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HISTORY | PHILOSOPHY | MESOLOGY | JAPAN
The middle, or how we relate to the world — from a Zen perspective
(ideas and shapes floating in ambient space)
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The great thing about traveling and staying in Japan for some time is that it has given me ample opportunity to review my sense of experiencing space. In Japan, there isn’t a spot on earth that seems to be devoid of meaning, if only you want to see it. And it doesn’t need to be a monument or a signature place of so-called historical importance.
In most cases, when we assign historical importance to a certain place, we tend to see that spot from the perspective of human history.
Now listen to this expression:
“human history”
Two words. And both carry heavy loads.
> history
Some would say that history is what we remember. In most cases, it is something that we read, like some kind of sourcebook. It’s very much like archeology, where we read into a place, cautiously scraping away the now and the recent, to reveal the yesteryear and the past.
