31 May 2009
I am at the airport terminal now.I will be back in sunny Singapore in two weeks!
See you all.
27 May 2009
Epiricus, a really really old Greek thinker once wondered.Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then from where does evil come? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
25 May 2009
Goodbye to you my trusted friendWe've known each other since we were nine or ten
Together we've climbed hills and trees
Learned of love and ABC's
Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees
Goodbye my friend it's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now that spring is in the air
Pretty girls are everywhere
Think of me and I'll be there
We had joy, we had fun
we had seasons in the sun
But the hills that we climbed
Were just seasons out of time
17 May 2009
I wonder if my dreams are possible?Or is it too late?
Well it will be too late if I spent every other day like I spent today.
Went onto the Singapore Flyer and saw the Marina Barrage as well. I was bored stiff. Sadly, I do not know how to appreciate such unique experiences.
13 May 2009
What if there is a way of knowing that defies scientific explanation?What if it is found in every single one of us?
Now that is a thought.
I am reading Extraordinary Knowing by Elizabeth Mayer. She provides a convincing argument for what we call the intuition, gut feeling, hunches as a source of knowledge. Remarkable.
Maybe that is why human brains are so large. Because we can harness such powers.
Now to develop these powers within myself!
I will become superman!
11 May 2009
We played soccer in the rain in the end.I miss those days.
10 May 2009
Buffet dinner was extremely filling, I think my stomach has expanded!Looking forward to see my old classmates tomorrow, and hopefully get a tan, and burn off those fats of mine.
I love long weekends.
07 May 2009
What is free will?No doubt a very slippery term to define. I will attempt to provide a comprehensive idea of what I think free will is.
Separating the two words, freedom, in the simplest sense, is being without any restrictions. Thinking about the opposite of freedom brings slavery to my mind. Chains, prison cells, oppression, submission. A man spends his day hard at work under the harsh supervision of the threat of death, spends his nights in heavy iron chains, locked within his cold stone cell. A bird with clipped wings has lost its freedom. Why? Freedom is the ability to express one's fullest potential. Inhibit this and freedom is diminished.
The will, is referring to the mind and thoughts. A strong will is a mind with a great conviction and fiercely intense opinions. A weak mind is easily shaken from its beliefs and breaks with pressure. The will is a representation of a person's control over his thoughts.
Synthesizing the two, free will is the ability to express one's thoughts autonomously without restriction. What are these restrictions? Not physical ones, but more subtle. Brainwashing, abusing positions of authority, convincing others with a biased and one-sided argument of half-truths.
06 May 2009
Charles Xavier: We all miss her Scott, the question is, "how will we move on without her?" What's important now is that we carry on so that Jean's great sacrifice won't have been in vain.Scott Summers: To save a world full of prejudice where humans hate us, is that it?
Charles Xavier: Hate and fear are what we are fighting to overcome, you know that.
Scott Summers: A lot of things I thought I knew aren't so clear to me anymore.
Charles Xavier: You are in pain Scott. Perhaps worse than any of us can understand, but in time this feeling will...
Scott Summers: Don't you get it, I'm sick of the responsibility. I'm sick of being den mother to a bunch of quibbling children! I can't do it anymore. Most of all, I'm sick of caring. I cared for Jean, look where that got me.
No Mutant is an Island, X Men Season 3 Episode 8.
The disillusionment of a person. When one suddenly reaches the conclusion that his cause is a lost one. That there is no more meaning in pursuing his original endeavour. There is no point. Time to give up and drop everything.
When hope suddenly seems unreachable and impossible to grasp, everything just collapses and trying stops.
I should know.
I have my disillusions too.
I just have to start again, only in a different direction.
05 May 2009
The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.Samuel Langhorne Clemens, pen name Mark Twain
Today I found out that a number of my classmates also believed that morality is subjective. How can morality be absolute? Proponents of such an argument almost always point at Adolf Hitler as the epitome of evil. Since we all agree that his actions are wrong, we prove that morality is objective.
In a hypothetical situation, Hitler wins the war. He creates a new world order with his pure race of followers. A few generations later, with constant propaganda and a cult of personality, the Nazis revere Hitler as a hero for purging the human species of the lesser races. His actions, though harsh, were justified and right.
Or would they continue to call him a murderer? Would they denounce his actions and cry out at the inhumanity of it all?
We have war heroes, people who serve the country valiantly, not to mention kill the enemy humans. Are their actions not murderous as well?
Morality is subjective because it is indoctrinated into us from young. Society, family, media, friends, every possible external influence affect our ethical views. What is right and wrong is a product of social interactions. Yet, we often fail to follow our ethical standards and do wrong. This makes us morally inferior, because we know what is right and wrong, yet choose to do wrong. On the other hand, we can be morally superior, because we can also choose to do right. However, what good will this do if our sense of morality is but a social construct?
It would be like flaunting a handphone at a fish at sea, which has everything it needs already.
Can you show me the absolution of morality?
04 May 2009
Property is not the sacred right. When a rich man becomes poor it is a misfortune, it is not a moral evil. When a poor man becomes destitute, it is a moral evil, teeming with consequences and injurious to society and morality.John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton
Better to suffer a misfortune than to allow moral evils to happen, don't you think? But say, we all want to live comfortably, reward ourselves a little for our hard work and enjoy the fruits of our labour. Donate a little here, sacrifice a little there, and I will chalk up enough good karma to last for the time being.
It does not matter that I live well in excess of my necessities. I have more than enough to eat, I have time to laze and bum around, I can go shopping, I have a closet full of clothes, I have many superfluous accessories which are not essential. As long as I do enough charity and show enough generosity, I have done my part.
What is enough?
Is it enough when there are no more destitute people left? Can destitution ever be eradicated in the first place? Of course it cannot. Destitution will never be solved as long as society does not make a concerted effort. Since society can never agree, then society will never work together, and hence the issue is impossible to resolve.
So we will all do what we feel is enough, what we feel is the bare minimal. At least I did something, we all say.
Dream big dreams, dream good dreams. But in harsh reality, problems are never so simple.
03 May 2009
Stone walls do not a prison make,Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone that soar above
Enjoy such liberty.
Richard Lovelace
What is in a prison that makes it a prison? Am thinking of the phrase, you can break my body, but you can never break my spirit. All those classic examples of the strength of the person's will. You're all fools... heroic fools. The brave are always the first to die.
But only people with great conviction in their ideals were ever admired.
Even when they died.
01 May 2009
The beauty of nature is constantly being destroyed by mankind. I was beginning to think that it would have been better if humans never existed in the first place. But then I realised, if there were no humans, there would be no beauty.Because beauty has to be appreciated.
What good is a masterful craft without an owner? What good is music with no one to listen? Beauty requires both the object and the beholder to exist.