Transcending Law: Vital Lies, Simple Truths

This holiday weekend I’ve been reading my brother’s new book, Transcending Law: The Unintended Life of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. Ken Port is a law professor and an expert in international intellectual property law, especially of the Japanese variety.

A few years ago he became really interested in Article 9, the “pacificist” article of the Japanese constitution, when he noticed that the English translation differed from the Japanese – the former much more clearly prohibiting the Japanese from re-arming and the latter being quite open to “interpretation.” Seems that old General MacArthur (who imposed the constitution during the American occupation) got beaten at his own game. 

One of the interesting aspects of this for me is how we can believe one thing and be doing something quite different at the same time. This phenomena shows up both collectively and individually and has been very important for me to deal with directly in my own life and practice. 

One news flash about this came from the woman who was my lover for a few years some twenty years back, when she noticed, “You’re quite uneven, you know?” At the time, I didn’t know.

In terms of Japan’s pacifism, most people (Japanese and otherwise) believe that they are prohibited from having a military while in fact they have the fourth or fifth largest military in the world. In terms of America, we tell ourselves that we’re environmentalists while we’re the biggest polluters. We tell ourselves that we’re a wealthy country while 20,000 people a day go on food stamps (adding to the 36 million already receiving help) and while we’re nearing bankruptcy.

The esteemed Professor Port (p. 78-79) explains this in part in terms of the Japanese terms “tatemae” and “honne.”

Tatemae is “a principle; a rule; a public position. Honne is “one’s real intention; one’s true motive.” That is, tatemae describes what you tell the outside world; honne describes what your true feeling or intention might be.

Sometimes, though, our true intention is (perhaps skillfully) hidden even from ourselves. If you’re interested in this aspect, you might look at an early Daniel Goleman book, Vital Lies, Simple Truths: The Psychology of Self-Deception (click here for a limited view in Google Books).  

Or we might together just sit quietly in zazen and reflect our life honestly, allowing hidden areas to be lluminated. “Lately,” wrote one student recently, “sitting is bringing up so much of my past karma.  There are little moments of shock like an electrical jolt.  My past karma is endless.”

Let the young rain of tears come.
Let the calm hands of grief come.
It’s not all as evil as you think.
So writes the Norwegian poet Rolf Jacobsen (trs., Robert Bly). 

A friend to whom we can confess our duplicity is also helpful.

Goleman concludes, “Somewhere between the two poles – living a life of vital lies and speaking simple truths – there lies a skillful mean, a path of sanity and survival.”