CHAPTER 5

A WAY TOWARD DEEP INTERIORITY

In this chapter, we resume our discussion of symbiosis, exteriority, and interiority

with a view to enhancing our understanding of the relationship of interiority and
the means of achieving it through the practice of DO-activities (the Japanese word
DO means “way” or “method”). The concepts we develop are of interest to all those
wishing to understand true learning along the entire lifespan. We particularly take
our experiences with karate to provide a description about how one develops from
the very beginning of participating in some practice to its highest level, which, as
we articulate it here, is one of deep interiority.
Deep interiority is presented as an aim of education-DO (education in the way)
and is related to the notion of total, embodied availability, which itself refers to the
Zen mind, a mind that is fully engrossed in acting in the here-and-now of a situa-
tion. We can think of total, embodied availability also as participative thinking,
where thinking does not have to mean cogitation. Rather, participative thinking
happens all the time on fields of sport, where the players do the right thing without
reflecting on what they do, without cogitating the physical laws that can be used to
explain the ball’s motion, and without knowledge of muscle physiology that allows
them to perform at the levels that they do. Mind does not mean mental cogitation,
the cogito face to face with the object of its thought. We reach deep interiority
when the enminded body and the embodied mind work together, inseparably, when
the foot kick that breaks a water jar is as good or better as any erudite explication
of the nature (being) of a water jar. The concepts of network of virtual actions,
relationality and spielraum are also explored in greater depth.
We begin by distinguishing between physical presence in a situation and mental
presence. We then turn to the domain of theatre and the teachings of Konstantin
Stanislavski, who emphasized the importance for an actor of developing her con-
centration and focusing on a circle of attention. These two concepts are used to
introduce the notion of mental availability (Monzon, personal communication) or
Zen-mindedness. We then explore the notion of DO as well as the method of theori-
zation used by the practicing researcher who exercises his profession as a Way
(DO) of personal development. Finally, the three steps of symbiosis-exteriority-
interiority are studied in relation to karate-DO, also understood as a method and
way of personal development toward deep interiority.

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL PRESENCE

A person can be physically present in a place and at the same time mentally absent,
absorbed in her thoughts, her mind engaged elsewhere, in a past event or some
anticipated future event. Different notions are associated with presence of mind in

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the here-and-now, such as attention, concentration, focus, vigilance, and availabil-

ity. What does it mean, then, to be present in the here-and-now and in a situation to
do something? My active presence as a being in situation to . . . is based on my
capacity to concentrate.
To highlight the importance of concentration in theatrical performance, Stanis-
lavski relates a Hindu story to his actors in training. The story tells of a Maharajah
who must appoint a minister worthy of the title. He thus offers a challenge to the
eventual candidates: they have to walk along the walls encircling the town while
holding a cup of milk in their hand without spilling as much as a single drop. Sev-
eral candidates try, without success. They become easily distracted—by people
shouting and other interferences in their surroundings—and they eventually spill
the milk. Of course, these candidates do not meet the profile of a minister that the
Maharajah is seeking. Finally, another candidate presents himself, one that cannot
be unnerved or distracted. As he circles the town, he keeps his eyes on the cup to
make sure the milk does not spill. Even a volley of shots from a group of nearby
soldiers does not disturb his concentration. This candidate is exactly what the Ma-
harajah is looking for.
How can actors be trained to develop this kind of concentration? Stanislavski
throws some light on the question by introducing the notion of circle of attention.
Concentration operates in a circle of attention or what we have come to call a
spielraum, although this latter notion is richer than the former, as we articulate
below. For the moment we confine our discussion to Stanislavski’s notion of circle
of attention.

CIRCLE OF ATTENTION

The notion of circle of attention is exemplified here first in terms of choreography

and then in terms of the training of an actor, based on the teachings of Stanislavski
(2001) in his chapter on concentration of attention. It is to be noted that
Stanislavski’s own teaching methods correspond very closely to the enactive per-
spective we adopt and explicate in the present work.
Choreography is intimately connected to the space in which it is learned and
practiced. In a dance class, the walls, their colors, and their decorations, as well as
the doors and windows, all participate in the execution of the dance, in the ar-
rangements and orchestration of movements, without the dancer even being aware
of it. It usually starts off in the same direction, for example, always facing one of
the four walls of the room, and changes in direction are made with reference to this
starting point: in any particular part of the choreography, the dancer is always fac-
ing a particular wall. After several rehearsals, however, a change in the starting
point also involves a change in the points of reference that surreptitiously guide the
succession of movements, although of course the choreography itself remains un-
changed. Even though such changes are minor, they can lead to mistakes: the
dancer may lose her bearings and consequently be unable to devote her full atten-
tion to reproducing the movements that she has already mastered so well.

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