Armageddon, End of the world

End of the world is around the corner, many people say so.
Quite a number of people are scared to death; and they are scared of death.

I'm reminded of 2 ancient sayings of how we've looked at death:

轻如鸿毛，重如泰山。

[Qing ru hong mao, zhong ru Tai shan.]

Light-as-(swan goose)-feather, weighty-as-Tai-mountain.

十八年后又是一条好汉！

[Shi ba nian hou you shi yi tiao hao han.]
One-eight-years-later-again-is-a-piece-good-hero!

(18 years later I'm gonna be a solid person again!)

"Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather."
People all die for different reasons. Some reasons are noble; some are pathetic, some are non-existing...

Do the right things right. Not the right things? - Don't do. And admit our mistakes in the past and vow never to repeat them again. Keep doing good stuffs for the living beings to redeem our past mistakes... And to score even better!

Life and death; must be dealt with open minds; and that our lives will shine with great rainbows...

Grab this very moment. Live to the fullest now.

If we were to part this mortal world for now (hopefully because of doing the right things); we will be reincarnated into new born babies. And that 18 years later, we would be 18 years old and become strong adult, ready to serve the world again. (That is, if you believe in the idea of reborn-reincarnation.)

End of the world? Don't worry, everything will be just fine.

Ho ho ho~~

PS:
+) 《漢書》 司馬遷 報任少卿書：「人固有一死，或重于泰山，或輕于鴻毛。用之所趨異也。」 by the ancient Chinese writer SZUMA Chien / SIMA Qian.
+) "Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather." -- http://www.dictall.com/



+) 用之所趨異也。Yong zhi suo qu yi ye. -- It all depends upon the reasons he or she dies for.

Spirit, Energy and Material worlds; Messages behind the movie Avatar

Watching the movie Avatar is an eye opener. The colors of flora and fauna are splendid and scenes of nature and jungles breathtaking. While the eye candies are delights to watch, the messages behind the film are more appealing to some, and to me too.

Let's look at the following scripts:

1: “I'm trying to understand this deep connection the people have to the forest. She (Neytiri, Na'vi native) talks about a network of energy that flows through all living things. She says all energy is only borrowed, and one day you have to give it back.”

In ancient and traditional world of living, jungles and rivers have always been the source of shelters, food, water, clothes. Any many ancient writings of scholars talked about how lives come and go around like an exchange of energy, albeit in different linguistic presentations. Many of us look at living and dying with such extreme joy and fear respectively, to the extend of horrible turbulence of emotional disturbance. If we see things through to their very real existence, all material things wear off, there are lifespans to everything. But the energy within lives on, taking different forms as mortal existence.

If we can come to appreciate all things are only borrowed, i.e., including our bodies, will we see life a little differently then?



2: “I see you... ...brother … and thank you. You spirit goes with Eywa (the spirit of the universe?). Your body stays behind... …to become part of the people.”

Jake said to the deer-like animal when taking her life. Neytiri watched to see if he had understood the meaning of life.

If you “have to” kill a living being, kill her quick. Kill her with the least pain involved. Offer your apology, give your reasons, ask for forgiveness, show your appreciation and share the benefits with mankind...

That is, if you “have to”...

The Na'vi people kill for 'good enough' and for the very basic need of everyday life. There is never greed or luxury in the motive. It's always about sustainability of the material bodies and balancing energy flow.

Look around us these days, the ideas of “simplicity”, and “good enough” are hardly found in the commercial world, where people are made into consumers of all sorts of things. We're being brainwashed into believing we need so many different kind of things in order to live a quality life.

I wonder if 'quality life' only means 'materialistic life' but not 'meaningful life'...

And how many people say “Thank you” to the unwilling sacrifice of animals? We take animal family members apart and we kill them for their flesh brutally and we make them into unrecognizable canned food and try to deceive people and we waste them by only finishing less than half of whatever we put into our stomachs.



It's obvious that's no appreciation and gratefulness... There isn't even awareness!

It's sad. It's a sad sad situation.

Human beings, please wake up to the reality, sooner or later you have to face the truth.

Let's make it sooner.

Me and my past

Me and my past

What's left behind? All these photos?

I was so young and beautiful... Not anymore... old and ugly now...

Am I happy now? Did I make mistakes? Big? small?

Any regrets?

Have I fulfilled my own destiny? Or is there any destiny? At all?

The house's dying. This place is dying... and I'm dying, too...

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Oh... John... my husband... He was so sweet. He was a good man. At least he tried to be. And good men die early... How cruel he left me alone... for all these years?

My children... They lead their own lives. Are they going to be alright? Without me? Or better without me? I'm now a burden to them. It's better if I just vanish from their lives...

My sisters... I'm sorry for what I've done... I shouldn't have... Will they pardon me? Set me free? And set themselves free from rage of hatred?

My father... I'm sorry I ran away from home. I made mistakes. Had you pardoned me before you left this world? All these years...

Mom... I'm sorry about the tortures you had to suffer all these years. It's my fault.

I'm sorry...

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How am I going to be remembered? Will they remember me, at all? Or is it of any importance?

Will I ever meet John again? Where is he now? Heaven? Or hell? Where? Will I recognize him in next life? Is there next life? Reincarnation?

Is this what I have now? Memories of bitters and sweets? Questions unanswered?

What significant is my life? Or is it any important?

What now?...







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The house's dying. This place is dying... and I'm dying, too...








PS:
1) The story is about a lady; a lady in you and me.
2) Illustration taken from Gurbuz Dogan Eksioglu. Info of artist by Miki. Thank you, Miki!

Rain is here

Rain is here.

Hi my friends and family, how are you all? Things may not always go the way we want but there are always hope and faith that hold us hanging around. I wish you all doing well.

One of those important things that help us to be more responsible and lead a more meaningful life is the born of new birth. I'm happy, excited, scared and unsure to have become the father of Rain LEW(刘) Xinyu(歆雨). She was born on Sept 26, 2009. I thank God and the force of the universe and all the beings for her willingness to come to this sinful family, especially since I've sinned so much to have deserved her.

When I was at the National Registration Department to register the birth of Rain, I came across this poster board on a wall, facing public sitting and waiting for registration of both birth and death. It goes:


“Tahniah kerana menerima cahaya mata. Takziah atas kehilangan orang tersayang” which goes into:
“Congratulations because receiving light [of] eyes. Condolences upon loss [of] people beloved [the most]. ” which is pretty self-explanatory.

I was a little taken by surprise; that people waiting for registrations of both birth and death are together in a big hall, sitting side by side. Many parents brought along the newborn babies with them for registration of birth. And there were other people who seemed sad and indifferent/cold about the surroundings. I assume they were there for death registration.

On second thought, I said “why not?” Living and dying have always been in pair. All things material have life span. We come and we go when the time is ripe and right.

There is a saying:
“生亦何欢，死亦何惧，千年万年，白驹过隙。”
“Sheng Yi He Huan, Si Yi He Ju, Qian Nian Wan Nian, Bai Ju Guo Xi.” which translates into:
“Birth yet why joyful, death yet why fearful, thousand years ten-thousand years, white speedy-horse through small-gap.”

Why being happy and joyful having new birth or being alive? Why being fearful and sad when approaching dead? Tens of thousands of years may be a long time, but it's a blink of an eye like the speedy white horse passing through a narrow gap.

We may be philosophical and indifferent about birth and death, however, as mortal beings, we for sure cherish life/birth more than death. In a way it's similar to the way how different we treat our children versus elderly. It's all so wrong to treat our children and grandchildren like jewels but our parents and grandparents like dirt. For the jewels were from the dirt soil too, at one time.

Therefore the right attitude would be to treat our mothers, fathers, grandparents the way we treat our little princes and princesses. Coming life and approaching death are natural phenomenon. Why favour one another?

If you manage to finish up to here, I thank you for your perseverance and apologize if you find the piece uneventful. This is a little something that came to me at these moments; may or may not be worthwhile. And I haven't had much time to organise things better.


In my life of remaining days I wish to become a good father, a good coach, and a good friend of Rain. But right before that, I myself have to be a good example, to be a good son, a good companion, and a good friend to my mother, Madam Hoo Sew Pong . My die-hard wishful will.

Rain, welcome to the sad and chaotic world. Let's all make it a worthwhile journey.


Regards,

John LEW