Drama and Desire: Japanese Paintings from the Floating World, 1690–1850

Scenes from the Yoshiwara Pleasure Quarter Attributed to: Hishikawa Moronobu Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The “floating world,” or ukiyo in Japanese, is a term describing the lifestyle of pleasure-seeking in Japan during the Edo Period (c. 1603 – 1867). It is marked with brothels, tea houses, and kabuki theaters, set in government-licensed red-light districts transliterated by many as the “pleasure quarters.” Pictures of the floating world, or ukiyo-e, depict scenes and geography of these districts; characters who frequented the areas, such as courtesans, Geisha, actors and sumo wrestlers; parodies of the gods, demons, political figures, and famous scenes from theater. Many of these woodblock prints were for commercial use, lining the streets as advertisements for theater, decorative lanterns, and within the tea houses and brothels.

The scene above, as titled, is from the pleasure district Yoshiwara in the city of Edo (modern day Tokyo). It is an original painting, currently displayed at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX, along with many other screens, paintings and scrolls that are far more rare than the ukiyo-e, as they were not mass produced.

Three Women Playing Musical Instruments

What really sets the pleasure districts apart from the rest of the city, is not what went on there necessarily, but the total lack of distinction between the social classes. In these areas, a samurai warrior (who had to check his weapons at the gate) was equal to a commonplace townsman. The prevailing thought of the time was Neo-Confucianism, and these pleasure quarters seemed a place to seek refuge from the “sorrowful world,” the earthly place of death and rebirth in Buddhism. Neo-Confucianism, at bottom, relies on the philosophical paradigm of Confucianism, coupled with the spirituality of Buddhism. Unlike many Buddhists of the time, however, the Neo-Confucianists did not separate the physical world from the spiritual.

For more information on “Drama and Desire”: http://www.asianart.org/pressroom/dramadesirepress.htm

Unrelated to the floating world, though painted during the same period, the hanging scroll to the left is displayed outside the exhibit. Entitled, Two Gibbons Reaching for the Moon, it plays an important role in coming to terms with the human condition. If you notice, the two gibbons are not reaching for the moon itself, but its reflection. Of course, many other philosophers have alluded to this phenomenon; cf., Plato, with his allegory of the cave in the Republic. As human beings, we naturally see things in a narrowing point-of-view. Some of us attempt to see the world as objectively as possible, given our human condition and the limitations of the body, but many seem quite satisfied viewing the world with blinders on. This scroll represents all the best in Zen Buddhism, and really, all the best in most of western philosophy as well. As human beings, we will always have a limited ability to know anything empirically. But if we truly attempt to view the physical world, objectively, we may see the moon.

Filed under: Philosophy, Visual Arts & Photography, Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Neo-Confucionsim, Plato, Two Gibbons Reaching for the Moon, ukiyo-e

Life, the Universe, and Pimples

How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? Do you feel as if you can take on the whole, entire world? I think you ought to look into the mirror everyday and say to yourself—whether you love yourself, hate yourself, think you’re so damn beautiful or ugly, or think yourself just a fool—“This world I live in, this situation I am in, is absolutely and confidently meaningless.” Now how does it make you feel? Do you go on shaving or putting on your repulsive makeup with the light bearing down on your face like the hot, boiling pot of the ocean on the banks of an eroding mountain? Or maybe you stop for a moment and reflect on this philosophical idea. Perhaps you contemplate life and all its wonders and fortunes. Perhaps you really do think about all those silly little things that you let by day after day without the tiniest thought in your mind—the things your mother always told you not to take for granted. But probably, you just sit there and stare at your face—notice a pimple or an unshaved spot—and move on to more important business. Wash your face twice a day, child, lest you infest with blackheads and bad pores.

Filed under: Philosophy, Pop Culture

The Wonder Years

Sometimes I sit here and think–right here in front of my computer–”What is it that I’m doing here?” I try to write something or extend my thoughts and ideas to others via this website or in YChat:AvC, but most of the time I end up staring at others’ work and blabbering on in my head about how I’m going to improve my own stuff and how I’m going to write and how I’m going to get back into painting and how I’m going to do something!

Well, it’s as SlipKnot bluntly puts it, All I’ve got. All I’ve got is insane. Indeedy. That’s how I feel when I sit in front of this glaring light that is my computer monitor, clicking from website to website. It’s getting old. I’m getting old.

Man, I was watching Seinfeld earlier and it was that episode where Jerry and George fight over that apartment (the episode is cleverly titled The Apartment), and it just looked so outdated. And then I flipped channels and Friends was on and I got the same disturbed feeling. Generally, when I think of stuff I grew up with, I think of The Wonder Years or MacGyver or Doogie Howser, M.D.

I suppose I came to a realization that when I was watching new episodes of Friends and Seinfeld I thought I was hip and cool and all the other stuff was from when I was growing up–it was kid stuff. But now when I’m flipping channels I think of those shows as old and outdated. I’m getting this feeling more and more it seems these days. A buddy I work with tried to hook me up with a few of his girl friends and all of them thought I was too old. They were eighteen. I never thought I’d be too old for eighteen year olds!

It’s a strange feeling I get when I think about life these days. I think about work and money and my future and my retirement and how I’m going to secure all of those things–and shit! I’m only twenty-four! I suppose if some random Internetter who’s into his thirties or forties or fifties or whatever comes along and reads this, he’ll chuckle. But it’s the feeling I get. I’ve even been reading How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie. I randomly picked it up out of the few books that I’ve listed here in Florida, and I’m just barely into it by a few chapters, but it really seems to be relevant right now.

The philosophy behind it so far seems to concentrate on the notion that one should live not in the past or the future, but in the present–in “day-tight compartments.” And when a worrisome situation presents itself, prepare for the worst. Prepare for the worst? How easy is that? I’ve found myself applying this philosophy to my life lately and I’ve been much less stressed.

Now this isn’t anything new, I know. In fact, I’ve always been fairly reasonable in dealing with the past. I’ve always thought, “Okay, there’s absolutely nothing I can do about that now. So quit thinking about it.” And generally, I quit thinking about it–well, I don’t dwell on it like I’d like to. But the future? I’m always thinking about the future–but unreasonably so. Instead of worrying about the future, I should be doing everything I can to get the most out of today. Now that’s refreshing. Maybe these silly twelve-step programs do offer some good–”Just for today.”

A few days ago, I sold a $12,000 job with an architectural shingle we’re getting for three-tab prices. Now I’ve sold quite a few $12,000+ jobs, but the storm’s winding down and every job has personality these days. Whereas, before I couldn’t remember who I’d sold the day before, now I remember each and every customer. So anyway, I sold the guy, and the next day I got a voicemail from him stating that he had sold his home–and he had sold it to a roofer. Needless to say, the contract was cancelled. The first thought that came to mind was, “Oh my god, I’ve just lost two thousand dollars!” But almost immediately, I thought about the book I’d been reading. “So what? I’ll sell another job and make up for it.” And I was happy. And content. And a few hours later, the customer called me back and told me the roofer decided not to move to Florida and to “proceed on.” [That, coincidentally after I'd done something very nice for my mother for Mother's Day and complaining about how much these companies rape you on holiday shipping (if you're reading, mom, disregard that *wink*).]

I chuckle when I say this but, “O what a day the LORD has made!” And at the end of the day, you and I get to sleep–how’s that for an end? Is there anything more comfortable then sleep?

I’ll leave you with some lyrics from Alanis Morissette:

How about no longer being masochistic.
How about remembering your divinity.
How about unabashedly bawling your eyes out.
How about not equating death with stopping.

I’m no longer worried–are you?

Filed under: Philosophy, Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Politics vs. Science

Recently, I posted a commentary on Postmodern Thinking (http://www.postmodernthinking.blogspot.com) concerning Paul Bloom’s article for the New York Times, entitled: The Duel Between Body and Soul. I addressed the philosophical problems of the epistemology of science, i.e., that science is not the be-all-end-all of thinking, insofar is it reliant on sense data, and sense data alone. See the post for more on the philosophical concerns. Here, I will address the political concerns of Bloom’s article.

In short, I agree with Bloom. Politics should not reign over science to such a degree as it truncates our ability to understand and observe natural things, simply because of quasi-religious connotations.

Let’s take the example of stem cell research. The bioethics involved with politics tells us (I am quoting Bloom’s quotation of The President’s Council on Bioethics here) “We have both corporeal and noncorporeal aspects.” This becomes problematic insofar as the issues concerning the philosophical aspects of the “soul” or spirituality are taken for granted because instead of concerning ourselves with the real philosophical problems (e.g., the simple fact that we-as humans-are limited by our body), we simply feed the agenda. The agenda here being the Right-wing Conservative Christian agenda: that Christianity should reign and that Christian authorities should border the boundaries of science.

In other words, instead of focusing on the real philosophical problems, political groups are focusing on what fits their agenda. To say that this is easily remedied is absurd, however, given special interest groups reign anyway.

So what is the solution? In my opinion, the solution lies in understanding ourselves as human beings-furthermore, understanding our flaws and limitations as human beings. Instead of conquering nature and finding ways to cheat it, we might try simply attempting to understand nature, understand it’s essence, it’s substance, it’s very being, if you will. Keeping this in mind, I think, would require us-as human beings-to ask more questions and give fewer answers. Does this solve the problem, directly? Of course not. But it does give a foundational method for approaching these problems.

Filed under: Philosophy, Politics, Science, Paul Bloom