Monday, August 21, 2006

Bedeutungen

I don't personally like mottos or aphorisms many people cultivate. I think it's so hard to find a good one and to believe in it. I think that is mainly because I cannot understand them and my state of mind, or the nature of my intelligence, won't let me cultivate them as easily as some other people can. Short put, I might be a realist. Or a wanna-be realist.

I stayed over-night at my acquaintance's place some months ago and her apartment was decorated with aphorisms. She had several aphorism books in the shelf, postcards, bookmarks and pillows with them. She had calendars, paintings, mugs and toys with aphorisms. Not too many so that I would call her an aphorism-freak but enough to notice her interest.

Philosophy classes worked _very_ efficiently with me. Just a few discussions and I had grasped the concept of "possibly". I was probably one of the best students learning that nothing can be stated for certain. Simultaneously, I thought it was frustrating to analyse issues all the time.

I got tired of over-analysis in high school and that's why I think I'm studying sciences. The constant conversations with "on the other hand, maybe, perhaps, I don't know but..." seemed like an endless path.

I do like some aphorisms, though. I like the ones that I have experienced happening and becoming true in my life. They have happened, they are 'afterwise' if you want to put it that way.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" by John Lennon.
That's a magnificent aphorism. A great motto. Stunningly realistic and right.

I made up one myself two days ago.

Leben ist nicht zu begreifen.
Leben ist zu erreichen.

That is a motto that sounds good but what kind of motto is that when I easily forget the sequence! Leben ist nicht zu erreichen, Leben ist zu begreifen. It's a sugary example and as I already stated above, I don't have the brain capacity to state whether it's a good one or a poor attempt.

Some cultures cultivate aphorisms very much. I think I might need a new sub-species for that art. Scientific aphorisms based on current suppositions. Let it be philosophical or scientific, an idea, a motto that makes you happy serves you best.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Pohoda und Weltschmerz

Sag mal, mein Freund, was ist das?

Was ist Sauna? Ist das mit Sisu ähnlich?
und pohoda? Wo fühlst Du pohoda? In Prag?
Fühlst Du Weltschmerz heute, wenn so viel in der Welt los ist? Ist Shalom Dir das Lächeln?

Kannst Du mir erzählen...

...was mañana ist? Von welchen Sinnen kommt dieses Wort? Ist mañana Patagonia oder Barcelona?
...ob es überall in Schweden hyggligt ist? Auch in Malmö?

Und Herr Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten: Warum heisst Politologie in den USA Political Science? Was hat Politik mit Science zu tun? Ist Politik Wissenschaft (das wäre etwa schlecht...), oder noch schlechter, ist Wissenschaft politisiert worden?

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen litost in Prag und Les Miserables in Paris?

Denkst Du sprachlos? Ohne Wörter, mit Wörtern?

Was Denkst Du jetzt ganz primitiv?
Ich denke auf Deutsch, sage nun einfach Aschenputtel - Berlin - Mauer - Na gut - Jawohl - Sparkasse - Zugspitze - Niebelungen - Erde - Bochum - Der Mensch.
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Ach, so liebe ich Wörter.