“What we call thought is not born beforehand, but afterwards.”
- January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970
- Born in Japan
- Novelist, playwright, critic, political activist
Japanese
「われわれが思想と呼んでいるものは、事前に生れるのではなく、事後に生れるのである。」
English
“What we call thought is not born beforehand, but afterwards.”
Explanation
In this quote, Mishima reflects on the nature of thought and its relationship to experience. He suggests that ideas and concepts are not something that precede actions or events; rather, they emerge after the fact, as a way of understanding or interpreting what has already happened. This means that our thoughts are often reactive, not preemptive, shaped by the experiences we go through rather than being the driving force behind them.
Mishima is challenging the common assumption that we can think and plan ahead with complete clarity before an event or action occurs. Instead, he argues that true understanding or insight comes only afterwards, when we reflect on what has already taken place. This could imply that thought is a response to experience, shaped by the context of our lives, the events that happen, and the ways we process them in retrospect.
In a modern context, this quote could be interpreted as a comment on the nature of human cognition and how we often make sense of the world not by preconceiving ideas, but by processing and reflecting on our experiences. It challenges the idea of premeditated thinking, suggesting that much of our intellectual and emotional growth happens through reflection and post-experience analysis, rather than by having clear ideas from the start. Mishima’s words emphasize the importance of experience as the foundation of thought and understanding.
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