Product Review

For quite some time now, the Oriental spiritual and physical exercises and martial arts such as Aikido, Judo, Karate and Kung Fu have been extremely popular in this country. This book is an introduction to a new, meditative-physical phenomenon derived from the culture and consciousness of the Far East. It is called Tai Chi Chuan, and is the Chinese exercise for well-being and psychophysical equilibrium. The author, a martial arts instructor for the past twenty years, explains it as an expert, starting from the origins and history of Tai Chi, through to its techniques and its spiritual and cultural significance.
Sociologists will find it particularly intriguing – this phenomenon of obsession of bringing Eastern disciplines into our overly Eurocentric cultural sphere. At every step we are presented with transcendental meditation sessions and martial arts courses. Regardless of what we might think of these, they do appear to satisfy a particular sociological need that should not be overlooked. Although there has always been a European interest in the spirit and culture of the Far East, it has been on the increase from the time of Hegel to the present day. It was Hegel who made a distinction between the practical mind of China and the high spirituality of India. Schoppenhauer and Deussen made the West aware of Buddhist and Brahmanic thought, especially in Germany and, later, Europe; while Zagreb's acclaimed poet Tin Ujević often brought particular aspects of Oriental thought across in his verse. Today Čedo Veljačić lives in Sri Lanka, writing books on Eastern philosophy.

On the other hand, we also know of those philosophers who resisted the Eastern influence, as for example the phenomenologist E. Husserl who maintained that all extra-European spiritual traditions were naive and primitive because they lacked the necessary distance from the object.

There will always be both advocates and opponents. The author is evidently an ardent advocate of this Chinese art, but – unlike many others – he can well substantiate his penchant.
The first introductory chapters reveal the strong ethical motivation which inspired the author to introduce his Yugoslav readership to Tai Chi. Also notable is his sincere desire to help the alienated and disorientated modern man. Just what can be achieved through Tai Chi we will leave to the reader of this valuable book to find out.

What every objective observer will first notice is the essential distinction between the Western and the Eastern ways of thinking. The Western method strictly divides the theoretical mind from the practical, and especially from the physical (as Husserl's remark about the lack of distance refers to), whereas the Eastern is intent on uniting both body and spirit, threading spirituality through all the senses and every physical activity. This is why some Western philosophers describe Buddhism as positivistic.

There are attempts being made in Western thought to change this traditional division, so for example in philosophy of literature we can see evidence of a strong need to introduce the physical into our relationships (as G. Bataille does when writing on the physical apriorism in love).
Regardless of what our personal attitude towards the Oriental meditative-physical exercises might be, whether we are ardent supporters or extreme sceptics, one thing is certain: each newly-discovered Eastern discipline, which is usually far older than the philosophical scepticism of Europe, deserves our full attention; firstly as an objective cultural enhancement, and secondly as a real spiritual and physical tool for our estranged, disillusioned and physically exhausted being.
Therefore I find this book on the Chinese exercise for well-being and psycho-physical equilibrium, the Tai Chi Chuan, absolutely timely and welcome.
Dalibor Cvitan, a Zagreb-based writer, in a review of the Croatian edition of this book, Zagreb,1983.