Radical Honesty during a Crisis

RadicalHonesty.com; CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Radical Honesty Enterprises wants to support keeping and building deep connection with others during the pandemic, from the comfort and safety of home. In light of global changes, Radical Honesty is increasing its online workshop offerings and also adding free online calls in hopes of supporting everyone during this unprecedented time of isolation, physical distancing, and uncertainty, which is also a time of deeply moving cooperation, creativity, and innovation. There is great potential at this moment, as the Chinese character tells us, in the word for "crisis" there is both "danger" and "opportunity." More

"Crisis" as "danger" plus "opportunity"

The Chinese word for "crisis" (Chinese 危机, 危機, wēijī, or wéijī [Note 1]) is, in popular Western culture, frequently said to be composed of two Chinese characters signifying "danger" and "opportunity."

The etymology may not be exactly correct, according to Sinologist Victor H. Mair of the Univ. of Pennsylvania. He states that the popular interpretation of weiji as "danger" plus "opportunity" is actually a "widespread public misperception" in the English-speaking world.

The first character wēi (危) does mean "dangerous" or "precarious," but the second, highly polysemous, character jī (机, 機) does not only mean "opportunity" in isolation. It means something more like "change or pivot point."

The approximation to just "opportunity" likely arises from the fact that the character for jī is a component of the Chinese word for "opportunity," jīhuì (機會, 机会) [2, 3, 4]. More