The neutral

HLThe Neutral

#conflict, #philosophy, #reality, #bufferzone

To uncover more about the Eastern ideology Barthes deals with, he speaks about ‘the whole’, which has been important in the East, and that the conflicts dealt with in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are slightly different.

Confucianism sees multiple conflicts between humans, as it values human relationships. They solve conflicts with the heart of ‘仁인’, who knows ‘道도’, which is the heavenly heart that everyone has and loves all humans through ‘예’. Conflict arises when the ‘道心도심’ is lost and the ‘人心인심’ grows. Human emotions such as anger and hatred, are naturally felt as long as they are human, but the mind must be ejected according to the situation. This solving of conflict, as well as a focus on moderation, is important in Confucianism.

In Buddhism, conflict arises because of the agony and reincarnation of the mind. So it tries to resolve the conflict and feel happiness by knowing that everything is a Buddha with a loving, compassionate heart, seeing and feeling the object as it is.

In Taoism, conflict arises from abandoning nature and choosing artificiality, and the mind is greedy for a concept and title, and this greed also spreads to material things. Therefore, if we abandon ‘人爲 인위’(artificial) and practice ‘無爲 무위’ (action without intention) and become pure like a child, there will be no conflict. In Taoism, it tends to focus on personal conflicts that arise in the mind.

Confucianism focuses mainly on the common conflict we think of, whilst Buddhism and Taoism are about conflicts with a more philosophical approach.

In this way, in the East, conflict is viewed as bad, and harmony is important.

So, how can we maintain the neutral, which is a complex of political issues of several layers? How should we consider a space where conflict and neutrality are tightly condensed like a buffer zone? Can it really be called a neutral situation that avoids confrontation and tension? Is it something like an error situation? If the neutral appears as a cold space where any human breath should not exist, can it be called ‘neutral’?

What role should these buffer zones play in order to remain neutral?