Whatever makes you happy!

A congregation of people in mass quantities may herald the beginning of a new dawn. Be it a revolution of sorts of minds, of ideology or mass deception. The streets of Moscow reverberated with emotion with echoes of change hailing the teachings of Marx and Engels led by Lenin's secret meetings. The cry for bread of starving mouths orchestrated the march to storm Bastille. Gandhi organised motivational meetings in the guise of prayer meetings to change the mindset of an average Indian while instilling self-dignity, inculcate cleanliness, pride to race, self-confidence and eventually Swaraj (self-rule).

On the other hand, we have seen people succumb to persuasions and commit philosophical if not physical suicide. Like the one in Jonestown and Waco, Texas. The unthinking mob mindset of Man is evident. The idea of scores or more voluntarily ending their lives under the spell of the leader is unthinkable but true.

I had the privilege of attending one such congregation of people. People of different faiths and strata joining forces with one goal in focus - to achieve world peace through theological means. They decide to have a marathon session of devotional songs all through 24 hours in invoke the Gods to cajole them to coax mankind to give peace a chance. The omnipotent, omniscient Divine forces must be aware of the goings-on on Earth as his omnipresence is supposed to be felt all around. Only all the greatness are His and the follies, our doing.

At least, what this session plans to achieve is probably to increase our generation's ever-shortening attention span. Imagine sitting through hours after hours of devotional songs. The other fringe benefits would include the training of events' management, avoidance of self-depreciating activities on a Saturday night and endurance.

If one can do a marathon session of binge watching of 'Games of Thrones' and ' Breaking Bad' box sets, why not penance for worthy earth saving endeavour? So, they like to think. The problem is that the people who cause this mayhem see it differently. They want to have a bigger war to end all wars!

Solitude, my lonely friend!

One of the most significant drawbacks in the manning of a human-crewed mission to Mars is the mental strength (or rather lack of) of astronauts in being able to stay sane over extremely protracted times in solitary confinements. After all, can one stay for 4 years in the company of the same boring company?

They say that Man is a social animal and he needs friends and company to live. Deprive him of the ability to interact with his fellow kind and be sure that he would hit the loony bin. They fight, they laugh, they cry together, they loathe each other, but they need each other to survive! So say the scientists. A man needs to compete with each other or emulate each other to come out with a newer protocol for the next generation to improve so that they can continue surviving as the most dominant species on the planet. Perhaps,  they would remain as the only species as they annihilate other 'less' intelligent ones. Once they have done that, they would step into an intra-special attack of their own kind and ride majestically into Armageddon!

On the other hand, look at the lives of some of the greatest men who had imparted some of the highest wisdom to mankind. Jesus Christ and Abraham allegedly ventured out in the wilderness to be in isolation to come out with a recipe for people to live. Buddha embarked on a journey of self-discovery just to discover so many secrets of the world, including advanced Molecular Physics! Sigmund Freud valued his daily long walks to think out his theories of the mind. Nietzsche stayed in the wild to explore many unanswered questions about life. Heidegger also advocated solitude by spending time in the countryside or even the graveyards to appreciate life!

Through the art of introspection, the key to the secrets of our being had been explored. With the pleasure of the company of the fellow kind, what do we get? Merrymaking, drunkenness and the after effects of temporary insanity, the post stupor morose over spilt milk, the hangover of the morning-after, desire to get even, war, chaos and utmost misery. Is it a plot to keep our minds numbed and docile whilst the master planner sharpen their steely knives to put forth their secret agendas?

Om Santhi, Forever Peace?

In many religious salutations and prayers, we always emphasize that there be peace on Earth, tranquillity should prevail, sanity is restored, and justice is done. My nimble mind goes into sarcastic thinking mode again...

How can all these things prevail at the same time? Is it not all a balance? The good forces vs the evil? The yin and the yang? Order and anarchy?

For peace to occur on one side, there must be anarchy on the other side. For a tiger to have peace of mind and satiety, there must have chaos and tragedy in the goat family. For new generation to seamlessly continue life on Earth, there must be death and sorrow on the end of the oldies.

At one said time, there can never be complete peace on Earth. Every one is looking for an illusive utopia, a fictitious Garden of Eden which is as natural as a herd of unicorn running wild or grazing in the fields.
I suppose that peace on Earth can be achieved when all of us can accept that it is a balance. Peace of mind can be achieved when we accept that it is a cycle. Goats must accept that there were born to be sacrificial lamb for the dinner plate for the tiger family, just like there cannot be a valid reason chickens were sent to Earth other than to satisfy the appetite of meat eaters. And we just whither and fade along.... to dust for a new sapling to mushroom over...

mind your mind....

"How does a person look into the eyes of a terrified child and have the guts to pull the trigger?" screamed somebody's status on Facebook. Another joined in to say, "the same way the Malaysian man beat the living

daylight of his 3year old step son."

It looks a daily occurrence. Somebody dressed as a superhero shooting aimlessly. Some recluse going a shooting spree. A loner shoots down his classmates and teachers in broad daylight. And a man from China goes amok stabbing 20.

From time in memorial, we are trying to understand what goes through our minds that makes us do the things that we do. Some call it being possessed, others karma. From the 19th century, we have been blaming it on our upbring, childhood, repressed sexual deviations and chemical neurotransmitters. Of course, they are many opinionated individuals jumping on talk shows' settees emphasising that all these are hogwash. They say man should take hold of his life and control his future and all this theories about psychiatry and use of pharmaceutical agents are part of a larger evil plan. Any alternative explanation and solution to this problem?
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-liza-long/

Marathon Monks - Japan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaih%C5%8Dgy%C5%8D


Kaihōgyō
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kaihōgyō (回峰行?) is a set of the ascetic physical endurance trainings for which the Japanese ‘marathon monks’ of Mt. Hiei are known. These Japanese monks are from theTendai school of Buddhism, a denomination brought to Japan by the monk Saichō in 806 from China.
Their quest is to serve Buddha through many duties but they are best known for their physical endurance in running, a form of extreme asceticism. The school is based north of Kyoto, at Mt. Hiei, which overlooks the ancient capital city.

The Monks and their quest for enlightenment
Part of Tendai Buddhism's teaching is that enlightenment can be attained in the current life. It is through the process of self denial that this can be achieved, and the Kaihōgyō is seen as the ultimate expression of this desire.
There are many serving priests at the temple on Mt. Hiei, but very few of them have completed the kaihōgyō. Many who have completed it come from outside of the Order.
The selection process for the kaihōgyō is after the first 100 days of running, the gyōja (trainee monk) will petition the senior monks to complete the remaining 900 days. In the first 100 days, withdrawal from the challenge is possible, but from day 101 onwards the monk is no longer allowed to withdraw; he must either complete the course or take his own life. The mountain has many unmarked graves from those who have failed in their quest, although none date from either the 20th or 21st century.

There are many parts to the kaihōgyō, but the main challenges can be broken down into the following sections:
Running

The ultimate achievement is the completion of the 1,000-day challenge, which would rank among the most demanding physical and mental challenges in the world. Only 46 men have completed the 1,000-day challenge since 1585. Of these, three people have completed the circuit twice, most recently Yūsai Sakai (酒井雄哉?, (1926–)), who first went from 1973 to 1980 and then, after a half year pause, went again, finishing his second round in 1987 at age 60.
The kaihōgyō takes seven years to complete, as the monks must undergo other Buddhist training in meditation and calligraphy, and perform general duties within the temple.

The training is divided into 100-day sections as follows:

Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year6	Year 7
30 (40) km per day for 100 days	30 (40) km per day for 100 days	30 (40) km per day for 100 days	30 (40) km per day for 200 days	30 (40) km per day for 200 days	60 km per day for 100 days	84 km per day for 100 days, followed by 30 (40) km per day for 100 days

(The numbers in parentheses indicate the distance of the Imuro Valley course which is slightly longer.)

The running is punctuated in the middle of the term by the Katsuragawa retreat which takes 4 days. Although not required all modern initiates have been known to add the missing days due to this retreat onto the end of their course, thereby completing the full 1000 day term.

Doiri or "Entering the Temple"
During the fifth year of the challenge, the running is punctuated by what many consider the most daunting phase of the process. The trainee Monk must go for 9 days (216 hours) without food, water, or rest of any kind. He sits in the Temple and prays constantly. Two monks accompany him, one on either side, to ensure he does not fall asleep. At 2am every night he must get up to fetch sacrificial water from the well, around 200m away, as an offering for Fudō Myōō.

Author John Stevens, in his book, The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei describes the running style which dates back over a thousand years. 'Eyes focused about 100 feet ahead while moving in a steady rhythm, keeping the head level, the shoulders relaxed, the back straight, and the nose aligned with the navel.'

Who decides what?

Reason for their predicament?

Who decided that Nicol David should be a world class squash star and not, say a chess master? Is it the parents' strict drilling and tireless pestering which Nicol took willingly at her stride that helped? Is it the neighbourhood that she grew in? Is it that an unexplained power from above that gave her and her parents this vision? Did a wise man who appeared from nowhere who suggested to them this path to follow? Did she or people around her realise that she had this special talent that made her where she is today? Is it the alignment of stars at her time of birth, if so I am sure there must be someone born exactly at the same time as she was but has not held a racquet in her life? Who gives the inner strength for an individual to excel in something whilst someone else with almost the DNA make-up fails miserably. Who decides that the adequately prepared marathon runner should have a bust up midway through his race? Is it karma?
If so who decides who is born with a heart defect, with congenital blindness or congenital syphilis for which the child suffers for no fault of theirs? Is God so cruel that He should decree that they were born to suffer? Is there really a pot of gold waiting for them at the end of their life (or afterlife)? If it is really a punishment, how come the body has no recollection of their sins so that they can regret and repent? How is the soul going to 'feel' the wrath of the Creator for disobedience of Law of Nature or Code of Law?

These are the unanswered questions that boggle a mind of a half centurion as he slips into his second and final half of time on earth. The questions keep on piling up and accumulates as the body slowly immerses itself into the loss of inhibitory effect of C2H5OH. 

Transcendental meditation promises to offer some of these answers but so far I have not heard of any explanation that explains my quandary. Maybe my nimble mind is too shallow!

This is it? Look, See, Visualize...

Life is a continuum that Man is trying to make sense of. Ignorance and the zest to acquire the hidden secrets of the universe, which he perceives as 'an awful waste of lots of space', linger on and will linger on till 'Thy kingdom come' (i.e. if you believe so). From time immemorial, Man tried to figure out various mind-boggling natural events like natural calamities, disease and emotions. The eldest amongst the pack, the most powerful, the most domineering, the bravest or the far-travelled will take charge and dictate how 'life' should go on. And life went on with a few hitches here and there. The magnificent forces of nature still could not have answered all their questions. The question of angering the 'forces' above came to mind. The leaders decided that certain manoeuvres be done to appease them.

Much to everybody's dismay, the misery just kept on rolling. Variations to ways doing things were introduced by disgruntled individuals. Alternative explanations were given to the occurrence of events. Later, science was introduced to negate the word God from the equation. The question just got more and more numerous to be enumerated than there were answers. Everybody gave their own explanation and it got complicated more. They went to the elders who gave their own interpretation of how it used to be done in the good old days but failing memory due to senility, diseases and apoplexy gave less credibility to the fact. Anyway, some of the answers were given in riddles and were lost in translation. Consummate believers made their interpretation and rules as they went on and called it a progression of religion (to satisfy themselves that the answer is indeed out there).

We can go on and on but believe you me, it will get more perplexing. And frightening when everyone starts thumping their chest emphatically and dancing to their war dance tune trying to prove their point at all cost, having no qualms in dying a martyr proving it.

Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.

Yoda

At least we can console ourselves in knowing that there is a common good and orchestrated system that these teachings give to the downtrodden and weaklings in the society by threatening its believers that somebody is watching their every move and taking points and would be judged at an unspecified date in the future or after-life! At least it gives some law and order to homo sapiens who would otherwise happily regress to their ancestral Neanderthal ways of the survival of the fittest with no remorse. And the grip of religion gives a purpose and grip to life when the going gets tough and all hopes seem forlorn! And pacify themselves that He knows best and it is all a trial and tribulation before things get better, something tuft of grass to grasp on to avoid jumping off the cliff or going berserk walking aimlessly in life losing all zest and purpose to live. In other words to persevere like in a scene from P. Ramlee's Pendekar Bujang Lapok where the trio goes to the graveyard at midnight to chant for 4D numbers and brushing off the funny eerie noises that they hear by saying "Cubaaa..n!" and carrying on the task at hand!

Of course, there is an alternative theory to all these. Predecessors of homo sapiens (hominids and Neanderthals) were walking (crawling, trotting, galloping) along when they were visited by alien visitors with advanced civilization and know-how. They infused their DNA to correct certain deficiencies and imparted their technologically advanced knowledge to them. They taught them the way how life should be lived after living in the universe way longer than their 'young' inferior friends. The Earthlings, awed by their culture and machinery idolized their visitors (mentors) by moulding structures after them and worshipping their greatness. Follow their teaching about your environment, the daily routine of life, interpersonal relationship, etcetera and your life will be paved with least resistance because they have been there and they have seen that. He is omnipotent and omnipresent.
May the force be with you!

Now, the following song 'I can see clearly now' has many cover versions. Apparently, there is a version with a joget beat too! Just that I cannot lay my hands on it.