The Purpose of Speech in the Book of Zhuangzi - Essay Example

The Purpose of Speech in the Book of Zhuangzi 2008 The topic chosen for this paper is the purpose of speech in the book of Zhuangzi. Speech and language seem to occupy one of the central places among the concepts discussed by the philosopher. In Book II Zhuangzi discusses the value and meaning of speech, criticizing modern philosophers for their love to eloquence. Steve Coutinho (2006) believed that the Qi Wu Lun – the Equality of All Things – forms “the core of the Inner Chapters”. “It appears to be concerned with the deepest and most ‘abstract’ understanding of ourselves, our lives, our world, our language, and our understanding itself,” wrote the author of the article. To our mind, the philosopher’s message wasn’t that abstract. His ideas of the purpose of speech can be found in the modern science of NLP, a teaching on communication. Zhuangzi explains that speech is the divine gift, energy coming from Dao and it shouldn’t be spared for nothing. Eloquence has deteriorating consequences for humanity. People have got accustomed to argumentation and standing on their points, instead of listening to each other. Thus we are not able to see the world in its entirety and get separated from Tao, unable to find the way. Dao, the great law, made all things equal. People, perceiving the world from their narrow points of view, see different fragments of the reality. They express their vision through language and speech and cognize the world with the help of speech and language. Speech is a very precious instrument, but used wrong, it breaks the harmony between people and distorts their vision of reality, making it ever more vague and illusive. People can find harmony only through listening to each other. All things and beings in the world have their own languages. Not only the man has speech, but we can hear the voice of the Earth and Heaven as well. The Earth and Heaven speak with their winds, and all the things in the world produce some sound, communicating with the Universe. Each thing uses its speech to express its moods and to share its knowledge with others. Unfortunately, we are not able to understand the languages of different things. We are not able to understand even each other. Mostly, each of us speaks to himself. What we do is claim that we see the world this or that way. As a rule, we do not really care about the other side’s map of reality. We do not listen to others, being constantly concentrated on our own thoughts and replies. People, who seem to speak the same language do not understand each other, while, in fact, they all speak languages of their own, drawing the pictures of their own realities (that is, those fragments they see). Standing on our points of view, which are no more right or wrong than those of others’, we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to learn more about the world. Speech is given to us for communication, but we cannot communicate. Speech is necessary to share knowledge with the others. Humans differ in their knowledge and in their speeches. Some possess great knowledge which is wide and comprehensive; others possess small knowledge which is partial and restricted. This is mirrored in the speech produced by such individuals: “Great speech is exact and complete; small speech is (merely) so much talk” (Book II). Being in need of communication we do it even when sleeping through our souls. When we are awake, interaction takes place due to the abilities of our bodies and speech. People associate with each other, their minds often struggling in the process of intercourse. Through speech humans reveal their inner self, demonstrate their understanding of things and attitudes. Speech usually reveals one’s character, the essence of a man. A hesitant person will stumble and pause; the reserved and fearful will keep silence. The utterances of others are like arrows from a bow. These people are not afraid to express their judgments on what is right and wrong. The third do speak but their arguments are so weak that they remind of “the decline in autumn and winter”, thus revealing the failing of their minds from day to day. There are people, whose minds are stuck in memories of the past and they are unable to move forward and develop. It is impossible to return these people to life, restore the vigor and brightness of their minds. People communicate all the time, expressing their feelings, but usually we are so absorbed by ourselves that communication actually doesn’t take place. Mostly, people get closed from the world, unable to hear and get new information. “We insist on our views as if they were a covenant,” without realizing that it is not so. We all are right, but we all see only a small piece of the truth. Argumentation leads us nowhere. Shouldn’t we stop? - asks the philosopher. We do not know who or what made us what we are and gave us the gift of speech. Shouldn’t we use it more carefully and purposefully? Zhuangzi explains that speech is given to us by the Heaven. It should be preserved and used for the overall benefit. People should learn to share their knowledge, which can be done only through two-way communication. Not without purpose were we created the way we are. Not without purpose we do have opponents and different views. If there were not the views of another, we should not have our views; if there were not me with my views, there would be no opposite opinion. Perhaps, there should be some upper ruler to organize the world as it is. However, people are unable to perceive him. Does it mean that there is no order and no sense in life? Do all the people see the life as senseless and purposeless? Comparing the world to a body, Zhuangzi throws light on the functioning of people. As you think of your body, all the parts of it are equally dear and important for you. It is difficult to say who is the ruler here and which part should command the whole. Only harmonious co-operation allows our body to function and exist. Isn’t it the same with the world? Speech should unite people. Its purpose is to help people find common language. However, only in harmony will people be able to share their knowledge and act as one whole. Speech can help us grasp the purpose of our existence and describe the multiformity of the world, but eloquence darkens the essence, making speech obscure. A man should learn how to organize his mind and speech, while “speech is not merely blowing breath”, the speaker should have some meaning in his words. However, when the speaker’s mind is still undetermined and unorganized, his speech will have little sense. When most of people speak they produce nothing but “the twittering of birds”. Speech has been obscured just like Dao has. What used to be the whole unity has been divided into truth and falsehood, where true is everything which corresponds to mine, and what is not-mine is false. “Dao is obscured by small understanding and speech by vain discourse”, writes Zhuangzi. The purpose of speech is to express the essence of things, but humans use it unknowingly and describe only that small segments of reality they are able to see. To get the holistic notion of the world, it is necessary to examine things from all the possible points. For this reason people must be expressing different ideas – they are describing different segments of the reality, which acquire sense only when combined within one mind. Only then do we have a chance to approach the truth. This point is vividly explained in Book II. When we dispute we sometimes agree and sometimes deny. The sage man does not pursue this method, but “illuminates all in the light of heaven and seeks to discover the true nature of things.” Again and again Zhuangzi turns our attention to the fact that we all are right. “This view is the same as that, and that view is the same as this. But hat view includes both a right and a wrong. And this view includes both a right and a wrong. Are there or are there not two views, that and this?” “The pivot of dao” appears only when a man realizes that there is no wrong and right, there are simply different perspectives on the same. Zhuangzi seems to equal speech and Dao. Dao is present in speech, but it is obscured through eloquence. The nature of speech is as elusive and subtle as Dao is. People use words and word combinations, the potential amount of which is endless. Their meanings are also changeable and potentially endless. However, giving names to things, notions and phenomena of the world, we usually describe only one of the endless qualities of the Universe. What shall we understand about speech? First of all it has two levels: the abstract one, where all the potential meanings are contained, and the concrete one, expressed in names. Through giving names to surrounding objects and phenomena people mark the world and make it visible and comprehensive. Speech serves as the means of cognition of the world. Be it not for the speech people could not tell one thing from another. While Dao is present in everything and all the small things possess its unity and wholeness, they possess the endless amount of qualities. For this reason people find it difficult to achieve mutual understanding and agreement on things and ideas. No matter whether the object on discussion is a horse or Dao itself, people may judge of it only through their perception. When something seems to have some quality, we say that it is so, when it doesn’t seem to us to have this quality, we say that it is not so. However, when names are applied to the things for a long time we start recognizing the object as a horse or a finger. In the light of Dao all the things in the world can be combined into the same category of opinion about them. “What was separate led to completion; and what was complete led to separation. But all things, whether they are completed or separated, are identified as one.” Only those who are far reaching in thought know how to comprehend things in this unity. Speech serves the purpose of creating the world. “First there was a word,” – says the major book of Christianity. The whole world consists of names, formed of twenty-two letters of the alphabet, say the followers of Cabbala teaching. At first, Dao had no boundaries for responsive recognition and speech had no fixed forms of expression. People needed the demarcations of different views. This way there emerged oppositions of right and left, good and bad, classifications and their distinctions, discussions and theories, etc. This way Dao was able to produce “ten thousands of things”, which became the Universe. Every thing speaks its own language. Speech was given to humans, as well as to all the objects in the world. This way people are able to reconstruct the world anew each time they speak. However, humans have forgotten the voice of Dao. They are not able to hear the piping of the Heaven and Earth. Speech having produced the diversity of the world also became the instrument of human separation from Dao. This happened because of human imperfectness and love for eloquence. Humans can return to Dao (which is the true state of our selves) only through the proper usage of speech and thought, that is, through the loss of selves and occupying selves with the ordinary views. When our selves vanish, cease existing, not knowing of it, we re-unite with Dao. That is why Taoists advice to stop learning and developing individuality. Toiling our spirits and intelligence, persistently determined to ascertain our own view, we do not know the underlying agreement and remain deaf to the views of others. Aware of the equality of things, the sagely man brings together different points of view. The speech should serve the purpose of harmonizing people. Our speech always expresses our “mine”, demonstrating the way of thinking and attitudes. Repeating what others say we become “mine” for the interlocutors. Using the speech properly, a man learns how to live in a harmony with the world and himself. Speech is the breathing of Dao itself. While the whole world for us is only a picture drawn with the help of words, speech becomes the instrument of the world’s creation. It serves the purposes of cognition and education. On the other hand, used in a wrong way, speech makes our life more complicated. Arguing on things people do not understand, they create distorted descriptions of the world. Standing on one’s point of view and sticking to what is “mine”, people destroy the harmony and lose the way. Learning to be tolerant towards others’ opinions and attitudes we find our way back to Dao. References: Coutinho, Steve. Zhuangzi (Chuang-Tzu, 369-298 BCE). The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2006. URL: www.iep.utm.edu/z/zhuangzi.htm - 59k Zhuangzi. Book II. The equality of All Things. Translated by Read More