New blog on tumblr

Hey, the new site is live...

http://speterwu.tumblr.com

See ya around Xanga. 

Goodbye Xanga

I had no loyalty to your company anyways. Yes, I know you need to make money, but to insert an advertisement over my custom header? It took so long to hack your system and hide the advertisement. (haha, Karma)

Well, what's fair is fair. You need to monetize blogs using semi-obnoxious advertising, and I can't take that. Goodbye xanga. Tumblr / Posterous / Wordpress here I come. 

-Peter

The world is replete with indifferent people, who are only mildly interested in your comings and goings. It's not that they're uncaring, they just have other lives to tend to, namely those of their loved ones and their own. Their knowledge of you is only partial at best. Be your own greatest critic, and also your own greatest fan. Don't derive your self image solely from what others think of you. Stay true to your own unique mission.

Reposts of Quotes

Here's two quotes that have made no small impact on me the last few days...

1. THE NATURE OF LOVE (from my old xanga post -- a summary of a lecture from Jeff Nunokawa)

What is most inspiring about the romance of Jane Eyre is its domestic quality. It is a romance between a man who is not handsome and Jane who is not beautiful. They are distinctly homely people, and the most miraculous part of the novel is that these people can actually exude such erotic passion for one another.  Recall the passage, "Do you think I am handsome? “No sir.” He really digs this, for her humble candour and honesty. Recall Jane's first impression of Rochestor “I had no fear in him, but a little shyness. Had he been a handsome heroic looking gentleman I would not have …" This as a quite realistic point. We will explore the relationship between their homeliness and their erotic eloquence.

“Plain Jane” progresses to the heights of a metaphysical romance where looks don’t matter, or to a point where to love them is means to transcend it. The game IS NOT “Looks don’t matter, soul and mind is what I love.” What is loved is not what is ALREADY abstract, but what becomes abstracted through the work of love. 

Most true it is that beauty is in the eye of the gazer. My master’s colourless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows, deep eyes, firm, grim mouth – all energy, decision, will – were not beautiful, according to rule, but they were more than beautiful to me…etc,,,(pg 203)

Look at what happens in the text after the dash, amounting to a miracle. The opposite of transusbstantiation. It brings his physical features to a trinity of metaphysical qualities.  ENERGY, DECISION, WILL. This type of emotion can only be described as incredibly overtaken by eroticism, and passion. This constitutes the very ground of erotic involvement. She is completely given over to him. She is not saying that she loves him for his mind, his intelligence, or his wit. In fact to say simply “I love you for your mind” is one step short from “Let’s just be friend.”

Love is not worshipping the metaphysical, nor is it the worship of the physical. Rather it is the metaphysicalization that constitutes the stuff of love. It is the work of transferring the physical to the metaphysical. That is the moment where romance takes flight, spreads it wings.

2. GENIUS - By Richard Feynman

"You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state. Every time you hear or read a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say: 'How did he do it? He must be a genius!'"

3. RHETORIC

"It's not about having a great idea, it's about having great execution"

"When selling something, others' perceptions are your reality."

Empathy turns to Anger

Been trying this new approach of speaking to others. Find out what the other person is trying to say and understand it before presenting your viewpoint. It's all about love and empathy, making the other person feel appreciated and validated in their opinions.

Then today, I came up against a conundrum. I'll keep things vague, not because its sensitive information, but because there's no need to understand the nitty gritty. Basically, I'm part of a committee at my house that decided not to offer lease to someone. It wasn't anything personal, our house didn't have room and that person wasn't affiliated with our house previously.

I saw this person in a chance encounter at lecture the next day and asked him about it. I wanted to know how he felt, what difficulties the decision had put on him, and maybe how we could help?

His response? He continued packing up his things as he said "Oh, I don't want to talk about it. I already signed another lease. It's such a terrible situation, I can't deal with it right now. It's over."

His tone was dismissive, almost biting and sarcastic. If that weren't enough certainly his body language drove the point home. By the time he had finished this last statement, his back was turned away from me, and he was opening the door to leave. He didn't care about what I had to say at all. 

Afterwards, I found myself seriously pissed off.  I even muttered to a good friend nearby "Well, with an attitude like that, I'm frankly really glad he's not living with us next year. This worked out great."

But, as I reflect on the situation, I guess it was pretty natural for him to be a bit upset. Rejection in any form isn't pleasant to endure. He could have reacted better though, and so could I. 

How is it possible that, at a moments notice, empathy turns to anger?  I wish I knew so I could wield empathy more effectively. Jesus was so right, to "pray for those who persecute you" is indeed the highest calling. I gotta forgive him, hopefully he'll forgive me. Maybe forgiveness will provide the fertile ground for empathy to grow once again.

--edit--

After some thought, I know what went wrong. The phrase "wield empathy more effectively" is evidence that my reasoning is flawed. Empathy is not simply a means to an end, and it's too self-serving to view it that way. Don't get me wrong, good ends may come from empathy, but when they don't like in this case, all is not lost. The beauty of true empathy is that it persists even when rebuffed. I should have not gotten angry, instead I should have become even more concerned due to his negative reaction.

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What's the difference? For sure, they both pack a punch.