Diary

如果能记下过去，未来就能有个可靠的参考，因为人的记忆实在是靠不住的。一个人会忘记，一个人会修改记忆，一个人还会添加记忆。这和一个社会会不断地修改历史、不断地重新解释历史、不断地创造历史其实是一回事。无论如何，也要让自己现在过得舒服点容易点。 不过语言自身也是一个不断更新的媒体，新的字词和概念不断添加进来，旧的字词不断获得新的意思。能在语言的波涛中留下来的，一定是个独立的世界，自给自足，浑然一体。

人生苦短不在于时间，而是快乐总是短暂。从错误推演正确，从无知而得经历，从短暂而知无常，短是个问题而时间不是。

Life The most tragic form of loss isn’t the loss of security; it’s the loss of the capacity to imagine that things could be different. -~ Ernst Bloch Time Days to come stand in front of us like a row of lighted candles— golden, warm, and vivid candles. Days gone by fall behind us, a gloomy line of snuffed-out candles; the nearest are smoking still, cold, melted, and bent. – C. P. Cavafy ...

Our culture is centered around success in almost any area - work, art, marriage and so on. It’s committed to resisting the idea that all of this involves way more luck and uncertainty than we’d like to admit. For example, if you die climbing everyone says you are a foolhardy idiot. But if you just don’t die - and everyone who climbs long enough knows part of that is luck - everyone says you are a hero and an icon. ...

8月12日英国作家拉史迪在纽约的一个演讲上遇袭，随即他的小说《撒旦诗篇》冲上畅销书榜。他的书于1988年9月出版，在伊斯兰国家引发大论战，许多穆斯林指责该书亵渎了先知穆罕默德。次年2月伊朗精神领袖霍梅尼下了追杀令。拉史迪接受英国警方保护，躲躲藏藏多年。现在，悬赏追杀拉史迪的奖金已经高达3百万美元。 科学的进步并没有解决人类社会的诸多问题，宗教的受众依然颇多。就如弗洛伊德说的，宗教不过是大众的幻觉。许多人步调一致，在重塑现实的幻觉中，以为自己获得了幸福，获得了免于苦难的庇护。当然，分享这一切的人们自己并不会承认这仅是幻觉。 如果说《撒旦诗篇》挑战了许多人生而有之的身份认同，挑战了宗教信仰的正统，同时也挑战了国家和文化的正统。这些年来，民粹主义在全球沉渣泛起。而在这个多变的世界上，怎样才算是正统？当一个社会的包容空间不断缩小，当一个社会推崇通过暴力而非理性来解决问，文化和国家这样的认同是否也在步入宗教的后尘，成为大众的幻觉？ PS. The Satanic Verses incident is known as the Story of the Cranes in the Islamic tradition. It narrates the occasion when the Prophet Muhammad (died 632 CE) mistook the whispers of Satan for divine revelation. Of course, all Muslim group and sects today vehemently reject the Satanic Verses incident on both theological and historical grounds.

Science shows us a reality of the universe, not complete but better than guessing. However some problems of human being are not scientific but social. Each of us has our own small world, so our own different realities. Our worlds are small and partial of the whole world. Some overlapping perhaps. But how much? This reminds me of the story by Natalia Ginzburg, Family Lexicon. In this memoir, Natalia moved between fact and fiction. She puzzeled why her father and silbings argued so vehemently while they were all against fascism. The reality each of us has is really unique. ...

世界是很奇怪的。通货膨胀依旧，乌克兰抵抗俄罗斯的入侵依然，美国股市在技术性的经济衰退中一片繁荣景象。似乎乌克兰的战火只要还在乌克兰，世界就依然太平，似乎通胀只要没有影响到自己，经济就依旧繁荣。夏季的热浪从来没有如此普遍，只要没有吹进自己的家里，气候还依然正常。就像乌克兰不仅为自己的自由而战，而且为世界的和平而战一样。无数挣扎在贫困线的人们在为通胀和气候变暖付出代价，而其他人却丝毫不受影响。The war affects Ukraine. The inflation affects the poor. The climate change affects the vulnerable. Here is Volodymyr Yermolenko’s orignial tweet. He is a Ukrainian philosopher and chief editor at Ukraine World. War is when your friends die. When you see this breathless cruelty of death. You remember talks with this brave young man, a talented scientist, now he’s gone. Or a woman who cares about her rose garden, and you thought of her as the kindest person on earth. She’s gone too ...

I wish you happiness, if there is such a thing, as happiness. – Natalia Ginzburg, Happiness, as Such 不知从什么时候开始，我已经不再追求幸福。一个人能够做点自己喜欢并力所能及的事情，看看周遭的世界，就够了。宇宙之大单是看看NASA发的照片就可感知一二。火星的表面一如地球上的荒漠，借由韦伯太空望远镜我们可以更清晰地看到更多星系，若干光年以前的景象。时间太少，心愿太多如书，看不过来，实现不及。而读书越来越像雾里看花，文字似乎可以给我一个世界，可是这个世界几分真实几分假？这个夏天超乎寻常地越来越热了。宇宙星空离我们越来越近，而家却离我们越来越远。

今天的法国总统马克龙和德国总理舒尔茨很像1938年二战之前的英国首相张伯伦和法国总理达拉第，慕尼黑协定将捷克的苏台德割让给德国并没有带来一厢情愿的和平，只是揭开了二战的序幕。 “尽管试着将这种方式称为谈判，但绥靖的味道却难也遮掩。1938年张伯伦和达拉第去慕尼黑见希特勒的教训依然适用：给独裁者想要的并不能阻止他要求更多；那只能让他相信你不够强大，以致不能阻挡他得到他想要的。否则，顺着独裁者的思路，你早在事情伊始之时就该站起来抵抗。“ 国际象棋大师@Kasparov63 在2014年写了这本书《Winter is coming》，正是俄罗斯入侵乌克兰并强占克里米亚之后。

老中医思维就是想当然，不讲逻辑，不看证据，胡乱禁忌，抱残守缺。