舊作一篇

Wandering through the Wondrous Lane of Philosophy

- A Book Review of Sophie's World

"Nothing can come out of nothing, and nothing is ever lost."Sounds difficult, even impossible to understand? That’s perfectly fine ─ as long as you do not freak out , and immediately turn away from the doubt and confusion aroused, just because it is “too tiring” or “too troublesome” to think deeper. Why? Simply because if you do back off, you are actually refusing to learn.

What happen when you refuse to learn? Well, not much. You will just miss the chance of learning some extremely valuable knowledge from this seemingly nonsense statement and all the fun in the process of learning. Not much, right? Oh, did I mention if you get used to refusing to learn, your life is actually not much different from that of a little bug living at the “very tip of a rabbit’s fine hairs”? Yes, you heard me right. You are not that different from a tiny little bug if you refuse to learn.

It is funny how students (especially Hong Kong students) nowadays tend to avoid using their brain, the most important part of their bodies, to perform the most important function ─ thinking. Now this may not be accurate since nobody can actually avoid thinking. But you get the point. What are the odds of finding a student in Hong Kong who would readily prompt to answer a “philosophical” question? Or should I ask, what are the odds of finding a Hong Kong student who do not immediately shut down his/her brain once the word “philosophy” is heard? You may say I am exaggerating here but just look around and be honest to yourself. What are students thinking about these days? What are people thinking?

Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World remains as a classic for many reasons, good ones too, if you ask me. One I cannot deny would be Gaarder’s bold attempt to returning to the fundamentals of philosophy ─ appealing to the curiousity of human beings.

"The only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder." How right this is, and yet, how ignorant we are! We, as human beings, are born with the gift of wonder. Some animals can also wonder, but not in the way we do. A dog can see a tree as we do, and wonder what it is. However, as soon as the dog figures out this object “tree” has nothing to do with its food, mating or anything a dog cares about, it will not have the impulse to explore more. This, in a sense, separates us human beings from other animals because we do have the impulse to explore more. We wonder everything we come across in our young ages. What deprives us of that gift of wonder? No, Sophie’s World does not have the answer. But it certainly is a good guide to anyone who is eager enough to embark on their own journeys to find out.

Despite the fact that Sophie’s World deserves its reputation and critical acclaim, it is far from a comprehensive encyclopedia of the broad realm of philosophy. Nor did Gaarder attempted to cover the whole picture of philosophy in a 500 pages fiction. What Sophie’s World should be treated as, is an enjoyable and rewarding journey into one of the most important areas of human knowledge. It is a perfectly decent starting point for anyone who is interested in life and wants to live in ways different from a bug. It’s even better for “scholars” who have forgotten about the essence of life.

Simply put, Sophie’s World is the kind of book that everyone should keep a copy on his/her bookshelf. Not for anything else, but to remind us of the difference between a bug and human beings. Big deal, isn’t it?

Turnabout

Despite the little voice deep down in my heart that keeps telling me about the nude truth of human nature, I have always tried to look at life from a "positive" and "moral" perspective. How wrong I have been.

Now I know what I have to do.

Sometimes You Just Have to Let Go ─ a Little Reflection about Finding Nemo

How far can a father go for the life of his son? if this sounds a difficult question to you, Marlin in Finding Nemo may give you some ideas.

The story of Finding Nemo is anything but a complex one. Over-protective father, rebellious son, adventure, happy ending. Cliche? Ya...but there's something profound in it. For one thing, the way Marlin treats Nemo at first is so familiar that I bet almost any child can strike a chord with it. 

Parents just don't get it. Instead of encouraging and inspiring their children, they often discourage children from doing anything they think not suitable or too dangerous. Yes, it's good intentions. But is it really good for the children? I seriously doubt it. Just look at kids nowadays.Pay special attention to those children of the rich. Some can't even dress by themselves.

The world is complex and dangerous. Every adult knows it. But is it a reason for parents being over-protective? If a child never fail under protection, how is he supposed to take the failure when he's not protected anymore? More importantly, can one get any level of success without taking any risk? 

Decisions have to be made. Not by parents, but by the child himself. 

網購的樂趣

終於入手想買很久的背囊了! 120大元，到手後讓我愛不釋手。。。本以為起碼要三百元以上才能買到個像樣的背囊。。。想不到無意下到雅虎拍賣一看，２００元下的選擇多不勝數，簡直讓人眼花瞭亂！同款的還有超過8種顏色任擇，更讓本就深思熟慮的我難以抉擇！幸好在多位友人的幫助下，終於下了決定。結果到手後發現深綠真的好襯我，鳴謝所有幫過眼既朋友！

網購真是個偉大的發明，哈哈！

諸葛亮的知人論

讀書看到，挺有意思的。

諸葛亮說知人有七：

一。問之以是非而觀其志，

二。窮之以詞而觀其變；

三。治之以謀而觀其識；

四。告之以難而觀其勇；

五。醉之以酒而觀其性，

六。臨之以利而觀其廉；

七。期之以事而觀其信

滄海桑田，人心不古。這七招放在當今社會似乎還是一樣有用。

Finally, A Favorite Poem

Finally. My last literature lecture of this semester has ended. As always, Prof Ding did a pretty good job, both in explaining to us the "valid" interpretations of the poems and giving decent inspirations. I think I can write a thousand words just giving credits to him, but I don't plan to do it today. Besides, this entry should be about literature.

Thanks to Prof Ding's effort, I finally feel like entering the threshold of literature, poetry in particular. Robert Frost's works may be "deceptively simple", but without our dearest professor's guidance , we are simply clueless. With it, however, it doesn't take long for me to see, finally, the beauty and profoundity of his poems.

So, finally I have at least a poem I would be proud of referring to as my favorite:

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

The Road Not Taken


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;


Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,


And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

最好的投資

明明就很窮，可是一到書店就瘋了；結果兩日內花了差不多四百多元買書。不過真的太便宜了，叫我如何忍得住呢？

部分戰利品：

看來是該好好學習理財的時候了。雖然買書可以說是一種最好的投資了，但還是不能見獵心喜，不計後果的買；而且一次買太多我也看不完。 就從Simpleology 102和這本<花小錢過優越生活>開始吧!

無題

夜深，獨自一人在common room，為何？God knows. 我就喜歡這樣。