Monday, June 13, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
today, i met up w caryn to study. went to the library to find that a nice, empty seat had been specially reserved for me. read up a little on econs, and soon it was six. headed for the coffee shop to have our lunch/dinner? after eating (and having left our stuffs in the library for a good 30 minutes), that silly girl then decided she wanted to eat mpk's ice cream. went up, packed our stuffs and left for mpk! studied a little, chatted a lot, and it was time to go home. okayy, wouldnt say today was unproductive because econs was...umm, helpful in refreshing my memory. so whats up tomorrow? doing phy geog project w atika in the morning, and then church. wants to have lunch w limjoyann but she hasnt replied my sms.
happygirl94 wants some joy, not just happiness.
goals
instead of setting goals that seem unreachable and at times intimidating, i shall start penning down short term goals. a step at a time, i shall achieve the unachievable :D
Friday, June 10, 2011
This year, for me, has been a search for a deeper meaning in life. For months I felt that my life was devoid of any meaning and I led a directionless life for such a long period of time that I thought that was the norm. It has been a painful year and I know it still will be for the remaining 6 months, and the months after. But until the day I finally come across an answer I am truly, genuinely satisfied with, I will constantly be giving my best in all that I do; my studies, my friendships, my commitments. Don't stop giving. For the more you give, the more you shall receive.
on life
There are many ways I could write this entry. I could go into the intellectual inconsistencies present in the anti-repeal camp. I could go into the checkered application of biblical principles, for those with fundamentalist leanings. I could call into question, for the utilitarians, the eventual absence of actual harm to anyone. But I think I shall go with the following.
We are all of us creatures of limited experience. We cannot be everywhere everywhen, knowing everywhy and doing everywhat everyhow. We lead our lives out along one single path. The branches fill up parallel universes; but in our own universe, our experiences fill up next to nothing. We are hay in a haystack.
The only way humans co-exist happily with one another is through empathy. Given that we cannot experience everything in this world, we relate to other experiences only sympathetically. I will take your word for it that your job is interesting and meaningful, and you will take my word for it that a bowl of well-made muesli with figs and dried pineapples is highly satisfying. We empathize with one another constantly, continuously; we do not pass judgment unless we are already initiated with that same sphere of knowledge. No blacksmith takes a fishmonger's critique.
There is just so much in this world that we don't know about, it should come as a surprise, then, that people - from very early on - choose allegiances and cement certain opinions. But this is the accepted norm in our society. At eight, Bob starts to go to church; by eleven, he knows that all the other religions are wrong. He starts saying so explicitly at sixteen; and at twenty-one, he is a Sunday School teacher advising on the nature of sin.
But where has Bob been for these twenty-one years of his life? Has he been to the Sudan? Has he understood the way of life in Japan? Has he met with dyslexics in Azerbaijan? Has he a Jamaican friend who plays the boogaloo? No. Bob was born in Kandang Kerbau Hospital, schooled at Pei Hwa Primary and later on at Anglo-Chinese (Barker Road) School. He went to VJC and then OCS and recently ORDed after serving as DYS1 in a HQ unit. Bob has taken a few holidays to Australia and Europe, and he has also backpacked around Cambodia with two good buddies. He was raised in a flat in Yio Chu Kang, but recently his parents have upgraded to the Glendale Park condominium in the west. He has a dog named Rolf.
Bob, like you and I, has seen less than 0.00000000001% of the world.
And yet - Bob feels like his opinions and/or intuitions are entirely justified. He does not think for a moment that perhaps, just perhaps, there are other ways of looking at the world. Other meanings to be found, other things to care about. Other interpretations. He does not behave with empathy; it is too much to ask for someone as much in the light as he is. He knows that he has found the meaning of life at twenty-one (or eleven, if you ascribe to him the capability for mature thought at that minor age). How does he know? He doesn't know. He just knows.
It doesn't have to be that way. You can have your religion, your intuitions, your beliefs; no one is stopping you. But you don't have to think that they are correct for everyone. Why would you think that they are? How would you know that they are? Your life, your experiences, your everything; they don't translate. You are told that your beliefs are universalizable. But that is all it amounts to: a telling, word that melts as breath into the wind. How on earth does one verify these Chinese whispers? The sum of your life's experiences is but one strand in our superstring world. Statistically, you and I - we are both nothing.
Go out. Live a little. Meet people, and then meet more people. Make a gay friend. Visit the courts. Wake up at five in the morning to take photographs at Punggol. Talk to the aunty at the bus stop in the evening. The more you see, the more you can empathize with. Don't stick to the same routes; don't keep going back to your positive reinforcement loops (Christians listening to Joseph Prince, feminists reading Germaine Greer) to justify your already fixed views. Step outside the comfort zone for a bit, and take life in as the kaleidoscope that it is. Become a decent human being. Understand others.
Don't want to do all that? Too much trouble? That's fine. Be like me. Accept that there is no way you can do everywhat everywhen everywhere, and that there is no possibility to know everywhy everyhow. And then try to empathize, even so. Know that the luxury of your opinions should not trump the basic rights of other people who have, in effect, no connection to you or your ilk. Be aware that ours is a monochrome world no more. And then continue to keep your head down, speaking up only when those who cannot protect themselves ... fail to protect themselves.
by thegreatsze
We are all of us creatures of limited experience. We cannot be everywhere everywhen, knowing everywhy and doing everywhat everyhow. We lead our lives out along one single path. The branches fill up parallel universes; but in our own universe, our experiences fill up next to nothing. We are hay in a haystack.
The only way humans co-exist happily with one another is through empathy. Given that we cannot experience everything in this world, we relate to other experiences only sympathetically. I will take your word for it that your job is interesting and meaningful, and you will take my word for it that a bowl of well-made muesli with figs and dried pineapples is highly satisfying. We empathize with one another constantly, continuously; we do not pass judgment unless we are already initiated with that same sphere of knowledge. No blacksmith takes a fishmonger's critique.
There is just so much in this world that we don't know about, it should come as a surprise, then, that people - from very early on - choose allegiances and cement certain opinions. But this is the accepted norm in our society. At eight, Bob starts to go to church; by eleven, he knows that all the other religions are wrong. He starts saying so explicitly at sixteen; and at twenty-one, he is a Sunday School teacher advising on the nature of sin.
But where has Bob been for these twenty-one years of his life? Has he been to the Sudan? Has he understood the way of life in Japan? Has he met with dyslexics in Azerbaijan? Has he a Jamaican friend who plays the boogaloo? No. Bob was born in Kandang Kerbau Hospital, schooled at Pei Hwa Primary and later on at Anglo-Chinese (Barker Road) School. He went to VJC and then OCS and recently ORDed after serving as DYS1 in a HQ unit. Bob has taken a few holidays to Australia and Europe, and he has also backpacked around Cambodia with two good buddies. He was raised in a flat in Yio Chu Kang, but recently his parents have upgraded to the Glendale Park condominium in the west. He has a dog named Rolf.
Bob, like you and I, has seen less than 0.00000000001% of the world.
And yet - Bob feels like his opinions and/or intuitions are entirely justified. He does not think for a moment that perhaps, just perhaps, there are other ways of looking at the world. Other meanings to be found, other things to care about. Other interpretations. He does not behave with empathy; it is too much to ask for someone as much in the light as he is. He knows that he has found the meaning of life at twenty-one (or eleven, if you ascribe to him the capability for mature thought at that minor age). How does he know? He doesn't know. He just knows.
It doesn't have to be that way. You can have your religion, your intuitions, your beliefs; no one is stopping you. But you don't have to think that they are correct for everyone. Why would you think that they are? How would you know that they are? Your life, your experiences, your everything; they don't translate. You are told that your beliefs are universalizable. But that is all it amounts to: a telling, word that melts as breath into the wind. How on earth does one verify these Chinese whispers? The sum of your life's experiences is but one strand in our superstring world. Statistically, you and I - we are both nothing.
Go out. Live a little. Meet people, and then meet more people. Make a gay friend. Visit the courts. Wake up at five in the morning to take photographs at Punggol. Talk to the aunty at the bus stop in the evening. The more you see, the more you can empathize with. Don't stick to the same routes; don't keep going back to your positive reinforcement loops (Christians listening to Joseph Prince, feminists reading Germaine Greer) to justify your already fixed views. Step outside the comfort zone for a bit, and take life in as the kaleidoscope that it is. Become a decent human being. Understand others.
Don't want to do all that? Too much trouble? That's fine. Be like me. Accept that there is no way you can do everywhat everywhen everywhere, and that there is no possibility to know everywhy everyhow. And then try to empathize, even so. Know that the luxury of your opinions should not trump the basic rights of other people who have, in effect, no connection to you or your ilk. Be aware that ours is a monochrome world no more. And then continue to keep your head down, speaking up only when those who cannot protect themselves ... fail to protect themselves.
by thegreatsze
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