There is a word/concept "te-i-ne-i" (丁寧・ていねい) in Japanese. The word itself is a type of adjective/adverb. I can't translate it, but in Japanese lives, this word is used all the time. Combine the essence of
careful/conscientious/with-care/lovingly/thorough/scrupulous/deliberate/paying-attention-to-details/polite/unrushed
(even slow)/beautiful/soft-the-opposite-of-rough, as applied to one's modus operandi and we're
approaching an outline of its meaning.
I feel there is a focus in my weaving in general now, (as opposed to being super-focused on a particular project,) and relaxed, and have been meditating, as close to meditation as I get, on this concept. In "actionable" terms, it's taking the time to ensure I'm weaving in a most desirable ways to produce a most desirable something, (in my own estimation, of course,) and hopefully attain the most/highest joy/satisfaction, (along with a bunch of regrets and criticisms, because let's face it, it's me we are talking about.) An attitude fitting of an older weaver who has been doing this for a while and isn't in a rush to get anywhere. Realizing/acknowledging the accumulated knowledge/experience, but that's more in the subconscious.
I strange online English sources go straight to "politeness", while Japanese sources mention "thoroughness", (and multiple dictionaries posted the example of "ironing in teinnei-manner" !!!!!) scrupulousness, and finally, politeness including our "teinie-go", polite parlance. Western definitions throws it in the interpersonal relationships box, something "visible" from the outside. It's so not that.
I feel there is a focus in my weaving in general now, (as opposed to being super-focused on a particular project,) and relaxed, and have been meditating, as close to meditation as I get, on this concept. In "actionable" terms, it's taking the time to ensure I'm weaving in a most desirable ways to produce a most desirable something, (in my own estimation, of course,) and hopefully attain the most/highest joy/satisfaction, (along with a bunch of regrets and criticisms, because let's face it, it's me we are talking about.) An attitude fitting of an older weaver who has been doing this for a while and isn't in a rush to get anywhere. Realizing/acknowledging the accumulated knowledge/experience, but that's more in the subconscious.
I strange online English sources go straight to "politeness", while Japanese sources mention "thoroughness", (and multiple dictionaries posted the example of "ironing in teinnei-manner" !!!!!) scrupulousness, and finally, politeness including our "teinie-go", polite parlance. Western definitions throws it in the interpersonal relationships box, something "visible" from the outside. It's so not that.
6 comments:
I find weaving itself - the actual treadling, throwing the shuttle and beating - becomes a working meditation.
But I like the concept of approaching life with more mindfulness, more kindness. I will have to think on this in regards to my own life.
Thank you for sharing.
I've always thought that the only way to get an accurate glimpse of a culture is to study its language. A language isn't just words and grammar, it's complex concepts built on a world view. That's what makes language studies so fascinating. And ultimately difficult.
For example, every time I bump into a Japanese textile/fiber arts technique, I can't help but be impressed and filled with admiration for the cultural components. My own country has been so overly industrialized that we are programmed from an early age to focus solely on productivity and profit. That so misses the mark about what creativity is all about.
Laura,
Don't forget to iron scrupulously.
Leigh,
Even describing grammar is difficult because we don't conjugate, for e.g., but attach suffixes; we don't have single/multiples built in the grammar but ways of expressing them if you must; we don't use "I" and almost never "my" in sentences but you understand it in the context, although on rare occasions we ask clarifications. And then there is the social hierarchy. I do get frustrated with facile "translations" and try to use, in NZ, Maori words instead of translating them when that's more appropriate.
This is probably why I never became a translator/interpreter. Business was easier than literature or daily conversations, but still, tricky.
Leigh,
Can you imagine, though, studying just a few languages but in some depth to discover there is so much colours, flavors and nuances we never knew existed? I remember this happening learning a French verb tense in college, from memory untranslatable straight into English and only describable using in a whole clause in Japanese. Sends shivers down my spine imagining about the possibilities. If only we had 60 hours to the day and I had the mental stamina!
It's fascinating to sit in the space this word - your explanation or exploration of it - opens. An approach of care, attention, purposefulness - so enticing, even just skirting the edges. I wonder about the level of discipline (would it be foundational, engrained?); also about the value system / ideals / what is proper - is it internal or external.
Judy, this is a nice word/concept, one I hated when I was growing up because my dad told me off for not doing/living in this manner like a broken record; because I was never a person who had this quality innately, but had to practice, practice, practice. It's a mindset, first and foremost, which becomes one's MO with some training. If it manifests outward, it's a bonus. OR some folks can play it that way regardless of their intentions, if I want to see things more cynically. There is a degree of outward quietness, even slowness, associated with it, perhaps more as my mental image rather than in fact, reflecting the intention.
But as I say, there are some (annoying) people who are/live this way naturally. They are elegant, and considered mature - and just a thought, it may be a distant relative to the Western idea of an "old soul", perhaps?
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