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Sunday, October 5, 2008

Love is Mystery

Today is not about asking question that nobody ask, or even trying to answer it. Im just amazed into the mystery of love that God has given to each one of us everyday. Love.
When we try to define love, each one of us will come with their own definition, and i do agree to that. Love is just something that are too big, to wide to be explored by one definition.
Love is mystery, the beauty of exploration that have no end, it grows with no limit.
Love is not only the kiss you give, or the hug you might did today, love goes deeper than than, it goes deeper than only a physical touch, or sweet word, or whatever things that you might imagine.
my writing today is just haywire, i dont have theme, i couldnt see and think to find what actually that i am talking about, its just thought that runs here and there to find the meaning of love that i still wonder.
One thing that i can think clearly, dont ever stop to try to love somebody as much as you can, give your best to that person that you love, and dont even think of the reply, because the love you've given to that person is limitless until you expect that person to love you back. Because at that moment you want that to happen, you start to reverse your gift of love into accepting someone else love.
Thank you God for love...

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Psychiatry?

I've been watching videos about psychiatry and those who oppose psychiatry as a medical field. (especially from those Scientology follower) i actually disagree with them and i do believe mental illness really occur. I've been trough several experience dealing with them.
Psychiatry has been a field that interest me so much.
However, it always come to my mind until what degree psychiatry will influence our view of mental illness? Is it true that all mental illness is nothing but some chemical imbalance within the core of our mind?
This is where i struggle with, with the question that nobody ask....does psychiatry make us a mere robot and no more than that?

what i mean by that statement?

Psychiatry tries to tell that most mental illnesses can be traced into brain function and chemical imbalance. However i cannot fully agree with this. It might sound ignorant or naive but does it mean we destroy the core of humanity? The only part that separate us from other living being?

I do believe that each human being posses what we can call as soul. it is not those flying white gas after you died. But there is this invisible form within us that make us human. Our emotion, our thought, our behavior, and ability to generate love and compassion toward others.

When certain person become mentally ill, or lost its ability to think "normal" does it mean it can be fixed with some kind of medicine? that's it?

Psychiatry deals with the most difficult illness of all, the illness of soul, the illness of human.

Animal can suffer from lung disease, or cancer, or even cardiac arrest just as human. But i dont think animal can suffer from bipolar disorder, anorexia nervosa, or pyromania. (probably some, but generally no)

When we say that all mental illnesses can be cured by medicine, it just struck me. It means that we are nothing but a simple machine that can be "fixed" with medication.

My pain is nothing than a chemical reaction in my brain, it can be fixed with medicine

My laughter is nothing than a 'normal' brain reaction toward funny stimulant

When i fell in love with my girlfriend, that is nothing but some chemical running trough my nerves. Its nothing more than that. Some tablet can stop me from loving my girlfriend, loving my father, loving the people around me.

When i cried for the loss of someone i love so dearly, it can be fixed. Just drink this tablet, and that tablet four times a day and there are no loss anymore, there are no relationship towards that person anymore. Medicine can disconnect that relationship, you can shut down your system.

Does psychiatry makes us such robot, that simply move and work because our main processing system command us to do so?

The movie WALL-E gave me some soothing answer though.

At the ending part of the movie. Wall-e was badly damaged. He lost his eyes, he lost his limb, but the worst he lost the chip that control his movement and processing system. That is where WALL-E record that "love songs" that he likes so much, and that is where he left his 'love' for EVE. When that chip damages, WALL-E lost all of its processing function.

I love the scene when EVE replace all, include the processing chip of WALL-E. Suddenly WALL-E runs normally again, but lost of his sense of love, memory, and compassion towards EVE.

Are we trying to say, that someday that will happen to us as well? That we are able to replace even our brain and that's it. We are nothing but another WALL-E.

Fortunately the WALL-E story not stop there. On the moment when EVE touch WALL-E, somehow he start to remember everything again?
How could that thing be possible? We are talking about mere machine, who lost all of its past memory, new processing system, and there is no track of EVE whatsoever within him (even the song was deleted from its new system) but then gain all his love towards EVE just because of simple touch? That is the sense of mystery that i think are worthy to be kept.

I believe that there will always be this mystery of how we function, and why do we function that way that are best kept as mystery and probably will never can be explained.

Most skeptics will say, WALL-E is just a stupid animation that has no meaning but mere entertainment so be it. But at least for me i can see and think more than only some exciting visual stimulation of my brain.

That beauty of mysterious recovery of WALL-E will always encourage me to see, that we are more than supercomputer, or some big machine that can be fixed all the time. We are more than only robot, because of the existence of our soul and our mind.

Thank you WALL-E to remind me again about that. That Human, at the end of the day has more meaning than only functional mega machine.

The Question on Money

I bought some pop corn on the way home, well i like pop corn and according to Newsweek magazine popcorn is one of those snack with low glicaemic index. However i found that my popcorn was very salty.
I bought it from the cinema small shop since that is the only common place people eat popcorn. Then i realize why they need to make popcorn salty. Simple, business. (aka.Making money)

When you eat salty food, basically it drains water from your cell. Therefore, automatically your body will crave for water. In this case, eating this popcorn will make you want to drink and in the cinemas they clearly write "no other food/drink allowed" means you can only buy from them.
What a nice trick, that's why the seller asked me "dont you want a drink with your popcorn?"

business is business, no matter what is the product. It was produced to create money, profit. No matter how healthy you want your food is, there are no way you can get an healthy food unless you cook it yourself. Or go to those charity resto. even the so called "vegetarian/healthy food" i consider not completely good.
Something commercial, will always be commercial.
When something is valued by money, like it or not it will loss the sense of originality, the sense of belonging, the sense of beauty.
It becomes duty, obligation, since both parties has done their part.

That is why, salvation MUST be free. If not, the world will simply not exist

Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Beauty of Children

Have you ever ask the question on why God must create children? Why a person just grow up instantly in a matter of days to reach adulthood? Why we have to spent soo many years being a children?

I dont know the exact answer but one thing i know for sure that i found from all children. Innocence.

That is something that nobody cant take away from them.

I was at the MRT this evening, exhausted from a whole day work. Stand beside me was a family with two small daughter. Both of them were obviously tired, but the younger one are too tired to stand on the overcrowd train. Unfortunately she couldnt be carried by the daddy because there are totally no space at all. Therefore, what can she do is only crying and crying. I just cannot stand to see children cry, there is just this mystical feeling when i see they cry especially when they suffer defenseless.

But then when the crowd become less, she immediately jump to her father and sleep at his shoulder. That moment was so touching, that i felt i need to write it here despite the fact i am so sleepy.

I always pray that i hope God can do the same thing to me. When im tired, when im sleepy, he will carry me and let me sleep at His shoulder.

That is why, Children will be one of my greatest book that i will never finish to learn something new from it. They are the treasure, the beauty, that nothing will ever can substitute.

Friday, August 29, 2008

The Existence of God

As i stand in the train, my mind glaze trough the question that people nowadays often ask (quite the contrary with i usually do)
Does God exist?

Now i dont want to answer that question apologetically or not but i just want to share the way i think about God...

Modern science had claimed again and again that they can prove the non-existence of God.

Trough cloning, and many other cellular studies has revealed that we are in control of our own humanity. We dont need God.

This is the first point that i think most of us know already. The beauty of CONTROL

Now we are in control of our own.

We dont need God to reproduce - we have cloning now - why pray?

We dont need God to heal us from physical or mental illness - advanced medical science can solve most illness that we have - Why pray?

we dont need God to decide whether our next generation will be boys or girl - fertilization technology can do it for us - why we have to give it to God?

We dont need God to predict the weather - we have advanced satellite system and meteorological technology - farmer and sailor doesnt need to pray anymore for rain or good weather

We dont need God to cultivate the land - agricultural techonology can handle that - why ask God for fertile land

We dont need God to decide a life of a person - mostly in terminally ill cases -

We dont need God to solve any of our problem - whatever is that - Advanced Science and Technology can handle that!

So that's it?

Is it conclusive to say that God doesnt exist simply because now we have the ability to control things that in the past seems to be in the hand of a Divine Creature?

For me, i dont see it that way.

It is more like the time when i start to learn how to use bycycle. At first my father will show me how to ride it, then he will let me try it.
Slowly he will guide me from the back and hold me while i am trying to drive it.
as times goes by, soon or later i wont need my father guidance to hold the bycycle and i can run it anywhere i go. Even later on i can ride it without having to handle the grip.

However, admitelly speaking there will be time when i fall, and slip from the bycycle. When i hurt myself from falling. There is the time when i will go to my father and he will gives me his biggest hug and comfort for the fall. Does he know i will fall someday? Yes he does! So why he doesnt keep holding the bike wherever i go? Then what is the point of using bycycle? You cant ride the bycycle properly, or cruising along the road.

The same application work for all the science and technology that we have today. We have reach the limit where God is not holding our bycycle anymore. We know how ride it.
However, as know the control of this bycycle is completely within us, are we able to guarantee that this bycycle wont fall? Unfortunately again and again it is proven that we dont. Despite the sucessful achievement of technology today, there are black area where our own technology start to eat us up with more damage. Simple example: the discovery of Penicillin. There are more microbes that generating resistance to it nowadays. Why? Let the Pharmacologist, and Microbiologist answer that. I dont know the answer.
As this control of ourselves and earth seems to be more on our side probably we need to be humble to aknowledge the fact that sometimes there are aspect in our life that we still need God to control, we need to let go, we need to say "i dont know" and start to change that thought with "i believe"
I believe, that for every discovery that we do today, whether it is in Biological Science, or Psychology, Astronomy, Philosophy, Neuroscience, Sociology, Archaelogy, Anthropology, Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, or even Theology. That discovery is just another alphabet in the loong, thick, universal dissertation about God. We just reveal a glimpse of mystery upon the existence of this being that we actually dont really know and understand.
Our knowledge, our discovery, is just a small millimetric dot we put to picture the picture that probably as big as this earth.
So my answer today is more like an appeal. We should not be too fast to conclude that God does not exist simply because it seems we can answer so many question and mystery of our life and universe. We should be more patient, more open into the fact that there are thousands more question that has not been answered yet.
This is my personal faith, that i believe at the end of everything all of our discovery of life and universe will lead to one answer - GOD when it will be? i dont think it will be any soon
Therefore, i will leave a large room of my faith more towards God since i know there are many more questions that we havent answered yet.

Train of Thought

Its been more than a month that i left this blog alone....

As for now, life seems to set on a new track, new rail and as the time goes by let me see where this train will bring me.

Life for me is like an MRT, that goes along trough the rail. Sometimes it needs to shift to another rail, or sometimes it needs to slow down, and sometimes it needs to stop on certain station to pick up a new passenger. For me passenger can be considered as experience. On each station, an MRT will pick different number of passenger. But this is the unique thing about MRT. After, each station the number of the passenger inside will not be the same. Some will alight, some will stay, and new person will aboard the MRT.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

How Good Can Sex Be?

This blog might sound uncomfortable with many people but yet i've been asked this question again and again...
Indeed the question sound so vulgar and what kind of question is that?
Having said that, let us look at this question from the whole perspective of this blog...
We are living in the world where people look for pleasure and like it or not sex is one of the most wonderful pleasure someone can find...
Sex Industry, for whatever way you would like to say it has been one of the most successful business out there...
Prostistution, Pornography, and any other way of people try to fulfil their sexual gratification
Looking at pornography, i've been one of those who are hooked and tempted....so this come from someone who look at it in a very closer way.
My analysis goes like this, pornography work in several way. As we know our brain receive data and store it deep in our brain. For some times, pornography stimulates our visual receptor and hearing receptor. Both senses send the signal to our brain and the brain interpret it as something pleasurable.
Lets accept it, human are created as a sexual being and it will come naturally that this sexual stimulating senses will be deciphered in that way.
Therefore in sexual addiction, what we are hooked is simply that stimulation, because it linked to nice feeling in our brain.
Well, im not an M.D just someone who wants to have one (hehehe) but as far as my experience and studies go this is what i understand.
As you notice, that's why pornography industry keep following the flow of consumer. What i mean by that? Sex will alway need fulfilment, that is absolutely true. Sex at it self was made to bring pleasure, and as the reproductive way of human being. However, created with so complex brain, imagination takes place during this stimulation time.
S& M, Lolita, Bondage, Squirting, Orgies, Gang bang, Interacial, etc...etc is just some names on how our brain fulfiling its fantasy. With "normal" relationship, many people will not experience this things (at least in my conservative, kampong, concept of sex) therefore they fulfil it trough pornography.
One thing that i found, and i felt worthy to write here, is pornography will never bring love. No matter how fulfilling those sex performer seems to 'show' us on those video at the end of the day its just something people do for making bucks and money. Most of those porn star, after having "grandeur" sex on screen will not go home with their sex partner on screen and start to share their feeling about life, expectation, and family life.
I notice some porn star partner end up marrying each other, but the ratio is not considered big enough for me to become the example.
Many porn star boast about how they can reach orgasm on their scene. As far as that concern i do believe that could happen. Our body has it own biological reaction toward sexual stimulation, like it or not. Its natural.
But the question is, does love come natural to those couple after performing sex scene to each other? I hardly can agree, to some very little couple might be, but not in general.
I've seen enough adult movie, forgive me God for that....but now i come to the conclusion that how good sex can be is all depends on how that sex can bring two people together as a FAMILY.
That is the reason God create sex, because i believe the result of sex MUST end up in a couple who are willing to share not only their body to each other, but their life, their love, their pain, their faith, and basically everything.
Without that result sex is meaningless.
Unfortunately pornography will never fulfill that, because that is not the purpose of pornography to begin with. Pornography were never meant to be the way couple can reach the true meaning of LOVE.
So how about those so called 'educational' sex video? Those therapeutic one? for that i cant give too much explanation but one thing that i know...watching other people having sex, will absolutely make you feel to have sex with your partner too. But before continue on, one question. Your desire to have sex is whehter because you know that you fall in love more with your partner or simply to fulfilling the psychological stimulation of the picture you saw?
another question, how about those so called 'amateur', those couple who make their personal 'sex video' and publish it on the internet? well, what is their motives of showing their video on screen? so other people can have the same happy relationship like they do? So why dont start from screening their whole daily life and not only their sex life? Are they good in bed only?

Please dont get me wrong, i never condemn any of those people who work in sex industry. If that is the way they can make any money. By all grace im not in any authority to condemn their behavior, knowing i used to support their 'work' by consuming it. But my question goes to all of us who under the spell the pornography.

This reflection is one of those reflection that i found very fulfiling for me and i hope it will stay that way.