Update 1.18 — What is summer?

In this update, I will continue consideration about the four seasons that are on the Mandala of Characters.

In the previous two updates (1.16 and 1.17), I spoke about spring and autumn.

For these two seasons, I have created short definitions that reflect their symbolic meaning. The definitions are as follows:

For autumn:

(autumn—existence & sense)

For spring:

(spring—purpose & destiny)

During creating these definitions, I was inspired by the definitions of psychological functions. The author of them is Carl Gustav Jung. Jung in his book “Psychological Types” gave many definitions of psychological functions. Among them, I was inspired by perhaps the shortest of them. These definitions we can see in the following diagram, which I used in the previous two updates.

In the above diagram, we can see:

• inside—scheme of the Ancient System (where four seasons are located),
• outside—four psychological functions by Carl Gustav Jung, namely:
  — S—Sensing,
  — T—Thinking,
  — F—Feeling and,
  — N—iNtuition (it means, Intuition).

Since in the previous two updates, I was talking about spring and autumn, now I will deal with the next season of the year. This time it will be—summer.

Summer we can find on the left side of the Mandala of Characters, among the following set of words:

AIR
    logic, THINKING, possibility
fear
summer

So, summer is in the same place where it is:

• Element—FIRE,
• and mental function—THINKING.

Thinking in the above scheme is defined as follows:

• Thinking — tells us — what it means?

The fact that thinking tells us—what it means—seems obvious. However, if we ask—“What is thinking?”—the answer to this question can make a lot of problems.

I think it is worth here to look for help in Jung’s works. It is because, thinking, as one of the psychological functions, I took from one of his books. It means, as I mentioned above, from the book called “Psychological Types”.

In the above quote, I wondered about the sentence, that thinking — “It is an apperceptive activity, and as such may be divided into active and passive thinking”.

In this sentence, it is also an interesting word — apperceptive, which means:

Below I put also another quote:

In conclusion, the above:

1. Thinking is an apperception activity. That is, it is a process that depends on:
   • the knowledge which we have and
   • the experience which we have.
2. Thinking is an activity that can be divided into:
   • active (the act of the will) and
   • passive (mere occurrence, event, fantasizing, intuitive thinking).

If we put together the above terms, we will get such connections:

• Knowledge (theory) — active intellectual activity — the act of the will.
• Experience (practice) — passive intellectual activity — mere occurrence, fantasizing, intuitive thinking.

The above selection from quotes and concepts, and their arrangement can be somewhat similar to a puzzle. Or it is a kind of simplification. However, I want to find some concepts that can be put on the Mandala of Characters and which will act as call slogans or catchwords. Or speaking more vividly, they will be a kind of door that will open the way to deeper and more broad concepts and issues.

So, while continuing the puzzle of concepts, I think that we can further organize these concepts and phrases. It means we can associate them with the above question in the diagram above. The question is — what it means? Then, this association could look like this:

The above table can be supplemented with concepts on the Mandala of Characters, and then we will get such a summary in the next table:

So, we have the above table. In that case, we can ask–what does it mean? And why the terms in the above table are related to the summer?

More specifically speaking, I associate this with the apple tree. I used this example of the apple tree before in the previous two updates. I did it in the context of two seasons, that is, regarding spring and autumn.

Thus, during the summer, the situation of the apple tree is as follows. Summer is an intensive period of vegetation. However, unlike in spring and autumn, this period, so to speak, is less spectacular. In the spring, buds and flowers blossom, fruits and leaves grow. During autumn, the fruits ripen beautifully, and the wilting leaves take on various colors.

Then, in the summer, plants develop. Quicker or slower depending on the place, conditions, weather, kind of soil, etc. Among others, there is the apple tree, on which apples gradually mature and increasingly gain volume. Some earlier species of apple trees will have their ripening time already during the summer.

When we stand in front of the apple tree in the summer, we can quite easily say — what it means? Or in other words — what it is, what it matters, what role does it play, what function does it have, etc.?

We can answer these questions, because we see the developing apples, that is, fruits of the apple tree. Thanks to fruits that we can see, it is easier for us to recognize the tree, and mark it. When we see the apples, we can also see and know what function has and what role plays the apple tree? It means, bear apples, give shade, give shelter and food to birds and insects, produce oxygen, etc.

When we are gardeners of farmers, the most interesting for us will be fruits. We want fruits to be mature in the best possible way. Then we need two things:
- knowledge (theory) about the cultivation of fruit trees, and
- experience (practice) in cultivation which we gained from previous years. Or we rely on cultivation experience of others.

Therefore, in summer, mainly, it is necessary to think and care for the development of our plants raising. In spring and autumn, we need to focus on doing the right work that needs to be done in the right way and at the right time.

In other words, in summer, it is time to take care and think about whether in spring, we have done everything in the best possible way. And also we need to think and prepare for autumn work when it will be time for harvesting fruits.

Returning to the above table, we can see that during cultivation of the apple tree, we have all the factors that I mentioned in this table. And most of all, these factors relate to the season, which is summer.

So, I think that to determine the summer, we can use what is in this table.

On the Mandala of Characters, however, there is not enough space to put all the concepts from this table. I think that there is also no point in putting too many concepts on the Mandala. I assume that it will be enough if I choose those concepts which, as I said above, will be a kind of door to broader knowledge about the given subject.

To determine the summer, I decided to use and simplify the following two factors:

1. Knowledge (theory) — active intellectual activity (the act of the will).
2. Experience (practice) — passive intellectual activity (mere occurrence).

As for “knowledge (theory) — active intellectual activity”, I think that we can say that we are dealing here with a process (or the act of the will). The process which can be simply defined with such words as cognition, getting to know, recognition, deliberation, reflection, comprehension, understanding, finding out, etc. I think that from these words special attention deserves the word — cognition.

In my opinion, the word “cognition”, has the advantage that we can consider it not only in psychological terms but also philosophical. “Cognition” is the subject of investigation of scientists and philosophers since ancient times.

“Cognition”, therefore, helps to discover what Jung said, “cognition”, tells us — what it means?

I think that the word “cognition” can be chosen here as a keyword, which guides us to the above first point determining thinking, namely:
— knowledge (theory) — active intellectual activity.

As for “experience” (practice) – passive intellectual activity, we are dealing here with an interesting combination. Because, how in one word define the “experience” and “passive intellectual activity”?.

When I was thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that the “experience” combined with “passive intellectual activity” can be, for example:

• Acceptance — because, for example, when cultivating the apple tree, we must accept that:
  — it develops in its way and not in another way;
  — the apple tree will bear apples;
  — the apple tree will not bear any other fruits than apples;
  — the apple fruits will be only in one specific type;
  — etc.
• Tolerance — because we must tolerate the fact that, for example, an apple tree must have appropriate development conditions. For instance, the apple tree tolerates specific:
  — kinds of soil;
  — kind of fertilization;
  — temperature range;
  — trimming or cutting;
  — etc.
  Besides, to the concept of tolerance, we can add here what concerns acceptance.
• Potential — because it is worth knowing what potential has something or somebody. For example, about the apple tree, it is worth to know:
  — what kind and how many fruits it can bear;
  — what it depends on;
  — for how many years the apple tree is able to bear fruits;
  — etc.
• Dream — because, if we think about the potential of something or somebody, then we can have dreams, which are related to this potential. For example, during cultivating apple trees, we can dream of:
  — bumper harvests;
  — better farming methods;
  — better machines and equipment for cultivation;
  — better storehouses or store warehouses for storing fruits;
  — etc.

When we are dealing with the above factors, we actually face the problem of making a choice. This choice is based on the fact that:

• We must accept and tolerate the situation and conditions we face. For example, we accept the fact that the apple tree bear apples, and we tolerate that the apple tree needs appropriate conditions. • We need to know what capabilities and potential we have to deal with. For example, we have to respect the fact that apple tree, even when there are favorable conditions, has its own specific capabilities in bearing fruits.
• We cannot have too high expectations and dreams. For example, in the case of the apple tree, we should have rational dreams and expectations. If we have too high dreams and expectations, then we can be very disappointed afterward.

If we stick to the above factors, then there will be a big chance that the choices we make will be more rational. Making rational choices is, the more difficult, the more we have possibilities of choice.

At this point, appeared the word “possibilities”. I was talking about “possibility” in one of the previous update. That is, in update 1.07. I also put the word “possibility” on the Mandala of Characters. We can find it in the place where we are in this update. It means, in the place where there is the psychological function—THINKING, and Element—FIRE.

Besides, on the other side of the Mandala of Characters is the word — morality. Thus, we have an interesting pair of oppositional concepts:

choice — morality

I think that this opposition we can briefly summarize in one sentence — “morality does not give us a choice”. Or morality often gives us a very small choice. Morality usually gives us only one solution, and basically, it is an order that should be done. And if we cannot do this moral order, then at least we should assume that this is the only right course of action. (I wrote more about morality in the update 1.06 — morality and ethics).

So, I think I can assume that the word “choice” suits this place of the Mandala. It is because, unlike morality, “choice” emphasizes the place where we deal with the choice between various possibilities.

In that case, I will try, in a nutshell. To summarize the above arguments base on Jung’s thoughts about psychological function—THINKING that would help find a short term for the season—summer.

When in a given situation we ask ourselves—“what it means?”—then probably occurs in us:

1. Active intellectual activity (the act of the will).
   The task of this intellectual activity is to find the right knowledge or theory that will provide us with logical and rational recognition or cognition of something.
2. Passive intellectual activity (mere occurrence).
   The task of this intellectual activity is to rely on the appropriate experience and attitude to be able to make a rational choice among many possibilities.

I will try to put it even more briefly.

Thinking — discovers the meaning and is divided into:
— cognition, or—knowledge (theory)—active intellectual activity (the act of the will),
— choice, or—experience (practice)—passive intellectual activity (mere occurrence).

So, from the above considerations, we can distinguish two words. That is cognition and choice, which in total give a short definition of the summer. It means:

summer—cognition and choice

Above in this update, I put a table, which could be supplemented with the words “cognition” and “choice”. Please look below:

And here I will finish my reflections about the function—THINKING, and the season—summer.

I need yet to add the words — “cognition” and “choice” to the set of words, which is on the left side on the Mandala of Characters.

AIR
    logic, THINKING, possibility
fear
(summer—cognition & choice)

We can now see that instead of one word “summer”, there is a phrase — (summer—cognition & choice). This phrase is in brackets. I did it in this way because I want to emphasize the relationship between the season of the year—summer, and the phrase—cognition and choice.

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

References: