there's no present. because once you think/say it, it has already slipped into the past.

there's no everyday. because its very definition presupposes a whole which can never be grasped - we can only perceive it in moments.

taken this way, both the present and the everyday are illusionary concepts we live by, and perhaps, can't live without.

------
the "me" and the "i" - george herbert mead

the self is made up of "I" and "me". the "I" is the part of the self that emerges out of the process of social interaction. it is that which is revealed when an interaction is taking place. [eg. when you talk to someone, you don't form sentences in your mind before you speak (assuming you're familiar with the language), you just speak. tt's where freudian slips, saying the wrong things, making mistakes in pronouciations etc come in.]

the "me" is the social self. it is the reflexive part of the self which reflects on the actions of "I" and others on hindsight.

considering the spontaneity of the "I", there is always a certain amount of risk and unpredictability involved in social interactions. things can go wrong, takes a different direction than what you intended, or just, become more exciting.


http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Mead/socialself.htm
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/m/mead.htm#SH3c


wah lau eh.
so much i need to catch up on/learn.

It's the lunar new year, and like every other year, it comes with the obligatory temple visits with relatives. Today, that ritual is reenacted at a temple at Boon Lay.

Sitting on a wooden bench waiting, I wonder why people pray or burn joss sticks, papers etc. In that religious space, these objects embody prayers, thanks and hopes, setting themselves between the worldly and the divine.

Pardon my imprudence. But I bet most devotees are requesting the deities for something when they stick their incense into the ash. The whole scenario seems to me, at its very core, to be an exchange relationship. Even if it is one imagined in the minds of people.

Isn't god all-loving? In that case, he doesn't need reminders to do good. Who knows, he probably find all the smoke because of the burning a little too uneco-friendly for his taste. Isn't god giving? Then he doesn't need anything in return. Isn't god all-knowing? Surely, he should know what we need without us asking.

I don't know. Only questions and no satisfactory answer. Religion comes accompanied with sets of morality and meanings that I'm uncertain about. But faith - whether in god or in religion (yes, I think they are different) - is itself blind.

You simply believe. Or not.

this time, this space

and what are you doing, this very minute?

because then you.

fall out of the system.

"don't sell your time to anyone"

i m out of sorts in too many ways.

a danger i can't resist.

almost open