Some thoughts
Music: Nothing in particular
Book: Short stories, Mark Twain
This fellow's short stories are remarkable, comes close to Roald Dahl himself.
First week of holidays' over. Been a relatively passive week, but there are still many weeks more. Dont worry, I am aware of the Procrastination Trap; pleasure and studies are different issues altogether.
I've been through all sorts of trouble but the most expensive one has got to be breaking a $80 flower-holder in a moment of profound carelessness on friday. It's making me go into what I have come to term the "hyper scrimp-and-save mode", hss for short. I think I'll be making numerous references to this scheme on future outings, you might want to take note heheh. Im going to streamline my finances, Im going to get more efficient in obtaining value for my money. Note that this does not necessarily mean spending less; I always pursue a policy of value-for-money, not cutting costs.
My first, calm line of thought was related to religion. After all those internal moaning and stuff I found myself asking why life was so unfair. I mean seriously the incident was one that I could not be blamed for, it was really accidental--why did that accident have to happen to me? It's God's Will was the immediate answer. Maybe those Gods want me to repent on how I spend my money, maybe this is their solution to stop me from spending money unnecessarily.
As I got more rational I found this line of thought totally absurd. When random events such as those (or very extreme events, like the sudden passing away of a sibling) occur we humans, I guess, have this straight tendency to blame it on the metaphysical (luck, God, etc) , create reasons to justify the failure of the metaphysical, or force "reason" out, somewhere, somehow. In most instances the "reason(s)" come from the metaphysical for the simple fact it's metaphysical, it exists as a state of our mind and cannot retaliate or dispute you-- we can force (quite unconsciously, btw) whatever reason to suit our likes. I tried creating reason for that particular occurence by thinking God was trying to teach me a lesson of wasting money so frivolously, I tried justifying everything by thinking God was making me repent, I purposefully found a measure of "peace" by believing this was a good act because from now on Im going to start saving money (in order to make up for that $80).
And it is probably such expedient ways of finding "reason" and "peace" that makes religions so popular. It's just so convenient to think in the way I thought instead of any other way, and to quote from a history teacher who once taught me, "..because it's always easier to believe than not to believe". It's always easier to believe there is some Higher Being up there watching over you than not, it's just so tempting to believe in our own state of minds (which in itself believes it is not a state of mind), to conjure up the metaphysical to deny yourself anything else.
Now before all you passer-bys come "dissing" here and there I want you to note Im not being critical of religion. My history teacher himself was aware of the possible non-existence of God and all things related but he still chose to believe in it because, I assume, it brought him a measure of unwitting self-salvation. If religion makes you happy and all then I'd fully support your retreat into it.
Btw, Im a buddhist myself, but I chose not to believe in it since the day I realised my life is in my own hands. I still indulge moments of weakness by choosing to believe then, but Ive more or less detatched myself from it. It makes me happier this way, and I guess being happy is all that matters whatever your choice.
Well if you want to know, my own personal philosophy is an approximate offshoot of religion. From young, I've always believed humans in the same society are allocated the same amount of "life credits". (Yesyes this might sound funny but it's my own personal childhood thing) This means that if you're well-off in a certain aspect of your life, you're going to be weaker in other aspects of your life as compared to the guy who is less-off in that particular aspect. It is this belief that I hold that makes me feel better when I look at richer, smarter, or more advantageous (in any other way) people. It never fails to give me a measure of peace within self, because I know that no matter what, I have no deficiencies in life even if I am sorely lacking in a certain department.
Conversely, negative credits could only mean I've had "good" credits in excess of that equilibrium point, since we are all supposed to be "equal". Meaning that if such an unfortunate incident as losing $80 for no reason would happen to me, it could only mean Ive been enjoying extra credits somewhere else. And when I started looking for those extra credits I solved that internal moaning. Because I once got $30 from writing in into the sunday times (Im going to write in again, btw) Because I saved a hell lot of money buying books for $3 in previous book sales. Because I know I've got a good family, we watch tv together, we make jokes at those silly channel8 dramas together. Because Ive got genuinely unexpected academic results. Because I've got friends to eat dinner with. Because coffee and books, and some music and the night go so well together. Because there's still 7 weeks of holidays left. Hah, what is the loss of $80 when compared to these? As a matter of fact the $80 just paid for this very refreshing introspection.
As a side note, this personal belief is an approximate offshoot of religion because if it is indeed true, there is only one explanation as to how this uniform, equilibrium level can be determined. I tend to restrict myself only to its applications and not further; see no point speculating.
Mm, let's just enjoy.
Book: Short stories, Mark Twain
This fellow's short stories are remarkable, comes close to Roald Dahl himself.
First week of holidays' over. Been a relatively passive week, but there are still many weeks more. Dont worry, I am aware of the Procrastination Trap; pleasure and studies are different issues altogether.
I've been through all sorts of trouble but the most expensive one has got to be breaking a $80 flower-holder in a moment of profound carelessness on friday. It's making me go into what I have come to term the "hyper scrimp-and-save mode", hss for short. I think I'll be making numerous references to this scheme on future outings, you might want to take note heheh. Im going to streamline my finances, Im going to get more efficient in obtaining value for my money. Note that this does not necessarily mean spending less; I always pursue a policy of value-for-money, not cutting costs.
My first, calm line of thought was related to religion. After all those internal moaning and stuff I found myself asking why life was so unfair. I mean seriously the incident was one that I could not be blamed for, it was really accidental--why did that accident have to happen to me? It's God's Will was the immediate answer. Maybe those Gods want me to repent on how I spend my money, maybe this is their solution to stop me from spending money unnecessarily.
As I got more rational I found this line of thought totally absurd. When random events such as those (or very extreme events, like the sudden passing away of a sibling) occur we humans, I guess, have this straight tendency to blame it on the metaphysical (luck, God, etc) , create reasons to justify the failure of the metaphysical, or force "reason" out, somewhere, somehow. In most instances the "reason(s)" come from the metaphysical for the simple fact it's metaphysical, it exists as a state of our mind and cannot retaliate or dispute you-- we can force (quite unconsciously, btw) whatever reason to suit our likes. I tried creating reason for that particular occurence by thinking God was trying to teach me a lesson of wasting money so frivolously, I tried justifying everything by thinking God was making me repent, I purposefully found a measure of "peace" by believing this was a good act because from now on Im going to start saving money (in order to make up for that $80).
And it is probably such expedient ways of finding "reason" and "peace" that makes religions so popular. It's just so convenient to think in the way I thought instead of any other way, and to quote from a history teacher who once taught me, "..because it's always easier to believe than not to believe". It's always easier to believe there is some Higher Being up there watching over you than not, it's just so tempting to believe in our own state of minds (which in itself believes it is not a state of mind), to conjure up the metaphysical to deny yourself anything else.
Now before all you passer-bys come "dissing" here and there I want you to note Im not being critical of religion. My history teacher himself was aware of the possible non-existence of God and all things related but he still chose to believe in it because, I assume, it brought him a measure of unwitting self-salvation. If religion makes you happy and all then I'd fully support your retreat into it.
Btw, Im a buddhist myself, but I chose not to believe in it since the day I realised my life is in my own hands. I still indulge moments of weakness by choosing to believe then, but Ive more or less detatched myself from it. It makes me happier this way, and I guess being happy is all that matters whatever your choice.
Well if you want to know, my own personal philosophy is an approximate offshoot of religion. From young, I've always believed humans in the same society are allocated the same amount of "life credits". (Yesyes this might sound funny but it's my own personal childhood thing) This means that if you're well-off in a certain aspect of your life, you're going to be weaker in other aspects of your life as compared to the guy who is less-off in that particular aspect. It is this belief that I hold that makes me feel better when I look at richer, smarter, or more advantageous (in any other way) people. It never fails to give me a measure of peace within self, because I know that no matter what, I have no deficiencies in life even if I am sorely lacking in a certain department.
Conversely, negative credits could only mean I've had "good" credits in excess of that equilibrium point, since we are all supposed to be "equal". Meaning that if such an unfortunate incident as losing $80 for no reason would happen to me, it could only mean Ive been enjoying extra credits somewhere else. And when I started looking for those extra credits I solved that internal moaning. Because I once got $30 from writing in into the sunday times (Im going to write in again, btw) Because I saved a hell lot of money buying books for $3 in previous book sales. Because I know I've got a good family, we watch tv together, we make jokes at those silly channel8 dramas together. Because Ive got genuinely unexpected academic results. Because I've got friends to eat dinner with. Because coffee and books, and some music and the night go so well together. Because there's still 7 weeks of holidays left. Hah, what is the loss of $80 when compared to these? As a matter of fact the $80 just paid for this very refreshing introspection.
As a side note, this personal belief is an approximate offshoot of religion because if it is indeed true, there is only one explanation as to how this uniform, equilibrium level can be determined. I tend to restrict myself only to its applications and not further; see no point speculating.
Mm, let's just enjoy.
4 Comments:
Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.
I am 27.
I still read it yearly.
Q
How about it, I believe in the life-credits thing too.
I believe the life-credit thingy too. But in my case, i call it Karma over... credit. If you know me well enough, i sometimes use the terms Heaven Credits, but thats another story.
I would like to hear about the 80 dollars story when i see you soon. but how i look at it, since you brought it up is that, maybe god, whoever he is, wants you to enjoy life in its simplest way, something at which money cant buy. Maybe you have to spent more time at home. Maybe you own that guy money during your past life and you have to re-pay him.
With that, i end. May be calling you tml. see how it goes, i feel like stoning at the V tea room again. but i am selling like hot cakes, my phone is ringing off the hock. cheers mate!
To show a bit of the opposition, i don't believe in the life-credit thing. Yes when i was young i do believe so.
But as time goes by, with things such as project work, truth kills idealism. Though deep in you you wish things will be equal it is an undeniable truth that they are not.
As for the supreme being thing, i quote from a show i watched before. The supreme being that you worship is actually the idealised being/force/person/power in your own heart. For example if you think that being fair is a great thing, then your supreme being would be fair.
Like what Napoleon said, it is impossible to make a hungry man acede to his fate when someone is wasting food unless there is someone to tell him 'god wills it so'.
Aquila
Post a Comment
<< Home