As a conscious being, I am burdened with negative thoughts, with thinking in general. Why is this the case? It is the curse (or blessing) of being alive, I maintain. When we are adolescents, we often hear about the concept of personal freedom — of free will. (1) I can, ultimately, decide what I want to do with my life. This is initially tempered by the authority figures: our parents, our family, and our teachers, to name but a few. We say to ourselves, soon we will be independent, free, and able to throw off these shackles of control. Not true, unfortunately: as we age and gain more experience in life, our options and possibilities are increasingly limited by the choices we have already made or those that have been thrust upon us. I am a certain sex, born into a particular family with a level in society, I have a given intelligence and I have studied distinct subjects at school, etc. These are my unchangeable givens at this time. (2)
Continue reading How do I understand my negative thoughts?
Does my appearance matter?
The other day, one of my young students asked me, “Does my The other day, one of my young students asked me, “Does my appearance really matter?” The answer is irrefutable — yes, of course! As we all know, we live in an extremely informal age. People don’t seem to enjoy “natty” attire or a sophisticated look. Why you may ask? I think, ultimately, it has to do with a lessening or a weakening of people’s appreciation for the exterior world — we don’t pay attention — we are bored and really don’t care! (1) We are fooling ourselves, unfortunately. The problem is one of fatigue.
Continue reading Does my appearance matter?
You deserve a day of glee
When was the last time that you felt a day of unbridled delight – a period of pure glee – it has been a long time, hasn’t it? It is the same for all of us. We are, seemingly, caught in this web of negativity. It is at a point, I feel, that we must begin to reflect on why we are exposed to so much bad news. (1) Is the world in really that dire a condition? The truth is that for vast amounts of people, reality today is, potentially, far more interesting and attractive than in our historical past. (2) The possibilities are endless. Yes, there are challenges in the future. Some even of an apocalyptic nature, but are we to live out our 80 or 90 years in this state of fear? I think not.
Continue reading You deserve a day of glee
The excitement and joy of travel
Many pundits say that one of the hardest aspects of the recent pandemic has been the cessation of physical travel. (1) Most individuals have been isolated in their native country if not in their own home. This has led to a collapse of the worldwide travel industry and a re-evaluation of the concept of internationalism (2) and a borderless world. In addition, The Internet has left us with the fallacious belief that this loss may not actually be that severe because we can “virtually” travel, in any case. Florence, Barcelona, or Paris are only a click away. This digital reality is much like any B-grade movie. It titillates and adumbrates the edges of the experience, but it cannot provide the real phenomenon. Proponents of VR technology assure us, however, that soon our holographic voyage will actually mirror the “genuine episode,” and vice versa. (3)
Continue reading The excitement and joy of travel
Be excited and respect yourself!
How are you doing — it is a busy life isn’t it? We are so overwhelmed with the minutiae of life that it is hard to “sit back” and reflect on who I am and where am I going. Certainly, everyone in the marketplace knows my profile and what I need. To this end, we are pushed to consume, consume, and consume yet again. The whole process of an education appears to simply be a way that I can become a purchaser of goods. Due to the advent of the Internet and demographic studies, your “acquiring standard” is analyzed down to the smallest detail. (1)
Continue reading Be excited and respect yourself!
DISMISS THE SMALL INDIGNITIES
Have you ever experienced those upsetting moments – what I like to call the small indignities? You know the ones I mean. The petty insults and the condescension generated by the frustrated, the forlorn, and the disenfranchised – and you are on “the receiving end.” Of course, you have – we all have. You try to return an item and the store won’t take it back because it was on sale – unbeknownst to you. The broken item that can’t possibly be fixed because it is discontinued and the government worker who has decided to make your life unnecessarily tedious. The list goes on and on. What do we do about these insults to me and my being?
Continue reading DISMISS THE SMALL INDIGNITIES
We must learn to be thankful
Life is, seemingly, such a raging river, isn’t she? (1) It is hard to stop for a quick moment and reflect on just how lucky we are – on a personal level, I have a lot to be thankful for. Whatever my life circumstances, I have already won the cosmological lottery: I am alive and part of the human race. We are told that the chances of being born as me are incalculable – beyond true calculation. (2)
Continue reading We must learn to be thankful
Why are you so sad?
The thought that life is a competitive race is a common theory held by many. Two ideas are implicit in this belief and these, I contend, can only produce sadness and a sense of loss. The one is that you must be aggressive and “win at life.” This begins in school, continues at university, and is a tacit understanding of your working time. The other is that existence is fast and fleeting. It is a finite period of consciousness, isn’t it – filled with short-lived moments of joy? Most of our experiences only reinforce this view. Our cities are overwhelmed with mechanical devices and peripatetic people. We are busy, busy, busy, and take little time to ponder and reflect – numerous people are unhappy because of their lifestyle and yet can’t or won’t change.
Continue reading Why are you so sad?
Efficiency
Recently, I had an experience when I entered a bank to change a bank card. The concept of efficiency is not something that most bureaucracies understand. I thought, however, that simply replacing a piece of plastic with another slice of polymer would be a relatively straightforward matter. This was not to be the case, unfortunately. In these matters, I am always prepared with sundry and important documents that attest to your nationality and legal status, etc. For this particular situation, however, I carry a rare piece of identification that most foreigners in Taiwan do not have.
Continue reading Efficiency
Contentment
Those moments of peace and contentment in a person’s life are few and far between. This is a very common belief and the Buddha tells us that this view is actually true; at least this is how his words could be approximated. (1) You would think, however, that since we are no longer covered in lice and ticks and sores and boils, and we live relatively long lives, that happiness would, at the very least, be on the ascendant. We should be happier today than we were, say, 100 years ago. The opposite is true, unfortunately. (2)
Continue reading Contentment