The beauty of reality

This morning I woke up from a dream
and the next small poem came about:

I traveled in a blue bus, on its side a white line
We rode through a landscape wonderfully fine
and a man sitting in the seat in front of me
was reading the paper absorbing all negativity
while missing completely the beauty of reality

Kaya

Kaya in Malaysia is the name of coconut jam, a pure and fantastic delicacy to spread on your bread.
Kaya is also an adjective meaning rich.

A few days ago I posted in this blog something on richness and precious things
Indeed richness means that we have precious things and that we have a lot of it.

I have been thinking and one super important element of the meaning or richness was not addressed in the above: we have to be aware of having the precious things.

Imagine a man whose parents had put an immensely large amount of money in an account with his name but had planned to tell him later. But both died in a tragic accident before they could tell him about it. Is that man rich? He has a lot of money but is not aware of it. So he is actually not rich

Imagine a woman who has a garden. In her garden, deep under the soil is a gold mine. She does not know. She has a tremendous amount of gold but she does not know and thus is not rich.

Imagine a man who has received perfect eyesight and on top of that all his days are filled with light shining on the most beautiful elements and objects in nature. But this man is too busy with worries and greed and jealousy to see any of these treasures. This man is not aware of the huge treasure he gets on a daily basis and is not rich

And so is it with our health, our knowledge, our capability to think, our love. Most of us are so rich with it, but if we are not aware and consciously enjoy all these we are in a matter of fact poor.

Imagine a women, born with a heart full of kindness but it is hidden under a mountain of greed.
She has something more valuable than all the gold on earth but her treasure is hidden and she is not rich

To the fullest

Every human has in her or himself
the love of truth
the love of good and
the love of beauty

We search for knowledge, we search for truth.
The more knowledge we get, the more we are aware of the gaps in our knowledge
The more we read, the more we are we aware we are knowing a little, little bit
Higher than knowledge is still is our search for the truth.
The truth about life, about spirituality
Truth is different from knowledge.
The search for truth inevitably involves reflection and thought
deep thinking and inspiration. The higher our hunger for truth,
the further we reach. When we discover a giant truth
we bask for a while in the glory and sweet satisfaction of having discovered it
but if our heart remains humble in the process our mind and soul
will boil over the rim of the recently discovered truth and search for the next higher truth.

Our love for good, for doing well is another wonderful love we all share.
If we do make a positive difference in the life of another person
we experience close to perfect bliss.
Try to remember the time you saved a life, you saved a person from getting depressed or just did something nice that turned a wonderful smile on the face of the person next to you. Remember the time you managed to listen, the time you gave that small but significant gift, the time you walked with the child the extra mile. Then think about the feeling you got. The peace you experienced.
Wonderful isn't it.
 I do not understand how not most of us are hungering much more every day for doing some of these things. All of us have experienced the joy of helping, but we keep struggling to get richer and richer and higher and higher ourselves often at the cost of others. Never that brings us a real good feeling. Our love for good, let us keep it alive.

Our love for beauty is the next big love. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We need to keep our mind open for the beauty> often at the end of the day, I realize I forgot to look actively at the beauty of nature that surrounds my house, the beauty of the souls of people in my workplace and of so much more. When at night I manage to see some beauty it fulfills me with a sense of bliss More so if we manage to express our perception of beauty through a wonderful quote or text or poem. Expression of beauty is so much a part of men and women, that we live only partial lives if we fail to express what we experience. Our expression of beauty makes our life more complete

let us all be a bit more more aware of the three big loves.
The love of truth, the knower in us
The love of good, the doer in us
The love of beauty, the artist in us

Let us keep it all alive and live our life to the very fullest

Small intentions

Every day we have so many small intentions.
Some of them we accomplish.
Some of them we ignore.

The very nice thing about the intentions we ignore
is that we did not lose big things in the process
because we always get second and third and...
yes a hundredth chance to still try

We have this wonderful mind, this wonderful heart
this wonderful soul, that enables to connect to our ideals
our ideals of old, our ideals of new
and strengthen our small positive intentions

One day we will reach, accomplish a small one
then another one and then another one
Keep the intentions coming
Keep trying, enjoy the next chance.

Rituals

During a walk on the beach at dawn,
I was thinking about life and some thoughts entered my mind.

I was thinking about my life as a child
I was raised in strictly Catholic environment
The rituals were almost a purpose in itself and perhaps the main purpose
As a child I used to condemn those not following the same rituals as I
I was convinced God was on my side and was condemning these people too

Through long term prayerful reflection,
I could see that the rituals practiced in religion
are part of the culture.
Through long term prayerful reflection,
I could see that the essentials of a religion include three main components:

1. The vertical component, which means the belief in God and the devotion
The devotion is mainly a way to get a little bit closer to that incomprehensible
supreme divinity
2. The horizontal component, which means the love to our family and neighbours
the love for our colleagues, the purposeful positive difference we want to make
for our fellow human beings in this world.
3. The inward component, which mans the reflection, the introspection, when we manage to think about ourselves, look at how we did during that day, the connection to our own soul, getting to know our selves a bit better.

The rituals of the religion are meant to be tools to achieve the essentials.
But for far too many people, the rituals become a purpose in itself
For far too many people the rituals become not mere tools to achieve the essentials
but rituals tend to become everything, they become the religion.

Rituals are tools to achieve the essentials.
Rituals can also bring communities together in practicing their own cultural values
It makes me sometimes a bit sad to see people practicing rituals becoming arrogant,
getting a false feeling of superiority out of the rituals they practice
glorifying themselves and those who practice exactly as they do
condemning to hell people who practice even slightly differently
and carrying the false certainty that people who practice
very differently from them will meet with hell fire for sure.
I have met people like this in Christianity
I have met people like this in Islam
I have seen people like this in the community of Jehovah witnesses

I think it is high time for the big religions to leave behind this sect-like behaviour
It is high time to get our focus right.
To get our focus on the essentials and not merely on the rituals.
If we all manage to do that, we will suddenly realise how similar we are
not only as humans but also in our beliefs, in our shortcomings, in our strengths
in our devotion, in our charity in our introspection.

I am dreaming of a world where peace and unity will be!
I am dreaming of a world where we respect each other!
I am dreaming of a world where religions will recognize their common essentials
and accept, tolerate and respect and even enjoy the differences between them!
I am dreaming of a unity of the different people.
I can see God is preparing the world for that
All tools have gradually become available
Wisdom literature is now becoming available in simple language in many translations
All of us are getting better and slowly more kind

Soon there will be a huge wisdom revolution
Soon there will be a huge kindness revolution
this is more than a dream of me
It has become a knowing.

The magic of dawn

It is always pleasant to be outside
during these very special moments
where the dark of the night
gives way to the day's light

I never regretted waking
to make a walk early in the morn

This morning, was one of these mornings
I woke up at 6.20, said some prayers with a grateful heart
and went for my walk on the beach
That time of the day there is palpable magic in the air
an un-name-able beauty hangs around in the skies
the softness of the light gives a surreal appearance to the meanest of things

I jogged a few tens of meters
then walked, moving the shallow water with my feet
Wonderful thoughts entering my mind
Deep contemplation

On the way back I made an effort to mindfulness
Just concentrating on the walking, on my breath
Feeling the sand under my feet, feeling the fresh air
enjoying the sight of the birds, adorning the sky

I made the intention to do this every day.
I have made this intention countless times before
I hope now I can follow up with it a bit longer than usually.

Thought

Thought is very important
but thinking is not easy
That is why many avoid it
They avoid it by taking flight
in TV, in movies, in novels.
This keeps our mind busy,
so we don't have to think.

If we are free, we need to think
Let us not be afraid of thinking.

Inspired by a text by WD Wattles 

Laughing

Just yesterday, I visited some joke websites.
While the majority of jokes may give you at best a smile
If you a read a large enough number you will come across some jokes
that give you a hearty laugh.

Laughing is good

Here was one that made me laugh.

the teacher says: who can answer my following question correctly, can go home
Upon hearing this, John throws his schoolbag through the window
The teacher asks: who did this?
John says: I did and I am going home.

Maybe you have to search for another joke to make yourself laugh.

Blood

We can donate 10 % of our blood and still feel good about it
Not only psychologically and spiritually but also physically.

Isn't this wonderful?
We were really made as such.
We were born with the power to give
Even to give "pieces" of ourselves.

And it is this giving that makes us truly happy
That gives us bliss and peace of mind, lasting bliss and peace

Most of us search for happiness in fun which is often only a source of trouble
Let us be aware of who we are, how our mind, heart and soul truly works:

Giving brings long lasting happiness,
resulting often in indestructible peace of mind.
Taking gives us short lasting fun or pleasure but 
in the long run may spell trouble

Now and Here

One student went to see a master and asked:
If I become your disciple, how long would it take to become a master?
The master replied: about 3 years.
The student replied:
If I work extra hard and am supremely motivated, how long would it take then
The master: 5 years.
The student: I think you misunderstood. I am willing to work and study until late at night. Can i make it shorter than 3 years?
The master said: in that case it will take ten years
The student did not understand and asked for an explanation
The master explained. If you have on eye on the target, then there is only one eye left on the work and study you need to perform. That 's why if you are very eager to finish early, it will take you actually longer to become a  master.

I read the above story in book with Zen stories.
I think it contains such a great wisdom.
It makes me think of the religious fanats who spend all the time thinking about the hereafter.
Some of them even forget their duties here and now.
Some of them leave family behind to spend long hours in places of worship
Some of them forgo opportunities to help others because they are heading off to worship

If we always think about the hereafter,
We may forget about the here and now
With one eye on the target you may take much longer to reach
With both eyes on the target, you may keep stumbling and falling and not be aware why.

Spirit

Life is like a great book.
The material stuff is just a small chapter.
If I could not feel
the wonder that surrounds me
and is in me all the time,
I would miss all remaining chapters...

The Surface

I read the following amazing story from Thich Nhat Hanh

A person had been traveling very far and was thirsty
He felt very hot. He asked the people he met where he could find a lake. 
When he reached the lake he found it to be covered by straw and algae.
He felt a bit disgusted 
But then he decided to use his hand to push aside the straw and algae
and found deep clear water underneath it. He enjoyed bathing in the deep clear water.

Many people may speak words of hatred, words of anger but underneath their surface their is a loving soul. Can you see the analogy to the lake?

While this does not apply to all people who are nasty, most of us do have a good heart but temporary frustration, upset, worries, tensions or stress may make us say things that are not cool, not clean, not likeable, not amicable.

Rather than allowing ourselves to be filled with hatred for persons talking angrily, let us try to stir the water a bit, try to get some of the floating dirt pushed aside and discover the nice human just below the surface.

This is easier said than done. But I still think that the above story is a very nice one with a lot wisdom in it. What do you think?

Nice? 

River

Few years back I read a poem, titled the river by Elena Sandu
It was a beautiful poem
It sounded like she had been praying next to a river and had a very spiritual experience

Praying is something so valuable
Especially in the full glory of nature

We do not pray to an imagined old bearded man, sitting somewhere high in the skies.
We cannot bring under words the nature of our God, we pray to, because our mind is too small to comprehend. But much more than a bearded man it feels like God is a stream of huge energy, love and wisdom, a force, the ether we are bathing in day and night. The spirit that is everywhere, anytime.

Once we manage to experience our true Creator in that way, we get such a positive certainty that our God exists and prayer becomes something so extremely valuable to our  personal growth and being.

Flowers

Flowers were made

to be beautiful.

The more we give

attention to flowers,

the more beauty

is entering our life

Philosophy for all

Far too long the access to philosophical works was restricted to a very small elite of the people.
Now through the internet and through many books written in simple language, philosophy can be read by a much larger public.

Philosophy means love for wisdom
I think, slowly, more and more people fall in love with wisdom
fall in love with philosophy.

I really think that wisdom in all humanity is on the rise
it is rising sharp and fast
Let us read so many wise text from old and new
and part of the wisdom revolution, which will be tightly intertwined with a kindness revolution
:)         : )

Two rivers

Imagine you are a successful adult
As a teenager you swum in the river of your life
You swum west all the time
Your river flowed west and 
Your education and career snowballed into huge successes
Your river widened, swimming west went easier
and soon you arrived in the sea of abundance

Imagine you are a child of this successful adult
As a teenager you are in your own river of your own life
Your river flows to the south, towards the sea of abundance
Your father encourages you to swim west all the time
You try to follow his advice but end up, time after time
on the banks of the river of your life
You seem not to move forward
Your father says swim harder west
You want to swim south but your father gets upset with you.
You keep trying your best but never reach the sea of abundance...

Blind obedience to parents is NOT filial piety
Blind obedience is not respect
Blind obedience is often self destructive

Sometimes we need to express our own calling,
Explain, full of respect, full of honour
A loving parent, truly loving parent will always understand.
 

The way to abundance

We are born with our specific talents and gifts.
A very specific calling resides inside of men and women.
This calling encompasses making a positive change in the world.

If you look deep into yourself in a very honest and open way,
you will find this internal craving for appreciation
you fill find this restlessness, this need for happiness,
this need for approval and respect from our family and friends.

If you look deep into yourself in a very honest and open way,
you will find that you like something more than anything else;
you will find that you love a little bit more to do something than anything else
You will find that you are a bit better at something than at anything else.

That little something is our calling.
It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who compared it to being in a river
We hit obstacles in every direction we want to move.
except into one direction, the direction of that little thing that we love best

If still in that river, we find that direction without obstacles,
the direction in which our talents and gifts are directing us
we will soon move forward, forward towards the wider part of the river
where navigation is easy and brings us soon to the sea of abundance

The sea of abundant peace of mind, abundant satisfaction
The sea of feeling good about ourselves, making this positive difference
Making these few or many others a bit better off, a bit happier, a bit more at ease.
The sea of abundance will be ours.

Sometimes we just want abundant money straight and only
and think there are shortcuts to that.
True enough there are shortcuts to material wealth but not to
mental emotional and spiritual wealth

If we find our talent, our calling,
we will find mental wealth
we will find emotional and spiritual wealth
With it comes material wealth

Material wealth alone is never leading to happiness
We need mental, emotional and spiritual wealth as much
Success is not getting rich, money wise and then commit suicide
Success lies in peace of mind and every type of wealth that is meant for humans

Abundant mental wealth (truth and knowledge)
Abundant emotional wealth (love and kindness)
Abundant spiritual wealth (faith and caringness)
Abundant material wealth (comfort and ease)

Follow your talent
Follow your calling...

The most successful people are not those of extremely strong will
They are the ones who resist least and let their talent flow freely...

Finding beauty

India, oh, India,
I just came back from my trip to India.

And I have thoroughly enjoyed it.
Somehow reflecting more on it
I think we can see the beauty of it all
because we are actively looking for it.
If our mind is focused on chaos and negativity,
that is what we will find
If our mind is focused on finding beauty,
we will find beauty, even in the chaos.

India

I spent the last 5 days in India.
Before coming here, the stories of other visitors to India had scared me quite a bit
But the stories were in quite a sharp contrast with what I found.

Sure enough it is quite a poor area with a lot of agriculture
But the people look happy the beautiful smiles on their faces are so wonderful
The Food is a mixture of delicious  spice blended almost to perfection.
The colours of the saris, the buffaloes, the women wearing things on their heads
The wonderful children in their blue school uniforms
the cows on the street
The cheap shopping
The horning cars on the busy roads crisscrossing a roundabout
All so beautiful and amazing...

I am aware that Belgaum, the place I am visiting is perhaps different from other parts of India
But as for now, I have enjoyed the five days I was here and have not one regret coming.

Plucking

The sweet fragrance
of a white frangipani flower
showing her yellow heart

I was seduced
Enticed to pluck
The urge to possess

An idea of wilt and death
Came flying just in time
To prevent a deadly pluck

The best choice

Throughout the years I have made many choices
Many choices I have made impulsively
and a large number of these impulsive ones I regretted later.
I know that many people do the same.

I have tried to learn from these choices, wrong and right
I know many people do the same but
I also know that many people do not.

Perhaps among the most important things I have learned
is not to overreact in a situation where I am in power.
The easiest thing to do is to overreact in these situations
and break some fragile feelings.

Recently I was in a hotel in Langkawi, Malaysia
My two (late-) teenage sons were with us.
My nephew was visiting from Belgium.
We all had planned to go and eat dinner in a nearby town.
Just as I we planned to leave for dinner, they had ordered room service

If they did something so obviously wrong in the past, I used to explode.
I have learned that explosion into a bout of anger is not the best choice.
If they did something like this in the past, I used to immediately concoct a punishment
I have also learned that punishment is not the best choice.
If they did something like this in the past,
I often did things that would spoil the whole evening
for them, for me, for my wife and for whomever we were with.
I have learned that this is also not the best choice.
I often did things that even lingered on for days and managed to spoil a few days.
Not a good choice either.
I have learned a lot from so many mistakes.

I was clearly expressing myself that this behaviour was not pleasing me.
I was clearly explaining them why this type of behaviour was wasteful and wrong.
I have planned to bring it up in our next family meeting and discuss in it further detail
I have planned not to preach  but to bring them to an insight based on their own experiences


Maybe  I am a slow learner on how to be a good parent.
Maybe I am just navigating in quite stormy waters.
Maybe I am still wrong in my current approach.

Some choices are really obviously wrong to me.
Others are more grey.
Raising children, raising teenagers, guiding adolescents:
A challenge requiring the maximum of our patience.
I have learned that it is easier to break fragile "things"
than to preserve them whole or repair them afterwards,

If the moon could dream

If the moon could dream,
the moon would dream
that you and me
filled would be

with unconditional love

It has been all along
in the moon its song
of fine white light
the song of the night...

 

Somehow the night carries something magical. The darkness brings a silence. Our work is finished, our activities come to an end, some time to use for our own growth. I think the whole universe, (including the moon 😂) is wanting us to appreciate the joy that lies in loving each other unconditionally. No "what's in it for me", no suspicion, no revenge, just unconditional love. Wise men of the past have discovered this giant truth, but were unable to communicate to the rest of the world. Now with the internet so much more becomes possible and more and more people get access to the wisdom of the ages and learn to discover that altruism, kindness, unconditional love are here since a long time and that these are the main source of true happiness. The more we get of them, the more heavenly feelings we get.

 

Precious

(inspired by Prem Rawat)

To be rich is to have something precious 
and to have a lot of it.

Isn't our breath among the most precious things we have
and don't we have a lot of it?

Isn't our time among the most precious things we have
and don't we have a lot of it?

Isn't the sunlight among the most precious things we have
and don't we have a lot of it?

How about eyesight?
How about peaceful sleep?
How about flowers?
How about the colours in the sky?
How about water?

And then, kindness
Weren't we born with a heart full of it?
Don't we get filled with peace if we let our kindness flow?
Perhaps the most precious still, is our kindness,
sitting in our hearts.
The more we let it flow,
The more peace comes in
The more we let it flow,
The more new kindness comes in
The more we let it flow,
The richer we get
Contentment will be ours and is
contentment, peace and kindness not what makes us truly rich? 

Growing goodness

"The time is coming when all men will see that the gift of God to the soul is not a vaunting, overpowering excluding sanctity, but a sweet natural goodness, like thine and mine, and that so invites thine and mine to be and to grow." <quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson>

The above quote is something that really touches our heart.
It was written more than a hundred years ago and slowly,
slowly it is becoming true as if it had been a prophecy.

Still so many people think that God is somewhere far from here
but more and more people manage to get inspired
to get in-spirit by allowing the ever present huge divine wisdom
to trickle into their mind, their hearts and their souls.

Just the last weekend was a fantastic illustration.
With a group large group of lecturers and students from USM
interactive modules for instilling moral values to junior highschool students
had been prepared over a period of many months, using the best possible evidence
for interactive and effective communication with young people.

Yesterday and the day before has been the moment of truth.
The long prepared modules have been delivered and
they have been delivered successfully.
The young adolescents not only loved the modules but
I am sure they will have learned lessons from them for life.

And the people delivering the modules, devoting their weekend to help others
were among the most blessed and happy I have seen for long.

All of us want to help and we feel that it makes our soul genuinely grow.
This growth of our soul and our own goodness is an inexhaustible source of peace of mind
and true, true happiness.

The time is coming when all humans will be aware of this
And our world will be a wonderful place to live.

Treasure

An old Chinese tale:

There was a man in China whose son had committed a crime and was very likely to be sent to prison. That was a great shame to the family and the night before the trial the father brought one of the family treasures, a very rare and big gem, to the judge. He told the judge: "This gem belongs to our family since many generations. It is a very rare and precious treasure. I want to give it to you." The old judge responded: "This is indeed a huge treasure. Your most precious treasure. My own most precious treasure it my integrity. So if I accept this gem, both of us will lose our most precious treasure."

What is our own most precious treasure?

Sometimes

Sometimes you meet
- senior lecturers who behave like my ex-standard four teacher
- doctors who behave like bulldogs
- and I am sure you can make a whole list yourself

At these times such people may make
- your blood boil
- you flush with anger
- and I am sure you can make a whole list yourself

But then it may be good
- to stop and think
- to start pity these people experiencing the natural disaster of twisted personalities
- to take a deep breath
- to consider the beauty of creation

and subsequently
- send them unconditional love...
 ...
:)

Virtue

There is no virtuous deed that does not make the soul happy.
There is no vicious deed that does not make the soul suffer.

The soul is perfectly just.
We can try to quiet the soul
But never for too long

We were made to love ourselves when we help others
We were made to hate ourselves for selfishness.
I want to end here with a small rhyme:

Once we are aware that we find
only in altruism true peace of mind
we will live with total  focus on that
and leave the selfishness for the mad

A diamond bird

A diamond bird
Flaps its diamond wings
A thousand rainbows
Dance on the white sand
The blue sea dizzy

A diamond bird
Lands on my shoulder
I grab its feet
A look in my eyes
A whisper

A diamond bird
A thousand rainbows
I 'd like to possess
But set it free
And all of nature smiles with me

(Aufie Zophy)


I wrote this poem while thinking about my children.
They are more precious than diamonds,
but somehow we have to set them free.

A story

A story I do not want to forget.
I first want to write how I came to hear the story: on the plane I sat next to a man who recommended me to listen to Prem Rawat. I searched his name on the internet and found a few videos, one of which was only 5 minutes. I listened and this was the wonderful story he told:

Long time ago in China there was an archer who was very talented. 

One day the archer displayed his skills in front of the public.

Most of the ones who were there were standing in awe since time after time the arrows landed exactly where they were supposed to land. One man among the public however kept saying: "it is just practice, it is only practice". The archer who was quite proud of his skills, could hear and was quite irritated by the comments. He went to talk to man and delivered another perfect shot, asking the man: can you do this?The man answered he couldn't but he asked the archer: can you do this? while he was showing his own skill. The man was selling oil and he managed to pour oil from a large container into a bottle with an extremely narrow and long neck, very fast without spoiling a drop. The archer admitted that he could not do that and it was indeed practice that was most important to become good at something. 

Then Prem went on the ask what do we practice on a daily basis. Do we practice complaining or negative thinking. If we do, we will become excellent at it over time. Or do we practice kindness and positive thinking. If we do, we will become excellent at it over time.

Wonderful story, isn't it?😀

Standing low

The most beautiful appearance
of the moon is early at night
when it stands low in the sky
A big pinkish orangey ball

The most beautiful appearance
Of the sun is at twilight
When it stands low
Just above the horizon

How about us?

Aufie Zophy

 The higher we rise, the bigger our angle of view,
the higher we rise, the brighter we may shine

But don't our most beatuiful colours show
...if we step down
and LOOK UP from a low position
to the others no matter who they are,
no matter what they do?

...if we stoop down
to reach out a helping hand
to the others no matter who they are
no matter what they do?

Small things.

Sometimes big things tend to hit us.
We tend to tilt and often fall over.
It hurts, it makes tears welling up.
It is hard and cold on the floor.

But it are often small things
that tend to give us strength;
the strenght to get up and start walking again;
the strength to get ourselves together and face it.

The small things in life provide us often
strength to sail through the biggest storms;
strength that will help us to keep standing,
no matter how hard the big thing hits again...

Education=bringing out

Education

A very interesting word, education.
It is very interesting indeed.
It comes from the Latin: ex-ducere, which means to bring out.
Not to put in, but to bring out.

To bring out the best out of the interior of our students.
Not to push in, not to spoon-feed lots and lots of knowledge

To bring out the inherent curiosity for things
To bring out the inquisitive mind of our students
To bring out a level of enthusiasm that resides deep within
To bring out the spirit, to inspire
To bring out a deep seated sense of responsibility
To bring out the highest aspirations
To bring out the ambitions,
To bring out the ideals
To bring out a sense of purpose

Oh, how nice education would be if only all our teachers and professors
would know the true meaning of education.

(inspired by a book of Napoleon Hill)

Moments of simple happiness

The cool sea breeze blows near the end of a warm day
The darkness is setting in slowly while I talk to a friend
My son drops by and says hello to my friend
We stand there a few moments, saying nothing,
mesmerized by the beauty of the scene

Moments of simple happiness
Valuable beyond many things

The safety of the port

I read today in a book by Napoleon Hill:
A ship is safe in the port but the ship was not made to be in the port.

I think there is so much wisdom in the above quote.
Sometimes our ship gets damaged in the storms of life.
Then we need to keep the ship in the port to make some repairs.
But so many among us tend to cherish the safety of the port so much,
that way after all repairs are done, we tend to stay there for much too long.

Ships are made to be at sea.
Whenever at sea, the risk of more storms is there.
But through our previous experience we may have learned to navigate through quite some storms.
Life is meant to be lived to its fullest. By doing so, surely we have to take some risks and we will meet some storms. Our ship of life will get some damage and we  many have to come back to the port for some emotional repair. But then we step straight back into the risky business of living a life to its fullest. We learn to navigate better, to avoid more storms and if storms happen to navigate straight through them.

Never stay in the safety of the port for too long
Ships are meant to be at sea
Life is meant to be at least a bit risky;
dare to take the risk that is necessary to achieve your dreams.

One year

One year of posting reflections on this blog.
200 reflections.

I look back on this activity with quite some satisfaction.
I did not get a million visitor. The total page views up to now is just above 7000 (this is excluding own page views). Statistically speaking, this is not a whole lot and I would sincerely like to see this be a few multiples of that number.

Whatever happens, these 7000 page views have happened. Some may have frowned, some may have shaken their head, but I very truly hope that some have gained a grain of inspiration, a speck of motivation or a few cents of valuable insights through these pages.

As for myself, I have enjoyed the process. It was RW Emerson who stated that man is only half himself, the other half being his or her expression. I think there lies so much truth in that. If we manage to express our deepest thoughts and feelings, it a source of peace of mind and joy.

Unscrambling hope

  Epoh And Evol

Epoh, Poeh, Peho
O yes we get it scrambled
Evol, Voel, Velo,
O yes we get it scrambled
Hope and love
O yes we get it often scrambled

Let us unscramble it today
Let us put in effort and time
To get at least these two unscrambled
Hope and love unscrambled

There is so much hope
There is hope that one day
We will have a truly caring society
With no one left behind, all get love

There is hope that one day
Bullying will stop
In all its forms
It will be replaced by love

There is hope that one day
Peace will be there for everyone
A borderless world
Without armies, only love

There is hope that one day
Zionists and Talibans are shaking hands
That they will see the true message
Of our Creator, which is love

There is hope that one day
Kindness will be on all our minds
More than money and power
And above all that, love

There is hope that one day
Hunger will be something of the past
All will have enough of food and drink
Through labours of love

There is hope that one day
We will all drive electrical cars
With engines getting free energy
Obtained from turbines fed by wind

There is hope that one day
All of us will be united
Caring for the common good
Serving each other according to our talents

There is hope that on a daily basis
All of us will be able to hug the trees
The most magnificent trees
The most beautiful flowers

O, yes, there is so much hope
There is so much love
Let's unscramble them today

Aufie Zophy

Free

The clichés that are heard quite often include:
The best things in life are free.

Generally I do not like too much clichés but this one I like very much.
Staying in a hotel, all staff were trained to be super friendly.
While for some it shows that it was an ordered thing to do,
many manage to (at least appear to) be genuinely friendly.

If they truly manage to be genuinely friendly, I think they must enjoy the job very much.
I tried to answer their friendliness with equal friendliness from my heart and the above mentioned cliché was becoming so obviously true. The best things in life include definitely genuine friendliness among people and it is absolutely free.

The more we are aware of this, the more beautiful our lives may become.
Enjoy today a tiny bit or better still, a very large chunk of giving away some free friendliness

For an old lady

Making bread is a fun activity.
Have you ever kneaded a bread by hand?
Fun, a bit like a boxing ball, just softer and more fun!
As a kid, I loved it whenever my mom was baking her own bread.
Not that I liked to eat the bread so much, it was just the process of making it.

Actually this reflection is not so much about baking of bread.
It is about what happened after my mother baked the bread.
Many a time, she asked me to bring one of the breads to her auntie.
She had an eighty-over year old auntie living about 8 km from our house.
The auntie had lived a tumultuous life full of excitement and challenges
but now she was old and alone in her house.
She had this old stove, next to which she was sitting most of the time.

Soon after the breads were out of the oven, I was on my way with my bicycle to bring one to auntie (we called her tante keutje). When I arrived, she, with her small curved body got up from the chair and what I could see on her face was one of the most beautiful smiles. She was visibly happy. She offered me lemonade and sweets and asked me lots of questions. She laughed at my answers. What I remember was that she was visibly happy. I am not sure how much my mother had intended to teach me affability for the elderly through this sending of bread to an auntie but she certainly did. I cherish the moments I entered the house with the bread and the huge smile of the old lady.

My mom had so many superb and non-traditional ways to teach us empathy, compassion and all the good values she practiced herself. I want to say thank you, mom, for teaching me how to appreciate the smile of old ladies. They sure are beautiful to see, they bring us peace of mind and sprinkle bit of true happiness in our heart.

The one in the next seat

Recently I have been traveling quite frequently by plane
Each time I sit down, I silently hope that the seat next to me will be empty.
These seats in economy class are really close to each other;
people are sitting in each others' personal space.

But more often than not the seat next to you get filled.
Most of the time I keep myself busy with reading or dozing off.
The person next to me does usually the same.

So many flights have gone smoothly without me saying even a word
beyond hello to the person sitting next to me.

Yesterday was a bit different. Next to me sat a young guy traveling alone. He was clearly a Caucasian and after I had done the usual part of reading and we got a drink, I asked him whether it was his first visit to Kelantan, the place where I stay and where we were going to. He replied with a smile and told me he was nervous since he was on the way to meet the parents of his girlfriend for the first time. I could see the level of excitement, mixed with a certain level of fear. I remembered vividly the first time I met the family of my own wife.

I had a really nice and enjoyable time talking to that stranger next to me on the plane.
When we landed my wife and I shared a bit of his nervousness and when we walked out we recognized the girlfriend and her parents as he had described while he was still waiting for his luggage. Later on the parking lot, we saw him with the family, talking happily to each other, except the father of the girl who still looked a bit worried for his daughter. I hope his inter-racial relationship works out fine for him as it has worked out for me.

If I had not started a conversation, I would have missed all the excitement.
My next flight I will start a conversation with the one sitting next to me if the seat is not empty...

From the mountain

Actually the meaning of my last name is "from the red mountain"
but that is not what this reflection is about :)


"we do not see the world as it is, but as we are"

I think the above quote is really so worthy of a deep reflection
Are we looking at the world from within 4 walls?
Are we seeing the world from our garden?
Or do we on and off manage to go the top of spiritual life
to see life from the highest levels possible?

Can you imagine how different you see the world from a mountain top than from deep within your kitchen?
Can you imagine how differently we can see life if we manage to rise to a certain spiritual calmness, a certain spiritual height that is often achieved to silent reflection.

Let us be aware that we see the world not as it is
but as we are, from where we stand
from where we stand physically
from where we stand intellectually
from where we stand emotionally
from where we stand spiritually....

This reflection is inspired by a chapter in book by Robin Sharma, titled leadership wisdom from the monk who sold his Ferrari. (wondeful book, fully recommended to read)

Ocean of truth

I was just reading a Sufi text that compared the Truth with an ocean.

If we look at the ocean, we can only see that part within our visual field.
But the ocean is almost endlessly bigger than that.
An almost uncountable number shores and coast lines
A vastness of expansion and depth

I tend to agree that our current understanding of the world
our understanding of life
our understanding of the universe
our understanding of quantum physics
our understanding of spirituality
our understanding of everything
reaches the size of a few drops in the ocean of Truth.

If we mange to look beneath the surface
a miraculous world opens up
but still we see with our limited vision and intellect
just a few drops.
No matter how high we deem our own understanding
we should never cease to explore the ocean of Truth
with an open and humble mind

Asking

I remember reading the story of the University of Washington receiving a huge donation from a lady living in Chicago. When the University of Chicago people heard about this, they were a bit upset and contacted the lady to ask why she donated so much money to the University of Washington and not to them. The simple answer of the lady was: because they asked for it.

Asking for what we want seems to many of us so difficult.
As children we have not too many problems with that but
gradually after a few disappointments, we prefer not to ask
rather than run the risk of getting a no.

If we manage to put our ego a bit aside, a no is not really bad
If we do not ask, we are certain not to get what we wanted
If we ask and we get a no, we are still certain not to get it
So basically, logically nothing really changed, except
that we may be a bit emotionally upset for being refused something.

So next time we want something,
it may be worth to consider:
Does the potential emotional upset of a no
weigh up against the benefits of a potential yes.

If our egos are on the biggish side, 
the anguish of potential 'no's
may prohibit us to ask for what we want...

A wish of peace

If there is a disagreement
wishing someone peace
sometimes can work wonders.

The power of peace
for an open mind
should not be underestimated.

If my wife is angry about something
and I wish her peace
A smile comes often on.

Initially it did not work that well
but with time she knows
that the wish comes from my heart

And when she opens her mind,
lets the peace in,
she cannot but smile....

Don't believe it?
Try it!
Next time anyone is angry with you.

Living ideals

More then ever I want to make a positive difference in this world
I had my youth ideals
I have never truly lost them
Through the many years, they have been polished a bit
But I still want so much to make a positive difference

Let us all think about what our ideals were
perhaps when we were 15 or 18 years old!
If it looks like we have lost them,
do the necessary thinking to revive them.
If each makes on a daily basis a small positive difference,
the sum may become huge

Still in time

We are late to eradicate hunger
.   but if we start today, we may be still in time
.   to save many brothers and sisters from starvation

We are late to start a kindness revolution
.   but if we start today, we may be still in time
.   to save many bothers and sisters from a heartbreak

We are late to create world peace
.   but if we start today, we may be still in time
.   to save many brothers and sisters from senseless destruction

We are late, we are very late to make the world a better place
.   but it is never too late to make a positive change
.   let us start today...

A cup of enthusiasm

The sun rose

The warmth of the morning sun was touching my heart
Flying rays of energy were inspiring my soul
I drank a cup of enthusiasm for breakfast,
freshly plucked from the most beautiful tree in my garden

Opportunities

Every  single day, we are given opportunities to do good
Opportunities to make a positive difference in someone's life
Opportunities to be kind to someone who did not expect it
Opportunities...

So many times we just walk by
too busy with our nitty gritty worries
to see the opportunities or to act on them
And yet,
It is my firm belief that the more of these opportunities we take up
the more peace of mind we get.

This makes me sometimes really wonder.
If someone has a large amount of money in the bank
how many opportunities, that someone lets go on a daily basis
just by keeping the money in the bank

The magic of twillight

Softly engulfed in pastel orange hues
purplish small clouds were drawn
on the sky's canvas above the wavy sea

I entered the pleasantly warm sea water;
was floating on the breaking waves
while the magic colour play continued

There is truly magic in twilight.
Beauty...
Peace...

The best thing

It is good to stop on and off and think for a while
Think for a while what was the best thing that happened to me in the past 24h.

When I think about the best thing of my most recent past 24h
I become very grateful to our God for the meeting with my son
He stays in Penang and we spent most of the past 24h together
It started with a wonderful lunch at Nandos, we were wandering through Queensbay shopping mall, had an ice-cream. We had a swim together, rested for a while, talked a bit and then had dinner with more family.

I love my family. I am attached to them.
I know by being attached to the them I may expose myself to future suffering
but no matter what, the joy of being closely attached to my family may be well worth the suffering

I disagree with the principle of detachment to avoid suffering.
Being detached deprives us of the joy and makes us perhaps suffer beforehand
I have a little cluster family and love to be in the cluster.
  

Winds of wisdom

The winds of wisdom

Let the winds of wisdom 

Fill my heart with a flow of love

Let them feed the flame of my soul

Let them blow from the east

From the west and south and north

From every side and from above

Let the warm winds of wisdom

Whistle their wonderful song in my ears

Let them blow, let them flow

Let them touch my skin, reach deep into my lungs

Penetrate my mind and move my spirit.

Let the winds of wisdom blow and flow.

(Aufie Zophy)