Question 089: Heaven and Earth - REPLY

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The pattern chonji represents heaven and earth. Why? Because the person who named it said it did. This seems to be rather straightforward but many times things that persist for many years take on unintended meanings.

I was once a design student at NC State University and had to listen to “experts” interpret the works of artists. When asked about his work, one artist said that he experimented with different arrangements and these colors and shapes seemed to work well together. However, the “experts” said the artist did not recognize his greatness; that the colors and shapes represented the endless struggle of humankind in a world of turmoil. The art “experts” justified their existence by saying their wisdom superseded even that the creator of the artwork.

Much is same in the martial arts. Over the years, martial art “experts” have applied all types of interpretations to things that the originators never intended. Over the years, even the originators start to attribute things to their works that they did not even consider at the time of origination.