The spiritual mission of Georgia - Gamsakhurdia, Zviad

Zviad Gamsakhurdia THE SPIRITUAL MISSION OF GEORGIA A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE IDRIART FESTIVAL IN TBILISI PHILHARMONIC HOUSE 2 MAY, 1990 Page 7 Dear friends: As it is quite impossible to do justice to such a complex theme in a single lecture, my address... More

Zviad Gamsakhurdia THE SPIRITUAL MISSION OF GEORGIA A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE IDRIART FESTIVAL IN TBILISI PHILHARMONIC HOUSE 2 MAY, 1990 Page 7 Dear friends: As it is quite impossible to do justice to such a complex theme in a single lecture, my address will inevitably be in the nature of an overview. I shall try to give a general outline of the problems upon which I and my friends have reflected over the past years, I shall also touch upon the results of separate studies carried out in Georgia as well as in the West. The plan of the lecture will be as follows: I shall first speak about the ethnogeny of the Georgians. As I am aware that our Western guests are particularly interested in this topic, I shall treat of such aspects that may not be known to them and are given scant attention in present-day Western scholarship. Furthermore, during the long period of Soviet ideological dictatorship much in the history of Georgian culture has been hushed, distorted, and tabooed. This fiel Less