Smile

Smile is a powerful expression

it can show your happiness

and it can hide away all your sorrows

Smile is a powerful weapon

it can disarm your enemies

and it can also fool yourself

from the real you.

individualism vs socialism

once we move towards absolute individualism, existence of human mankind is no longer required.

Life is a Line

Life is much like a child game where we draw a line and then whoever cross that line WIN !

Some draw very easy line to cross so they keep themselves Motivated . . .
Some draw a very far line so when they are the ONLY one who can cross there feel REALLY great . . .
Some draw too far a line they never cross it and get Depressed.

As we grow up, all these lines we draw for ourselves become us.  It becomes our fundamentals, culture, philosophy etc.

After we grow up,
we always thought we want this need that . . .
BUT Almost all of us forgot
it WAS initially a line that we drew ourselves into it.

Now we are bound by our own lines without realizing we still have the power to draw new lines again.

Fate and Choice

Both couples Mandison & Pier and Bill & Amanda are deeply in love.  All of them also deeply believe in Feng Shui.  One day they were told the boyfriend needs to always face East and the girlfriend must face West.

Bill & Amanda were shock !  Since then they faced different direction and grew apart.

Bill & Amanda

Mandison & Pier were in joy !  Since then they always see each other and live happily ever after.

Mandison & Pier

Fate may have laid down some clues for you but its up to you how to use them.

a broken bowl

Can you mend a broken bowl like before ?

We probably can't .

But with forgiveness and some appreciation in life,

we can preserve the memory for a long long time . . .

Why is simple life not easy ?

Life is simple but not easy.

Because we seldom look at life itself,

that its just birth and death,

laughers and tears,

hates and loves.

Instead we often look only at ourselves,

that we want creation not destruction,

happiness not sadness,

loves without hates.

how we wish others could do this and that,

why would others cause us pain,

why can't everyone else be like us ?

Life became not easy because

we didn't really look at life itself,

but just ourselves.

Life is simple

Because we all have one.

But when I want to use my life

to control your life,

life became not easy.

Everyone has a life,

and in life we got to

choose whatever we want

for ourselves freely

with no boundary

no exception.

Most of us however,

do not choose life,

but we choose ourselves

we could have chosen life

we could have chosen simplicity.

But because we choose ourselves

we forgo simplicity in life

we have chosen uneasiness.

Life is really not that complicated,

but often we hear

life is really hard on us.

why ?

Were you stressful ?

It has been more than 6 months I don't need an alarm to wake up early.

Dreams will kick in and wake me up every morning before dawn. Before taking up this job, it was an act to prove myself able to do what others can't. No one else dare to take the job. For those who took it, none stay.

It started with tons of challenges. It started with all things kept in place. For every potential future outcome, 3 possible solutions were prepared for it.

Soon things get bigger than me. There are governments, there are Families and there are legal abusers . . .

All these are pushing me over the edge YES. But as time goes. I did capitalize the situation. I let my nightmares run wild. Quite a handful of times, I obtained solutions within those nightmares. And then on the 2nd morning, one more god damn issue is solved.

Just as I get used to all these work stress and able to get a tiny grip. Last night . . .

What woke me up is a death of a close relative. Suddenly none of previous nightmares matter anymore.

Are you stressful in life ?

I guess I will never find out how much I will push myself until I will stop.

A FREE Thinker Perspective Blog

sometimes you may wonder where we come from. you may have heard too many people answering that where we come from. some may told you there is a god who started everything. some others may have told you that there has always been like this. one end follows by another start and hence there isn't such thing as god. because there is no need to have one.

why, how and where can you find an answer ?

well, try ChampDog's philosophy on this topic.

Whether you are a serious philosopher or you were just browsing internet out of boredom, you may just find ChamDog offers you a sight of solution ...

In short ... ChamDog was able to combine the past 2,000 years of believes with current 21st century's progress to come up with ONE idea that explains it all ...

Just click here to find out if there is a God in this world ...

stand tall, look down, grand view ...

I have this craze about looking down. Standing high above the ground, look down and everything seems to be smaller. The higher I go, the more things I can see beneath me.

That is one of the reasons why I had to climb that mountain. Once at peak, it really feel like the whole world is within view. I start to see things that I can't before.

Its hard to explain why. I just have this craze.

I stay in one of the busiest city which also hosts one of the tallest tower in the world. Supposingly wherever you are in town, you can look up to find this tallest tower and hence you should know where you are in reference. But in actual life, you can't. I look up and somethings is always blocking the view. If I elevate up 10 feets, I can see slightly more stuff. If I go up to 10th floor, usually I will be able to find this landmark tower ... and hence know where I am now.

I always find myself finding where I am. When I am at a new place, I will find out more about that place. When I am where I was, I always wonder if this is really what I thought it is. I started to move things around, work with people differently to answer those questions.

The only time I am at rest is when I stand high above the clouds, look down and I never wonder where I am. All is calmness.

One of my persisted dreams since childhood is that I don't die falling from high place. I dream of that so many times for so many years that even now in my daily life, I really have this false perception that I may not die if I fall from 10th floor. I even have this weird tendency to jump whenever I go higher and higher.

Yes doctor said its a mild degree of mental disorder, so mild that no medicine can cure or stop it. As a matter of fact, every human being has this form of characteristic. There is only one fine line to cross. Most people suppress the tendency to cross that line with their belief, culture and social practices. I, the doctor told, on the other hand always tempt fate by going back and for. There is really nothing much anyone can do about it including myself. Its just that one day, if I cross the line and can't come back, then I die.

That is a price to pay if you think you can break away from the believes, religions, cultures and social behaviors that human have been building in thousands of years.

Will this craze of mine kill me one day ? What will I really bring to this world ? On this ground right now, I really don't know yet. All I have now is my present and right now I am hoping to build something that I can stand in and look down. Perhaps then I can answer those questions.

Cycles of Life - I Ching made simple.

The unit of YEAR is commonly used to identify cycle of time. Major weather change on earth basically repeats itself every 4 seasons, namely Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

Spring usually signifies the start of a year because plants start growing in Spring and trees turning green etc. Hence we can also use Wood to represent this cycle. Trees always start growing from their roots but we will never know exactly how tall a tree will grow. Hence this is a cycle where things get started without a clear definition of an end. Each of us start to walk out of our homes to enjoy fresh breeze. Normally only one person walk out of the door one at a time, hence this is a cycle of individualism.

Summer comes and it is the hottest time of the year. Hence we also use Fire to represent this cycle. Not only everybody are outdoor but everyone feel very excited and energetic too. People find it hard to just station at one place because it would be such a waste to the sunny days. We hop from one place to another instead. This is a cycle of team where many people do many things but seldom do we persist with focus. Much like a fire that spread fast burning from one spot to another without staying at one place too long; because it would have already finished burn off whatever that one location has.

Weather starts to turn cool in Autumn. Everyone are still out door but not as crazy as before. Our feet are back on ground preparing to go home. Earth is used to represent this cycle. We work together to accumulate what we need for the winter, much like the ants. This is a cycle of team where we work together to a closure.

Cold hits during Winter. Each of us stay at our own home. Everyone live their own lives with their own families. Just like hibernation, we try to stay put with what we gather during autumn and do not start too much new stuff. Its a cycle of individualism and closure where we don't want to start too many things. Metal, a symbolism of stable and no reaction, represent this cycle.

In these 4 seasons, we have a beginning and we have an end. So far that is only a straight line of event. In order to wrap the end to the beginning, making it a smooth cycle, we need a transition. The transition may take any form and flexible. It is both the beginning and the end, kind of philosophical. Water which can take any form is used to represent this transition cycle. This is a cycle beyond individualism or team, beyond initialization or completion, its a spiritual and philosophical cycle of why things are the way they are.

There you go, you have just get a grab of the main concept in The Book of Change or I Ching, a more than 2000 years old wisdom from China. You should also have no problem remembering the 5 basic elements of Wu Xing, Wood or tree for Spring, Fire for Summer, Earth for Autumn and Metal for Winter followed by Water as a transition before Wood(tree) grows again in Spring.

While this looks simple but application of this main concept alone can branches out many possibilities in real life. We will see if we have chances to get back on this topic with some real life examples ...

Is it a Fact or just a point of view ?

If you are one of those who like to find out what is really going on, you may want to understand some of these fundamentals.

First thing first, whatever happened is a fact. Even if you saw what happened, what you saw is only one aspect of what happened. It may not necessary represent the whole truth and hence what you see may not be the fact itself, but merely one way of describing the fact.

Many people assume what they see, feel and experience are facts. While this is TRUE for the person himself but it may NOT be TRUE for others. Hence when such person communicate with others about his 'facts', he may face challenges getting his message across.

But all your senses are the only inputs you can rely on. You can't just ignore them. So all you need to be aware of is that these are just inputs. Inputs can be wrong too. You should discard wrong inputs along the way. The more inputs you get describing a fact, the better it is for you to find out what the fact actually is. These are just your observation, not fact.

Does this mean we will NEVER find out what the fact is ? Well, although strictly speaking in theory and philosophy that might be true, however our real life is NOT just black and white by far.

While some facts require observation from ALL angles, some other facts can be easily identified.

"There is an accident." - a fact

"The driver is drunk." - a fact with test result

"The drunk driver caused the accident." - an idea/guess by linking 2 facts, acceptable by majority most of the time.

"That is a haunted corner, the ghost must have caused the accident." - an idea based on other past experiences, not relevant to current incident, usually less acceptable by others who have not gone through the same experience - haunting corner.

"The brake was broken even before the car was started, hence this is a mechanical failure. But the driver is also guilty of drink and drive" - report after 360 degree police investigation. An acceptable fact with many supporting inputs/views/observation.

So a fact can be identified as early as your first observation, it can also be found after a rather complete collection of observations. But the early fact you can identify is usually a general statement while the fact with many supporting observations is usually more specific with details.

Have you been treating whatever your observation is as fact to everybody else ?

Have you ever lay down on naked grass ?

Have you ever lay down on naked grass ?

The tickling of the mother nature on your skin may at first irritate a little bit. But when you fully let go off your body to the land's contour, you will have a sense of belonging.

At first the splashes on your face may scare you a little bit but soon you find out you can tilt your head a little bit and you can open your eyes looking front instead of just straight up to the sky.

The thundering sound puts you on guard, wondering if the next strike will be on you. Scaring the loud sound, scaring the sudden strong light, scaring uncertainty, scaring death ...

If you wake up and leave at that moment, that will be the end of your experience. But if you choose to keep laying there, you may soon realize you have been scare for too long. You have no more energy to be afraid. You start to really look into the lighting. You can tell how close or how far the thunder is by its first reach. You can finally look straight up to the sky and rain drops aren't that scary after all.

Eventually ... sun came. Its the sky, the breeze, the birds ... I can close my eyes now.

When enough is enough, nothing else matters. What you have now is what you have. Its really a choice of guarding yourself against it or letting yourself be part of it. If everyone stay long enough, we will all reach this stage. Its just a matter of sooner or later.

Have you ever lay down on naked grass of a thunder night ?

Sins, demons and their Virtues

Below is a list of sins committed by human ... which is the hardest to resist ?

• Excessive love on one self - Pride, boasting, vainglory, hubris, superbia. 
  This is the source of all other sins. This is also the main reason why the fallen angel ( Lucifer ) want to compete with God and finally become Satan. The good Virtue : Humility

• Exccessive desire to have more stuff especially money - Greed, avaritia, demon=Mommon, the good Virtue : Charity
  

• Excessive sexual desire - Lust, luxuria, demon=Asmodeus, the good Virtue : Chastity

• Envy - invidia, demon=Leviathan, the good Virtue : Kindness
  

• Swallow over eat food in a very fast pace, sucks like a fly - Gluttony, gula, guillia, demon=Beelzebub, the Good and Virtue : Temperance
  

• Hates and angers - wrath, ira, demon=Amon, the good Virtue : Patience
  

• Do not care about anything and everything - Acedia
  

• Do not use one's talent, ability and gift for its intented purpose - sloth, demon=Belphegor, the good Virtue : Diligence
  

• Always feel not satisfy and discontent - Despair
  

• Excessive urge to own belongings especially luxury goods and sexual related - Extravangance, luxuria
  

Bold words simplify the word of that sin.

italic words show the relevant demon with that sin

underline words are the opposite good to that sin

House - TV Series

"House" is one of the few TV series that I obsess on watching. I always wonder why because I hate medicines and doctors bore me to death. Finally in one season, one episode, Dr. House told me why.

He was sharing his childhood experience with his psychologist on why he doesn't care about anything and everything.

He was at emergency bay of a hospital when he was only a child. He saw a dying patient coming in. A janitor was right there and made some comments about the patient. Nurses and doctors ignored him of course. After 2 hours of emergency routines, doctors still couldn't find out what was wrong with the patient. They called for help from the most reputable doctors around the area. 6 hours later the patient was almost dead and doctors still have no clue. They had no choice but to find the janitor. The janitor suggested some cures and the patient recovered 30 minutes later. The janitor went back to his routine work but now everyone in the hospital respect him like never before.

Back then as a child, Dr. House's key learning was

When you are RIGHT,

Nothing else Matter.

So growing up pursuing what he does best, he just want to make sure HE IS RIGHT and Nothing else really matter.

What an ideology to adhere to! It hits me right there. No wonder I like this show so much. I have been hoping to be right for so long so that everything else does NOT matter. But before perfection is achieved .... as far as real life has gone .... the fact of life now is

It doesn't matter

if you are Right or Wrong,

But Everything else Matter.

What about you ? Between the "Process" and the "Result", if you have to pick one, what will you focus on ?

Fasting or Feasting month ?

Bulan Puasa or Fasting month is once a year event where we remember the unfortunates by not consuming any food nor drinks when the sun is up. By doing so, we 'feel' a little bit of the hunger some may have to face 365 days a year.

It is a holy month where our mind and soul is cleansed as well.

In real world, this is also the month the believers are broken into 2. One group became saints and do more good than usual. They stop throwing rubbish on the floor, start obeying all the traffic rules etc. The other group starts to hide all the wrong doing. Think of all kind of excuses to allow them NOT to fast. Disappear during day time and come out party whole night long etc.

But increasingly what is even more interesting is ... Fasting Month has become Break-Fast Month. Nowadays, there isn't much things left for spiritual meanings ... Fasting Month is now a Happy month because there are a lot of great offers on food and drinks ! The purpose of fasting is to break fast !

The unfortunates may still be thought off, the soul may still be holy during the short moments during praying. But it became so routine that the true meaning of Fasting Month has faded away. Now we celebrate one whole month of great food during night time and then followed by Ramadan - a day and night feast.

Happy Feasting Month ! Just a few more days to go ...

Paradigm Shift

I feel uncomfortable when stranger approaches too close in person, I hate to be touched un-knowingly, I see those as SERIOUS intrusion of My Privacy!

The other day I wanted to enjoy some nice peaceful great time so I was thinking to watch a movie.

Since it was still a school holidays, I have to queue for the ticket.

Irritation started to pile up after lining up for 20 minutes without much movement.

Everytime I make one step forward, the person behind walked up into close proximity and only stopped after touching the lower part of my leg.

I put my arms to the back holding the A4 size brochures perpenticular to my body to make my space. Its a darn polite way and yet CLEAR body action message, don't you think ?

One step forward, he stopped only after he almost bang into the papers I was holding, what a sucker!

The next step, I move one step up and leave my other leg behind, another damn clear body language telling the person at the back to fu!k off ! He stepped on my shoe and actually hurt my ancle.

!@$%#@@@!!!!!#!@#@!$@!$

I cann't stand it anymore so I turned around .....

I saw a man on a wheel chair, it was his wheel chair which has been kept banging on me ...

My temper dropped half, cooling down a little bit but still angry with such a public body abuse ... I opened my mouth, my super fluent 3 letter words are ready, stare at him .... *wait* ....

There is NOTHING to stare at.

He is Blind !

Or he doesn't have a clear vision thats for sure !

It was too late and some words left my mouth,

"Why do YOUuuu... need to buy a movie ticket?"

still with some left over anger from previous experiences .... totally look down on him as if "What the hell are you doing here! You Crazy son of the Bitch!"

"Sorry sir, my girl friend loves this movie. I just want to give her a surprise." The blind wheel chair man replied.

.

.

.

I don't quite remember what happened for the rest of the day. I think I walked behind his wheel chair, guided him to buy the tickets he wanted. Then I sat in the theather with my eyes closed though out the whole movie. I didn't even remember any sound effect, how I got back, what I ate for dinner, how I got on bed ...

When was the last time you shift your paradigm ?

Whats the movie you watched ? I don't know.

Why Chineses are good at Math ?

Although this may sounds like another ethnical (racism) write up but actually this is a "language" article.

I grow up with 3 languages around me so I can speak for them rather personally, they are Malay, English and Chinese. Or more precisely Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin.

Its not an absolute truth but rather a more than 50% accepted stereotypes that Chineses are better in Maths. And this is why ...

In Malay, the numbers are pronounced as such :

Sa-tu, Du-a, Ti-ga, Em-pat, Li-ma, E-nam, Tu-juh, La-pan, Sem-bi-lan, Se-pu-luh

The shortest number of pronounciation is 2 and the longest is 3. Total number pronounciation for all 10 numbers is 22; An average of 2.2 pronounciation per number.

In English,

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Se ven, Eight, Nine, Ten

Shortest : 1

Longest is 2

Total : 11

Average 1.1 pronounciation per number. Half of Malay's speed

In Chinese,

Yi, Er, San, Si, Wu, Liu, Qi, Ba, Jiu, Shi

Shortest : 1

Longest is 1

Total : 10

Average 1.0 pronounciation per number. Slightly faster than English but nonetheless the fastest among these 3.

Number pronounciation is one of the earliest toddle speech education. The small difference between 1.0 and 2.2 pronounciation per number for 1 to 10 may not seem significant at the beginning. But as one is growing up and start to deal with higher complexity in numbers aka Math, this minor difference may start to exponential up.

So in primary school, it may not make much differences in Addition, Substraction or even Multiplication and Division. However, the gap will get wider in secondary and colleges.

The reason this is only a stereotype and NEVER a TRUTH is because all a Malay-speaking-math-person need to do is to spend TWICE the EFFORT "at the beginning", then she will be able to be as good as anyone else she wants to be.

There is another saying that once you pass 30,000 repeatence of one action, you become an expert on that field. So despite this 1.0 vs 2.2 pronounciation differences, the gap will become small again once any language speaking person pass a 'certain' level. Hence, a Math degree holder or a PHD in relevant field will have minimum gap on what their native languages are. But one thing for sure, the Malay must have been much more hard working than the others at their younger ages, as they always take twice the time and effort to express the same messages ... in numbers.

So, do you think it matters what language to use to teach Sciene and Maths ?

If you started to think there is not much difference between English (1.1) and Chinese (1.0), then that is because I haven't told you the whole story about numbers yet. If you are smart, you should have observed the real 10 numbers in Math are 0 to 9 and not 1 to 10. Some English may pronounce Ze-ro (2), some others may use Nought (1) but in Mandarin, its always 'Ling' (1). Don't even get me started on :

100 Hun-dred (2) vs Bai (1)

1,000 Tho-u-sand (3) vs Qian (1)

10,000 Ten-Tho-u-sand (4) vs Wan (1)

The digits in parenthesis indicate the number of pronounciations.