WORDS OF WISDOM, Part 3: Yugen, Meraki

August 28, 2025

Yugen: Etymology: Made up of two Japanese characters. The first, “yu,” means dim or difficult to see. The second, “gen,” originally described the dark, tranquil color of the universe—something calm and deep.

What’s most interesting to me about this word, is that it has no known analogue in English.

Here’s a list of untranslatable Japanese words:

https://avo-translations.co.uk/23-untranslatable-japanese-words-with-beautiful-meanings

In this list, “yugen” is #14.

Too big to comprehend. Yes. There are such “things.” Though (material) things are not included!

What comes to mind for me is the day I was standing by our beautiful pond (no longer a pond, alas, but a wetlands, having been taken over by some kind of bamboo, thanks probably, to birds.)

Standing there, eyes unfocused, drinking in the beauty of the pond, all of a sudden a mysterious, powerful force rose up from below and nearly knocked me off my feet. Not yugen, but something. What?

That our pond no longer is one, I’m reminded of yugen, which itself signifies the temporary, what is passing. . .

Or as Alan Watts put it: yugen means “digging change”! Also: “Openness. Something your spirit goes out into, and has nowhere to land. The trick is, to evoke the mood of yugen, a sort of mysterious suggestiveness.” Wonderful video.

 

Yugen welcomes me when I gaze at the night sky. Or when I gaze at sun-dappled leaves waving in the breeze, or passing clouds playing peek-a-boo with the Moon. Or when I simply stop, filled with gratitude, at the continuous, ever-changing aliveness within which my evanescent embodied being is immersed.

That there is no English equivalent to this word saddens me.

BTW: It may be that this word was originally Chinese!

 

Meraki: etymology: Here’s a post that says it literally means “essence of ourselves.”

Looking at the “ki” part of the word, I’m reminded of tai chi (tai ki, or tai qi), as described here:

Vital energy flowing through the “essence of the self.”

Meraki is what I cannot help but utilize when I write, and when I view other people’s writings. To me, the essence of the person’s life force usually shows up in the beginning of a published work. If its first sentence doesn’t contain that subtle personal dynamic, that unique, vibrant identifier, then likely, for me, that document is not worth my time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORDS OF WISDOM, Part 2: Pronoia, Raku, Seijaku

August 27, 2025

Pronoia: Etymology: From the ancient Greek: For + (nous) mind.

Pay attention to especially the last sentence of the above. The modern use of pronoia appears to be in direct contrast to its opposite, paranoia.

But, there’s a catch. For if paranoia is the (false?) belief that others are out to get you, then pronoia is the (false?) belief that others are here to support you?

At least that’s what this website says:

https://www.worldwidewords.org/tp-pro5.html

Interesting.

I prefer to think that both paranoia and pronoia are general, overarching attitudes that we carry with us as we move about the world. We can fear or we can love. Those really are the basic choices, folks.

Fear others, distrust others, and you attract negativity into your life, thus “proving” that people can’t be trusted!

Love others, assume others can be trusted, and they naturally go out of their own way to support you, thus “proving” that people can be trusted!

In other words, whatever you project, that is what you attract! If I harbor unconscious, unprocessed negativity, then it gets projected and slams back at me via others.

So the point is, work on your own unprocessed stuff, folks! For when you do, the whole world opens.

The word pronoia was the one that stuck out for me when I found this graphic list on twitter/X.

Paranoia has very much been part of my vocabulary, for many decades. But pronoia? NO. Not until now. I welcome it.

 

Raku: Etymology: From the Japanese — “ease,” “effortless happiness,” “comfort.

Here’s an interesting video referencing this type of pottery.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/808571869737006

I think to myself, would that we had a word equivalent to “raku” in the English language. Or, I should say, in the contemporary American English language. Would that we would make it a daily practice of slowing down, taking it easy, putting our screens aside to simply serve each other tea in small, beautiful, handmade bowls.

 

Seijaku: Etymology: stillness, in the midst of activity.

 

I’m reminded of when I was a child: I would retreat (from busy family) out into the back yard, and lie down on my back, to gaze in wonder into the still blue infinite sky.  So very grateful that the sky was blue! As a World War II baby, who woke up via Hiroshima, my “paranoia,” my fear that the world could end in the very next second, was soothed, calmed, in the presence of blue. For decades, all I wore was blue. Everything had to be blue. My eyes are bright blue.

Then there’s this:

https://enchantedcshel.medium.com/seijaku-word-of-the-day-71864f453bf8

I can’t tell you how much tai chi and chi kung, two of my daily practices, have helped calm my fiery, frenetic nervous system. Practicing both for about 25 years now; and without them, I’d likely be either a basket case, or just plain dead.

Nearing 83, I credit especially these Tai Chi practices, plus walking four miles per day (without screen or ear buds), intermittent fasting (18/6) and sleeping enough, for my consciously aging process. Unlike most people my age, I’m not crippled in any way, and I don’t have any chronic disease; and that’s right, no medications whatsoever.