恐懼Kǒngjù [fear],心結xīn jié [heart knot]
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Sure, let's elaborate on the concepts of "fear" (恐懼 - kǒngjù) and "heart knot" (心結 - xīn jié) with examples to illustrate the difference:
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Fear (恐懼 - kǒngjù):
- Fear is an emotional response to a perceived threat or danger. It's a natural and instinctual reaction that can manifest in various ways, such as trembling, sweating, increased heart rate, or avoidance behavior.
- Example: Imagine you're walking alone in a dark alley at night, and suddenly you hear footsteps behind you. Your immediate reaction might be fear. Your heart starts racing, you may feel a knot in your stomach, and you might start walking faster or looking over your shoulder to see if someone is following you.
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Heart Knot (心結 - xīn jié):
- Heart knot refers to a psychological or emotional barrier, often stemming from unresolved issues, regrets, or traumas. It's a feeling of being emotionally tangled or blocked, preventing you from moving forward or experiencing peace of mind.
- Example: Suppose you had a falling out with a close friend several years ago, and you haven't spoken since. Every time you think about that situation, you feel a sense of unease or discomfort. Despite wanting to reconcile, you can't bring yourself to reach out due to lingering feelings of hurt or resentment. This unresolved conflict creates a "heart knot" that weighs on your mind and affects your emotional well-being.
In summary, fear is a momentary emotional response to a specific threat or danger, while a heart knot refers to a deeper emotional blockage or conflict that hinders personal growth and peace of mind. Fear is typically triggered by external stimuli, whereas a heart knot is more internal and often rooted in past experiences or relationships.
In westerns' view, reality is fundamental. 緣can be derived from reality, so called interaction, relation, connection, etc. The problem of this view is that a fundamentally new reality cannot be reached at all by logic or deduction. One has to defy or challenge the current reality to gain new ideas, e.g., quantum physics to classical mechanics. This is not deriving. Some Chinese do not get it, and are still trying to find new ideas by deriving. This total idiocy make me speechless.
The traditional Chinese(國學) idea took both reality and 緣 at the same importance, 德 and 道,respectively, 尊道而貴德。A Chinese knot is supposedly a good-luck charm to ward off evil spirits. Its meaning is so deep that few realized it. The knot is a closed-loop to maintain its shape(德). Then the single thread is connected to its self by a very sophisticated but basically a M?bius strip(道). And intricately, the Chinese knot is related to I-Ching. I explained it in my second book in 2020(《傳統文化和個人修養》by楊道還).