Reflection 122 (truth)

Truth

To understand truth, we have to understand lies
There are several types of lies. Reading from number 1 to 4 you will notice an increase in severity.

1. There are the lies of the little fellow. Already very early in life we tend to learn that lies can save us from a punishment. Thus the little fellow's mind is cheated into believing that it is a wise thing to do. He may not be capable of reasoning enough to see that the parents get upset over mischief and things he is not supposed to do because mischief and things we are not supposed to do, harm us more often than benefit us. So instead of gaining values and getting to be a better person, he learns to cheat and finds an easy way to some harmful short lasting pleasures.

2. There are the lies of the merchant. The lies of the merchant seem again clever to the merchant. Blinded by the short term gains, being unaware that upon being found out (which almost always happens) he will lose the trust of the clients which is so necessary to perform any business. Even if not found out, the lies do not give anyone true peace of mind. The anguish of the possibility to be found out and the mere non-congruence of cheating a fellow human being with a peaceful conscience will prevent true peace of mind.  Material wealth without peace of mind is very difficult to be classified as success even though in the eyes of many people success is measured as material wealth.

3. There are the lies told by parents to their children. As we move on from number 1 to 3 and higher the severity of the lies get worse. Even though as parents we are capable of reasoning and realizing that there are no long term gains in telling lies to anyone, many parents choose the easy way out of any difficult question or situation they face within their family and resort to an easy lie. In the moment they feel proud to have solved the problem in an easy way but losing the trust of a child in the process is huge cost to pay for your perceived clever cheat. If we are lying to loved ones, it may be high time to look back into ourselves and ask ourselves whether we really love our loved ones. We may just be lying to ourselves by calling them still our loved ones.

4. Maybe ranking among the worst of lies, are the lies that we live and undergo without being aware of them. To live the lies of others. Generally these are the lies that are the result from a lack of hunger for the Truth with a big T. These include the lies we swallow from unscrupulous people advertising that smoking is cool and fun, while in reality it is stinking stupid. These include the lies imposed on us by fanatic religious leaders as talibans claiming that it is more religious to have beards than not. The prophets had beards, so it must be a good thing. In the ancient times when prophets lived it was not easy to shave. No electric shavers, no supermarkets selling gilette or any other brand of manual shavers. If these things were available at that time quite a number of them may have preferred to have no beard. I think the beard thing is so easy to see. We have to hunger for Truth. We can not rely on Taliban like fanatics to dictate us what is true for our own value system. Culturally and society imposed norms on how to dress and how to perform rituals are often among the hidden lies that create a distance between us and the true nature of our world and about our God. Whatever is told us, we have to critically consider.
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It is a pleasure to perceive the light
It is a pleasure to stand on the shore and look at the wonderful colours of the sea.
We have our senses and perceiving the beauty of the light, of the birds songs of the cool winds, the smells and taste of nice food are true pleasure.
But we were also given the spiritual light, the light to the mind, the light to the soul, the light of reason and conscience. We have to hunger for the truth with big T. It requires a continuous quest and questioning. It requires to consider for a short while on and off: what if I was wrong. As spiritual people we have to try and understand atheists; atheists alike should try to understand spirituality.  This requires an open mind and full respect for fellow human beings. If we start by looking down on others in our false feeling of superiority, we will never make progress. Humility and hunger for Truth are key.

We do not want to tell lies because if think a thing or two beyond the immediate it is easy to see they never truly benefit us.
We do not want to live the lies of others. For this we need to use our own reason, our own spirit. Our own mind, our own soul to think and feel what is right and what is not. What is true and what is not.

It is a continuous quest that may be different for all of humankind but true values of honesty, kindness, respect,patience, enthusiasm, love, charity, compassion, empathy, and so many more will never elude us if we consistently search for truth. One cannot deny that spirituality exists in our world and it is my sincere belief (which  in the past, I have dared to question and doubt sincerely) that people choosing  a life without spirituality are choosing to miss out on an extremely rich source of peace of mind and happiness.







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Reflection 121 (healing-story)

Healing story

I want to start with a story I read some time ago.

A wealthy merchant invited a Sufi Sheikh and a doctor for dinner
The merchant said to the Sheikh: "Oh Sheikh, I feel sad because my daughter is seriously ill. Can you say some prayers for her?". The Sheikh replied: "My  friend, I will recite the names of God which will cure her." The doctor:"Haha what a nonsense! With the progress of the science of healing, old fashioned people like you are holding back progress."

The Sheikh: "You donkey, what do you know about the power of prayer?"
The doctor became very angry and said: "How dare you call me such names?"
The Sheikh who kept his composure said: "Please forgive me. But if the word donkey can turn your face red, make your heart beat faster and increase your levels of adrenaline, surely then it is not nonsense to believe that the name of our Creator can have a healing effect"

This story is so good, I think. Words can indeed be very powerful.
Definitely prayer can have positive effects on the healing process.
A positive attitude by itself can have a healing effect
Positive belief, positive expectations and perhaps the helping hand of God.

Pray for your health, pray for strength, pray for your loved ones.








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Reflection 120 (Twist)

Twist

I was just finishing reading the fifth chapter of Oliver Twist, the novel by Charles Dickens.
Dickens is a great writer and once you start reading, you are eager to know what happens next making it difficult to put the book down. Anyhow I am reading it online. Did you know that you can read so many great works of old completely free online. Not only all fantastic works of RW Emerson are freely available online, but also books like the one mentioned above.

The reason for this writing is actually to express how much awareness came to my mind that the world is indeed changing extremely fast. I learned from more scientific sources that the picture painted in the first five chapters of Oliver Twist, may be quite accurate in how orphans and children in general were dealt with, less than 200 years ago.

Humanity, loving kindness and caring charity has progressed enormously over the past 2 centuries and still the majority of us staring at the news on TV and think that the world is in a downwards spiral. Nothing is further from the truth.

The world is getting better day by day. Kindness is ever increasing, people get inspired and go on inspiring others in an exponential way. So abstain for one day from news on TV, from newspapers, from news on the internet and enjoy being part of the enormous kindness revolution that has taken deep roots and is ready spout shoot up in the fastest growing tree giving comfort and peace to the whole wide world.










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Reflection 119 (richness)

Richness

Too many people think that richness is solely dependent on gathering lots of money.

To be truly rich, we need as much, or even more, health, wealth of character, mental wealth and soul wealth.

If we gather a lot of money but lack health, how rich are we really
If we gather a lot of money but in the process give up or wealth of character, how rich are we?
If we gather a lot of money without mental wealth, soul wealth, how rich are we?

True riches lies in a combination of these all.
Money is really important and working hard for it is a lofty achievement.
But if we ignore the other essential components chances are that things really get out of balance and we may get a large material wealth with all other components of true wealth being only dwarfed.

Only adequately balanced wealth can bring us peace of mind and happiness. Can you count someone who is lacking peace of mind and happiness as truly possessing riches?

This reflection was inspired by a writing by SydneyNewton Bremer (book: 366 self motivating essays for students and adults)









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Reflection 118 (journey)

Journey

I think it is quite a cliche to call life a journey
but I think the saying is so successful because there is so much value in it.

Our big destinations are often not as great as we imagined all along the way and soon after reaching we need to start the next journey. If I can give the example of medical students, once they finish their studies, as medical student, then only begins housemanship with so much of night work. Then the specialisation, the subspecialisation, then establishing of themselves,... Life seems like a never ending journey and destinations, we look so much forward to, seem to fade in the light of the sacrifices we make.

So if we want a happy life, we cannot postpone the happiness until we finally reach, because we may die before we reach the ultimate destination. We have to make the journey enjoyable.

Studying can be enjoyable. If we just develop enough curiosity, if we just get enough excited about gaining new knowledge it does not have drudgery at all. And so is it with each next leg of our life long journey. It is possible to develop the right mind set to make it truly enjoyable.






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Reflection 117 (meaning)

Meaning

Why is the sea king of all rivers?
Because the sea is at a lower level!


Just two days ago I was writing something on happiness
Happiness is so important in our life
but if there is one thing that is more important, it's meaning

If we live a life full of purpose and meaning, peace of mind will be ours.
Peace of mind is an essential component of happiness and if we have peace of mind
our small sadness will be much less bitter than without peace of mind

Meaning is found is selfless service.
Only if we manage to be truly humble and serve from the heart
we will be to our friends like the sea to the river
in this world and perhaps in the hereafter.
respected and loved by all around us. 

Reflection 116 (doubt)

Doubt

Voltaire wrote:
"Doubt is not a comfortable feeling
but certainty is often madness"

There a plenty of situations indeed where certainty is certainly madness
In these situations we should not hesitate to accept the uncomfortable feeling of doubt.
Doubt makes us keep searching for the truth, keeps us on our toes, keeps us asking questions
Doubt spurs us on to reason it out, to think, to reflect.
The absence of certainty does not mean we reject the uncertain.

Whatever we believe to be true,
it is essential to mental and soul health
to keep open he possibility that we might be wrong.

Voltaire was alluding on certainties regarding religion.
Sects, fanatics and atheists alike claim so often certainty
about things they cannot be certain about.
Would the world not be a better place if all of us
would choose to be fully aware that our beliefs are just that, beliefs.
We choose the beliefs because we think they are closest to the truth.
But the big truth may be more complex than any belief can conceptualise
and even though we believe, our concepts are closer to the big truth than any others,
it may well be that we are wrong about many things.

Many people's egos do not allow this kind of thinking.
Hope they manage to calm their egos and
stop the madness of certainty.




\
Just reminiscing about some wise words of 18th century Voltaire.

Reflection 115 (happiness)

Happiness

Whatever our aim in our life,
Whether it is to be rich as Buffet
Beautiful as Angelina or Pitt
Whether it is professional success
going to that perfect vacation
or setting up that fantastic charity

we always expect that reaching the aim will bring us happiness
Is there any true success without happiness?

Not so long ago, I read a book written by a teacher,
titled, awakening brilliance.
It was a great book
The teacher started some of her lessons
by asking the students to share something about themselves.
One example she gave was the children sharing what truly makes them happy.

After reading the book I really reflected on what made me truly happy and
I managed to come with a small rhyme ( i am not sure it qualifies fully as a poem ):

 
I guess it was my auntie's fault
That before I was six years old
It were my looks that made me happy
She just never stopped praising me

Later when I went to school
I realised I was a bit of a fool
To be so proud about my looks
My happiness shifted towards my books

Oh yes, I studied so hard
Most kids and my teachers thought I was smart
Every time I came home with good grades
Wow, that is fantastic! I was praised

But then came the teenage years
Happiness depended on approval of peers
My marks did not earn me any admiration
My looks had undergone some deterioration

I had grown fat and puberty came late
I got pimples, making it all still less great
I had grown into quite an unpopular kid
Happiness? I seemed to grow far away from it

Throughout my youth however
There was a place, I was let down never
It was my home, it was the presence of mother
She cared for her kids, truly like no other

After puberty, my appearance improved a bit
Even though I am still not too proud of it
My grades allowed me to further my education
But happiness is another equation

I realise now that being fully happy
Is lying not so much outside of me
My biggest asset is still the care I received
Even though my mother has already deceased

She equipped me with a caring personality
and that is exactly what makes me happy
I get peace of mind while caring for another
Thanks to the great example of my loving mother

I have also appreciated my spiritual life
Imparted by mother and also my wife
When to our source, we try to connect
Life comes so close to being perfect

Another source of happiness has been
The magical beauty of nature, I 've seen
I love to spend time on the beach to unwind
That's where wisdom seems to pour in my mind

If I am allowed to summarise,
Since long I came to realise
That happiness is truly lying within after all
In wisdom, in love, in a beautiful soul.


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You can find my other attempts at poetry at
http://www.poemhunter.com/aufie-zophy/
I have written them under under an author name (Aufie Zophy)

Reflection 114 (the moon)

The moon

I want to start this one with a small story.

There was this master, truly enlightened, known to have helped so many people in a major way to achieve great spiritual heights. An eager student went to see him and asked him some explanation about the holy scriptures. The eager student was flabbergasted to learn that the master did not know the scriptures. Then the master took the eager student outside and pointed with his finger to the moon. Can you see the moon? The eager student saw the moon. The master explained that his finger was used to show someone the moon. It is perfectly possible to see the moon without his finger. Similarly words are used to point at the Truth and it is perfectly possible to see the Truth without words.  

I think this is a great story. But the true meaning lies perhaps a bit deeper still. If someone shows us the big moon with his finger, we will sure be looking both at the moon and see the biggest nightly light illuminating the earth in its own magical way. If we search for the big Truth, surely we will find it through the meaning of the most important words.

The problem arises when we start to get super-focused on the small truths. If someone's finger shows you a small star among many other stars, the chance is great that you will look at a different star than the one the finger points at. Similarly if we look for small truths we may see something different than what the words are pointing at.  The stars do not give too much light, they may be merely there to beautify the sky. So is it also with small truths, they do not give to much light, they may be just meant as small ornaments.

Today, many of our scholars in different religions tend to get lost in the small truths, like what we should wear, what rituals we should perform (inclusive of exact timing and postures). They may even be looking at the wrong stars. The smaller the truths, the more likely they look at the wrong stars, making the world instead of bit more beautiful, a bit more ugly.

If just more scholars could get focused on the bigger truths on the real source of light. they could share the light with their followers. If more scholars would focus on the essentials (which are often very similar among different religions), they would become of real benefit to the world and help speed up the kindness revolution which our world needs so much and so urgently.

Any doubts about the biggest truth? Here I give one example from one religion. There is a phrase in the Quran, that is repeated 114 times. It states that our Creator is the most gracious and the most forgiving, which is matching closely the main message that Jesus (Isa) had for us.. How many sermons do we hear focusing on this? Most sermons I attend talk about rituals, punishment, culture, clothes, anger of God, hell, and so many other small, small things. If we all realize and are fully aware most of the time about the goodness of our God, we cannot but become the most grateful human beings. We will try with all our soul to live in the true spirit of God and follow the right path, the golden path of honesty, kindness, humility, sincerity, charity, caring hearts and love in its biggest sense.

Searching for the big Truth, we will find
Searching for the small truths we may get lost in rituals and culture

Sonnet (song of heaven)

The violent waves of the stormy sea break
It is the song of heaven that they sing
Amazing, wonderful music they make
Adorable roars, truly enlight'ning

Heaven is pleased and delights in it all
A heavenly cloud gives the sea a kiss
The horizon, at a distance so small
Embraces the sea, an ocean of bliss

But heavenly songs and heavenly scenes
Without the beautiful image of you
Do not seem complete and so in my dreams
I'm not here alone, but we're here with two

So much I love sounds and sights of the sea
Much more dear's still, the love ‘tween you and me

Reflection 112 (illusion of knowing all)

Illusion of knowing all

Have you seen a TV-program by the religious teachers or preachers.
Very often it is followed by a question and answer session.
For each question, they seem to know exactly the correct answer.

I have never heard them say: this is an important question. Let us find the answer together.
They seem to want to maintain an image of all knowing preachers-teachers.
They are not taking the role of guiding the seekers to find the answer themselves.
There seem to be never options for the seeker, they seem to be ready always with one correct answer and only one. Rarely they ask for more explanation even though many of the problems asked about seem so complex and personal. 

Why do so many people refuse to think for themselves.
The preacher-teachers like their powerful position
They often threaten with hell and the anger of God
They portray thinking for one-self as dangerous.

Please my friends, dare to trust the wisdom of your soul
Dare to think for yourself
Demand guidance rather then prescription if preacher-teachers want to preach-teach

Reflection 111 (still alive)

Still alive

All of us will be dead one day.
One hundred years from here this may be a fact.
None of us will be still walking on this earth

But then some of the good we did
But then some of our kind acts
But then some of our inspiring words
may be still alive

The love of my late mother is still alive in me
The inspiring words of Ghandi are still alive today
The kindness of Mother Theresa is still alive
The wisdom of our prophets is still so much alive

Unlikely that we will be famous as Ghandi or Mother Theresa
But oh so likely that our small kindness, our encouraging words
will live on in our children and then in theirs.
Our small sacrifices may live in our patients and then in their clients
Our small love may forever be transmitted and augmented
and at least a part, perhaps the most wonderful part of us will be still alive ...

Reflection 110 (overcoming)

Overcoming

Today I had a wonderful time with my very good "old" friend, Thiyagar.
He is not old but our friendship is longstanding.

He brought up that it is easier to be not good than to be good.
So true:
It is easier to be lazy than hard working
It is easier to take than to give (from early childhood onwards)
It is easier to wake up late than early
and we can go on like this for quite a while.

This is resulting from animal-like needs which focus much on survival.
The important point is that these things do not bring us happiness.

If we want happiness we have to get to a higher level,
beyond our animal needs towards our soul needs.
If we can overcome the need to take and truly start to give,
If we can overcome our need to fight and truly start to love,
If we can overcome the need to relax (to save energy for flight or fight) and become hardworking
We will discover a whole new dimension of life which encompasses peace of mind
which encompasses peace of mind and true happiness.

Reflection 109 (equinox)

Equinox

Today is the second equinox-day of 2014.This means that on most parts of the earth, the length of day and night are almost the same. The sun is located almost exactly above the equator.

I am not at all a believer in astrology nor I am any big in astronomy

But today can be the day of a new beginning.
I had a wonderful discussion with my teenage sons today
I think they are slowly getting more and more matured.

I pray for a new beginning.
The world is good. There is so much goodness.
We just have to manage to tune in.

A new beginning, I dream of it.
When my whole family and me can tune in
tune in together into the good of the world.

Every day can be a new beginning.
I hope for one every day.
and perhaps so true, God is really giving us
a new beginning every day.

I am full of hope today.
I do not care too much whether or not today is equinox
But I surely pray for a new beginning.

The sun has crossed the equator
My son may have crossed
the critical level of maturity that can enable
us to regain a wonderful level of harmony. 
 

Reflection 108 (rights or compassion)

Rights or compassion

 Attended a conference in Penang and heard the following:
If we point out our rights or somebody's rights,
most people may respond just by pointing out their own rights
If we point out something unfair,
it may awaken compassion, love.

A speaker in the conference quoted this as wise words from Simonne Weil
And wise words they are indeed.

Reflection 107 (Intentions and reality)

Intentions and reality

Sometimes we have the intention to do something good.
Initially it seems that fate is not helping us to perform our good deed
But then afterwards something much better is happening.

Today I am in Penang, the pearl of the Orient.
I am living at the other side of Peninsular Malaysia, at the east coast.
I am here for a congress in paediatrics.

My brother in law came together with me in my car.
His wife had delivered last week in the place where I live  on the East Coast
and he had to resume his job in Penang, while wife and baby were still there.

I knew he was quite lonely and I intended to invite him for dinner together with my colleagues who are attending the congress. I called his mobile phone and there was no answer. So, a bit frustrated I went to eat with my colleagues without my brother in law.

After dinner I tried to call him again but a woman's voice responded. Actually he had changed his number a few months ago. I got his new number from my wife. And we met over coffee in the hotel.
While we met he had quite a number of questions about his baby. If he had joined the dinner with my colleagues, we would have met in the restaurant and I am sure it would have been quite a boring event for him and he would most likely not have had the opportunity to ask me the questions about his baby.

I think the above is a good illustration of something initially apparently not working out in order to work out in a better way later.

Reflection 106 (what a feast)

Feast

Today I went to eat "roti canai", a Malaysian delicacy, a bit bread-like but eaten warm, usually with curry or something sweet. I did not go and eat it alone. My wife, my son, three brothers of my wife, three nieces, one nephew and one friend joined in the modest meal. It was fun. It was raining outside and we all gathered in the half-open stall not far from the street. Simple and delicious with a lot of small talk and of course a bit of big :) talk.

I personally can enjoy this kind of outings much, much more than going to a party where half or more of the people get drunk, a movie or many other forms of common entertainment.

This outing with a simple meal and cups of tea and cold chocolate milk, was a true feast.

Reflection 105 (so many different brothers)

Different brothers

Just now I was reading some of my poems or maybe more of poetic expressions, rather than real poems  (link) and when i came to the following one, I thought it was so close to my previous reflection (104), that I decided to make this one my today's reflection:
(could anyone make a song out of this?)

Differences

So many differences between one another
I love my Muslim brother
I love my Christian brother
I love my Hindu brother
I love my Bhuddist brother
I love my Jewish brother
I love all my sisters too
Somewhere deep inside
I believe that God loves all of us too

Let us celebrate our differences
Let us learn all from one another
Let us celebrate our similarities still more

I love my black brother
I love my white brother
I love my yellow brother
I love my red brother
I love my brown brother
I love all my sisters too
Somewhere deep inside
I strongly believe
That God loves all of us too

Let us celebrate our differences
Let us all learn from one another
Let us celebrate our similarities still more

I love my liberal brother
I love my socialist brother
I love my central democratic brother
I love my right winged brother
I love my left winged brother
I love my communist brother
I love all my sisters too
Somewhere deep inside
I strongly believe
that God loves all of us too

Let us celebrate our differences
Let us all learn from one another
Let us celebrate more still our similarities

I love my rich brother
I love my poor brother
I love my obese brother
I love my hungry brother
I love my middle class brother
I love all my sisters too
Somewhere deep inside
I strongly believe
God loves all of us too

Let us celebrate our differences
Let us learn all from one another
Let us celebrate still more our similarities

Can you imagine a world
Where all of us would be the same?
We need the differences
The key is humility, humbleness

Let us celebrate our differences
Let us learn all form one another
Let us celebrate still more our similarities

Aufie Zophy

Reflection 104 (focus on differences or similarities)

Focus on similarities

I think this is an important one, my friends.
Please read it until the end

Why religious persons get so often absorbed with the differences between their religion and the other religions? I am often flabbergasted at how many articles have been written about the veil in Islamic literature. Do you realize this is only once mentioned in the Quran and there even the word hair of women is not mentioned. But the veil,covering the hair, is what seems among the very MOST important things to many of our religious brothers and sisters.

At the same time there is one phrase that appears 114 times in the Quran. One hundred and fourteen times. One should wonder why does not the bulk of our religious teachings focus on that giant truth? Do we see more articles about the goodness and forgiving nature of our Creator than about the veil? I am afraid not. Do we see signboards along the road about the goodness and the forgiving nature of our Creator? Do we hear preachers preach more about the anger and revengeful nature of our Creator or about the goodness and forgiving nature of our Creator? I am afraid it is the former rather than the latter. Anger is a state of temporary insanity experienced by an emotional disturbance in humans. Is it fair to project this insanity on our Creator???

But why? Why do our preachers and teachers not get close to totally absorbed by and focused on the 114X most important message that was sent to us in this holy book. Is it because it is too similar to the message of other religions? Are we afraid to search for similarities instead of differences between our religions?Are we so afraid, even if that message is repeated 114 times in our Quran?

Why? Why focus so much on God's anger and revenge? Is it so much easier to impose your own interpretation of the scriptures on followers if you can create a fear? Is it too hard to depict the true loving nature of our Creator? Why would it be hard? Do we think if we stress too much the forgiving nature of our Creator that the people will sin more? If you do not speak in one breath with what they have to do, also a threat to hell, do you think your  message will be not reaching. How low do you esteem the understanding of your followers, my brothers and sisters, religious leaders?

It is time, high time, I would say, that we focus on the similarities between religions. The veil is not the most the most important message of the Quran. If it was, it would be repeated many times, perhaps more than 100 times. If religious leaders do not manage to awaken the sense of awe in all followers for the creation and for the goodness and forgiving nature of our Creator resulting in a continuous sense of gratefulness for everything we have and can do, they have not managed to bring the most important message across. If they spend more time on one-liners than on 114 liners, one could clearly ask what is their ultimate aim and purpose. Is their purpose to bring the true message or to dominate a community through creation of fear and through focus on less important messages. 

I envision the future as bright. the next revolution is not the nano technology revolution, not the brain science revolution; the next revolution is the wisdom revolution. The wisdom revolution will bring us wisdom. It will allow us to listen to our soul, to allow our soul to detect the most important messages, the true essentials in our own religion. And we will all see that we all have sooo similar essentials. Our cultural differences and ritual differences will be an enrichment rather than a stumble block for peace. Wisdom is increasing rapidly in our community. We do not see it. Media focus on the well selling violence and negativity but a silent wisdom and kindnes revolution is on its march. It is in the slow limb of the exponential curve (see figure below) but once it makes the sharp corner (blue arrow in figure below), the world will change visibly for the better every single second. I think we are amazingly close to the corner in the exponential wisdom and kindnes revolution.

Let us all focus on kindnes and wisdom, on essentials and goodness and be part of the huge, unstoppable next revolution the wisdom and kindnes revolution.

Reflection 103 (now)

Now

Now is the time to be kind
Now is the time to be patient
Now is the time to love

let us not waste another second

Reflection 102 (deep within)

Deep Within

Deep within our  brain we have an area that makes us feel good
The area gets stimulated when we do something nice or kind
The area gets stimulated when we practice some humble devotion
The area gets stimulated if we manage to inspire somebody or create a smile
Each time it gets these natural stimuli, it tends to grow like a muscle that is used often

Only the peripheries of the area get stimulated through selfish achievements
The peripheries light up only transiently and
their only lasting effect is a hunger for more.
If too long we only stimulate the peripheries the center may atrophy
as is clear from those many wealthy people giving in to suicide

Sometimes people try shortcuts through a variety of drugs
Intense good feelings may follow but in the process the area tends to get destroyed.
It is like causing a short cut to a lamp, a bright light may shine briefly but then the lamp is gone.

 

Reflection 101 (when kindness doesn't work)

When kindness doesn't work

Being kind does not always work.
But when it doesn't work
The things that would have worked,
would have worked only for a short while.
The things that would have worked
would have broken principles
could have broken relationships
could have broken trust,....


Too often I thought not-being-kind was the way
but almost always it was regretted sooner rather than later.

Whenever there is an opportunity to be kind,
let us make the right choice

Reflection 100 (messy)

Messy

Sometimes our life gets pretty messy
Stress at work,
a runny nose,
your teenagers act like teenagers,
your closest friend struggling with severe illness

But then, even if it 'd get a lot more messy than this,
if you think about the miracle of your eye sight
and you see the wonderful colors of the sky
if you think about the miracle of your hearing
and you hear the most beautiful song of a bird
if you think about the miracle of walking
and you make this walk in the purest of nature
if you think about the miracle of love
and can still hug these teenagers of yours
if you think about the miracle of thought
and start to think these wonderful positive thoughts
that messiness becomes small.
we cool down and take some time
chill out and appreciate the lessons often to be learned in the most messy of periods.

Reflection 99 (violence in the sky, peace on earth)

Violence and Peace

Lightning and thunder
Violent skies
Peace on earth

Nightly garden
full of secrets
lovely sounds

Lightning and thunder
Violent skies
Peace on earth

Love in heart
Love in mind
Love in soul

Peace on earth

Reflection 98 (entering the boat)

Entering the boat

There is this famous story about the man who was caught in a flood.

When the water reached his waist level, a jeep came by and asked him to enter.
He thanked the driver but said that God would come and save him
When the water had forced him to be on the first floor of the house a boat came by
He was asked to enter but refused for the same reason.
When he was standing on the top of his roof, a helicopter came by but again he refused to enter
Finally he drowned and appeared in front of God. He was a bit upset and claimed that his strong belief had remained unanswered. God's reply was: I sent you a jeep, a boat and a helicopter but you did not want to enter. 

This sounds like a clever story but there is so much to it.
How many times we pray to our Creator for love, peace, patience and strength.
We expect a miraculous event to happen, giving us these things.
But all love, peace and patience can be found just around us.
Like fish are swimming in water, we are bathing in the love of the Universe, in the peace of God.
All we have to do is open up, tune in.

All we have to do is make our ego a bit quiet
Look deep in our conscience, our soul, that small flame of unextinguishable light iside
Feel the goodness around us, open up and tune in again and
step in the boat that will save us from drowning in another bout of anger
of suffering another bout of frustration of engaging in another fight.

Reflection 97 (struggle)

Struggle

Many times we experience this life as a struggle
and quite often a struggle it is.

We come into life and already we start to feel huger pangs, making us cry or scream
Luckily our parents were equipped with lots of love and responded to our needs promptly

We grow up and learn to explore. We explore the world
We hurt ourselves, we are unhappy about the things that are forbidden by our loving parents
We have to struggle for attention. All too often we get negative attention. Our siblings, our friends, we struggle with them.

The better we prepare ourselves to struggle, the more victories we can book Ego feels good about any victory. But deep inside there sits a conscience and a soul. Our soul and conscience does not feel good about every of our victories. If we have victories at a dire cost for others, the compassionate self of us, deep in our heart feels not too good about it. We manage to ignore it for a while but in the process we store this piece of info in our subconscious mind and it may come back

As a matter of fact if we think deeply about ourselves, it is possible to give up so many of the struggles. If we think for awhile what is it that really, REALLY matters in life, many of our struggles may be foregone

I think most of us would put happiness very much in front of a list of what is really important.
If we want to obtain happiness through power, we need to struggle
If we want to obtain happiness through wealth, we need to struggle

I think the recent suicide death of actor Robin Williams, has shocked the world
Here was an extremely wealthy successful actor and still he got so depressed, to the worst possible level of depression.

If we would all be just a little more knowledgeable about how we function and about what brings us real happiness and peace of mind, so many struggles could be avoided.

Reflection 96 (so much more)

When I walk on the grass
When I walk on the sand 
and feel the millions of blades of grass
and feel the trillions of grains of sand
under my bare feet
I wonder
So much more

I wonder
about the grass, how did get that cool
about the sand, how did it get so hot

I wonder
about the grass, how did it grow so green
about the sand, why are its grains so small

the grass at night
with the moon's light
So pleasing

the sand during day
with the bright sun's rays
So pleasing

I love the grass, I love the sand
but much more still
I do love you, my fellow human being

I love each moment of harmony
between two persons
I love each little kindness
between two people

I love the grass and sand
But so much more,
I do love you

Reflection 95 (100% trust?)

100% Trust

Trust and love go together so much.
Sometimes we love people we cannot trust.
This means perhaps that the love is not reciprocal?

Are you really 100% trustworthy to the ones you (think you) love
If the answer is no, it may well be that your love is not too real.

Reflection 94 (wow)

Wow

This afternoon I met with a group of nurses and caretakers involved in a recently started project of home nurse care to the poor.

I heard one story that truly had a deep impression on me. All i still can say is Wow! Fantastic.

Here is her true story:


A nurse told about the frustration she had experienced when she visited a family with a person who was in dire need of palliative care but she was not welcomed to deliver this care. The family was very strongly believing in traditional healing methods and thought she was just sent by the hospital to deliver more painful treatments to the patient. She talked nicely to the family expressed her sincere intentions and gradually she was allowed to take care of the bed sores of the patient and in the end her work was very much appreciated by the family. 

When asked how she had achieved this remarkable success, she mentioned that she got the motivation from the knowledge that this work she was doing was blessed by our Creator. She was confident that our Creator would show the way to her and the family if it was meant to be that she should alleviate the suffering of the patient. 

And this was just one of the many fantastic things I have heard this afternoon.
I got really convinced that we have a group of superb people who will make this project of home care (YOKUK- Sayang home care) a huge success.

I thank our Creator so much for bringing together such a group of enthusiastic talented people.

Reflection 93 (long time)

Masa Panjang

This is the Malaysian language equivalent for a long time
Our thoughts have to be long term (at least some of them)

We do live in the present and actually whether or not we are happy in our lives depends on whether we manage to be happy in the present. So in one way, all that matters is now.

But if what we do now has a negative impact on our future, our future nows will not be happy nows and our life will not be happy. So, yes long term thinking has a definite place in our lives as well.
The younger we are, the more important and the bigger the effect of what we learn and labor now on our future.

So we need to have enough wisdom to look at all positives, present in our 'now' and enjoy and be grateful for all these positives, but at the same time we have to be industrious and clever enough not to neglect to make a good future for us to become a likely event. We never have any certainty about anything but we can plan and the better our planning the better our chances to be enjoy a comfortable and happy future as well. Quite often we need sacrifices for the future and if we succeed in these sacrifices these often become the sweet successes in our life.

You may wonder what I am writing here, but just now I was talking to my son. He tends to take a very short term approach. Without taking away a good sense of the present, we have to teach our children also to plan for the future.

Reflection 92 (dissatisfation or grace)

Dissatisfaction or grace, a choice that is ours.

If we look deep inside of ourselves, we find an ego and a soul
The more we listen to our ego, the more we get dissatisfied with our surroundings
The more we listen to our soul, the more we become grateful for all the wonders around us

If we are aware of our soul's, our conscience's presence most of the time, we can create often enough a bit of silence to listen to their whispering voices. We do not have to do away with ego, that would be superhuman. We can let our ego be guided by our soul. Our soul will guide us invariably to a higher level of awareness and peace of mind.

Ego tends to look down on things and people, Soul tends to look up. Let us see as often as possible both perspectives but choose grace over dissatisfaction

Reflection 91 (chocolate)

Chocolate

This morning I attended a "ceramah" by one of my good friends and a story about 40 year old man and his 4 year old son was told. They went to visit the grandmother and as usual the grandmother had one bowl of chocolates and one plate of fruits. The child went straight for the chocolates and the father encouraged the child to eat the fruits. Then he compared the material wealth to the chocolates and the fruits so spiritual wealth.

I like the comparison. Big house, big cars, huge bank accounts, just like chocolates: sweet but we never get really filled by them, we cannot build a healthy body if we only focus on them. It is nice to have some chocolates but without the fruits life tends to be not fulfilling and prone to disease. Likewise mentally if we only focus on material wealth we tend never to be really satisfied, never to have real peace of mind; while if we focus on spiritual wealth, we will experience a much happier, healthier , more peaceful state of mind leading to satisfaction. Real success in life is more related to have a good spiritual life than to have merely material wealth.

Not only the similarity between the chocolates and material wealth was so nice and striking but also the age of the child versus the adult. Those who focus only on material wealth certainly are not too mature. It requires a certain level of maturity to obtain the true appetite for spiritual wealth as well.

Altogether a great story. I am happy to share it and many thanks to my good friend, Suhaimi Wahab. 

Reflection 90 (on love - again)

Isn't there enough hatred in the world? What can still be written on hatred?
On love

Isn't there enough greed in the world? What can still be written on greed?
Is there enough love in the world? Almost everything needs still to be written on love.

Can we love a beautiful person?
Can we love an ugly person?
Can we love a sports champion?
Can we love a man without limbs?
Can we love a tetraplegic?

Of course it is easy to love beautiful person or athletes
How about the ugly persons or the persons with disability?
We can still love them, perhaps not in the same way
But we will not hate them because of their disability
We can love them and our love will result in compassion,
in feeling together with them

If the above seems a bit difficult, let us make it really difficult in the next paragraph:

Can we love the Palestinians?
Can we love the Palestinians, even those who fire rockets?
Can we love the Israelis? Those who drop the bombs?
Can we love the Zionist standing there laughing at explosions?

Most of us will answer with a few no's at least.
When it comes to wicked people, love seems to have no place.
We chose hatred instead

And yet wicked people are crippled in much worse way then any physically disabled person.
Wicked people have lost their capability of being human.
Those laughing at explosions on civilian targets have lost the capabiity to think
to feel human emotion, to feel compassion. Is that not the worst possible crippling disability that one can be struck with? Wicked people are really the worst of among any of us.
Shall we choose to hate them or shall we feel an immense pity for such extremely poverty laden souls
This is difficult and if we still choose to hate that is a perfectly human reaction
Giving in to hatred however does not contribute too much to a solution
If we remember how people like Ghandi could make colonialist withdraw without blood shed.
We cannot be silent, we have to oppose wickedness, but can we do it without hatred in our hearts?

I know it is difficult but if we look deep in our hearts and consciousness, hatred tends never to feel right.

Before writing this, I was quite convinced of the points I try to make but while writing some doubt crept in.

Anyhow, if we cannot avoid hatred for the extremely wicked people,
we must be able to avoid it for or neighbor who talks behind our back
for our colleague who does something we don't like, for our family member who is greedy, for any of the people we live with whom we don't like. We can continue not liking them but instead of hatred develop an attitude of compassion for their personality twist. (????)

Reflection 89 (gold)

Gold

My mug is full of gold
and i am not happy
It is love that I need

I try to be loved
But no one loves
It is love that I need

I try to give love
Many give back
It is love that I need

Gold is fine, beautiful
I want it, I love it
But it is love that I need

I need love

Reflection 88 (miracle)

Miracle

The fact that I can walk is a miracle
The fact that I can talk is a miracle
The fact that I can see is a miracle
The fact that I can hear is a miracle
Isn't all our life a miracle?

Reflection 87 (unstoppable caring community)

Good ideas are unstoppable. 


The current good idea is to replace blind capitalism based on greed with a caring society based on kindness.

Many of my friends cannot believe this is possible even though deep in their heart they long for a caring society more than anything else. The escalation of violence in Gaza, in Ukraine, in Syria, and the Wall street gurus cheating more than ever to amass trillions of dollars while hunger rages on, makes them disbelievers. Crooks get in the news, corrupt politicians reign.

And yet if the time for an idea has come, nothing can stop it.

How many slaves could believe that slavery would soon be something of the past
How many women believed that they would have equal rights in many parts of the world
Other ideas that had come and were unstoppable include the non-smoking in pubic areas, anti segregation, apartheid and so many more.

We can see so many signs in the social media that a very fast growing strong community is condemning violence, praising random kindness. Peace ideas are snowballing. The days of corrupt politicians are counted. The days of Extremist Jews, Extremist Christians and Extremist Muslims are counted. We ARE moving towards a caring society. Hunger WILL be eradicated. Kindness IS on its way to become the major value in our society.

Please keep believing.

Good ideas are unstoppable and the idea of a caring loving society based on kindness is an idea whose time has come!!!

(This reflection is highly inspired by a book titled inspiration by W. Dyer)

Reflection 86 (silent blessing)

Silent blessing

(This reflection is inspired by a book titled Inspiration (W. Dyer)

Whenever we meet someone let us send him or her a silent blessing

This may be easy if we meet our spouse or our children, our sisters or brothers, our parents.
But still how many of do it?

This may be difficult if we are meeting a driver of a slow car in front of us
But still we can do it. Bless you and thanks for slowing down my frantic pace and perhaps saving me from having another speeding ticket. I try to understand you just take your time. Even if I like you to drive a bit faster, I still send you blessings.
Wow, difficult. But possible, isn't it?

Wouldn't it change the world for the better?