Wisdom I Pondered This Week

• “There are no accidents. There is only some purpose that we haven’t yet understood.” — Deepak Chopra
• “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” — Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden
• “The death of a dream is the day that you stop believing in the work it takes to get there.” — Chris Burkmenn
• “The urge to transcend self-conscious selfhood is a principal appetite of the soul.” — Aldous Huxley
• “Watch carefully the magic that occurs when you give a person enough comfort to just be themselves.” — Atticus Poetry, Love Her Wild

Things I Learned This Week

• 奧德修斯（Odysseus） 是古希臘傳說中的英雄、伊薩卡（Ithaca）國王，以機智、勇敢與堅毅著稱。他是史詩 《奧德賽》（The Odyssey） 的主角，詩中描寫他在特洛伊戰爭（Trojan War）結束後，歷經十年艱辛歸鄉的旅程。過程中，他面對神祇的干預、怪物的挑戰與人性的考驗，展現了人類在命運、智慧與毅力之間的掙扎與光輝。此後，「Odyssey」一詞也被引申為「漫長而充滿冒險與轉變的旅程」，象徵對生命歷程的探索與成長。
• Pastiche (「模仿作品」或「拼湊的藝術作品」) refers to something (such as a piece of writing, painting, music, etc.) that imitates the style of someone or something else. It can also refer to a work that is made up of selections from multiple other works, or it can be used as a synonym of hodgepodge.
• Retrocausality (逆因果關係) is the idea that future events can influence the past. In other words, cause and effect might not always move in a single forward direction—from past to future—but could sometimes run backward in time. In physics, retrocausality appears in discussions of quantum mechanics. In philosophy, retrocausality challenges our understanding of time, determinism, and free will.
• Omakase (お任せ), meaning “I’ll leave it up to you,” is a Japanese dining style where the diner entrusts the chef to decide each dish based on the freshest seasonal ingredients (= 無菜單料理 = 廚師發辦 = 主廚嚴選/推薦).
• A prenuptial agreement (婚前協議書), often simply called a “prenup,” is a legally binding contract signed by a couple before they get married. This agreement outlines how their assets, debts, and financial matters will be handled during the marriage and in the event of divorce or death. Research shows that people with prenuptial agreements tend to stay married longer and report more satisfying relationships than those who don’t.