate educational programs, and leaders who manage the state and its development. For a modern leader it is not enough to be an atheist and not enough to be religious. It is impossible to be a representative of a separate race or nation.

The end of this century is a qualifiedly new level of humanity's development. And the first thing to be taken into consideration is globalization of both events and problems; all interspecies and inter subject borders fade, there is a growing interdependence and interconnectedness; and this also correlates to human culture.

At the same time we can observe some tendencies for regionalization of life against the background of globalization. The significance of every region is growing, because each is an important organ in the body of the planet, and the role of every region is becoming more and more vital for all. We all realize that we need a spiritual rush forward to find new values and new forms of life in the new epoch.

This demand is to be heeded by all world leaders of human society. Leaders should learn to trust their hearts' and bodies' intuition, because it is time to become capable of sensing the invisible tendencies that are formed through the magnetic fields of the Earth. Modern life conditions make personal beliefs and actions, according to this or that situation, very valuable.

There was a time when planetary consciousness only needed to consider all of the human accomplishments and the result of its common energy as illuminated by it. But today every human being's energy is fixed on a very delicate level, as every human is a part of the biodiversity of the planet and must be appreciated as such.

In geopolitical conditions there are changes that demand the qualities of a Mother, a Woman, personifying intuition, in order to accept all the other models of thoughts and behavior in human relationships. In other words, we need logic to be controlled by intuition. We need balance of energies. Modern culture literally "understands" the coming epoch of "Woman," and a criterion for that is sex. Women try to obtain masculine qualities in order to be accepted as leaders. But traditional culture ascertains only variation in the form of the keeper of information, ways of receiving Knowledge, and form of the required energy. The energy of Logic gives way to the energy of Intuition.

Capacity to intuitively visualize the ways of life's activity is alive in indigenous peoples' cultures. It is difficult for them to survive in a modern world of single polarity and dogmatism. We should realize that in a changing world where it is necessary to adapt ourselves to new conditions of eco environment, this very knowledge of indigenous cultures and their vision of the world is of great importance. We need intercultural exchange.

To be clearly understood, I would like to clarify the notion of "Tengrism" by means of R. Bessertinov's words. They speak about common philosophical principles of traditional cultures:

"… If we start observing nature, we will see that nature and the Universe (or 'Tengry' in the Altai language, author's remark) is the most essential subject to be taught, developing the logical thinking and intuition of both ancient and modern human. Because Tengry people do not accept dogmatism and religions that are based on "the only" truth of prophets and their sacred books, they avoid the method of going through strange "coded" long-term programs. "Tengrism" is knowledge about nature created by natural historical ways, based on people's outlook-including early mythological notions-connected with the relationships of humans with nature, the forces of the elements, and the Universe [Tengry]."

It is quite another qualitative level of human consciousness, necessary for modern technocratic civilization. "Tengrism" demands that people become aware of the consequences of their actions on a planetary scale.

Viewed on the background of globalization, the responsibilities of leaders grow, because the modern environment is so tough that every leader's influence on society becomes a possible accelerator of nature's transformations, and we are presented by nature with its result. The environment has become much tougher and interrelationships are very fast and interconnected.

I, as a representative of an indigenous culture, am very well placed to tell you that a great part of the ecological catastrophes we witness everywhere, is a result of human activity. It is peoples' actions that initiated a chain of consequences, resulting in catastrophes. I can also tell you that the effects of these actions are not limited to these obvious catastrophes: they also influence other levels, in the Universe's space, moving "other subjects"; and we know not what kind of forces are moved nor which universal law will have been triggered, the results of which will come back to us, their source, through space.

This is why it is necessary to create schools for leaders, opening new, invisible (but clearly readable by life) signs and symbols, and laws of interrelationships with the world's environment. These schools will prepare leaders capable of appreciating the functional meaning of every human and territory. A modern leader, if he cannot be all-knowing, must at least have a whole vision of the world, which is now peculiar to indigenous cultures. The experience of traditional cultures is needed for humanity, for we live in conditions of quickly changing and transforming geo-planetary needs for energy.

It is characteristic for modern society to be divided into developed and under-developed-world and "not world"-countries. When we have wars on the planet, they indicate the failures of diplomacy. We are, as humanity, a whole body; it is impossible to imagine that the head of a civilization doesn't understand its heart, the stomach doesn't want to be on friendly terms with the adrenal, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand does. We are all organs of a planetary organism, experiencing inner contradictions through wars, and destroying other organs.

Can you imagine a body where some organs neglect or even harm other organs? In the organism called humanity, some organs (peoples) openly neglect other organs (peoples). As a result of it, humanity catastrophically and rapidly becomes old. It makes no sense to search on the "surface" for the deep reasons for conflicts. And if a human doesn't know the "laws of nature," he will still be using "boots" and tanks to "reconstruct constitutional order" and declare "jihad" to the outer world; he will still be cross and give blessings for butchery, and will still cry "Allah Akbar" and kill his adversary without hesitating.

The state of our humanity and the Earth depends on our consciousness and our capacity to reflect and feel the world. By clearing rivers, we mean clearing our blood vessels. By clearing our thoughts we mean harmonizing planetary consciousness. We must understand that our organism's health depends on the harmony of all our organs, created by harmonious Consciousness. We must realize that the planet's health depends on the harmony of interrelationships of humans with nature, and humans with humans.

It is a pity, but modern Western understanding of leadership and the principles of its realization does not coincide with the spiritual laws of indigenous cultures, representatives of which, when they become leaders according to the norms of modern life, are often torn away from their ethnic community. Mono-polarity in a leader's understanding and dogmatism in his expression often lead to a "mono" type of leaders. Modern leadership in general is focused on taking possession of human minds instead of promoting the inner qualities of every person, those peculiar to each human being. Modern leaders behave in such a way that many people have a feeling of vulnerability, instead of being aware of the planetary importance of their existence. Modern societies, in their desire to "be a leader," strive to "follow a strange path," imitating their leaders instead of becoming aware of their uniqueness and functionality and its presentation. That's why, in this institute of leaders, an educational system should be created that would add new, modern knowledge to the genetically based qualities of a future leader, and not replace his energy informational matrix and essence as a keeper of knowledge by criticizing his nonscientific approach and nonmodernity. In this way, principles of biological and cultural diversity will be realized in the international community and become the basis for sustainable development in which we can find a point for harmonizing.

And I hope that our work today will be one more step in becoming aware of the importance of everybody, as it is said in an ancient Altai spiritual doctrine: every human is from God and with God. Let Him be with YOU all the time.

Translated by Nina Goncharova

Contributed by Carol Hiltner

For more information about the sacred lands of Altai and the ancient culture that stewards them, contact Carol Hiltner at Carol@AltaiBooks.com or 206-525-2101, or check her websites at www.AltaiMir.org and www.AltaiBooks.com.

About Danil Mamiev

The leader of the public organization "Tengry School of Ecology of the Soul" in Altai Republic, Siberia, Danil Mamiev is a wisdom-keeper for the indigenous Altai people. The Altai Mountains are a huge energy vortex known as the "umbilicus" of the Earth, and are the place where global shamanism originated. With seventy years of violent repression under Communism, and now the imminent risk of wholesale loss of their traditional homeland due to impending Russian land privatization laws, Danil stands out as his people's most respected advocate on behalf of the sacredness of our mother Earth.

For more information about Altai and how you can help Danil to conserve Altai's sacred lands as part of our children's inheritance, see www.AltaiMir.org.