31 December 2013
Of all the characters in a book, which one is the best? Is there one who is the wisest, strongest, smartest and most compassionate? Are these ideals we should endeavour towards? Let us suppose that these ideals are indeed worthy of adopting. (That is why they are called ideals in the first place.) Then behold the ideal person: a person who is mature in spirit, body, mind, and heart. How should he act when he gazes upon the other less-than-perfect characters around him?
To simply do nothing but watch their self-destructive behavior is too much for his compassionate heart to bear. Surely he must attempt to guide them to the correct path. He cannot, in good conscience, just be a bystander. He will help them improve.
Yet, who is it that decided that he is better than the others, apart from he himself? He alone has passed judgement on what the world should be like and how people should behave. He alone has said that he has superior moral fibre. He alone has decreed that others should be like him to be happy.
To him, the hothead is is unnecessarily impulsive and overly assertive. He has too much rage within and stirs up conflict. Anger is never good. Those that are in the depths of depression also lack control over their emotions, and are unable to see the positive in any situation. Pessimism causes them to drown in their own sorrows, and cripples them. The party animal is materialistic and superficial. The wild wasteful lifestyle they lead is neither productive nor meaningful.
He wants them to change for the better. He wants them to be more like him.
But whoever said that he was better? He is nothing but a proud fool if he believes his own way to be the right way to live.
There is no better.
Every character has their own role in the story. Every actor has their own place on stage. Each one is just as valid as the other.
Do you think that it is compassion that spurs the wise one to lead the others out of their self-destructive cycle? Instead, it is only his own disdain for the waywardness of their lifestyles. It is his abhorrence of the decadence and debauchery in which the basal creatures indulge in. He who changes others in order to make the world a "better" place, is merely a dictator imposing his will on others.
Unless you wish to be a dictator, you should never attempt to change another person.
30 December 2013
“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”
― Henry David Thoreau
I
chanced upon this quote while browsing some articles online. I went to
look for more information on the man because the truth of his quote was
so elegantly provoking.
Turns out the guy is a genius.
His philosophy is very well-thought out and he actively lived what he
preached. Reading several more quotes by him has convinced me that I
should read some of his writings and works. I wonder why I never heard
about him before.
He seems to be every thing I wish to be. The quintessential role model.
My
writings on this blog are a product of my vanity. The thoughts that
arise from my limited experiences are crippled shadows of the real
truth. Why should any of my reflections be worth sharing? The day I
stand up to live will be the day I refuse to be chained down to my seat -
the day that I realise that my writings are just empty hollow words
when compared to the fullness of being.
"I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better."
― Michel de Montaigne
29 December 2013
“Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is
a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and
excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually
considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only
understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of
success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the
time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A
person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is
considered not to be living up to his potential — as if a job title and
salary are the sole measure of human worth.
You’ll be
told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and
never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you’re
doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee
you’ll hear about them.
To invent your own life’s meaning is not easy, but it’s still allowed, and I think you’ll be happier for the trouble.”
―
Bill Watterson
As
I read the web-comic, I felt that the words expressed resonated
strongly with how I live. Sometimes it is hard to explain to people why I
choose to do things a certain way. When I told my parents that I was
providing tuition for $10 an hour, they made a huge hullabaloo about how
I was undercharging and being silly. For me, it was never about earning
huge bucks. I teach because I want to. The money is nominal.
When
I tell friends and acquaintances that my settle as a tutor for my
future career, a common reaction I get is that tutors make big bucks. I
hear examples of how so-and-so worked as a tutor during his JC days and
was earning 10k a month. I am told how lucrative opening a tuition
center will be. I am advised on how to network and advertise myself to
become famous like so-and-so physics tutor, so that students will bid
for my tuition slots.
At my friend's end of year party a few days ago, I was asked: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
To
answer honestly, I do not know for sure, but I do have a rough idea.
Probably tutoring small groups Mathematics and/or Physics for some
nominal fee on weekdays. For the weekends, I would probably be part-time
coaching the kids gymnastics. In my free time, probably still going for
gymnastics training at night. Judo too, maybe. I would be living with
my parents. Would I have a girlfriend? Who knows. Not sure how receptive
girls are to such a lifestyle. No use speculating about the
unpredictable future.
Enjoy the moment.
16 December 2013
Last week I overworked my back while doing a bridge over to escape a pin during judo. Back is almost fully recovered from the strain now.
Anyway, I hurt my shoulder during judo today. I was thrown onto the new mats and landed shoulder first. Hurts to reach across my body now. Hurts to shrug too. I wonder if I will be well enough to do gymnastics tomorrow. I wonder if I should go visit a Chinese physician tomorrow. Wonder if I will wake up with it feeling like hell tomorrow.
Should I hope for the best? Whether I hope or not does not change the fact that tomorrow will bring whatever it brings. So I guess there goes the "hoping for the best" option.
I will just apply some cream and then go to sleep.
I will decide what to do tomorrow.
10 December 2013
A disciple once complained:“You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us.”
Said the Master:“How would you like it if someone offered you fruit and masticated it before giving it to you?”
Lessons in life are not taught by instruction, but learnt through experience. Live life with an open mind and open heart, and life will be simple. The mind will master the body with reason, and the heart will guide the mind with love.
Thinking about this, perhaps I have let my mind have too much control, and kept my heart too closed. Have I? On second thoughts, maybe not. Perhaps to some people it may seem as such. It is likely that my innate dislike for trivialities make me less prone to small talk and thus seem cold. I always do the things I love to do with my heart's passion.
Maybe the practical side of me only gives the love where and when it is needed. Apparently it is not needed a lot. Or at all, to be honest. The existentialist in me believes that I am a dispensable part of the universe, and it would not make a difference whether I was around or not in the long run.
I guess, then, I am living selfishly, for myself.
08 December 2013
The time now is 2 a.m. at night, and I should be sleeping. Instead, I kept tossing and turning in bed and could not lie still. So here I am, finally blogging about a topic that has been on my mind for several weeks.
I don't know for sure if this is true for others as well, but I believe so. In any case, I'd just be talking about myself, so here goes. I feel as if I take on a particular roles to suit specific situations. When I am at work, I am the teacher, setting the bar for the kids on how to behave and how to train. I am a figure of authority, and exemplar. It is my professional role.
When I am training at the gym, I take on the role of the student, being focused and training hard. Yet it goes deeper than that. In every skill I execute, I always want to be better, stronger, sharper. Socially, I am also less guarded. I do not mind what the others think of me, and sometimes I play pranks on the others or jump around foolishly. Perhaps I should not have said that my role was one of a student. That would be too generic. My role would be better described as a free spirit during training.
When I am training on my own, I become something of an ascetic. I push myself hard to become better than yesterday. I set my own standards work best alone. I also despise seeking validation from others. The time spent showing off or consulting others is put to better use by training instead.
In school, I sometimes swing from being a joker to being a reclusive hermit. I guess I had a hard time deciding which one I should be, but it seems like right now I am leaning towards the reclusive side. Actually leaning would probably be too mild a word. I am practically 99 miles away from the being sociable at all. I hardly talk to my school mates anymore, now that the holidays have commenced.
These roles are strange. Why do we pick them up and act as such?
The strangest part yet, is that I feel as if I could simply quit my role as a hermit and go all out as a party-animal. I could go from peaceful citizen to rioter. I could behave as a madman. I could break out of character and check up on all my friends instead of the other way around. I could make it a point to meet up regularly, if I wanted to.
I see my friends, taking the role of a guide, helping other people along the way. Sometimes I see kids, taking the role of a bitchy woman, showing an attitude with lots of spunk. I see girls taking the role of a damsel waiting to be saved. I see boys taking the roles of cool dudes, going to the club and flashing their supreme suaveness. I see others still being exhibitionists, proudly displaying every single thing that happens in their life. Some being the kind who needs everything to be done their way, the dictator. Some who are insecure in their own skin and need affirmation from others.
So many roles, and we all chose to be whichever role we are. How did we end up choosing what we did? We enter a social situation and nicely slot ourselves into a role and act our part. Somehow, I feel that exchanging roles would be a simple thing. Prisoners and guards, guards and prisoners. Are they so different? I am sure each could play the other's role equally well.
Is that who we are? Actors on a stage, playing out different personae. Once we are given our script, we tend to stick with it, even when we can throw it away.
Older Post | Newer Post
31 December 2013
Of all the characters in a book, which one is the best? Is there one who is the wisest, strongest, smartest and most compassionate? Are these ideals we should endeavour towards? Let us suppose that these ideals are indeed worthy of adopting. (That is why they are called ideals in the first place.) Then behold the ideal person: a person who is mature in spirit, body, mind, and heart. How should he act when he gazes upon the other less-than-perfect characters around him?
To simply do nothing but watch their self-destructive behavior is too much for his compassionate heart to bear. Surely he must attempt to guide them to the correct path. He cannot, in good conscience, just be a bystander. He will help them improve.
Yet, who is it that decided that he is better than the others, apart from he himself? He alone has passed judgement on what the world should be like and how people should behave. He alone has said that he has superior moral fibre. He alone has decreed that others should be like him to be happy.
To him, the hothead is is unnecessarily impulsive and overly assertive. He has too much rage within and stirs up conflict. Anger is never good. Those that are in the depths of depression also lack control over their emotions, and are unable to see the positive in any situation. Pessimism causes them to drown in their own sorrows, and cripples them. The party animal is materialistic and superficial. The wild wasteful lifestyle they lead is neither productive nor meaningful.
He wants them to change for the better. He wants them to be more like him.
But whoever said that he was better? He is nothing but a proud fool if he believes his own way to be the right way to live.
There is no better.
Every character has their own role in the story. Every actor has their own place on stage. Each one is just as valid as the other.
Do you think that it is compassion that spurs the wise one to lead the others out of their self-destructive cycle? Instead, it is only his own disdain for the waywardness of their lifestyles. It is his abhorrence of the decadence and debauchery in which the basal creatures indulge in. He who changes others in order to make the world a "better" place, is merely a dictator imposing his will on others.
Unless you wish to be a dictator, you should never attempt to change another person.
30 December 2013
“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”
― Henry David Thoreau
I
chanced upon this quote while browsing some articles online. I went to
look for more information on the man because the truth of his quote was
so elegantly provoking.
Turns out the guy is a genius.
His philosophy is very well-thought out and he actively lived what he
preached. Reading several more quotes by him has convinced me that I
should read some of his writings and works. I wonder why I never heard
about him before.
He seems to be every thing I wish to be. The quintessential role model.
My
writings on this blog are a product of my vanity. The thoughts that
arise from my limited experiences are crippled shadows of the real
truth. Why should any of my reflections be worth sharing? The day I
stand up to live will be the day I refuse to be chained down to my seat -
the day that I realise that my writings are just empty hollow words
when compared to the fullness of being.
"I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better."
― Michel de Montaigne
29 December 2013
“Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is
a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and
excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually
considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only
understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of
success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the
time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A
person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is
considered not to be living up to his potential — as if a job title and
salary are the sole measure of human worth.
You’ll be
told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and
never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you’re
doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee
you’ll hear about them.
To invent your own life’s meaning is not easy, but it’s still allowed, and I think you’ll be happier for the trouble.”
―
Bill Watterson
As
I read the web-comic, I felt that the words expressed resonated
strongly with how I live. Sometimes it is hard to explain to people why I
choose to do things a certain way. When I told my parents that I was
providing tuition for $10 an hour, they made a huge hullabaloo about how
I was undercharging and being silly. For me, it was never about earning
huge bucks. I teach because I want to. The money is nominal.
When
I tell friends and acquaintances that my settle as a tutor for my
future career, a common reaction I get is that tutors make big bucks. I
hear examples of how so-and-so worked as a tutor during his JC days and
was earning 10k a month. I am told how lucrative opening a tuition
center will be. I am advised on how to network and advertise myself to
become famous like so-and-so physics tutor, so that students will bid
for my tuition slots.
At my friend's end of year party a few days ago, I was asked: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
To
answer honestly, I do not know for sure, but I do have a rough idea.
Probably tutoring small groups Mathematics and/or Physics for some
nominal fee on weekdays. For the weekends, I would probably be part-time
coaching the kids gymnastics. In my free time, probably still going for
gymnastics training at night. Judo too, maybe. I would be living with
my parents. Would I have a girlfriend? Who knows. Not sure how receptive
girls are to such a lifestyle. No use speculating about the
unpredictable future.
Enjoy the moment.
16 December 2013
Last week I overworked my back while doing a bridge over to escape a pin during judo. Back is almost fully recovered from the strain now.
Anyway, I hurt my shoulder during judo today. I was thrown onto the new mats and landed shoulder first. Hurts to reach across my body now. Hurts to shrug too. I wonder if I will be well enough to do gymnastics tomorrow. I wonder if I should go visit a Chinese physician tomorrow. Wonder if I will wake up with it feeling like hell tomorrow.
Should I hope for the best? Whether I hope or not does not change the fact that tomorrow will bring whatever it brings. So I guess there goes the "hoping for the best" option.
I will just apply some cream and then go to sleep.
I will decide what to do tomorrow.
10 December 2013
A disciple once complained:“You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us.”
Said the Master:“How would you like it if someone offered you fruit and masticated it before giving it to you?”
Lessons in life are not taught by instruction, but learnt through experience. Live life with an open mind and open heart, and life will be simple. The mind will master the body with reason, and the heart will guide the mind with love.
Thinking about this, perhaps I have let my mind have too much control, and kept my heart too closed. Have I? On second thoughts, maybe not. Perhaps to some people it may seem as such. It is likely that my innate dislike for trivialities make me less prone to small talk and thus seem cold. I always do the things I love to do with my heart's passion.
Maybe the practical side of me only gives the love where and when it is needed. Apparently it is not needed a lot. Or at all, to be honest. The existentialist in me believes that I am a dispensable part of the universe, and it would not make a difference whether I was around or not in the long run.
I guess, then, I am living selfishly, for myself.
08 December 2013
The time now is 2 a.m. at night, and I should be sleeping. Instead, I kept tossing and turning in bed and could not lie still. So here I am, finally blogging about a topic that has been on my mind for several weeks.
I don't know for sure if this is true for others as well, but I believe so. In any case, I'd just be talking about myself, so here goes. I feel as if I take on a particular roles to suit specific situations. When I am at work, I am the teacher, setting the bar for the kids on how to behave and how to train. I am a figure of authority, and exemplar. It is my professional role.
When I am training at the gym, I take on the role of the student, being focused and training hard. Yet it goes deeper than that. In every skill I execute, I always want to be better, stronger, sharper. Socially, I am also less guarded. I do not mind what the others think of me, and sometimes I play pranks on the others or jump around foolishly. Perhaps I should not have said that my role was one of a student. That would be too generic. My role would be better described as a free spirit during training.
When I am training on my own, I become something of an ascetic. I push myself hard to become better than yesterday. I set my own standards work best alone. I also despise seeking validation from others. The time spent showing off or consulting others is put to better use by training instead.
In school, I sometimes swing from being a joker to being a reclusive hermit. I guess I had a hard time deciding which one I should be, but it seems like right now I am leaning towards the reclusive side. Actually leaning would probably be too mild a word. I am practically 99 miles away from the being sociable at all. I hardly talk to my school mates anymore, now that the holidays have commenced.
These roles are strange. Why do we pick them up and act as such?
The strangest part yet, is that I feel as if I could simply quit my role as a hermit and go all out as a party-animal. I could go from peaceful citizen to rioter. I could behave as a madman. I could break out of character and check up on all my friends instead of the other way around. I could make it a point to meet up regularly, if I wanted to.
I see my friends, taking the role of a guide, helping other people along the way. Sometimes I see kids, taking the role of a bitchy woman, showing an attitude with lots of spunk. I see girls taking the role of a damsel waiting to be saved. I see boys taking the roles of cool dudes, going to the club and flashing their supreme suaveness. I see others still being exhibitionists, proudly displaying every single thing that happens in their life. Some being the kind who needs everything to be done their way, the dictator. Some who are insecure in their own skin and need affirmation from others.
So many roles, and we all chose to be whichever role we are. How did we end up choosing what we did? We enter a social situation and nicely slot ourselves into a role and act our part. Somehow, I feel that exchanging roles would be a simple thing. Prisoners and guards, guards and prisoners. Are they so different? I am sure each could play the other's role equally well.
Is that who we are? Actors on a stage, playing out different personae. Once we are given our script, we tend to stick with it, even when we can throw it away.
Older Post | Newer Post