RIFLE RANGE BOY

Kahlil Gibran's Little Book of Secrets, 2019 Kahlil Gibran, Neil Douglas-Klotz (Editor) (first published 1932) That is it. There is no secret. Like every seed we sprout, each extracting our own energies, in different shapes, forms and sizes, build our leaves and flowers, but have to face the sun to get our nourishments. We may take different routes like that, but lest we forget, all roads lead to Rome. Secrets? There are none. The answers are all within us. The problem is that the more answers we seek, the more questions pop up. Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese Christian from the Eastern Christian Church, landed in the USA after spending a fair amount of formative years in Lebanon. Exposed to either side of the hemisphere, his outlook on life is quite profound. Here is an example of his thoughts and invitation to think. A clergyman who preaches the dangers of sin and the need to follow the spiritual path meets a dying man during his travels. He was about to help him but was warned by the ...

Ikigai,  Discover your Reason for Being Justin Barnes (2019) Modern living has become complicated. From a community which used to live simply using age-tested traditions, we had evolved to one that simply lived for the moment, fulfilling the hedonistic desires of senses of the individual self. They thought they could live long lives enjoying the gift of life indefinitely unlike their forefathers because they knew the sciences and they had the armamentarium of modern medicine as a shield. Unfortunately, life proved to be empty despite the vast knowledge and precise know-how that they had discovered over the leaps and bounds of various industrial and scientific revolutions. They started looking for answers to fill this void. They wanted long modern lives but not aches, encumbrances and the emptiness associated with it. They look around, and they saw the Okinawans who were happy and led extremely long lives. They postulated that probably it is their moai - the safety net of lifelong f...

Population Control: How Corporate Owners Are Killing Us Jim Marrs (2015) It may have sounded like rumblings of an old man who had lived too long to be amiable to the wranglings of the modern world, or it may scream of the rebel yell of a conspiracy theorist who is explaining about that is wrong with the world today. In America and in the world as a whole, entire populations have been culled for profit and control. Elites have used the so-called GOD syndicate—Guns, Oil, and Drugs—as well as toxic air, water, food, and medicines, and of course, the unhealthy financial system on which the whole master plan depends—to reduce the world’s population. This is due to the belief of the global elite that the basis of all the world’s problems is overpopulation—just too many people using the Earth’s limited resources. The conspiracy theory angle starts with the story of the American Stonehenge, which was unveiled in 1980, in the state of Georgia by anonymous donors. The inscription grac...

The eyes, window to the soul! Just the other day, my home cat went missing. It was a good eight hours before he was to be seen again. Typically, he is confined to the confines of the house. His urges to explore had drastically reduced after he was neutered. On the occasional instances that he ventures outside the house, he can be seen gazing at the flying birds, moving cars and aimless stares into oblivion whilst rustling his hairy ears to focus. He returned unceremoniously with his catwalk just aloof to all the excitement that happened in the household during his disappearance. I wondered what he must have been up to. I just wished that I could somehow read his mind to know exactly what he experienced and what were the adventures and misadventures that he experienced. I wanted to know whether he was a hero, a valiant cat who saved a fellow feline kind or was he just a scaredy cat who ran away at the first sight of danger. Oh, maybe I should just let things be as it is. Perh...

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-specia...

In our everyday life, we see many who walk around with an aura around them exuding confidence as though they know all the answers to all of mankind's age old secret of the universe. Unfortunately, things in life are not so black or white, they always come in various shades of grey to complicate things. If you think you have covered all angles in dealing with a problem, then you would receive a knock on the head on a yet another angle that missed your scrutiny. If you think you have to move with the times and embrace modernity, then again you will be disappointed with equally dismal outcomes. Then you would tell yourself, 'Old is Gold'! The dichotomy of choices are driving everyone nuts. If only you could turn back time... Then you would tumble upon a new sets of hurdles to cross. At least, the people who go with their noses and shoulders up in the air shower confidence to the masses and hopefully provide yet another path to tread upon those who are lost for direction...

Tariq Ramadan, a liberal Islamist, once asked the Dalai Lama, "Why do you recite your chants at 4 o'clock in the morning?". The wise one replied, "It is for my self discipline!" That, I think, my dear friend, lies the secret of mankind. The secret of all secrets is now out in the open. The rationale for people to do what they do as somewhat ritualistic, obsessive and compulsive like is actually to instill self discipline in one self. The purpose of prayer is not to request the Creator for wealth, health, happiness and protection for a pain free life and after life but rather to instill this human value so that he can think out rationally his next course of action so as to ensure he leads the path of least resistance. The quiet ambience in which one partakes his meditation and prayers must be the cornerstone for his to rationally think out his actions and act accordingly without rash. The ritual of allocating one day in a week for spiritual work, faithfully ...

Just the other day, I visited my long lost schoolmate for Raya. There he was in his bungalow with 2 Porsche parked majestically in his posh porch (Cayenne and a 911) with a 24 hour security guard stationed in front of his house which was already sitting in a guarded community housing estate. Understandably, his sensitive position as a high flying executive in his line of work warrants such an arrangement. After living and working in the US for more than 10 years as well as living flamboyantly in the fast lane, he returned home to settle down. And here he was sitting down with me and other old schoolmates. I noticed that he had become quite private in his outlook. He does not have many friends. He does not have a Facebook account for fear of intrusion of daily activities! Eh, does he have more that he needs to hide? Maybe... Later, we were discussing about his toys - his Porsches and their performance! He had apparently hit 240km/h on the highway! When asked about speeding t...