11:37 PM
The electricity went out at my home again, my entire neighborhood, the entire block really, though I can’t tell how far. This happens pretty often, once every two weeks or so. Once every two weeks, usually my water and/or electricity and/or Internet will go out. It usually just lasts for a few hours, sometimes it can last a few days.
I was reading the story No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai in manga form drawn by Junji Ito, prior to the lights going out. It’s kind of shocking to have the electricity go out at night and everything becoming pitch dark. I had to get up from the bed I was on, and go to my office where my phone was charging, trying to make my way through the darkness.
I’m reading a classic Japanese horror story involving ghosts, deaths, and violence, so it was sort of frightful being in the dark. No Longer Human is supposedly a Japanese classic, the author killed himself a week publishing it. It’s a very long biography-like tale, with a very modern and somewhat relatable main character.
Yozo Oba, the main character, I think is living the greatest life. He squanders every opportunity with his terrible actions and decision-making ability however. If I were in his shoes, I’d live my life differently. Live it much better, do much more for myself.
He grows up in a powerful household with a powerful father who has both political power and wealth. He gets the top grades in school without even trying, and he has amazing art skills. Not only this, he attracts women without even trying. The way he gets out of trouble most of the time is by encountering a woman who will give her body and home to him after just meeting him once.
He’s been with probably 10 or more women characters up to wherever point I am in the story. He just got married and he was bicycling through a forest of Sakura trees with his wife is where I’m at in the story.
He finds work by sleeping with women, he finds a home by sleeping with women, they just invite him over to his place andthey give him everything, including literally their lives. There’s already been at least two women who have died for him, and one who already gave birth to his baby before he even started college (that isn’t his wife). I’m envious of that treatment.
The entire story is about how Yozo Oba is an outcast and a victim, even though he has every opportunity for a great life throughout the entire novel. The story is very autobiographical-like, and starts with him in his youth, and goes through the different life stages of him growing up. It’s very detailed in that regard, showing the character getting older and having experiences and adventures during that time.
This character has no aspirations for himself except for going with the flow. He’s put into different situations that he’s just dragged along into, and acts like he’s the victim and can’t make any decisions nor have any aspirations for himself.
He joins a Marxist community party while in college because a classmate pulled him into it. The group he joins and gatherings he goes to are illegal, and even though he said he didn’t agree with the party at all, he attended every meeting and was liked by everyone. He was promoted to one of the branch heads, he did what the group told him to do, and even organized an armed rebellion.
Throughout the whole ordeal, he’s against it and doesn’t want to do it, but he’s doing it anyway. What is wrong with this main character? During an armed rebellion, everyone was captured by police except for him because he escaped. He was rescued by a woman who lets him live with her, and this would be a recurring theme, as there’s probably at least 5 women up to where I am now in the story, who let him just live with her and she provides everything for him. It’s ridiculous.
The story is still interesting because it’s about someone else’s life. Like I said he got someone pregnant, there’s even suicide and murder involved, even ghosts involved, so it’s an interesting read still even if the main character is pathetic. I was going to write about how the main character is relatable, but he isn’t. He’s a victim of his own creation.
I also read the Tao Te Ching today, a translation of it, and it’s an interesting read. This is supposedly the second most published and read work of literature only second to the Bible. The Tao Te Ching consists of 81 “chapters” or “verses”, they’re basically short, witty poems that require you to think and reflect to grasp their message. Sometimes what you interpret can be profound.
The Tao Te Ching is not an easy read. Sometimes the “chapters” are, to me, nonsensical, I don’t understand it. A chapter can just be 4 lines long, and talk about existence and non-existence, in an artful way, and it can be hard to grasp its meaning.
There sure is some wisdom and truth in these texts, but they’re hard to decipher, and I don’t know how it has so many readers and followers that dedicate their life to the text. It honestly seems more like a book of poetry, than something of profound wisdom and truth.
The book does have some very profound lines and statements such as:
“You can deal with what has not happened, can foresee
Harmful events and not allow them to be”
“Or here at your feet a thousand-mile journey have birth”
I think these are better translated to:
“Deal with things while they are easy, work on solving problems before they arise”
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”
But the rest of the text is so indecipherable. Why can’t the author have just made it easier to understand? Why is it written in such a mystical and hard-to-interpret way?
My own summary of Daoism after reading this text is to just let things be, don’t exert any effort, life is what we experience. And that’s it. I need to read a better summary online, but I don’t have Internet right now. I still can’t believe entire movements and religions were founded on this text. Although the ideas are good, they’re not so profound and mind-blowing in my opinion.
Is there supposed to be profound meaning in each of the 81 chapters? I need to read a summary or better interpretation of each. The way it’s written, it’s just hard to understand the meaning. Again, every line basically takes effort and reflection to understand.
I understand I can just be an idiot criticizing these classical works of literature that could be the most profound works of literature in history just because I don’t understand their greatness.
9:59 AM (of Wednesday, May 29th 2024)
What else did I do today (Tuesday, May 28th 2024)? I exercised in the morning, doing 4 sets of my exercise routine (2 pull ups, 2 chin ups, 10 push ups, 10 leg raises, 10 squats). I washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, I swept the floors. I did my brain training exercises, I did some work.
Overall, I'd say today was a very good and productive day. I didn't really do much else besides that. I read the books, took some naps, the power went out. What else can I say about today?
I went online to the website Taoistic and I would say they have better translations of the Tao Te Ching than the version I have. The website shows the better translation of each chapter, and explains what every chapter means, and literally a single chapter that is 4 lines long can take paragraphs to explain. The Tao is interesting, a lot of meaning can be in just a few lines. Also it's 2600 years old, and it has been changed and revised throughout the centuries. The translation can also distort the message. The first chapter is about how the Tao cannot be written about though.
Anyway I think I'll keep looking into it, just because the ideas in the book are interesting to learn about. I like learning about these kinds of philosophies, and I think I can craft one better.
You must be signed in to post a comment!