Anthropologist Ruth Benedict talks about Japanese self-discipline and how it helps you deal with life’s challenges, from passing exams to depression.
A small child is born happy, but not «tasted of life.» Only through spiritual preparation (or self-discipline — suye) a man and a woman get the opportunity to live fully and «feel the taste» of life. This is the only way to love life. Self-discipline «strengthens the gut» — the seat of self-mastery, and therefore — enhances life.
«Skillful» self-discipline among the Japanese is logically justified: it improves a person’s control over his own life. American anthropologist Ruth Benedict writes about this in his book The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. Models of Japanese culture.
Any impotence that a beginner feels is surmountable, the Japanese say, because in the end he will either start to enjoy learning or give up. The student properly masters his profession, the boy masters judo, the young wife adapts to the requirements of her mother-in-law.
It is quite understandable that in the early stages of preparation, a man and a woman who are not accustomed to new requirements may want to quit what they started. In this case, their fathers are likely to say: “What did you want? In order to feel the taste for life, you need to go through some preparation. If you give up and do not train yourself at all, then the result will certainly be unhappy … «
Xuye, according to their favorite saying, «cleanses the body of rust.» A person turns into a sparkling sharp sword, which, of course, he would like to become.
In the state of mastery (muga) «there is no gap, not even a hair’s breadth, between a person’s will and his action.» In people who have not achieved mastery, there is a so-called insulating screen that is between will and action. It is called «observing «I» or «interfering «I».
When this screen is removed by special training, the goal closes in on itself, the action occurs without effort, the person perfectly reproduces the picture that he painted in his mind.
From childhood, we are taught to be aware of our own actions and to take into account what others will say about them. In such a situation, the «I-observer» is extremely vulnerable. To feel pleasure in the soul, it is necessary to eliminate the vulnerable «I». First, a person stops feeling that «he is doing it,» and then he begins to feel his true abilities. It is similar to how a student in the art of swordsmanship feels the ability to stand on a four-foot post without fear of falling.
The Japanese express this thought in a formulation unusual for the Western world. About a person who has reached the state of mug, one can say: “lives as if he had already died.” A literal translation would sound like «a living corpse», and in all Western languages this expression has an unpleasant connotation.
The Japanese say «lives as if dead» when they mean that a person lives at the level of «mastery». This expression is used in common daily instructions.
To cheer up a boy who is worried about his high school finals, he will be told, «Treat them like a person who has already died, and you will pass easily.» To reassure a friend who is making an important business deal, they will say: “Be as if you were already dead.” If a person is going through a serious spiritual crisis and comes to a dead end, quite often with the decision to live, he comes out of it, «as if he had already died.»
In the understanding of the Japanese, a shameless person is one who ceases to be tense and constrained.
Muga is based on the same philosophy as the advice to live as if dead. In this state, a person lacks alertness to himself and, consequently, all fear and foresight. The Watching Self no longer prevents movement towards the target. The feeling of stiffness and tension, the tendency to depression disappears.
According to Western philosophy, by practicing muga, the Japanese eliminate conscience. What they call the «observing self» or «interfering self» serves as a censor that judges a person’s actions.
The difference between Western and Eastern psychology is clearly manifested in the fact that when we talk about a shameless person, Western psychologists mean that a person has done something unacceptable without thinking about others. But when the equivalent expression is used by a Japanese, he speaks of a person who ceases to be tense and constrained.
The Americans mean a bad person, the Japanese — a good, trained, able to fully realize their abilities. He is capable of the most difficult and decisive disinterested actions.
At the heart of motivation for an American is guilt. A person who, because of a hardened conscience, ceases to feel it, becomes antisocial. The Japanese present the problem differently. According to their philosophy, a person is kind at heart. If he manages to realize his plans, he acts chastely and easily.