012_Headway
Last time, I used a square, a triangle, and a circle as a way to consider how we acquire language (#011).
The time before that, I used a square, a triangle, and a circle as a way to consider how we engage with any object of attention (#010).
This time I will use a square, a triangle, and a circle as a way to consider what “a way” actually is. This is a matter that goes to the heart of East Asian thought.
The influence of “the way” can be seen in phenomena ranging from Japan’s various “ways” (the way of tea, the way of karate) to the Korean flag and China’s Dao De Jing, a short text that may be as well known globally as the Confucian Analects, for example. Dao De Jing is a source of ideas that helped to shape Taoism, or Daoism, and in English, the “Dao” of Daoism is “way” or “path”. Here it is in Canjeez: 道.
How would you define a “way” in English? Here’s my effort: “a thoroughfare, route, or method to get from A to B.”
“Way” may be real or metaphorical. The same is true of 道. Is it safe to cross the 道 road? What 道 path do you plan to pursue after graduation?
What does Canjeez 道 show us? The bit on the left that sweeps down to the right indicates motion. The other bit was originally a head (now simplified to an eye with bits on top). Thus, 道 is a head in motion.
If I were writing about the kanji 道, I would not be able to write things like “The other bit was” and “道 is a head in motion” because different scholars have different ideas about the origins of the character. But with Canjeez I have no need to
watch my step
proceed with caution
take care not to put a foot wrong
…because with Canjeez, I alone decide what’s factual and what’s not, and this makes it less likely that I will
lose my way
head off in the wrong direction
stumble and fall flat on my face
As these examples illustrate, metaphors about moving along a path—or struggling/failing to do so—are common.
But let’s not michikusa wo kuu 道草を食う eat roadside plants (as they say in Japanese about dawdling). We should move straight on to an important question: What are we doing on a path in the first place?
And the important answer is: We’re trying to get from A to B.
At the exciting climax of #010, we were about to take a step in the direction of eating an apple. Let’s move forward from that moment.
Having established that the apple “out there” (in the world) is a good match for the apple “in here” (in our memory), we are all set to embark on the way of picking an apple.
Even before we embark on the way of picking the apple, we have probably also undertaken the way of inspecting an apple. If the apple passes the inspection and is picked, we can then embark on the way of eating an apple.
A hand is a great tool for picking an apple. Fingertips, nostrils, and eyes are great tools for inspecting an apple. A hand and teeth are great tools for eating an apple.
In each case we aim to select tools that will enable us to use optimally little time and effort as we move from A to B. It may indeed be possible to remove an apple from a branch using a flying karate kick, but the foot is not the bodily tool best suited to the task and a flying karate kick would be a pointless use of energy, unless it was part of a training regime, or it was intended to impress someone. But those are different A to Bs, each with a different primary goal.
A hand is, well, handier. In this context, on this path, it optimises our physical interaction with the material world.
Each of the body parts and faculties mentioned above is an example of a 道具 tool. The first Canjeez in this glom is 道 path/way. The second Canjeez is 具 item. In Japanese, tools are path-items.
Of all the tools in the human toolbox, language is the most powerful. As we grow up, we watch how people around us use language to achieve objectives, and we learn to do the same. We are surrounded by guidance flowing from people we love and trust. We respond to their suggestions and advice—or to their criticism and anger when we do something that they regard as inappropriate or irrelevant.
By being circumspect, by reflecting on rules and expectations that circumscribe our actions, and by referring to others in our social circle, we come to understand the most appropriate and relevant course of action to take in any given circumstances.
Guidance takes place within a social sphere. Eventually, if all goes well, we internalize the guidance and it becomes our moral compass—another circular image.
The Japanese glom for this type of guidance is 道徳 morality. The first Canjeez is 道 path/way. The second Canjeez is 徳 virtue. In Japanese, morality is path-virtue.
道具: a toolbox full of path-items: square.
道: a path, along which we make “headway”, receding to a vanishing point in the distance: triangle.
道徳: a sphere of path-virtue: circle.