Not-Not Life

I just happened across Michael M. Day's translation of Not-Not





" Up to this day, the sole difficulty has been that we have been unable to find any form of cultural artifice to “prove” whether they ultimately live in the fashion of an “animal,” or in that of a “plant.” Our present culture has been incapable of embracing them, this wondrous phenomenon of life. We also have no ready way of saying what manner of thought they ultimately follow, and what they ultimately are thinking. So --- Today we declare: First, they live in a not-not fashion; Second, they are not-not life; Third, they make us feel not-not; Fourth, they make us become not-not; Fifth, we are not-not. Applaud us! --- we believe the sound of today’s applause will be permeated by a great concentration of not-not, followed by a dilution within not-not ….. Today with this sign that is “Not-Not,” and with the great heap of highly obscure semantics still now waiting to be sorted out behind it, we officially declare: starting with the advancement of “Not-Not,” we will vigorously enlarge the cultural field [文化疆域], until there is a profound understanding of the “body of Not-Not life” [非非生命体] and the “body of Not-Not thought” [非非思维体] indicated to us by today’s culture. Until we can see in this (en-)cultured world and (en-)cultured crowd a renewal of full “Not-Not vigor” [非非生机], and everywhere “Not-Not values” [非非价值] abound. "

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