Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.3, 2019

The Separation or Merge of “Spiritual Thought” or “Imagination”

(Abstract)

Li Jian

“Spiritual Thought” (Shensi) and “Imagination” are two influential theoretical and aesthetic categories in China and the West respectively. They were rooted in quite diversified cultural and historical contexts. The separation in terms of meaning and logic, and connotation is not ostensible, but essential and in-translatable as theory. It is exemplified in psychological and mind aspects. The psychological feature of “spiritual thought” is hollowness and calmness, while memory is the psychological feature for imagination; the mind features of the former are transcending time and space, while that of the latter are resolving and integrating. They are quite different, but there still exist some intersect zones, which are mainly embodied in their features of mind and emotion. Generally, both can be considered intuitional thought in pursuit of fiction along with emotion.