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etymology: a combination of French raison d’être (reason of being) and en route (on the way)

做為生存者（existant）的人，難免思考其存在的理由（raison d’être）。做為旅行者（voyageur）的人，則偶爾思考其上路的理由──尤其如果該趟旅行意不在留學取經、不在出國考察（此時傷腦筋的問題或許是回來後要怎麼瞎掰一份考察報告），而且該趟旅行坐的不是強迫升等的頭等艙、旅費也不是公司或機構法人支付，則在信用卡帳單和枯坐夜店整晚當完壁花之後，存在的疏離感及違和感便像老房子下過雨後，水漬從牆壁面上滲出。

如果「存在的理由」的範式句型為「生存或死亡，這是個問題」（to be or not to be, that is the question），那麼「上路的理由」範式或許是「前進或留下，這是個問題」，抑或「出走或回家，這是個問題」。參見卡夫卡：「離開這裡，這就是我的目標」（Weg-von-hier, das ist mein Ziel）或是阿波林奈爾：「日子過去而我留下」（les jours s’en vont je demeure）。

As an existant (wo)man may think about his/her raison d’être every now and then. As a voyageur about his/her raison d’être en route. Such reflection becomes all the more relevant especially when the trip is not paid by someone else. With a hefty credit card bill, and after a tipsy night at a bar where “nothing really happened to me,” the unbearable aloofness of being begins to show its trace like what the rain does to the walls of an old building.

The pattern sentence of the philosophical inquiry raison d’être is “to be or not to be, that is the question.” For raison d’être en route we may have two following formulations: “To keep going or to stay, that is the question” or “To leave or to come back home, that is the question.” Cf. Kafka: “Out of here, that is my goal” (Weg-von-hier, das ist mein Ziel) or Apollinaire: “The days go by and I stay” (les jours s’en vont je demeure).

lukhnos :: Sep.23.2005 :: :: 2 Comments »