There's a reason things happen in life?

Is there? I don't really know. It is once written in Ecclesiates that sorrow shapes the countenance of the heart. (Ecclesiates 7:3)


I am sick of being sorrowful. It's a dreadful and endless circle in which I seem to swing about in. Twists and turns and tossed about by the visisstitudes of fate to an endless avail to life. Where's the life of meaning I am supporsed to lead?


Why? WHY?! WHY!? Doesn't God know that I am suffering, that I've had enough? I am tired and still I have to be stretched further by circumstanes. My heart is rent and at times I no longer see hope for myself and yet I seem to be able to offer hope to others. A false hope perhaps. A silly naive perception that only fools believe in.


Why is it that God constantly asks me to draw from a well that is empty? I myself am not filled and I have to continue drawing. And yet of all days, today I see one who's heart is itself rent and torn and yet able to transcend that pain and burden and still find a moment to offer hope, sacrifice and encouragement onto others.

Guess God's saying......Get off your arse and learn something.

Despair

Despair = Suffering - Meaning.

Think about that. It was Viktor Frankl's equation behind the element of despair. He provided a brilliant example of a student of his who had a suffered full body paralysis. She later found her meaning in life giving comfort to those who have been paralysed or lost someone special during their lifetime. You might be thinking how a fully paralysed body can write? She doesn't. She types using a stick with her mouth on a typewriter.



It's interesting to know that when you've been through suffering and managed to achieve a sense of meaning, you can start to see hope in that darkened picture. Failing to see meaning in it however results in despair. Frankl also reasoned that meaning can be discovered from every facet of life. If meaning can really be found that way, we had better start making the correct choices of what we do everyday. Imagine ascribing your entire life's meaning to sex, to crime, or some element of addiction, what would your meaning of a glorious life then be reduced to? A hedonic paradigm that one ignores others and is merely self seeking. Is this truly what it means to be human?

What happens in Malacca stays in Malacca.

It's an absolute wonder just to revel at the beauty of nature in the A Famosa resort. That's the view from my apartment just a day ago before I had to return to the hustle and bustle of modern society. Well...unfortunately I can't tell the tale of what exactly went on down there. Hence the title. (but as a christian, we didn't breach any unbreachable boundaries)

Glad that this experience has helped me learn a lil about both the psyche of human beings and also the motivations in which help us define who we are.

Cited in Erikson's psychosocial theory is the conflict of one's search for intimacy vs isolation. Many of my cell members fall within this category. The fact of the matter is they have defined their identity as a person and are right now seeking for people to support and secure that identity in which they have built up. Hence the incredible search for one's life partner or perhaps even a community to solidify that sense of identity. Some might even use Maslow's hierarchy to parallel the needs of love and belonging in this category.

This shows the importance of community in one's life. The individual as itself is an important aspect but no one lives in isolation of one another. Imagine you citing yourself as the richest or smartest person alive and having no one to back that identity or position to compare yourself with. What use is that? Rene Descartes may have coined the phrase "Cogito ergo sum" which means "I think therefore I am" but are we really that individualistic? That we live in isolation without comparing ourselves and having others approve of who we are?

Balance is once again key... Our identity is both a mixture of who we are and who people define us to be. This again differentiates between the "I" self and the "Me" self. "I" self are the I know who I am based on my own definitions. "Me" self is the me who is defined by others. If your identity is entirely "Me" self, we have an individual that would change like the wind, completely malleable to the pressures of conformity and evaluations by others. On the other hand, you don't want to be a thick headed person who can't take a single advice from anyone would u?

Just some thoughts. Au Revoir

Buying IKEA beds? Think Again

Hi everyone this is a news flash for IKEA wooden beds.... If you happened to enjoy stuff from IKEA, this is one item you should never ever consider to buy. To illustrate my point, this is what you will be sleeping on. Of course it didn't come that way... but less than 1 year it broke off one by one. Hopefully you guys are wise enough not to buy this. Please...for your own safety. DON'T BUY IKEA BEDS!

Blade and blaze

The clash of steel admist a wild battle,

Deep and loud the song resounds,

Many fall prey and let suffer the little,

And cries follow the sound of bombs that fall by the thousands.



To whom shall we owe this blade and blaze,

Why should heaven should let continue this carnage of craze,

Are the powers of good a fleeting vapor?

That the hellish nightmares of war they do not succor.


Lost in a blade and blaze of eternal torment,

Shall we see no more of good's amend?

Where shall the hope shine from?

If not from the cross where Jesus died on

Thought of the day.

Buried in these hands a face of pain,

To whom is the prayer of solace made?

Are they not to you, Oh God of heaven

With a heart so burdened.



Sweet are the waters which You lead me by,

Gentle are the streams which You brought me to,

Green are the pastures which I lie upon,

As I seek Your face to revive my strength.



Let Your joy be my strength,

Oh Lord of heaven.

God's grace