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The abovedescription could suggest that the subject of cognition was passive according to the Chinese concept. It is not so, however. The sheer observation which does not disturb the nature of observed objects was an initial stage before any action was started. "The empty mind" was not to go with passivity. It was only important to preserve undisturbed perception in movement, in action (also in widely-understood experimental activity). The art of calligraphy illustrates it in the best way. The masters of this art recommended clearing Amateur Amy mind before one started painting which made written characters reflect the meanings and feelings associated with them fully. It was a preparatory procedure before any action was started, action which following certain schemes, was to be creative, as long as we agree to call the effort of expressing meaning-related feelings creative. The analogical postulate of activity allowing to maintain full freedom and relaxation functions, e.g. in Chinese Tai-Chi gymnastics. The different attitude to time in both cultures might have also influenced the preferred research techniques. Time in European tradition is of a linear character, described as "time arrow" which moves from the past to the future. Time "runs", "races", and people live under the "pressure of time". In China, as I have already mentioned the time is rather of a cyclical than range character. It seems that people there did not live with awareness of "losing" time in a certain subjective sense. Therefore, they could afford the luxury of long-lasting, time-consuming observations. Amateuramy in her interesting article points at the fact that European "experimenting obsession" derives, from a "greedy" attitude to- wards time: observation is a method which is chosen by people researchers demanding fast and immediate results. This tendency seems to become more and more consolidated in culture of the West. |
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