Thursday, October 30, 2014
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Friday, October 24, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
How the Brain Leads Us to Believe We Have Sharp Vision
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How the Brain Leads Us to Believe We Have Sharp Vision
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Saturday, October 18, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
Insight 649
Insight 649
Castigat Ridendo Mores"（彼は風俗を嘲笑することによってそれを矯正する）
パリのオペラ・コミック座に掲げられている碑銘です。つまり、ブラック演劇演劇とは「ひとのふりみて我が振りをなおせ」ということ。
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「裸の王様」（はだかのおうさま 丁: Kejserens nye klæder 発音）は、デンマークの童話作家ハンス・クリスチャン・アンデルセンの童話。アンデルセンの代表作の1つ。
スペインの古い伝承をアンデルセンが翻案したものである。物語の大枠は変わっていないが、元の話では王様が裸であると指摘するのは子供ではなく黒人であった。
新しい服が大好きな王様の元に、二人組の詐欺師が布織職人という触れ込みでやって来る。彼らは何と、馬鹿や自分にふさわしくない仕事をしている者には見えない不思議な布地を織る事が出来るという。王様は大喜びで注文する。仕事場に出来栄えを見に行った時、目の前にあるはずの布地が王様の目には見えない。王様はうろたえるが、家来たちの手前、本当の事は言えず、見えもしない布地を褒めるしかない。家来は家来で、自分には見えないもののそうとは言い出せず、同じように衣装を褒める。王様は見えもしない衣装を身にまといパレードに臨む。見物人も馬鹿と思われてはいけないと同じように衣装を誉めそやすが、その中の小さな子供の一人が、「王様は裸だよ!」と叫んだ。ついに皆が「王様は裸だ」と叫ぶなか、王様一行はただただパレードを続けるのだった。
なお、日本でのタイトルは「裸の王様」であるが、絵本などでの描写は、何も身につけていない全裸、下半身のみ下着をはいているもの、右の挿絵のように上下とも下着を身につけているものなどさまざまである。
Castigat Ridendo Mores"（彼は風俗を嘲笑することによってそれを矯正する）
パリのオペラ・コミック座に掲げられている碑銘です。つまり、ブラック演劇演劇とは「ひとのふりみて我が振りをなおせ」ということ。
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「裸の王様」（はだかのおうさま 丁: Kejserens nye klæder 発音）は、デンマークの童話作家ハンス・クリスチャン・アンデルセンの童話。アンデルセンの代表作の1つ。
スペインの古い伝承をアンデルセンが翻案したものである。物語の大枠は変わっていないが、元の話では王様が裸であると指摘するのは子供ではなく黒人であった。
あらすじ
見えもしない衣装を身にまとう王様のパレード。下着は身につけている
新しい服が大好きな王様の元に、二人組の詐欺師が布織職人という触れ込みでやって来る。彼らは何と、馬鹿や自分にふさわしくない仕事をしている者には見えない不思議な布地を織る事が出来るという。王様は大喜びで注文する。仕事場に出来栄えを見に行った時、目の前にあるはずの布地が王様の目には見えない。王様はうろたえるが、家来たちの手前、本当の事は言えず、見えもしない布地を褒めるしかない。家来は家来で、自分には見えないもののそうとは言い出せず、同じように衣装を褒める。王様は見えもしない衣装を身にまといパレードに臨む。見物人も馬鹿と思われてはいけないと同じように衣装を誉めそやすが、その中の小さな子供の一人が、「王様は裸だよ!」と叫んだ。ついに皆が「王様は裸だ」と叫ぶなか、王様一行はただただパレードを続けるのだった。
なお、日本でのタイトルは「裸の王様」であるが、絵本などでの描写は、何も身につけていない全裸、下半身のみ下着をはいているもの、右の挿絵のように上下とも下着を身につけているものなどさまざまである。
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
Insight 647
Insight 647
キルケゴールは1813年、コペンハーゲンに生まれ、コペンハーゲン大学で神学と哲学を学びました。彼は父親が幼いころ貧困から神を呪っていたこと、結婚前に妻を妊娠させたこと、という神に対する罪を背負っていた事実を知り、精神上の「大地震」を経験します。またその後には、レギーネ・オルセンとの婚約を破棄するという事件を起こしました。彼の作品はこれらの体験が大きく関わっていると言えます。事件直後ベルリンへと赴いて後期シェリングの講義を聴き、帰国後は仮名の著作を次々と発表しました。キルケゴールは『死に至る病』を書き上げたのち、デンマーク国教会への批判を展開する中、42歳でその生涯を閉じました。
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「実存」という言葉はラテン語のexistentiaに由来します。事物の「本質」、「である」といった意味のessentiaに対して、事物の「存在」そのもの、「がある」を表す語として、中世末期以降使用されてきました。後期シェリングは事物の本質に対して「現実存在」の重要性を主張しましたが、キルケゴールはこれに「主体的で具体的な人間存在」という実存主義固有の意味を与えました。彼は「重要なのは私にとって真理であるような真理を見出すこと、私がそのために生き、かつ死ぬことを願うような理念を見出すことである」と述べ、「主体性が真理である」という思想を追究しました。
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前期キルケゴールは「実存の三段階」を主張しました。実存は「美的実存」、「倫理的実存」、そして「宗教的実存」と弁証法的に発展してゆくのです。美的実存は、人生を享楽しようという直接性の段階です。そうした人々は、健康、富、名誉といったものを求め、才能を発展させ、己の欲望を最大限に開放することに執着します。しかしその行き着く先は絶望でしかありません。このように自己中心的で刹那的な美的実存は、己の直接性に閉じこもることで倦怠、不安に直面することとなります。こうして、人は自己の個別性を突破し、普遍的な倫理的目標を掲げる倫理的実存の段階へと至るのです。人は「よき父」「よき夫」となるべく努力します。しかし己の有限性ゆえに絶対的な倫理的要請の前に挫折をせざるを得なくなり、罪ある存在として宗教的実存へと向かってゆき、徹底した内面化によって主体的に神に関わります。そしてキルケゴールはこの段階をさらにふたつの領域に分けました。まず、内面的宗教的実存としての「宗教性Ａ」です。これはあらゆる宗教に共通な要素ですが、しかし「絶対的逆説」としての「宗教性Ｂ」というものも存在します。宗教性Bにおいて実存は、永遠で絶対的な超越者である神が、僕の姿をまとった人間イエス・キリストとしてこの世に現れたという、歴史的「逆説」への信仰をもつのです。
| 『死に至る病』『あれかこれか』など http://www.philosophy.nobody.jp/contemporary/phanomenologie/kierkegaard.html |
ユーモア
【英】humor
もと体液の意。古代生理学では、体液の種類と量が人の性格や気質を決定すると考えられた。
キルケゴールは、ユーモアを倫理的実存と宗教的実存との境に置き、無限なるものの姿とした。世俗的なものは、絶対的なものの前では無意味であり、滑稽だからである。
これはユーモア一般の本質をよく表現している。ユーモアは意味がないからナンセンスなのではない。むしろ積極的に意味の破壊——空の空なるものをめざすからこそ、ナンセンスなのである。
そしてナンセンスを笑われている当の相手は、実は我々自身でもある。ユーモアが与える心温まる連帯感の源は、この共犯性にある。
皮肉が孤独な笑いとすれば、ユーモアは共笑いといえよう。皮肉屋は自らを高くし、自らを神の位置において愚者を笑うのに対して、ユーモリストは自らを低くし、自らを被造物の位置において、我々すべての不条理——そのセンスへの執着のナンセンスを笑うのである。
（講談社現代新書『現代哲学辞典』より）
【英】humor
もと体液の意。古代生理学では、体液の種類と量が人の性格や気質を決定すると考えられた。
キルケゴールは、ユーモアを倫理的実存と宗教的実存との境に置き、無限なるものの姿とした。世俗的なものは、絶対的なものの前では無意味であり、滑稽だからである。
これはユーモア一般の本質をよく表現している。ユーモアは意味がないからナンセンスなのではない。むしろ積極的に意味の破壊——空の空なるものをめざすからこそ、ナンセンスなのである。
そしてナンセンスを笑われている当の相手は、実は我々自身でもある。ユーモアが与える心温まる連帯感の源は、この共犯性にある。
皮肉が孤独な笑いとすれば、ユーモアは共笑いといえよう。皮肉屋は自らを高くし、自らを神の位置において愚者を笑うのに対して、ユーモリストは自らを低くし、自らを被造物の位置において、我々すべての不条理——そのセンスへの執着のナンセンスを笑うのである。
（講談社現代新書『現代哲学辞典』より）
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Saturday, October 04, 2014
Sólo quiero destacar que no recibí en ningún momen
Sólo quiero destacar que no recibí en ningún momento un informe escrito sobre la Visita Apostólica y, por consiguiente, tampoco he podido responder debidamente a él. A pesar de tanto discurso sobre diálogo, misericordia, apertura, descentralización y respeto por la autoridad de las Iglesias locales, tampoco he tenido oportunidad de hablar con el Papa Francisco, ni siquiera para aclararle alguna duda o preocupación. Consecuentemente, no pude recibir ninguna corrección paternal –o fraternal, como se prefiera– de su parte. Sin ánimo de quejas inútiles, tal proceder sin formalidades, de manera indefinida y súbita, no parece muy justa, ni da lugar a una legítima defensa, ni a la corrección adecuada de posibles errores. Sólo he recibido presiones orales para renunciar.
La verdadera unidad eclesial es la que se edifica a partir de la Eucaristía y el respeto, observancia y obediencia a la fe de la Iglesia enseñada normativamente por el Magisterio, articulada en la disciplina eclesial y vivida en la liturgia.Ahora, empero, se busca imponer una unidad basada, no sobre la ley divina, sino sobre acuerdos humanos y el mantenimiento del statu quo. En el Paraguay, concretamente, sobre la deficiente formación de un único Seminario Nacional –deficiencias señaladas no por mí, sino autoritativamente por la Congregación para la Educación Católica en carta a los Obispos de 2008. En contraposición, y sin criticar lo que hacían otros Obispos, aunque hay materia de sobra, yo me aboqué a establecer un Seminario diocesano según las normas de la Iglesia. Lo hice, además, no sólo porque tengo el deber y el derecho, reconocido por las leyes generales de la Iglesia, sino con la aprobación específica de la Santa Sede, inequívocamente ratificada durante la última visita ad limina de 2008.
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Thursday, October 02, 2014
Munus ab obsequio
Munus ab obsequio
S. Tommaso afferma che la simonia. è un'eresia, poiché eresia, se non di dottrina, di fatto, è il credere vendibile il dono dello Spirito Santo (Sum. theol. II II 100). S. Gregorio Magno nel condannare l'eresia simoniaca ne specifica le tre forme: munus a manu (donativi o denaro), munus ab obsequio (adulazione intenzionale), munus a lingua (parola insinuante per la compera dei sacri uffici).
Ecco come si dice leccaculo in latino.
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S. Tommaso afferma che la simonia. è un'eresia, poiché eresia, se non di dottrina, di fatto, è il credere vendibile il dono dello Spirito Santo (Sum. theol. II II 100). S. Gregorio Magno nel condannare l'eresia simoniaca ne specifica le tre forme: munus a manu (donativi o denaro), munus ab obsequio (adulazione intenzionale), munus a lingua (parola insinuante per la compera dei sacri uffici).
Ecco come si dice leccaculo in latino.
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Shusako Endo’s iThe Golden Country/i and “the full symphony” of Catholicism | Catholic World Report - Global Church news and views
Shusako Endo’s iThe Golden Country/i and “the full symphony” of Catholicism | Catholic World Report - Global Church news and views
The CWR Blog
When
threatened with petty political correctness, American Catholics should
bear in mind Endo’s depiction of heroic Christian witness.
September 25, 2014 09:25 EST
“Plunged into the boiling waters
of Unzen, they hung on, believing this was the way to Paradise. Even when they had huge rocks tied to them
and were dropped into the middle of the sea, with their last breath they sang
out their prayers … This is true fealty.
Even as a samurai, I have never to this day seen so great a fealty.” – Lord
Tomonoga, Shusaku Endo’s The Golden Country
In 1633 Jesuit missionary
Christovao Ferriera was captured by agents of the Japanese shogunate, which had
recently turned against Christianity. As a representative of the prohibited
foreign religion Ferriera was then condemned to “the Pit,” a procedure
described in grisly detail by scholar and priest Francis Mathy, SJ:
The victim’s
body and arms and legs were tightly tied with rope and he was suspended head
first into a pit filled with offal. A hole was drilled in his temple to permit
the blood to fall one drop at a time, thus preventing rapid death from
circulatory obstruction. This torture could be made to last several days and
even an entire week before death took place.
Ferriera did not last a week. After
a few hours he emerged alive—and broken. In exchange for his life he had
renounced the Faith.
Ferriera was not, of course, the
first Christian or even the first priest to deny Christ due to threats or pain.
Such failures have an extensive lineage, stretching all the way back to St.
Peter. But his case is rendered striking by the fanaticism he directed against
the Church following his fall. Renouncing his baptism, Ferriera adopted the
name of a recently executed criminal (“Sawano Chuan”) and then put his
keenly-trained intellect to work constructing polemics against the Church and
plots against the Christian underground. He had once been Superior General of
the Jesuit order; now he became the order’s archenemy, and the author of
anti-Christian works like A Clear Exposition of the False Doctrine.
All this will be familiar to
those who have encountered Shusaku Endo’s The Golden Country. A somewhat
conflicted Japanese Catholic, Endo used his 1966 play to highlight the Faith’s
multi-dimensional interaction with Japanese culture. “If I have trust in
Catholicism,” he once explained, “it is because I find in it much more
possibility than in any other religion for presenting the full symphony of
humanity. The other religions have almost no fullness; they have but solo
parts. Only Catholicism can present the full symphony.” In the case of The Golden Country, Endo’s longstanding
desire to make this “full symphony” more accessible has formed the basis for a
classic work of dramatic art.
The action begins in Nagasaki,
where we are quickly introduced to Lord Tomonoga—middle-aged samurai, closet
Christian, and one of the play’s foremost protagonists. Using his position as
an official in the shogunate’s dreaded Bureau of Investigation to assist his
persecuted co-religionists, Tomonoga falls under the suspicion of said Bureau’s
Chief Investigator—a keen-witted, self-hating apostate by the name of Inoue. Intent
on capturing Father Ferriera—who has, up till now, evaded the authorities by
moving stealthily from village to village—Inoue decides to use the samurai as
bait. Cornering Tomonaga, Inoue orders him to perform the fumi-e—a
ritual of apostasy whereby Christian faith is denied by trampling on an icon of
Christ.
As expected, Tomonaga refuses,
thus outing himself. He is thrust into the pit, and Inoue publicly proclaims
that his life will be spared if Father Ferriera turns himself in. After much
soul-searching, Ferriera does just that, but Inoue goes back on his word,
leaving Tomonaga in the pit until the samurai finally dies. Ferriera’s own turn
in the pit comes, and he shocks the Christian community by giving in and
performing the fumi-e for all to see. “You see,” crows Hirata, a petty
Bureau official who detests all spiritual ideals, bushido and Gospel alike, “we
are stronger than your God.”
Hirata feels doubly triumphant
because he has entrapped Gennosuke, a young samurai who loves Tomonaga’s
daughter Yuki. Though a pagan, Gennosuke has developed a soft spot toward
Christianity for the sake of his devout beloved—and so treasures a crucifix she
has secretly given him, even though he does not quite understand what it means.
Of course crucifixes are strictly forbidden, so when Hirata discovers it he seizes
the opportunity to denounce Gennosuke as a Christian sympathizer. Tied to
stakes in the ocean, Gennosuke and Yuki sing hymns together until they are
drowned by the incoming tide; in contrast the two apostates Ferriera and Inoue
remain alive to contemplate their degradation. The play closes with the
chanting of martyrs in the background, while word arrives that a new team of
missionaries has infiltrated the country. By the time the curtain closes, it is
evident that not even the Bureau can wipe out the Church completely.
As Lord Tomonoga most exemplifies
the marriage of the Faith with Japanese culture, it is worth pointing out that
the Catholic samurai is no invention of Endo’s but is rather an idealized
representation of historical figures like Takayama
Ukon and Bl. Melchior
Kumagai Motonao. Thanks to his submission to the Gospel, Tomonaga sees the
inner significance of the samurai code—the word samurai literally
meaning “service to the master.” Nobility entails not privilege but duty,
Tomonaga muses shortly before his death; the true aristocrat does not exploit
his people, but instead seeks to set a good example for them.
Almost as intriguing is the
conflicted Chief Investigator Inoue, who calls to mind Dostoevsky’s Grand
Inquisitor. When Tomonaga refuses to perform the fumi-e, Inoue is not so
much angry as sad. Convinced that Christianity is truly a glorious, enlightened
teaching, Inoue is equally convinced that this teaching is incompatible with
the Japanese temperament. If so, all the blood heroically shed for the sake of
Japanese Christianity has been a tragic waste. Japan is not really the golden
country of noble pagans described by St. Francis Xavier, Inoue tells Tomonaga
with a hint of bitterness, but “a mudswamp,” one wherein “God’s shoots would
not grow.” Far from being a source of triumph, Tomonoga’s eventual death only
makes the Chief Investigator even gloomier, for he knows Tomonaga to be of an
increasingly rare breed, a “samurai among samurai.” Now low-minded sadists like
Hirata are the only people left working at the Bureau.
Except for Gennosuke, that is. An
idealist, Gennosuke devotedly takes care of his widowed mother, looks up to
Tomonaga, and dreams reverently of the girl he loves, and through him we get a
sense of the best that pre-Christian Japan has to offer. At first he intends to
carry out the fumi-e ritual to clear
himself—he is not, after all, a Christian, so why shouldn’t he trample on the
crucifix? But then Yuki speaks up at his trial, and in the ensuing exchange the
pagan youth helps clarify the meaning of Christian martyrdom:
YUKI:
Gennosuke, if you step on the fumi-e, the bond that binds our two hearts
together will snap forever. This may have been made by an unknown craftsman in
Nagasaki, but to me it has been all my life the most precious of all things. All
my life I have adored it. If you step on it, you will go completely out of my
life. Instead, step on me.
HIRATA: Oh,
this is very interesting. I like nothing better than to throw mud at what is
beautiful and spit on what is noble. This kind of perversion the officials of
the Bureau must all have to some degree. Gennosuke, this lady is asking you to
step on her face instead of on the fumi-e.
YUKI: Hirata-dono,
will you be satisfied if Gennosuke steps on me? Will that clear up your
suspicions?
HIRATA: It
most certainly will.
YUKI: Then,
Gennosuke, please step on me. Everything that’s happened has been my fault. Step
on me.
(She pauses as she waits for
Gennosuke to step on her. But he cannot.)
GENNOSUKE: I don’t know anything about the teaching of
Christ. But now I see this clearly. If Yuki is to be hung in the pit, I want to
be hung there too. If she is to be burned, I want to die with her.
Note that Gennosuke is hardly
motivated by a commitment to love in the abstract. It is not his right to love which occupies his mind,
but his commitment to his actual beloved. Likewise, Yuki could care less about
some hypothetical right to practice Shinto or Buddhism or Taoism. What inspires
her is not her religious freedom, but rather Christ.
As for Father Ferriera, following
his apostasy he seeks comfort, oddly enough, by comparing himself to Judas—who
in Ferriera’s skewed theology was a martyr, too, insofar as Judas both suffered
greatly for his actions and played a key role in bringing Christ’s work to
completion. Yet Inoue will have none of it. Although deeming it his duty to war
upon Christianity, the Chief Investigator is secretly disappointed by Ferriera’s
failure. Hence Inoue has no patience for the rationalizations of “Sawano
Chuan,” and acts as an unexpected voice of orthodoxy: “You are wrong. Stop
deceiving yourself […] you are just bending the teachings of Christ to suit
your weakness, trying to disguise your misery even from yourself.” Unlike the
metaphysically passive Buddhist, Inoue insists firmly, the Christian
acknowledges God’s gift of free will—a gift necessarily accompanied by
responsibility.
Unlike Endo’s earlier
controversial work Silence—a novel which dealt with
much of the same material, albeit in a problematic fashion—The Golden
Country offers us a vision of a robust and spiritually powerful Japanese
Christianity. This comes as no surprise, given the historical source material
that inspired Endo. Until the latter half of the 19th century, when authorities
finally lifted their ban, the Japanese church kept alive by operating
underground, patiently awaiting the day when the legendary fathers would return
again from across the sea. Cut off from Rome and under constant threat of
death, Japanese Christians baptized their children and taught them what they
could via precious fragments of Scripture and doctrine. Need I point out the
stark contrast with modern American Catholicism, which possesses far greater
resources, opportunities, and liberty, yet has in most of its schools and
institutions proven incapable of instilling even a minimum of respect for the
Magisterium?
For that matter, when all
is said and done maybe we should even be careful about passing too harsh a
judgment on Ferriera. After all, he only yielded to anti-Christian forces after
having been put through torture as brutal as anything featured in a modern-day
horror movie. Far milder forms of persuasion have proven effective in getting
countless American Catholics to compromise with the enemy—and even, like
Ferriera, to actively aid that enemy. Every time some mandarin of
political-correctness tries to intimidate us with name-calling, or fines, or
the prospect of getting fired, we should, instead of cowering, think long and
hard of the boiling waters of Unzen, of the crucifixions at
Nagasaki, of the pit where so many of our co-religionists breathed their
last. Then, without rancor, we should laugh at him.
About the Author
Jerry Salyer
Catholic convert Jerry Salyer is a philosophy instructor living in Franklin County, Kentucky.
Catholic convert Jerry Salyer is a philosophy instructor living in Franklin County, Kentucky.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
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Osservatore romano
Osservatore romano
Qualsiasi traduzione dal giappone-
se in una lingua occidentale deve
avere l'onestà di riconoscere un'im-
perfezione allusiva: non si dice mai
esattamente la stessa cosa nell'una e
nell'altra lingua. Infatti mentre le let-
tere dell'alfabeto, prese separatamen-
te, non hanno senso e non creano né
immagini né emozioni, ogni ideo-
gramma cinese, necessario per preci-
sare il significato dei tanti omofoni
esistenti nella lingua giapponese, tra-
smette all'occhio e alla mente infor-
mazioni che pur non avendo nulla a
vedere con il senso del testo sono co-
munque là e interpellano il lettore.
L'ideogramma an, ad esempio, pa-
ce in cinese e in associazione con
shin/cuore, tranquillità in giappone-
se, raffigura una donna sotto un tet-
to. In effetti, quando una madre è in
casa e se ne prende cura, tutta la fa-
miglia sta tranquilla. Il termine giap-
ponese Kotoba in italiano diventa pa-
rola, termine riduttivo rispetto all'ori-
ginale che si scrive, a meno di non
optare per i segni kana sillabici e so-
lo fonetici impossibilitati di esplicita-
re un significato, con due ideogram-
mi: uno significa "dire", l'altro signi-
fica "foglia". Dunque i due ideo-
grammi che assieme vogliono dire
parola/parole, sul piano del signifi-
cante loro proprio accostano le paro-
le alle foglie. E così per magia della
ipotiposi sui generis suggerita dagli
ideogrammi, le parole volant. Ma
hanno anche un peso. «Noi e Lei,
Padre, siamo un cuore solo!», le pa-
role di quell'umile donna piena di fe-
de dal poetico nome Yuri (giglio),
contraddicono il detto verba volant
come lo intendiamo di solito e, per
la profondità del loro significato so-
stanziato dalla fede, di fatto manent
in ognuno di noi.
Oggi, nella cattedrale di Ooura,
iPhoneから送信
Qualsiasi traduzione dal giappone-
se in una lingua occidentale deve
avere l'onestà di riconoscere un'im-
perfezione allusiva: non si dice mai
esattamente la stessa cosa nell'una e
nell'altra lingua. Infatti mentre le let-
tere dell'alfabeto, prese separatamen-
te, non hanno senso e non creano né
immagini né emozioni, ogni ideo-
gramma cinese, necessario per preci-
sare il significato dei tanti omofoni
esistenti nella lingua giapponese, tra-
smette all'occhio e alla mente infor-
mazioni che pur non avendo nulla a
vedere con il senso del testo sono co-
munque là e interpellano il lettore.
L'ideogramma an, ad esempio, pa-
ce in cinese e in associazione con
shin/cuore, tranquillità in giappone-
se, raffigura una donna sotto un tet-
to. In effetti, quando una madre è in
casa e se ne prende cura, tutta la fa-
miglia sta tranquilla. Il termine giap-
ponese Kotoba in italiano diventa pa-
rola, termine riduttivo rispetto all'ori-
ginale che si scrive, a meno di non
optare per i segni kana sillabici e so-
lo fonetici impossibilitati di esplicita-
re un significato, con due ideogram-
mi: uno significa "dire", l'altro signi-
fica "foglia". Dunque i due ideo-
grammi che assieme vogliono dire
parola/parole, sul piano del signifi-
cante loro proprio accostano le paro-
le alle foglie. E così per magia della
ipotiposi sui generis suggerita dagli
ideogrammi, le parole volant. Ma
hanno anche un peso. «Noi e Lei,
Padre, siamo un cuore solo!», le pa-
role di quell'umile donna piena di fe-
de dal poetico nome Yuri (giglio),
contraddicono il detto verba volant
come lo intendiamo di solito e, per
la profondità del loro significato so-
stanziato dalla fede, di fatto manent
in ognuno di noi.
Oggi, nella cattedrale di Ooura,
iPhoneから送信
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Why they are hooked on classical - Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3652458/Why-they-are-hooked-on-classical.html
iPadから送信
Comment
iPadから送信
Why they are hooked on classical
Devotion: Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa
12:01AM BST 20 May 2006
Comment
The country has shown an extraordinary devotion to
Western music for 140 years. Ivan Hewett reports on where that love has
led the Japanese
Where is the nerve centre of classical music in the early
21st century? Answering that question depends on your criteria. If it's
to do with possessing a venerable tradition, you might choose Vienna. If
it's the location of the best orchestras and opera houses, you might
choose Berlin. If it's finding exuberantly creative ways to reinvent the
tradition, London or New York seem strong contenders. But if the true
measure is a passionate devotion amounting almost to idolatry, Tokyo
would win the palm.
It's revealed in a thousand ways, not least in the sweetly
earnest way people talk about the art form. The president of the Japan
Arts Corporation wrote in his company's concert brochure that "music has
the power to foster a richer greater experience for the human soul."
Audiences listen in a silence that one can only describe as fervent. At
one concert in Tokyo, my neighbour sat perfectly still, eyes closed, for
the entire three hours of Bach's St Matthew Passion, with only a tiny
rhythmic movement of his little finger to show that he was still alive.
Even more striking is the way the Japanese put their money
where their mouths are. Tokyo has eight orchestras, which is one more
than Berlin, a city normally seen as the acme of orchestral lavishness.
On any night you find at least as many concerts in as many genres as you
can in London. And these concerts take place in venues of a quality
that puts London's halls to shame. Often they're buried inside vast
gleaming complexes of shops and hotels, such as the well-known Suntory
Hall. Even more exquisite in sound and sight is the main hall at Tokyo
Opera City. Everything that meets your eye is made of wood. Music in
here rings out beautifully, as if the hall is vibrating like a giant
violin.
This profusion isn't just a feature of Tokyo. Even quite
modest provincial towns have lavish arts centres, thanks in large part
to the so-called "bubble" economy of the '80s and early '90s. One of
them, the Mito Art Tower, has one of the world's great chamber
orchestras in residence, whose chief conductor is Seiji Ozawa. The chief
executive, Yazawa Takaki, is clearly proud of the centre, and is keen
to show me the theatre, modelled on Shakespeare's Globe. But, once
inside the concert hall, he reveals an anxiety about the arts in Japan.
"You hear the silence in this hall? That is what music really needs, but
we have so little silence in our lives. I really wonder whether the
younger generation will be able to hear music at all."
It was a surprise to hear Yazawa unwittingly express the
ancient Japanese idea of ma. This guiding concept behind much
traditional music performance says that music lives only in constant
dialogue with silence. It was a reminder that many factors come together
in the Japanese love affair with classical music, some ancient, some
new. The most obvious factor is fairly recent - Japan's decision in 1868
to end centuries of isolation and open itself to the West. One of the
first imports was Western music. By 1872 Western music had supplanted
traditional music in the Japanese school system, and in 1884 the
philosopher Shoichi Toyama actually suggested that Christianity should
be adopted because it would help the new music to take root.
Another advantage of Western music was that it seemed better suited to modern sensibilities than the old traditional songs. The writer Nagai Kafu, who studied in Paris, remarked sadly that "no matter how much I wanted to sing Western songs, they were all very difficult. Had I, born in Japan, no choice but to sing Japanese songs? Was there a Japanese song that expressed my present sentiment - a traveller who had immersed himself in love and the arts in France but was now going back to the extreme end of the Orient where only death would follow monotonous life? I felt forsaken. I belonged to a nation that had no music to express swelling emotions and agonised feelings."
But Kafu lived long enough to see that his fears were unfounded. Japan embraced Western ways as its own, a process only briefly interrupted by the Second World War. By the 1950s, Japan had its own artists' agency, and foreign artists were again visiting the country.
At first, the cost was prohibitive. Kaz Nakaya, a retired university English professor and self-confessed opera buff, says that when he first became interested in classical music an LP cost as much as an average month's salary. But the upward momentum was unstoppable. Japan was by now no longer an importer of Western music; it had its own orchestras, some of which, such as the Tokyo Philharmonic, had quite long histories. It had several distinguished manufacturers of pianos and other instruments, which were serious rivals to Western firms. It had its own performing virtuosi, and its own composers, one of whom, Toru Takemitsu, had a worldwide reputation.
It seemed as if Japan was now set to repeat the trick it had pulled off in the economic sphere: beating the West at its own game. Soon Europe and America would be importing Japanese orchestras and singers the same way it had imported Japanese fax machines and Hondas.
The fact that this hasn't happened shows that after nearly 140 years, classical music isn't yet thoroughly naturalised. The roots seem shallowest in opera, the area of classical music where Japanese performers most obviously lag behind Western ones; only a handful of Japanese singers have made even a modest impact in the West. One reason for the disparity is that the Japanese themselves have a prejudice against their own performers, which is why so many Japanese performers choose to live in the West.
Noriko Kawai, a pianist living in London, says there are all kinds of barriers against home-grown talent. "It costs around a million yen, about £5,000, to promote a concert in Tokyo, and unless you have in a way become a Western artist, like Mitsuko Uchida, people won't come. And the leading agents like Kajimoto and Japan Arts give much better terms to foreigners. I know the Japanese artists have equal prominence in their glossy brochures, but the difference is that they have paid to be there! Whereas the agent takes the financial risk for the foreign artists."
A deeper reason, in the eyes of many Western critics, is a distressing lack of any striking individuality in many Japanese performers. Always one hears the complaint that Japanese performers have staggering technical facility but a certain emotional reticence. A factor in this is the very strict training, which, according to Kawai, is bound up with just the same rigid social hierarchies you find in traditional music.
"I knew one violin teacher who used to prick the young player's wrist with a needle if it sank below the required height. And I caused a huge row when I tried to study with a very distinguished teacher without first studying with one of his pupils. I was breaking the rule that you have to work your way up step by step."
According to the critic Takuo Ikeda, another big problem for Japanese classical musicians is the sheer distance between themselves and the West, which has created a strange time-lag. "Teachers pass on the ideas they picked up from their studies in Europe 30 years before," he says. "But I think things are changing. Air travel is so much cheaper now, and of course there's the internet. And young people today are not so conformist as their parents."
Maybe so. But when I attended a masterclass for young Japanese singing students given by two distinguished German singers, I was struck by how inhibited the students were. The distinguished visitors didn't really succeed in persuading the students to express the feelings in the words.
At the bottom of these young students, who seem so completely Westernised, something stubbornly refused to let go. The story of Japan's long affair with classical music is a healthy reminder that, when it comes to cultures, an affair isn't easily turned into a marriage.
Another advantage of Western music was that it seemed better suited to modern sensibilities than the old traditional songs. The writer Nagai Kafu, who studied in Paris, remarked sadly that "no matter how much I wanted to sing Western songs, they were all very difficult. Had I, born in Japan, no choice but to sing Japanese songs? Was there a Japanese song that expressed my present sentiment - a traveller who had immersed himself in love and the arts in France but was now going back to the extreme end of the Orient where only death would follow monotonous life? I felt forsaken. I belonged to a nation that had no music to express swelling emotions and agonised feelings."
But Kafu lived long enough to see that his fears were unfounded. Japan embraced Western ways as its own, a process only briefly interrupted by the Second World War. By the 1950s, Japan had its own artists' agency, and foreign artists were again visiting the country.
At first, the cost was prohibitive. Kaz Nakaya, a retired university English professor and self-confessed opera buff, says that when he first became interested in classical music an LP cost as much as an average month's salary. But the upward momentum was unstoppable. Japan was by now no longer an importer of Western music; it had its own orchestras, some of which, such as the Tokyo Philharmonic, had quite long histories. It had several distinguished manufacturers of pianos and other instruments, which were serious rivals to Western firms. It had its own performing virtuosi, and its own composers, one of whom, Toru Takemitsu, had a worldwide reputation.
It seemed as if Japan was now set to repeat the trick it had pulled off in the economic sphere: beating the West at its own game. Soon Europe and America would be importing Japanese orchestras and singers the same way it had imported Japanese fax machines and Hondas.
The fact that this hasn't happened shows that after nearly 140 years, classical music isn't yet thoroughly naturalised. The roots seem shallowest in opera, the area of classical music where Japanese performers most obviously lag behind Western ones; only a handful of Japanese singers have made even a modest impact in the West. One reason for the disparity is that the Japanese themselves have a prejudice against their own performers, which is why so many Japanese performers choose to live in the West.
Noriko Kawai, a pianist living in London, says there are all kinds of barriers against home-grown talent. "It costs around a million yen, about £5,000, to promote a concert in Tokyo, and unless you have in a way become a Western artist, like Mitsuko Uchida, people won't come. And the leading agents like Kajimoto and Japan Arts give much better terms to foreigners. I know the Japanese artists have equal prominence in their glossy brochures, but the difference is that they have paid to be there! Whereas the agent takes the financial risk for the foreign artists."
A deeper reason, in the eyes of many Western critics, is a distressing lack of any striking individuality in many Japanese performers. Always one hears the complaint that Japanese performers have staggering technical facility but a certain emotional reticence. A factor in this is the very strict training, which, according to Kawai, is bound up with just the same rigid social hierarchies you find in traditional music.
"I knew one violin teacher who used to prick the young player's wrist with a needle if it sank below the required height. And I caused a huge row when I tried to study with a very distinguished teacher without first studying with one of his pupils. I was breaking the rule that you have to work your way up step by step."
According to the critic Takuo Ikeda, another big problem for Japanese classical musicians is the sheer distance between themselves and the West, which has created a strange time-lag. "Teachers pass on the ideas they picked up from their studies in Europe 30 years before," he says. "But I think things are changing. Air travel is so much cheaper now, and of course there's the internet. And young people today are not so conformist as their parents."
Maybe so. But when I attended a masterclass for young Japanese singing students given by two distinguished German singers, I was struck by how inhibited the students were. The distinguished visitors didn't really succeed in persuading the students to express the feelings in the words.
At the bottom of these young students, who seem so completely Westernised, something stubbornly refused to let go. The story of Japan's long affair with classical music is a healthy reminder that, when it comes to cultures, an affair isn't easily turned into a marriage.
- The City of London Festival (0845 120 7502) in June features Japanese musicians including Noriko Ogawa and the Tokyo String Quartet.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Insight 636
Insight 636
Rational
Consciousness and rational self-consciousness
合理的意識と合理的自己意識
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タイプ
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例えば
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扱うもの
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内的終着点有無
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無執着性・無私心性
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掟
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experience
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経験的意識
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分からない外国語の話
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Data
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○
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○
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Be attentive
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understanding
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知的意識
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パズルを解決しようとする
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Pattern
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○
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○
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Be
intelligent
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judgement
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合理的意識
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何か分かった時
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Being
Truth
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○
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○
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Be rational
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decision
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合理的自己意識
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何か決めた時
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Value
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×
外的終着点
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×
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Be responsible
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