About

I am a writer who philosophizes, a philosopher who learned to write through researching, translating, studying, and thinking. Creativity feeds on itself and its environment. The Universe, I feel, is a gathering of a higher order in which “floating” parts of ourselves meet “floating” parts of others. With the passing of time, we take stock of our life, looking back at early signs of a passion underneath. I remember getting an illustrated book about Copernicus at my local library and being fascinated by a French translation of the Daodejing/Laozi 老子. Every week, I went to Rue Saint-Andre-des-Arts in Paris for an hour of Chinese class with my teacher Ysia Chen. Later on, I resolved to dig into the world of Buddhist scriptures*.

Twelve years ago, I began writing a French blog that took me on a path I did not expect: a multidisciplinary study of the relationship between the Universe and Consciousness. This present blog in English is a notepad in which I write down thoughts and observations, a process that needs a lot of unwinding and rewinding to move forward. All the while, I have held onto an invisible thread that brings me to where I stand today.

Following the winding road I choose, each post adds a brick to the house of everything, a window to its exterior walls. This blog is meant as a dialogue through time and space with kindred spirits. I intend to limit the number of posts to one a month or even every other month as I realize I need time to better synthesize my thoughts. To the best of my ability, I will continue to strike the right balance between science, philosophy, and poetry. Poets feel with their intuitional minds. By feeling, they engage in a conversation with the Universe.

I am trying out Patreon. If you would like to support my work as an artist and a writer, please follow the link here.

Catherine Toulsaly

December 2022

*Published translations:

Gao Yang, Le Dévouement du Marchand. Paris: You Feng, 2008

Huineng, Le Sûtra de la plate-forme. Paris: You Feng, 1992

Zhang Chengzhi, Les rivières du Nord. Beijing: Collection Panda, 1992

Zong Pu, “Haricots rouges” and “Le sacrifice du cœur”. Littérature chinoise, vol.3, 1992.

Liang Xiaosheng, “Père” in Une terre fabuleuse. Beijing: Collection Panda, 1991. Pp. 57-111.

Zong Pu, “Haricots rouges” and “Le sacrifice du coeur”. Littérature chinoise, Vol. 3, 1992.

Su Ye, “Impérissables souvenirs du sud du Yangtsé”, “Un clair de lune sur le torrent Suo”, and “Ma chanson courte sur le banc de sable”. Littérature chinoise, Vol. 2, 1991.