There are two reasons why people are unhappy. They are living someone else's life and have no courage to change it. Or they are living their own life and have no courage to accept it.
Monday, October 17, 2016
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
The Limits of your World
No one likes to be called small-minded or petty. Yet most of us define our own worlds so small and so rigid that it's hard NOT to be called as such.
Academically most people are aware of how large the Earth is and approximately the number of people occupying it. They are also aware that there are multiple countries and cities spreading over multiple continents. They may not know exactly how many countries or how many cities there are, but they are aware of the existence of these other countries and cities.
However, when it comes to their daily life, their worlds consist of mostly immediate family members, a few people from work, and maybe some friends. All of their life dramas are played out in this small and limited arena. Important things may be happening in the next state, or border country, or across the ocean. But these things matter little in their worlds.
Imagine what if they expand their worlds (or their "family") to include the whole neighborhood, perhaps the whole state, or perhaps everyone on Earth. Suddenly the problems of the world is much more personal to them. It would no longer be ISIS bombing France, but instead something like cousin Bill causing harm to uncle Bob's family.
When we "own" the whole planet, we are more motivated to fix the problems of the planet. When we limit our life to just our immediate family, we don't care about anyone else's problems. And we wonder why people call us petty.
Academically most people are aware of how large the Earth is and approximately the number of people occupying it. They are also aware that there are multiple countries and cities spreading over multiple continents. They may not know exactly how many countries or how many cities there are, but they are aware of the existence of these other countries and cities.
However, when it comes to their daily life, their worlds consist of mostly immediate family members, a few people from work, and maybe some friends. All of their life dramas are played out in this small and limited arena. Important things may be happening in the next state, or border country, or across the ocean. But these things matter little in their worlds.
Imagine what if they expand their worlds (or their "family") to include the whole neighborhood, perhaps the whole state, or perhaps everyone on Earth. Suddenly the problems of the world is much more personal to them. It would no longer be ISIS bombing France, but instead something like cousin Bill causing harm to uncle Bob's family.
When we "own" the whole planet, we are more motivated to fix the problems of the planet. When we limit our life to just our immediate family, we don't care about anyone else's problems. And we wonder why people call us petty.
Work and Play
Working versus playing is a matter of perspective. The actual activity being done is irrelevant. The rare individuals that say they are blessed to be doing something they love for pay are simply people who love what they're doing at the moment...regardless of what that activity may be. They simply have no mental boundaries separating "work" from "play".
Friday, February 5, 2016
Kindness
There is only one real currency and that is kindness. And unlike money its supply is limitless.
Photo by Bahman Farzad
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Western Medicine
Medical scientific knowledge for the most part relies on statistics. All scientific papers use statistical analysis to draw conclusions about its data. Western medicine essentially derives all its management protocols from the results derived by number manipulations.
If you can't see why this is such a big problem here is an analogy to illustrate it. Imagine an android from the planet Vulcan visit Earth to make a movie. Vulcan is a planet of which all its inhabitants function solely on logic and mathematical probabilities.
This android would begin to analyze how to make a great movie by first gathering the best 100 movies of all time according to some list. Then he would devise various quantitative parameters to measure each movie, such as the number of words spoken, how long each movie lasts, how many male and female characters are in each movie, and so on. Finally he would put all his collected data through rigorous statistical analysis and come up with a set of criteria on what a great movie should have. His definition of a great movie would be something like "it must last 2.05 hours, it must have 11,529 words spoken, it must have a ratio of 2.3:1 of male to female characters, etc..."
Patient management in western medicine always involves some sort of quantitative parameters. Normal vital signs of patients consist of a heart rate of 80 bpm, blood pressure of 120/80 and respiration rate of 12 per minute. More than 2 standard deviations from the normal values are considered abnormal. All lab tests has normal values. All tumor markers have designations of low, moderate, and high. Given the high patient loads doctors have nowadays, today patient management has become essentially lab values management.
We think making a movie based on quantitative analysis is ridiculous, yet we have no objection to having our health evaluated the same way.
If you can't see why this is such a big problem here is an analogy to illustrate it. Imagine an android from the planet Vulcan visit Earth to make a movie. Vulcan is a planet of which all its inhabitants function solely on logic and mathematical probabilities.
This android would begin to analyze how to make a great movie by first gathering the best 100 movies of all time according to some list. Then he would devise various quantitative parameters to measure each movie, such as the number of words spoken, how long each movie lasts, how many male and female characters are in each movie, and so on. Finally he would put all his collected data through rigorous statistical analysis and come up with a set of criteria on what a great movie should have. His definition of a great movie would be something like "it must last 2.05 hours, it must have 11,529 words spoken, it must have a ratio of 2.3:1 of male to female characters, etc..."
Patient management in western medicine always involves some sort of quantitative parameters. Normal vital signs of patients consist of a heart rate of 80 bpm, blood pressure of 120/80 and respiration rate of 12 per minute. More than 2 standard deviations from the normal values are considered abnormal. All lab tests has normal values. All tumor markers have designations of low, moderate, and high. Given the high patient loads doctors have nowadays, today patient management has become essentially lab values management.
We think making a movie based on quantitative analysis is ridiculous, yet we have no objection to having our health evaluated the same way.
Looseness and Firmness
The core self must be firm and resolute. The external self must be flexible and adapting. This is the way of nature. Looseness moving about firmness.
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