Life is about perception.
Different eyes see different stories from the same board.
From: Kansas City, Missouri, United States
About me: Just sharing randoms thoughts and ideas
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Winning by Losing
A very interesting way of winning, and to me this is the best way. Sometimes it is good to step aside and allow others to bask in the sunshine, although that sunshine is yours. Giving always gives internal satisfaction, so unspoiled by a cause or reason. This way we can truly check if we are whom we proclaim we are. It is always easy to say "I give more than I receive". But it is difficult to step aside when the time comes to allow others take what they need although you need it too.
Monday, November 27, 2006
The Mirror has Two Faces
[picture for illustration purposes only, it is not the author of the blog]
I am looking at myself in the mirror. I am asking myself...what if my life had been different, what if I was born in a different family or a different country...will be I be conditioned by them and fight for different purposes in life or would I still have the same basic character that sustains itself across any culture.
If that basic character is what will sustain and shape me, then why should my religion, citizenship or the color of my skin matter? I should be the same person regardless to where or which family I was born into. I should still enjoy a particular music, perhaps the language differs, my inclination to things should be the same, perhaps in a different make, my spirit to live would be similar, if not the same, however my situation may be. If my basic character is missing, would I not be another being fighting for a cause because of a certain conditioning in upbringing and to things that I am ignorant of. Wouldn't this path be misleading?
The question is then does it matter if I am a Christian, or a Hindu or a Muslim? Doesn't that seem like a membership into a big club called religion? Don't get me wrong...I believe in religions, but much more than that I believe that God exists and that he made us equal, for none of us posses an extra eye, or the nose is located somewhere else, nor the lips are used for something else beyond eating. Look around you, everybody have their eyes, ears, nose, lips, hands, feet, stomach in exactly the same place, nothing is out of place. I am sure if God practised religion, he would have not created us in equal characteristics. Even scientist had found that our DNA in genome sequencing are 99.9 % same. It is just the 0.01% that made the difference that contributes to the rest.
Why then with so much of all this similarities among us, why do we highlight the 0.01% differences? Why do we strive to be different, to stand out in a crowd of people and make everyone else less important? Why do we concentrate on acquiring fortune and fame, fight against our own and not think to leave some for those who truly need them? Aren't we brothers and sisters in a broad sense of the word itself? Do we only know how to destroy each other, despite having so much education, or sense or religion. Haven't we learnt enough to behave? Aren't storms, hurricanes floods or any other natural disasters the nature's way of telling us something...?
Due to our 0.09% indifferences, we have wars. They only help destroy our very own kind, mankind. There remains nothing kind about man anymore. Are we just many faces in a mirror, moved by things so trivial and fight for something that should not be there in the first place. Can we look at ourselves in the mirror, strip ourselves of our wordly positions, the status we are in and see beyond that? What do you think we see? Do you see just what you want or see the real you just staring back? Is the mirror you are seeing showing you something so untrue?
I am looking at myself in the mirror. I am asking myself...what if my life had been different, what if I was born in a different family or a different country...will be I be conditioned by them and fight for different purposes in life or would I still have the same basic character that sustains itself across any culture.
If that basic character is what will sustain and shape me, then why should my religion, citizenship or the color of my skin matter? I should be the same person regardless to where or which family I was born into. I should still enjoy a particular music, perhaps the language differs, my inclination to things should be the same, perhaps in a different make, my spirit to live would be similar, if not the same, however my situation may be. If my basic character is missing, would I not be another being fighting for a cause because of a certain conditioning in upbringing and to things that I am ignorant of. Wouldn't this path be misleading?
The question is then does it matter if I am a Christian, or a Hindu or a Muslim? Doesn't that seem like a membership into a big club called religion? Don't get me wrong...I believe in religions, but much more than that I believe that God exists and that he made us equal, for none of us posses an extra eye, or the nose is located somewhere else, nor the lips are used for something else beyond eating. Look around you, everybody have their eyes, ears, nose, lips, hands, feet, stomach in exactly the same place, nothing is out of place. I am sure if God practised religion, he would have not created us in equal characteristics. Even scientist had found that our DNA in genome sequencing are 99.9 % same. It is just the 0.01% that made the difference that contributes to the rest.
Why then with so much of all this similarities among us, why do we highlight the 0.01% differences? Why do we strive to be different, to stand out in a crowd of people and make everyone else less important? Why do we concentrate on acquiring fortune and fame, fight against our own and not think to leave some for those who truly need them? Aren't we brothers and sisters in a broad sense of the word itself? Do we only know how to destroy each other, despite having so much education, or sense or religion. Haven't we learnt enough to behave? Aren't storms, hurricanes floods or any other natural disasters the nature's way of telling us something...?
Due to our 0.09% indifferences, we have wars. They only help destroy our very own kind, mankind. There remains nothing kind about man anymore. Are we just many faces in a mirror, moved by things so trivial and fight for something that should not be there in the first place. Can we look at ourselves in the mirror, strip ourselves of our wordly positions, the status we are in and see beyond that? What do you think we see? Do you see just what you want or see the real you just staring back? Is the mirror you are seeing showing you something so untrue?
Labels: thoughts
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Slippery Slope
Doing a difficult task is possible. Understanding and accepting the challenge is easy. But what happens if the task to do it is on a slippery slope? Each climb does not necessarily bring you higher, instead it can bring you lower than where you started. You climb and climb, and yet you slip, sometimes little and sometimes too much. This makes the climb hard.
This is how my graduate education had been for me. On my first attempt; I was on a slippery slope. At this point, upon my second attempt, I am succeeding, I am almost done. What made the difference? The slope is still slippery, but what changes the failure to success made? It must be that I must have learnt from my previous failure. What did I learn? I learnt to be graceful at every step I take. I did not crib nor cry, I put my effort and tried again. I did not give up (I could have), instead I took the challenge and journeyed it again.
I believe we all have some slippery slopes in our lives, for me it is education and for others...it could be something else. I think the best approaches towards these difficult slopes are to try again when you fail. Failure is not to be seen as a negative element, it actually provides feedback to things that require more attention than others. What are your slippery slopes?
This is how my graduate education had been for me. On my first attempt; I was on a slippery slope. At this point, upon my second attempt, I am succeeding, I am almost done. What made the difference? The slope is still slippery, but what changes the failure to success made? It must be that I must have learnt from my previous failure. What did I learn? I learnt to be graceful at every step I take. I did not crib nor cry, I put my effort and tried again. I did not give up (I could have), instead I took the challenge and journeyed it again.
I believe we all have some slippery slopes in our lives, for me it is education and for others...it could be something else. I think the best approaches towards these difficult slopes are to try again when you fail. Failure is not to be seen as a negative element, it actually provides feedback to things that require more attention than others. What are your slippery slopes?
Labels: thoughts
Monday, November 13, 2006
Seeking Grace at Every Step
I want to be free. I want to live unperturbed by conditions set by mankind. I want to embrace joy and sadness in equal valor, giving neither prominence nor neglect to either one. I want to seek grace by accepting any and every emotion offered to me on a palate by life. I want to seek grace in every step, hoping that after each walk I open gates of understanding.
Understanding leads me to the freedom I seek. I started with getting to know myself. What do you seek?
Understanding leads me to the freedom I seek. I started with getting to know myself. What do you seek?
Labels: ponderings