Sunday, October 11, 2015

The Great Walk

From Africa.

China, however you want to categorize it, is the oldest civilization, civilization defined broadly as a project of organization and legibility.  Ignore Chinese history, and you are terribly ignorant.

For Western men, claims of ignorance come with feelings of inadequacy, fear, shame, or, if things are going well, excited belligerence. Yet I sit in my favorite spot, and no one is speaking English, they are speaking Chinese, and I am desperately downloading Pimsleur Mandarin.

The Chinese have been through all of this several times for several thousands of years. They were the first ones, from the walk from Africa, to settle down, formulate a standardized language, create government, and build a large fucking wall. Why did the Chinese build a wall?

Friday, October 2, 2015

I have sympathies for other cultures

“Anyone in such torment who has the gift of opening his heart, rather than contracting it, accepts the means of salvation in his heart. Someone who in this way penitently open his heart to God in confession lays it open for other men too. In doing so he loses the dignity that goes with his personal prestige and becomes like a child. That means without official position, dignity or disparity from others. A man can bare himself before others only out of a particular kind of love. A love which acknowledges, as it were, that we are all wicked children.  We could also say: Hate between men comes from cutting ourselves off from each other. Because we don’t want anyone else to look inside us, since it’s not a pretty sight in there. Of course you must continue to feel ashamed of what’s inside you, but not ashamed of yourself before your fellow-men. No greater torment can be experiences than One human being can experience. For if a man feels lost, that is the ultimate torment.” (Wittgenstein, Culture and Value, 46e)

God help me as I struggle to figure out right from wrong. I am taking the CPA, as God wants, but I run into moral issues, as the article I just submitted on global warming. I still have my friends in other countries. I still have my friends in Alaska who are asking why I am not there right now. God of the Universe, please give me wisdom and peace. Please help my friends and my family. I am lost and I pretend to understand things that are beyond my control.

I like this Colombian woman who sings this serious and beautiful song. Maybe Moraline knows about this band?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6h_kHYHBaQ