Slavoj Žižek is one of the great thinkers of our time. I’ve read a few of his books, most notably “Welcome to the Desert of the Real” but hadn’t read much about him recently.

I found a few of his books last week after opening yet another cardboard box; I swear that my apartment creates more boxes as time goes by, for surely I can’t possibly be opening these things, finding more STUFF, months after moving in… can I?

My packing and unpacking skills and propensity for being a pack rat, especially when it comes to books, not-withstanding, I read an article this morning by Žižek that I thought I would post here, in the hopes of exposing more people I know to him:

How China got religion, published in the International Herald Tribune. Yep, the first paragraph recounting the Chinese government’s absurd laws governing reincarnation will undoubtedly make you giggle or shake your head, but keep reading.

This is what I love about Žižek: he’s not a sycophantic liberal apologist, bouncing from philosophical points of contrition to smug “like, duh” assertions. (how’s that for high brow technical wording?) While I don’t always agree with him, I do respect him.

I almost deleted the previous sentence, but I’m deciding to leave it in to help me make another point, this time in the form of a question: why do we, at least us Westerners, tend to assume that we must always be in agreement or be enemies? “While I don’t always agree with..” is such a commonly used disclaimer; who on earth “always agree(s)” with anyone?

Just a thought. Back to rails now, though… I leave for Europe tonight and while I’m excited overall, I find myself in a state of nervous anticipation this morning. Perhaps that has something to do with the message I received from my couchsurfing.com host asking me where I was staying in the middle of the night if I was arriving at 2:30 in the morning on Friday. I’m not arriving in the middle of the night, of course, and I hope that I got that all cleared up with her through my response!! Fingers are crossed.

Wish me luck. More from London. Or Austria. Or.. Czech Republic. Til then, go read some Žižek!!!