One More Thought

剛才花了點時間找到大學時現場聽過的一首〈再見少年路〉，聽過後突然有點感觸：我們在世存在的形式轉變了，而這個轉變歸根究柢是人的公共時空感知的轉變。 九零年代至今，時間變成了空間，人變成了背景。 以前要聽現場演唱，因為距離，人可以物理地感受到時間。在錄音帶的時代，專輯得按照磁帶上的紀錄聽，就算快進快退，也是在同一條線上。到了光碟的時代，可以前後挑歌，但還是在一個被安排好的順序上，時間還是在一條線上。Youtube把線取消了，只有個別影音檔的時間線，但作為一個專輯成品的時間線不見了。因此，到了網路時代，這些全都變成了一個空間上可任意挑選的門或窗，在沒有邊界的無垠空間裡。 同樣地，書店、電影院等現實存在的處所所衍生的距離及時間，也全都取消了。我們於是都是一個人面對提供無窮可能的巨大資料庫。 取消了這些處所，就取消了共同以這些處所聯繫記憶的想像，於是想像的共同體事實上就轉變成個別面對無窮可能的巨大資料庫時，做出共同選擇、卻不繫於具體地點的同好者。 人因此不再相見，儘管不斷虛擬地相逢。發現的同好其實是所好的一部份，儘管是非必要的一部份。他人因此成為背景。 如此存在的個體其實無須政治。或者說，政治的想像方式改變了，因為可見的想像共同體變成了不可見的想像共同體，而不可見使得想像的邊界更為遼闊，但背叛的成本卻前所未有地低落。

'The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him' (Psalm 52). The differentiation between the God-depending and God-non-depending in this psalm is typically clear. The former exhibits the disdain for the latter, which would be characterised as  Nietzschean 'slave ethics'. Christians boast their relationship with God and laugh at non-Christians. Counter-criticism against Christians has become commonplace, and this is seen as a sign of modernity.  The question, however, is what was actually said in the Scripture. It was psalms, so written before Christ. The differentiation was therefore between God-lovers and God-non-lovers. They are actually entitled 'the righteous' and 'the self-prides'. Their deeds were summarised in the text. Therefore, their relations with God is defined by their deeds. So their deeds separate them.  The text put the two groups in contact only through the words the righteous said onto the self-pride. One might wonder: w...

You will always find better idea - Write first what you have You will always find more data - Write and work first with what you have Write first, study later for correction There is one clear use of your thesis - keep clarifying it and keep at it You will get tired and you will die, write before that. What you read will get into your writing, or nowhere.  

"Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee" (Psalm 51:13) The prayer David offered after being told off by Nathan the prophet revealed a specific aspect between Man and God. In this occasion, Man sins, and only sin Man actively commit. The penance was provoked or necessitated by the prophet's delivery of witness, who was God. We could not know whether David would repent without the knowledge of God's knowledge of his transgression. With the knowledge of God's knowledge of his transgression, however, David repented. His penance reflected its own precondition, namely the existence and action of God. David's request for cleansing and renewal depends on God's re-action. David promised to offer sacrifice, which could only be a product of God's renewal of him - make me a new heart and I will offer it to you. In this sense, David did not really give anything of himself, but only acknowledges the authorship of his offer...

"Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation" (Psalm 50:23) God speaks through this psalm. The speech is about salvation and condemnation. He began by declaring the arrival of his words. The declaration is made on high and low, to all his creature, and to judge. The speech first set right the relation with Man, which is that of a judge indifferent to Man's offering and sacrifice. He is judge, and he judges, based on Man's offering of thanks to him, and action to others.  In accepting this speech, one accepts that God will judge, deciding on saving or condemning a person. The lacunae here is what if a person gives thanks to God for having the chance to slaughter his neighbour? As ratio ultima , God can continue to expose the malice in this person, and stop listening, instead of stop talking. However, this does not deny the fact that the condemned believed in the relation between his salvation and his a...

Last night, until this morning, I was emotionally unrest. I spend all morning, since around 3 to 10:30 am, reading Dragon Ball. At first I just wanted to feel the thrill I had as a kid. Half way through this hours-long reading, I realise that time has passed, and that time passed was not just my teen age, but also an era for the world, a world of hope. I was lucky to witness that world, and I have the destiny to witness this world.  Witnessing, by imagination provoked by information delivered and unfiltered on social media, the demise of Hong Kong and the growing threat to Taiwan, is a test. Witness it as a IR research from Taiwan is even harder. One has to keep the distance to think and research, but that distance is somehow inhumane. It is, or should be, natural human instinct to feel sorry and anger when seeing the others' suffering. It is, or should be, natural human instinct to want to react, for ending the suffering of others. It seems, however, scholars should not do so. At ...