Lieh Tzu and the Three Realms
Monday, 12. October 2009, 12:21:40
Note: This heavily paraphrases from the Eva Wong translation of the Lieh Tzu in the part describing the three realms. Shambhala published and sells it HERE: http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/978-1-57062-899-3.cfm (Pages 90-92) On to the essay.
Lieh Tzu and the Three Realms
In Lieh Tzu's story 'Dreams', he discusses three distant places populated by very different peoples. While clearly mythical, these realms are in fact describing the psyche or internal worlds of different groups of people we can see everywhere in the real world, as is discernible by how they treat dreaming phenomena.
The realms are as follows:
The first is a land untouched by the energies of yin and yang; as a result, the people there dream for fifty days before waking, and do not work, eat, or wear clothing. There is no night or day, and no change in the seasons; you could almost say they live in a perpetual twilight haze. As a result of the circumstances of their existence, they take dreams to be reality and waking life to be a dream.
The second land is a realm like ours; yin and yang energies touch it in perfect balance. As a result, there is division between day and night, and between the seasons; there is a variety of people there, people essentially of all types from all walks of life, who live in an organized society, harvest crops, and have a leader. They spend half of their time dreaming, and half of it awake; as a result of this, they take dreaming to be dreaming, and waking life to be reality.
The third land, however, is a sun scorched wasteland. Nothing is said about the yin and yang energies, but the description states that there is no night; the sun and moon shine on the land at all times, and as a result it is hot, and the land cannot support crops. The people scratch a meager existence from the land by eating fruits and rough tree roots, are very violent, and rarely sleep. As a result, they know nothing of dreams.
Instinctively, the assumption is that none of the three realms are really real. And to tell the truth, none of them can be seen from space. But if you examine them closely, you see that they describe the mental worlds lived in by people along the action/dreaming spectrum. Though Lieh Tzu does not explicitly make this connection, it is visible through example.
On the one hand, we have the dreamers, or those who think, muse, and turn things over in their head; not necessarily in their sleep, either. These people generally get little accomplished, but they certainly are passive and peaceful. Where they err is in thinking that the dream is the reality; the idealist who does not work towards a better world, or the artist who does not create anything, are both examples of this. They are those who dream instead of acting.
At the other far extreme, we have those who act and never dream. Doers, essentially; the soldier who never questions his orders, the ruthless businessman who does anything to make a profit or a quick buck, perhaps people who have left things like dreams, ideals, and visions behind in favor of functionality in the waking world. These are those who act instead of dreaming.
And holding the center, naturally, we find those who work together and cooperate. They both dream and work towards their dreams; as a result, they do not perhaps live in a perfect world, but it's certainly a far cry from a perpetual twilight realm where nothing happens and a blasted wasteland where every man is against everyone else. The difference between them and those at the extremes is rather simple-they both dream and work towards common objectives, dreaming yet not regarding it as real-as is part of the lesson inherent in Lieh Tzu's story-balance is needed between action and dreaming. Those who dream in favor of acting live in an insubstantial, hazy and evanescent world where nothing changes; those who only act and know nothing of dreaming or fantasy eke out a violent existence competing for a meager survival, while those who can live in balance actually build a society that works and live in a land that changes with the seasons.
Lieh Tzu's parting question, however, is a little more elusive.
"What then is the difference between waking and dreaming?"
Anyway, that's the rough draft of the essay. Not sure whether or not I've mentioned this, but it's the start of a nonfiction project I need to finish up on 'radical dreaming'. Huzzah. Don't know whether I'll post the later essays up here yet. And again it's a draft, and I apologize to all involved parties for not really knowing the proper way to post references and such. I'll take this down if anyone things it's infringing copyright laws or something...
Lieh Tzu and the Three Realms
In Lieh Tzu's story 'Dreams', he discusses three distant places populated by very different peoples. While clearly mythical, these realms are in fact describing the psyche or internal worlds of different groups of people we can see everywhere in the real world, as is discernible by how they treat dreaming phenomena.
The realms are as follows:
The first is a land untouched by the energies of yin and yang; as a result, the people there dream for fifty days before waking, and do not work, eat, or wear clothing. There is no night or day, and no change in the seasons; you could almost say they live in a perpetual twilight haze. As a result of the circumstances of their existence, they take dreams to be reality and waking life to be a dream.
The second land is a realm like ours; yin and yang energies touch it in perfect balance. As a result, there is division between day and night, and between the seasons; there is a variety of people there, people essentially of all types from all walks of life, who live in an organized society, harvest crops, and have a leader. They spend half of their time dreaming, and half of it awake; as a result of this, they take dreaming to be dreaming, and waking life to be reality.
The third land, however, is a sun scorched wasteland. Nothing is said about the yin and yang energies, but the description states that there is no night; the sun and moon shine on the land at all times, and as a result it is hot, and the land cannot support crops. The people scratch a meager existence from the land by eating fruits and rough tree roots, are very violent, and rarely sleep. As a result, they know nothing of dreams.
Instinctively, the assumption is that none of the three realms are really real. And to tell the truth, none of them can be seen from space. But if you examine them closely, you see that they describe the mental worlds lived in by people along the action/dreaming spectrum. Though Lieh Tzu does not explicitly make this connection, it is visible through example.
On the one hand, we have the dreamers, or those who think, muse, and turn things over in their head; not necessarily in their sleep, either. These people generally get little accomplished, but they certainly are passive and peaceful. Where they err is in thinking that the dream is the reality; the idealist who does not work towards a better world, or the artist who does not create anything, are both examples of this. They are those who dream instead of acting.
At the other far extreme, we have those who act and never dream. Doers, essentially; the soldier who never questions his orders, the ruthless businessman who does anything to make a profit or a quick buck, perhaps people who have left things like dreams, ideals, and visions behind in favor of functionality in the waking world. These are those who act instead of dreaming.
And holding the center, naturally, we find those who work together and cooperate. They both dream and work towards their dreams; as a result, they do not perhaps live in a perfect world, but it's certainly a far cry from a perpetual twilight realm where nothing happens and a blasted wasteland where every man is against everyone else. The difference between them and those at the extremes is rather simple-they both dream and work towards common objectives, dreaming yet not regarding it as real-as is part of the lesson inherent in Lieh Tzu's story-balance is needed between action and dreaming. Those who dream in favor of acting live in an insubstantial, hazy and evanescent world where nothing changes; those who only act and know nothing of dreaming or fantasy eke out a violent existence competing for a meager survival, while those who can live in balance actually build a society that works and live in a land that changes with the seasons.
Lieh Tzu's parting question, however, is a little more elusive.
"What then is the difference between waking and dreaming?"
Anyway, that's the rough draft of the essay. Not sure whether or not I've mentioned this, but it's the start of a nonfiction project I need to finish up on 'radical dreaming'. Huzzah. Don't know whether I'll post the later essays up here yet. And again it's a draft, and I apologize to all involved parties for not really knowing the proper way to post references and such. I'll take this down if anyone things it's infringing copyright laws or something...
WIDGETIZE