VII.I Am Seen & Heard

You

What makes a book of philosophy valuable and beautiful is not its content but its intended reader. There is no possible new content in philosophy. I did not provide any of that. But I might have invented an intended reader as I wrote down my thoughts and feelings. I assumed I should be seen and heard. If you are reading my words, you are my invention.

You are much more valuable and beautiful than anything I have written. I wrote everything so I could find you and you could also sense my existence. I am glad you are here.

The Second Book

After the first book was finished, I went on to write a second book. A sense of incompleteness urged me to go on writing and I did. I have given you a hint of the second book by telling you its ending point. There was a period of three months where I would wake up at the darkest hours of the night and find my legs burning and sweating. I went to the doctors but no underlying cause was found. Clinicians did not know I was going through a critical transformation in my life and the night sweat was a physical sign of high mental pressure.

I recall the memory only to let you know that there was a second book. 

Fuck Off

(A marathon of philosophical inspiration consisting of unedited valuable excerpts from that second book of philosophy. Philosophy dies in completeness. Philosophy lives in scattered completeness, which includes the blank space in between thoughts. That blank space is where imagination takes place. After all, the universe is nothing but my mood.)

Art does not need to be correct. Beautiful things are always mistakes or misunderstanding. Artists are bold to make great mistakes and misunderstand the world. 

I will never forget those moments that lit me up. I will never let them go. I will not fail to live up to their expectation. Tonight, I feel so much love in my heart. There are so many things I want to do. My love for this world will never be exhausted. 

Once you have known about Art, never turn away from Art. Most people do not know about Art. They just live and die. If you know about Art and turn away from Art, you cannot live a normal life anymore. It is suicidal if you turn your back on Art. Art has made you sensitive. Once you are awakened, worldly hypnosis does not work anymore. You must stay with Art. Do not expect yourself to survive without Art. Those who know about Art are very fragile.

At this point in my life, the only thought that still bothers me is how my philosophy can help others. I imagine myself in the place of a philosopher, a religious practitioner or a scientist, and test if I can bring them out. Suddenly, I realize I am not able to help anyone. I am only able to help myself. Everyone is only able to help and be helped by himself or herself. Once again, I return to self-education.

If there was a better world I can choose to live in, would I do so? Would I trade this world for a better one? No. I would not. I love the world for just the way it is. This world makes me who I am. There is nothing I can do to give back to it. I can only become the best of myself.

Most people do not know about Art. They think Art, as everything else in the world, is competitive. That is why they want to be the best artist, best philosopher, best scientist or the holiest religious teacher. They believe once they are there, paradise is guaranteed to come. Paradise will not come. Because they do not know who is the greatest Artist. The best artist, philosopher, scientist and religious teacher in their mind all live in Hell. I met ambitious people. In order to compete with me, they struggle against everything I stand for. It is suicide. I do not lose anything. They compete with me by destroying themselves. Because from the very beginning, I never compete. What do you use to compete with someone who does not compete with you? You will lose everything.

I realize that even when I was in pain and doubting myself, it was not really the case. Perhaps not. It may be just my lust that made me an actor just to feel it. It was my lust which I am not able to turn away from. It has been that lust, that same lust. Always, it has only been that lust of Life.

What makes some people determined to look further and further inward to shred away frivolity is still the biggest mystery of humanity.

The deepest form of rebellion is immensely quiet.

I do care about the world. But it is my own business.

There has been, always been, and only been Art. Anything else is a misunderstanding of Art.

Never be afraid to be yourself. You will not be isolated because of who you are. Even when you make mistakes, the world always forgives you. Because you need to make those mistakes so you can find yourself. As long as you are determined to be who you are, the world will always support you. Because it is the world that makes you who you are. Without this world which you love and are therefore connected to, you would not have been you. This world itself is a big mistake. Why you are afraid to make mistakes? No mistake is bigger than the world itself. There is something in you which you cannot run away from. Follow that. That is love. The world needs that.

You see those great artists. They always make mistakes. That is what makes them great. Those who have created the most beautiful things in the world are those who dare to be wrong. Who always make mistakes? Kids. Who are always correct? Adults. This old world needs kids. Their mistakes make the world a little younger.

The essence of kids is curiosity. When others think reality has always been like this and will always stay the same, they cannot resist the fatal temptation of asking: can the world be a little different? Maybe I am wrong, but can all of this be a little different? They feel the fatal curiosity to give it a try.

The world is indeed a strange thing. The more you are united with it, the more isolated you are. The more you rebel against it, the more connected you are. Unbelievable. But this is the way it is.

God never waste our time.

Both sides of the world have exposed themselves to you. You decide.

Music that emphasizes lyrics is the lowest of the lowest. Music must be heard. As an audience, you should assume you do not understand the lyrics. Lyrics are written to sound good. When they sound good, it is not about the meaning of the lyrics. It is about the tone or musicality which emerges from the meaning. So music must reach beyond the language. It is a myth why certain tones must emerge from certain meanings. It is a deep question I have no answer to. 

Maybe that is why we have languages. Certain musicality needs to emerge from certain meanings. Songs and instrumental music are both unique and irreplaceable. 

When Laozi says Dao, I smile. Dao is music.

(Editing note: When we look up to the starry night, we are only aware of the stars but not the dark background which highlights them. In fact, without the background being so dark, the stars would be dimmed or invisible at all. However, all of our awareness is on the stars but not the background which highlights them. Because this is exactly the nature of the highlighting effect, which is to conceal the background and reveal the stars. Therefore, it is a dream to look up to the starry night. We are fooled and love-sick.

What is philosophy? Creating stars and shifting awareness.)

Empty sex is so depressing because it is the feeling of being used. It is one of the strongest experiences of being a dead object. It is one of the places closest to death. Someone can be devastated by that feeling and never elevated again.

The reason why this city speaks to me is that I have the ears to hear.

All is life.

Art is almost frivolous.

There is no formula of touching the heart. What makes a piece of music touching must be something other than techniques, talents, ideas or moral sentiments.

Never seek arguments in Art. You never fall in love with someone because of his or her arguments. You fall in love because of who they are.

For the same reason, stop seeing arguments in philosophy, in anything else. Seek people. Seek their heart. And fall in love.

A friend of mine says that every time when she logs on social media, judgement feels really loud. I tell her that those who judge you see you from the outside. You also see yourself from the outside. That is why criticism feels so loud. Many people see themselves from the outside. They please the world. Because they want to be connected to the world outside. 

However, you will not be connected this way. You and the world are only connected from the inside. If you see yourself from the outside and try to please the world, there will be deeper and deeper isolation. Anything that can be seen from the outside is death. Turn inward and abandon anything visible from the outside.
 

That is the way to be occupied by Art. If you are occupied by Art, there is nothing for the world to judge. There is no target for criticism. You have no value to be used. There is absolute self-confidence. Because there is simply no other way to be.

That is the way to become the greatest Artist. The greatest Artists are as light as feather, as invisible as wind. The world in their eyes is immensely quiet.

Maybe I am not the type of lover you would fall in love with. Maybe I am not the type of philosopher whose ideas are worth being taught in a lecture hall. Maybe I am not the type of musician whose works are worth being heard by a large audience. However, I find myself giving a good time to everyone I meet. I realized that I do not need to be the type of lover you want to fall in love with. I do not need to write any philosophy worth being taught in a lecture hall. I do not have to play music in front of a large audience. All I want is to give you a good time.

Absolutely flawless beauty is not adorable but frightening.

My life is not split into todays and yesterdays. Every morning, it is not a brand new day. Yesterday has not yet ended. At the very moment when I wake up, I am once again back on track.

All I see is a competition. A competition about who really knows about sex. People use makeup, outfits, the way they walk and talk, food, music, jokes and tears to make a statement telling the world: I am the one who knows about sex. Okay, my passion is aroused. In a game where I am excited, I never lose.

Good music does not make a sound.

Genius is God itself. It creates everything and contains its creation.

True love is purely selfish.

Worries of death are a sign of the flow of life underneath all the worries. We are worried about death because we cannot afford the loss. Just as you, it is unbearably heavy for me to think about death. I do not want to take leave. I want to live forever and be young forever. Now I have come to know that my worries only mean one thing. It means I have something to guard, something I cannot afford to let go of. All those who can easily accept death tell me that my passion does not mean anything. I am alive to tell those bitches to fuck off. At this moment, I am only thinking about death to be reminded that one day, I may not be able to love again.

(Editing note: For the Ancient Greek philosophers, the key to philosophy is imagination. To imagine the universe originated from water is not naive but smart, creative, romantic and bold. Nowadays, who dares to say things like "the world is originated from water"? Are we too smart to be silly and romantic? Why fill up every inch of blank space in between thoughts leaving no room for the soul to fly? I suddenly find myself wandering in the good weather of the Aegean Sea, under the blue sky and the white clouds, thinking that the world is originated from something that resembles water. I am convinced that it is no accident that Greek culture has been wide-spread and long-lived.)

I Am Seen and Heard

I am grateful that I am seen and heard.

Amen.

(Editing note: I wrote my philosophy so that no one can agree with me. In philosophy, there should only be disagreement or silence. When you think that I am wrong, I know you have felt me and I have got myself across.)

(Editing note: I also had the idea that the world would receive a gift as good as you think it deserves. Be patient if you have a gift. One day, your gift will be good enough for the world to deserve it.)