Configuration of the Japanese language Gestalt

My job, my paid employment, is to "make things whole again". And in a similar way, language learning is a process of seeing "new shapes, new Gestalten - new wholes". It is all one work with many aspects.

What is a good “worker” mentality? One that applies to both personal and professional domains of life? Nietzsche once wrote that “he who has a why to live can bear almost any how”. A good worker must have the capacity to think several steps ahead, sees several levels above or below; they are never just in one place at one time but have a “thick” understanding of space and time. They can see the distant “why” that gives meaning to the present “how”. The “thickness” of their experience allows them to persevere in whatever area they apply their efforts and not lose sight of the Gestalt. There are also times when they need to thinly slice this thick experience to explore the intricate subtlety of the deep and broad “wholes” that we seek. This requires discrimination, and with it, restraint. Because a good worker must be very careful how they wield their scalpel. 

Wisdom is knowing when to remain broad minded and when to be discriminating. And the asymmetry between these suggests that, whenever in doubt, it's best to remain broad minded and "discriminate against discrimination". The reason is that we always have access to Gestalt perception, regardless of how discriminating we are. And although discrimination is a potentially very enriching experience, it can also end up with us losing sight of the very Gestalt that is sought. If we are careful, and know when to stop, it is a manageable risk that is worth taking and even necessary for tasks like language learning. However nothing truly essential is lost if we do not wield the scalpel in any given area of life. And so an unwillingness to slice our experience, and instead show restraint, is as much a virtue as to do so. There are many things that a discriminating attention is wasted upon, and only a few to which the application of this skill is of any benefit to us. In truth, the restraint we show is not in its application, so much as to which values it is to respond. And we see "mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as waters."