The Paradox of Essence
“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”
― Oscar Wilde
Somewhere between the extremes of total self-absorption at one end, and the abdication of any sense of autonomous agency at the other, lies a point of centered attention. From that centered point of attention an enhanced understanding of what we have to give might come into view - that is to say an enhanced understanding of the essence of who we are might run through us. From that point of understanding we might simultaneously feel part of something larger than ourselves.― Oscar Wilde
The paragraph above might be thought of in context of Zhuangzi's metaphor concerning the 'center point of the potters wheel' which I introduced in the class 2 notes. Perhaps we could consider the clay that is being shaped as analogous to the shaping of some essential quality of a human being. Or, we could consider that the act of devoted making, as it gives something to the world, both expresses something essential about the potter and in the process is continually reshaping that something essential that runs through the potter. This second analogy is I think closer to what Zhuangzi intended and also aligns closely with the meaning attributed to the Tiger theme in Harmony Tai Chi introduced in ' Form 5 - Hidden Tiger – To Give More is to Have More' ( see last weeks post).
From this perspective our identity, that which defines us, - our essence - is not singular; but instead is relational, various and fluid. Walt Wittman famously wrote that we contain multitudes, while the contemporary philosopher of aesthetics Crispin Sartwell further points out that essence is not something that can be contained, or enclosed within anything at all.
The Tiger theme in Harmony Tai Chi deals with this sense of essence. Who we are is dependent upon both the depth and the breadth of our cultivated connections to the world. What we to have give depends upon what we can receive, what it is that motivates our actions, and what the world we are embedded within is capable of accepting. The care we apply to this process is not rule bound, it is aesthetic in nature. The last form in this class 'Embrace the Tiger Return to the Mountain' is a meditation on this concept. The other movements could also be related to this theme, but for now I will simply leave you with some excepts from the Tao Te Ching to contemplate each one.
'We might call this the paradox of essence: the more pure a thing is, the more self-enclosed, the less fully is it something, or the less fully itself it is: the less individuated it is by its unique relations.' (1)
Strike Forward Hands and Foot – The High and Low Assist Each Other
What's easy and what's difficult make each other what they are
to the point where they are precisely identical.
What's long and what's short are the measure of one another.
What's high and what's low reach toward each other.
High notes and low notes form a harmony.
Future and past form a circle.
So there's nothing to do but remain in the emptiness from which all these notions emerge and into which they are released. (2)
Twist one Step Fist – To Be Brave is to Be Kind
'I am great in my resemblance to nothing at all, in my sheer impossibility.
If we were possible, we'd be boring.
These are my amazing qualities:
I'm compassionate. That's my courage.
I'm frugal, so I'm generous.
I have no ambition, so I rule.
To be courageous without compassion,
generous without frugality,
powerful and at the same time ambitious:
that is the way of death.
Compassion is the real victory.
Generosity is the real frugality.
Humility is the real power.
When nature gives us life it shows all these qualities.' (3)
Move Block Fist – Within There is Essence
'The relations in which each thing stands are continuously multiplying, even from their infinities of infinities. Each new thing that emerges, and each moment in a continuously unfolding time through which each thing persists, multiplies the relations in which each thing stands. A corollary of this is that at each moment, each thing that persists through that moment is increasingly individuated or rendered more unique.'
'We might call this the paradox of essence: the more pure a thing is, the more self-enclosed, the less fully is it something, or the less fully itself it is: the less individuated it is by its unique relations.' (4)
Withdraw and Push – Knowing When Stop is to be Safe
Keep pouring, and the vessel overflows.
Keep sharpening, and the knife becomes useless.
Hoard gold and jade, and you are in continual danger.
Pride and its collapse are the same.
Work hard, then relax.
Nurture, then release.
That's the true way. (5)
Always Embrace the Source –Cross Hands
The source is a mother.
Nature is her child.
To know the mother, know the children.
They - you - will always return to her. (6)
Embrace Tiger/Return to Mountain – To be Hollow is to be Filled
To become strong, yield.
To be straightened out, bow down.
To achieve fullness, empty yourself.
To be young again, allow yourself to age.
To learn, forget.
The wise person seeks the darkness and shines. (7)
1,4. Sartwell, Crispin. Entanglements: A System of Philosophy (SUNY series in American Philosophy and Cultural Thought) (p. 62). State University of New York Press. Kindle Edition.
2. Tzu, Lao. Waterway: a new translation of the Tao Te Ching and introducing the Wu Wei Ching (Kindle Locations 75-86). crispy press. Kindle Edition.
3. Tzu, Lao. Waterway: a new translation of the Tao Te Ching and introducing the Wu Wei Ching (Kindle Locations 683-692). crispy press. Kindle Edition.
5. Tzu, Lao. Waterway: a new translation of the Tao Te Ching and introducing the Wu Wei Ching (Kindle Locations 133-137). crispy press. Kindle Edition.
6. Tzu, Lao. Waterway: a new translation of the Tao Te Ching and introducing the Wu Wei Ching (Kindle Locations 534-535). crispy press. Kindle Edition.
