Yet not everything is lost. Not everyone has been confined to city life or made dependent on the system. Many still carry the genetic memory of their ancestors, which guides them to turn their gaze toward their roots.
The urge to experience something different outweighs all the conveniences and helps the city has to offer. At the heart of this is an inner desire to be free and take responsibility for one’s own life and that of future generations.
They join forces with altruists in their field, who, despite all odds and challenges, live and work in conditions that may seem frightening and repulsive to those accustomed to comfort.
Thanks to technology, rural life has also acquired elements of convenience, and an outhouse with its multi-layered fecal projections is now more of a rarity than a typical feature.
The humus layers of an outhouse are different from the cultural layers preserved in our soil over time. Layer by layer, objects unearthed from the ground reveal extraordinarily little to the public.
These finds are not highlighted on news programs, nor do they spark public interest in touching history or learning about our roots. Most are hidden in museum archives, where future generations will uncover them layer by layer, attempting to fit them into some era.
On glowing screens, we see only a fraction of what is unique to Estonians and what should nourish their souls.
This brings us to a profound question: “What will we leave behind for future generations?” Culture does not fade with time; it is timeless. However, everything we currently consume as culture changes according to ideology.
Time moves on, and many who leave this life will have left nothing lasting behind. Not a single thing that could endure through generations.
Everything we cling to, including our loved ones, is transient, perishable, and mortal.
We have almost nothing left to pass on to future generations. Instead, we have shared only anguish and anger, stemming from a phrase we love to repeat: “Those who forget their past have no future.”
Ironically, many may not even know who first wrote those words. They come from our beloved Juhan Liiv, who was also a driving force behind Estonia’s national awakening.
In our desperate effort to avoid forgetting the past, we have unknowingly become trapped in it. Living constantly in pain and anger, we are unable to move forward toward progress—progress that could shape a loving future where our true cultural cradle flourishes alongside its traditions and customs while being symbiotically integrated with technology.
We fear novelty, and driven by this fear, we tend to see the world in black and white, leaving no room for change.
Preferring conservatism, the safety of the past, and familiarity—even if painful—we reject all attempts to create something unique and unparalleled as a society.
This often-incomprehensible protest against anything new reflects the same pattern of being stuck in the past.
We believe we know everything there is to know and have built our current society on this knowledge.
In truth, we know almost nothing because we were not present in those times.
We are here, now, in the present. In our knowledge and understanding of facts, we rely on historical records written by people like us.
Many authors of historical works describe times they did not live in and events they did not witness. Every writer interprets events in their own way, adding spice and twists to make their work more engaging.
Therefore, these books often fall into the category of “History is written by the victors.” History is always written by the victors, and this represents only half of the knowledge.
All our knowledge of history could be summarized with Aldous Huxley’s quote from *Brave New World*: “He who controls the past controls the future. And he who controls the present controls the past.”
Whoever understands this statement realizes that it is impossible to return to the cultural space where we once were based on the historical past presented to us.
We are trapped in a knot of time and escaping it would require a major shake-up at the quantum level.
All events happen for a reason. The upheaval currently hitting our homeland is a desperate energetic outburst that enables Estonians to heal and return to their cultural space.
Culture and time are connected because both can be viewed as processes.
Both consist of layers. Time is nothing more than a layered recording of past events.
The layers containing past events are called the past. Events that have not yet occurred are the future.
When we understand that every moment is the past and the next moment is already the future, we begin to grasp how important it is to live in the present.
The present is the result of the equation of the past and the future.
Living here and now, we can create a new cultural space based on the variables in the current equation of time.
No historical variable fits into the model of shaping the cultural space of the future.
The starting point is our current state. Changes in time are rapid, and the question is about our survival.
Read Aldous Huxley’s quote again: “He who controls the present controls the past!”
Thus, all we need is to control aspects of our lives in our own moment in time.
This is not as impossible as it might seem.
All we must do is live our lives! The more people who do this, the greater control the people will have over the present.
The overarching control of the present on an individual level has already begun through the genetic memory of our ancestors.
It is an ancient call that everyone should hear to find themselves.
As we can see, this call has been heard, as people are returning to their roots.
Yes, initially, there are still few because the obstacles to leaving the comfort zone are immense.
But people are relearning what was once forgotten.
The skills and knowledge of our forebears are once again being adopted.
We are rediscovering the lost world and our cultural identity, which has always been with us—within us, in our genetic code!
May the Creator grant us grace!
/Katrin Seppa/
Telegram @katifilosoofia
