{"id":4355,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:25","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4355"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:25","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:25","slug":"43-12-april-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/04-questions-and-answers-volume-04\/43-12-april-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-43_12 April 1951.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n12 April 1951<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the difference between Japanese
\nart and the art of other countries, like those of <\/span><\/i>Europe<\/span><\/i>, for example? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The art of <\/span>Japan<\/span> is a kind of directly
\nmental expression in physical life. The Japanese use the vital world very
\nlittle. Their art is extremely mentalised<\/span>; their life
\nis extremely mentalised<\/span>. It expresses in detail quite
\nprecise mental formations. Only, in the physical, they have spontaneously the
\nsense of beauty. For example, a thing one sees very rarely in <\/span>Europe<\/span> but constantly,
\ndaily in <\/span>Japan<\/span>: very simple
\npeople, men of the working class or even peasants go for rest or enjoyment to a
\nplace where they can see a beautiful landscape. This gives them a much greater
\njoy than going to play cards or indulging in all sorts of distractions as they
\ndo in the countries of <\/span>Europe<\/span>. They are seen in
\ngroups at times, going on the roads or sometimes taking a train or a tram up to
\na certain point, then walking to a place from where one gets a beautiful view.
\nThen at this place there is a small house which fits very well into the
\nlandscape, there is a kind of small platform on which one can sit: one takes a
\ncup of tea and at the same time sees the landscape. For them, this is the
\nsupreme enjoyment; they know nothing more pleasant. One can understand this
\namong artists, educated people, quite learned people, but I am speaking of
\npeople of the most ordinary class, poor people who like this better than resting
\nor relaxing at home. This is for them the greatest joy. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>And in that country, for each season there are
\nknown sites. For instance, in autumn leaves become red; they have large numbers
\nof maple-trees (the leaves of the maple turn into all the shades of the most
\nvivid red in autumn, it is absolutely marvellous), so they arrange a place near
\na temple, for instance, on the top of a hill, and the entire hill is covered
\nwith maples.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>Page – 306<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

 \u00a0<\/span>There is a stairway which climbs straight up,
\nalmost like a ladder, from the base to the top, and it is so steep that one
\ncannot see what is at the top, one gets the feeling of a ladder rising to the
\nskies \u2013 a stone stairway, very well made, rising steeply and seeming to lose
\nitself in the sky \u2013 clouds pass, and both the sides of the hill are covered
\nwith maples, and these maples have the most magnificent colours you could ever
\nimagine. Well, an artist who goes there will experience an emotion of
\nabsolutely exceptional, marvellous beauty. But one sees very small children,
\nfamilies even, with a baby on the shoulder, going there in groups. In autumn
\nthey will go there. In springtime they will go elsewhere. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is a garden
\nquite close to Tokyo where irises are grown, a garden with very tiny rivulets,
\nand along the rivulets, irises \u2013 irises of all possible colours \u2013 and it is
\narranged according to colour, organised in such a way that on entering one is
\ndazzled, there is a blaze of colour from all these flowers standing upright;
\nand there are heaps and heaps of them, as far as the eye can reach. At another
\ntime, just at the beginning of spring (it is a slightly early spring there),
\nthere are the first cherry-trees. These cherry-trees never give fruit, they are
\ngrown only for the flowers. They range from white to pink, to a rather vivid
\npink. There are long avenues all bordered with cherry-trees, all pink; they are
\nhuge trees which have turned all pink. There are entire mountains covered with
\nthese cherry-trees, and on the little rivulets bridges have been built which
\ntoo are all red: you see these bridges of red lacquer among all these pink
\nflowers and, below, a great river flowing and a mountain which seems to scale
\nthe sky, and they go to this place in springtime…For each season there are
\nflowers and for each flower there are gardens. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>And people travel by train as easily as one
\ngoes from house to house; they have a small packet like this which they carry;
\nin it they have a change of clothes, that’s quite enough for them; on their
\nfeet they wear rope or fibre<\/span> sandals; when these get
\nworn <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 307<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

out they throw
\nthem away and take others, for they costs nothing at all. All their life is
\nlike that. They have paper handkerchiefs, when they have used them they get rid
\nof them, and so on \u2013 they don’t burden themselves with anything. When they go
\nby train, at the stations small meals are sold in boxes (it is quite clean,
\nquite neat), small meals in boxes of white wood with little chop-sticks for
\neating; then, as all this has no value, when one has finished, one puts them aside,
\ndoesn’t bother about them or encumber oneself. They live like that. When they
\nhave a garden or a park, they plant trees, and they plant them just at the
\nplace where when the tree has grown it will create a landscape, will fit into a
\nlandscape. And as they want the tree to have a particular shape, they trim it,
\ncut it, they manage to give it all the shapes they want. You have trees with
\nfantastic forms; they have cut off the unnecessary branches, fostered others,
\ncontrived things as they liked. Then you come to a place and you see a house
\nwhich seems to be altogether a part of the landscape; it has exactly the right
\ncolour, it is made of the right materials; it is not like a blow in your face,
\nas are all those European buildings which spoil the whole landscape. It is just
\nthere where it should be, hidden under the trees; then you see a creeper and
\nsuddenly a wonderful tree: it is there at the right place, it has the right
\nform. I had everything to learn in <\/span>Japan<\/span>. For four years,
\nfrom an artistic point of view, I lived from wonder to wonder. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>And in the cities, a city like Tokyo, for
\nexample, which is the biggest city in the world, bigger than London, and which
\nextends far, far (now the houses are modernised<\/span>, the
\nwhole centre of the city is very unpleasant, but when I was there, it was still
\ngood), in the outlying parts of the city, those which are not business
\nquarters, every house has at the most two storeys<\/span> and
\na garden \u2013 there is always a garden, there are always one or two trees which
\nare quite lovely. And then, if you go for a walk…it is very difficult to find
\nyour way in <\/span>Tokyo<\/span>; there are no
\nstraight streets with houses on either side according to<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 308<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span>the number, and you lose your way easily. Then
\nyou go wandering around \u2013 always one wanders at random in that country \u2013 you go
\nwandering and all of a sudden you turn the corner of a street and come to a
\nkind of paradise: there are magnificent trees, a temple as beautiful as
\neverything else, you see nothing of the city any longer, no more traffic, no
\ntramways; a corner, a corner of trees with magnificent colours, and it is
\nbeautiful, beautiful like everything else. You do not know how you have reached
\nthere, you seem to have come by luck. And then you turn, you seek your way, you
\nwander off again and go elsewhere. And some days later you want to come back to
\nthis very place, but it is impossible, it is as though it had disappeared. And
\nthis is so frequent, this is so true that such stories are often told in <\/span>Japan<\/span>. Their literature
\nis full of fairy-lore. They tell you a story in which the hero comes suddenly
\nto an enchanted place: he sees fairies, he sees marvellous beings, he spends
\nexquisite hours among flowers, music; all is splendid. The next day he is
\nobliged to leave; it is the law of the place, he goes away. He tries to come
\nback, but never does. He can no longer find the place: it was there, it has
\ndisappeared!…And everything in this city, in this country, from beginning to
\nend, gives you the impression of impermanence, of the unexpected, the
\nexceptional. You always come to things you did not expect; you want to find
\nthem again and they are lost \u2013 they have made something else which is equally
\ncharming. From the artistic point of view, the point of view of beauty, I don’t
\nthink there is a country as beautiful as that. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Now, I ought to say, to complete my picture,
\nthat the four years I was there I found a dearth of spirituality as entire as
\ncould be. These people have a wonderful morality, live according to quite
\nstrict moral rules, they have a mental construction even in the least detail of
\nlife: one must eat in a certain way and not another, one must bow in a certain
\nway and not another, one must say certain words but not all; when addressing
\ncertain people one must express oneself in a certain way; when <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 309<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

speaking with
\nothers, one must express oneself in another. If you go to buy something in a
\nshop, you must say a particular sentence; if you don’t say it, you are not served:
\nthey look at you quizzically and do not move! But if you say the word, they
\nwait upon you with full attention and bring, if necessary, a cushion for you to
\nsit upon and a cup of tea to drink. And everything is like that. However, not
\nonce do you have the feeling that you are in contact with something other than
\na marvellously organised mental-physical domain. And what energy they have!
\nTheir whole vital being is turned into energy. They have an extraordinary
\nendurance but no direct aspiration: one must obey the rule, one is obliged. If
\none does not submit oneself to rules there, one may live as Europeans do, who
\nare considered barbarians and looked upon altogether as intruders, but if you
\nwant to live a Japanese life among the Japanese you must do as they do,
\notherwise you make them so unhappy that you can’t even have any relation with
\nthem. In their house you must live in a particular way, when you meet them you
\nmust greet them in a particular way…I think I have already told you the story
\nof that Japanese who was an intimate friend of ours, and whom I helped to come
\ninto contact with his soul \u2013 and who ran away. He was in the countryside with
\nus and I had put him in touch with his psychic being; he had the experience, a
\nrevelation, the contact, the dazzling inner contact. And the next morning, he
\nwas no longer there, he had taken flight! Later, when I saw him again in town
\nafter the holidays, I asked him, \u201cBut what happened to you, why did you go
\naway?\u201d \u2013 \u201cOh! You understand, I discovered my soul and saw that my soul was
\nmore powerful than my faith in the country and the Mikado; I would have had to
\nobey my soul and I would no longer have been a faithful subject of my emperor.
\nI had to go away.\u201d There you are! All this is authentically true. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why are great
\nartists born at the same time in the same country?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 310<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nThat depends on
\nthe person to whom you put the question. The explanation will be different
\naccordingly. From the point of view of evolution, I think Sri Aurobindo has
\nexplained this very clearly in The Human Cycle. Evolution, that is to say,
\nculture and civilisation, describes a more or less regular spiral movement
\naround the earth, and the results of one civilisation, it may be said, slowly
\ngo to form another; then, when the total development is harmonious, this
\ncreates simultaneously the field of action and the actors, in the sense that at
\nthe time of the great artistic periods all the conditions were favourable to
\nthe development of art, and naturally, the fact that all the circumstances were
\nfavourable, attracted the men who could use them. There have been concrete
\nmovements like that, great ages like that of the Italian Renaissance or the
\nsimilar period in France, almost at the same time, when artists from all
\ncountries were gathered at the same place because the conditions were
\nfavourable to the development of their art. This is one of the reasons \u2013 a
\nso-to-say external reason for the formation of civilisations<\/span>.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>There is another, this is that from an occult
\npoint of view it is almost always the same forces and same beings which
\nincarnate during all the ages of artistic beauty upon earth and that, according
\nto occultists, there are cycles of rebirth: beings return, group themselves
\nthrough affinity at the time of birth; so it happens that regularly, almost all
\ncome together for a similar action. Some occultists have studied this question
\nand given very precise numbers based upon the actual facts of the development
\nof the earth: they have said that once in a hundred years, once in a thousand
\nyears, once in five thousand years, etc…, certain cycles were repeated; that
\ncertain great civilisations<\/span> appeared every five
\nthousand years, and that it was (according to their special knowledge) the same
\npeople who came back. This is not quite exact, that is why I am not going into
\ndetails, but in a sense this is true: it is the same forces which are at work.
\nIt is the same forces and they are grouped according to their affinities and,
\nfor a reason which may be quite<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>Page – 311<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

 material or for a
\nmental or cyclic reason, they reunite at a certain place, and in this place
\nthere is a new civilisation or a special progress in a civilisation or a kind
\nof effervescence, blossoming, flowering of beauty, as in the great ages in
\nGreece, Egypt, India, Italy, Spain… Everywhere, in all the countries of the
\nworld, there have been more or less beautiful periods. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you put the
\nquestion to astrologers, they will explain this to you by the position of the
\nstars; they will say that certain positions of the stars have a certain effect
\non the earth. But, as I have told you, all these things are \u201clanguages\u201d, a way
\nof expression, of making oneself understood; the truth is deeper, it is more
\ncomplex, more complete. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is the average Indian more advanced
\nspiritually than the average man in other countries, like those of Europe, for
\ninstance ? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is an
\nessential difference, but generally if he has not been contaminated by European
\nmaterialism, when someone speaks to him about spiritual things, he has an
\nopening, he understands. In the countries of the West, if you are in touch with
\nthe average man and speak to him of spiritual things, he is absolutely closed
\nup and, into the bargain, if you speak to him of a possibility of relation with
\nhigher states of consciousness, he looks at you as though you were mad ! If
\nsomeone renounces the ordinary life to live an ascetic life, they think he is
\nout of his senses ! <\/span><\/p>\n

There is a small
\nminority among those who have kept the religious traditions, which understands,
\nbut understands only under the religious form. That is to say, if someone
\nenters a monastery, they understand him more or less. But for the average man
\n(I am not speaking of cultured people), if someone wants to lead a spiritual
\nlife independent of all religion, simply setting out in the personal quest of a
\nhigher truth, then surely he is ready to be put in a lunatic asylum ! It would
\nbe better not to speak of it. There are those who have read a little, who are <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>Page – 312<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

 educated, who may
\nthink you a little eccentric, but still they understand what it means; but the
\nordinary man, no. I am speaking of fifty years ago, of course; now, after the Second
\n[World] War, I don’t know, I can’t say if this has begun to change. But
\nevidently, the educated classes of <\/span>Europe<\/span> are now in search
\nof something higher because their life has been so tragic that they need to
\nlean upon something else; and perhaps their effort is contagious, in a sense,
\nand there are more people than one thinks who are seeking \u2013 it is possible. But
\nfifty years ago it was not like that. While here, ordinary people, people of
\nthe \u201clower\u201d classes don’t perhaps have any discernment, perhaps they cannot
\ndistinguish between the imposter and the sincere man, but it is understood that
\nif somebody comes along in the yellow robe and with the beggar’s bowl, he will
\nbe given something, he won’t be kicked out. If a man did that in <\/span>Europe<\/span> (naturally there
\nis no question of the yellow robe), but if he came in sordid clothes, he would
\nbe immediately taken to the first police station and arrested for indigence. It
\nis understood that in the so-called civilised<\/span>
\ncountries, if you don’t have the minimum money in your pocket, you are a
\nvagabond, and the vagabond has no right to be on the streets, he is put into
\nprison for vagabondage. That is the difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Do certain arts express more truth than
\nothers ?<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This is more or
\nless a mental gymnastic ! <\/span><\/p>\n

There are people
\nwho say that certain arts are physical. If you frequent artists, painters, they
\nwill tell you that sculpture, oh! it is laborious, because sculptors work with
\nthe very matter, and painting may be considered not much of an intellectual art
\nby a musician. The truth is that in all arts everything depends upon the
\nartist, and what he does depends upon the state of consciousness in which he
\nis. A sculptor may be an extremely spiritual man and his production extremely
\nspiritual also, if he knows how to express his experience. And a poet can be<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 313<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

\nquite a
\ncommonplace materialist if he does not receive his inspiration from a higher
\nstate. It is the mind which makes little categories (this is more convenient
\nfor it), but that does not resemble the truth very much.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

You have said that Wagner had an intuition
\nof the occult and that to have spiritual power one must conquer sexuality. In
\nfact, Wagner had the intuition of this victory to be achieved, for in \u201cThe Ring
\nof the Niebelungen<\/span>\u201d there is a treasure hidden at the
\nbottom of a river. Three nymphs guard the treasure and to take it one must
\nrenounce all desire for love and woman. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This is an old
\ntradition in Nordic countries. But in his story it ends badly: the one who had
\nto renounce the love of woman is drowned and it ends with the twilight of the
\ngods. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 314<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

12 April 1951   What is the difference between Japanese art and the art of other countries, like those of Europe, for example? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","wpcat-124-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}