Introduction
Kuo-wei Wang. Poetic Remarks in the Human World1:
From the ancient time to the present day, all those who have been highly successful in great ventures and in the pursuit of learning must of necessity have experienced thee modes of jingjie.
Last night the west wind shrivelled the green-clad trees. Alone I climb the high tower to gaze my fill along the road to the horizon.” This expresses the first stage.
My clothes grow daily more loose, yet care I not. For you am I thus wasting away in sorrow and pain.” This expresses the second stage.
I sought her in the crowd a hundred, a thousand times. Suddenly with a turn of the head, I saw her, that one there where the lamplight was fading.” This expresses the third stage.
1 English translation in (Cheng and Bunnin 2002, 54).
Suddenly with a turn of the head
The Martian is a 2015 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. The film depicts an astronaut’s lone struggle to survive on Mars after being left behind.
Mark Watney, an astronaut and botanist of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is stranded on the red planet. He used science in 12 ways to survive. Back on Earth, Watney started teaching astronaut candidates disaster training. He reflected briefly on what he learned and how he survived.
The screenplay by Drew Goddard, based on the novel by Andy Weir, tells Watney’s opening remarks:
The young, fresh-faced recruits in NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Program are abuzz as Mark enters the room. The students nudge each other – Look, there he is.
MARK Welcome to the Astronaut Candidate Program. Pay attention. This could save your life.
Okay, let’s see if I can get some of your questions out of the way up front. Yes, I did, indeed, survive on a deserted planet by farming in my own shit. It was even more disgusting than it sounds. Let’s never speak of it again.
Question Two: “When you were stranded and alone up there… did you think you were gonna die?”
And it’ll happen to you, too. You should know that going in. It’s space. It’s filled with chance, circumstance, and bad luck. It doesn’t cooperate. At some point, I promise, at some point every single thing is gonna go south on you, and you’ll think: this is it. This is how I end.
And you can either accept that… or you can get to work. That’s all it is. You simply begin. Solve one problem. Then the next one, then the next. You solve enough problems… and you get to come home.
This is also the path of research students.