Among the many admirable traits we find in the 13th century Mongols is a rare ability to live not against Nature, but in and with her in a cooperative way.

역사적 의의

What enabled the Mongols to achieve so much?

The environment in which Chingis Khan lived had existed for thousands of years, but only with him and his epoch came a unification of all Mongols and a shared sense of purpose strong enough to put an end to the unceasing rivalries and disorganizing warfare which before so seriously had depleted their resources and strength as to make any sustained, united action unrealizable.

Conventional approaches cannot, and do not seek to, explain the emergence of a Mongol nation whose members possessed a common unifying cause and abilities enabling them to achieve their grand design in spite of all disadvantages of a small people confronted by large, powerful civilizations like the Chinese and the Islamic world. China and the Moslem states in the Middle East were formidable adversaries, with populations and armies far out-numbering the Mongols.

When the Chingis-Khanite Mongols unswervingly attributed their purpose in the world and their unequaled successes to supernatural powers and their influences, we ought to pay attention to it. Even for those who choose not to believe in such explanations, it is historically intriguing to witness this way of human thinking as an element of psychosocial identity and an obviously very powerful source of inspiration and confidence.

In Temuchin's and his people's understanding, their historical role was one they were destined to play. Traditional, sanctioned Western thought does not acknowledge the concept of destiny, and the West has mostly been averse to as much as consider this idea so essential in the Mongol conception of the Universe. Instead we have preferred to write it off as dark superstition, and consistent with this disdainful approach, nations or ethnic groups believing otherwise are often seen as undeveloped, ignorant, culturally and philosophically inferior.

The Mongols in the era of Chingis Khan were no primitive barbarians. Moreover, they had a destiny, a purpose. The Mongol invasions resulted in migrations of people, in the opening of trade and broad exchange of culture and ideas between East and West. Political effects also include the unification of China and Russia. For bad and good, it was the works of the Mongols to unify these two subsequently so historically significant states. We should not question that the achievements of the Mongols benefited Humanity in general, even though the outer manifestation of war and violence brought short-term destruction and pain in its time.

The Mongols carried a rich spiritual heritage stemming from thousands of years of a life whose main ingredients were close contact with a harsh, outstandingly changeable and unpredictable, but also at times exquisitely beautiful Siberian nature, in addition to an extensive exposure to the age-old Chinese civilization. Their religious universe was a synthesis of highly evolved elements found in Taoist and Buddhist thought, interwoven with indigenous Inner Asian animistic insights and shamanistic practices dating several thousands of years back. Shamans with their practices here played a crucial role as connectors between the physical and the spiritual realms.

Granted that the harmonizing of Man and his faculties with other forces in Cosmos is of crucial importance for our using our potentials and our well-being, the Shamanistic traditions of the Mongols may show us the way to something important for us. What our civilization has mistakenly interpreted as the "primitiveness" and "barbarism" of the Mongols are expressions of the great ability of this people to live not against Nature, but in cooperation with it. Due to an over-emphasis on the rational mind, our civilization has to a considerable extent lost this precious ability, and we have to regain it, or the consequences of alienation from Nature will dwarf every disaster hitherto seen in world history. It is time for us to realize this.

Regarding their methods of warfare, they were the most sophisticated in their day, and the spiritual force of their guiding principles behind all their activities has never in history found any equal. Any unbiased observer will also perceive that the Mongols won their victories by stratagem, adaptability, understanding, and mobility rather than brute force. Their system of intelligence was unmatched in the 13th century world, and while their European opponents knew nothing about the Mongols, Subedei, Chingis Khan's greatest general, had amassed immense knowledge on the minutest details on the West, even down to the family connections of the rulers of Russia and Western Europe. This was put to good use during the Mongols' European campaign 1236-1242.

Still, a basic principle of Cosmos that has once existed, can never cease to be. Even though the visible, physical manifestation has disappeared, the principle, the energy field, will remain forever, and possess real power and consciousness. It is up to us to seek it. Accordingly, the memory of the "golden period" lives on in the souls of many Mongols. In fact, since olden days many Mongols have felt that Chingis Khan himself will rise again, and in some form or fashion recreate his empire. That is to say that the spiritual foundation, the intrinsic content of the Mongolian phenomenon, will again be brought into the world so all who belong to it or feel an affinity towards it can receive it.

- by Per Inge Oestmoen, Norway -