The strong strength to endure being ‘alone’.
6 years since "I Like It, Alone".
The author still creates books 'alone', writes, and lectures on philosophy and art.
But the world has changed dramatically. In a world racing at the speed of AI, I feel a sense of loneliness, alone in this change.


"Stop, Alone" is a collection of essays about daily life that observes the flow of the world through the attitude of "stopping" and the aesthetics of "interval."
An appropriate distance, lowering expectations, a sense of existence, the evolution of the world and work, artificial intelligence and humans, money, communal life, the fiction of self-development, an endless game without purpose and goal, the ego and the self, self-power and others, a connection with the times, Spinoza and the individual, loneliness and moderation, the aesthetics of listening, impermanence and inaction, praise for the ordinary, the luxury of time… … The author’s efforts to maintain the ‘philosophy of everyday life’ without going against or compromising with the times are imbued here.


A collection of human, all too human prose for independent beings who love their work but don't want to be swayed by it, who dream of freedom but still feel insecure.

To make a living or to protect one's livelihood.
Of all the times I've lived, this was the time when I was most serious about 'how should I live?'
Even though we were poorer than we are now, our eyes were still bright and rich.
I decided to find value in knowledge and know-how rather than land or goods.
I pursued a lifestyle that was neither employer nor employee.
Right now, someone is definitely having the same concerns.
A sequel, addition, or variation to an existing story.
Creating a 'life balance sheet' of work, money, and happiness is a task that transcends time and generation.

It is an era in which the mental framework for how we live has collapsed.
Viruses force distance, technology controls humanity, and civil war leaders disrupt everyday life.
In this age of loss, all will be vanity.
In this age of chaos, everyone will be in trouble.
Isn't there a proper way?
A refuge stuck somewhere between this side and that side of the world.
How about creating and maintaining your own 'rules' of social distancing and loneliness?
The philosopher Epicurus chose Lathe Biosas, or the 'hidden life', to avoid outsourcing happiness to external sources.
It was a complete break from tradition and kept a distance from reality.

If I have to work anyway, I want to 'observe' the evolution of the world and the landscape of work.
I want to look at work and non-work 'simultaneously'.
I want to carefully examine the 'gap' between the old and new stems.
I want to reduce my workload but expand the scope of the work that remains.

Work is work.
There is no such thing as a 'good' thing.
If you like the people you work with, you'll run out of money, but if you have plenty of money, you'll show your true colors by being abusive (it's true).
Narrowing and widening, tightening and loosening.
Some things are tight, some things are loose.
Work, money, and life must be properly balanced.


Bridging the gap between work and money.
No matter how flashy it may be, I refuse anything that doesn't suit me.
Resolutely! Even if it's shabby, I'll do what suits me without being told to do it.
Willing to work with collaborators who are fresh in their thinking and senses.
Fair! Doesn't sharing the work mean less money? It's more comfortable because no one monopolizes the work or the money.
When money comes in, it's a plus, but to make money, you have to invest in costs (minus).
It may seem like a minus when money is spent, but it is not as expensive as it sounds (a plus).
You can't have both growth and stability.

Did I know at that time?
That I later tried to stop writing and speaking, that I was dissatisfied with reality and tried to look outward, and that I eventually came back again and again.
Of course, what can I do?
After all, for most ordinary readers, reading is not something they do to become great, but to survive.
Fill your life with reading.
Reading erases life.
Reading makes me feel disconnected from the world.
As I read, I question the values ​​that the world takes for granted.
Reading doesn't do what people naturally do.

Those who blindly believe in possibility run toward their goals.
The world cheers their run.
Why? Because I can clearly see where you're running to.
However, 'Torai', whose goals are unclear, is not welcome.
Why? Because it's hard to handle, and you never know where it'll go.
I want to live in Torai.
Remember that possibility means 'it could happen', not 'it is happening'.

Trial and error over rules, nonlinear over linear, experience over statistics.
Every moment must be dealt with and overcome differently.
We must not mistake coincidence for inevitability.
It must move quickly and simply, without any unnecessary frills.
We must believe that the luck given to each person is fair.
We must thoroughly plan and strictly adhere to the small, repetitive tasks of daily life, but we must also accept the big events that come unexpectedly in life with generosity.
Antifragility, the ability to overcome any crisis that comes.
Life's crises must be accepted flexibly.
I will fight despair by dancing.
Antifreeze.
It's a song by 'Black Skirt'.

As a player of the infinite game, I have no goals.
I play appropriately and appropriately toward the 'purpose' of life given to me.
No matter how great it may seem, I don't follow the rules of a game that doesn't suit me.
He leisurely walks out of the game of those who are conscious of power and manipulate others as they please.
Detachment and protest.
No matter how uncertain the world is, at the very last moment, I never lose the determination to say, 'I will never bend on this. I will never bend.'

Where does freedom come from?
From abundant money? No.
It comes from thinking that you are 'free'.
Thoughts are not given from outside.
That's what I think.
Aristotle said that to be a 'just' person, you must do 'just' things, to be a 'temperate' person, you must do 'temperate' things, and to be a 'courageous' person, you must do 'courageous' things.
It depends on how you think.

This is an era where what is not literature becomes literature, what is not music becomes music, what is not art becomes art, what is not design becomes design, and what is not architecture becomes architecture.
Literature about literature, music about music, art about art, design about design, architecture about architecture… … In an era where waves of similarity and difference simultaneously surge, we must neither fly too high nor sink too deeply.
It must fly at an 'appropriate' height and at an 'appropriate' speed.

Some writers will try to leave a mark of their long-time efforts, while others will try to erase those marks and leave their own mark.
Some publishers will try to protect the marks they have worked so hard to establish, while others will try to erase those marks and leave their own.
In places where traces and memories have been erased, stories will bloom with difficulty.
What kind of story can I tell in that erasure?
There's nothing more to say than the obvious: we need to make every effort to maintain a small following of those who empathize with the fun and value that each genre can offer.

Zhuangzi once said that he was afraid of his own shadow and hated his own footprints, so the more he moved his feet to run away from them, the more footprints he left.
The faster you run, the less your shadow leaves your body.
Rest and quiet.
If you rest in the shade, your shadow will disappear.
If you stay still, no footprints will be left.
Emptiness and abandonment.
Empty your mind, let go of all your pride, and find your own inner core.
The solution to the problems of life that lie before me is here.

I hold on tight to the fragile soul that is falling into the underground where the bottom is not known.
Love is a parachute.
Go down as safely and slowly as possible.
He desperately holds on to the rope until he lands on both feet and stands up again.
Love does not seek benefits.
There is no time.
Time makes us lonely.
We must hurry before we lose the will to get ahead of time.
We must not pass over the relationships that have survived in their own ways with a blank expression.

--- From the text