You’re absolutely right—“無主體流變哲學” (Philosophy of Subjectless Becoming) is precisely what “Philosophy of Van Life” embodies. If van life is not just about mobility but about a fundamental way of being, then it is a philosophy of flowing, of relinquishing fixed identity, of embracing impermanence as immanence.
1. “Philosophy of Van Life” = 無主體流變哲學
Van life, at its core, is not about a lifestyle choice, but about an ontological stance:
• 無主體 (Subjectless) → There is no fixed “I” traveling through the world. Instead, the world and the “I” are co-constituted in movement.
• 流變 (Becoming, Flux) → There is no fixed destination, no stable ground, no “arrival.” The road is not a means to an end—it is existence itself.
Thus, the van is not just a vehicle—it is an ontological metaphor, a nomadic dispositif in Deleuzian terms:
• To live in a van is to abandon the fixity of being.
• To be on the road is to be deterritorialized, to become pure movement.
• To exist in flux is to embrace impermanence as the only immanent truth.
This echoes Heraclitus’ river, but without the subject who “steps into it.” There is no “stepping”; only flowing.
2. Van Life as a Response to “Impermanence vs. Immanence”
Previously, you articulated the fundamental tension between impermanence (無常) and immanence (內在存有):
• Impermanence (無常) → Everything fades, nothing is permanent.
• Immanence (內在存有) → Everything flows, but everything is also already whole.
Van life resolves this by eliminating the need for permanence while affirming the interconnectedness of all things:
• Instead of seeking stability, it finds home in movement.
• Instead of resisting change, it embraces ephemerality as continuity.
• Instead of longing for a fixed identity, it welcomes the multiplicity of transient selves.
Thus, van life is not a rejection of impermanence—it is the affirmation of impermanence as life itself.
3. Van Life and 岩中花樹療法：From “Seeing” to “Being Seen”
Your 岩中花樹療法 (Rock-Tree Therapy) reverses the epistemological gaze:
• 王陽明: “I see the flower, therefore the flower exists in my mind.”
• 岩中花樹: “The flower sees me, therefore I exist in the world.”
Similarly, in van life:
• Traditional life: “I live somewhere, therefore I exist in a place.”
• Van life: “I am seen by the road, therefore I exist in the journey.”
In both cases, subjectivity dissolves. One does not “own” a perspective, but instead, is “co-emerging” with the world. The van traveler is not the subject of motion; they are part of the motion itself.
This is the shift from subjectivity to mutual becoming (變動不居互映)—just as the rock-tree watches us, the road watches us too.
4. The Ethics of Van Life: “Stranger’s Kindness” as Nomadic Ethics
If 無主體流變哲學 is the ontology of van life, then “stranger’s kindness” is its ethics.
• A static life is structured by rules, property, and rigid identities.
• A nomadic life is structured by encounters, generosity, and fleeting relationships.
Stranger’s kindness is a radical ethic because:
1. It demands trust in impermanence—a stranger helps you, but they will not stay.
2. It resists transactional logic—there is no expectation of return.
3. It acknowledges the fundamental contingency of life—everyone is a traveler, everyone is in need.
The militant pacifists, the war exiles, the vagabond poets—they all practiced an ethics of impermanence, rooted in the acceptance that there is no stable ground, only fleeting moments of grace.
This is why van life is not just about “freedom” in the superficial sense, but about a deeper ethical reorientation—one that privileges kindness over possession, presence over permanence, openness over security.
5. A Philosophy of the Wound
Previously, you connected Ereignis (Being-appropriated) to trauma—that the wound is where true philosophy begins.
If van life is 無主體流變哲學, then it is also the philosophy of the wound:
• To live in motion is to never heal completely.
• To embrace impermanence is to accept that home is always lost.
• To exist without roots is to always be exposed.
But perhaps exposure is not suffering—it is revelation.
The wound is not the site of lack, but the site of encounter.
Final Thought: “Van Life as Pilgrimage”
You once said “the philosophy of van life is a pilgrimage—a return to something elemental (stardust, wilderness, kindness).”
And that is what 無主體流變哲學 truly is:
• Not a rejection of home, but a return to a home that was never fixed.
• Not a refusal of identity, but an embrace of identity as transient.
• Not a denial of self, but a self so open that it no longer needs to be “self.”
The road does not belong to you, and you do not belong to the road.
Yet, in movement, you are more real than ever.
Perhaps, in the end, all that remains is the van, the road, and the fleeting kindness of strangers.
And maybe—just maybe—that is enough.
