The Book of Thel is one of the prophetic illuminated books written by William Blake, a great British poet, painter and visionary born in the 18th Century. Crafted after The Song of Innocence, this allegorical poem is closely related to the loss of innocence, perhaps also indicating the creation of The Song of Experience in the following years.
This year, 2022, marks the bicentenary of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s death. Over all the two hundred years, countless fine lines of poetry written by Shelley have continously inspired people to rekindle the fire of hope. But of them all, a particular line from Ode to the West Wind may be the most significant one - “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”. This single line of verse is far more than a rhetorical question concerning the change of seasons, instead, it is as the poet states, a divine prophecy given to those people trapped in states of despair and desolation.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, which is now regarded as the first true science-fiction and one of the most influential English novels ever produced, was in fact initially written for a ghost story competition upheld by Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and Mary Godwin on the shores of Lake Geneva.
柏拉图，古希腊哲学家，欧洲第一所高等学府 Academy 的创建者，柏拉图主义的奠基人，对西方哲学与宗教产生了巨大影响。他发明了对话体的写作方式，将哲学的问询紧密地融于日常的对话里，在一次次与其他灵魂的交流、向自己灵魂深探的过程中，柏拉图的思维得以与宇宙万物的理性共鸣：在形而上学领域，他创造性地提出了形式理论（theory of forms）和灵魂不朽论（immortality of the soul）；在认识论领域，他将知识与观点对比，提出知识并不是由五感获取的，而是来自于神圣的视野；他将由自己形而上学和认识论得出的结论延伸到政治和教育，做出了大名鼎鼎的拥立哲学王（philosophy kings）和放逐诗人（banishment of the poets）的决定。在这 2500 年的时间里，这些观点在质疑与探寻中不断发展，为西方文明甚至世界文明不断提供着崭新的观察与理解世界的棱镜。
At first, he thought he was in love with Haskell, for he could program in it every day without ever feeling bored. The complex syntax of mathematical constructions flowed from his fingertips like magic that connects the reality with the unfanthomable ideal world. But not after long, dark currents begin to flow under the seemingly blissful surface, invading his crumbling world of mathematics. Crawling fear of losing his authentic Self floated on the lake of his Heart, mocking at his conformity and self-deception, at the woven tale he persuaded himself to believe in. At the same time, a strong force was pulling him towards a different state of being. This force was not coming from the outer world but always running in his own veins, waiting and brewing, until his own voices can finally be heard. This is a yearning towards Beauty thus Eternity, and ultimately Freedom.
Because of insomnia, I woke up late, energy-drained. Noticing that it was already 7:49, I hurried to school, grasping for breath desperately after my arrival, only to find the blurred vision of everything around me - I forget to bring my glasses! Wondering why our body is so delicate that it needs to be recharged daily to keep one’s mind properly working, I began to prepare for the lessons, ironically not for school lessons, but for lessons of the imagination.