Holding the Longing, Yet Asking After the Living Again

answered by Shijing (The Book of Songs)

기원전 11~7세기(주나라 시가 모음)

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Love Letter (1995)

dir. Shunji Iwai · Japan

Unable to forget the one who left, a person sends a letter to a place it cannot reach. Between dwelling on in that longing and, by sending the letter, saying farewell little by little, where should the heart go?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

When longing for the departed is sealed into a letter and sent, whom does it reach, and what does it return?

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

💡 TL;DR

The old songs of the Book of Songs voiced longing for the departed without hiding it, as if in a letter.

📝The Classic Answers

The old songs of the Book of Songs voiced longing for the departed without hiding it, as if in a letter. To put longing into words is not to forget, but to acknowledge that heart fully and only then move forward. A letter sent to the one who left is, in truth, also a greeting handed to the self that remains. I choose not to force longing away, but, having once poured it fully into words, to return to the life of the living.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If longing for the departed remains, write one letter even if it cannot be sent, then return to today's life.

📖 Classic Source: Shijing (The Book of Songs).
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.