Stoics…The saving Grace

If ever the stoics had it their way, I believe that this world would be a reigning Buddhist kingdom with widespread “love-dovey” inspirations as our laws.

Famously known for their firm belief.. Stoicism has been known for having systems which are pretty much irrefutable yet silly in nature.Well, nicely placed they stood by one law: If God cannot be proven (and we aren’t saying he can’t), can we discredit him? See, the stoics nicely threaded the middle-line between belief and non-belief. They knew since the pre-Socratic era, that it was not their place to disregard or wage a war with religion but just to provide man-kind with the liberation and freedom of thoughts. Yet in this very age, being a stoic is a condemned choice and truly shameful among the main beliefs system.’ Atheism’ is the brand one would go by. Or more precisely, Practical Atheism.

Now, the question to ask in this very troubled time is 1): Why is being a stoic such a curse in these very troubled times? What do we have to attribute to that?

Simply, all we have got to do is to analyse the potential threats being waged against mankind. From civil wars, to social instability to political turmoil to greedy ambitions to the recent terrorism .When faced with uncertainty, pain and troubled times, we have been known to turn to agencies to ease up our burdens and to garner strength. Sadly, our very saviours have been there waiting to leech of our emotions. And in all these eras, religion has been the salvation of our forefather and as well as the damnation.

So seeing that religion is tightly coiled around humanity, it is apparent that the ‘snake’ hisses at anything else that comes near its prey.T he idea of stoicism, no matter how true or how comforting, does not in any way appeal to religions anymore.Well, there may have been a time where stoicism being a branch of philosophy was used to supplement Christianity and Islam. It was way more popular during the Confucius Era. Yet now, being a stoic simply means, you are neither here nor there. People live by absolutes and thus, seeing a person who threads both the lines of religion and non-belief, worries them. It’s simply discomforting to have one without a belief to be truly happy, after all that is the gift for having a belief/religion and not vice-versa.

 

However, if anyone were to look at the core of our systems/belief we would find stoicism deeply embedded inside. Basically religion follows the view of Aristotle that everything ends up in a cycle. Existence was never of nothing and never does it end up in nothing. The circle of life and what-so-ever. However to supplement that very belief we have to answer one Question:

Then, what about God? He has to be created too.?His existence has to be from something and not nothing. If yes, then firstly, it makes ‘God’ lose his grandeur and his Omni-potency. He She would not be that grand or appealing anymore and that would normalise him and make him even more human. He would share a similar trait with us: Birth.Infact,that thought itself distrupts our very core.

Yet, if the answer is No: That, God was there before time and He was of nothing. Then, that conflicts against our very true beliefs. What about the circle of life?And that is where most of us adopt the second tier belief that,yes God is Omni-potent and he was never created.Now,we have two conflicting ideas which surprisingly complements and tightens our beliefs.

So against our better judgement,we still are stoics but just of a milder version.

Change People…Just change

If you had bothered reading recent articles,you would have definitely noticed the big who-ha on Steve Job’s health issue.His recent appearance to unveil the MacBook Air and Iphone 2.0 left many people with gaping mouths.While analysts and stockbrokers were gaping at something else entirely.The stick thin Steve Job reminded them of someone with a waning health and that meant ‘Danger’.

While having survived pancreatic cancer(operated on 2004),he never entirely regained his jovial/happy aura that once filled his signature turtle necks.Now,however,many are even wondering whether he is healthy enough to lead his company and that dramatics of that.

Next in line,would be Bill Gate’s departure from Microsoft.Well,as sad as i can be,I have to say:”Make sure i keep getting my microsoft updates and i am happy with whoever runs the company”.That itself has many analyst predicting the fall of the Giant Company.Investors are thinking of cashing out their options and even their stakes.

You see the whole point of this articles is in highlighting how Feeble we are.

Placing blames on individuals have somewhat become our motto for the last century or.’Accountancy for his deeds’.As they say,there always has to be a black sheep.Without that black sheep,we can never move on.It somewhat provides us with a solace,that “Yes,it wasn’t our fault”

However,the major undlying cause is that:WE ARE SCARED OF CHANGES.

Changes are a necessity.I am sure you would have realised that by now,since the day you found out that you would be lucky if you hit 80.Changes define the next path to be taken and the course of our future.Yet changes come with many bad consequences and for that we place the blame on the people who started it all.

Sadly,we will never change.

Singaporeans…Puppet..or Zombies?

Dictating Lives

In your entire life span, you will definitely come across two forms of dictation.One would be in your earliest stage. For us Singaporeans, it would definitely be all about getting our “butts “constantly spanked with the “rotans” for every single mischief we do.We are firmly moulded by our parents forcing us at every turn to adopt ‘good’cognitive behaviours that will essentially prevents us from astraying.That phase of dictation for the better or worse is probably the most useful and necessary portion of our lives.

 

         or simply reading

Then comes the 2^nd part of the dictation, that falls in place ,for most Singaporeans, during their teen hood till their adulthood. It comes in the form of people around us dictating and constantly trying to take charge of our lives. This has various names like peer pressure..and bla bla. The sad thing is that SINGAPOREANs for all their education and quick thinking’s aren’t able to discern such behavioural patterns and quickly fall into traps such as these. They allow others to start defining their lives by following pre-defined notions of what ‘Live’ should and is all about.

 

For simplicity sake:We now have defined concepts for what living is all about.Its about getting a life that refers to going out as much as u can.But sadly everyone is blinded by one simple fact,’getting’ a life a all about doing what u love and not what u think u may like.

See,the point of this whole story is that, we are living lives with predefined concepts that tend to be on parallel with so many people. I really do not believe that Singaporeans are gunning for that. A zombie is a word to call them.Becoming slaves to the system is what most Singaporean have become.In our quest to achieve the Singapore Dream,we have given up ourselves in its entirety.Losing our identies together with our personalities.

Is Money all we can think About?

This article is in response to a seminar i attended a time ago.Something made really no sense to me back then.That entire focus of the seminar was about making money and huw we could be up there earning big bucks like Warren Buffet and what we could do.That entire idea made me feel really uncomfortable.Are we that enslaved to our financial committment that is making money OUR main priority.And most importantly,Why is the idea/notion of “people going out to all lengths to make money”such a norm now.?

THE OVERVALUE OF THE DARK SIDE

Sadly, the turn of century has led to very subtle development in our senses. Especially ones involved in placing value to objects. You see, no matter how humans try to fend great humility and be gracious, the very same humans end up being very greedy and ungracious all at the same time. And funny enough, they do that by fooling themselves by thinking that they are behaving as the latter.

Our society has preached hugely on morality by begging us to choose the ‘right zone’ and by adopting proper moral conducts. One very old trait that it has been trying to get rid of is our Greed. Citizens have been constantly urged not to over place the importance of money and prevent it from ruling the lives of theirs. Not that it has been really harmful ,but just that it should never be the motivation for our way of life. Many have gone ahead to place Money in the great evil zone. Yet we all know the very nature of money: We can’t live without neither can we have enough of them.

However ironically, no matter how this passage has sounded,we are not here to debate the very moral area of money or its importance. We are here to mock its very ironic influence on our Lives.

“No…Money is not important. It won’t rule my life”

That’s a phrase you could be hearing every day, yet the ‘sayer’ preaches the very opposite. Thats the very situation in our very ironic world. We practise what we preach to abstain from. We have gone ahead to place such great importance in earning the very dollar, that we have gone to lengths that we would not have imagined. Humans have lost their very independence, freedom of free spirit, their clarity and most importantly their humanity.

Slaves. That’s the word I would use to describe Humans. Without even thinking, they have sold their independence to an Object [money] that threatens our morality. They are hooked on the idea of having money, that people are working even harder than before. Next best thing, the very same people are coming up with ways to make even easier money. So much effort in earning the bill that rules our lives. One statistic would resonate very clearly in every money making conference or  get rich scheme

“Nearly top  20percent of the richest people in the world has the combined incomes of the rest of the 80 percent. Now how did they do it? Now so can you…”

God, the next time I hear that I am surely going to throw a physical item I will be clutching in my palms. The world assumes one fact that: Every human wants to be rich. You do not hear this question very often and I dare someone to pose this question to any-human who says like above quoted:”Have you ever wondered, why the rest of the 80 percent aren’t doing anything to even climb the ladder or try to own the world. Like maybe say…. they are comfortable where they are?”

  INTERESTED?

Why Obama has to just Win…

You see..Obama has already lost a footing by failling in the Penslyvannia caucus.He may be leading by superdelegates lead(just by a bit),but he is doomed to fail according to History.According to Clinton’s aides:”No President in history has won the White house Seat without winning Penslyvannia”

Gloomy outlook right?But you see,minorities like me are pinning our hopes on Obama to win.No its not for the sake of economy..or for US’s sake…or for anything else..But its rather the picture painted when he does win.He will shatter the dominace of Majority over the world.His ‘white house win’ will potray a message of significance that would deliver hope to all Minorities all over the world.

Its not that we are suffering from being a minority..rather i feel privelleged..but a person of lesser dominance who goes out and becomes the champion of the world…It would mean a Win to all minorities.We would feel championed and a cause justified for.

While a Clinton win might signify a new chapter in the US,it would just mean a new day for us.It would just make on thing/message clear..The world is not ready for the lesser/Un-dominant  ones to Rule yet….Sadly the message is as crude as it’s true…

So the question is how is the world going to favour themselve in November?Are they ready for the change ..or ..Are still going to dance to the same old tune?

 

Copyright from Time Inc.Obtained from Yahoo.com(Image search result)

Hey….lower the spotLight.

Sometimes,I get the urge to scream when i see the developments in our education system.Not that they are detrimental to our society,rather they are quite beneficial,but they are not addressing the right issue.

The system is supposed to work by  discouraging elitism or developing an air supriority between schools and groups of students,yet that’s the overall effect.

The cause: By focusing and allowing far too much avenue for students higher on the brain scale to go further.No,i am not preaching to hold them back but rather the same length of avenue should be provided for the middle/average group of students.

Lets just look at them:They perform either fairly well or rather well in their schools.They do not belong to the top-tier of schools,Do not have a straight option to scholarships due to many factors/competition and most importantly they are confined to mediocore routes like by aiming for average heights rather than ‘greater heights’.Such students, despite the potential to perform even better in their later life, are so worn out by the ever increasing competitions from ‘elite’schools, that they foresee themselves to strive to perform sub-parly to move on to the next level.Thus,We get an average student striving for just an average life.

However,not all are eligible for the excuse for being worn out by competition.There are those who are just confined to mediocority by choice yet they are those also who strive ahead and are struck down by increasing demands made by instituitions and co-operations.{Getting 4 As,Taking the S papers during A levels,Having a great academic record}.How are students ,who bloomed only later in their life, supposed to show a great academic record.Secondly,many will/may argue that such requirements are to weed out only the best,but can anyone prove that those not in the ‘best’ category do not grow up to be just as great if given the rather same options.

Now imagine,students with average results being granted scholarships.They have a choice to have a great future,and rightfully should we even deny that.?Yes i know,average students are already being given hope.But the students chosen are those who have  colourful extra curricular list that proves they have great core values.

As such the ones left behind are the ‘averagers’.Maybe the ministry should focus the light on these students and grant them greater autonomy in being more than mediocore.

Afterall,our aim is to have a first class education system right?So what better way is there except for one where students excel no matetr what their grade.

(But please,you cannot expect to fail and still use the same above arguements.)

A very Long Analysis….I had to!

Long has it been since,anyone in my close vicinty bothered bringingup the topic of our existence and our mechanics.’The thing that makes us Tick’.I had the pleasure of having such conversations with many of my friends,sadly till then we were just naively agreeing that Society defined us.Society moulded us into the beings we are today.Society played a huge role in what we are doing today.So much of society doing this and that…and so many publications and articles with authors pointing out the blunt fact that society has been the harbringer of evil in our very modern society.The expectations,the rules,the culture and the more importantly the “Class” created by society that has brought about various unwanted cracks and pressures which we despise.

However,closer inspection dictates one simple fact.:Society is just the hardware.It simply governs us by placing limits and boundaries by which we ought to obey.Yet,we have never blamed the software installed that has governed and translated us into being who we are today.Our Upbringing.More closely,our parents.Our guardians.

Well,it may seem immature and also misplaced to easily place the blame on Parents.Faulting them,without a blink,for all our blunders.However,one must also take note that the purpose of this article is not with the aim of placing a blame.But more importantly,discovering the source of our governance.Why do we act the way we do?Why do we feel the way we do?Why do we want things the way we like?So many whys,and just one answer.Our parents.They aren’t the problem,but just the source of our answer.

Our primary behavioural pattern can be congregated into either being very similar in traits to our parental unit or very different in traits to our parental unit.This could be added up to the fact that we have always subconsciously monitored every influence in our lives.We study every event very closely and moulded ourselves in a either-or manner.Thus saying,we are more of a self correcting model.A model that seeks to improve at every step in our live.But upon saying that,let me re-iterate that such behaviour are not inapt in every human.It can be widely absent in many individauals who prefer the latter,to repeat the action/behaviour that brings the undesired event.Some do get the kick out of it,some refuse to learn.And most believe that they will be able to change the outcome by staying on the already undesired path.

With such an analytic behaviour already present at a young age,we spin out webs of attachment to our parental unit.We analyse their behaviours,more importantly those which brings them pain and those that bring joy.Such repeated events,constantly burn an imagery within us that when we repeat such ourselves and are faced with the same pain/joy,we tend to analyse and associate ourselves with them.At those point,we humans decide.We decide whether we feel solace in being alike to our parental unit or feel insecure or are disgusted in being emotionally alike.Such forms of decision-making congruently,moulds our behaviour and thus character.

Behaviour such as the need for achievement,seeking for a higher social status aka “The Money  Making Machine” and any associated wealth related flaw is not merely our society’s fault.Sure such situations were created by our very democratic society,thus creating the oppportunities to fill up such flawful positions.But they arent responsible for creating the gaping hole that never gets satisfied with the cash inflow.Logically looking,if i am to place a bundle of money and someone steals it,the blame is on me.Not the other thief.Logical?Rather the blame should be on the need within the thief to steal.The need already created.Summing up,many wealth related behavioural issues can be well answered if we were to dwell long on our development.

Many a time,the situations which our parents have lived in changes us.Lets just say if you have been leaving very wealthily,many do tend to want to leave wealthily or may choose for a more simpler live instead.Simply putting,we learn from our parent’s success and their faults.By observing their very sucess we decide very early in our lives,how we want to keep on living.And we continue that way on.Many,succesful people have grown out and from a very less successful and financial background.In most of such instance,they are guided by the misery of their parents to create a better life for themselves.And the deifnition of a better life,just remains vague.It has varied from being very rich,to filthy rich to being rich without any end…And the means to such wealth,lets jut say it varies with our moral shape.Yes,i am hinting towards the tax evasion…probably arms dealing…drug dealing.

In a final summation,My experience has projected the simple fact that answer tend to be more complicated than they seem.Not the very famous,”The answer might be closer than you think”.Nobody really cares how far or close the answers,we seek,are.We care mostly,for how simple or complicated it is.And it is always complicated for if it wasn’t,there wouldn’t be a question right.?

                                                         

(c) Copyright Rajiv Rai 2008

None of the above posted comment can be reproduced without the permission of the author.The above analysis is just part of the author’s analysis and thoughts and to be used in any form educational or discusssion media.

OH, Bush has been bad !

Okay, let’s shift the light towards democracy and its campaigners.Here on one side we have people campaining for democracy and on the other side we have the Same people preventing democracy from taking root. Guessed what i am preaching about,yet?Yes our beloved American Govt vs Pakistan and its very turmoiled Govt.

 This ‘Earth’ has seen nothing but attempts from democratic nations to spread their beliefs and ideals all over.None stronger than America(at least i think so!).The same country which invaded Iraq to spread the idea of democracy and to allow democracy to take root(i dont really belive it has taken root).The same country which has believed in Freedom of its people and Empowerment its own citizens.

Now that same Govt of that same country is using that very tool to get its own Job done.In pakistan we have the government trying to prevent democracy from taking root just for the fact that it makes their fight in terrorism much simpler and least complicated one.The Bush administration is secretly against the formation of a democratic government without Musharraf.Sadly,The Bush administration also supported the firing of supreme court judges just to expediete the trials of terrorists.

 Two thoughts i had after reading all those summarised points in the papers today:

Why is the Preacher not following his own preachings?

Second:How do we accertain for the fact that the points about US govt preventing democracy in Pakistan is a true fact?After all we are presented with are interpretations of their actions.Many of them which may seem remotely suspicious.While the rest are just plain old assumptions that make most of us go “Yes..yes i agree…”.

I guess it proves one thing at least.There is nothing IDEAL in this very planet.Everything has its drawbacks.And even the saint has to against his own teachings for a good he believes in.Clearly Bush’s admin. believes in not having full fledged democracy in Pakistan.Or at least what the media is potraying right now.

Its always the little Irks and Irritation

I love complaining.Yes complaining like what we have culltured to do.Dont blame me for we are encouraged to give “feedbacks”.And since nobody ever specifies,there you have us Singaporeans complaining about every tiny little bitsy problem.

But i Love complaining.Complaining about Singaporeans.And yet i dont realise that i am the complain-er.

Something very interesting caught my attention.A Yahoo editorial on “Why on Earth would any one wants to find a planet like Earth”.Such a nice topic to debate on.There we have people living on the other side of the world talking about global warming,poverty,space issues,entertaintment or et cetra.

BUT

Here we have us,Singaporeans,talking queues..Bad service…Long waiting time…Principal Being Too Frank..Ways to improve our already very comfortable life…and everything you “can possibly not talk about” is talked about.

Guess thats the difference we have with those white folks dominated country.Could it be the environment,the Government, the values or simply the upbringing.Very often , we see minister and officials trying to spur conversation larger than ourselves ..Say global warming..Economy inflation…et cetra.And i will foolishly expect letters from singaporeans engaging in that very matured conversation.Yet when one opens the ST forum,you will still be disappointed by what we see.A lady complained about a mother slapping her son…Oh wait…another one:A man writes in to ask for chairs to be provided for in a bank.

Question:

Why can’t These questions be directed to the party involved and not the papers.You want chairs,write to the bank.You want to slap he lady who slapped her son,call the lady.You want better service,write to the shop owner.NOT THE PAPERS.

When will we have singaporeans writing in,addressing issues that should be addressed.Maybe issues like how middle income gaps can be further reduced.How do we push the low income families into our median centre?Oh,what singapore could do for global warming?And also,views on issues not concerning us but the planet like

“Why on Earth would someone want to find a planet like Earth?”

ADIOS !

! Phony Phonies !

Okay,when i was reading the Review on ST today,I was pleasantly suprised by this article.Just a rough overview:Are you a Phony Phony?(Are u being a fake Phony).It well describes a charateristic among individuals who love to potray their value lower than expected.Eg.”By telling You that I am the worst web-page designer,(where its known I am one of the best)”.Basically to undervalue Oneself.But get this,These Individuals Get the Kick out of It.

They love doing so as to lower People’s perception about them,and thus when exceeding such expectation,they are considered Achievers(for going beyond the already lowered mark)

Why it was so exciting for me?Well,it greatly explained the phenomenon happening back in my Junior College in 2004/05.People were well under-potraying their academic abilities and always creating competitions in masking themselves.Eg(I didn’t study for the examination,(but he actually did)).Such a mask provides Students with something to rely on in cases when they fail.

However,as supported by research,such individuals tend to over-appreciate their own values when interviewed alone.Does it say something?

Secondly,such individuals get so accustomed to these behaviours that distinguishing them from themselves becomes hard.So when a real achievement comes along,They start to doubt their own ability and believe Luck or something may have played a part in getting there.Detrimental!!For they end up losing confidence and become a competitive recluse(Meaning:Only wanting to compete in areas no one compete for!)