Update 1.17 — What is spring?

In this update, I will continue my considerations about seasons.

In the previous update (1.16), I spoke about autumn. I concluded that autumn can be associated with the phrase—“existence and sense”.

I have also added the phrase “existence and sense” to the Mandala of Characters. I placed this phrase next to autumn. All in all, we have a short definition of autumn that looks like this:

(autumn—existence & sense)

This definition is in the set of concepts and phrases we can find at the bottom of the Mandala.

In the previous update, I made a diagram which contains the Ancient System and short definition of psychological functions by Carl Gustav Jung. That is, thinking, feeling, intuition and sensing.

To make it easier to follow my reflections, I am reminding below this diagram.

Then, on the diagram we can see:

• inside the Ancient System,
• outside, four psychological functions by Jung. That is, — Sensing, — Thinking, — Feeling, — and iNtuition (that is, Intuition).

The letters labels of the psychological functions (S, T, F, and N), came from the popular MBTI® typology, that is, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The MBTI® is based on Jung’s typology and was developed by Katherine Cook Briggs, and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers.

Psychological functions have the following descriptions:

• S—Sensing — establishes that — something exists.
• T—Thinking — tells us — what it means?
• F—Feeling — tells us — what its value is?
• N—iNtuition — surmises — whence it comes and whither it goes?

The above short definitions of psychological functions at some point inspired me to one association. It means, it came to my mind an idea that with the help of the above short definitions of psychological functions, I may define the seasons. That is, define their symbolic meaning.

As I mentioned above, in the previous update, I was looking for the short definition for autumn. In this update, I will deal with spring.

Spring on the Mandala of Characters is on the other side in relation to autumn. That is, on the top of the Mandala in the following set of words:

AIR
compromise, INTUITION, balance   
anger
spring

So, spring is in the same place where is the Element—AIR, and psychological function—INTUITION.

Intuition in the above diagram is defined as follows:

• N—iNtuition — surmises — whence it comes and whither it goes?

Intuition is an interesting term. Because on the one hand this term is easy to understand, and on the other hand we actually do not know, what does it mean?

I think the symbol of spring can give us some clues here.

Spring is used, for example, in such phrases as:

• “to the spring” or “till the spring comes” (Polish phrases) — that is, the saying that we have to wait out some difficult period, after which it will be better. In English, a similar meaning has a saying — “we will live to fight another day”.
• “the springtime of life” or “life spring” — a terms referring to human youth.
• Spring is also used to name events that appear and develop with great force. For example, “Spring of Nations” (1848-1849), “Arab Spring” (2010-2012).
• etc.

These phrases indicate that spring is the time which:

• will take place,
• will appear,
• is our goal,
• we are going to,
• we are waiting for,
• etc.

Spring is also a time of youth. We are dealing here with something that will appear or is born, and next will live the first period of its life.

In the case of people, it will be childhood and youth. Next, the spring of human life passes, and the transition into adult life takes place.

So, we can say about the spring that it is strongly connected with time. Spring comes, takes some time, and next it goes away. Indeed, other seasons also come, last and pass, but in the case of spring, it is for many of us the most visible and noticeable. To a large extent, it is like that due to nature. Nature that comes to life and then develops luxuriantly and spectacularly.

Spring, then, appears and goes on somewhere. For example, in the spring, standing in front of an apple tree, we can see that there are buds on it, from which flowers will emerge. Next, fruits will arise from the flowers, which will be heading to maturity.

I think that at this point appeared an analogy between the spring and the above-mentioned Jung’s short definition of intuition. It means:

Intuition — surmises — whence it comes and whither it goes?

Why do I think so?

Imagine a situation that we stand in front of a tree at the moment when there are buds and flowers on the tree branches. Then we can see that the buds or flowers come from the tree and tend to become fruits. Whereas fruits will aim for their maturity.

If we do not know what this the tree is, we can surmise:
— What is tree the buds and flowers come from? That is, what is their origin?
— And what fruits will arise from the buds or flowers? That is, what purpose they are heading?

In this situation, our intuition, that is our surmise, must discover the origin and purpose of buds or flowers from a given tree.

I think that thanks to inspiration from Jung, I can now create a short definition of spring that I can put on the Mandala of Characters. It means:

spring—origin and purpose

I think it’s worth to make in this definition also another change. It means, instead of the word “origin”, in my opinion, it would be better to use the word “source”.

Why?

During creating the Mandala of Characters, I made the assumption that concepts and phrases on the Mandala will be as ambiguous as possible. Thanks to this, there is a greater scope for various associations and analogies that help to discover the secrets or particular types of characters.

The word “source” has more meanings and is more symbolic that the word “origin”. Therefore, I think that the “source” will fit better to the Mandala. In that case. I will modify the above definition of spring. And now the definition will look like this:

spring—source and purpose

The words “source” and “purpose” are ambiguous. They are meaningful and symbolic. All in all, they will guide us to what intuition is.

Let’s look at the “source” and the “purpose”.

I will start from “source”.

The “source” may have the following meanings:

• Source as a source of something:
  — the place where the underground water flows to the surface of the earth (e.g.: river head, origin of river),
  — the place where heat, light, electricity, energy, etc. come from (e.g.: heat source, light source, source of current, energy source, etc.),
  — the point at which something begins, from which something comes (e.g.: source of rumor, problem, success, hope, etc.),
  — food thank to which we owe the right nutrients and micro-elements (e.g., the source of vitamins, proteins, magnesium, etc.),
  — books, publications, articles, data, etc., which are the source of knowledge in some fields, or the basis for conducting some research, studies, and analyzes,
• Source as an initial action
  e.g., debut, inauguration, birth, opening, start, beginning, etc.
• Source as a cause
  e.g., stimulus, factor, impulse, motor, motive, inspiration, driving force, etc.
• Source as a stimulus for action or a motive for action
  e.g., activation, impulse, initiative, mobilization, etc.
• Source as origin
  e.g., roots, affiliation, membership, pedigree, etc.
• Source as a habitat or headquarters e.g., center, nest, heart, etc.
• And so on.

So, there would be examples of how different sources might look like. Different sources that can be sources of intuition.

Intuition, however, on the one hand, needs the source or sources, and on the other hand, aims the purpose or purposes.

So, let’s look at the second element of intuition, the purpose. For this purpose, I will continue to use the symbol of spring, which is on the Mandala of Characters in the same place as intuition.

Spring can be both the purpose to which something is heading, and the moment from which something starts and then goes further toward the purpose. It means, spring can be the purpose in two ways.

1. It can be the purpose in itself. For example, when we are waiting for spring. When we need to survive the winter, to get to spring.
2. Spring can also be a point where something starts, and next goes on towards purpose. For example, on the tree, buds appear. From buds, flowers will emerge. From flowers, fruits arise, and they will go to its purpose, that is, to maturity.

One of the interesting meanings of “purpose” is “destination” or “destiny”. I think, it is worth taking a look at “destiny” or “destination”, because it brings an interesting point of view at the “purpose”.

To illustrate this, I will use the example of an apple tree again. It means, and apple tree has its own specific purpose, that is, to bear apples.

This type of destination or destiny cannot be changed, because:
— The apple tree cannot change its purpose. Instead of apples, it will not start bear, for example, plums.
— The apple tree can also be felled and used to make boards. This destination cannot be changed either. We cannot make from the wood of apple tree, for example, metal sheets.

In the case of people, indeed, it is possible to live against their destiny. It means, despite the potential, which they have. For example, against their talents, abilities, passions, interests, etc. However, such a life is often unhappy. People who act against their destiny do not use the potential that lies in them. The potential that they could use for themselves and others.

Besides, I think that in the above considerations, there are other important elements. I am thinking here about ideas, which contain the phrase “springtime of life”. It means, if we are dealing with a being, then its purpose is often associated with destiny or destination.

The purpose is associated with such words and phrases as, for example:

• an object or place to which one is heading;
• intention;
• decision;
• will;
• plan;
• goal, aim, target;
• what one wants to achieve;
• point to which one aims;
• etc.

Destiny is associated with such words or phrases as:

• destination (as a life journey to some purpose);
• fate;
• function;
• role;
• the wheel of fortune;
• being an architect of own future;
• necessity;
• duty;
• mission;
• vocation;
• etc.

So, purpose and destiny or destination are very similar and connected with each other.

For example, if we look at the apple tree that I mentioned earlier, then its purpose and destiny or destination, at the same time is:

• to bear apples,
• give shade,
• produce oxygen,
• provide shelter to birds and insects,
• etc.

When it comes to people, the purpose and destiny or destination of their activity or behavior also often are similar. However, we can also differentiate between their purposes and destinies or destinations.

I think that people's purpose to a large extent relates to their intentions, decisions, plans, dreams, etc.

In turn, people's destiny or destinations connects with their: duties, necessities, vocations, talents, abilities, capabilities, potential, etc.

Coming back to the definition of spring, that is:

spring—source and purpose

this definition will mainly relate to the type of character—Air in its Conscious State.

Air type has a natural ability to discover source and purpose in people, things, objects, places, problems, matters, etc. Air also tries to guide himself by the source and purposes that he discovers.

Summarizing, the above considerations, source and purpose can lead us to the symbol of the season— spring. I think, in that case, the source and purpose together with spring I can place on the Mandala of Characters. So, the set of words, which is in this area of the Mandala, will look like this:

AIR
compromise, INTUITION, balance   
anger
(spring—source & purpose)

Now we can see that instead of the word “spring”, there is the phrase — (spring—source & purpose). This phrase is in brackets. I did it in this way because I want to emphasize the relationship between the season of the year—spring, and the phrase—source and purpose.

I put the above change on the Mandala of Characters. We can see it in the following diagram.

References: