Yeah, finally I decided to revive my old blog!! =D So more serious stuffs i will post there while some relaxing stuffs i'll post here. Haiz, knp dulu gw pinda tabulas yeh? Just to become 'closer' with my friends? I hate market-oriented societies dimana kebenaran telah diinjak2 dan yg di prefer cuma yg majority, yg ngetrend! Ini berarti kuantitas lebih dipentingin drpd kualitas! And if I really hate all that, why did I myself leave my passion in philosophy and had become so market-oriented? I really enjoyed philosophizing! And i think i shall go deeper into it, embracing my genuine passion, well, perhaps this is just my calling, who knows? I'm gonna seek the truth.. once again..=)

For the past few days I was beginning to watch Naruto anime, so I was unable to write up posts. It was quite a worthy one to watch.

One thing striked me in this anime, and it was regarding the past lifes of Naruto and Gaara, 2 contrasting characters, and the paths they have chosen, respectively.  (For those not watching Naruto, Naruto was the protagonist character, while Gaara was an antagonist).

What makes it interesting is that, both characters have faced a similar, cruel past. They were hated by many people. They faced the same feeling of loneliness, that they were always rejected. Their existence was unwanted. But somehow, the paths they have taken have differed so widely. And the answer to it lies in the way they see things, that is, the difference in their life philosophies. So next, i'd discuss about each character.

Gaara

The sentence that was always repeated by the teenage Gaara, and which I believe had become his life philosophy was "I will only love myself. I will fight for myself. Because if I do, my existence will not become void."

Indeed, if we judge from his past, we would understand why he adopted such a mindset. At first, he was actually a nice and friendly child, willing to help others in need. But there is something different. He was borned as a "monster". His father gave him an incarnate of sand, and he had such an incredible power that makes him easy to become a murderer. And thus, he was hated by many people. He had no friends. A life devoid of love. People stay away from him. And when somebody insults him to the extent that makes his emotions bursts out, he would be able to harm them, or kill them at ease. Unintentionally perhaps, because that time he was just an innocent child. But because of this power, it kinda forces him to taste blood, and what is it like to kill people. Perhaps it all started with a cry. But the viscious cycle continues. The more he was insulted, the more he kill, and the more people would hate him. Hence, the more he feel lonely, and go deeper into that lifestyle. And so, he grew up to be an emotionless, cold blooded, teenage Gaara who likes to kill in order to "confirm his existence", or in other words, he was actually in search for the meaning of his existence in which he never finds. A sad story perhaps.

Watch this amv for the clip : http://youtube.com/watch?v=PalBQ3_ItoM

Naruto

For Naruto, it was completely a different story. It is true that he was rejected by people in his village. He was also a school dropout, a troublemaker disliked by many. Just like Gaara, he was also a reincarnate of a monster. A nine-tailed fox monster was sealed within him. But somehow, he was filled with confidence and self worth. Though jeered by many, he never let go of his "absurd" dream, to be one of the Hokage (The greatest ninja). People may think of him to be deluded, but he didn't care. They may call him a stupid person, yet he is still standing with strength and determination. He also managed to turn his sadness into kindness, though. True, there are times when he feels lonely, that all was like a dark hell to him. But he managed to whisk it all away and move on with his dreams. And in every battles, he managed to stand up no matter how much he had been injured, or mentally weakened by being labeled as a "dropout". I think this was a true courage, and strength that he possess.

Watch this amv for the clip :  http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gdt-4rtdQ-c

In conclusion, when we're facing a cruel reality, it's up to us which path we would want to choose. Perhaps weak people would choose going into Gaara's path, and they become criminals. But if you have true courage and strength, you would choose the latter.

(In the middle of the story, though, Gaara realised his mistake after he was beaten by Naruto ;p) 

"A man will not take back his own words" - Naruto

"A ninja musn't show his emotions in any situation" - Naruto

"If you're a man, live it the way you won't regret. Protect whatever is important to you with these two arms, no matter how tough or sad it is, even if it costs you your life." - Inari's father

"You can't protect anyone by being a crybaby." - Naruto

"A person is able to become truly strong when they wish to protect someone they cherish." - Haku

"A ninja must prioritize his mission first and must not show any tears" - Kakashi

..(i actually missed a lot, should watch again from the 1st episode)

The most recent 2 comics/animes that immediately became my favourite was One Piece and Naruto. I dunno why, perhaps I like those comics whose main character are strong. Strong in the sense that they believe in themselves, they show determination and have the right principles that act as a resource to their strength. They may be weak, but they are not giving up. In One Piece and Naruto, the 2 main characters, Monkey D Luffy in One Piece and Uzumaki Naruto in Naruto, show these characteristics. Perhaps it's also true for KungFu Boy and Samurai X, my old favourites.

Now, a question that arose is, whether this 'not willing to give up' spirit is relevant for reality? Is a 'sheer determination' in our strengths a good thing? Is it a 'right thing' for us to adopt certain unchanging principles and fight for it till the end? Well, I would think the answer is yes and no.

Stiffness is good. This essence of 'unchanging' is awesome. It represents faithfulness, either to a choice we made or a principle we adopted. But it could be a 2-sided coin. It can give you either a very good impact, or a very bad influence. An unchanging principle grounded on wrong concepts are extremely dangerous, while that which is based on the right principles is the worthiest thing you could ever ask for. Take Zoro in One Piece for example. I think he too, was a man that has his own principles. But too bad that he has a wrong base for his principle. He was too arrogant when he quoted that "I never believed in Gods, I require none of them." Another example would be like Haku, Gaara, and Kimimaru in Naruto. I think what Gaara said when he appeared for the 2nd time, after he had 'realised' his mistakes makes a lot of sense.

This is a conversation between Gaara and Rock Lee after Gaara defeated Kimimaru :

Gaara : You're the same. If the person you admire is insulted, you became angry. If that person is important to you... To fight for that important person.. (referring to Orochimaru, the most evil). He, (referring to Kimimaru), was the same as Uzumaki Naruto (last time Naruto was fighting Gaara to protect his friend, Sasuke and Sakura). But the person who is important to you isn't always good.

Rock Lee : Really? You don't have to take someone bad as your important person.

Gaara : No... Even if you knew they were evil.. People can't defeat loneliness.

 

Yep, finally, I also think that comics may give a good or bad influence towards us, depending on how we see them. One pitfall would be, we may be relying on ourselves too often, because of the influence of this believe-in-ourselves spirit advertised heavily in comics nowadays (maybe i can't generalise it coz its just based on the few comics i've read). So perhaps we should learn to notice them and pick just the right thing. Never giving up spirit was great. Faithfulness towards a (correct) principle was awesome. But unlike the characters in those comics, we should rely ourselves on God's power. To add on, perhaps believe-in-ourselves spirit in reality may sound a bit too naive, people may think. Afterall, I also didn't quite agree with the familiar phrase 'if there's a will there's a way'. I think that will is not the only factor. There are others such as ability, or perhaps, opportunity? No one who has a sheer will can become a tennis champion when they wanted to start playing tennis just when they're 20 years old. (Well of course, we couldn't make something that's undergoing a process to be an absolute, but I can say that the probability is nearly zero). But still, having sheer will is great in the sense to maximise your maximum potential and it's been proven to boost your capacity.

To sum up, I believe that comics can give either a very good or very bad impact. Principles are good, it might lead us either to a good person (if we have correct ones) or a very evil person. But still, I admire those who have principles (regardless of whether they're right or wrong) more than those who don't.  

 

 Spoiler Warning : Don't read this post if you've not watched the film!!!

 

To me, perhaps this is the most meaningful cartoon i've ever watched. Well, there are lessons that I learnt from this cartoon. Perhaps it's not something new, but this may act as a reminder.

One quotation from the cartoon : "There's more to a race than just winning.." immediately catches my attention. I think this also reminds me of what my senior, Andrew said. There's no point achieving highly, or be fanatic towards achievement. There's nothing "up" there! It's emptiness! Yep, life isn't just about "winning" afterall. There's surely something, no, a lot of things,  that's more meaningful than that! Winning is good, but we should always take it as a bonus. And what we should pursue in life is actually those things, and that way, no doubt, we will live a meaningful life.

Perhaps one thing that sticks in my head after watching the show was, why don't the rookie crosses the line first before helping the other car? Wouldn't that way he will win both? I mean, winning the piston cup was his long sought after dream wasn't it? Why does he want to let it go if he had the chance? Well.. what I think of is, perhaps the author wanted to say that we should not be greedy. If you find something that's more important, then pursue after it! By not crossing the line, actually he makes it a clear statement that "Winning is a trash compared to this more meaningful thing that i'm gonna do." Yep, perhaps this is too, what I call an "act of rebellion." But it was a good act of rebellion indeed, for it shows the fighting spirit against the natural tendency of society nowadays, being greedy. No, we shouldn't choose both the "more meaningful" and "less meaningful" things. We should just pursue for that one "most meaningful."

Btw, hey, I like the soundtrack called "Find Yourself"

 

Yep, how many of us have repeatedly reminded others for not taking things for granted and yet many of us didn't practice what we preached? It's world cup fever now, and sometimes its kinda funny to watch the supporters and fans react in a biased way. Perhaps many of you have heard those soccer fans uttering claims like "Oh my! That's almost a goal!!" when their favourited team misses their golden chance. But almost never heard of someone saying "Oh, that's almost NOT a goal" when their favourited team scored... hmm..interesting.. are we taking things for granted?

Spoiler warning : Read at your own risk!! 

Yep, i'm in Sydney.. and I just came back from city. Watched 'Click' with my friend, William. Well, it was supposed to be a comedy but turns out to be quite a meaningful movie.. Basically the story was about this guy wanting to have a 'universal remote control'. Well, he obtained one, a remote control that can be used to control, well, almost anything. We can fast forward our lives thus skip the boring events, turn on and of volumes, skip chapters, stop the time, etc. And why do I call it meaningful?

Yep, it seems kinda fun isn't it? to skip those 'boring' events, just like skipping a boring dialogue from a movie. All of us undeniably wanted to skip some parts of our life. We hated heated arguments, quarrels, queueing perhaps, or maybe showers, working, doing our daily chores, you can name those. Perhaps those are what we call a 'waste of time'. Or maybe there's something that we really wanted in life, so much that we sometimes wanted to 'skip chapters' until that time. Yep, this movie depicts the same thing. And the guy in the film was just too 'enjoyed' in skipping his life until one time the fun turns into a tragedy.

Yep.. maybe life can be quite boring sometimes. Maybe there are things that we hate, those quarrelings, those miseries, routine chores, doing homeworks, etc. But you know what? Try to skip all those and you'll be left in emptiness, a life that's unimaginably dull and without meaning. Yep, those what you called 'boring' events are actually included in the parcel of life! In fact, they are what makes up our life!!! Once you strip those off, you'll end up with nothing! And believe me, someday, when we get old, we might miss those things! Life is just once, and let's just go according to the flow! And I do believe that God has a reason for this. Perhaps this is the best way, and what makes life beautiful. And if we want to do any action that intervenes it, we might end up in a tragedy!  

Today I went to Betel Church in Sydney.. i think it's a charismatic church. Well, actually it got me quite skeptical when I listened to the songs or listen to the preaching.. and there are times when I don't really agree with some of the song lyrics, or the way some things are done.. nevertheless, I do feel that i'm blessed since it kept me pondering.. about the value of life.. the topic that was discussed in today's preaching.. 

Well.. actually it's just last week that i didn't go to church.. but I feel that it's been a very long time.. And yes..perhaps I just missed to be in a fellowship. Or maybe because for the last few days I was not being so 'obedient'. I missed many of my quiet times.. and have stopped doing what I have commited into : reading the Bible 4 verses a day. and I justified myself that it's okay since I'm currently reading 'religious' books that I think might be a substitute for those. But I know it's wrong... those books I read aren't containing any 'gospel' in it. It's merely full of arguments.. more like a science textbook..and I think that's the reason why I feel really detached right now... An uneasy feeling.. I really wish that I could reestablish my communion with Him immediately!!!

It was kinda a weird feeling.. knowing that last time I was being so close, after going through camp, retreat, and mission trip.. and I must admit.. I really miss those moments.. And I also miss to be in a fellowship once again.. praising Him together with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.. to be able to serve Him.. and to be in a close relationship with Him..  sigh..well, i'm not good at describing things, but perhaps my situation is just like Charles Templeton in the beginning chapter of 'The Case for Faith' right now.. nah, not about being skeptical about the gospel, but about 'missing Jesus'..

Well.. now i'm having a vacation.. and I know that this vacation is not going to be enjoyable without Him.. Perhaps, we can spend a lot of money, and go to any place we like.. travel around the world, visit the famous places, etc.. but it will simply be meaningless if you have lost the real 'valuable thing'...

Hmph.. I'm really at lost right now.. and I'm going to have a quiet time straight away after posting this... I really hope that I can be refreshed....

No, i'm not going to talk about white lies, the most popular form of 'accepted dishonesty'. Well.. actually i just read the last chapter from 'The Case for Faith', and an illustration simply struck me.

So I think i'm gonna quote 2 paragraphs :

" A guy once told me, 'I don't like my wife anymore.' My response was to tell him, 'Go home and love her.' But he said, 'You don't understand - I have no feelings for her anymore.' I said, 'I wasn't asking how you felt. I was saying, 'Go home and love her.' Then he said, 'But it would be emotionally dishonest for me to treat my wife that way when I don't feel it.'

So I asked, 'Does your mother love you? About three weeks after she had brought you home from the hospital and you were screaming with dirty diapers and she had to wake up dog tired and put her bare feet on the cold floor, clean up your miserable diapers, and feed you a bottle - did you think she really got a bang out of that? Well I think your mother was being emotionally dishonest.'

Yep.. in the following paragraph it was then said that the measure of love afterall is not whether we're feeling good or bad about something, but more of whether we're willing to do things despite our own feelings about it.

There are times when we find excuses and utter a sentence like what the guy in the first paragraph said, perhaps something like 'but it would be dishonest to myself to do that'. Maybe we should ask ourselves, since when do we start to care about 'being honest' towards ourselves? Is it simply  a defensive statement? I mean.. there must be many things in which we've been dishonest towards ourselves isn't it? When we make commitments, emotional dishonesty must follow. When we want to take a bitter pill, it takes to be dishonest! Well, perhaps just like faith.. the reason why we utter those phrases, it just depends on our 'pre-choices'.

Uh-oh.. this time it's a personal post. Just came back from snowy mountains, and it's my first time to witness a real snow, feeling a minus temperature, what a really nice experience..

Hmm.. you know what? when i'm on my way back to Sydney which was quite a long journey, i got an inspiration. I asked myself, why don't I become a writer? Nah, I won't be a novelist, I prefer writing something 'thoughtful' and 'insightful'.  I mean...well... it just takes on imagination, some knowledge and intellect perhaps, a pencil and a paper to start with, and if you can produce a good piece, it may have the power to influence the world, and perhaps you can get some profits as a bonus. So i think...why not? Let's keep it on the bet! Honestly, I realised that I'm quite a 'weird' person with a 'bizzare' way of thinking. I've quite a high level of imagination. I also have quite a systematic way of jotting down points to write. I think those would be assets. But what I'm lacking now is the writing skill, and maybe some knowledge and maturity. But certainly, I need to brush up with my english, my vocabulary and writing style. And this year I think I'm gonna read a lot of books!! Maybe someday I can be a good writer? Who knows? Anyway..I've thought of the title of my 1st book Hehee..

P.S. : If anyone got any advise, please throw it up.. Thanks!

Yep, I just had a reunion with my primary school friends, just 4 of us though!! It was so unexpected that we could meet again in Sydney.. phew! and when I learnt that A actually was just visiting Sydney to work, and when she told me that she met N a few days earlier when she was eating in a restaurant, it seems to me that this reunion is not 'coincidental'! It was as if everything had been 'planned' beforehand.. Well, my first impression was..well, everyone seems to have changed!! A lot!!!! Perhaps not much from the 'outside', coz I can still recognize u guys =p but judging from the 'inside', yeah, everything has changed.. all of us have become more mature, perhaps some difference in our lifestyles, habits, backgrounds, viewpoints, but overall, it's been great!! I'm so grateful, and it's really nice to meet u guys again.. hope we can still hold a reunion many times later, together with the other primary school friends.. ^^ indeed, friendship is so precious, and therefore i don't want to lose any friend i gain, yep.. cheers for my pri school buddies! =)

Watched this movie with my pri sch friends, L and N. A good show for entertainment, but i think the story was pretty 'predictable'. And it reminds me of initial D..

Yep..and I don't think the director of this movie had meant to put some 'lessons' that can be learnt, though it reminds me of a lesson i've thought of quite a long time ago.. and here it goes..

Who knows the story of 'the rabbit and the turtle'? what's the moral that's embedded in it? For us not to be lazy? Or not to underestimate the other party? Wrong! Actually after thinking it through, it's simply the neglection of an important factor : time.. or maybe 'the underestimation of time'.. yep.. what do i mean?

Well, let's suppose A races with B. The finishing line lies on the 10 meter mark. Then suppose I told you that A was on the 9m mark, and B was on the 1m mark. Let's picture it.. who do you think will win the race? Most people would answer A, but you missed an important point that it is just indeed only a 'snapshot'. What if I then told you that A was stationary while B was moving forward? Then surely B would win!!

Now let's have another analogy.. what if I told you that in a certain race, A was moving with a 7km/h while B at 5km/h, and A was ahead of B by say, 3 meters, who would win the race?? Again, this time, you neglected 'time'.. you wouldn't know until you know the accelerations of the two, namely, a quantity obtained by differentiation, differentiated with respect to the neglected dimension : time!! Well, actually the story can go on and on by differentiating many times with respect to time..

'Well that's kinda obvious!' you may think, but believe me, many people in real life judge things in a similar way!!! They simply looked just at 'snapshots', or in other words, they won't look into the process that involves time! They simply look at something that's static in nature! They observed only a particular stage from the whole sequence of infinite snapshots that extends within a duration of time, and make conclusions from it! What do i mean?

Well this might be an imperfect analogy. Admit it or not, when choosing a spouse for example, for those who are materialistic, majority of them will choose those who are rich! And being rich is actually a state! it's static and 'of that time only'. Actually one needs to care about time, how does the state of 'being rich' varies with time? is it declining? constant? or inclining? Yep..and so goes with love. Many people just care about 'the extent of love' at that period, and doesn't care about whether is it inclining, declining or being constant with time.

Next, another application of this would be saying things like 'beating you is easy because last time i've beaten you', just like the bad guy in the movie said.. Well, again, it is considered 'observing only a particular snapshot and making conclusions out of it'. Actually the statement is quite naive. You may argue that it's rational somehow, for it was based on a rational prediction given a limited data. But it's irrational to make this prediction an absolute!

Another thing, don't be too arrogant about 'state'. It simply mean nothing! Progress is the most important thing, and once you lose that, even the greatest 'state' would be meaningless, well of course, there's one exception, the 'God state' which only God reaches it.

- Life is like a vector, and it's better to have small magnitude but right in direction than having big magnitude but heading in the wrong direction -