Ma: Conscious and Meaningful Emptiness, A Pause, and Negative Space - Japanese
Emptiness' virtues, the cruel battle of silence alongside
Today we are following the winding path of an essential concept in life and in art, which is also rare in daily life, where speed is infinitely valued.
Those of us who are familiar with Japanese culture already know that word, while some others are not even aware of it. And the rest feel the existence of this concept but are unable to identify it because there is no word in our vocabulary for it. (This feeling of “linguistically inexpressible feelings” has happened to us, the readers and contributors of Words of the World, many times before. We were able to recognize and name them with the help of other languages' words, such as Moledro. And this acknowledgment is one of the aims and consequences of this newsletter.)
Today's word is “Ma.”
Ma means emptiness in Japanese, but it is a conscious and meaningful emptiness. It is a pause in time and space to which everything owes its existence.
The empty space between lines and shapes that makes a painting meaningful. The split-second silences between the clapping of two hands that make up an applause. The empty spaces that a chef intentionally leaves on a plate when preparing an elegant dish and which make the real difference. The meaningful silences during a conversation.
In Japanese Kanji, Ma is represented by a combination of the symbols for the sun and a door that is not fully closed. This symbolizes an atmosphere where the sun can shine through the door, allowing life and creation.
To understand the concept of “ma” better, we should learn it from one of its masters, Hayao Miyazaki, the peak of creativity and story-telling, my guide. I am grateful he was born into our world and created all those brilliant stories.
The people who make the movies are scared of silence, so they want to paper and plaster it over. They're worried that the audience will get bored. They might go up and get some popcorn.
But just because it's 80 percent intense all the time doesn't mean the kids are going to bless you with their concentration. What really matters is the underlying emotions—that you never let go of those.
What my friends and I have been trying to do since the 1970's is to try and quiet things down a little bit; don't just bombard them with noise and distraction. And to follow the path of children's emotions and feelings as we make a movie. If you stay true to joy and astonishment and empathy you don't have to have violence and you don't have to have action. They'll follow you. This is our principle.
We are deadly afraid of silence.
I anticipate this fear mostly in the moments of spontaneous silence during a conversation. When the conversation is interrupted without an obvious reason, when the words run out and silence reigns for a while, a cruel battle begins. The outer voice is silent, but the conversation in the inner world gets louder.
-Why doesn't she speak?
-Why can't I find something to say?
-What does he think of me? Maybe we are not that close. She has some negative thoughts about me that he doesn’t reveal.
Emptiness gives a prosperous space for thoughts.
As long as we stay in the movement, there is no danger. As long as we don't stop, all the inner bugs stay asleep. But whenever we stop, everything will be revealed. All the mistakes dwelling in the depths of our inner worlds, the unexpressed and suppressed emotions, the situations we’ve got used to without sincerely accepting, all the secret questions and inconvenient answers, everything lying dormant comes up to float on the surface.
If the water stagnates, we may have to face all the things that come out, even if we may not be able to bear the confrontation, which will cause us to fall apart. But if we can keep the water busy by staying in constant motion, everything is familiar and easier—more superficial but manageable.
So “ma” also means these encounters and confrontations with life and time. It means taking a break from movement, stopping, and listening to the voice of life without being afraid of stillness.
Ma is what gives meaning to the moments that really make our lives meaningful.
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I have tried to explain, and more important than that, understand the concept of “ma” as much as I can. It is clear that studying “ma” does not end here for me, since it is endlessly worth thinking about and writing about. But for now, let me stop at this point and leave a "ma" here.
Wish you a great weekend. Add joy to your life, but do not neglect to add meaning.
Till next week,
— Gulsun
Thank you for taking the time to accompany me in the story of a new word. Every word of the world’s languages is also ours, belonging to humanity while giving us an essence of the culture in which it was rooted.
We are made of stories—that is, of words.