Saturday, March 10, 2012

Comparing Foreign Language Communication to Budo (Martial Arts)




This is supplementary material for my presentation at JALT Hiroshima Chapter on March 11, 2012.



To download the slides, click here.

To download the handout, click here.





Comparing Foreign Language Communication
to Budo (Martial Arts)




1 Introduction







2 Contrasting modern sports and traditional Budo




■平常心 (everyday mind)

道とは何たる事を云ぞととへば、常の心を道と云也とこたへられたり。実に至極の事なり。心の病皆さって、常の心に成て、病と交りて病なき也。世法の上に引合ていはば、弓射る時に弓射るとおもふ心あらば、弓前(ゆみさき)みだれて定るべからず。太刀つかふ時、太刀つかふ心あらば、太刀前定るべからず。物を書時、物かく心あらば、筆定るべからず。琴を引とも、琴をひく心あらば、曲乱るべし。弓射る人は、弓射る心をわすれて、何事もせざる時の常の心(しん)にて弓を射ば、弓定るべし。太刀つかふも、馬にのるも、太刀つかはず、馬のらず、物かかず、琴ひかず、一切やめて、何をもなす事なき常の心(しん)にて、よろづをする時、よろづの事、難なくするするとゆく也。道とて何ににても、一筋是ぞとて胸にをかば、道にあらず。胸に何事もなき人が道者也。胸には何事もなくして、又何事成共なせば、やすやすと成也。鏡の常にすんで、何のかたちもなき故に、むかふ物のかたち、何にてもうつりて明(あきらか)なるがごとし。道者の胸の内は、鏡のごとくにして、何もなくして明なる故に、無心にして一切の事一もかく事なし。是只平常心也。此平常心をもって一切の事をなす人、是を名人と云也。(柳生但馬守平 「殺人刀(せつにんとう)」『兵法家伝書』 西山・渡辺・郡司 (1972, 320-321))

What is the Way? It is an everyday mind. This definition is quite reasonable. You are free from sickness when your mind ceases to worry about it and becomes an everyday mind that coexists with it. To take other examples in our life, you cannot shoot an arrow precisely if you are conscious of shooting; you cannot wield a sword precisely if you are conscious of wielding; you cannot write calligraphy precisely if you are conscious of writing; you cannot play the Koto (Japanese harp) precisely if you are conscious of playing. An arrow shooter shoots precisely when he is not conscious of shooting and shoots with an everyday mind. Whether it is about a sword or a horse, you do not use a sword, ride a horse, write calligraphy, or play the Koto. Stop doing anything with consciousness and do with an everyday mind which you have when you don't do anything in particular. You'll then be able to do it without any trouble. If you are obsessed with one thing, you are not on the Way. The man of the Way is one without any problems in his body-mind. If you do something without any problems in your body-mind, you can do it quite easily. It is like a clear mirror that reflects anything because it has no image on its own. The man of the Way is like a mirror, and he contains nothing in his body-mind and is clear; his mind is empty but lacks nothing. It is just an everyday mind. He who does everything with this everyday mind is a Master.


■有心無心 (saturated mind and empty mind)

有心之心無心之心と申す事の候。有心の心と申すは妄心と同じ事にて、有心とはアルコココロと読む文字にて候。何事にても一方へ思ひ詰る所あり、心に思ふ事ありて分別思案が生じる程に有心の心と申し候。
無心の心と申すは右の本心と同じ事にて固まり定まりたることなく分別も思案も何れも無き時の心、総身に広ごりて全体に行き渡る心を無心の心と申すなり。どつこにも置かぬ心なり。石か木の様にてはなし、留る所なき無心を申すなり。
留まれば心に物があり留まる所なければ心に何も無し。心に何もなきを無心の心と申し、又は無心無念と申し候。此の無心の心に能くなりぬれば一事に止(とどま)らず一事に欠かず、常に水の湛へたるやうにして此の身に在りて用の向ふ時出て叶ふなり。一所に定り留りたる心は自由に働かぬなり。車の輪も堅からぬにより廻るなり。一所つまりたれば廻るまじきなり。心も一事に定まれば働かぬものなり。心中に何ぞ思ふ事あれば人の云ふ事をも聞きながら聞こえざるなり。思ふ事に心が留まるゆゑなり。心が其思ふ事に在りて一方へかたより、一方へかたよれば物を聞けども聞えず、見れども見えざるなり。是れ心に物ある故なり。あるとは思う事があるなり。此の有る物を去れば心無心にて只用の時ばかり働きて其用に当る。此心にある物を去らんと思ふ心が又心中の有る物となる。思はざれば独り去りて自(おの)ずから無心となる。常にかくすれば何時とはなく独り其位へ行くなり。(沢庵禅師 『不動智神妙録』吉田 (1968, 101-102))

This is about a saturated mind and an empty mind. The saturated mind is the same as an delusional mind, and it means that it has something in it. Whatever it is about, it is obsessed with one thing; it has something in it and produces analysis and ideas.
The empty mind is the same as the true mind that I explained before and never fixated or attached. It has no analysis or ideas. It is extended into all parts of the body. It is not placed in any particular place. It is not like a stone or a tree, though. It just never gets captured. If a mind is captured, then it has an object in it; if not, it has nothing. A mind with nothing in it is the empty mind, and it is sometimes called the empty mind with no consciousness. If your mind becomes the empty mind, you don't get captured by anything, and fail in nothing; You are like full water and you are at any place where you are needed. A mind that is captured by one thing is not free. Wheels of a cart move around because they are not fixated. If they are stuck at one point, they don't move around. A mind does not work if it is fixated at one thing. If you have something to think about in your mind, you hear but not listen. It is because your mind is captured by what there is in it. If your mind loses its balance by thinking, you hear but not listen, and look but not see. It is because you have an object in your mind. The object is an object to think about. If the object leaves, then your mind becomes the empty mind and fulfills its purpose when necessary. However, if you are obsessed with throwing the object away, then that conscious intention becomes an object in your mind. If you don't think, the object leaves in itself and your mind becomes empty. If you are always like this, you will become a man of an empty mind before you know it.


■心は水中の月に似たり、形は鏡上の影の如し (a mind is like the moon on the water, and its shape is like an image on the mirror)

心は水中の月に似たり、形は鏡上の影の如し
右の句を兵法に取り用る心持は、水には月のかげをやどす物也。鏡には身のかげをやどす物也。人の心の物にうつる事は、月の水にうつるごとく也。いかにもすみやかにうつる物也。神妙剣の座を水にたとへ、わが心を月にたとへ、心を神妙剣の座へうつしべし。心がうつれば、身が神妙剣の座へうつる也。心がゆけば、身がゆくなり。心に身はしたがふ物也。又、鏡をば神妙剣の座にたとへ、わが身をかげのごとくに神妙剣の座へうつせと云心に、此句を用る也。手足を神妙剣の座にはづすなと云義也。月の水にかげをうつすは、いかにもすみやかなる物也。はるばる高き天にあれども、雲がのくといなや、はや水にかげがさす也。高天からそろそろと連々にくだりてうつる物にあらず。目まぢ一せぬうちに、はやうつるなり。人の心の物にうつる事、月の水にうつるがごとくすみやなかと云たとへなり。
(中略)
我心を月のごとく場へうつすべし。心がゆけば身がゆく程、立あふてより、鏡にかげのうつるごとく、場へ身をうつすべし。
(柳生但馬守平 「活人刀(かつにんとう)」『兵法家伝書』 西山・渡辺・郡司 (1972, 329-330))

A mind is like the moon in the water, and its shape is like an image on the mirror. -- When you apply this expression to the martial arts, remember that the water reflects an image of the moon and that the mirror reflects an image of a body. Just like an image of the moon is reflected on the water, a person's mind is reflected on an object [= the body]. It is reflected immediately. Compare the divinely exquisite art of the sword to the water, and your mind to the moon. Get your mind to the state of the art. As your mind gets there, your body will get there, too. As your mind moves, your body moves, too. Your body supersedes your mind. Also, compare the divinely exquisite art of the sword to the mirror, and get your body to the state of the art just like an image. Keep your limbs in the state. The moon gets its image reflected on the water quite immediately. Although it is high in the heaven, once the clouds go away, it gets its image reflected with no delay. It is not that it gradually descends on to the water to get its image reflected. After a blink, you find that the image is already there. Just like the moon is reflected on the water, your mind should be reflected on an object.
...
Get your mind to the situation like the moon. As your body supersedes your mind, you see the opponent and get your body to the situation just like an image on the mirror.

■水月 (the moon on the water)

何をか水月といふ。
曰く、流儀によりて色々義理を付けていへども、畢竟無心自然の応用を水と月と相うつる所にたとへたる者なり。広沢の池にて仙洞 [=崇徳上皇] の御製に、


うつるとも月おもわずうつすとも水おもはぬ広沢の池


此御歌の心にて、無心自然の応用を悟るべし。又一輪の明月天にかかって、万川(ばんせん)各々一月の具ふるがごとし。光を分(わかち)て水にあたふるにはあらず。水なければ影なし。亦(また)水を得てはじめて月に影あるにあらず。万川にうつる時も一水に移らざるときも、月において加損なし。又水の大小をゑらぶことなし。是を以て心体の妙用を悟るべし。水の清濁を以て語るは末なり。然ども月は形色あり。心には形色なし。其形色あつて見やすき者をかりて形色なきもの譬(たとえ)とす。一切のたとへみなしかり。譬に執して心を鑿(さく)する [=まどわす] ことなかれ。(佚斎樗山(いっさいちょざん)『天狗芸術論』吉田 (1968, 230))

What is the moon on the water?
Although different schools of martial arts explain in their own way, it is eventually a metaphor about the natural application of the empty mind. At the pond of Hirosawa, Emperor Sutoku made a poem:


"The moon does not think
that it will be reflected on the water,
nor does the water think
that it will reflect the moon:
This is at the pond of Hirosawa."


You should understand the natural application of the empty mind from this poem. It is also like the moon in the heaven is reflected on tens of thousands of rivers. It is not that the light of the moon is divided. If there is no water, there is no image. It is not, either, that the moon has its light only when there is water. The moon is not more or less than itself, whether it is reflected on tens of thousands of rivers, or it is not reflected at all. The moon has no preference of the size of the water. You should realize the exquisite use of the mind and body from these examples. Whether the water is clean or not is not very important. However, you should note that although the moon has its own shape the mind has none. The moon is chosen in the metaphor to compare the shapeless to the shaped. All metaphors are like this. Do not get troubled by getting obsessed with a particular metaphor.


■敵の来るに随て応用無礙自在なり (You have no plan, and you are free to move as he attacks you)

剣術を以て語らば、剣戟(けんげき) [=武器] を執(とり)て敵に向かう。湛然として悪むこともなく惧(おそ)るることもなく、とやせんかくやと思ふ念もなき中(うち)より、敵の来(きた)るに随(したがひ)て応用無礙自在なり。形はうごくといへども心は静の体をうしなはず、しづかなりといへども動の用を欠かず。鏡体静かにして物なく、万象来(きたり)移るにまかせて其形をあらはすといへども、去る時は影を留むることなし。水月のたとへに同じ。心体の霊明もまたかくのごとし。(佚斎樗山(いっさいちょざん)『天狗芸術論』吉田 (1968, 228))

In the art of the sword, you take the sword and face your opponent. Your mind is unaffected. You don't hate or fear him. You have no plan, and you are free to move as he attacks you. Your body moves but your mind is calm. Although it is calm, it is perfect for movement. It is like a mirror that is motionless and contains nothing in it. Many things get reflected on it, but when they leave, no image is left. This is like the moon on the water.


■私心 (egocentric mind)

然ども初より執するところの一念捨てがたき者なり。学術芸術とも只この私心をさへ去れば、天下我を動かす者なくして応用無礙自在なり。私心は金銀財貨情慾偽巧の類のみにあらず、不善にあらずといえども一念わずかに執する所あれば則私心なり。少しく執すれば少しく心体をふさぎ、大いに執すれば大いに心体をふさぐ。(佚斎樗山(いっさいちょざん)『天狗芸術論』吉田 (1968, 220))

It is no easy to throw away your obsession that has been in your mind from the start. This is true in science and art, and if you abandon your egocentric mind, no one in this world can control you and you are free in applying yourself to anything. An egocentric mind is not necessarily about money, lust or deception. When your mind is even slightly obsessed with one thing, even if it is not a wrong thing, your mind becomes egocentric. With a small obsession, your mind and body is affected on a small scale. With a big obsession , your mind and body is affected on a large scale.


■筋肉の機能 (function of muscle)

意識と筋肉とをもった人間が、からだの動きにおいて犯す最大の誤りは、動きの主動力が筋肉の緊張収縮だと思いこんで(意識)いることだ。筋肉の収縮力の主な役割は動きの主動力をつくり出すことではなく、動きのきっかけをつくり出すこと(平衡関係を崩すこと)、動きを収めること(新しい平衡関係へと導くこと)、増幅・調整することなのだ。更に大切なことは、他の部分から伝えられてきた情報(エネルギー・重さ)を受け取り、筋肉自体を導管・導線として次の部分に伝える。その間に適切な増幅・調整をするという仕事なのだ。この情報(重さ・エネルギー)の受容・伝導の能力の重大さを気づいていないこと、したがって、その能力の訓練をしていないことが大変重大な問題なのだ。(野口 1977, 224)

The most serious mistake that humans have about body movements is that they believe that body movements are primarily generated by conscious contractions because they have consciousness and muscle. An important function of muscle is not to generate the main power of body movements, but to trigger the start a movement (to lose balance), to control it (to create new balance), and to increase and adjust it. More importantly, muscle receives information (energy and gravity) that is transmitted from other parts of the body, and further transmits it as a conduit or channel. The serious mistake is that humans do not understand the significance of this reception and transmission of information (energy and gravity) and that they do not train themselves in this capacity.


■三つの先 (Three types of preemptive moves)

三つの先(せん)、一つは我方より敵へかかるせん、けん(懸)の先と云也。亦一つは敵より我方へかかる時の先、是はたい(待)の先と云也。又一つは我もかかり、敵もかかりあふ時の先、躰々(たいたい)の先と云。是三つの先より外はなし。先の次第を以(もって)、はや勝事を得る物なれば、先と云事兵法の第一也。此先の子細様々ありといへども、其時の理を先とし、敵の心を見、我兵法の智恵を以て勝事なれば、こまやかに書わくる事にあらず。(宮本武蔵「火之巻」『五輪書』西山・渡辺・郡司 (1972, 376))

There are three types in preemptive moves. One is a preemptive move from me to the opponent, and it is called the active preemptive move. Another is an preemptive move when the opponent is to strike me, and it is called the reactive preemptive move. The last is a preemptive move when both the opponent and I are to strike each other, and it is called the interactive preemptive move. There is no other type in preemptive moves. As a preemptive move is the decisive factor in victory, it is the most crucial in martial arts. There are many details in a preemptive move, but as it is up to the Logos of the moment and you need to see the mind of the opponent and use the wisdom of martial arts to win, I just cannot specify a preemptive move.


■勝機を未撃に知る (know the moment of victory before a strike)

其中間刻苦精思する凡そ二十年、然れども未だ安心の地に至るを得ず。ここにおいて鋭意進取して剣道明眼の人を四方に索(もと)むるに絶て其人に遭はず。偶(たまた)ま一刀流浅利又七郎と云う者あり、中西忠太の二男にして伊藤一刀斎の伝統を継ぎ上達の人と云、予之を聞き喜び往て試合を乞う。果して世上流行する所の剣術と大いに異り、外柔にして内剛、精神を呼吸に凝して勝機を未撃に知る。真に明眼の達人と謂(いひ)つべし。これより試合する毎に遠く及ざるを知る。(小倉 2001, 91)

I further trained myself for about 20 years, but never reached to a satisfactory state of martial arts. I was ever more keen and searched for a true Master of the sword with crystal-clear perception, but in vein. However, I happened to hear about ASARI Matashichiro of the Itto-ryu style, the second son of NAKANISHI Chuta. As I heard that he is a great Master inherits the tradition of ITO Ittosai, I was glad and asked him to have a training match. As I wanted to see, his martial arts were so different from the ones we constantly saw. He was soft in appearance and hard in himself. He sharpens his mind to perceive the breathing, and knows the moment of victory before he strikes. He is the true Master with crystal-clear perception. Every time I had a match, I realized I was much below him.


■Personal participations and the situation

The psychiatrist cannot stand off to one side and apply his sense organs, however they may be refined by the use of apparatus, to noticing what someone else does, without becoming personally implicated in the operation. His principal instrument of observation is his self -- his personality, him as a person. The processes and the changes in processes that make up the data which can be subjected to scientific study occur, not in the subject person nor in the observer, but in the situation which is created between the observer and his subject. (Sullivan 1970, 3)


■Involvement, integration, coincidence, and reciprocity

Psychiatry studies interpersonal relations, which occur only in interpersonal situations; such situations imply something more than the presence of two people somewhere; they concern two people who are involved with each other -- and that we call integration. … Thus one may say that the interview situation, or series of situations, is integrated by coincident reciprocal motivation of interviewee and interviewer. (Sullivan 1970, 50)


■Alertness

Thus one learns to devote an immense amount of alertness to the work at hand -- a sort of watchful clarity as to what happens. That doesn't mean that the interviewer acts as if he were afraid that the stranger will blow up in his face, or anything like that. People can be so alert as to have a microscopically correct record of small events and yet engage congenially in all sorts of things that doesn't require any particular attention. And the interviewer learns that there is communication by gesture, broadly conceived, an interchange by expressive movement other than speech. (Sullivan 1970, 68)


■Primarily vocal, not verbal alone

The beginning of my definition of the psychiatric interview states that such an interview is a situation of primarily vocal communication -- not verbal communication alone. (Sullivan 1970, 5)

It would be a quite serious error to presume that the communication is primarily verbal. The sound-accompaniments suggest what is to be made of the verbal propositions stated. (Sullivan 1970, 7)


■気ざしを、敵のせぬ内に見知りて (Noticing a sign)

枕をおさゆるとは、かしらをあげさせずと云心也。兵法勝負の道にかぎって、人に我身をまわされてあとにつく事悪し。いかにもして敵を自由にまわし度(たき)事なり。然によって、敵もさやうに思ひ、我も其心あれども、人のする事をうけがわずしては [=相手の出方を察知することができなくては] 叶がたし。兵法に、敵の打所をとめ、つく所をおさへ、くむ所をもぎはなしなどする事也。まくらをおさゆると云は、我実(まこと)の道を得て敵にかかりあふ時、敵なにごとにてもおもふ気ざしを、敵のせぬ内に見知りて、敵のうつと云ううつのうの字のかしらをおさへて、跡をさせざる心、是枕をおさゆる心也。たとへば、敵のかかると云かの字をおさへ、とぶと云との字のかしらをおさへ、きると云きの字のかしらをおさゆる、みなもっておなじ心なり。敵我にわざをなす事につけて、訳にたたざる事をば敵にまかせ、役に立ほどの事をばおさへて、敵にさせぬやうにする所、兵法の専也。是も敵のする事を、おさゑんおさゑんとする心、後手也。先(まず)我は何事においても道にまかせてわざをなすうちに、敵もわざをせんとおもふかしらをおさへて、何事も役にたたせず、敵をこなす所、是兵法の達者、鍛錬の故也。枕をおさゆる事、能々吟味有べき也。(宮本武蔵「火之巻」『五輪書』西山・渡辺・郡司 (1972, 365))

To get the opponent at his pillow is not to let him even raise his head. In martial arts battles, it is bad to be controlled by the opponent and follow him. It is by any means important to control him as you please. But as the opponent also thinks the same way, you cannot do so even if you mean to, unless you know his action in advance. Martial arts tell you to stop the strike, attack and tackle of the opponent. To get the opponent at his pillow means that if I know the true Way and face the opponent I will know a sign of whatever intention he has before he knows it. When the opponent intends to strike me, I notice a sign of the intention and stop him even before he realizes his own intention and I let him do nothing. Whether he intends to attack, jump, or use the sword, I stop him before he realizes his intention. When the opponent does anything to me, I let him do useless actions but I stop all effective actions of his -- this is important in martial arts. However, if my mind is fixated on stopping whatever action the opponent is going to do, I will be controlled. I just trust the Way in whatever I do, and as the opponent intends anything, I stop him at the sign of the intention, let him fail anything effective, and control him. This is achievable by mastering martial arts through disciplined training. You should carefully undertand what it means to get the opponent at his pillow.


■兵法は (Terminate the evil and protect people)

兵法は人をきるとばかりおもふは、ひがごと也。人をきるにはあらず、悪をころす也。一人の悪をころして、万人をいかすはかりごと也。(柳生但馬守平 「殺人刀(せつにんとう)」『兵法家伝書』 西山・渡辺・郡司 (1972, 309))

If you think that martial arts are only about killing people, you are wrong. They are not to kill people, but to terminate the evil. They are methods of protecting tens of thousands of people by terminating the evil in one person.


■無敵 (no enemy)

相手があり敵があって、それより強くなりそれを倒すのが武道であると思ったら違います。
真の武道には相手もない、敵もない。真の武道とは、宇宙そのものと一つになることなのです。(高橋 1987, 192)

If you think that in martial arts you always have opponents and enemies and you have to be stronger to beat them, you are wrong. In the true martial art you have no opponents or enemies. The true martial art is to be one with the universe itself.


■学問としての武道 (Budo as an academic inquiry)

相手の武力を制するばかりでなく、自分の我意我慢、怯懦(きょうだ)、粗暴乱雑を律し、おこないを糺(ただ)し、人格を陶冶することのできる武術というものは、それはすでに学問として存在する。(黒田鉄山(2004, 45)
 If Bujutsu is more than about controlling the violence of the opponent, and includes controlling one's egocentricity, cowardice, brutality, rectifying one's behavior, and cultivating one's character, then it is an academic inquiry.
 

■Plurilingualism

Plurilingual and pluricultural competence refers to the ability to use languages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interaction, where a person, viewed as a social agent has proficiency, of varying degrees, in several languages and experience of several cultures.?This is not seen as the superposition or juxtaposition of distinct competences, but rather as the existence of a complex or even composite competence on which the user may draw. (Council of Europe 2001, p. 168)


■Monolingualism in EFL/ESL

Despite its acceptance of?interlanguage,?much?SLA?research has continued to measure L2 users against native speakers. Inevitably what L2 users do is seen as a mistake whenever it fails to conform to the language of monolingual native speakers and the L2 users’ level of language proficiency is seen as deficient rather than different: It’s all right if your English accent proclaims you come from Newcastle upon Tyne but not from Paris.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/Writings/Papers/MCentry.htm



■Multi-competence

But what term should be used to describe people who are?multicompetent? People who acquire their first language are not regarded as L1 learners for the rest of their lives. Why should people who know more than one language be treated differently? Calling people L2 learners seemed to confirm their subordinate status. Hence the more neutral term ‘L2 user’ was introduced.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/Writings/Papers/MCentry.htm



■無刀 (no sword)

無刀とて、必しも人の刀をとらずしてかなはぬと云う儀にあらず。又刀を取て見せて、是を名誉にせんにてもなし。わが刀なき時、人にきられじとの無刀也。いで取て見せうなどと云事を本位とするにあらず。
一 とられじとするを、是非とらんとするにはあらず。とられじとするをば、とらぬも無刀也。とられじとられじとする人は、きらふ事をばわすれて、とられまひとばかりする程に、人をきる事はなるまじき也。われはきられぬを勝とする也。人の刀を取を芸とする道理にてはなし。われ刀なき時に、人にきられまじき用の習也。(柳生但馬守平 「殺人刀(せつにんとう)」『兵法家伝書』 西山・渡辺・郡司 (1972, 336))

No sword approach does not necessarily mean that you have to take away the sword of the opponent. It does not mean, either, that you are honored if you take it away. It is just an approach not to get hurt when you have no sword.
No sword approach is not to take away the sword by any means when the opponent resists. When he resists, he forgets to strike you. In his obsession with the sword, he cannot use it to strike you. You win if you do not get hurt. It does not make sense to take pride in taking away the sword. No sword approach is for self-defense when you have no sword.


■常に其身になつて、能々工夫すべし (Examine what is written on your body)

此書付ばかりを見て、兵法の道には及事あらず。此書にかき付たるを、我身にとって、書付を見るとおもはず、ならふとおもわず、にせ物にせずして [=物真似をするのではなく]、則(すなわち)我心より見出したる利にして、常に其身になつて、能々(よくよく)工夫すべし。(宮本武蔵「水之巻」『五輪書』西山・渡辺・郡司 (1972, 365))

Reading this book alone does not lead you to the Way of martial arts. Embody what is written in this book. Do not think that you are reading or learning from a book. Don't mimic what is written, but project it to your body. Examine what is written on your body as something your own mind has found.


■自得、以心伝心、教外別伝 (Self-embodiment, non-verbal teaching, teaching the unteachable)

我がいふ所此に止る。只自反して、我に求むべし。師は其事(わざ)を伝へ、其理を暁(さと)すのみ。其真を得ることは我にあり。是を自得と云。以心伝心ともいふべし。教外別伝ともいふべし。教をそむくというにはあらず。師も伝(つたゆる)こと能はざるをいふなり。只禅学のみにあらず、聖人の心法より、芸術 [=技芸] の末に至るまで、自得の所はみな以心伝心なり。教外別伝也。教というは、そのをのれに有て、みずから見ること能はざる所を、指して知らしむるのみ。師より是を授るにはあらず。教ることもやすく、教を聞こともやすし。只をのれにある物を、慥(たし)かに見付て、我がものにすること難し。これを見性といふ。悟とは、妄想の夢の悟(さめ)たるなり。覚(さむる)というもおなじ。かわりたる事にはあらず。(佚斎樗山(いっさいちょざん)『田舎荘子 下巻』中野(1990, 49)

As a teacher, I have to stop explaining here. You just have to reflect upon yourself and seek what you want in yourself. A teacher hands techniques on to the next generation and informs the Logos. You have to embody the Logos by yourself. This is self-embodiment. It is also known as "non-verbal teaching", or as "teaching the unteachable" . It is not that a teacher does not teach. He just cannot produce self-embodiment in his student for him. This is true not only in Zen buddhism but also in spiritual training of the sage and in skill acquisition. Self-embodiment is achieved by non-verbal teaching or teaching the unteachable. Education is to point at what a student already has, and yet cannot see in himself. A teacher cannot give what a student has. Teaching itself is easy to do and hear. But finding out what you have in yourself and master it is difficult. This is seeing into your true nature. Enlightenment is awakening from a dream of delusions. So is awareness. Enlightenment and awareness are no different.


■習を得たれば、また習はなくなるなり (learn to unlearn)

よろづの道を学ぶは、胸にある物をはらひつくさむ為也。はじめは何もしらざる故、一向に胸に不審も中々になき者也。学より入てより、胸に物がありて、其物にさまたげられて、何事も仕にくくなる也。其学びたる事、わが心をさりきれば、ならひ何もなくなりて、其道々のわざをするに、ならひにかかはらずして、わざはやすらかに成て、ならひにもたがわず、われも其事をしながら、我もしらずしてならひにかなふ物也。兵法の道、是にて心得べし。百手(ももて)の太刀をならひつくし、身がまへ、目付、ありとあらゆる習を能々(よくよく)ならひつくして稽古するは、格知(知を格(つく)す)の心也。さて、よく習をつくせば、ならひの数々胸になく成て、何心もなき所、格物(物に格(つく)す)之心也。様々の習をつくして、習稽古の修行、功つもりぬれば、手足身に所作はありて心になくなり、習をはなれて習にたがはず、何事もするわざ自由也。此時は、わが心いづくにありともしれず、天魔外道もわが心をうかがひ得ざる也。此位にいたらん為の習也。ならひ得たれば、又習はなく成也。(柳生但馬守平 「殺人刀(せつにんとう)」『兵法家伝書』 西山・渡辺・郡司 (1972, 311)

Skill learning in general is for throwing away your problems in your body-mind. At the beginning, you have no problems in your body-mind because you know nothing. As you learn, though, you begin to have problems and they affect your performance. However, if your learned problems go away from you mind, you unlearn everything you have learned, and when you do the skill, your performance will be fluent. Your performance is not against what you have learned, and it accords with what you have learned without you being consciousness of it. You should learn martial arts in this way. You learn one hundred techniques of the sword. You also learn stances, eye-movements and all sorts of techniques and train yourself. This is internal knowledge completion. If you learn well, your learned problems leaves your body-mind and you are not conscious of anything. This is action completion. If you learn various skills and go through disciplined training, then your performance manifests itself in your body, but not in your mind. You are free from, but not against, what you have learned. You are free in whatever you do. At this state, your mind is nowhere to be found and even the devil cannot read your mind. Skill learning aims to reach this state. If you learn well, you unlearn well.




3 Implications

3.1 Consciousness

Do we understand the functions of consciousness properly?
Do we understand functions of learners' grammar?
What do we mean by 'consciousness raising' or 'Focus on Form'?
Do we have 'maxims' for communication other than cliches?
What is the relationship between conscious mind and nonconscious body? (Anomalous monism)
Is the term the "empty mind" nonsense?
Do the world, your body and your mind perfectly synchronize?
How can students throw away their consciousness to throw away their consciousness?
Are students just to "speak out" without any use of consciousness?
Are we teaching or educating?



3.2 Emotions and feelings

Are our students 'moved' to have emotions and feelings to produce language?
Do our students 'move' as they are 'moved'?
Are our tasks authentic enough to produce emotions and feelings?
Is our English use vocal as well as verbal?
Is knowledge in the brain or the body?



3.3 Communication

Are students "free" in Eikaiwa?
Is communication one system or language production from the two sides?
Do we see a student in terms of the individual or someone in the interpersonal relation?
How do our students see us in the situation that is "integrated by coincident reciprocal motivation?"
Do we produce "power" of speech alone?
Do we understand the discrepancy among the biological, conscious, and communication systems?



3.4 Post-modernism

Are we influenced by dualism or monism?
Is Descartes still our hero? (How about Spinoza?)
Are we not biased for structural linguistics?
Which is your conceptual metaphor, modern competitive sports or traditional Budo?


3.5 EFL and ESL

Do we see the cultural differences between TEFL by Japanese teachers and TESL by native teachers?
Are we teaching language, language use in classroom, or linguistic communication in the real world?
Do we want our students to be native-like or plurilingual?
How do we deal with the competitive aspects of ELT?
Are we teaching English for the welfare of the life of our students, or for our living?
Are we to talk about the ethics of TEFL/TESL, or is it just hypocrisy?
Does the ethics have anything to do with skill performance?
Is the ethics about the mind or the body?





Bibliography to come later.





Saturday, February 25, 2012

Damasio (2000) The Feeling of What Happens




Now I never understand why I thought reading Antonio Damasio's latest book, Self Comes to Mind, was enough to understand his ideas. This book, The Feeling of What Happens (2000), deserves careful reading even after the publication of Self Comes to Mind.

So this blog article on The Feeling of What Happens is a squeal to my summary article on Self Comes to Mind. I never claim that the following summary is complete or perfect. (I omitted technical aspects of neurology, in particular. Still worse, I inserted some speculation of mine here and there.) Those who are interested are strongly advised to read the original book.

The summary consists of four parts. The first part is a synopsis of Damasio's agenda as I understand it. The second part is about the terminology about which we need to be very clear, for Damasio uses many ordinary words (like image, emotion, or feeling) in his own (but very technical and theoretical) way. The third part describes the three kinds of self. The final part is about language and other issues, which are my professional interests.




1 Synopsis

As I understand, Damasio's agenda is to distinguish different stages of human mind from the viewpoint of emotions, feeling of them, and all that follow in the body. He explains the emergence of consciousness (core consciousness) in the second-order act of feeling of feelings of emotions, i.e. "The Feeling of What Happens (in the Body)." This core consciousness produces a sense of self (core self). He also explains the expansion of consciousness (extended consciousness), that produces a new kind of self, autobiographical self, the self we usually identifies ourselves with.

These layered notions with some technical terms may look really complicated. But they are not. I'll try to explain as best as I can.




1.1 An emotion, the feeling of the emotion, and the feeling of the feeling of the emotion

Without technically defining emotion and feeling yet, I now introduce three layers of bodily reactions. The layers consist of the fundamental one (emotion), its first-order nonconscious representation (feeling of the emotion), and a second-order conscious representation (feeling of the feeling; Knowing that we have a feeling of that emotion).

If we borrow his expressions on pages 8 and 282 combined, we can explain the three layers as follows:


Emotions:
a transient change of the organism specifically caused by objects*


A feeling of the emotions:
the representation of that transient change in organism state
in terms of neural patterns and ensuring images


Knowing that we have the feeling of the emotions:
those images made conscious by a sense of self in the act of knowing


*"Objects" will be defined soon in the next section.


Another explanation is given on page 37 in terms of noncousciousness and consciousness, which can be summarized like below:



A state of emotion,
which can be triggered and executed nonconsciously

A state of feeling,
which can be represented noncounsciously

A state of feeling made conscious,
i.e., known to the organism having both emotion and feeling


These two nonconscious stages and one conscious stage of human mind are necessary concepts to explain the emergence of consciousness and self. Let's examine consciousness and self in 1.2 and 1.3., respectively.




1.2 Two related issues of consciousness

An interesting point about consciousness is that it has two issues which are related to each other. If we use the prototypical case of vision as an example of consciousness, and use the movie metaphor for vision (p. 11), we can express the two issues as follows.


(1) How the movie-in-the-brain is generated

(2) How the brain also generates the sense
that there is an owner and observer for that movie


The first issue is how I not just react to the object that is the source of the vision just as many biological beings do, but also have the vision. This issue is closely related to the second one, which is how I know that it is I that possesses and experiences the vision. As I imagine (I regret I don't have exact biological knowledge), the amoeba may have neither issues; the dragonfly may have the first issue but not the second; and we humans, and probably dogs, have both.

"The movie-in-the-brain" is images of an object. Damasio defines these two terms and explains the two issues.



I regard the problem of consciousness as a combination of two intimately related problems. The first is the problem of understanding how the brain inside the human organism engenders the mental patterns we call, for lack of a better term, the images of an object. By object I mean entities as diverse as a person, a place, a melody, a toothache, a state of bliss; by image I mean a mental pattern in any of the sensory modalities, e.g., a sound image, a tactile image, the image of a state of well-being. Such images convey aspects of the physical characteristics of the object and they may also convey the reaction of like and dislike one may have for an object, the plans one may formulate for it, or the web of relationships of that object among other objects. (...)

Now, the second problem of consciousness. This is the problem of how, in parallel with engendering mental patterns for an object, the brain also engenders a sense of self in the act of knowing. (p. 9)


So, when we're interested in consciousness of humans, Damasio argues that we need to explore not only images but also self, a state of consciousness that knows that it has the images. But this self (or this state of consciousness) is based on more fundamental layers.



1.3 Three stages of self

The self (or the consciousness) that we identify ourselves with is, according to Damasio, autobiographical self (extended consciousness), which are based on core self (core consciousness), which are further based on proto-self (nonconsciousness).


Proto-self / Nonconsciousness**

Core self / Core consciousness

Autobiographical self / Extended consciousness


**In Self Comes to Mind, Damasio introduces the primordial feelings to refer to the first-order feelings of emotions. Primordial feelings are at the stage of proto-self, which are not conscious yet.

The emergence of core self (core consciousness) and autobiographical self (extended consciousness) are explained as follows:


the nonconscious neural signaling of an individual organism begets the proto-self which permits core self and core consciousness, which allow for an autobiographical self, which permits extended consciousness. (p. 230)


I believe we can summarize the distinction of emotion / first-order feeling (primordial feeling) / second-order feeling (conscious knowing), the two related issues of consciousness (images and self), and the three stages of self (proto-, core, and autobiographical) in the following way.



(1) NONCONSIOUSNESS
A state of emotion
that initiates a state of feeling (primordial feeling)
as a first-order neural, noncouscious representation in the brain,
that produces Proto-self / Nonconsciousness (primordial feeling)

(2) CONSCIOUSNESS
(2a) IMAGE
A state of feeling made conscious
as a second-order neural, conscious representation in the mind,
that produces Core consciousness and
(2b) (CORE) SELF
Core self,
which further produces
(2c) (AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL) SELF
Autobiographical self via Extended consciousness
as third-order linguistic, conscious representation


With this understanding as Damasio's agenda, let's see some of his technical terms in the next section.





2 Terminology

Here, I confirm Damasio's definitions of emotion, image, and somatic signaling, and I clarify the perception of an object and the body loop / as if body loop.


2.1 Definition of emotion

Of Damasio's terms, emotion probably requires the most careful attention because it is quite different from its ordinary sense. In our ordinary language, emotion means primary or universal emotions (eg. happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, or disgust), secondary or social emotions (eg. embarrassment, jealously, guilt, or pride), and background emotions (eg. well-being or malaise, calm or tension, and others) (pp. 50-51).

However, Damasio uses emotion as a very technical term. Below are four of the five features that Damasio introduces to define emotion as he intends to (Feature #3 is omitted here because it is a technical description of the brain structure.


1. Emotions are complicated collections of chemical and neural responses, forming a pattern; all emotions have some kind of regulatory role to play, leading in one way or another to the creation of circumstances advantageous to the organism exhibiting the phenomenon; emotions are about the life of an organism, its body to be precise, and their role is to assist the organism in maintaining life.

2. Notwithstanding the reality that learning and culture alter the expression of emotions and give emotions new meanings, emotions are biologically determined processes, depending on innately set brain devices, laid down by a long evolutionary history.

3. (Omitted)

4. All the devices can be engaged automatically, without conscious deliberation; the considerable amount of individual variation and the fact that culture plays a role in shaping some inducers do not deny the fundamental stereotypicity, automaticity, and regulatory purpose of the emotions.

5. All emotions use the body as their theater (internal milieu, visceral, vestibular and musculoskeletal systems), but emotions also affect the mode of operation of numerous brain circuits: the variety of the emotional responses is responsible for profound changes in both the body landscape and the brain landscape. The collection of these changes constitutes the substrate for the neural patterns which eventually become feelings of emotion. (pp. 51-52)


In brief, emotions in Damasio's technical definition are 1) chemical and neural responses that are regulatory; 2) mostly biological rather than cultural; 4) automatic; and 5) the basis of feelings of emotion.



2.2 Definition of image

A quotation from p. 9 has already defined image as a "mental pattern in any of the sensory modalities". Here is another definition.


By the term images I mean mental patterns with a structure built with the tokens of each sensory modalities -- visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and somatosensory. (p. 318)


But the last modality, somatosensory, deserves a special attention because, once again, our ordinary understanding may betray what Damasio intends to mean by the term.



2.3 Definition of somatic signaling

Somatosensory modality is (of course) about somatic signaling. The standard meaning of somatic is given, for example, in Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition as follows.


1. of or relating to the soma: somatic cells
2. of or relating to an animal body or body wall as distinct from the viscera, limbs, and head
3. of or relating to the human body as distinct from the mind: a somatic disease
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/somatic


The second meaning excludes visceral signaling from somatosensory modality, but that is not what Damasio means by somatic signaling (or more commonly, body signals). Somatic signaling, according to Damasio, includes the internal and visceral, as well as the musculoskeletal and, of course, the tactile.



(1) The internal milieu and visceral division (interoceptive):
by chemicals flowing in the bloodstream; nerve pathways; and the state of smooth muscles

(2) The vestibular and musculoskeletal division (proprioceptive or kinesthetic):
by the central nervous system; and the state of striated muscles which join the bones

(3) The fine touch division:
by the specialized sensors in the skin

(Summary based on descriptions on pp. 149-153)



This definition of Damasio's may sound rather unusual but it is certainly more technical, for in fact, we all feel the visceral and the musculoskeletal. We probably pay too much attention to the five senses (hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch) and disregard other subtle senses that do not have their specialized sensory organs (ear, eye, nose, tongue, and skin).

Incidentally, Michizo NOGUCHI, a great reflective practitioner of body movements (Noguchi Taiso), emphasized the importance of these subtle senses (the sense of gravity, in particular) in our movements. (His phenomenological descriptions of the body movements are extremely insightful from the view point of Budo (martial arts) and I'm currently taking a detailed note on his works. (See this article if you're interested). In the meantime, for those of you who might be interested in him, here is some videos of Noguchi Taiso.



Anyway, somatic signaling includes the visceral and the musculoskeletal as well as the five senses. This inclusion becomes very important when we think of language, for example, whose basis is images and ultimately somatic signals.



2.4 No Pure perception of an object

Although we've been talking about an image caused by an object, we should not think that an image is a pure perception uncontaminated by other sensations. When we see something, for example, we of course sense the vision, but also sense the body movement that makes the vision possible; the body movement involves vestibular and musculoskeletal sensation, which also involve internal milieu and visceral sensation.


There is no such thing as a pure perception of an object within a sensory channel, for instance, vision. (...) To perceive an object, visually or otherwise, the organism requires both specialized sensory signals and signals from the adjustment of the body, which are necessary for perception to occur. (p. 147)


It may be interesting to examine synesthesia from this viewpoint.



2.5 The body loop and the as if body loop

Next is the concepts of the "body loop" and the "as if body loop", both of which are about changes of the body state. The body loop is an ordinary biological mechanism where bloodstreams and nerve pathways pass information about the body state. The other, the as if body loop, is probably peculiar to humans which possess quite an evolved brain. The brain represents the "body maps" that is a reflection of the real body state. By manipulating the body maps, the brain simulates potential body movements "as if" the body really moved. The as if body loop is an obvious advantage for future actions.


(1) The "body loop":
by humoral signals (chemical messages conveyed via the bloodstream) and
neural signals (electrochemical messages conveyed via nerve pathways)

(2) The "as if body loop":
by sensory body maps under the control of the prefrontal cortices and other neural sites


(Statements based on the description of pp. 79-80)




The body maps are often simply called map or neural pattern. These correspond to image or mental pattern (p. 317). Later, in Self Comes to Mind, Damasion uses the terms image, map, and neural pattern almost interchangeably. (2010, p. 55)


2.6 Private feeling and publicly observable emotion

The final terminological clarification is about the nature of emotion and feeling. Emotion, as chemical and neural responses, is publicly observable, whereas feeling, as perceived in core consciousness, is only subjective phenomenon and private in its nature.


Emotion: publicly observable responses

Feeling: private, mental experience of an emotion


(Based on the description on p. 42.)






3 Three kinds of self


Now that we confirmed Damasio's terminology, let's see the definitions of the three kinds of self, proto-self, core self and autobiographical self.



3.1 Proto-self

Here is a definition of the proto-self from Table 6.1, one of the most important tables in this book.


The proto-self is an interconnected and temporarily coherent collection of neural patterns which represent the state of the organism, moment by moment, at multiple levels of the brain. We are not conscious of the proto-self. (p. 174. Table 6.1. Kinds of Self)


The proto-self is a transient body map that is not yet consciously known to the owner of the body.


Next is a bit detailed definition, which clearly states that the proto-self is first-order representations in various parts of the brain and that it forms the basis of further body awareness.


The proto-self is a coherent collection of neural patterns which map, moment by moment, the state of the physical structure of the organism in its many dimensions. This ceaselessly maintained first-order collection of neural patterns occurs not in one brain place but in many, at a multiplicity of levels, from the brain stem to the cerebral cortex, in structures that are interconnected by neural pathways. These structures are intimately involved in the process of regulating the state of the organism. (p. 154)




3.2 Core self and core consciousness

When the proto-self, the first-order neural map, changes significantly (i.e., to the extent that the difference becomes important information for the survival of the body), the change (difference) manifests itself in core consciousness.


core consciousness occurs when the brain's representation devices generate an imaged, nonverbal account of how the organism's own state is affected by the organism's processing of an object, and when this process enhances the image of the causative object, thus placing it saliently in a spatial and temporal context. (p. 169)


As the core consciousness is noticeable, it demands not just its object (the change in the proto-self) but also its subject, something that notices the object. The subject is the core self.


The core self inheres in the second-order nonverbal account that occurs whenever an object modifies the proto-self. The core self can be triggered by any object. (...) (p. 174. Table 6.1. Kinds of Self)


This core self is second-order, for it is based on the proto-self, the first-order neural map.

The emergence of both the object and the subject of the core consciousness sounds almost tricky. But this account explains the sensation that we sometimes feel: I'm here and now as long as I perceive something (A different version of "Cogito ergo sum" (French: Je pense, donc je suis; English: I think, therefore I am)). Demasio quotes T.S. Eliot to impress the subject-object integration of the core consciousness (in fact, as the first quotation on the cover page of the book).



Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply
That it is not heard at all, but you are the music
While the music lasts. These are only hints and guesses,
Hits followed by guesses; and the rest
Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action.
The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation.


T.S. ELIOT
"Dry Salvages" from Four Quartets


Although we're usually not conscious of primordial feelings, we notice the difference in the changes of primordial feelings. And in that act of noticing, we sense ourselves as the agent of noticing. What is noticed and what notices emerge at the same time.

Below is Damasio's exegesis of T.S. Eliot. His passage, "a paragon of effective scientific writing" according to Dallas Morning News , cannot be paraphrased by me and it must be directly quoted:


You Are the Music while the Music Lasts: The Transient Core Self

You know that you are conscious, you feel that you are in the act of knowing, because the subtle imaged account that is now flowing in the stream of your organism's thoughts exhibits the knowledge that your proto-self has been changed by an object that has just become salient in the mind. You know you exist because the narrative exhibits you as protagonist in the act of knowing. You rise above the sea level of knowing, transiently but incessantly, as a felt core self, renewed again and again, thanks to anything that comes from outside the brain into its sensory machinery or anything that comes from the brain's memory stores toward sensory, motor, or automatic recall. You know it is you seeing because the story depicts a character -- you -- doing the seeing. The first basis for the conscious you is a feeling which arises in the re-representation of the nonconscious proto-self in the process of being modified within an account which establishes the cause of the modification. The first trick behind consciousness is the creation of this account, and its first result is the feeling of knowing. (pp. 171-172)


In another part, Damasio uses a metaphor of (nonverbal) story-telling and says that the subject (story-teller) is demanded and thus appears as the story (significant changes in the body state) is being told.


The mapping of the object-related consequences occurs in first-order neural maps representing proto-self and object; the account of the causal relationship between object and organism can only be captured in second-order neural maps. Looking back, with the license of metaphor, one might say that the swift, second-order nonverbal account narrates a story: that of the organism caught in the act of representing its own changing state as it goes about representing something else. But astonishing fact is that the knowable entity of the catcher has just been created in the narrative of the catching process. (p. 170)



Related article of mine to this issue is "Where is Self, and what is it?" No, it's rather "How is Self?": Luhmann's theory of autopoiesis. In the article I quoted Luhmann, which I copy below.



The term “subject” does not designate a substance that, by its pure being, shoulders everything else, the subject is rather self-referentiality itself as the foundation of cognition and action. (1997a, 868)

Translated by Moeller, Hans-Georg (2011). Luhmann Explained: From Souls to Systems (Ideas Explained) (p. 170). Open Court. Kindle Edition.


Als Subjekt bezeichnet man nicht eine Substanz, die durch ihr bloßes Sein alles andere trägt, sondern Subjekt ist die Selfstreferenz selbst als Grundlage von Erkennen und Handeln.

The original in Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft (2, p. 868) .




3.3 Extended consciousness and Autobiographical self

Core consciousness, which is about here and now, can be extended by memories to become extended consciousness, which can produce, here and now, the past and the future.



Extended consciousness goes beyond the here and now of core consciousness, both backward and forward. The here and now is still there, but it is flanked by the past, as much past as you may need to illuminate the now effectively, and, just as importantly, it is flanked by the anticipated future. (p. 195)


Remembrance of the past and simulation of the future are the great advantage for survival in ever-changing complex environment.


Creatures with consciousness have some advantages over those that do not have consciousness. They can establish a link between the world of automatic regulation (the world of basic homeostasis that is interwoven with the proto-self) and the world of imagination (the world in which images of different modalities can be combined to produced novel images of situations that have not yet happened). The world of imaginary creations -- the world of planning, the world of formulation of scenarios and prediction of outcomes -- is linked to the world of the proto-self. The sense of self links forethought, on the one hand, to preexisting automation, on the other. (pp. 303-304)


Extended consciousness, now equipped with the past and the future as well as the present, gives rise to a sense of individual perspective, ownership, and agency (p. 198). It is I who recall the past, imagine the future, and execute and own these mental events. This sense is a sense of autobiographical self.


The autobiographical self is based on autobiographical memory which is constituted by implicit memories of multiple instances of individual experience of the past and of the anticipated future. (...) (p. 174. Table 6.1. Kinds of Self)


I, in the ordinary sense, is the autobiographical self, which is produced by extended consciousness. The extended consciousness is expansion of core consciousness by the use of mental patterns (memories). The core consciousness (and the sense of core self) emerges out of significant body state differences caused by objects at the level of proto-self. I am three-layered and my basis is the nonconscious body. I have the body, therefore I am.




4 Language and other issues

In this last section, we deal with language and other issues which may interest some applied linguists.

We often regard language as a system of disembodied signs. But it is rather a system of the body, a system based on the body state differences. The body state differences are represented in images in the brain, and the images are sources of linguistic expressions. So, we need to understand the the body-brain-language connection to think about linguistic issues. Language is a system of embodied signs, translation of images in the brain, that are originally the body state differences.



Language -- that is, words and sentences -- is a translation of something else, a conversion from nonlinguistic images which stand for entities, events, relationships, and inferences. (p. 107


Although we say a linguistic expressions is a translation of images, it's not that there is one to one correspondence between a linguistic expression and a set of images located in a particular part of the brain. Different features and aspects of a linguistic expression are to be found in different parts of the brain.


The brain forms memories in a highly distributed manner. Take, for instance, the memory of a hammer. There is no single place of our brain where we will find an entry with the word hammer followed by a neat dictionary definition of what a hammer is. (p. 220)


So, the body-brain-language connection is not so simple. The body state changes are constantly transmitted via the body loop and the as if body loop. The changes are also constantly represented in maps and different combinations of various fragments of maps produce linguistic expressions. The body state changes are the first-order patterns, consciously recognized neural patterns are the second-order, and the linguistic expressions are the third order. The three orders are layered and related, but, translations between different orders are not straightforward at all. The three orders, metaphorically speaking, speak different languages. To use Luhmannian expressions, the biological system (an organism), the conscious system (a psychic system), and the linguistic communication system (a social system) are all different autopoiesis systems, that are structurally coupled to one another.



In the case of humans the second-order nonverbal narrative of consciousness can be converted into language immediately. One might call it the third-order. (p. 185)



As we come towards the end of this summary, it is probably a good idea how Damasio's theory of consciousness is different from Gerald Edelman's theory. (See my summary article on Wider than the sky (http://yosukeyanase.blogspot.com/2010/07/wider-than-sky-by-gerald-edelman.html) and Second nature (http://yosukeyanase.blogspot.com/2010/08/consciousness-as-process-that-is.html).

In short, their theories are not entirely different, but, according to Damasio, his theory is more sophisticated and theoretically generative. About Gerald Edelman, he wrote as follows:


his primary consciousness is simpler than my core consciousness and does not result in the emergence of a self. Edelman's higher-order consciousness is also not the same as my extended consciousness, because it requires language and is strictly human. (p. 338. Endnote 10)



However, we should never conclude that Damasio gave the final answer to the issue of consciousness. Far from it. We are only beginning to ask proper questions about consciousness. In the human history, core consciousness is quite a recent issue in comparison with autobiographical consciousness. And before autobiographical consciousness, humans mostly talked about conscience, not consciousness. Probably, core consciousness is something too commonplace and ubiquitous to escape our critical assessment. It is not now, though.



Humans had identified conscience and had an interest in its doings long before they identified extended consciousness as a problem, let alone core consciousness. (...) The preoccupation with what we call consciousness now is recent -- three and a half centuries perhaps -- and has only come to the fore late in the twentieth century. (p. 231)


Related posts:
A summary of Damasio’s “Self Comes to Mind”
http://yosukeyanase.blogspot.jp/2011/09/summary-of-damasios-self-comes-to-mind.html

'Feeling' of language as a sign of autopoiesis
http://yosukeyanase.blogspot.jp/2011/09/feeling-of-language-as-sign-of.html

Damasio (2000) The Feeling of What Happens 
http://yosukeyanase.blogspot.jp/2012/02/damasio-2000-feeling-of-what-happens.html 

Another short summary of Damasio's argument on consciousness and self http://yosukeyanase.blogspot.jp/2012/06/another-short-summary-of-damasios.html