Chinese Medicine, as a healer, is an interest of mine. Elements of healing from Oriental point of view versus western empiricalism in comparison with eastern symbols denoting natural process versus phonetic symbols denoting the same. Again, the two cultures diametrically opposed. What value do you see in letters versus a value you see in symbols?
Perhaps the symbols hold nothing. From the vantage point of our americaness we are so alienated from the symbols we attach no meaning. Looking deeper, we begin, using this lovely right brain of ours, to intuit just why man is this symbol like a 'wishbone' and why "sees" is this view box with legs and "horse" is sort of like a view box with an extension and four plots below. Though, possible that withero we are using left brain empiricalism or these symbols are to be taken lightly and osmosed through our symbols for us to understand. The drilling of symbols to denote natural process in our attempt to assimulate to the chinese language grants little success when compared with the ease of integration when simply letting the symbols freely pass over our consciousness, attaching little or no meaning, simply appreciation and recognition. Healing from a Chinese point of view is very similiar. Less memorization and more real life survival intuitive proof of 'knowing' the elements in the chinese symbology in and of our cells.
Gesture and symbols as means for communication which in are "based upon a vivid shorthand picture of the operations of nature". Again returning to consciousness and the dichotomy between eastern and western structures of this consciousness. We use words, Chinese use symbols, a shorthand dipiction of what actually happened. If we can back up to the moment in time of creation where words/symbols came into being to express 'natural process' we see an immediate division between eastern and western (american) minds as to the expression of these 'natural processes'. Western (american) mind gave meaning to what where before arbitary letters and sounds -- phonetics. Eastern developed rather a pictural representation of the natural processes, a shorthand account of action. Western (american) developing letters which loose arbitariness and Eastern interpretation allows for a more intuitive and right brain based idealogy as to what constitutes language. More room for interpretation within symbols as to words, letters, sounds, phonetics. Is this true?
"The group holds more of a continuous moving picture" -- in reference to the symbols "man", "sees" and "horse". The Chinese point of view is that that all is in continuous motion in life. Western (american) thought tends to hold more of a conservatisim that all is fixed, less open to change.
"Watching things work out for their own fate" -- in reference to chinese symbology as opposed to american letters. For me, Chinese indicates, as usual, a wholistic approach. Meaning thus that within Chinese symbology, as noted: "the combin{ation} {of} both elements... the vividness of painting and ... the mobility of sounds..." (363). Wherein before, as mere readers of Western( american) thought we "juggle mental counters" which to me is indication enough to intuit western thought as more trying to "control" the interfaces of a reality (poetic reality, horse moving through midnight reality, any reality really) rather than ease up breath and let the reality pass through our consciousness. Perhaps an ambition from the birth of our country to stand up for ourselves and not take no Britain pain in the arse control. The foundation of our country is that of pure intent, though purity within the naivete of immaturity, more our people, much like today, rushed in too fast.. the Indians hold the "reality" of our lands and we, unable to see such truth and simplicity in god, rushed in to change the existing structure with our WORDS.
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One of Fenollosa's points, I think, is that whether we use a purely abstract coded system (i.e., Western alphabet), or a pictorial-symbolic code, poetry involves the sorts of mental operations that go with the latter, in which things like motion and relations between items in a group take on crucial meaning. You get at this, I think, with your comments about natural process, though I would be careful not to equate the Chinese system too unproblematically with the "natural," since both the eastern and western systems are ultimately coded, constructed, abstract, and hence "symbolic" as well.
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