December 31, 2010

Tentang tuhan di hati

Tidak kulihat wujud tuhanku diatas sana.
tidak pun kutemukan dalam kesunyian ibadah
tapi tuhanku,
kulihat dalam kau dan dia
Kurasakan kehadirannya
ketika kita tertawa bersama,
saat kedamaian menyapa.
Terima kasih untuk tahun indah yang berlalu,
Semoga kalian tak kunjung lelah jadi sesamaku,
sahabatku,
guruku,
tuhanku. 

Selamat tahun baru kepada para tuhan dihatiku..

December 28, 2010

A little self reminder

Wi, can you practice what you preach?
If this happens again and again,
can you still see the other side of the coin?

too cute :)

December 21, 2010

Ask not why Nietzsche announced the death of God in the West.
Ask instead, why Gods are alive and well in the East.
Ask not why families in the West are disunited,
but why families in the East remain united.
Ask not about the whys of modern terrorism,
...but about the whys of Western militarism.
Ask not if white will glister and black will fade.
Ask instead if the two will form a glorious pattern in light and shade

December 18, 2010

My pursuit of happiness

"There's a seed of god in all of us." said my dad, who is a devoted Buddhist. I do whole-heartedly agree on this.

I am not trying to promote atheism or anything. It's just that I can't really grasp the idea that our existence lies in God's hand.. that He determines everything, included our happiness. I don't know if there's heaven and hell after life.. Not that I care either.. What I believe is that heaven and hell are here on earth.. We just have to look into our heart to find them.

This always comes together with "Happiness comes from within."
I think our goal in looking for God, going to church etc is to experience that particular sense of peace. Now I'm wondering, why do we have to turn to external factors? Why can't peace come from within ourselves? Why do we always put our happiness in other people's hands?

The key of happiness (my own version).
- Stop making such a big fuss about everything
- Forgiving and forgetting
- Emotional detachment

It's all about our mindset, our point of view.
From what I saw, people are such drama kings sometimes.. And sadly, I have to admit, I'm one of them. How many times did we say,"Why is life so unfair?", "Why ME?", etc etc.
Maybe it's time for us to wake up and open our eyes.. seeing that it's not such a big deal and let's not make a fuss of it. The longer we dwell and focus on our problems, the more miserable we'll feel. It's natural to feel sad or disappointed, but what matters most is how long it takes to pull ourselves on our feet again.. How strong we are to bounce back up.

I was disappointed recently, and I said to myself,"It was an honest mistake, and it's not such a big deal either." Guess what, it worked! I forgave and forgot. I'm at peace with myself, and I think that's what matters.. How we create our own happiness and peace of mind, regardless of what people did or how badly they treated us. The more we think about what they did that harmed us or holding grudge against them, the more we torment ourselves. Why can't we free ourselves from that chain that's bearing us down?

Speaking of holding grudge, the german adjective for this is NACHTRAGEND. Nach means after. Tragen(d) means carry. How interesting if you think of it... Someone hurt us, and WE are the one who's carrying the burden after (or behind) them.. How stupid can we be? :)

Emotional detachment: hard as hell!
To be completely honest, I don't get along with my mom. She's such a moody person and if the bad mood strikes, she says things which hurt a lot and somehow I always take it personally..
After our last big fight, my dad said,"It upsets you because you took it to heart. Try to detach and don't let those words affect you."
I was like,"How??"

After some thinking, I can see that he's right.. If we take twisted criticism or harsh words with a grain of salt, then maybe it won't affect our soul balance. I'm still trying hard to get there, and I would have to say I haven't succeeded yet.

Another example..
A friend had a disagreement with a pastor last week. Unfortunately I do have to agree that this pastor is very close-minded, judgmental and arrogant. He invited my friend for a dialogue, but in the end, it turned out to be an indoctrination from his side, instead of a two-way dialogue. He didn't even listen to what my friend said or asked and keep bombarding my friend with his own opinions and theories. Long story short, my friend was very upset and irritated for days. Every time he thought about the 'incident', he kinda exploded and got mood swings. For me, as a spectator, this is very interesting... I mean, why can't he just take everything the pastor said with a grain of salt, shrug his shoulders and let it off his mind.. If I were he, I would probably just simply think,"The pastor is impossible. But it's his lost to be so close minded. None of my business anyway." In this case, he can't detach his emotion and he kinda let this stranger get the best of him. FYI, they are not even close acquintance.

But everything is better said than done.. I think he and I just need more patience and practice in detaching and keeping emotional distance. We are afterall just human beings in our own pursuit of happiness, aren't we?

December 17, 2010

One fine evening

Life is good.
I'm so going to miss Berlin, friends, laughters and everything this great city has to offer.


December 15, 2010

Seligkeit

Selig sind, die über sich selbst lachen können;
sie werden immer genug Unterhaltung finden.

Selig die, die einen Berg von einem Maulwurfshügel unterscheiden können;
sie werden sich viel Ärger ersparen.

Selig die, die fähig sind, sich auszuruhen und zu schlafen,
ohne dafür Entschuldigungen suchen; sie werden weise werden.

Selig die, die schweigen und zuhören können;
sie werden dabei viel Neues lernen.

Selig die, die intelligent genug sind, um sich selbst nicht ernst zu nehmen;
sie werden von ihren Mitmenschen geschätzt werden.

Selig die, die aufmerksam sind für die Winke der anderen,
ohne sich jedoch für unersetzlich zu halten; sie werden viel Freude säen.

Selig die, die lächeln können und kein böses Gesicht machen;
ihre Wege werden sonnenbeschienen sein.

Selig die, die fähig sind, das Verhalten der anderen mit Wohlwollen zu interpretieren;
sie werden zwar für naiv gehalten werden, aber das ist der Preis der Liebe.

Selig die, die denken, bevor sie handeln, und beten, ehe sie denken;
sie werden eine Menge Dummheiten vermeiden.

Selig die, die schweigen und lächeln können,
auch wenn man ihnen das Wort abschneidet oder auf die Zehen tritt;
sie sind dem Geist des Evangeliums sehr nahe.

Selig die, die den Herrn in allen Wesen erkennen und lieben;
sie werden Licht und Güte und Freude ausstrahlen.

(Nach einer Vorlage der Kleinen Schwestern/Paris)

December 11, 2010

Being different



Frankly, this commercial is overly cheesy and emotional for my taste. Too korean drama style..
But these lines are pretty nice...

0:50
Daughter : "Why am I different from others?"
Father : "Why do you have to be like others?"

.......
Just some food for thought ......

Awesome Cheapskate Coke



Coke does employ ingenious brains in marketing and advertisement!! It's simple yet brilliant.. They could use a handycam and didn't even need to spend a penny on actors in this commercial.

December 8, 2010

What you don't know can't hurt you

I used to ponder if I would do the same thing as Faust, trading his soul to learn more about the universal truth. But after having been through some rough patches in life, I've come to the conclusion that ignorance rules! Being naturally skeptical, curious and opinionated, I asked questions all the time. 'Why' and 'What' were my favorite words. Well, still are..

But I've learned the hard way that curiosity kills the cat.. Some things are better left unknown. How I used to love this particular phase of finding out about new knowledge in life. Now? I would love to just happily bask in oblivion and ignorance.

But things are beyond our control sometimes.. even if we'd made the effort of not asking and not telling. When the Pandora's box is opened and the truth's thrown in your face, the question is, how do you cope with it? Cry and deal with the pain? Or bolt out before the real damage is done? I guess the latter sounds more promising..

Well, I think I'd trade my soul afterall, but not like Goethe's version of enlightenment, mine was just a shallow Adam Sandler's remote control of life, with which you can push the buttons 'Pause', 'Rewind' and 'Erase'.

A Musing On Relativism of Morality

I recently found out that Haris, my 18-year-old brother wrote this.. Boy, he's grown up.. To think that I always looked at him as my dear younger sibling, a child who still needs to be protected.. I just hope he isn't as opinionated as me.. as I've learned that this trait is sometimes troublesome and tiring *sigh..
----------------------------------------------------

"All things are relative" - common saying

As we grow more and more modern and open in our thinking, many of us now espouse the idea that everything is relative. And by extension, so is morality. In this multicultural world, this is seen to be a natural progression to the rigid and outdated moral systems of the less enlightened times. Its tenets include "don't judge", "as long as it makes you happy", or "what is true for you isn't necessarily true for me". But the main phrase associated with this new ethical shift is "Everything is relative".

Immediately after writing this statement, I realized one fundamental error in it. It makes an absolute claim that everything is relative. If the statement is true, then shouldn't everything, including this statement, be relative? And therefore it is absolute that everything is relative, which refutes itself. It is like saying "the only truth is that there is no truth". While this may sound very Zen, I cannot quite grasp the logic and reasoning behind this. Besides, it is self evident that not everything is relative. 1+1=2, independent of any observer. There is always an absolute. I like to call it "Truth".

This faulty statement is used frequently concerning modern morality, especially in the more developed countries. For example, according to this new creed, we may not condemn others when they rob someone, because they may operate on different moral codes than us. Who are we to say they are wrong? On what grounds? Human decency? But is it not relative? The logical extreme of this is that Mother Teresa is just as good (or evil) as Hitler. I find this to be a chilling thought. The fact that this is just a logical extreme is no consolation. An extreme it may be, but it is still the logical conclusion of this thought. The fact is that nobody lives as though everything is relative. The end result of moral relativism seems to be the abolition of the notion "right" and "wrong". And when there is no right or wrong, "might makes right" often prevails. Food for thought.

This is just a slightly philosophical rambling inspired when I first thought about how 1+1 has only one true answer but infinite false answers. From the conclusion that "truth, by definition, is always absolute" to "moral relativism". Hmm, maybe I have too much time to waste.

Disclaimer: This note is by no means error-free. It is, after all, just a musing

December 4, 2010

Easy



A perfect chanson
Berlin's 8 PM darkness
Piles of blanket
A cup of green tea
Snow on rooftops outside the window

I do feel content of life...
:)

December 3, 2010

Es gibt nur zwei Meinungen. Meine und die Falsche!


"There are only two opinions. MINE and THE WRONG ONE!"

Someone gave me this as a present.. He knows me very well obviously -.-'

My Rules:

1. I am always right.
2. Just in case I am wrong see rule number 1.

This guy has a serious crush on me!

I met someone today and he obviously had a huge crush on me.

He: "You are a bed"
Me: "Why?"
He: "So I can sleep on you"

He: "You are a house"
Me: "Why?"
He: "So I can live in you"

--He held my hand and I let him..Well, to be honest, I kinda like him too--

He: "You are mini, you're a two-year-old"
Me: "Why?"
He: "Because I'm 6 years old"

Yes, he's a six-year-old boy, who's apparently going to be the next Don Juan, considering the fact that he started very young :D

December 2, 2010

Validation



This is a beautiful film, showing us how simple it is to make someone smile and how desperate we all are for some validation, acknowledgement, even from a stranger..
It will show you the unpredictability of life. How we should do things sincerely n passionately, maybe those things will somehow influence our lives in the future. Well, we'll just never know.