The beauty of language is that of being able to translate into words the emotion that is hidden behind feelings. This expands the richness of language and turns it into a space to transform into what we were not before. But the most interesting thing lies in the differentiation that we can find in the different languages, each with its intrinsic flashes of culture and worldview of its speakers.
What is Yugen?
There are concepts that are untranslatable, there is simply no equivalent to the meaning contained in that word and to describe it you have to use a complete discourse. In Japanese aesthetics there is a concept that is untranslatable to any other language; yūgen. This refers to the awareness of the deep grace and subtlety of the universe. A consciousness that evokes inexplicably deep and sublime feelings.
To understand the meaning of Yūgen, we can only limit ourselves to the experiences that evoke the term. As if an expansive feeling, a mystical consciousness took over the mind and suddenly a sensation of completeness momentarily crossed the body and left lasting feelings.
The discovery of being: From the micro to the macro
Listening to the breaking of the waves while we watch a sunset that little by little disappears into the horizon while we understand the vastness of the sea in front of our eyes, that is Yūgen. A kind of expanded reality, one where that which breaks with our mental structure due to the magnanimity of its existence fits. That almost dizzying epiphany that leaves us with existence summoned by a moving confrontation with the ineffable details of reality.
The aesthetic experience behind Yūgen is housed at all scales of perspectives. When we place ourselves in front of a macro vision, the perception of our own existence is transformed. When looking at the sky, thousands of existentialist questions arise almost instantly, but behind all fear, all doubt, lies the sublime, that is where being is hidden and where the profound touches our minds.
But even when we look under our feet and discover a millimeter world, aesthetics also pass through us. If you have ever taken the time to watch ants work, for the simple pleasure of getting lost in their movements, perhaps you have discovered that there in the small we can also find ourselves. Therefore, Yūgen is part of who we are, the most intimate connection with the whole and an expression of dynamic stillness, calm and dialectic coexist within a single state of mind. All of that is Yūgen.