But shall we contemplate the universe together?
世の中は
何にたとへん
山彦の
こたふる聲の
空しきがごと
Yo no naka wa
nani ni tatoen
yamabiko no
kotauru koe no
munashiki ga goto
The life in this world -
what is it like?
An Empty Mountain's
fleeting echo
into the empty sky it goes.
(My translation)
The philosophy here is indeed and "empty echo", in my opinion. :) For example, if indeed you believe your life is an empty echo, why do you study so hard in Japanese? :)
返信削除A good question.
返信削除I would response by saying that claiming that life objectively has no meaning is different from saying that sometimes you feel it is meaningless. This poem is an emotional account by a premodern Japanese poet. I doubt his intention is to say that life is pointless but rather to express how helpless and lost human beings can feel in this world.
Why do I study Japanese? Studying things that I enjoy helps me improve myself as a person and forget about the suffering of the world. The experience of beauty is only made possible through the world's inherently tragic nature so I focus on that which is beautiful (Japanese) to overcome that which is devastating (existential being).
hmm... do you REALLY think our existential being is "devastating"? If so, what good for anything beautiful, for example, Japanese, to be embedded and live in such kind of devastating and empty shell of your existential being?
返信削除Generally speaking, I think that life is suffering although there are moments of beauty and kindness.
返信削除But there is so much wrong with the world - so many environmental, societal, and global problems. So many people are constantly suffering. I do think that yes, the human condition has to come to deal with the reality of all of that. This poet deals with that reality through the construction of a beautiful poem. I think that's a fine methodology.
I think the problem is that many who are working on environmental and social problems are people who lack compassion, so they are working on "other" people's problems and not their "own" problem. If the problem is not one's OWN problem, people tend to not do very well. They will discuss problems to death over their coffee hours and dinner table, but slow to provide a real answer.
返信削除So, i think, if someone really want to care about the world, they must develop real compassion towards the people around them, and not just 纸上谈兵. Then, they will become a real contributor to the world problems.
That was one of the reason I did not vote for Obama because he has a half-brother who lives in shattered dumps in Africa facing risks of even his life while he earns over a million dollars in the U.S. I could not come up with a convincing excuse for him to behave that way towards his brother. :)
Here is a good distraction from the final:
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
......‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
かみさまがいますか？ ちゅうさんはどして かみさまおしんじる？
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