Bks....tots.....& friends again.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
♥ Saturday, July 29, 2006
..................................BoOks!.........................................
Cat & Dog Theology (120706) by Bob sjoren & Gerald Robinson is another of those christian books. It makes the distinction btw cats and dogs, claiming cats think that they deserve all the glory, and dogs think that their masters deserve all the glory. Well, Evelyn asked me to buy the book...ask HER wads so good about it! But i did bring back one thing tho: that it has to stop being about me. It has to be about God and His glory. So, the naggin did kinda work.
Lost Worlds by Michael Bywater (240706) was hailed as an all time classic. And it is. Its cheem la, u have got to know a hell lot, to digest what he is writes about; after all its about things that are lost. (which i dont! so you can imagine how much of the book i actually could absorb:)) i found the part about God particularly interesting though. Especially when it provoked my inquiry into ontology(what is) and phenomenology (how we experience). Constance's friend dropped me a website when i was in jc2, when my enthusiasm about God led me into the arrogance that i knew more than others based on the sole perspective of theology. How foolish. Anyway, i kept that website ever since and it has aided me more than ever in my pursuit of knowledge.
Prayer & Common Sense by Thomas Green (260706) was a book recommended to me by Jude. Its super good. And there's alot to learn from it! One i found really good was his observation of Ignatian prayer: btw meditation and contemplation. ( i might not remmeber it so fully, so feel free to correct anything erroneous) Meditation is based on scripture most often; it deals with how one applies the text to one's life. Contemplation deals with the imagination.I guess its how much the circumstances of life can speak to a person, based on how vivid or reflective that person is. And Thomas Green said both are NOT mutually exclusive, which means actually we should actually try out both forms of prayer and actually see which one suits us better in encountering God. Good book.
..........................................Tots................................................
If i bore you again, well, screw it. The blog's my thoughts, and i figured the only way for me to be trully free, is to let opinions dissipate into thin air, as quickly as it came. Today's thoughts are about law. Not criminal or corporate, but silence. The law of silence. We know that sound requires a medium to travel, right? Basic physics. So in the vast universe, with the vacuum as the background, you'd reckon that its basically a deafening silent atmosphere. (Of course, for space, using the term 'atmosphere' is kinda oxy moronic.) Anyway, i thus infered that God, had intended silence. And there is a certain law of silence that i wish to speak about. That eventually, all will be.
About the wk? Outfield. Again. But i discovered something. Probably it isnt a discovery, its more like a rememebering. Silence. I think thats somehting God puts in quite often whilst my time in army. I think noise, or music, or even thoughts, or people cloud our perspective. There are certain occasions when i get to see things sooo clearly. And i really love those moments: its as if you cant see ahead, but you know at this point in time what you have to be, that will make you complete. In the jungle, with only the nature to speak back, with my book and with no mp3, i sometimes do find that. Silence.
Temptation. The silence of the conscience, "i know what is good, but i choose to do what is evil." (somewhere in the bible) and "The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak"(also somewhere from the bible:)) Temptation is the loud hailer, the seductive voice of our subconscious (which has been influenced so greatly by what it has been fed) gives the right nudge, and with an act of the will, we have silence, again. This time, silence from God, silence from all that is clear, silence from good and silence for good. In that, the vehemence of Vex assumes its position in the battle front and we end up bowing down to our new King and Queen: Guilt and Shame. So, from a life of Richard Clayderman's Ballade Pour Adeline, we walk into a life of Linkin Park's "It doesnt really matter". So, we have a new definition to silence! The silence of clarity, and the hailing of stupidity!
Probably the biggest temptation, and the deadliest because its the most subtle, is pride. We slip into it with any form of accomplishment; a slight hint of an encouragement can swell into an unconscious superiority-complex, even the path of doing what is right can be shadowed and tainted by it. Argh, what a headache. Doing the right thing, but still not right?? IN the sense, pride is the loudest attack on whats left of our serene and silent environment. BUT like i said, the good God, still has that law of silence! So, the louder the voices are, the more deaf we'll eventually be. So, on one hand, we have the world who's increasingly vociferous, and we balance that on the other side of the world with people who are becoming more and more deaf. What happens when the world's completely deaf? No more morals, no more right, no more justice, no more silence, just blasting wars, explosive discrimination, a fortissimo of violence and hate, chaos and anarchy...to the point of? Silence!! God will make His law established. And Man will only live to adhere to the terms and agreement of this law: silence as that in the Garden of Adam and Eve, or banished to the music of Man's folly.
What does silence have to do with us? More than we know. I think when anyone evaulates her life, and ask whether he or she had a meaningful stay on earth, i think he or she would gauge it by the silence that resonates within, more than that of vast accomplishments. I believe everyone is looking for a certain silence, whether its the silent approval of one's family, or the silence of knowing and being. What is a silent retreat for? For knowing and being. Though i havent been in one, i'd reckon its kinda like that: i am silent for God to let me 'know' something; and that something transforms me to 'be'.
..................................friends, again.........................................
i have 3 distinct groups of friends. I am being ambiguous about the term 'friends' here, for its sheer sensitivity. Anyway, i went out with my marist friends. These are the marist friends whom i still keep in touch with : Torrence, linus, desmond, yi ming, chian yee, samson, darren and munpun. Quite a handful. But a melancholic drop from our usual 'strength'. And thats the growing up part: we see how people make their choices; how people decide over whats important; we see how our places in people change, we see how people's places in us change, we deal with who's leaving and who has already left and who is left. And then we, begin doing our imperfect definitions of who is a friend.
There's always something about friends. Nostalgia. The mind identifying with reality on what it's lost. And i guess, if one really intends to be sad about it, the world does seem like a pretty lonely and silent place at times. but i dont. from sec 1 till now, that being a good what 8 years?? Thats something to really marvel at. Forget the nonsense that we talk about when we meet, forget the fact sometimes we dont realyl go deep, the VERY fact we meet with all of us identifying subconsicously and silently that 8 years of being friends brought us where we are is enough reason to shut all you people who believe depth and sharings are the only way friendship exist.
My dad used to say that it doesn’t matter if u don’t have many friends, as long u have a handful of really good ones... (was it my dad? haha should be). And i realised, yeap i've made and lost some friends over these span of time in NS, and for a good while it did bother me. But, no longer. No longer. Gee, i sound quite bitter. Hope I’m not.
I realized one problem i have with msc is this identity crisis. People are generally nice, and at times they make the effort to grow close. And there are times you really grow appreciative. And just when you felt like you found something 'more', that very person gives you that impression it was all for the sake of sharing. So question. Am i a friend because of me? or because of community? Am i even a friend, because at times when we're enjoying, we seem to be friends more than at times when you or I are struggling? And don’t even get me started on struggling haha. I had quite enough of establishing really genuine friendship in msc, not because it doesn’t exist, but maybe my idea of it is just too idealistic. Disappointment and disillusionment is still fresh in my head. I'd be honest; it’s no longer anger, but more self preservation and protection. But I think, the real bigger problem is, I no longer really care.
So yes, I think it is easy for whoever’s committed to make self righteous comparisons of how they are giving so much and some are just receiving, how community should mean more to people as it does to you, it is very easy to point a finger and ask why he or her isn’t doing as much as you. But know that, in your endless pursuit of blame, the imperfection or un-fulfilled ideals can solely come from one’s incompetence in acting what one believes. Argh I am getting too cynical again. So let’s stop.
I think it’s no longer adversity that tests friendship. I think its time. And I think time filters the real from the fake, the committed from the deluded, and maybe, in time, I will hopefully realize that people who I was cynical of? Can just be as good a friend as Munpun, or Samson, or Val, or Eve (for you, you’re a close friend, hahaa but you’re a lousy one!).
If our lives were depicted as events happening in the world, our friends are our newscasters and journalists; we get to see what is happening to us because our friends take note, and inevitably lets us know that though there are billions of other events that also simultaneously happen, its our event that matters to them.
Family
Saturday, July 22, 2006
♥ Saturday, July 22, 2006
Yes, its this week's session again. Call it lackadasical if u want to, but i found an appropriate means to bring out the theme ( watching Family Man, starrin Nicholas Cage & Tea Leoni) and if you believe it could have been done in another way, i am all ears. (Right.)
'Who is but a function of what.' says V. Lets not ask who constitues a family, but dwell into the function of what. And what a family is, is to serve a particular function. This function, i reckon, is to create a setting and environment that allows people to become fully authentic and free.
We all know we are here for a particular reason, right? Now, that purpose differ under different occasions. For example, we are supposed to be a child to our parents (in that sense, our purpose to our parents, is to be a child), and on another instance, when ur married, u have to be a parent to your child. Your purpose in that occasion (of being a parent instead of a child) changes. Now, to be fully authentic and free, is to serve our purpose, and to serve it to the full. Which means, a child is supposed in every way to be one (excited, lively, curious, etc..) and more importantly, grow more and more to be like one. While a parent is to be concerned with the child's needs, to be matured and responsible, to love and nourish the child with education and care, thats primarily his or her purpose.
Why do i speak of purposes under various occasions? Because i believe that God has given man opportunities. These opportunities are the occasions when we need to fulfil our purposes. And in fulfilling that, we achieve something; some quality or some character. For example, the opportunity/occasion of adversity. Now one can choose a good number of ways of handling adversity. Say, run? or hide? or pretend that it goes away? or face up to it? Whatever one chooses, one not only reflects what he or she is, but the person he or she is turning to be. Once a coward who faces up to his fear, and to the challenge of doing what is right, i strongly doubt anyone would consider him or her that same coward. Basically, what i am saying is this: that we all have the chance and need only the will to better ourselves, that nothing should prevent us from fulfilling our bigger and brighter destinies, of building stronger characters. And family, THE family provides us with a very very good means of being such people.
Lets do some critical analysis on this statement: ' Family is the basic unit of society'. I believe the sociologists who made such definitions attached certain psychological importance to those who read it. When one reads something like that, he or she translates that into where its relevant: namely one's family, and the families that he or she has had experience with. And statements like that, tells one that not only does family HAVE to take the role of being the basic building threads of society, it IS. Which means, that family, serves the bigger purpose of society, not because of some universal truth (and thats debatable too!) but simply because it has been defined to be! Which also means that it might seem wrong when family chooses to be put itself ahead of state's interest, which also means that there is no complete freedom. I think if we read up a lil on the philosophy of language, we'd probably figure this out more clearly.
Well, my side of the story is this. The statement should be' The basic unit of society is found in the concept of the family.' With that, it makes a less harsh political statement, indicating that its the concept of family, not the family, that society thrives on; and because of that, family and the rights to fulfilling duties and purposes of family (which, if necessary goes against state's interests) are perfectly justified. Now dont get me wrong, i am not dismissing patriotism as an ideal. I am just saying, that patriotism, like all other forms of loves (the love of the motherland, or the love of the spouse , which to some are both synonymous) is fundamentally inculcated from young. And while we were young, its FAMILY that taught us to love and be loved, and if we actually dismiss these roots by claiming that family MUST BE in COMPLETE conjunction with state's interests, we are being very very foolish.
My last entry on connection? In all humility, i would claim it to be a pretty good lead-in to family. What thrives in a family? Connection. Communication. Compromise. Compassion. Consideration. Cooperation. Challenge. Commitment. Clairvoyance. Creativeness.
Lets see how all these sum up.
CONNECTION is the basis behind COMMUNICATION which in time, facilitates COMPROMISE if we are people of COMPASSION and this promotes CONSIDERATION which is for the purpose of COOPERATION, which is altogether a CHALLENGE and/of COMMITMENT. CLAIRVOYANCE in this case means sensitivity, and CREATIVENESS is for the sheer fun of being family! haha cool!
Ok, sideline: went to watch pirates of the carribean with val. For all who didnt think it up to standard, please, like you could have done a better job! I thought it facilitated the entry into pirates 3 pretty well. And guess what? There's a stage setting for Singapore! And with Chow Yun Fat being singaporean pirate. hahha. pretty goofy. Anyway, its jerry bruckheimer. Its the master of effects and action sequences. Its johnny depp, coolest actor as quoted by millions of viewers, its keira knightley (nuff said). So hell yeah to pirates.
And there are tonnes of movies coming out. The Lake House is the next instalment where we FINALLY see keanu reeves and sandra bullocks reunited in a movie and its out next thurs. That is a MUST WATCH. 27th july also heralds M Night Shayamalams Lady in the Water. If u loved Sixth Sense, of the Village, or Signs, or Unbreakable, u have got to watch it. I havent, but i sure will. And click! haha Adam sandler, and Kate Beckinsale (pearl harbour, underworld). There's a uma thurman movie comin out called 'my super ex-girlfriend'. with the remarks of the poster going as such: ' He broke her heart, she broke his everything.' i thought it was pretty damn funny.
There will be more thoughts on family, i would think. But for now, my mind's more on the 5 day field camp next wk!
I realised that this blog have seemed pretty secular in nature. Its a challenge to bring in christianity into society's definitions of family. But like i said, we shouldnt be bound to such definitions. The little freedom we have left( freedom of expression or thought, if granted), should be used to explore the boundaries of freedom we arent aware of( the christianity of/in family).
Connect.
Monday, July 10, 2006
♥ Monday, July 10, 2006
Connection. You know how sometimes you can just not talk with people, and yet know that there is something in between the two of you, that makes you two happy and comfortable with each other? Its connection.
Connection is what people try to establish with other people. Language. To form a consensus on what we want to convey, we have to find a meeting point- a connection. (im trying as hard as i can not to be cheem here!) There was once a saying that love is a form of language. hmm..if we break it down to how language works as a form of connection between people, for the purpose of conveying or consensualising, we just might understand a little bit more about love.
A part of friendship, a part of family, a part of what people share between people, Love actually is one huge binding connection. Remember my entry on friendship? I din do a real gd job of elaborating the part about beauty. Where we feel loved, where we understand and yet need not go to the extent of defining, but 'feeling', where we deep in ourselves experience a certain 'knowing', thats the beauty i am talking about, thats the beauty MOST expressed, and thats the the beauty that love makes us to be. See, deep inside us, we are a mystery. But, but, if through other's eyes we get to see our own existence, and if through our own, we get to see another glimpse of ourselves, we might be able to piece together the jigsaw puzzles of who we really are, deep, deep inside. And my conviction that understanding how we connect to each other, as ourselves, can help us do that!
Actually, connections might not be so abstract after all. Its the sending and the receiving. We send the right message, the other receives and interpretes it the way it should, wala! we have a connection! Relationships are found on that premise. Relationships happen when one person decides with another, that their lives are to overlap each other, that in their personal history annals, there is gonna be a section that includes each other. The person thus becomes aware that he is now both a sender and a recipient of a very special message called friendship! And there is more. Friendship also serves as a form of connection from the self to the soul. When one remarks, ' i feel so loved! I have a friend!' (or something to that effect), one has found something true to rejoice in, no? And whats rejoicing but the leap of the soul, emerging from the depths of our hearts to the smiles on our face! See...Connection!
more implications to this idea of connections, actually. Question and Answer. Read in Yann Martel's debut book about this. That we have to make the right connections to questions and answers. For example, a women whose child have died of leukaemia might ask the question why did he die?
1) Because his disease had disabled his body's immune system.
2) Because this was meant to be.
Now before we choose to connect the answer, we must asses the message sent. 'Why did he die?' could be a question that demands a medical explanation. But we all know that that is highly unlikely. More likely would be ' why do i have to suffer this loss?' And there, making the connection to (2) would deem most appropriate. And its important to know this, for this is what being sensitive means.
And, its important to be sensitive. Just like its important to be sincere, and kind, and joyful, and loving etc etc etc. Why? Because we have a connection to make too. The connection of ourselves to a certain ideal: the authentic human being. I love this term. It means there is a mask we put on, there is a mask to take off, there is a person inside, that feels warm and real: the true self, the free self, the authentic self. How we make this connection? Donald Walsh suggested this. Look at yourself through a mirror, into your eyes, & you'll get to experience a deep inner 'thing'. As they said, the eyes are the windows to the soul, Donald Walsh took a step further, and took it
literally! But it kinda makes sense. Its in a mirror we notice ourselves, that we have a beauty to behold, we have a connection to make to the outside cold harsh and mean world, to warm and colour and beautify it.
This connection is also evident in every church camp, as facilitators, we actually are more concerned about this connection than we know. The message sent is simple: Jesus loves you. The delivery is the challenge; to connect a person and this message, to mediate an understanding and to facilitate a relationship. Wow, we as facils, have become a connection! How meaningful. And i have just had a startling revelation. If the cross was that connection between man and salvation, earth and heaven, and then we (as mentioned earlier) are to be that connection between ppl ard us and salvation, our identity lies very very much in the cross! The cross as a source of hope, the cross as our suffering, the cross as a sign of resurrection and the cross that bears the story of a crucified Christ. If we can actually realise our place in this world has so much to do with the history of this world (of 2000 years and way back with salvation being the theme), and that the history of this world is so that we love our place in this world( being instruments for God's greater glory), we can then begin loving, and sharing this world together.
11th of july 06. I have made a quiet connection. Between me and God. Between me and da jie. Between da jie and God. We'll see how that goes. But i chose to start it where i was feeling the most lukewarm about life. Because i know that my conviction will no longer lie on emotional highs, or some epiphany.
And i got a message to send. To you. You who think you arent interesting. There is something i've gotta say. There are probably connections you've got to make as well! heh connect to this: There are tonnes of things abt you tt are pretty damn interesting actually, if only you noticed. But since we sorta share some 'sensitive' history, if i go into detail, u might misinterpret it and shucks, our friendship gotta start from sorry scratch again. But to put it in a nutshell, you're a pretty colourful person. From the time i started knowing ya to now, it's seem to leave me with an impact tt can only be described as 'colourful'. And its enjoyable knowing ya. So, if ur wondering why a million ppl are talkin to ya (as on tt day on msn?), the 'colour' you bring to people could just be it.
So, we might come to realise, connections play a greater role than we know. And thats why it makes me pretty upset too when i hear that i am cheem. cuz it means that there is a broken connection somewhere, in between the message i wanna send, and the message you received.
Current Affairs: for the first time.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
♥ Thursday, July 06, 2006
Pyongyang to the world: Beware. I aint just a piece of green on the map anymore.
Looked through the Straits Times and was suddenly moved to do a personal take on things happening in this world. Particularly on the North Korean side, haha.
When i was abt sec 1, i began collecting newspaper articles pertaining to this 'war'. I had a certain fascination about weapons in my younger days. And guess what i dug up now? That the nuclear program in Pyongyang began way, way back. It seemed as if they never really wanted political stability in the first place. Though the Taepodong-2 launch was a failure, it still echoed what was about 10 years back: that their dying need to establish itself as a political identity in the nuclear world is continuing. And thats a scary thought. Remember M.A.D? Remmeber the Cold War?
M.A.D stands for Mutually Assured Destruction. Simply, its when countries start stockpiling weapons of such force that when one country decides to use it, destruction is mutually assured to both. Seems like history is only for those who cant fail to see its repetition. World War 2 resides in us probably like nothing ever did. So, the world is at a dilemma, continue making appeasement, or begin an aggressive attempt to stop the aggressor? Seems ironic that one has to become the aggressor to keep the peace intact. Or, (yes definitely came to mind), use the United Nations to tell Pyongyang to cool off?
Right, the UN. Dont get me started. I was horrified at the UN's 'intervention' in Rwanda's massacre. So much for the world's police and safekeeping. Its like you intervene, after the tragedy, wearing your blue caps to tell the world to be safe, after like ten thousand atrocities are committed, after the world becomes resigned to the sad fate it belongs to. And that, people believe in the newspaper or tabloids that peace is actually restored?? No, you see peace in more ordinary days actually, when people dont speak retrospectively of loss.
So, the world's answer? Patriot. I meant missiles. Patriotism in today's context have been demeaned to who would dare to push the button and suffer worldwide condemnation for the outbreak of the next epidemic or world war. Yes, missiles. Antimissile-missile. Ah! The sheer stupidity of it. Like antivirus-virus. This is a world where people refuse to see the anarchy it already is in. Where responsibility is conveniently ignored, because it does so no economic or social good to itself. As if peace is no longer any virtue to fight for. Thats what patriotism have fell into the category of; benefits. Monetary or recognition or political, there have to be something 'in it' for them.
I am speaking of power. The power of Voice. The power of the voices whom the world shudder at. Those who can say definitively what it means to have peace. All one has to begin with, is a disarmament. Is it really so bad? Is it a myopic attempt to stop peace? HAve u read the book Arc Light? A tiny mistake from some rogue general and the world spirals into abyss. Sounds possible? Sounds familiar? And of course, lets jolt back some nostalgic desperation from Michael Jackson's cry to the world, " Heal the world, make it a better place for you and for me and the entire human race. There are people dying, if u care enough for the living..."
Where people see division, i see provision. And thats important. In the perceived 'division' of religions, i see a common call to peace. A common call to truce. Most importantly, a common call, with a common voice. Regardless of god or deity, people know what they want. And guns pointing at each other is not it. This is provision. We are providing what we call a means. A means to the end, and the end is liberation. Where the common voice is no longer heard, its understood and lived. At sept 11, people began to acknowledge the reality of that common voice. At suffrages, at movements, we all see common voices! Voices that cry for tolerance, for peace, for understanding, for forgiveness.
The outrage of communism, nazism, fascism all led to a certain evolution that democracy have become. So the world does have its share of improvements and credibility. And with that credibility comes a certain hope. But hope, without further action, is fruitless. You, leaders, who have become so self-absorbed with power; get past yourself for one solitary second and you can see the immense truth in my message. Albert Einstein revealed this, regretfully,"i have no idea what the 3rd world war would be, but the 4th would be back to people fighting with stones and spears."
Democracy. And whats on the other side of the spectrum? Chaos? Anarchy? No. Terrorism. People dismantle people not with riots or bombs, but with ideologies. Terrorism has become an ideology, no longer a facade of what extreme religions are. To promote terror, for sheer terror's sake? Sounds pretty damn stupid to me. Democracy is the people's power. Well, it definitely aint perfect, but rather give this power to the despotism of terrorism? You must be nuts! When u see the mercilessness of attacks, or the Holocaust, or murder, you will realise that the ideology of terrorism is so self absorbed, the people in it achieves no distinct self gratification
, only absorbtion. I perhaps have addressed too superficially your ideology of terror. But im entitled to my point of view, so... :)
See, if we begin dismantling political ideologies to its crux, i wont deny it maybe fundamentally good. But what happened? Gee..historians would shudder at this, i'd think. There're tonnes of arguments on what actually went wrong, they probably would go to war over it. :) George Orwell's Animal Farm began with the idea that people just wanted to be equal. Equality as the common ground, as the common voice, and as the common goal. But, people's uniqueness demanded 'more' equality. There begins the sad onslaught of despotism, and dictatorship. With that, comes less equality, sadly. Seemed that Stalin was such a cold leader, he had a child's father shot for the sheer vanity of it.
We all shall see. Communism's the past. Terrorism's the present. We're all hoping Democracy's the future. But, as i said, we all shall see.
We have Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Bush, Blair, Saddam, Mao Zedong, Kruschev on one hand. We have Wilde, Marx, Tolstoy, Dostovyevsky, Kundera, Pope John Paul and the Nobel Peace Prize on another. The world's fate lies thinly on whose hand is heavier, who has more say and who establishes this demand more effectively.
The theory of Friends.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
♥ Sunday, July 02, 2006
I began with an indecisive nature: should it be poetic? or philosophic? or comic? Maybe, it wil be a mixed. I do not know; I will just blabber what needs to be blabbered. But i urge you, if you should ever summon such energy to read my nonsense, read it through completely and clearly. I am hoping to make an impression, thats undeniable, and i believe in the moments to come, i will.
This months' theme is friends. And that coincidentally happens to be the title of my favourite series. But thats what i call
nonsensical coincidence. Somehting that has no meaning even in identifying the case where it is or is not a coincidence. Semantics= the study of meaning. We'll do that today.
Heard a lil from Janice, that theories have to come from theses and hypotheses. Well, to tell the truth, i dont wanna bore you, and i dont really know how each is different. So lets move on shall we?
Friends, the topic of eternity. Friends, the question of who is and who isnt, what is and what isnt, and finally an existential question that eludes us all, but one that perpetually nags at us like a pissed off wasp; who are we? Michael W. Smith made a certain attempt in "Friends are Friends Forever", and then Vitamin C tried to echo that in "Graduation Song"..so on and so forth, but we arrive at something from the depths of 2000 years, in the Bible, yea you've got to know that phrase, " there's no greater love than a man laying his life down for his friend".
See, i forgot that while we deal with so heavy a topic we have got to talk in metaphors and analogies. Our language is grossly limited by what we call the un-tapped intellect, where truth resides and love speaks. We therefore got to come out with a miracle. Like the one in Keeping Faith (160606) by Jodi Picoult, about a young girl who doesnt even knows the faith, and develops stigmata. An atheist newscaster gets converted and another fantastic lawsuit. Loved the book. (thanks da jie!) What is this miracle i speak of? Metaphors. The ability to convey a message via a completely different and exclusive message.
"there's no greater love than a man laying his life down for his friend". Mere Christianity (230606) by C.S Lewis does deal with this. Either this man (Jesus) is nuts, or he is really who he say he is! Between a man and his friend, this
other person( Jesus, again) comes, intervenes and gives us a glimpse on what love is, what life is, and what a FRIEND is. Would i lay my life for Val? Or Evelyn? Or people in my platoon im growing close to? I cannot answer. What i can do is to feel. But is that fresh, raw superficiality? I just don think so. And between you and me, i feel for them. I feel close, i feel that in the millions of people that walk us by in our lives, i exist.
Maybe, just maybe, (of course everything lies in mere speculation until we reach at the end of our lives when we get to see the fresh, raw superficiality of truth?) this is what God is talking about! What is a friend? Someone whom in his or her eyes echo the depths of us, telling us that we are someone to them, and that in our inadequate understanding and spacing of love, we do occupy a tiny portion. If all of us are mirrors, then our friends are that which we get to see our reflection, most beautifully. Now, beautiful here, must become the miracle of a metaphor. I am not speaking of a literal beauty as what u would think movie stars are, but how the sunset, or the mountains and skies look 'beautiful'. (unless of course you go by Oscar Wilde's weird, homosexual philosophies:)) The meaning of beauty is strictly that pertaining to one's soul. Semantics here is imperative. The meaning of beauty is indeterminate. By our history? by our relationship with Jesus? By our daily choices? Yes. We all have a responsibilty to think, for the banal reason that we can. And we will know, in a poem, or some poetic chance, where our beauty lie.
And there's a world on friends right? (what exactly is this world i speak of? A world bound by perception, by dreams, by illusions. A world of the cognitive and responsive.) Misunderstandings, forgiveness, jokes, relationships, loss, grieve, understanding, love, fun, joy, laughter...and the list goes on. We all know how important friends are, even a pretty lousy cynic like me knows tat. Lousy because my philosophies waver with the times and feelings.. A good cynic, simply
is cynical. Anyway, the question today isnt how important friends are, since thats ardy established. The question today is. Ands thats it. Its so open-ended, we wanna ask whether we have our answers, have we just stopped at questions? Or more seriously, have we stopped
before asking, even? Thats the world i am talking about. A world that leaves one to do so much discovery, we had better start before we
expire ( in italics for being quoted by Fr Gerard).
I went out with Alvin, Kelly, Kenny, Cheryl, Jason and Jeanette for some run. Consider the beauty; 7 different individuals ( all of course askjing the same questions in different metaphoric manners) seeking in each other, a refleciton of themselves, in more ways than we might think, ina single run, on a blazing hot day, and eventually leaves with a slight inexpressible glimpse of what we call, FRIENDS. Dont get me wrong, its not at all sarcasm. Its truth. We must rightfully attach good significance of any given circumstance to avoid plunging into the deep dark waters of cynicism.
Immortality(010706) by Milan Kundera does not so much deal with friendships, but more identity. The search of oneself. He's books are sometimes pretty cheem. But i just read and revel in the sheer genius that it is. Now, this is poetic coincidence- Immortality also happens to be the name of the song performed by Bee Gees and Celine Dion. ' We dont say goodbye..with all my love for you, in all that we may do.. we dont say goodbye." With immortality, comes the idea of death, definitely. There's this german poem i memorised "On all hilltops, there is peace; in all treetops you will hear hardly a breath, birds in the woods are silent, just wait, soon, you will find rest." The morbidity of it is overwhelming. But more i feel that its meaning lies with inevitablity of death. And with inevitablity, comes panic, and comes question. The questions i've been marking in the earlier stanzas, that asks one who, in the vast world you are exposed to, is a friend? Yes, in all our love, our mark of immortality lies in the people we refuse to say goodbye.
I have my marist friends, i have my church friends, i have my army friends. (using bimbotic means to express oneself, is actually quite something. :) ) There arent criterias for friends. Maybe, the criteria is in chance, in coincidence. I am not here to give answers. I never, ever am. I am here so that in telling you, i become aware that there are answers out there, for us to keep a firm grasp on once we find.
And if you are reading this, although i do not know you, i shall tell you i love you. You might be a friend i know, or i am close to, or are just in the sphere of this blog and this message. But regardless, i love you. The theory of friends is really, this. We love. And we shall to the point of death, for without love, you and i wont even have a death to be at the point of.
"Immortality...ill keep the memory of you and me, inside..."- Celine Dion.
