Continued from Pt. 1 Linked here
As Above - So Below, and Vice Versa
So, Chihiro, now Sen, goes about learning the ways of the bathhouse and finds her position, with the help of Lin and Haku, the latter of which showing her a great kindness in keeping her clothes to allow her back home, as well as feeding her onigiri imbued with his magical words to impart strength unto her (another example of words as magic), a true act of love that brings Chihiro to tears. The workers engage in their routine and Chihiro, though inept and unexperienced, soldiers on to work as hard as she can to move forward, though her unfamiliarity causes her to let the No-Face kami into the bathhouse, which causes further developments worthy of consideration.
This coincides with the incident in which the corrupted River Spirit, at first confused with a “stink spirit”, comes to the baths and dirties the place with its stench and outpouring of filth, which Chihiro must serve and persevere through to help cleanse the great kami. With her intuition, and a little bit of luck, Chihiro recognizes that something is stuck in the spirit (assumed to be a sort of “thorn”) that prevents the spirit from being clean, in which the bathhouse staff, with the help of Yubaba, all come together to remove the blockage, which turns out to be a bicycle, along with an entire mass of refuse and trash. With the corruption removed and the kami restored, he gifts Chihiro a medicine ball, which will come into play later, and leaves, along with much gold in his wake. This even in particular shows the positive aspect of how work can help cultivate virtue and even improve others as well, an important growth moment for Chihiro.
These factors bring us to a particular consideration: what do all of these phenomena mean in the context of the greater narrative and its esoteric implications? To recognize this, we must borrow a piece of Hermetic wisdom from the Emerald Table in the Corpus Hermeticum, which is this special maxim: “As Above, So Below”. This is emblematic of the ontological relationship of manifestation, in which things that are present above are present below, and vice versa, with regards to essence and the Divine Names of God (see St. Dionysius the Areopagite’s Divine Names). Not only do these kami participate in the same essence that humans do, this essence extending from the domain of the spirit at the aforementioned ontologically higher levels of being, but the issues of the lower ontological level of the gross physical seem to be carrying over to the subtle plane of manifestation!
The focus on quantity and the material pulls these kami away from their proper stations and compels them to earn money, reflecting the gross materialism of the physical, human world. Meanwhile, the lower tower is more Traditionally oriented where the guests stay, while the upper tower where Yubaba lives is infested with the style Western modernity at the top (analogous to a head) that’s reflected also in her mindset (Zeniba, the calmer and more reasonable of the witch twins, later refers to her sister Yubaba’s style as “tacky”), but also of the issues of modern Japan losing its Traditional character via Western influence. Even nature gets corrupted by such modern influences, with pollution tainting the river spirit, necessitating it coming to the bathhouse to be cleansed and go back to its proper function, with industrialization doing considerable damage to the environment at large (though one must bear in mind the Traditional maxim: “nature suffers but is not destroyed”, so as to not fall prey to climate change alarmism). Not only are we not immune to all of the pressures of modernity, but neither are the kami in East or West. Meanwhile, the issue of No-Face comes to the fore and drives the story forward.
The Implications of No-Face
No-Face is interesting for a multitude of reasons. His dark form reflects two aspects of his essence. On the one hand his physical darkness reflects his tenebrous nature, with audio stings interwoven to reflect the danger inherent in him, but on the other hand it also reflects the aspect of how the color black is associated, in its positivistic mode, with the infinite possibility of substance (reflective of the fact that he can seemingly conjure gold, but this is later revealed to be a trick), though do note that “pure substance” is a pole of manifestation but is a literal impossibility with regards to a state of being, since essence can exist without substance but substance cannot exist without essence (for example, try to think of substance with no quality, good luck!). The name No-Face also betrays an absence or privation, and that which can be termed “evil” is a lack of presence or being, and it is a relative “un-reality” in the tendency towards pure substance, or a veritable “nothingness”. As such, No-Face is left with a perpetual sense of wanting, not only for a connection to Chihiro but also for substance.
This causes No-Face to require the eating of other people, first the frog kami and then other more humanoid kami, to be able to talk and speak through their various voices. Not only this, but the material nature of the bathhouse, as the movie states, “makes him crazy”, and this drives him to constantly consume food and engage in the negativistic aspects of the bathhouse to excess. No-Face is lesser ontologically speaking, and therefore deemed undesirable by Yubaba and others to be in the bathhouse later in the film, and more reflective of the infra-human/demonic mode of subtle spirits, which often participate in a certain “psychic parasitism” and feed off certain psychic vestiges that are left behind in places or objects (which make them have a tendency to wander), but they can attach themselves to people or places as well to suit their want.
With regards to psychic vestiges, this idea is present in the film as well in a later scene, when Chihiro takes the train to see Zeniba to return the solid-gold monogram seal on behalf of Haku, and on this train there are figures of people. with their bodies black and ethereal, as if they’re just passing through this realm and onto another one (ideally higher and not lower), which I always found rather somber and moving, especially with the little girl figure watching longingly as the train pulls away from the station. This phenomena is best explained by the concept in the Greek Tradition of eidolons, which exist in the Underworld, and are nothing more than the psychic remnants, or residues, left behind by those no longer in the land of the living. Perhaps its merely the eidolons of the dead and not the souls of the dead themselves moving through, but the darkness of their presentation makes one favor the former rather than the latter interpretation. It gives one a sense of wistful consideration to linger on such things, so let’s continue on to the central aspect of this work.
The Power of Love and Memory
At this point in our digression, we’ve come to notice that we have not at all commented on the powerful score to which this movie is set, especially since its so well like by such a large milieu of people. The piano piece of “One Summer’s Day” is woven throughout the narrative, and is most emblematic of the tone of the film. It’s grand piece - emotional, with a profound sense of longing and mystery - a perfect track for a film such as this. It pairs especially nicely with the track “The Sixth Station” on the train scene with its contemplative mode and orchestral musical swells, as well as the quiet and calm “House at Swamp Bottom”, followed up with the finality of “Reprise”, “The Return” and “Always With Me” as the film comes to a close. Each fill the heart with such intense emotion, that sets one up perfectly for the emotional core of the film that is the love between Chihiro and Haku.
It should be no mystery to the spiritually oriented as to why Love is so important, especially from a metaphysical point of view and in the context of this story. Recall that Haku saved and helped Chihiro in the beginning of the film simply out of an act of Love, of pure charity in the care for another. Haku, in the latter half of the film, returns in his dragon form to the bathhouse, attacked by paper figures controlled by Zeniba and afflicted with the gold seal inside him that he stole from her, a transgression that puts him under pain of impending death. Only through Love does Chihiro move to save Haku from certain doom, climbing to the top of the tower, and even undergoing personal danger - all because Haku is her friend borne from Love. As much as Love was a force for the poet Dante, via the Fedeli d’Amore and beyond, that Beatrice “drew him upward” to the heights of the most Transcendent Love that is God Himself (see Vita Nuova and The Divine Comedy), the same is true for how Chihiro’s love for Haku draws her to higher states of being.
To pull from Augustine’s work On the Trinity, when God the Father saw the Son, the love between them was the Holy Spirit, consubstantial and co-eternal - the Trinity of Lover, Beloved and the Love shared between them. This is why Love is one of the names of God and why God is both Love and the source of Love. This is why the act of creation was an act of Love, for God desired for Himself to be known, so he made other Beings to have communion with Him and know Him in eternity. This is why Love is what binds us together, reflective of the Love and Strife put forward by Empedocles (centripetal and centrifugal forces, order and chaos, etc.).
It was Love that brought Chihiro to stick with Haku, even when Zeniba cursed Yubaba’s henchmen and baby Boh, all to try to get at Haku and steal the seal back away from him, and it was Love that bound Chihiro to cling onto Haku as he fell into the pit, which then triggered a latent memory of her being on Haku’s back from a distant time, though she doesn’t remember immediately from when this memory was. It was Love that made Chihiro give up half of her the medicine she intended to give to her parents, to cure them of their porcine affliction, to instead expunge the seal and Yubaba’s controlling slug from Haku’s person and save his life. It was Love that made Chihiro take the train tickets from Kamaji to go to Swamp Bottom (Kamaji even sardonically admonishes Lin’s confusion as to what’s happening by saying, “[It’s] something you wouldn’t recognize… it’s called love.”), and it was Love for others that made Chihiro give up the remainder of her medicine to No-Face to make him expunge all impurity and bring him down after her to leave the bathhouse on that train, along with Boh and Yubaba’s familiar in their transformed states.
Chihiro is changed by Love. She is no longer the same timid girl she was at the beginning of the film as the narrative nears the end. Chihiro becomes resolute, confident, more mature, and more resilient to the troubles that she faces ahead of her. Haku is changed by Love as well. Haku is referred to as “cold and steely” by the kami in the film, a inflexible hand of Yubaba, but his love for Chihiro makes him softer, approachable, even warm and friendly. Love improves them both and draws them up higher in their potentiality and in their spiritual essence, just as Love brings us up to God and closer to each other. Zeniba, Boh, No-Face and Yubaba’s familiar even all sew thread to make a new hair tie for Chihiro, purple and scintillating in the light, a memento of the love and friendship shared between them.
It is Love that preserves memory. Chihiro, with the help of Zeniba, thinks deeply about her connection to Haku to remember his name on their trip back to the bathhouse from Swamp Bottom, and her love for him reveals his full name to be Kohaku River (饒速水琥珀主, “lord of the swift amber river”, which reflects the river of inspiration from above to below, the Lordliness of his name being restored, just as Love is the Lord Himself, so too his Love is restored in full). It is also revealed that Kohaku was the kami that saved Chihiro when she was a little girl, explaining the memory from earlier in the narrative. Young Chihiro’s shoe fell into the river and she fell in after it, almost drowning from the experience. However, Kohaku saw Chihiro and her pink shoe and, in an act of Love, saved her and brought her back to shore, and that act of Love was returned with in kind, with Chihiro saving Kohaku from his bondage through her Love. It is Love that brought Chihiro back to her parents when, due to her intellectual intuition predicated on this love, she recognizes that all of the pigs in the lineup of the final trial are not her parents. Passing the trial, her contract is void, and Kohaku takes Chihiro back to the human world.
To bring this full circle, it must be noted that moral memory is superior to logical memory and associative memory. Associative memory is great in younger age, which allows us to learn so quickly, but it diminishes as one gets older. Then people often have to rely on logical memory, using logic and rhetorical procession to bring information together, and if one doesn’t cultivate their intellectual ability then one runs the risk of losing it in old age (a possible psychic aspect behind the increased incidence of Alzheimer’s and dementia in our day and age). But even when the former aspects of memory are diminished, moral memory is retained in its emotional core. One need simply think of someone of which they have a strong emotional tie and their name will immediately come to mind, and, insofar as one has made a moral judgement on something or someone, they are easier to remember.
This idea is best exemplified by the miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. First Christ remembers Lazarus, he recognizes that Lazarus is dead, weeps, then goes out and issues the famous words, “Come forth, Lazarus.” With this, Christ’s friend is risen from the dead, revealing several truths by this example. Not only is moral memory superior than any other form of memory, but, since God loves all his creations, we are always remembered in the mind of God, and all flesh shall be resurrected at the Final Judgement as an act of Love (see Meditations on the Tarot, “XX - Judgement”, as well as Valentin Tomberg’s Come Forth, Lazarus).
The most beautiful aspect of Love is that it both binds and loosens. It binds us to others, which could be seen as tying us down, and limiting our mobility, but it is also a liberating force that allows us to achieve feats of a higher order than what were thought possible. We improve ourselves through works, which allow us to cultivate virtue and improve our own essence, but we also improve ourselves by learning how to love, since Love allows our hearts to soar - like a kite flown by a child, fixed below and yet free to soar above.
Departure and Closure
As the story comes to a end, Chihiro must return to her parents that awoke on the other side of the river, as if no time had passed. They say their goodbyes, but its more of a “goodbye for now” and not forever. Chihiro asks, “Will we meet again sometime?”, to which Haku replies, “Sure we will.” “Promise?” she asks. “Promise,” he replies, followed by, “Now go, and don’t look back.” A promise in eternity.
However, it is not permissible for the worlds to intermix, the world of subtle spirits and of humans, but obviously not impossible. It reminds me of a story from the Islamic world that goes roughly like this:
“A man bows for the call to prayer, and some djinn decide to reveal themselves to bow down and pray next to him. The man rises up and politely says, ‘I recognize your devotion, but we ought to pray separately.’”
Even though the different levels can intermingle, it is not lawful for it to be so or desirable, predominantly in the Christian point of view, unless one has gone through the proper spiritual preparations to be drawn up by the only true Initiator which is God. Much in the same way, Chihiro ought not to look back before her proper time, or else disaster might occur, very similar to Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt for looking back at Sodom as they fled, which was a punishment reflective of the fact that she ought not to have looked back because this would imply a longing to return when it was not good or lawful for her to do so. However, Chihiro’s longing is merited, for her love is true, though she is obedient and goes to her parents without looking.
To tie things together, we will return back to our original supposition, that the entire story is literal and true within the narrative. When Chihiro passes back through the tunnel and looks back at it, her parents calling her into the car (which is disheveled and dusty, showing that much time had passed), her purple hair tie can be seen shimmering in the light, showing that, without doubt, there is definitive proof that her experiences were more real, both literally and spiritually, and the same could be said for the viewer as well, if the efficacy of the Studio Ghibli films is to be believed by those who experience them - content and elated by participating in such evident, though thinly veiled, truths of a higher order.
At the close of the film, Chihiro’s father says to her, “A new home and a new school? It is a bit scary.” But Chihiro replies, “I think I can handle it.” With Love, the world seems much brighter, and any challenge seems surmountable.