[Notes] Mental Images and Phenomena

"Forest of the White Horse" 1972 (Showa 47) - Kaii Higashiyama

I would like to ask you all a question here.

When snow melts, what does it become?

Many of you probably imagined water, or perhaps spring, didn't you?

Of course, both are correct.

However, this question has great significance.

When snow melts, it becomes water.

This is what is called a phenomenon.

It is said that people who think logically based on facts often answer this way.

Now, when snow melts, it becomes spring.

This is what is called a mental image.

It is said that sensitive people or those with rich imaginations often answer this way.

Humans interact with others daily using both reason (sociality) and instinct (feelings).

Sometimes logical explanations and actions are necessary, but words and actions that prioritize feelings are also necessary, aren't they?

To cultivate good human relationships, both mental images and phenomena are necessary.

Even when speaking the same words.

Even when taking the same actions.

I believe it is important to make statements and judgments that are logical while also respecting the other person's feelings.

Also, the act of thinking is the same as watering the fertilizer yourself.

And, within yourself, things you are coming to know in real-time (explicit knowledge) and.

If we consider that as a deviation from what we are coming to know belatedly (tacit knowledge).

It seems that words might spring forth infinitely.

・Explicit Knowledge
Is it verbalized?: It is verbalized.
What is it based on?: It is based on objective things like information and data.
Ease of communication: Because it is verbalized, it is easy to communicate.

・Tacit Knowledge
Is it verbalized?: It is not verbalized.
What is it based on?: It is based on subjective things like experience and intuition.
Ease of communication: Because it is not verbalized and is something to be learned by watching or feeling, it is difficult to communicate.

[Reference Materials]
The "SECI model" is a continuous process model for knowledge creation.

It is known as a fundamental theory of knowledge management.

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Now, as the ways of perceiving various things are undergoing a paradigm shift.

We try to stop and think because we want to gain a coordinate axis for our thoughts, but aren't we often swept away by our daily lives?

I also feel that we might be driven by the new "something?" provided one after another.

Perhaps, we might be faintly feeling some kind of dissatisfaction there?

That is why I believe it is necessary to stop and pause at times.

After pausing for a while, be grateful for what you have now, and try living at a leisurely pace.

For example, there are many things that become richer by taking time, aren't there?

Taking time to read and taking time to write is also, in itself, a way of savoring the work.

That is the same for relationships with people, too (^^)

The flow of various content is a major achievement of internet technology.

Also, the internet possesses an excellent ability to store (stock) things, doesn't it?

Faced with the vast amount of content generated every day, I feel it is also important to create a place like a calm sea.

Hiroshi Nagata also spoke as follows in "Starting from Reading".

"Starting from Reading" (Chikuma Bunko) by Hiroshi Osada

"The time one possesses is not time that is free to use. It is not time in which one can freely do something or achieve something. Rather, I think that the time spent drawing water from the well of one's own memories to fill the empty bucket of the individual 'I' is what constitutes a fulfilling time." (Ibid., page 116)

The memories of a single person are limited.

I feel that reading might be the act of tirelessly filling a bucket that quickly becomes empty.

Also, the richness of language is likely not about gathering many different ways of saying things.

I feel that flowery language does not necessarily mean richness of language.

Instead, it is likely more important for language to see how richly one can pour oneself into a limited set of words.

To be born into language—to quote the famous opening line of the Gospel of John in the New Testament, 'In the beginning was the Word'—means that language exists before human beings.

Human beings do not create language.

It is human beings who are born into language and grow up within it.

For example.

When you feel as if you are a part of that person.

And that a part of yourself is also within that person.

When you realize the existence of someone for whom you no longer need to think about distance.

I think that the words necessary for each moment naturally fill you from within.

Therefore, so that words do not retreat due to the poverty of language, I would like to be as mindful as possible of the richness of language (^^;

Releasing and nurturing precious words little by little into the sky (or sea) of the heart.

Otherwise, we might end up filling our hearts and minds with junk words that we do not even believe in ourselves.

Isn't it true that within the words we choose, we are actually the ones being chosen?

Learning language means knowing that you are not alone in this world.

Because language is a connection.

I think that the words most necessary to me probably cannot be found just by hunting for "words" alone.

What must be found is "necessity."

Words that allow you to confirm yourself and make what is important certain through those words.

Language is what allows us to express experiences.

Or perhaps, it is what allows us to preserve them.

Putting things into words is different from giving the correct answer to a question.

It is not about crafting the correct answer.

It is about creating good questions for yourself, by yourself.

We probably err because we look for the correct answer without properly accepting the question (^^;

Therefore, I think that everything begins with reading as one of the acts to know that.

Reading books might not be what reading is; perhaps reading is creating a storage place in your own heart for words you do not want to lose (^^)

I think it is fine for each person to decide what state they want to keep their heart in.

Start with words first.

And why not begin with reading?