The Textuality of Understanding and the Primordiality of Seeing (or Darsana).
What unites the Phenomenological Movement of the West initiated by Husserl with the Tamil is the notion of "return to the things themselves" , a constant theme in the name of Iyal neRi, a return to the natural which really means away from the secondary authorities of all sorts. The Natural World and Existence , the experiences that we have there is that which needs to be studied and understood for redeeming ourselves. All the secrets that will evaporate our existential anguish is there in the world . The scriptures that are unrelated or unrelateable to existence, to the personal and social themes, become purely meaningless mental exercises.
But in the Tamil, the "things" to which we must return including the experiences are appropriated as TEXTS ( in the extended sense ) and which in turn are products of SEEING.
We see this from the Sumerian times itself in their concern with language both the eme-gir, the written AND the eme-sal, ther spoken. Tolkaapiyar continues this in terms of CeyyuL and Vazakka.
The most important thing here is the eme-sal or Vazakku that brings us to the living stream of life, how things are in the world, as part of the LIVING process . It is the power of living language to make us to be in touch with LIVING process as opposed to the fossilized and dead.
And it turns out that the primordial existential structure is seeing, that living is seeing and that there is SEEING only because of a pre-existent SHOWING and whatever thus seen is retained as TEXTS to be further interpreted and understood. The primordial act of seeing, the pratykasa ( , porutu-aksa = Su. ig-tag-ga), even concrete objects such as the trees and hills yonder are NOT seen in themselves but only as we are LED TO SEE and seeing thus fabricated generates an understanding that is retained as TEXTS. Otherwise we cannot explain why the same object is seen differently by different people, as so well attested in studies of perception.
Such TEXTS constitute our understanding, the consciousness and the continuous production of TEXTS, the movement of understanding , the flow of consciousness. But all such seeing-fabricated TEXTS have DUALITY of structure, the Surface and Deep and because of which they always IMPEL interpretative movements of understanding, the practice of UTTI , throwing one to Hermeneutics in that process.
The hermeneutic way of Being is so close to us that only after noting repeated failures to fathom the human mind by other methods that we become self conscious about our hermeneutic bearings.
Our THINKING becomes genuine when a content of our understanding is secured as a TEXT and noting its Surface Structure features, venture through ontopretive movements ( = utti, Note: slightly diffferent from the common interpretive) to locate the elements in the Deep Structure that Agentively determine the the morphology of the Surface Structure.
The face of that person who sits in front of me is a TEXT, the swollen eyes, tight-lipped mouth etc. are Surface features that point beyond themselves towards his Being as the Deep Structure elements that fabricates his countenance as such that I term in an impressionist way as 'sadness', ' melancholy', 'unhappy', 'distressed' etc. But I DO NOT UNDERSTAND him till I locate the elements of Deep Structure that may be unconscious , subconscious or even half-conscious etc. to the individual, the elements that remain CONCEALED, the Tirobava. He knows he is sad , depressed etc. but is NOT SURE why he is so and even if he knows why he is so , he may NOT UNDERSTAND why he should be so.
It is here that the need for ACCESS TESTS arises and along with all other tests , techniques and dream-like experiences that would disclose even vaguely the structure of the UNCONSCIOUS that contains within itself the agentive elements that remain the causal factors of his distress, melancholy etc.
The Access Tests make visible the primordial SEEING that has on its own generated TEXTS that structure his understanding and through that creates his ways of Being in the world which sometimes happen to be the distress-type. The Counselor locates these D.S elements and makes the person concerned to also SEE it and through that GAIN an understanding of the origins of own distress. This deeper understanding is the CURE for the malaise afflicting him Having UNDERSTOOD the real CAUSE of distress and Melancholy , a solution presents itself and which enables him to SEE differently and because of which UNDERSTAND existence differently.
Thus Hermeneutic Counselling centres on the notion of Engineering the SEEING, changing the way a person habitually sees and allow him to SEE truthfully so that no falsities enter into his understanding.Truth is the healer of all malaise and Hermeneutic Counselling is a form counseling that promotes this kind of psychic healing.
We should note here that Indian Darsanas or metaphysical systems and perhaps the whole of the fabrique of philosophic thinking in the East is for the purpose of this kind of counseling, the upatesam.
The Agamic tradition analyses the praxis of such a system into Tantra Kalai, (the ritual practices) , Mantra Kalai ( the recitation of mantra) and Upatesa Kalai ( counseling).
We should not fail to note that Bhagavad Gita in essence , is actually a text in counseling using for this purpose the metaphysical insights of the very ancient Samkhya System. In order to elimate the doubts and uncertainties in the mind of Arjuna, counseling is done by Krishna , to CLARIFY his mind and through that make him continue with his course of actions without any uncertainties now.
ULLAGANAR
( editing and re-paragraphing by his student )
( photo of Edmund Husserl taken from wikipedia with thanks )
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