在經驗豐富的人面前，我常覺得十分地謙卑。幾天前，我有機會和一群教育者吃午餐，他們有著不同的專長，包含一位數學老師、一位小提琴家、一位英文老師等等，我很自然地開始與語文老師交談，她最近到加爾各答的傳教士慈善團體當義工。德雷莎修女(1910-1997)是創辦人，影響力而後擴展到世界各地。在餐廳，這年輕女士表達極大的感激之情，讓她有機會真正的奉獻她的時間、力量去服務他人，她表達一個獨一無二的感謝形式是知識：感謝是以領悟為基礎，藉由幫助他人而獲得智慧。這個禮物是獨特的，因為純潔必須不依慣例：不求回報。現今在西方國家最重大的疾病不是肺結核或痲瘋病，而是不被需要、不被喜愛、不被關心。我們可以用藥物治療身體的疾病，但只有愛能治癒孤單、絕望。在世界上有很多人死於一塊麵包，但是有更多的人死於一點點愛。在西方國家，貧窮是一個不同種類的貧窮，它不僅缺少孤單，而且缺乏靈性，渴望得到愛如同渴望上帝。在西方國家，我們有一個傾向是以利益為導向，那裡每件事情是根據結果而被測量，而且我們陷入越來越積極產生結果。在東方國家，尤其是印度，我發現人們很滿足的坐在榕樹下閒聊半天，我們西方人也許稱這是浪費時間，但是它是有幫助的。和一些人在一起，沒有時間限制的傾聽以及沒有預期的結果，是在教導我們關於愛。愛的成功是在愛，不是愛的結果。
個人的喜悅 Personal Joy
對我的朋友來說，我似乎是個有點難以取悅的人，我覺得當你到60歲時，這是一個應得的敬語。然而，在我的心中，我是一個愛與和平的人。我比較勇往直前，是對我的行為誤解的處治。在任何特定的情況，我總是期待最糟的結果出現，當然，它從來沒有實現，但是我仍然凖備好了。我總是相信使一個人殘廢，這不是短暫的喜悅，而是長期的疼痛與災難。一些破壞性的失敗，它阻礙你或限制你長期的成功，而你如何戰勝，是最後對你的評量。你必須預料事情發生在生活中，生命是無常的，我仍然無法忘懷乞丐在巴黎地下鐵的影像。作為一個大地的居民，你有權利居住在一個不酗酒的生活，但為什麼你要採取這個選擇呢？沒有簡單的答案。這是一個可以解釋的案例，可能是心理的疾病。然而，在廣大多數的個案，我相信那是單純的缺乏“籌備和再次執行”。我不把這個稱為怠惰，只是心靈的疲憊。
不存在 Nothingness
假如一個人短暫的瞬間陷入新聞報導，只有純粹的恐怖行動。事實上，沒有什麼事是正向或充滿希望的。當我坐著，我們對於法國發生的災難感到不知所措，以及察覺恐怖主義者的威脅恐嚇潛伏在每個街燈柱下。最近當地我們見到四個人被砍死於大眾捷運系統，這屠殺了一個小學生在她所屬學校區域範圍內的權利。你藉著思考著這個世界已經完全的瘋了而被寬恕，”沒有”是你唯一的錯誤信念問題。地球如今是安全並接納歷年來的世界歷史。我們的文明是親切、溫柔的，大多數的人試著解決非常現實的問題並為了全部生活型態而製造一個誘人的地方，然而為什麼我感覺不到保障及安全？為什麼在我內心仍感到如此恐懼。
Perception
我常常提醒自己，這個世界由我自己創造，假使我想活在正向意念的生活，我可以；假使我想活在沮喪失敗中，我也可以：我將隨意的支配。話雖如此，我總是對我奇特的想像力有興趣。近來歐洲的暴力事件呈現，讓我納悶它就像活在他們晚期的19世紀，有比較好嗎？乍看之下，它呈現一個更和平的地方，全球文化及優點的頂峰。當然，許多視為理所當然的裝置才剛開始存在，包括現代的汽車(1886年被卡爾‧賓士創造)、電話(1876年亞歷山大‧格拉漢姆‧貝爾取得專利權)以及飛機(1903萊特兄弟第一次成功飛行)。從一個歷史的觀點，這個時期有如實地被描繪嗎？它優於我們當今的時代嗎？對於高階的事物，無疑地是好太多了。首先，你的學校教育是極優於一般人。第二，你的晉升機會，在軍隊及政府官僚都是優秀的，高等教育的男士(總是男士)被派駐到世界各地，它是一次極大的冒險。
Life Matters!
When I first came to Taiwan, I was impressed with the heat and the insects, especially the cockroaches. I had virtually never seen such a bug before. What I remarked on was that they were much like water: ubiquitous, they were everywhere.
The Answer
Last week, was “my week of everything.” My computer, at the most urgent of moments, began to make a curious humming sound. This increased to a piecing crescendo and then, with a belated shudder, stopped. “No worries,” I remarked to myself. “I have my phone.” I was busy and work ended in the wee hours of the morning. At home in bed, I glanced over at the device nuzzled next to me on my night table: I was safe. Sadly, when I awoke, there was a command on its screen: “Type in your Android Password.” Now, I don’t have an android password and, to be honest, I don’t even know what that means. All my attempts at restarting the phone failed. Totally nonplussed, I was forced to conduct a class totally digitally naked: I had no electronic crutches whatsoever: humbling to say the least. I succeeded and thus realized that all this technology is but a modern Jean Passepartout, (1) nothing more. On my way to the office, I stopped at the electronic shop. Thinking that it was simply a misplaced command, I nervously proffered the phone and gingerly, and sheepishly, presented the problem. After feverishly pushing numerical and alphabetical buttons and having the mobile emit various burps and buzzes, the technician looked at me with a disgusted glare of incredulity. “In my ten years in the cell phone industry, I have never encountered this problem,” he announced. I am a technical Luddite and seem to have that effect on devices. The next series of conversations resulted in terms such as “unheard of, motherboard, irreparable and words of that ilk.” I felt crestfallen, to say the least. Then I was reminded of the age old adage attributed to King Solomon in second Corinthians: to paraphrase – “This too shall pass.” (2) And pass it did. Within a week, my computer was running as if no problem had every existed and my “smart phone” was as clever as ever, maybe even cleverer.
Your body
Like many people, I go to a gym. My body is not young, so like all machines, its elements are subjected to “wear and tear.” I have a lot of respect for my corporeality and I know that it is a finite entity; therefore, it must be protected and preserved. I am one of the club’s older members, so I am left with the opinion that most of us have given up the fight against our aging body: that being said, countless stomachs protrude unnecessarily. I, on the other hand, believe that with a little nurturing, we can live continue to live active and fulfilling lives well into our latter years. This also includes our intellectual activities. Our mind is much like a muscle, the more we keep it limber, the stronger its elasticity. Attending any youthful rock concert or art exhibit is enough to snap you back fifty years to your youth: great fun – though hard on the senses, especially the ears. I recently went to one such activity and found myself at the very front row. I had to defend my position from a crush of eager attendees, all wanting to seek a better view of the stage. Having fended off the attackers, I was able to “enjoy” the following three hours of musical onslaught. The lingering result of the valiant defense of my locale was that I was virtually deaf for the following three days. But as Franz Kafka (1883-1924) reminds us,” Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”
Continue reading Your body
If I could change the world, I would…
Most people conclude the phrase; “If I could change the world, I would …” with, “I don’t know!” The immediate question that is called to mind is, why not? The “why not” is because most of us truly feel powerless in our reality. Once again, we must ask the question: “Who creates this reality?” the succinct and somewhat tragic answer is, “I do!” Now to be fair, we are overwhelmed with trivia and it fully blinds us from any introspection whatsoever; but, are we not “fighters?” Did we not build our societies on the efforts of those who had come before? This is a clarion call to all fair-minded individuals to embark on a path of thought and introspection. We must not be fooled by the digital juggernaut that threatens to cripple us, both intellectually and spiritually. It is time to think!
Faith & Hope
Faith: In Western culture, our churches and synagogues are empty. They were, of course, once filled to overflowing – gushing forth humanity at the close of the service. Was faith any stronger then than it is now? Attendance at a religious service is certainly on the decline: but survey after survey shows that we are a searching lot. (1)
The Struggle
Do you remember when you were extremely young and you wanted to accomplish a mission or project? I recall a very traumatic experience when my little pedal-car got stuck in a mud hole. I couldn’t go forward nor go back. I did not want to leave the miniature vehicle because that would sully my shoes: even at an early age, my parents had instilled me with the concept that clean shoes constituted a gentleman. I was forced to maneuver the car backwards and forwards. Finally, it broke free and I was propelled across the gravel driveway, almost hitting a tree. I had learned Newton’s Third Law of Motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. (1) I was lucky that I didn’t experience the real result of the axiom