Chasing the Train of Your Life

When the days passed like nobody's business, one can't be more worried about the path to be taken in life. We do, of course, make choices at each station of life as we progress. It is analogous to taking the train in the city. Do we know where we are heading before we even set off from the terminal?

The dichotomy of life is tricky - we are physically living in the CITY yet we are metaphysically wandering in our imaginary CITY where destinations are sometimes undefined, blurred, or clear and far. Duality exists in our life in the following manners:

i. [Congruent] - the CITY that you are living in is the CITY in your imaginary world: wherever places you are visiting today is a result of your informed choices of destination in your imaginary CITY by taking the right train.

ii. [Incongruent] - the CITY that you are living is not the CITY in your imaginary world: whatever you do today is divergent from your ideal CITY i.e. you probably missed your train or you've boarded the wrong train.

There is perhaps no best answer to this conundrum. However, we need to ask ourselves in this age of life whether have we taken the right train and how much money we have in our wallet? Some people may have a stack of bills for trial and error; some only left with a note to take the leap of faith. Ultimately, how urgent it is to take the train?

Let us examine a few scenarios here:

1. You and your partner jump on the bandwagon to take the new train to the town not knowing the real destination cause everybody else in this age seems to be doing the same thing.

2. You and your partner board a different train to the same destination. Although the destination is clear, you have to know the rapport between you and him/her so you will not end up waiting like a mad guy at the destination or lost contact eventually.

3. You and your partner board a different train to the different destination. That is probably another new chapter to write in your life.

4. You are waiting impatiently at the Terminal because you do not want to risk the last note in your wallet. You may or may not know which is the right train to take.

5. You and your partner boarded the right train - right time - and in control of the time and any back up plan should the train break down.

6. You are a backpacker hopping on each available train randomly hoping to find someone who can assure you of the right destination to go.

7. You take your own sweet time cause you just have too much in your wallet and time is of course not a matter to you. You might have known the right train to take in this case.

So as the saying goes "Life moves on", which train are you trying to catch exactly?

Recalling Magnetism of Life

Sometime ago, I wrote an entry on the Magnetism of Life.
Life is akin to magnets in action. Imagine every person is carrying both North and South poles which alter their positions in an undefined span of time. As the principle goes, when the North meets the South, they clique. When the North meets the North, they repel.

"magnet pool"

Society is a macroscopic pool of bubbles that are constantly tweaking their poles due to the external factors. In Year X, they are intertwined in a particular fashion similar to the cobwebs. However, in Year X+1, the web undergoes slight twist as a result of magnetic activities. Although they happen by chance, they are not necessarily predictable. That is why people changed across the years, for good or for bad.

These constantly changing "vulnerable" bubbles, to say the least , still driven by will-power as much as human intuition is intact. Strong will power gain governance over the alternating poles and thus true friendship stays against all odds. Better still, when psychics overrules, the magnetism can be intensified in the desired path.

As conceptual as this theory, they are all happening within indefinite boundary space.
Remember, there is freedom within; there is freedom without.

When you face adversity, thicken your wall to let loose from the undesired pole, or prepare a metal plate.

Mindset

With the Spring looming around the corner and the festive Chinese New Year in the Orient,
one can't help to recollect the past and astounded by the trajectory of life that one has gone through in the past decade. From high school days to college life and the career moment.
It is amazing how much awe the Time is able to inspire.

"choices"

The fact that Life is one way street is undisputed. Given the complexity of society, it is largely debatable as of how one perceives his way forward. [Compare Time Frame Scenarios]
The mindset can be:

a) To persevere with steadfast belief, unswerving position to attain life goals albeit being mean and cold;

b) To play by ear, adopting an opportunistic approach to minimize losses (see Sunken Cost Theory) despite taking risk to entertain the unnecessary, sometimes;

c) Resort to blame the past, engrossing in analyzing the defeat, either challenging it again or tumbling into a state of despair,

Of course, life is more sophisticated than a pot of curry. You can put all the ingredients a,b,c or capitalizing only own one item to make your so-called signature dish. The bottom line is: where is your point of reference, and is it you?

Time Matter, Time Shutter

Imagine a box frame. You are inside it. The clock starts ticking away...tick tock tick...
You leap forward three box frames. Another hour passed, you find yourself looking through a series of box frames from a vantage point. Now imagine you see yourself in each of the box frame. You start to see the sequence of your movement much like the shutter in a camera. Pieces as a whole.

Packing up those past boxes in ten years, you will see a pattern of life as flexible as human vertebrae. Sometimes straight, sometimes bend, and maybe winding. You are now at the latest box frame gazing into emptiness. 

You start to wonder what might be the right shape for the future frame path.

In ideal case, they will form a desired path. 

However, in reality things usually happen not in accordance to our desires. A "pre-determined" path so to speak. 

Now what I am really interested in is this: set aside the harsh reality, how do you perceive and work out your own reality? 

A few possible scenarios here: 

Direction A - Extreme desired case. Your ideal merges with you perceived and the harsh reality. Surprisingly you are managing them so well that you gel three of them into one ultimate point. You should be proud but this is usually impossible. 

Direction B - A more typical form. You set your own goals and persevere with faith in spite of all challenges from the harsh reality. You do give and take with the Ideal and the Reality. Sometimes they give in too. Therefore you are maintaining your ultimate point and two of them somewhat support what you are doing. Bear in mind that sometimes you will have to compromise your ideal. 

Direction C - Extreme undesired case. You just say goodbye to your dreams and succumb to the harsh reality. I don't suppose you are going this way. If you are, perhaps you should read - Socrates " an Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living". 

That probably sums up the meaning of life in a temporal sense. 

I wish you a very Happy New Year and hope this article enlightens you on your New Year's Resolution. 

Clockwork

"Clockwork - The World Never Stops"

We may have forgotten the real meaning of Time.

Simply because they have never stopped working.

"How old are you?" asked the old man.
"Fifteen."
"Oh my, time flies, doesn't it? I was having such a good time at your age. You know, having fun with friends, riding motorbike, watching sunset by the beach...you probably don't understand how am I feeling right now" He continued with a sobering tone. "There is no going back in life. We lived once. The Sunset today is beautiful isn't it?" He further sighed "You must treasure the time as it is"
Unfathomed, "Alright, but I'm gonna leave for work right now".

Reclining on the timber bench , his blood-shot eyes looking up the vermilion sky in a regretful manner, as if  the end was already near for him. With melancholic voice, he replied " It's ok. Just let me be alone with my 'TIME', I'll be fine I know".

Slowly, I threaded my way down the marble staircase. The still silhouette of the stranger gradually faded into the golden backdrop... 10 years ago.

Meaning

Life as a product of the Society, a train moving into its destination with haphazard rail networks.

Like it or not, we are being trained to become who we are following the will of the Society. 

"Why follow others?" You might ask.

Yet, you are constantly striving to prove the validity of a divergent path. 

It is our innate instincts to feel protected on this railway, more importantly is to see a clear path ahead of us so that we can be rid of worries. "You are safe as long as you are on the track" the Society might have claimed. Imagine the salesman had cajoled you into buying an expensive branded product even though you had realized the reluctance in your heart to make the payment. 

"We are all the same" the Society further reassures you.

 "Same-same but different?" You beg to differ. 

You knew it well because you are living in Space A, time A, place A and definitely Society A. 

Society B might be partially agreeable to Society A. Society C might totally disagrees on Society A. 

In every Society, thousands of people succumbed themselves to the power of the railways in seek of a better refuge. They run, they tread, they crawl - on tracks that have definite destinations. 

So here's when the logic of Travel comes in. You embarked on a soul-searching journey not so much to find out the truth of Society B, rather a breakaway from Society A and allows you to observe Society A & B at a far distance. As a spectator, you are thrilled to see both Spaces A&B in totality and internalize the dynamics of things. Understanding time difference, understanding the "railways" and "networks" in a faster-than-mercantile-ships manner thanks to the airline industry. 

To familiarize yourself with unfamiliar landscape,

To un-familiarize yourself with familiar landscape. 

You acted in a manner more passionate than the locals are probably due to your positive curiosity. 

Ironically, you don't react likewise in your hometown because you have no time on the railways. 

It is true that travels amount to emptiness in the end. 

But you are back to ascertain your belief, same-same but different. 

Ask the home coming soldiers, sailors, refugees, disaster volunteers...

they'll tell you the Meaning of Society. 

To seek a divergent path,

The Change is Me, albeit Monday Blues.  

To become a hermit, a follower or the otherwise. 

Limbo

When the taste of life starts kicking in, I should say, time waits for no man.

Time as all that I have blogged about, is certainly exists in the framework of relativity. I believe at some point in your life, you might be reminiscing about the past, thinking of how memories and experience have shaped you so far, or someone whom you have met made your life wonderful. Yet, it is human nature to be skeptical about ourselves in terms of the unknown future. There is no doubt that the future is daunting, which we often celebrate with optimistic anticipation in a melancholic tone. For others, it might be best to welcome it with ambivalence so as to avoid disappointment from over-promise.

From a physical point of view, time is not geographically determined. How could we have the same time as the whole continent of China but different with that of Thailand?
http://www.wisegeek.org/why-does-china-have-only-one-time-zone.htm
Reason being the Time is predetermined for political reasons. As you can see here the Time is a framework of relativity, not correlating to our socio-geographical difference and yet we believe and accept it as a matter of fact. So you tell me, what does your time based on?

It can be someone else's achievement, someone else's expectation, perceived social custom and norm... or simply - YOUR DREAM. When was the last time you tuned your clock? Was it to suit others or yourself?

Allow me to rephrase, if I may, the saying that time waits for no man is true only in our perceived relativity. Otherwise, we have fallen into a limbo: Keep chasing someone else's dream.

Hope this helps to enlighten your day. Keep up with soul searching.

墙上的时钟。嘀嗒嘀嗒。

3rd Day 1700

 Before going into my Monologue stance, few things in my mind that I think worth sharing.

Once upon a time in the rural kingdom of the West with a King named John. John was having a good life, lived in the Majestic Castle with groups of servant. He need not worried about his life nor frowning upon any deficiencies that commoners had to face in their life. Whenever he was hungry, he would be served with scrumptious meals so life was a luxury for him. However comfort his life is, John has an eccentric habit when it comes to quenching his thirst. He got up early every morning, dressed well and sauntered with delightful pace to the tiny well of the backyard, scooped up a vessel of water and swallowed the icy-cold water bit by bit.  For him, that water is the best form of stimulant for the stupor of morning grogginess.. Story ends.

Moral values? Appreciate the very moment you have while there are still opportunities. The metaphor here is perhaps the knowledge as water. You might get it easily, or you might prefer to seek it on your own. What is more important, ultimately, is the journey of finding them before the moment of enlightenment. Incidentally you might end up grasping nothing tangible but don't forget the seemingly Universal principle of cycles - Whatever comes will go in the same way. Knowledge as we know it, is intangible. As far as we concern about our own consciousness, there is something that we can't deny anymore - that we as the human are bound to experential learning. The elderly would have probably put it that way - No pain, No gain. Everyone is the same.

In this pursuit of dream that calls for variant definition from one person to another, we are constantly being reminded of the stark reality whereby money, time and practicality have to tolerated. We know in that manner, passion and health (although indirectly) are the perishable trade-off. However insightful we are, we have to be reminded that if time were to be the neutral element, passion & health outweighs money & practicality to certain extents.  God plans but human work the plans so to speak.

There will be no quintessential pathway nor shortcuts; but the most suitable one that you will single out as you move forward, be it the comfortable or onerous one. Comfort, is a relatively radical word, exists in its most bipolar state in nature. As much as you are yearning for it, you will not be comfortable with the comfort once it has been attained. Simply means to walk out of your comfort zones ensures consistent comfort when you have regained it in the end of the day.  In contrast, banality would haunt you in a persisting comfort environment resulting in a traumatic boredom.

Stake, our best enemy often presents itself in a 50-50 manner trying to keep you sitting on the fence than making any critical judgment. Whilst not to compromise our minds and intuition, we have always made a decision somewhat proportional to the level of confidence. Confidence, putting it on the scale of measurement, gives us readings across the wide-ranging personality from arrogant, humble to submissive. That perhaps defines a "style", in the interpretation of an art student. But certainly being confident doesn't account for being loud and vice-versa.

In this world of uncertainty,  oddly enough some people could have reacted for the sake of "face" issue. So the ensuing action was to up the ante for that game of gamble, hoping incessantly in the sanguine attitude that things are going to turn up his way. Well, what might have been omitted was the White Elephant that would surface even though it seemed to be a good game in the very beginning.  Perhaps to an economic student, it sounds more like refinancing a bad debt.

Well, I'm still beating around the bush as you can tell from my writing and in the course of my life. However well the Raison d'etre for this journey of life is to seek your dream as the way your intuition has dreamt for it, and dream it, to the FULLEST. May God bless,

何时轻舟已过万重山？

As for now, please bear with me with my little monologue:



It's been 11 years since you left the door,
I saw
Tornadoes wiped out the floor and everyone ran in hysteria.

But repeating 1700 hours 11 times, rewinding back and forth, I see a clearer picture of this story.
Seeing this periodic Cause & Effect relationship from a vantage point proved the positive things that were otherwise being deemed a Total Destruction.

Yesterday You welcomed my Call with Spring showers, and I took the liberty of believing it as the guidance.
Regardless of this persona in my life, I know that I have got to grasp hold of my Element.


From 2009 blog entry,

Save me from drowning,
Is fishermens' excuses for hunting.
I know, I have got to live with this Entanglement. 


3.20 What has it given me.
Every now and then I hope, that the World will get to see.
That Tomorrow, you will be happy.

With loves,
Poisson no longer in the Dark.

and...

I am not Bipolar-LAH!

漫长的十年

From babble.com

A sudden impetus has provoked my passion once again in conjunction with this brand new Rabbit Year.
It was no doubt that this was written some time ago, approximately closed to a year but felt like yesterday in the mind.

In as much as We know that life goes on, but memory remains and dreams are made of the subconscious brain., How much can we deny the fact that retrospecting the past helps to re-inform the future?

回溯:
又走完了十个乐章. 也许是人性的弱点, 总把更早一载的故事都给忘了.
前几年说的, 一双破烂的鞋丢了吧, 留住另一边也没意思. 我们不舍得的, 不是那皮革;而是那双鞋陪了我们风风雨雨的日子.

鞋丢了; 买了新的; 再破烂; 再丢. 我们都知道, 这永远都只是个循环. 找不找到舒服的鞋固然重要但不比过程的领悟来得有意义.

<< 黑幕 >>
"这新的一年, 一点都不新. 只是愈来愈找回自己."

作:丹
文:杰


一人拼命; 万夫难挡.

朝向现实化的人生迫使天天演大戏

Soap Opera... you may call it... definitely the puppetry of life. See...some people are fake, like Wolves under Sheeps' skins... without you realizing that their existence are simply material-driven, honor you like the Lord when you have money galore.

"The curtain is slowly being unveiled, in a decent period of time, it became apparent that Money does bring Happiness, but definitely Money does not Equate to Happiness..."



<< 黑幕 >>

A long Hiatus

Desmonde understood that he has not been writing blogs for a long period of time, call it a hiatus, call it a retreat, call it whatever. The time has slipped away without anyone noticing its sickness, fell into an abyss of distraught, complication, and ultimately soul-searching that is still ongoing, felt at the tip of keypads writing this blog.

Blessed with someone special, her supports and sacrifices, her loves and trusts; which have made wondrous impacts, 
blessed with families & friends around him. Blessed with the magnetic relationship he has mentioned years ago. Blessed with people he met in his lives thus far, both the heartfelt and superficial ones, both alive and dead.

Time has yet to come for a complete return, of insights that outreach to the unfathomable human world that explore the intricacy of psychology and space taken into account the human behaviors and societal mindset.

"Gini's coefficient draws a boundary between the have and have-not, forming a hierarchical separation in anything that is related to human-beings. We see houses meant for the rich, and that we have assumed shanty town is meant for the poor. We see expensive objects are affordable for the rich. No matter how cruel the reality might have chosen to represent itself, the bottom-line that most people have forgotten is about their rights for accessing information, their rights for finding their own true-selves regardless of their circumstances."

Just like the sun, it is neither belongs to Desmonde or you, but Everybody.

Thus, making space viable to all people without hierarchy remains as HIS greatest goal.