Knowing Bitter Melon 知行合一

The Three Body Problem and a Short Note on Male Beauty

1.

Have you seen the Three Body Problem on Netflix yet?

According to the books which the series is based on —written by Chinese sci-fi author Liu Cixin— we humans should be very glad indeed that we have not encountered alien life… because that encounter might not go so well for us.

After I first read the book a few years ago, I was inspired and wrote a piece of flash fiction about two astronomers who are romantically involved but are torn apart by their different perspectives on “what is out there.” He tells her that, “In all the possibilities for intelligent life, there are two things they will likely share with us. The laws of evolution and liquid water.”

To which she replies: “You forgot resource scarcity.”

In the Three Body Problem, the alien characters have much bigger trouble than just resource scarcity —since their planet is completely hostile to life! And so civilizations develop, only to die back with each new period of unsustainable chaos.

From the point of view of the extraterrestrials in Liu’s novels, who have relentlessly struggled to survive on an extremely hostile and chaotic planet, our earth with its stable environment is a paradise. Indeed, when the first alien learned of the existence of our earth, he found his thoughts drifting “over the blue ocean that never froze and the green forests and fields, enjoying the warm sunlight and the caress of a cool breeze. What a beautiful world! The paradise we imagined really exists!”

The aliens are right, our earth is a beautiful paradise. And Liu is correct that broadcasting our location is probably not the best idea… it would be like putting out an ad in a local newspaper with your address: “Beautiful home, doors not locked.”

2.

At first the aliens seem to want to work with us—to co-exist. But then they realize our two species have irreconcilable differences. That is because the aliens are unable to lie.

How is that possible?

Well, they do not have mouthes or ears— so communication happens directly via telepathy. Their thoughts and minds are broadcast directly into the world, as is.

To think is to communicate. And so they are incapable of lying or dissembling.

In Ming China, there was a Neo-Confucian philosopher called Wang Yangming, who was famous for his unusual epistemology. The unity of knowledge and action (知行合一) says in a nutshell, “If you want to know bitterness, you have to eat a bitter melon yourself.” No other knowledge is possible. All we know is what we do. And what we do is all we can know.

To approach this view you need to move beyond Cartesian mind-body duality. Let's say you think that knowledge is always something *embodied* and therefore in this radical de-emphasis of the thinking-action divide, all knowledge is– as embodied– also an action. So, in this way, as some philosophers have suggested, this pushes beyond Ryle's "know-that" versus "know-how," to suggest that all Confucian knowing is a knowing-to.

Perhaps then, this is why, when the aliens in the novels realize human beings can have hidden agendas —and worse that we distinguish between intent and action— they realize that living with us is impossible. A hard pass. And being unable to lie they tell us directly: we are afraid of you. We cannot co-exist with you.

3.

Because I hated the TV show Game of Thrones, I was worried how I would take to this Netflix version made by the Game of Thrones creators. At first, I really disliked it—mainly because instead of reproducing the books like we saw in the Chinese production, which was very faithful to the characters, story, and the big ideas—the Netflix show localizes the book. Everything is translated into something else: London instead of Beijing. And worse a group of young international “scientists” instead of the very believable Professor Wang. Not only is the science is dumbed-down, but the scientists do not really act like scientists. Worse still, the big ideas are gone. The Netflix show is more of a heroes’ journey story of a group of friends trying to save the world and stay true to their friendship than a show of deep philosophical questions.

The show did grow on me. But I much preferred the lower budget Chinese version for being true to the books, which I loved.

Please feel free to disagree!

**Short Note on male beauty and below

Note

Kashimashi had a wonderful discussion about last week’s Taiga Drama Ep. 12—here.
Two quick points:

1) Last year, I wrote a post about blackened teeth and conceptions of female beauty. It is always surprising when one find their tastes evolving when things one might not have considered attractive before, over time (for example in a different culture) one finds their tastes radically changing. Has that ever happened to you? I mean, tastes have changed even within our own culture, right? See exhibit A below.

In reading the Tale of Genji over the past two decades, again and again I have wondered what about Genji was “all that…” Honestly, it was hard to imagine since to my modern mind, his behavior seemed less than appealing and his poems don’t do much for me… well, thank you NHK! In a brilliant move, in the Taiga drama, the writers have put a little of that “Genji magic” in the form of Michinaga…. Maybe like a lot of people, I am finding myself sighing~~~~! So, I was so happy that Kashimashi brought up the way Michinaga is embodying for us the Heian period conception of male beauty

And the Internet agrees!「色気がすごい！」Kashimashi remarks on the way he parts the curtains to enter the lady’s room…. And the Princess flings her arms around him! Who could resist? He is a ten. Anyway, if you get it, you get it…

2) One other point that kashimashi delivers was about Koshin no Hi— which I knew nothing about…. And here is something about the Three Worms.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B