IV.Philosophy Against the Universe

First Meditation

i

Art making is not about leaving an impact. It is a self-education. Art is different from worldly matters in the sense that it is internal rather than external. Appreciating art is also an internal activity, which has nothing to do with the author. Artists and the audience are separate and alone. The audience applaud only to celebrate their own greatness. Not every audience deserves to do so.

ii

People's shamelessness does not have a limit. Shamelessness can always develop even further. There is always infinite unrealized potential on any aspect of humanity. The most extreme form of shamelessness is unpredictable.

iii

Do not seek advice from old people. I remember when I was fourteen years old, I fell in love madly with the prettiest girl in my class. Several of my fellow classmates were also pursuing her. I asked my father for advice. He said: You are not the smartest in the class. You are not the tallest. You are not the most good-looking. How would she possibly be interested in you? Go focus on your study. Surprisingly, I accepted his advice and never told her that I was in love. I remember the details so clearly because I regret it to this day. In New York, I often see young teenage couples. They know something I did not know.

iv

There were only movements one after another in Western art of the last century. What are we going to expect for this century and the coming centuries? There were only various impacts but no real accomplishment in Western art of the last century. Why? Because people were obsessed with clinging to a community even in art making. Therefore, they gathered friends to form movements. Real masters are alone. They do not gather people to form movements. This integrity has been lost in Western art. People only have an ambition to leave impacts.

v

Race is the foundation of our appearance and personality. I met two beautiful girls yesterday. One American, one Asian. The way they were different was impressive even though I was not racist. They were both beautiful in their own ways. Race gives us our basic physical forms. The body is the basis of all fashion styles. Some bodies are to be revealed, some to be concealed. We are born with unique gifts indeed. We live our life within the limits of our gifts. At the end of the day, we can become no one but ourselves. To be born into a certain race but somehow achieve universality is nothing easy.

vi

Popping is an urban dance genre. My favorite Popping dancer is Dytto. She has that natural charisma which characterizes Mozart and his music, which comes from her heart naturally and flows through her body. She has got that genius. Although no one can predict if she will be the next Mozart, I see her as a true competitor. 
 

One of the most fundamental techniques of Popping is that instantaneous muscle contraction called "hitting". As a Popping dancer refines his or her techniques, their movements become cleaner and sharper. That is why they move more like a robot.
 

In music, art and mathematics, masters are like robots. Their work has an extreme clarity. However, that level of technical perfection is from nowhere but the heart.
 

(Editing note: As I read through all these things I wrote about a year ago, there are so many things I want to modify or even erase but finally decide to keep them as they are. Not because I have changed my mind since then. But only because the ideas were not expressed in the most effective and interesting way. If I were to write some of the passages now, I would take much further steps and make much stronger statements. However, I decided to keep what my thoughts were originally when I was in the process of clearing obstacles out of my way.
 

As for this particular passage, I think it is very problematic to say "masters are like robots". I would rather say they do what they want without hesitation. Their intention is not distracted or interrupted. This kind of clarity which comes from your feelings and intention is good. The kind of clarity which comes from external techniques is bad and you should always rebel against that, which is to say you should destroy it. The cleaner you look, the worse you are. Destroy the forms that constrain you so the purity within you can be manifest.)

vii

Most people think life events happen randomly. Life events are not random at all, but rather strictly ordered. People are like dices. A dice cannot escape the law of probability. Therefore, everything that happens in life tells us something about who we are. People come to us naturally. Some will stay, some will take leave. But have faith in destiny. Nothing can be changed externally. Things happen only according to who we are.
 

(Editing note: I think the idea expressed here and the allegory of dice are very important. I believe any mature person can see it more or less. I mean, the correlation between the person and what he encounters. And I still firmly believe that changes could only be made from within. You change the dice, the events change accordingly. The dice does not change, the events are not going to change regardless how hard you throw it.
 

However, metaphysically, I modified this allegory later. What troubled me about the allegory of dice is that it indicates a physical world implied by the law of probability, which I always want to avoid. And the duality of the dice and the events was also not cool. The idea I had later is that there is only life. There is no duality of internal changes and external encounters. There is no dice. How can a soul be a dice? It is nonsense. I want to quote the passage I wrote later as following:
 

"Now I can start imagining a metaphor. A metaphor that is better than what I have imagined before. I want to use this metaphor to make the entire universe alive. See if I can do it. I used to believe people are dices. Things that happen to them are not random at all. This belief makes sense but it is still not the most accurate. Souls are not dices. Things do not happen to them. Souls are perspectives or positions. There is only life being experienced or reflected from a certain perspective. No matter what perspective you are, you are the universe. You are always the entire universe, nothing more or less. The universe is always life being experienced or reflected from a certain perspective. There is life and only life. All chemistry and physics that indicates a physical universe is merely a description of life being experienced or reflected from a certain perspective. Even time and space are alive. All is an experience or a reflection of life from a certain perspective. There is life and only life. Universal Life connects every soul and separates them into perspectives. All that seems to be happening in a unique perspective is just Universal Life being experienced or reflected from that certain perspective. All is life and life itself. The dice does not need to be rolled. It is a perspective. You are a perspective or a position, nothing else. Who are you? If not a perspective or a position, what else can you possibly be? You are resonating and connected with any other perspective or position, yet absolutely unique at the same time. You can only see through this unique perspective. It is all you have. It is all you are. Experience life to the utmost from your absolutely unique perspective."
 

What a statement! I feel I should add an exclamation mark after the last sentence. Excuse my overly emotional language but it did feel like a triumph. You can see how emotional I got when I explained this idea. This idea is the only possible philosophy or the only place where philosophy can possibly end. If you cannot see its significance, you will think all of this is trivial and nonsense. I think only those who are romantic about philosophy as I used to be can see why I was that emotional. I repeated the most exciting phrases over and over again because they could not be explained but only felt. 
 

The whole thesis is that I took Eastern philosophy, namely Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, etc, and turned it upside down. I still think that the cultural tradition represented by these thoughts systems is aimed to eliminate life. A so-called enlightened being by their definition is actually dead or lifeless. The idea that I presented above looks almost the same as Nirvana. However, it is actually the opposite. People draw connections between Eastern philosophy and physics because they end at the same place where all experiences become an empty oneness, which is completely lifeless and still. As I pointed out before, these grand intellectual structures are all hypnosis which is invented and developed by the dead and functions to repress life. If a scientist or a philosopher was truly sincere, he or she would rather want to destroy or get rid of these constructed "truths".
 

My thesis is to arrive at the truth-less. That truth-lessness is not empty. My thesis is to celebrate life. Life is invisible but it is there. I do not need to quote other philosophers because I have gone much further than them. Amen.)
 

(Editing note: This should be the most controversial idea I have ever had. I have to add another note after re-consideration. Some people will not see the significance of the idea that we are perspectives from which life, universal life, is experienced. Some others will say, why not even get rid of this concept? Okay. I invite you to compare this idea to the commonly accepted assumption that we are consciousness. No one debates about this, they just assume it is true. They do not dare to question this assumption because the world of philosophy is built upon this foundation. 
 

Consciousness implies ultimate stillness. While the consciousness reasons, it itself is still, undisturbed by frustration or feelings. It is perfect and pure. Therefore, it is dead.
 

This is why philosophy constantly pushes you towards death. The more you philosophize, the more you purify the rational consciousness. Eventually, you are dead. 
 

Now, pause. Who is this narrator? If this narrator can talk about the purity of consciousness, what position is he or she standing on?
 

This position or perspective is where I want to take you.
 

Once the assumption of consciousness is overcome, philosophy is overcome. Death is overcome. The philosopher becomes fully creative and alive.)

viii

The purest music and the purest mathematics share the same aura. Bach has that purity in his music. The Greek sculptures have it. Who is the purest mathematician?
 

I want to have Bach's purity. I want to have Mozart's charisma. I want to have Beethoven's moral confidence. One day, I will have them all, which will not be achieved by merely studying but re-invention and re-discovery. 
 

I am Bach. I am Mozart. I am Beethoven. They are alive in me. I am a living embodiment of all art history. Because in my art, I re-invent and re-discover all art history.
 

To be the purest mathematician is to discover all mathematics in existence on your own.

ix

There is a voice in everyone's head. When they think, it is the voice that thinks. I need the best voice. If I had the best voice, I would have the best words. If I had the best words, I would have the best thoughts. That voice is what philosophy is all about. 
 

The best philosophers have the best voice. They focus on their voice but not the thoughts or ideas. Bad philosophers tend to correct flaws in their thoughts with the same awful voice. 
 

Philosophy is therefore not to be read but heard.
 

The best philosophers do not talk. They sing.

Second Meditation

i

Music is the most powerful form of rebellion. It is simply there by itself. You cannot debate about music. You cannot fight against music. You cannot explain a piece of music. It is there cold and still, speaking a language which you cannot understand. Therefore, music is the most powerful form of rebellion.

ii

The universe is nothing but a sign of a soul being alive. A living soul is the entire universe by definition. When you encounter me, you encounter the entire universe. Hello. When you greet me and say "how are you", you greet the entire universe and ask how it is.
 

(Editing note: This passage is short yet beautiful. Do not take the idea here lightly as if I was joking. Compare this short passage with the idea that a soul is a perspective of the universal life, and the universe is life being experienced or reflected from a certain perspective. These wordings are clumsy. But pay attention to the feeling I try to convey.)

iii

Nothing can do harm to a living soul. Because it is the entire universe. The entire universe and a living soul are one and the same. They cannot be any different by definition. 

iv

If I was able to die, I would have died a thousand times. Now that I am alive, I have to be eternal. What could have killed me a thousand times has made me immortal.
 

(Editing note: External setbacks and frustration give rise to internal strength.)
 

(Editing note: Ultimate strength equals immortality.)

v

During its conquests, Western civilization was not brutal enough to extinguish Eastern civilization from the world. It is a mistake in world history that such a thing as Eastern civilization still exists. Eastern civilization should only be overcome and extinguished. I look forward to the future when Western civilization becomes mature enough to put the Easterners on their deathbed. 

vi 

Maybe my mind has become so Eastern that it has become incomprehensible to the Easterners. I am a mistake that should have been extinguished from the East. 
 

When I was in the East, people tried to take my life when I was a kid. They did not finish. Now, the time for revenge has come. Anyone who gets in my way will go to Hell.

vii 

I was not born in the West. I am not produced by Western civilization. I reinvented and rediscovered Western civilization as a creator. I created what I refer to as Western civilization.

viii

The West is life. The East is death. I overheard a conversation between life and death. Someone from the West says: No, I should not be manipulated. Something in me should not be restrained. Someone from the East says: Yes, I should be manipulated. I should and I will try my hardest.

ix 

Most people live like they are not going to die. This is nothing new to mention. What is still surprising to me is that when you tell them they are going to die, they do not feel anything. They do not even see it as a strong statement. Why? Is there no big difference between life and death? 
 

The reason why they do not feel anything is that, for them, the difference between life and death is very tiny. It is not a big thing for them to die. Why? Because they are already very close to death. Furthermore, they have never had any experience other than being barely alive. They have always been almost dead.
 

Is the world so noisy and crowded? No. I see the picture as exactly the opposite. The most part of the world consists of dead quietness. Just like the universe itself. Most part of the world is empty space. 
 

Does death occupy space? No. Death does not occupy space. What is in front of you is just dead emptiness.
 

(Editing note: One of the most essential passages ever written in the history of philosophy. This is the starting point of my thesis: the universe is dead. My entire journey in philosophy is to start from here and arrive at that truth-lessness at the end where the whole universe becomes alive, because of me. Actually, the journey is completely internal. It is a transformation of the philosopher himself or herself. He or she becomes completely alive at the end of the journey. He or she overcomes the universe through philosophy. He or she earns life. I also wrote the idea that life itself is a journey of being born.
 

All this journey starts from the crucial realization that the universe is dead and most people are barely alive. I believe, if you do not feel this way, you would not have followed my footsteps this far. This realization comes from the awakening of an initial impulse that you want to be alive. You want to really live. Anyone who does not have this impulse is dead and he or she does not deserve philosophy.)

x 

Life is against the universe. Life is against death. Life is against emptiness. Life should not have been created in the first place. Life is nothing but a beautiful mistake within the vast emptiness of death. Being alive is therefore a constant struggle. Once the striving stops, life can easily vanish into the infinite emptiness which defines a physical universe. 
 

(Editing note: Life is nothing but a beautiful mistake. Let us make a mess!)

xi

The best philosophy does not allow commentaries. It cannot be explained. It does not wait for a reply. Because the best philosophy is just life itself. How can you comment on life? How can you give an explanation to life? Does life wait for any reply? No. No. No. So the best philosophy cannot be read or heard but lived. This mode of being is what I refer to as living philosophy.

Third Meditation

i

What is wisdom? What they call wisdom is not what it is. Let me tell you what wisdom is. If I want to do something, I do it. If I do not want to do something, I do not do it. This is wisdom. Anything else is stupidity. Ignorance. Weakness. Whatever you name yourself. 

ii

The only possible mode of being is to resist the universe, resist meditation, resist Eastern civilization to the greatest extent. Eastern civilization does not need to be extinguished. Such a thing has never existed.

iii

Why those enlightened people can renounce their attachment to life? It is easy. They have never been attached to it. How can it be difficult to give up something you never own? Why those enlightened people can be detached to love? They have never had the ability to love. How can it be difficult to give up something you will never have the slightest chance to taste?

iv 

Life is only in the now moment. If you are alive now, this is a living moment. If you are not alive now, this is a dead moment. Life does not have any goal. Life is not going anywhere. Life begins and ends here and now. This is my only knowledge of life.

v 

The education of Art is about how to be alive and even more alive. You can learn general guidance through words. But you can only learn the details from Art itself.

vi 

I have come to a point where I do not want to change anymore. I do not want to make progress. I do not want to be better. I just want to be who I am. Because nothing can be better than who I am right here and right now. I enjoy simply being who I am right here and right now. Nothing can be more beautiful than simply being who I am. Right here and right now.

vii 

Art is a journey of simplification. We keep simplifying things until nothing left can be further simplified. Our deepest lust is simplification. Take out what is unnecessary. Leave what is meant to be. This is exactly the most accurate formula of Lust. The more alive you are, the more simplified your life would become. You will be so alive that there is nothing unnecessary in your life. When simplification has achieved its greatest extent, there is no more progress. What is left must not be taken away. Nothing is to be added or reduced.
 

This, is Art.
 

(Editing note: Well put. I really emphasize lust. In my philosophy, life and lust are equal to each other. If you want to be alive, you have to taste the hunger.)

(Editing note: The intellect is our most essential sex organ. Our deepest lust is to think and make sense. To make love is easy. To make sense is difficult. To be sexually disabled is devastating. To be intellectually disabled is fatal.)

Fourth Meditation

Because of me, the world has to show full respect for Hip Hop music. Me and me alone. When everyone else degrades, I am the only uprising Hip Hop artist. When everyone else doubts the possibility that Hip Hop can be pure art, it is me who refuses to give up. What everyone else does? They doubt but cannot come up with a solution. They laugh because they have been the first to give up. They did not achieve anything. Beautiful things can never come out of their hands.
 

The real artists are not those who doubt but cannot come up with a solution. Not those who give up and laugh at those who keep hoping and pushing. Back in the days, when I started making music, no one believed Hip Hop could be elevated to the level of art music. So I told myself: One day, I will prove to this Goddamn world, what I love is worth being treasured. I will teach the world about Hip Hop music and make it show some respect.
 

Why do I admire Mu Xin? Because when everyone else was doubting but could not come up with a solution, he refused to give up hoping and pushing. He did not live in a good time. He did not live in a time of hope. What was in front of him was not hope but only doubts and laughters. 
 

He revived Chinese literature when it was on the verge of death. He turned the twentieth century upside down with his own hands. He has a real ambition. Therefore, he is a truly sexy man.
 

I admire people like him. I look down on those who change routes. What distinguishes great artists from common artists is loyalty. Stay loyal to what you fell in love with as a child. Stay loyal to what has been supporting you, to what has been keeping you alive, to that which was the reason you survived. If you are loyal, it will keep supporting you, it will let you survive people’s doubts and laughters. Common artists do not know this. They trade what they love for cheap rewards. They trade what they love to please the world which has been doubting and laughing.
 

Only love keeps us alive. Art never favors betrayers. If you are a philosopher who believes in the value of what you love, prove it. If you are a religious practitioner and believes in the value of what you love, prove it. You are the living proof that what you love is great. Nothing is great until a great artist proves it. Without those creators, beautiful things could never have existed in the world.
 

Great artists make achievements. They do not talk. They do not negotiate. They work and they achieve greatness. This is love. Great artists are sexy. They never betray what they love so they deserve to own what they dream of.
 

(Editing note: I remember it bothered me when I had to choose using either "art" or "Art", "artist" or "Artist". It seems that when I was writing my philosophy, or to say, when I was struggling to clear things out of my way, I emphasized the distinction between "art" and "Art", "artist" and "Artist". If I were to write my philosophy right now, without that eagerness to clear up everything, I think I would just stick to the most plain and commonly used language. A simple note for the reader to know.)

Fifth Meditation

i 

People have been telling you how finite we are as human beings. All the physical and mental constraints. I am telling you that we have always been infinite because of the great possibilities of ourselves. There is nothing other than a living soul. A living soul is everything in existence. A living soul is much greater than the universe.
 

Do not believe in their words. They do not see the great possibilities of humanity because they do not know love. They tell you that we are finite as human beings because they want us to also be blind. Open your eyes and see the unfiltered world. This is the world you want to embrace.
 

Do not argue with people. The best attitude is trifling. As the Chinese saying goes: trifle with worldly conventions. 
 

The essence of trifling is deep brutality. The unseriousness is absolute individualism. 
 

We can only look with our sorrowful eyes at things that do not know about sorrows.

(Editing note: People censor the world. They do so because they are afraid of dirts and dusts. Do you prefer the censored version? I prefer the uncensored version. You want censorship because you are fragile. I do not want censorship because I am strong and lustful.)

ii 

Let me live. If I love, let me love my heart out. If I hate, let me hate my heart out. Because this is the only life I have. That which appears and disappears at any instant is the only reality in my hands. Let me live my heart out. Let me philosophize my heart out.
 

To live is to create. To create is to live. Life and creation are equal to each other by definition. No one can deny the fact that he or she is an Artist. No one can deny his or her own ability to create and say to himself or herself: I am not good enough to create. Yes, every existing soul must be a genius by its very existence. 
 

No soul can deny its own existence. So every soul must be a genius with the greatest possibilities defined by its own existence. 
 

If life and creation are equal to each other, both must be infinite by their definition. Nothing is finite. Life is everything. So the entire existence must be infinite. 
 

Everything is the one thing which is life. Life is infinite. It seems like where tonight's meditation may end.
 

(Editing note: This is hard-core philosophy. If you ignore passages like this because it sounds childish, you are not a philosopher at all. This is the most hard-core philosophy you can find in this world. It is a true statement, immensely emotional yet still logically flawless. A soul and a genius are one and the same by definition. Life and creation are one and the same by definition. This is the philosophy for artists, for those who really want to live this life. Ask yourself: when do you feel most alive? My answer is: I feel alive only when I create. Yes, indeed, life and creation are one and the same. If this statement is true, I have to be a genius and so everyone else.)

iii 

You cannot see the light in others until you start seeing the light in yourself. They are telling you how finite you are. I am telling you that you have always been infinite and no limits can possibly apply on you by your own existence. There has never been any physical or mental constraints. They are lies invented by the blind. We are born to see light. So open your eyes and see light. See your own light illuminating the universe.
 

(Editing note: This passage takes us back to the topic of creativity. Creativity means infinity. By definition, creativity means the denial of any limit or constraint. You will never understand such simple truth unless you are creative. Unless you are alive. If you are not alive and creating, my philosophy does not speak to you. It is deliberately made invisible to the dead and blind.)

Sixth Meditation

i 

There are three levels of excellence in Art. The first level is the excellence of techniques. It is the admission fee for a certain genre. After enough training, even people uninterested in Art can attain this level of excellence. The second level of excellence is talent. Only talented people enjoy what they do. Techniques itself is joyless and lifeless. Talent is full of joy and life. Talent transforms techniques into Art. Talented people are joyful and convey their joy through artwork.
 

The third level of excellence in Art is genius. It has nothing to do with the genre itself. It has always been there even before the artist started to do any artwork. It is charisma. It is a gift. For a genius, the genre itself is secondary. What is primary is only his or her charisma. Genius is genre-less. You do not need to be acquainted with a genre to appreciate genius. Genius is not for a specific group of audience but everyone. You can learn to appreciate techniques and talent. You cannot learn to appreciate genius. Knowledge cannot get you any closer to genius. You connect with genius by the genius in yourself. Genius is not to be known but understood. Talented artists please the audience. A genius wishes to be understood.
 

(Editing note: My philosophy is for the few geniuses and only for them. If you are not a genius, all of this has never been written for you.)

ii 

We have talked enough about music. Let us talk about musicality. In most cases, when I say music, I mean musicality. Most philosophers cannot achieve what they seek because what they seek is not in philosophy but musicality. You cannot reason into musicality. No reason can sneak into the moment where thoughts turn into musicality. 
 

What most philosophers have been doing to this day is to avoid musicality on purpose. They are very stubborn. They want to test if philosophy can go to its promised land. They will not give up until the test fails. The thing is that the test will never fail. As you cannot reason into musicality, you can neither reason the essence of non-musicality. 
 

The test is a trap where there is no way out. Their stubbornness is exactly non-musicality. You cannot reason anyone out of non-musicality. No one can either reason himself or herself out of non-musicality. Because no thoughts can sneak into the moment where non-musicality turns into musicality. That moment should be what philosophy is all about.
 

The value of philosophy is to detect non-musicality. Then, musicality will be fully self-aware. Musicality is life. When musicality is not self-aware, the personality of an Artist is vague. Self-aware musicality attains terrifying power. When musicality becomes so pure and clear, the Artist becomes as perfect as God, as vile as the Devil. He or she is able to realize either the highest good or the most destructive sins.
 

Philosophy is to be overcome. Musicality is "philosophy overcome". The ending point of philosophy is the starting point of musicality.
 

Philosophy is a genre. All genres are meant to be overcome. The greatest Artists will finally become genre-less. That which goes beyond genres and unites all genres is musicality. ("Genres" are meant to detect non-musicality by definition.)
 

The greatest Artists have visited other genres. Why not philosophy?
 

(Editing note: Here I came. I intended to write a book of philosophy called "history of musicality". Because philosophy is indeed nothing but a history of musicality. Philosophy is a history of how it overcomes itself, of a genius being born thought by thought, argument by argument. Then, one day, there would be no thought, no argument, but fierce and limitless creativity. See you there.)

(Editing note: Every artist knows that when a painting, a piece of music or a poem becomes too literal, it is stupid and boring. Philosophers never know that. How sad.)