The Philosophy of "Karma" in Craft and the Digital Age: The Interpretation of META CRAFTS
In Eastern philosophy, the term "Karma" (業, gō) refers to the fateful bonds and repetitive constraints that arise from the accumulation of actions and thoughts. The "corporeal skill" of the artisan in traditional craft can be viewed as having two aspects of this "Karma":
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Physical Constraint (The Limits of the Body): The inevitable limitations of the human body, such as the need for decades to attain mastery, the loss of skill due to the decline of physical strength and eyesight, and the difficulty of transmitting knowledge to successors.
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Servitude to Tradition (Formal Repetition): The aspect of being bound by established forms and methods, faithfully reproducing the techniques of past masters.
The artisan undertakes a physical asceticism to master this "Karma," but is ultimately constrained to remain within the confines of that very "Karma."
The integration of digital technology can be interpreted as the "Deliverance" (解脱, gedatsu, or Liberation) from this corporeal "Karma."
Digital technology enables a precision and reproducibility that transcend the limits of the body (high fidelity, infinite color spectrum, etc.), and it seeks to directly materialize the "Ultimate Form"—free from the formal constraints of the past—through the universal language of data.
This can be considered a new stage of asceticism where the artisan, liberated from the constraints of the flesh, uses only thought, intellect, and aesthetic sense to approach the purest "Ideal Truth."
Therefore, META CRAFTS (digital craft) is not merely a technological innovation. From a philosophical perspective, it should be positively interpreted as a contemporary approach that, in the Eastern quest for the ultimate form, aims for the materialization of a purer truth by achieving Deliverance from the "Karma" of corporeal constraints.
The Philosophy of "Karma" in Craft and the Digital Age: The Interpretation of META CRAFTS
In Eastern philosophy, the term "Karma" (業, gō) refers to the fateful bonds and repetitive constraints that arise from the accumulation of actions and thoughts. The "corporeal skill" of the artisan in traditional craft can be viewed as having two aspects of this "Karma":
-
Physical Constraint (The Limits of the Body): The inevitable limitations of the human body, such as the need for decades to attain mastery, the loss of skill due to the decline of physical strength and eyesight, and the difficulty of transmitting knowledge to successors.
-
Servitude to Tradition (Formal Repetition): The aspect of being bound by established forms and methods, faithfully reproducing the techniques of past masters.
The artisan undertakes a physical asceticism to master this "Karma," but is ultimately constrained to remain within the confines of that very "Karma."
The integration of digital technology can be interpreted as the "Deliverance" (解脱, gedatsu, or Liberation) from this corporeal "Karma."
Digital technology enables a precision and reproducibility that transcend the limits of the body (high fidelity, infinite color spectrum, etc.), and it seeks to directly materialize the "Ultimate Form"—free from the formal constraints of the past—through the universal language of data.
This can be considered a new stage of asceticism where the artisan, liberated from the constraints of the flesh, uses only thought, intellect, and aesthetic sense to approach the purest "Ideal Truth."
Therefore, META CRAFTS (digital craft) is not merely a technological innovation. From a philosophical perspective, it should be positively interpreted as a contemporary approach that, in the Eastern quest for the ultimate form, aims for the materialization of a purer truth by achieving Deliverance from the "Karma" of corporeal constraints.