Pathway Source

Received a phone call from an old auntie today. I picked up the phone, wished her happy new year, and she said not happy, and hung up. I called her back, talked to her, and she told me that old uncle had just left her. At that moment, I didn't know what to say.

I met this pair of couple 1.5 years ago at Kopitiam Plaza Singapura. They were having their lunch, I talked to them, and managed to get their address. I bought a kopitiam card worth $25, and mailed it to them. We became friends since, and they always invited me to their house for a meal, as a token of appreciation. Few months back, auntie and uncle went to nuskin for a antioxidant scan, and I served them by giving lifepak for auntie to take. Her score went up after 2 months. In all, I met them less than 10 times, but just now auntie bothered to call me and tell me about it. I'm touched, yet feel the deep grieve and pain that auntie is going through. Losing your lifelong partner just when you needed him the most is not an easy thing to bear.

Looking at the people around me, I know that they won't be there forever, neither will I. A deep resolve to make life easier for the person next to me, to be in service, and to honour the life and person right in front of me surfaces. I don't know how long I'll live, how long other people will, all that I care is at this moment, we connect as human beings.

Uncle and auntie, I honour your love for each other, your care for me, and I will never forget the dinner you all prepared for me at your house. Farewell.

Guys,

This is a must!!!

Take a look at this website

http://www.youtube.com/davos

If you are wondering what is the Davos Debate, It is a long held session of debates ranging from the economic crisis to the issues in Gaza.

Attended by the leaders of the world and well known luminaries (coelho, dennet im sure you will find people you will like), this will give a great insight of the minds of these people and arguments arising from these.



Love you all

Hey Guys,

Please take a look at this website, a rather novel idea..i think. It does not matter if it isnt novel. I can't care less about it. What i like it the way it leverage on social mediums, and the best social aggregator is the internet.

Take a look at what they are doing. Awesome idea, i do not know if it is successful( i was too excited to show you guys, i forgo the effort to at least scratch the surface a little bit deeper), but lets explore this for enough talk. :)

http://www.socialvibe.com/

love you all

Trust my body to react to my new journey of exploring purification, i am down with the flu. How the individual consciousness tries to sabotage real change, don't you find it difficult every time you try to make a significant shifts in your life. Stopping smoking, routine exercise, studying and the like, always seem so difficult to start, and when you have a resolve to begin, something comes up, to wrestle you off your path. Agreed?

It is like your whole world conspires to stop you from moving by placing a thick concrete and steel wall in your way and points it's finger and laughs. But this is all good, cause it is your test of virtue, your test of courage and focus, to see if you really want to make that jump, to transcend all that is holding you back, one has to find away to jump over the wall. I remember a quote from my favorite warrior teacher, Carlos Castaneda .

"Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls, but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over walls; they don't demolish them"

So when i read both your post, ChangLiang and Kelveen, i relate and i feel the struggle, the feeling of being chained and the anger that dwells within my shadow when i read about the atrocities of selfish men. I feel you guys.

But think about this, if the struggle to improve oneself is already so abundant with pitfalls and walls, think about what the collective conscious will present itself when we really start going against the status quo? This journey isn't an easy one, and you are right ChangLiang, there is no end in sight - no inherent goal to be achieved. It is a fight that will not be realized in this lifetime, however, i believe what we do, sets the precedent for the next batch and the next, like the ripples on a pond caused when you throw a pebble in it.

My studies have brought me to this juncture, every society, every culture, every advancement be it enlightenment or technology has always and will always be an "emergent" one. (Definition of Emergent - Wiki) So take heart my journeymen, use that anger, filled up your heart with that claustrophobia and use that energy which society labels as wrong to create love, to fill this world with peace and to bring light to the unawaken, to the scared and to the dis-empowered. Embrace the sickness so that we can heal it...

I for one am healing this flu.....

Love,
The pebble

First off, Chan Liang, i think your words has crept into my being, and have made me grown so much by reading it. It is really amazing.

Thank you, you post has inspired me. Keep it up.

I have just bought a magazine, National Geographic Magazine. I think it is the best magazine that offers the most conprehensive information about the world, culture, animals, nature and beyond.

This special magazine was about the 50 year aniversary of space flight. Observing the pictures (must i say it was high quality) and i was stunned. It was amazing, and that very moment, i felt i was a speck of a massive enormous system that is beyond my imagine. Among the milky way, the planets, the moment you can cover the whole of Earth with your thumb, imagine how perspective can change.

This particular sentence particular hit home...
'' Space travel can be proclaimed as the biggest achievement in human history. Why?


1. It took genius to master the theory of Space travel

2. Nation Will (and tax payers money)

3. Amazing vision, with perfect political timing


Something unusual isnt it.





I close my eyes, and think of the possibilities.,..and say why not....


Now read this article - http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/28/2476679.htm?section=justin

and i grow disgusted. Why!!!!

Forgive me, but that is just only one of the articles. Ive been reading more accounts of this story, and believe this, this is tame as it gets.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGNAU200811178165
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-01-26-voa42.cfm
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&safe=off&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7RNWN&q=thailand+refugees&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=news_group&resnum=1&ct=title

What is going on...really??

I place my palms together, and i pray and wish, for better times, for a unified action,

to human rights...to environment, to animals, in the very least, for ourselves. I am beginning to hang my head in shame. I want to do something, i need to do something. I have no respect for that i see and allow. I have to sense of decency. It is the freaking 21st century, and we are no different to slavery in the medieval. Just different ways.

I feel chained.

I know it's a really strong word, but it describes aptly what I'm feeling right now. The task ahead seems to be so huge, so massive, and it seems almost an impossibility to get there. Poverty, hunger, malnutrition, slavery, genocides, war, rape all seems like an insurmountable wall. It seems far away, totally irrelevant to my current livelihood, totally untouched by it, yet because I care, I want to do something about it.

It seems like a war against evil, or is it a journey of awakening? Are we fighting people on the other side, or are we giving our lives and passion to awaken and shine light? The battle against my mind seems ever stronger than before, I sense its reluctance to let go, and relinquish control. As I awaken further, it fights back even stronger.

I feel chained because there are so many external voices, and external pressures which is non supportive. Or perhaps I'm giving them too much power and control. Dennet, like you always said, we live in a society of fast paced, instant gratification, quick results. The ability to appreciate fine and 'small' things in life has diminished, replaced by unsatisfaction, frustration, and angst.

In the movie, Last Samurai, there's a quote, "You can spend a lifetime looking for a cherry blossom, and it will not be a life wasted." Maybe the cherry blossom that I'm looking for is the World Peace, the elimination of hunger, the cessation of wars, the equality among all beings, but I have forgotten that the search and pursuit of it, which is where I am now, gives me more than actually finding it.

This last meeting, we reset the context and rigor of what we are about. Chang Liang is right, when he mentions about it casing away any doubts. So I feel renewed, i feel soft yet resolved to keep discipline and honor in our practice.

This journey isn't an easy one. I know, cause i am in it. The difficultly for me, is really keeping us going forward. The Activist life is a deeply grounded one, there is a lot of discipline that lays the foundation, but also courage and fierce passion for the love in his heart. (There is no other way to live, there really is no other. "Love is a labor, but i know i will slave till the end. ") He leads his life with this stand, where mortality is insignificant. He understands the necessities of this world, like money and status, that may bring added benefit to his cause, but he surpasses those niceties and dwells into the essential.

You see tools and resources may be important, but like an old warrior adage, "the mind, body and spirit is all one needs." Our wit, our creativity and our courage to do the impossible are the only tools and resources we need to ignite a serious change of mindsets and lifestyle, in building a world filled with compassion, honor and love.

But it starts with me, with us and with you.

Nothing great was ever achieved from small efforts or luck, but with a great deal of courage, discipline and hard work.

So we have daily and weekly practices that support our growth and spirit, we honor ourselves and the stand we make by being dedicated to the small incognito steps - the pathway that will get us there.

The meeting today solidified some of my doubts and gave a context with which we can operate.

Who doesn't have problems? However, the difference between a true master (or an activist) and an ordinary folk is that the master has a stand, and he lives it. Everyday, every minute, every moment. "I" no longer come across consequential. How I serve matters. Studies, work, relationship issues and all have been bugging, and grips on like a mimosa. But of what significance are they in the bigger communal or societal realm, much less mention the cosmic realm. Yet, I devote so much energy, worry, concern about handling these problems, and getting them out of the way, not knowing that I'm actually standing in the midst of a mimosa plain. So, walk to the edge, and get out of the field.

An activist lives from a stand, and is unwavering about it. And i really mean immovable. Rock static. It is then that these problems no longer present themselves as problems, but a passing phase carried sooner or later away by the wind. I stand for love, for equality, and for greatness in people. So guys, let's just make a decision to cut the wimpy bullshit away from our lives, and dedicate to living deliberately.

Truly pathway,
Chang Liang