Eastern Character

Hey... got a little bit too heavy in here recently, huh? Well, let's say we take a trip to the Orient. You know... the Far East. And let's make it in the Fall where the colorful leaves light the landscape, arright?

I'm a big fan of Eastern Culture. I don't into the religions and mysticisms (though I'm not sure all of it is mysticism; I'll leave that to an expert), but many of the values and disciplines I find very valuable. Usually, we Westerners think we have everything figured out and that our way of thinking and doing things is IT. Not so.

I once read or heard somwhere that all the energy we Westerners put into technology, Easterners put into spirituality. I like the concept of that. As a Christian, I try to get as close to God as I can. But it seems most Westerners have a mindset far removed from that. It's all about economics or technology or some other meaningless quest for convenience. We're known for having work ethic, but I sometimes think it's not work ethic as much as it is the love for money. And we all know what the love for money is...

In the East, I find that efficiency, patience, ritual (maintaining a routine of any kind), and learning are higly prized. And for those of you out there that know a little something about Confucius, yeah, ritual is a Confucian ideal. But then again, no it's not. As simply as kids in America have the "homework ritual" to help them learn new things; the U.S. military is full of drill sergeants and soldiers who are taught routines to follow. For your sakes, I'll change "ritual" to "routine" or "discipline". Just stay with me for a second; I am not Confucian or confused.

So I'm taking an Asian History and Culture class in school right now. And the last few sessions have been QUITE interesting. Our professor brought in a Chinese teacher to teach us Chinese Calligraphy. I've always thought that Chinese writing was beautiful and wanted to know more about it and be able to read it. You know what I found out? If anything embodies the Eastern values of efficiency, patience, routine, and learning, it's Chinese Writing! Peep this:

Efficiency - Mandarin Chinese is usually painted with brushes or written with a felt tip pin. Obviously, not much erasing is going to happen there...

Patience - The meaning of the Chinese characters is one thing. But the beauty of the characters themselves lies in the brush strokes. No, you can't just get a brush and draw the symbols however it befits you. There is a system of strokes you have to master. And as you master the the strokes, Chinese calligraphy changes from simple writing to art because in the very stroke of your medium you learn to express yourself, not just in the selection of the character itself.

Discipline - And do you know how this mastery of Chinese Calligraphy is achieved? PRACTICE! Young Chinese students are drilled with their writing style from Kindergarten. There are simple characters that picture simple objects. Then those characters come together into compound characters to create ideas and concepts. Then the compound characters come together to create larger words and phrases and ideas out of several characters. And with so many characters to learn, practice is VITAL to make sure they are remembered and written well.

Learning - People in the West wonder why Eastern students often come over and excel amongst Western students. But after so much drilling in things like calligraphy, their minds become more receptive to learning, so they pick up things faster.

So when I say Chinese Calligraphy is beautiful, you can imagine that I'm thinking about more than just the final product. Knowing what goes into and comes out of it makes it all the more beautiful. The instructor gave us the analogy that Chinese Characters are more like algebraic symbols than letters and words. Imagine that! A writing style similar to mathematics?! (and I don't even like Math!) The most amazing thing was that he showed us some symbols that predated the Bible, but they were symbols that showed evidence of Biblical concepts. For instance , the symbol for the word "create" was not a hammer or chisel or anything that we would normally guess. It was a combination of the symbol for "stride", the symbol for "earth", and the symbol for "mouth". Isn't it ironic that in Christianity we believe that God "spoke" the "world" into existence and "progression"... So now, I'm trying to teach myself some Mandarin Chinese writing to see if it will help me to see things differently and, coincidentally, maybe even strengthen my faith.

Aside from the calligraphy, I see the same values in the eastern martial arts; yes, anybody that knows me knows that I am a martial arts junkie. Kung Fu, Ju Jitsu, Ninjitsu, Aikido, Tai Kwon Do, Juko Kai, Muay Thai, Mitsurugi styles, Judo... BOXING, lol. Though some moreso than others, it's all efficiency, techinique, discipline, and learning. So if you don't mind, I'm gonna hang out here in the East for a while. Feel free to join me... At least until Winter so we can see the snow accent the decorative oriental rooftops in white.