2014년 4월 29일 화요일
2014년 4월 17일 목요일
2014년 4월 16일 수요일
Fuckwitedness
A day with dangerous levels of air pollution is like a tornado heading your way. While you can't really avoid it, you're better off staying indoors (in the basement or preferably a storm cellar in the event of a tornado) as opposed to walking outside into it.
2014년 4월 13일 일요일
명동 불금의 어느 외국인 관광객 이야기
불금이 끝나갈 새벽 12시 무렵 그들의 눈빛이 우연히 마주친다.
3명, 모두 중동이나 어디 아세안 나라 출신으로 보이는 미인들.
근데 이거 뭐지?
외국인 관광객 중심인 명동거리 입구 앞에서 택시를 잡으려고 하는 그들은 택시를 못잡고 헤매고 있다.
헐.
이미 몇번이나 잡으려 했나 본데. 택시 하나가 속도를 늦추며 태워줄 듯 한데 마지막 순간에 (왠지) 승객의 낯선 외모에 엔진을 심하게 밟아 빨리 도망가버린다.
승객이 없었는데도 말이다. 아휴 답답하다.
이러니 그들은 얼마나 더 답답할까.
다음에 더 용기(?) 있는 택시가 다가서더니 한국말로 어디까지 가느냐라고 기본적인 질문을 던진다.
처음 한국을 방문한 그녀들 (국빈이라고 하자) 에게는 아무 말도 없이 무시하고 지나가는것이나 다름 없는 말이지 않는가.
양쪽은 잠잠히 침묵하며 서로가 서로를 그냥 쳐다보고 있었다.
이 순간에 내가 나섰다. 그들이 가려는 목적지를 파악하고 기사한테 우리말로(한국말로) 당당하지만 실망섞인 말투로 이렇게 말했다.
'아저씨, 여기서 유턴해서 남산 1호 터널으로 가시고 한남대교 건너시면 신사사거리에서 우회전하시고 한 300미터 이후 오른쪽에 ㅇㅇㅇ관광객호텔에서 세워 주십시오. 아저씨, 잠시 교류 중인 저희 나라 국빈들을 잘 부탁드립니다.'
아 아~예 알겠습니다라는 말이 당황한 기사 입 밖으로 나오자마자 난 앞으로 우리 나라를 방문한 국빈을 더 잘 챙겨달라는 의미를 실어 내가 뒷문을 세게 닫았다.
몇분 뒤에 인천공항으로 향하는 공항버스를 타고 이 나라를 영원히 떠났다.
3명, 모두 중동이나 어디 아세안 나라 출신으로 보이는 미인들.
근데 이거 뭐지?
외국인 관광객 중심인 명동거리 입구 앞에서 택시를 잡으려고 하는 그들은 택시를 못잡고 헤매고 있다.
헐.
이미 몇번이나 잡으려 했나 본데. 택시 하나가 속도를 늦추며 태워줄 듯 한데 마지막 순간에 (왠지) 승객의 낯선 외모에 엔진을 심하게 밟아 빨리 도망가버린다.
승객이 없었는데도 말이다. 아휴 답답하다.
이러니 그들은 얼마나 더 답답할까.
다음에 더 용기(?) 있는 택시가 다가서더니 한국말로 어디까지 가느냐라고 기본적인 질문을 던진다.
처음 한국을 방문한 그녀들 (국빈이라고 하자) 에게는 아무 말도 없이 무시하고 지나가는것이나 다름 없는 말이지 않는가.
양쪽은 잠잠히 침묵하며 서로가 서로를 그냥 쳐다보고 있었다.
이 순간에 내가 나섰다. 그들이 가려는 목적지를 파악하고 기사한테 우리말로(한국말로) 당당하지만 실망섞인 말투로 이렇게 말했다.
'아저씨, 여기서 유턴해서 남산 1호 터널으로 가시고 한남대교 건너시면 신사사거리에서 우회전하시고 한 300미터 이후 오른쪽에 ㅇㅇㅇ관광객호텔에서 세워 주십시오. 아저씨, 잠시 교류 중인 저희 나라 국빈들을 잘 부탁드립니다.'
아 아~예 알겠습니다라는 말이 당황한 기사 입 밖으로 나오자마자 난 앞으로 우리 나라를 방문한 국빈을 더 잘 챙겨달라는 의미를 실어 내가 뒷문을 세게 닫았다.
몇분 뒤에 인천공항으로 향하는 공항버스를 타고 이 나라를 영원히 떠났다.
2014년 4월 1일 화요일
Cherry Blossoms
Cherry Blossoms seem to engender a near mythical appreciation. They are the definitive message bearer to the masses that the long, hard Winter has fallen to the sudden, surprise, early thrust spear of Spring. The blossoms themselves will lead any casual observer to those memories - or fantasies for those as-yet-uninitiated - of youth when one first becomes aware of the opposite sexes surfeit of supple, unblemished smoothness. This in turn is also, apart from being the place of their actual origin, probably what leads many to associate the blossoms with Japan and its culture.
That said, many other countries as well, including South Korea and the United States, have unofficial periods wherein the blooming of these trees is announced, celebrated and enjoyed by its citizenry. These celebrations are more natural in that they are informal and lacking governmental or organizational auspices - which is to say that they do not take place within a conspicuous human enframing. It is nature itself that calls to man as it were, to come hither to catch a glimpse of perfection, which if the blossom itself is any indication only occurs in youth. Those so lucky to actually witness that moment, and it really is The Moment when the blossoms are in full bloom - and by full bloom I am not talking about the early, awkward stages of blooming when their skinny, pointed limbs are all too clearly visible and I am especially not talking about the later stage when the ugly, green leaves, the body hair if you will, poke through the perfect skin of blossoms that just form a complete, seemingly impenetrable orb of angelic whiteness around those awkward limbs - is to be bestowed with and at the same time burdened by Truth. And it is probably for this reason why many will simply pay it no mind and miss it altogether.
We lateborn, unfortunately, are no longer able to readily receive Truth let alone begin to comprehend it. Just try asking yourself what you believe Truth is or means. A few mental stuttering starts heading nowhere, probably followed by an anecdote of modern usage that goes something like the following: truth is something agreed upon, ideally based on fact, and that upon hearing or reading usually elicits a "Yeah, (I think) that is true" or something to that effect. Or maybe those of you who hail from institutions with latinate mottos (full disclosure: the motto of my alma mater, Korea University, is 'Libertas, Justitia, Veritas') will pay heed to the fact that Truth as spoken today in most romantic languages at least, derives from the Latin 'Veritas'. (The etymological origins of 'truth' as spoken in English, it should be noted, shares a closer affinity than we would like to admit with 'faith' and even 'loyalty', which is food enough for thought itself). That said, I don't know of anyone who actually knows let alone can indicate how exactly Veritas was thought of when it was still part of a living vernacular.
Veritas was not an original, thoughtful construct in Roman times, however, it was the translation of the Greek 'Aletheia' into Roman thought and as a result this thoughtful Greek Word has been brought into our modern language in an equally violent manner being called 'Truth'. To put it simply, the Greek word speaks of an "unconcealedness" or literally "the state of not being hidden". Moving fore, treading closer to the danger, and not for the mere purpose of highlighting etymological similarities, although such similarities cannot be said to not exist, I would like to briefly touch upon 眞理 or Zhenli or 진리. There are probably many ways to think through this word, or set of characters, and the argument could probably be made as to whether one should even try to think through the couplet or instead focus on one character at a time or even if such an attempt should be made at all!
Shall we not at least try to take a leap, perhaps even a leap of faith towards what may be true? A good place to start along a way to thinking, generally, is through the thoughts of an actual thinker. Regarding '眞', Zhuangzi (莊子) has already thought this character through as meaning 'Every-thing as it is' or '있는 그대로' in Korean. The second character, a compound of the radicals 玉 + 里, that when taken in isolation respectively indicate a precious gem and a village. Together, nowadays, when combined the resulting '理 ' is translated as either 'control' or 'logic', but these translations, especially the former, are ex post facto derivations. Derived from what? In both cases, the original gem and village denote the 'explicit implicitness' or the concealed nature of both objects. In the case of a precious gem, actually what is emphasized and always apparent first is the rough stone with the gem itself being unseen and only revealed later. A village is always only a village, and an area only comes to be called a village by virtue of the inhabitants that often exist in obscurity, or concealedness therein. So to be clear, the aspect of control that the above character has come to embody happened after, and only after the rough exerior of the gem or the nameless inhabitants of a village were forgotten in the sense that it became so simple to control the attaining of the gem itself or the groups of contained people.
The above attempt at beginning to think through '眞理', which now that it is safe to say is an approximation of Truth in both Chinese, Japanese and Korean, was given solely as food for thought. In this moment the matter at hand, however, is Cherry Blossoms. Cherry Blossoms, as mentioned at the outset, tend to evoke associations of Japan and its culture. As a matter of fact, the Japanese have for centuries made it a practice to picnic or sojourn under blooming Cherry Blossoms. In their traditional poetry, Cherry Blossoms were expressed reverentially by the single character denoting all flowers '花' for more than a millennia and some centuries. Why? Well, I guess, since '花' is composed of '艹' a radical simply demarcating something as a plant and '化' symbolizing man becoming man from man, then the Japanese must therefore have had an original, intimate experience wherein the Cherry Blossoms, and particularly Cherry Blossoms in full bloom came to represent not just plants that become unconcealed from out of the concealement that exists and is protected within plants which they in turn again appear within, but also that opening into what is concealed in man that allows man to become unconcealed as such. Or were you asking why Japanese picnicked beneath Cherry Blossoms in full bloom? Or did I answer that question too?
Unconcealedness needs concealedness. What is concealed is therefore no less true than what is unconcealed. The long, hard Winter that is now forgotten, out of sight and mind, has allowed the Beauty of Unconcealment to shine forth in full bloom by concealing itself. Does the poetry of the Japanese mean as much when they employ '花' to represent Cherry Blossoms? Who can say? Some light may befall our blind struggles fore if we remember poetry has always been Song. Laudes is the Latin name for songs. Laudare is a eulogy or praise. Maybe the ancient Greek myths were just long poems that were singing, praising, eulogizing, remembering what has been and thus what could be again and Japanese Poems are myths along the Same vein. If so, and even if not, I like to think of Cherry Blossoms as our Myth of Life, a life that may oft be forgotten, but will always be remembered, if not knowingly.
P.S. The Japanese call and know 'word' as 言葉 or petal(s) of saying...
That said, many other countries as well, including South Korea and the United States, have unofficial periods wherein the blooming of these trees is announced, celebrated and enjoyed by its citizenry. These celebrations are more natural in that they are informal and lacking governmental or organizational auspices - which is to say that they do not take place within a conspicuous human enframing. It is nature itself that calls to man as it were, to come hither to catch a glimpse of perfection, which if the blossom itself is any indication only occurs in youth. Those so lucky to actually witness that moment, and it really is The Moment when the blossoms are in full bloom - and by full bloom I am not talking about the early, awkward stages of blooming when their skinny, pointed limbs are all too clearly visible and I am especially not talking about the later stage when the ugly, green leaves, the body hair if you will, poke through the perfect skin of blossoms that just form a complete, seemingly impenetrable orb of angelic whiteness around those awkward limbs - is to be bestowed with and at the same time burdened by Truth. And it is probably for this reason why many will simply pay it no mind and miss it altogether.
We lateborn, unfortunately, are no longer able to readily receive Truth let alone begin to comprehend it. Just try asking yourself what you believe Truth is or means. A few mental stuttering starts heading nowhere, probably followed by an anecdote of modern usage that goes something like the following: truth is something agreed upon, ideally based on fact, and that upon hearing or reading usually elicits a "Yeah, (I think) that is true" or something to that effect. Or maybe those of you who hail from institutions with latinate mottos (full disclosure: the motto of my alma mater, Korea University, is 'Libertas, Justitia, Veritas') will pay heed to the fact that Truth as spoken today in most romantic languages at least, derives from the Latin 'Veritas'. (The etymological origins of 'truth' as spoken in English, it should be noted, shares a closer affinity than we would like to admit with 'faith' and even 'loyalty', which is food enough for thought itself). That said, I don't know of anyone who actually knows let alone can indicate how exactly Veritas was thought of when it was still part of a living vernacular.
Veritas was not an original, thoughtful construct in Roman times, however, it was the translation of the Greek 'Aletheia' into Roman thought and as a result this thoughtful Greek Word has been brought into our modern language in an equally violent manner being called 'Truth'. To put it simply, the Greek word speaks of an "unconcealedness" or literally "the state of not being hidden". Moving fore, treading closer to the danger, and not for the mere purpose of highlighting etymological similarities, although such similarities cannot be said to not exist, I would like to briefly touch upon 眞理 or Zhenli or 진리. There are probably many ways to think through this word, or set of characters, and the argument could probably be made as to whether one should even try to think through the couplet or instead focus on one character at a time or even if such an attempt should be made at all!
Shall we not at least try to take a leap, perhaps even a leap of faith towards what may be true? A good place to start along a way to thinking, generally, is through the thoughts of an actual thinker. Regarding '眞', Zhuangzi (莊子) has already thought this character through as meaning 'Every-thing as it is' or '있는 그대로' in Korean. The second character, a compound of the radicals 玉 + 里, that when taken in isolation respectively indicate a precious gem and a village. Together, nowadays, when combined the resulting '理 ' is translated as either 'control' or 'logic', but these translations, especially the former, are ex post facto derivations. Derived from what? In both cases, the original gem and village denote the 'explicit implicitness' or the concealed nature of both objects. In the case of a precious gem, actually what is emphasized and always apparent first is the rough stone with the gem itself being unseen and only revealed later. A village is always only a village, and an area only comes to be called a village by virtue of the inhabitants that often exist in obscurity, or concealedness therein. So to be clear, the aspect of control that the above character has come to embody happened after, and only after the rough exerior of the gem or the nameless inhabitants of a village were forgotten in the sense that it became so simple to control the attaining of the gem itself or the groups of contained people.
The above attempt at beginning to think through '眞理', which now that it is safe to say is an approximation of Truth in both Chinese, Japanese and Korean, was given solely as food for thought. In this moment the matter at hand, however, is Cherry Blossoms. Cherry Blossoms, as mentioned at the outset, tend to evoke associations of Japan and its culture. As a matter of fact, the Japanese have for centuries made it a practice to picnic or sojourn under blooming Cherry Blossoms. In their traditional poetry, Cherry Blossoms were expressed reverentially by the single character denoting all flowers '花' for more than a millennia and some centuries. Why? Well, I guess, since '花' is composed of '艹' a radical simply demarcating something as a plant and '化' symbolizing man becoming man from man, then the Japanese must therefore have had an original, intimate experience wherein the Cherry Blossoms, and particularly Cherry Blossoms in full bloom came to represent not just plants that become unconcealed from out of the concealement that exists and is protected within plants which they in turn again appear within, but also that opening into what is concealed in man that allows man to become unconcealed as such. Or were you asking why Japanese picnicked beneath Cherry Blossoms in full bloom? Or did I answer that question too?
Unconcealedness needs concealedness. What is concealed is therefore no less true than what is unconcealed. The long, hard Winter that is now forgotten, out of sight and mind, has allowed the Beauty of Unconcealment to shine forth in full bloom by concealing itself. Does the poetry of the Japanese mean as much when they employ '花' to represent Cherry Blossoms? Who can say? Some light may befall our blind struggles fore if we remember poetry has always been Song. Laudes is the Latin name for songs. Laudare is a eulogy or praise. Maybe the ancient Greek myths were just long poems that were singing, praising, eulogizing, remembering what has been and thus what could be again and Japanese Poems are myths along the Same vein. If so, and even if not, I like to think of Cherry Blossoms as our Myth of Life, a life that may oft be forgotten, but will always be remembered, if not knowingly.
P.S. The Japanese call and know 'word' as 言葉 or petal(s) of saying...
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