Essays and Thoughts
Well, one of my UChicago friends asked me this. And here's my reply. I don't think she expected it to be this long. Nor do I believe instagram is designed for this kind of communication, but such is life. Answer to “What is the meaning of life?” and "What is the meaning of love?" I don't … Continue reading Art, the Antidote to Meaninglessness
(Note: I first came across this idea from Justin Sung) Time is constitutive of Beings, Heidegger taught us. But such time is not the one that is measured by the moving of clock, or represented by the numbers on the top right of one's laptop. Such is the problem of traditional time-management, which divides one's … Continue reading Attention-Management rather than Time-Management
Enframing Enframing—the setting of borders and boundaries, the separation of the within and without, the distinction between inside and outside—is the central problem of our time. With humanity’s growing capacity to act, it is necessary to understand enframing—the process underlying action—else we may in turn be enslaved by its operation, acting thoughtlessly towards catastrophe. Enframing … Continue reading Enframing
"Mom, can you not care about me so much! Just leave me alone!" The above line has been a recurring theme in my teenage years, with an almost-always too-concerned mother (a rather fortunate thing, though I am focusing here on the torturous aspects). What troubled me was the fact that she could not stop caring … Continue reading Care. Concern. Love.
A short meditation on Home. Heidegger said that we are Dasein, being-there. As such, we live in a place, (in distinction to a mere environment) and thus, a home. This is determined already by us as zoon echon logon—the language-speaking animal. For it is a miraculous fact of symbols that it can point to itself … Continue reading Home
David Foster Wallace is the writer of tedium. And this is why, perhaps, he has struck a chord in the modern imagination, gathering such a large cult following (one of whom is yours truly). He sees people engaging in diversions—through drugs, TV, unlimited consumption—and sees again the same people taking an ironic stance towards everything, … Continue reading Tedium & David Foster Wallace
Kierkegaard: "Hope is a pretty girl, who slips away from one’s grasp." And again (!), "He who will only hope is cowardly. He who wants only to recollect is a voluptuary. But he who wills repetition, he is a man, and the more emphatically he has endeavoured to understand what this means, the deeper he … Continue reading Hope Contra Kierkegaard
The foremost imagery that I associate with the later Heidegger's analysis of technology is the Mine. A place where the logic of "challenging" nature, measuring the resources available, the most efficient ways to mine, the instrumental value of the stones, thus seeing everything as a "standing reserve" to be used and exhausted, "enframing" nature in … Continue reading Minecraft and Heidegger
“Higher Power”. “Inner Child”. “Trauma”. A 21st century technological inept human being cannot but cringe when those words are uttered. Indeed, the entire 12 Step program is cringe and corny all the way through. Its simplicity verges on brutality, One almost cannot help but treat it with irony and sarcasm. Because it really is ridiculous. … Continue reading 12 Step
(I was to do some research on Berkeley. But, as usual, I ended up procrastinating. This time I found some old writing for UChicago Uncommon App that I've abandoned—because I was rambling too much and for too long. But I do really like it. I've added the last half from jouissance onwards. Hope you find … Continue reading Movement
Warren's Brain Dumps 