PHILOSOPHY OF LITHUANIAN MUSEUM OF ETHNOCOSMOLOGY

Ethnocosmology – the entirety of visual, emotional, ethnic, spiritual, cognitive, pragmatic, prognostic and ontological relations with the Cosmic World

Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology is the first and the only museum of such character in the world. The essence of the Museum is the relationship of a man and mankind with the Cosmic World.

The main task of Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology is to collect, accumulate, systematize, preserve, research, expose the information on the relationship of a man and mankind with the Cosmic World and to provide it to the visitors.

Definition of the Cosmic World

Sky – is a space above us with clouds, with the Sun and stars at night. Rain and snow fall from the sky. But the Sky can also be written in a capital letter – it is a space of the highest spiritual substances – the World of Gods (Heaven).

Cosmos – is a word of Greek origin emphasizing the order and harmony of the space around us and heavenly bodies in it.

The Universe – is a scientific term pretending to range the absolute entirety of the world around us. A matter, energy, space and time – everything belongs to the Universe. By generalizing these three definitions further we will use the term ‘Cosmic World’ that includes the contents and meanings of the conceptions of the Sky, Cosmos and the Universe.

Ethnocosmology

It is a reflection of the relationship of a man and mankind with the Cosmic World and its manifestation in traditions of life of the nation, its rites, material and verbal heritage, science, technology, literature, art, philosophy, religions, futurology and science fiction.

From here comes the interdisciplinarity of ethnocosmology, variety of manifestations of the links with the Cosmic World in human activities.

In the scale of time Ethnocosmology covers historical heritage, links of contemporary activities of the mankind with the Cosmic World, problem of unearthly mind and unearthly civilizations and, what is very urgent for ethnocosmology, – prognostic, futurological aspect of the future of the mankind in relation with the Cosmic World.

Relationship with the Cosmic World

Our relationship with the Cosmic World is expressed by the following propositions:

1. The Cosmic World is always far away but it is always above us. We are not able to dissociate ourselves from it – we are always in it and we are an integral part of the Cosmic World.

2. The Cosmic World is an inevitably broadening space of human activities coming through the scientific cognition and physical assimilation.

3. We – civilization of the Earth – are the products of Cosmic evolution and our future will always be under the influence of the consistent patterns of the Cosmic World.

4. In the Cosmic World there lie the causes of birth, evolution and existence of life and mind.

5. In the Cosmic World there lies the ultimate cause of birth and existence of the Universe.

6. The cognition of the Cosmic World and the sense of relationship with it constantly put the strain on an ontological question: what is the meaning of human life and evolution of the mankind in this Universe?

7. In the Cosmic World we apparently run into the Obscurity, which as an objective form of the expression of the world around us assumes physically and immanently the most realistic tangibility.

8. Every man is in constant relationship with the Cosmic World. But the sensation, conception and significance of that relationship depends on spiritual and cognitive world outlook of a single man.

Classification of relations with the Cosmic World

1. Emotional and visual relationship – from the first “oh, how beautiful it is!“ to art, science, philosophy, religion, ethics, moral philosophy and other problems. This relationship seems to be very simple – you just have to look up to the sky – but it is a beginning of everything – from admiration to the deepest questions on the cognition and meaning.

2. Spiritual relationship – this relationship is reflected in all the religions of the world; human spirituality is measured by this relationship.

3. Ethnic relationship – it is our verbal, ritual and material heritage expressing the vertical relations of the nation with the Cosmic World by the means of calendar timing systems, seasonal rites, songs, stories, fairy-tales, mythology and through the rich symbolism of folk art.

4. Cognitive relationship – it is a road of scientific cognition to the Cosmic World – great deposits of cognition of the Universe accumulated by the methods of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and physics.

5. Pragmatic relationship – it is cosmonautics, aeronautics – physical passage to the Cosmic World with the aim not only to study it but to employ, apply it and to make a profit on it as well.

6. Relationship with the forms of life of cosmic origin, with the mind of cosmic origin and cosmic civilizations – the efforts of the mankind to find the first facts of existence of other cosmic life or the traces of manifestation of intellectual creatures in the Cosmic World. Positive results of such efforts will be highly significant for the future of the mankind.

7. Prognostic relationship – efforts to envisage the future of the mankind in cosmic scales of time – from science fiction to scientific prognoses.

8. Ontological relationship – never-ending search for the purport of life of a man and mankind in this Universe.

9. Relationship existing in obscurity – it is a necessary sign of respect to the Obscurity. It would be naïve to expect that this classification exhausts all our links with the Cosmic World.

Ethnocosmological information

Everything what reflects or includes the information on human relationship with the Cosmic World shall be called ethnocosmological information.

Ethnocosmological information may be the following: ethnographic material therein texts, songs, rites, symbols; scientific works and science achievements, cosmic technology and the results of cosmic programs, audio, video or photo materials; heavenly sight through the telescope; artworks; philosophical and religious texts, etc.

The above listed sources of information do not have and objectively cannot have any unanimous and single criterion of estimation. In other words, the whole totality of ethnocosmological information does not seek to form a single, ostensibly objective model of the integrals of relationship of the Cosmic World with a man.

On the contrary – the whole totality of ethnocosmological information accumulated in one space expresses the multidisciplinarity and variety of our relationship with the Cosmic World that covers a very broad range of human expression – mythology, faith, science, cosmic technology, art, practice, history, hypotheses and science fiction.

The Museum of Ethnocosmology selects, accumulates, systematizes, preserves, researches ethnocosmological information and provides it to the visitors.

As there is a great plenty of ethnocosmological information the basic aim of the Museum of Ethnocosmology is to search for the most summarized, distinctive and essential information, to select, accumulate and expose it.

THE PRESENT, SIGNIFICANCE AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF LITHUANIAN MUSEUM OF ETHNOCOSMOLOGY

1. The Museum of Ethnocosmology has become a peculiar centre of culture where resilient links of a man, nation and mankind with the Cosmic World are disclosed in broad panorama. By its content and purpose Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology, as the first and the only museum of such character, originally represents Lithuania in the context of culture of the world.

2. After reconstruction of the Museum of Ethnocosmology with broad program with guides, the number of visitors has reached 50,000 per year.

3. The Museum of Ethnocosmology attaches great importance to the education of schoolchildren and students where the knowledge directly interlaces with the formation of world outlook, with cognitive astronomical observations, where new questions arise next to the answers. Human relationship with the Cosmic World had great influence on the formation of traditions, religions and modes of life of different nations. The whole totality of these relations, links was and is one of the most important sources for the maturity of world outlook of an individual.

4. The new and original content of the Museum – an ethnocosmological aspect of culture, interpretation of human relations with the Cosmic World, constantly developing human expansion to the Cosmic World and inevitable aim of the 21st century to bring together the residents of the world with different world outlooks and different religious confessions are indubitable guarantors of the prospects of the Museum of Ethnocosmology.

5. Estimating the uniqueness of the content of Lithuanian Music of Ethnocosmology – opening to visitors the space of human existence in the Universe, emphasizing all the relations with the Cosmic World – from ethnic relationship to relationship with unearthly civilizations, exposing the achievements of cosmic programs of the states of the world, we can expect that such kind of museum would become a stimulus for other countries of Europe and other continents to establish their own museums of ethnocomology.

6. Analysis of human relationship with the Cosmic World induces:

6. • the conception of dependence of mankind’s existence on the Cosmic World ;

   • responsibility of the mankind for their actions that may determine the existence of the mankind’s future in cosmic scales of time.

   • to search for alternatives of development of the Earth’s civilization in prospect of cosmic future;

   • to approach to the most fundamental issues of birth and existence of life and mind in the Universe.

We will quote some of such issues:

6. • What are the origin, meaning and purpose of the phenomenon of the Mind in the Universe?

   • What the highest stages of evolution may be reached by a single intellectual individual and by the totality of such individuals – planetary civilization?

   • Do there exist any versions of evolution based on other values other than evolution of the Earth’s civilization with its technical-energetical-informational values?

   • Does each planetary civilization have an opportunity to reach the highest evolutionary stage of its own and of individuals composing it?

The questions above do not have any answers today. But we have no doubts that the man’s and the mankind’s life in the space of such questions would be much more meaningful and raising hopes for survival.

2004 -06-08 SCIENTIFIC CONCIL OF THE MUSEUM