Proverbs and sayings (folk wisdom) surround each person. That's not news. But few people think about what the program of folk wisdom is. What does she set up a person for? In other words, what does folk wisdom teach? We will talk about this below.
The object and subject of folk wisdom: ordinary citizen
First of all, one must understand that popular wisdom was sculpted by simple people, for the most part, without outstanding intellectual and spiritual delights. But their main plus is that they were respectable. Therefore, popular wisdom is mainly aimed at the majority, which forms the basis of any society.
But this does not mean that proverbs and sayings are not used by the intellectual elite. On the contrary, such elements of folk wisdom are present in their vocabulary, but it is unlikely that people who have their own, different from the majority, opinions about reality, obey a program set for centuries. What does it consist of? In short, the wisdom of the people almost completely expresses itself in everyday aphorism: "Every man in his life must do three things: build a house, raise a son and plant a tree." We consider each item in detail.
A man must be hardworking
This is certainly a positive quality in the eyes of the people. Moreover, labor must be physical. Intellectual work as a kind of activity was not understood and widespread in the environment from which the majority of sayings came out.
Proverbs and sayings for intellectuals were forced to come up with the representatives of this social group themselves. Remember the poem N.A. Zabolotsky "Do not let the soul be lazy." This is just a work on the importance of working on oneself spiritually, intellectually.
Of course, folk wisdom does not ignore education, but nevertheless preference is given to practical learning, to master some kind of skill so that it can be applied in the future in work.
Moreover, labor is not perceived collectively by the hero of the proverbs as a means of making money. In other words, he does not want to mine “more gold”. He approaches the work from purely concrete and practical positions. For example, they say: “Without labor, you can’t even get a fish out of the pond”, or “Did the job - walk boldly.” Of course, now sayings are filled with a more abstract meaning, but before, “work” was understood as manual labor. However, we have time to move on.
Every person must have a family
“Raising a son” means that all the thoughts of a person should be directed to the family and children. He must strive for this with all his might. But folk wisdom is weak in that it advises in an abstract, focusing on a person in general, who does not exist in nature. At first glance, all this is very harmless. Just think, family. And imagine if the majority uses this kind of moral imperative as a guide to action. For example, everyone should have a family, but what about those who are unlucky? We will not take extreme examples, take one completely ordinary. Guy, he's just over thirty, no children, no wife. And then everyone around him begins to ask him: “How? And what? And why?” But all this is because people are sure: everyone should have a family. We hope it has become clear what are the advice of folk wisdom in quality and character. Move on.
Every man should have a harmless hobby
The phrase "plant a tree" prescribes certain patterns of behavior to the head of the family. No poker on Fridays, no beer with friends, no footballs and saunas after sports exercises. Instead of all these nonsense, a man should deal with trees and ennoble the outside world.
Is the image of such a man fabricated by women's hopes and cherished desires?
Imagine how now women and girls dreamily smile and think: "Yes, that would be the perfect spouse." But, as I. Talkov sang: "Oh, do not rush, dear ones, do not be so naive." Such a man expects a certain behavior and attitude from a woman. In this case, it should be, by the apt definition of Kurt Vonnegut, a “maternity machine” and a “food processor”. And a man, even in this family, appears as a “poorly or well-earning machine”, but requires all kinds of care and respect.
Some of the modern women have a sweet patriarchal model, and they are ready to lay the soul of the devil, if only such a man were found for them. But others, those who are moderately emancipated, are unlikely to be delighted with such a person - the "master of the house."
Signs only work on a psychological level. Mirrors
Particular attention should be paid to signs, because it is they that do not allow many people to sleep peacefully at night. For example, among the people (and not only in Russian) there is a belief that to smash mirrors is unfortunately or to the near death of the one who broke.
Mirrors are endowed with special mystical power. Many peoples have a custom to hang them with cloth when there is a dead person in the house. A mirror is a transition, a door to the world of the dead. If a person left through it, then he should be prevented from returning, therefore everything is curtained. And yes, besides, no one wants uninvited guests from the world of nothingness. Terrible stories are sometimes presented by folk wisdom.
Probably, the sign with a mirror is based on this legend. If a person broke a mirror, he thereby attracted attention and did wrong to the dead, and they will remember and take revenge.
It is easy to understand that terrible legends act on a person at a subconscious level, and he programs himself for near death. These are the signs. Folk wisdom can be a little creepy.
Black cat
It’s also time for Zverushka to blame folk medieval European legends for her unsweetened life. It was at that time that it was believed that the devil incarnated in black cats, so they are still wary of them to this day.
Why can’t you get on the dining table?
Here, too, everything is quite simple. In villages, a coffin was usually placed on a table in a hut. Therefore, it is believed that if a person climbs onto the dining table, then calls for his own death or someone else's death in the house. Here is such a story.
The path to yourself. Testament of Peter Mamonov
Is there an alternative to worldly wisdom? Yes, it consists in not especially listening to the people and the majority, but to go their own way. Maybe for someone this will sound rude, but sometimes even the closest ones should not be listened to blindly, because they have their own ideas about life. We must go to ourselves, as P. Mamonov says. As for the majority, it is in his nature to put pressure on an individual person and force him to become the same as everyone else.
In conclusion, I would like to apologize to those readers who expected to find proverbs about folk wisdom in our article. The answer to the dumb question is this: there is no need to write here that in the minds of every person is found in abundance. But analytical material on the topic is not enough. All those phrases that rumor prescribes to the people are their wisdom. Such an article turned out in which folk wisdom (sayings) was considered, or rather its meaning, psychological and philosophical meaning.