Maps of the Wandering Mind: Part 3
Saturday, December 1st, 2007
| Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary |
When I happened upon the word 意図 (ito: intention), I was tickled. I figured that this instance of 図 might mean “map,” as it sometimes does. If so, one could read 意図 as mind + map! An intention might be a map of the mind!
Thinking that way made me quite happy, because back in college, I took an anthropology course called “Cultures and Consciousness,” and one of my favorite textbooks was Charles Hampden-Turner’s Maps of the Mind.
An Ancient Memory
of Maps of the Mind …
“Maps of the mind” is a great phrase, suggestive of many things, including trains of thought. When it comes to representing interconnected thoughts (e.g., about kanji!), the Internet is a perfect tool, for its glorious hyperlinkability.
Speaking of kanji, I probably ought to focus exclusively on that for the rest of this blog. But it’s hard to discipline the mind to go down a straight railroad track. We have such strong associative capacities that it’s almost as if our minds were meant to wander again and again. Why have we evolved that way, come to think of it? Is it so we can multitask? Is it so we can repeatedly return to the past, always digesting it and learning from it? Jesus, Eve, focus already!
|
A Cool Compound 翻意 (hon’i: to change one’s mind) to flutter + mind |
The focus (!) of today’s blog is intentions: the good, the bad, and the unforeseen. We’ll take ‘em one at a time with a few garnishes on the side.
The Best of Intentions
Several compounds help us talk about people’s true intentions. I don’t mean “true intentions” in the sense of “ulterior motives.” Quite the opposite. These words point to good faith and pure hearts:
本意 (hon’i: one’s real intent, motive, hopes) origin + intention
正意 (seii: true heart; correct meaning) right + intention
真意 (shin’i: real intention, true meaning) true + intention
Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity | 5 Comments »
