An Attempt at Introspection from A Different Worldview

This quote shares some interesting findings from a research project working with primary oral cultures (i.e., illiterate). Walter Ong recounts what A. R. Luria, the investigator, found in his study in the 1970s.

“Self-analysis requires a certain demolition of situational thinking. It calls for isolation of the self, around which the entire lived world swirls for each individual person, removal of the center of every situation from that situation enough to allow the center, the self, to be examined and described. Luria put his questions only after protracted conversation about people’s characteristics and their individual differences (1976, p. 148). A 38-year-old man, illiterate, from a mountain pasture camp was asked (1976, p. 150), ‘What sort of person are you, what’s your character like, what are your good qualities and shortcomings? How would you describe yourself?’ ‘I came here from Uch-Kurgan, I was very poor, and now I’m married and have children.’ ‘Are you satisfied with yourself or would you like to be different?’ ‘It would be good if I had a little more land and could sow some wheat.’ Externals command attention. ‘And what are your shortcomings?’ ‘This year I sowed one pood of wheat, and we’re gradually fixing the shortcomings.’ More external situations. ‘Well, people are different—calm, hot-tempered, or sometimes their memory is poor. What do you think of yourself?’ ‘We behave well—if we were bad people, no one would respect us’ (1976, p. 15). Self-evaluation modulated into group evaluation (‘we’) and then handled in terms of expected reactions from others. Another man, a peasant aged 36, asked what sort of person he was, responded with touching and humane directness: ‘What can I say about my own heart? How can I talk about my character? Ask others; they can tell you about me. I myself can’t say anything.’ Judgement bears in on the individual from outside, not from within.”

– Walter Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (London: Routledge, 2002), 53-54.

It’s difficult to imagine a state of mind where I don’t immediately go inward when I consider what I think of myself.

Interesting stuff. It certainly provides food for thought when considering how to translate the Bible in worlds that aren’t versed in introspective thinking.