January 02, 2011

Giri-Ninjo



The title of the post, Giri-Ninjo (人情 - 義理) is a term from Japanese culture, though certainly not uniquely so, which in its basic form represents the  dichotomy of Duty versus Heart. The necessity to serve or attend to issues not of our choosing against answering to our deepest needs and desires. Within Segev Giri-Ninjo acquires perfect harmony. Some times you just have to go Japanese in order to make sense of things.

5 comments:

  1. It's interesting how other cultures have words that express what we often believe to be ineffable. Have you ever read the Japanese writer Kenzaburo Oe?

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  2. No Elizabeth, although two of my favorite authors are Mishima and Akutagawa, interesting that he had a dysabled(sic) child.

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  3. Oe's novel A Personal Matter is a haunting work -- he won the Nobel Prize a few years back and has a dysabled child. The book is fiction but very interesting --

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  4. I reapply liked your post, I'm always stuck for wanting to talk about my sons cerebral palsy without using the word "disabled" so I often use less able but I wasn't very happy with that either.

    How about "diffabled". - abled differently. As eventhough my so can't walk or communicate in the social "norm" he's very bright so in someways we thing his "more able" he hates his physical impairment so much his stubbornness drives him to beat it but at the same time he never ever banged the piano keys since 18months he would press the keys and in patterns.

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  5. Wonderful pictures and giri-ninjo

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