Seeking inspiration, hope to inspire

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog. And it’s not due to a lack of time but rather inspiration. Reading back all the previous post I can sense a lot of resentment in the past. I’ve mellowed since then. But I’m still trying to find my place in this world. There is still a hole in my heart. A god shaped hole that can only be filled by… well… God. That’s why I constantly feel a longing for something. 

While googling it I stumble upon a blog that struck a chord with me. Reading it almost had me in tears. It was speaking to me. I now know I’m not alone. The writer continues to explain that this sense of belonging drives us to seek for something better. 

“It’s that innate human desire for something more, something bigger, something better that leads us to discovery. None of the inventions of man could have happened without that human quality we all have that drives us to always be seeking something else” 

I can certainly relate to this, seeking for something better and to be better. I had an epiphany one day at work while of all places walking out of the rest room. I stood at the door looking over my working area and came to realise that this is not where I want to be and not what I want to do. 

But this realization didn’t come instantly. It was brewing over some time now. I recently met someone who has helped me realise what I want and pointed out as clearly as day that I not really happy here. My happiest time was at a place where being myself was easy. In that environment was where I could strive. That life back then made sense to me. Not this monotonous, repetitious and apathetic day to day existence. With that I’ve decided to make plans and preparation for my impending departure next year. 

With new beginning, new surroundings, new environment I can then begin to seek for the hole to be filled. But it’s no longer a “God-Shaped hole” but rather a LIFE-SHAPED HOLE. And the only way to fill it is by living. 

Thank you. I hope I inspire you as much as you inspire me :-). I promise I'll will write to you. Not email, not Facebook, not MSN, but write letters, the traditional way. 

And the insurgents finally prevail

I finally got the see the movie that everyone has been raving about. Avatar is James Cameron long awaited cinematic return after the hit movie Titanic, which I saw 5 times. It was certainly worth the wait. Although he conceived the idea of Avatar way back in the early 1990s he had to wait until the technology was available for him to realize his vision of Pandora. There’s already been talk of a sequel but I personally think if not done correctly, it will be ruin. Take for example the Matrix trilogy, both reloaded and revolution movie was not as good as the original. The story line changed and the ending was horrible. Then again James Cameron made of one of the best sequel to an original movie. Terminator II surpassed every one’s expectation. With that to go by let’s hope history repeats itself.

What’s intriguing to me is how the Avatar arouses some conservative issues of the day while entertaining the masses with some ground breaking artistry, cinematic genius and a love story. The typical movie goers are indulged with political subtexts staring them right in the face. It’s clear that Avatar portrays the American military contractors as barbarous mercenaries, willing – nay – eager, to wipe out innocent natives in their pursuit of Pandora's precious natural resources. This draws direct comparison to the Iraq war and probably other US wars before it. Buts what's is more interesting is how the American people, who have almost always show strong support for their foreign wars, is showing support and embracing a film that portrays their military characters in such an unsavory manner. Does this show a change of time? Or merely a creatively disguise subtle social message? My guess is that the audiences are seeing past the obvious because the movie is set in a faraway, interplanetary future and not in present-day America. One of the references to Iraq was their “Shock and Awe” tactics used against the Na’vi. In the end the movie ask the audience to root for the defeat of American soldiers at the hands of the insurgency.

Besides Iraq, another reference was religion. In my research of various religions, one found was very interesting, Pantheism. It is a faith that equates God with Nature. In other words, the universe, including nature on Earth is the only true entity deserving divinity, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world. This is heavily reference in the movie. So is James Cameron a Pantheist? Or maybe like me who just find it interesting.

Avatar is more than a green epic about despoiling the environment, and an attack on the war in Iraq, it has an incredible spectacle and technology and great filmmaking to capture people's attention. It's a triumph of visual imagination and the world's first great 3-D movie. Trust me for those who haven’t watch it in full 3-D, they haven’t watch anything yet.

A Coffe Break

Someone mentioned to me recently that I need to slow and calm down. Play my cards right and hold it close to my heart because change takes time. Smell the roses he said, and enjoy what life has offered you. Absolutely I replied with a smile. He continued it’s not my fault the world is what it is today. And it’s not fair to put the world’s problem on my shoulders. Every day is a new day. The days before cannot be lived again nor is it possible to undo anything you’ve done. The future is not here yet so don’t dwell on it either. What counts is the here and now, the precious time we have at this very moment. That’s why it’s called the Present. And like a present it’s precious. Nothing is more important than the time you have. Because we will never get it back. And we don’t know how much of it each of us is given. So spend it wisely he said, because unlike anything else in the world, it’ll be gone forever.

I came to the realization of my own mortality. One’s life is but a mere chapter in other’s memories. How that chapter is remembered is up to the individual. Live life as you wanted, how you want to be remembered. Fill in those chapters with inspiration of others that you are privileged to cross path with.

Bodies fade, time lost, but memories lives on. That’s when I came to realize my immortality; living in the memories of others. I’ve long to inspire and be inspired. And that’s what this blog is basically about; for me to share my views, thoughts and stories.

My friend then continued, close your eyes, and breathes in slowly and deeply. Then breathe out with smile. Open your eyes slowly and see the possibilities.

This is my new favourite singer. His music reminds me on U2 and Cold Play who are also favourites of mine. Absolutely loved the lyrics.

Campaign for Liberty

Are we seeing the realization of Victor Hugo’s famous maxim, “An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”? I certainly think so.

Liberty was defined by Thomas Jefferson as "Declaration of The Rights of Man and The Citizen" as: "Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law."

However I preferred Patrick Henry’s saying that "Liberty is not the right to do what one wants, but the right to do what one must."

Liberty is the freedom to do as you please so long as you don’t coerce others. This means you have to right to associate with others voluntarily, you have the freedom of speech and publish, practice the religion of your choice or not at all, keep what you earn, run your own business and love and live as you please – as long as you don’t violate the rights of others.

We need liberty to think, to create, and to fulfill our individual and unique potential. Liberty is as essential to our psychological nature as food and air are requirements of our biological nature.

When we are deprived of liberty, economies stagnate, cultures deteriorate, science declines, living standards fall and the human spirit diminished.

As of its compelling and important value, tyrannical dictators in the past have uses liberty in promoting their evil agenda. They pretend to advocate “higher” freedom – such as “national security”, “economic equality” or “the common good”. We all have heard it in the past. The graveyards of history are filled with corpses of those deceived by such claims. Slaves are made by such claims.

From the Soviet Union to Nazi Germany, totalitarian nations have murdered and tortured over 100 million people all the name of “economic equality” and “the common good”. Even the United States imprisoned over 100 thousand American-Japanese descendents in the after math of Pearl Harbor in the name of “national security”.

In 1759, Benjamin Franklin famously said, those who give up their liberty in exchange for government promises of security, end up with neither liberty nor security.

Countries which deny liberty to their citizens are the most brutal, poor, and miserable places on earth. In the end, tyrannies fail because they are based upon coercion, and coercion is fundamentally incompatible with human nature.

It is in our nature to seek and be free. Therefore individual rights must have elements of freedom which include the freedom to live your life in peace. Other rights include:
· Freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly;
· Freedom of association;
· Rights to self-defense;
· Rights to keep what you earn; and
· Freedom of enterprise and the right to own property.

Freedom is not just practical but moral as well. Socialist often argues that liberty would not feed a starving man – implying that liberty is less important than government-guaranteed security. But it is the absence of liberty that produces starvation and poverty. The freer the country, the more prosperous it is. The poorest, most miserable countries in the world – Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, etc. – have an abundance only of government promises, fear and suffering.

From the concentration camps of Nazi Germany and the Soviet gulags, to Cambodia’s killing fields, the 20th Century has witnessed hideous despotisms. But coercive government of every variety – socialism, fascism, and the democratic welfare state – simply doesn’t work and eventually collapses.

Liberty is the wave of the future. The Internet, computer encryption, digital cash and other exciting new technologies have begun to free people throughout the world. With courage and dedication, the 21st Century will be the century of global liberty.

Sooner or later liberty will triumph. Liberty is our destiny – an idea whose time has come.