From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Phenomenology Kitten—Kantian Turns (5)

Click here for the "Celebrity Commentary" Resource Center—(all posts available) Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Celebrity Commentary" (coming soon) 
This is a "small" (小) post—click here for an explanation of Round and Square post lengths.
***  *** 
On this day in Round and Square History
31 October 2012—Rural Religion in China (31)
31 October 2011—Middles: Middle of Nowhere
[a] Appearing to consciousness RF
Our attaintment of enlightenment is something like the reflection of the
moon in water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water cleft apart...
The whole moon and the whole sky find room enough in a single dewdrop...
                             —Dōgen, Conversations

We continue today with one of the best explanations I have ever read of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. It is embedded in Brian Magee's superb autobiography Confessions of a Philosopher. As we head toward the Husserlian Swirl, let's continue to unpack the Kantian underpinnings of phenomenology.
[b] Representation RF

And, as before, we'll consider it our Prolegomena to Any Future Phenomenology. Yesterday we were nearing a Kantian crescendo, and today the Copernican analytical magic is revealed.

And Kant points out that if, instead of assuming that knowledge must conform to objects, we looked at the situation from the opposite end, and thought in terms of objects conforming to knowledge, we would find that the impossibilities and self-contradictions vanished. Everything then falls into place and makes obvious sense. However, it will go on being counter-intuitive. We shall find it impossible to feel as if objects are conforming to our knowledge rather than the other way round. However, that ought not to get in the way of our knowing it to be true.

After all, Kant might have said, knowing in reality—knowing as actually experienced and lived—does not start from the object and then somehow make its way to becoming experience in a subject. It starts as experience in a subject. In other words, we have no choice but to start from where we are. We start with experience and then seek an explanation of it. That is what actually happens. Now, says Kant, if we keep sight of the fact that we can only ever experience objects through the mental, sensory, and other apparatus that we have for doing so, and in terms of the forms and modes and categories mediated by that apparatus, then inescapably it follows that what we experience can come to us wholly and solely in those terms. 
[c] Pondering RF

This is what Kant means when he says that objects conform to our knowledge of them. A writer can describe a scene in words, and then the representation you have is a verbal description. But the only representation of the same scene that a camera could make is a photograph, or a series of photographs; it could not possibly make any other sort, although there are in principle an indefinite number of radically different kinds of representation that could be made of the same scene. The only representation of it that could be made by sound-recording equipment would be a sound recording: it could not take a photograph. And so on and so forth—and so with our brains and our nervous systems and our senses: they represent reality in terms determined by their own nature; and that is all they can ever do; and this constitutes the only experience and the only knowledge we can ever have. 

If we start from this consideration we find ourselves able to explain what empiricism is terminally unable to explain, namely how it comes about that our knowledge conforms to objects.

Ponder that. We'll spend just a bit more time on Kant...since his phenomenal world lies at the heart of the Western phenomenological tradition.

Notes
[1] Brian Magee, The Confessions of a Philosopher (New York: Random House, 1997),148

Bibliography
Magee, Brian. The Confessions of a Philosopher. New York: Random House, 1997. 
[d] Phenom RF
[Originally posted on September 12, 2014]

China's Lunar Calendar 2013 10-31

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
LEFT November 2..................................................................................................October 26 RIGHT
This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.
Section One
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom; right to left) 


期星
  Tenth Month, Thirty-first Day
Astral Period Four
Thursday, October 31
———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
不月天天
將恩醫喜
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Lunar Kindness
Not General
—————————————————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
酉己丑
吉中吉
戌午寅
吉吉
亥未卯
吉中
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
09:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
————————————————— 
Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
塔苫結經
厠蓋綱洛
Energy Channels
Binding Nets
Thatched Coverings
Building Outhouses
————————————————— 
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿





Twenty-seventh Day (Ninth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: gengwu (7/60)
Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Running Board (1/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)
————————————————— 
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

土醫行祭
上病嫁祀
樑開娶祈
安市納福
牀交采入
修易裁學
倉修衣會
安造移友
葬動徙出

天班刀天
 刑煞砧廢休
Appropriate Activities  
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Doctor Visits
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairs and Building
Moving Soil
Erecting Beams
Positioning Beds
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Graves

Miscellaneous Information  
Heavenly Discard-rest
Knife Anvil
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Punishment
————
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)
丫 水
Bifurcation, Water
————
Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
(Top to bottom; right to left)
磨 碓 占 
Mortar, Pestle, Divination

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

From the Geil Archive (36)—Sentimental Geil


[a] Keeping Tickets RF
Click here for other posts written by Guest Contributor Amara Pugens:
1-About Me                                      2-Unlike the Others                      3-One of Earth's Travelers       
4-Don't Call Me Reverend               5-Intellectual Bricoleur                  6-The Perfect 2
7-Sentimental Geil

Today's Guest Contributor on Round and Square is Amara Pugens. Amara is from Brookfield, Wisconsin, and recently  graduated from Beloit College with a B.A. in history and anthropology and a minor in museum studies. She is currently working with four other Beloit College graduates to digitize, process, and research the William Edgar Geil Collection at the Doylestown Historical Society in Pennsylvania.
 ***  ***
Please note that all items marked "DHS" are property of the Doylestown Historical Society, and used with DHS permission. If you wish to use an image, you need permission of the Society. Please contact Robert LaFleur (lafleur@beloit.edu), and he will put you in contact with the appropriate people.
[b] Foochan Ticket DHS

Geil has again made me question my character.

As a Midwesterner on the East Coast, I have been taking the opportunity to visit all the major historical sites; I went to Valley Forge and Gettysburg, and I even ventured to New York City to see the Hamilton Grange Home and the Tenement Museum. Through all my travels, I have kept my ticket stubs and maps in hopes to create a scrapbook of my time in the Mid-Atlantic.

Now I see staring at me, Geil’s ticket to Foochan, China. Geil, in all his travels, also collected items to remember his time in new places. After working so much with his personal papers, which include journal entries and photographs, it should have been no surprise that he would also collect tickets…like me. Geil and I are once again alike.

With all this documentation, Geil was enriching his memory of that moment in time—a time that can never really be recaptured again. He was creating a history of his life and adventures. This discovery of his ticket reminded me of the first document I ever saw in Geil’s archive: an advertisement for one of his public appearances, with his handwritten note “my first lecture.” It seems Geil is a little sentimental.
[c] Geil's First Lecture DHS

So why would Geil and I collect these tickets? We already have written descriptions of our travels and even photographic evidence. So why—already with so much documentation—would Geil (and I) still collect more? Because there is a desire to have a physical link to the past. Why are there thousands of historical sites? Why each day are there hundreds of visitors at Independence Hall and the Statue of Liberty? Because it is human nature to not only remember history, but to also be part of it and be able to physically touch it. By writing about his experiences, taking photographs, and keeping tickets, Geil was capturing the physical aspects of the moments of his life he truly wanted to remember.

China's Lunar Calendar 2013 10-30

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
LEFT November 2..................................................................................................October 26 RIGHT
This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.
Section One
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom; right to left) 


期星
  Tenth Month, Thirtieth Day
Astral Period Three
Wednesday, October 30
———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
陰續
德世
Continued Ages
Yin Virtue
—————————————————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
酉己丑
中中
戌午寅
中吉吉
亥未卯
吉中
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
09:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
————————————————— 
Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
成遠
服行
Distant Journeys
Completing Clothing
————————————————— 
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿





Twenty-sixth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: jisi (6/60)
Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Running Board (28/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)
————————————————— 
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

動祭
土祀
安訂
牀婚
田納
獵采
牧嫁
養娶


重水
喪痕
Appropriate Activities  
Venerating Ancestors
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Soil
Positioning Beds
Field Venery
Raising Livestock

Debt Not

Miscellaneous Information  
Water Scar
Repeat Mourning
————
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)
丫 人
Bifurcation, Person
————
Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
(Top to bottom; right to left)

牀 門
Divination
Bed, Gate