The Human Condition : Of Char Siew and the Universe

The experience of being human, understanding ourselves and our place in the universe…

I was briefly a student of the school of existentialism and metaphysics… ( in the previous millenium)

What constitutes the experience of existence and reality?

Cogito Ergo Sum

I think therefore I am – Descartes

The Sameness VS the Other

Does an absolute, intrinsic self exists with complete autonomy or is the self achieved by the identity of the other?

Objective VS Subjective

Is there a fundamental self that exists both in the phenomenal and transcendental realm?

Is the self (x) determined by our emotions, actions, responsibilities, and thoughts (EART), but if there exists someone else (y) with the same EART, is it true that x=y?

If not, then surely the self equates more than the sum of all parts? How about our physical attributes?

Then can we say that x with the same EART as y but with different physical appearance are essentially very different?

Based on my hazy memory the ongoing theme though was the paradox of duality…

There I was mulling about which class to attend next or should I make a detour haha.. and my lecturer suddenly hurls me into this metaphysical abyss?!

I look around me at everyone going about their business and I wonder what’s the point? Oh my … why do we worry about the next bus and what’s for lunch and doing my homework hehe when we couldn’t even answer the fundamental question of our existence… the horizons of my mind has expanded.. and yet I felt a little sad…

Eventually though, pragmatism took precedence and halted this journey of self-enlightenment…if you ever try to turn your back on reality, it will bite you back and there’s no escape!

Recently, I had a moment while savouring the best charred bits of char siew at Guan Chee Roast Duck stall in Hougang… I imagined myself a speck in the solar system with all the mighty stars and planets revolving in their glory… part of the milky way galaxy.. this infinite mass of vacuum that encompasses all life forms…

In the limitless scheme of things.. I am inconsequential… how is char siew part of this universe? How did the majority of my senses be numbed by the finger-licking glistening black bits of pleasure that exploded in my mouth while there are bigger matters of contention…

Illustration of Brain Cells distribution:

Without the answers do we simply dismiss our lives so far as trivial and just sit and ponder?

We may be just beings passing through time but isn’t it so that how we live our lives determine the experience…how do we make the most of this experience?

What a man can be, he must be!

But……… what about my char siew?

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (see below):

Before we can achieve self-actualization and contemplate such lofty questions on the human condition… all our other needs have to be met and mastered…

Based on this, Char Siew would occupy a huge chunk at the bottom of this hierarchy…

Such is my dilemma…