The man who goes all round the world except where he should go

I happen to know of a chap who works very hard. Then at some point, he will say he is very stressed out and he’s going to explode at any moment. Shortly thereafter this person will go on a holiday. When he comes back he thinks he is like a mobile phone that is fully charged and in a short while the whole cycle begins again.

One day this fellow asked me how is it that you have not taken a holiday for the last eight years and yet you don’t seem to be stressed out…he went on to add…you must be a freak!

I did not take offence and simply smiled. Thereafter I asked this man who has been to every corner of the world….have you journeyed into yourself?

He looked me at me as if puzzled and that was when I told him….I do take many holidays to recharge…the man asked in a surprised tone…where?….I go into myself.

He did not understand and for a while he shook his head in disbelief as if talking to a mad man. While I thought to myself…that incidentally is a very big problem for this man who seems to go everywhere except where it’s most needful……himself.

——————————————————————————

‘Don’t let the world wordsmith your life into the sum of a cheap mobile phone…you not a Samsung or for that matter an Iphone – where you may even believe when the week starts you have five bars and as you work you’re depleting energy only to rush frantically to charge your empty batteries and to repeat the whole cycle again….if you are in that sort of gyre, then I can almost guarantee you 100% – you will always be running away from yourself and I want to be clear just because you can find someone else to go along with your escapism doesn’t make it reality either.

What will be your reality is this. You always be poor because you are living an in and out economy. You will always be working for other people because you keep running away from yourself that you don’t even bother to take responsibility for yourself to plan to start an enterprise. You will be working to realise their dreams instead of yours. And worse of all since you don’t have the right programming to win, you will always find youself going around in only circles….and once you reach a certain age when you can no longer gainfully impersonate the life and times of latest smart phone you will switched out for someone younger and left out to dry in a place where all phones go to die.

I do apologise profusely if this happens to come as a great and monumental shock to you…..only understand I speak only the truth.

Learn to be your own man and woman….take responsibility…do not follow the way of the world. Where they will sell you the idea to relax and destress, you absolutely need to run away from yourself and your work along with somehow forget everything that’s related to work by sorrounding yourself in the fantasy of pristine beaches and coconut trees.

Instead cultivate the art of being sustainable. Work sustainably. Be efficient in how you use and recycle energy. Above all take the time to get to know yourself….never run away from yourself by seeking distractions…as this is what the world tells you to do….but this mantra of exist because people are getting rich from selling holidays!

When you make an effort to get to know yourself….you will find that you don’t need all these distractions. The urge to run away and to forget will drop away….your wallet will also be happier as well since it is not suffering from cancer.

This is especially true when you are young. Work and save as much as you can and start and own an enterprise. Be financially independent – above all own yourself and if possible get to know yourself and be comfortable in your own skin.

There is no rush to go here and there. The world is not ending the Mayan phrophecy was a no show. Trust me no one is in a hurry to tear down the Eiffel Tower and turn it into a food court. There are no plans to do that. London bridge is not falling down. The UK is not in an earth quake zone. The Grand Canyon is not a giant sink hole no one is going to fill it with concrete…..it will all be there. There is no hurry to see the world.

But there is a real urgency for you to go into yourself and to discover who you really are and what you are capable of and if possible to even be fascinated and mesmerised by the experience…that is the first step to live sustainably…to know what is most needful and to have the discipline to commit yourself to it.

This is the one discipline that you will find every serious man and woman doing….they don’t run here and there trying to distract themselves no end. They always go back to the center of their being to draw strength and nourishment.

Because if you do not make a real and genuine effort to own yourself early on in life, then it could be said you have been everywhere except where you should really go….and that lack will show.’

The lost art of listening

Many people go thru life without ever really listening to what is said. They seem to think that just because they have ears and they have the capacity to hear….that logically means they must be listening.

But often nothing can be further from the truth. Because between the act of hearing what is being expressed and trying to make sense of it…they have already added and subtracted so much from what was once said that their final undertanding of what was said can only be so distrorted and embellished.

I noticed this in the moment of my youth. As since I was autistic, very few people would ever listen to what I had to say. They would listen to normal kids but not me. At times they would even talk about me as if I was invisible. So at a tender age since I didn’t have many opportunities to be heard. Instead I put all my energy and attention into listening more effectively than most people….I could listen so proficiently that I could even hear so many things that most people could never ever pick up.

I listened so well that many people were convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that I had the power to foresee the future along with read minds. I even came out in the newspaper a few times. As I could play a card game where you could pick up any card and I would be able to call….as the person told me…and I listened….that was how it really worked…they told me! Not so much in words….but this they did.

At one point in my youth. I was even regularly asked to tell people’s fortune…..when events turned out as I predicted many would ask in amazement…how did you know it would turn out that way and my reply would always be the same on every single occasion just like the card game…YOU told me and I listened…and on every occasion they would exclaim…..No! I didn’t….for some curious reason, everyone thought I was making up stories…I listened so well that when I started working again everyone thought that I was a genius since I could zero into a problem even before it happened….I could even predict to an accuracy of 90% when, where and how it would all turn pear shaped and it reached such a ridicolous point that I even had to put on an act. As I realised when one is right most of the time and no one ever believes that was only because I merely listened to all the mechanics talking in locker room…then people will begin to fear and this usually leads to anger and usually I would be victimised. They would all kill me! So to palliate their fears…I would put on a show, like put my hands on a pipe, roll my eyes and foam in the mouth and only then would I tell them the answer in a trance like voice. Soon I noticed when I did that…no one ever asked me how I knew any longer….but that is only because they could never ever believe all I did was to listen. In this way I found they did not fear me any longer.

———————————————————————————————————————

‘If you genuinely want to know deep into your heart and mind whether what I have shared in this entry makes any sense at all. All you have to do AFTER reading this is to be conscious of the act of listening. Do not be impatient. Never interrupt. Just listen. Listen without adding or subtracting with what your mind thinks will be said or was said before this conversation. Listen without even thinking. Just listen to the sound of the voice. Be attentive to how the words are formed. Listen without any assumptions or for matter only to what want to hear….listen only.

And at the end of this experiment. You will know for yourself.

Go on I dare you!’

How to deal with conmen

Today two conmen tried to pull a fast one on me. Midway thru the conversation I told them….OK. Sold!…I am going to write a cheque now. But before I do so, it is my solemn duty to inform you all based on the business principle of full disclosure – you are dealing with a senior representative of the order of the illuminati….before I could continue further. They both scooted away…one of them bolted so fast he went right out of the window (that’s the first for even me)…and presumably they are now driving off at full speed to where they came from.

Indeed there is a very profound moral to this story….but I think its best that I leave it to you.

Latest of Phase 2 of replanting

The woman who lives in the past glory of her beauty

There’s a plantation lady who used to be very beautiful in her younger days. She must have been stunner in her younger days. As even today she likes so much to live in the happy folds of memories in the moment of her youth….and who can blame her.

I can only imagine whenever she comes face to face with present, it must be a terrible let down as often I find in those moments she is very quiet and melancholy.

Recently this lady confided to me that she often feels sad and at times even suicidal. As she considers her life these days to be only a pale and faded comparison to what it used to be in the glorious moment of her youth.

At some point in the conversation she turned to me as if thinking aloud and expressed…I wish I could be young forever.

At that moment I felt like sharing with this lady what I know of Chuando. But I decided not too. And soon the topic turned once again to her deepest of yearnings…I wish I can be young and beautiful forever.

That was when I turned the lady attention to a nearby hedgerows of wild flowers. I told her they are in season and that was when she rose up excitedly as if wanting to pluck a few…to which I gently held her back with the words….please sit with me and just look…are they not beautiful. To which the lady agreed that was when she turned to me and asked, why did you stop me for plucking them.

I will share with only you what I told her that afternoon…as I believe an error in thinking concerning what is beauty and how one should seek oneness with it is the root cause of so much unnecessary anxieties and suffering along with cancer of the wallet…..in my understanding….true beauty is not a thing, it cannot be possessed….it is only a fleeting moment like the coming and passing of the seasons….the flit of the clouds across the sky…a cool breeze against your cheeks….to be one with beauty is not about possessing or for that even owning or preserving…it is really only about one thing… appreciation.

The capacity for one to appreciate beyond what one merely sees is what allows us to be at one with beauty.

—————————————————————————–

‘Life is incredibly democratic in more ways than I can possibly describe. As at every level of a man and womans life there will always be plenty of opportunities to be exceptionally beautiful. When a girl is in her teens she is bursting with at seams with all of life like a flower in full bloom. That is merely one understanding of beauty. As she turns the corner in her mid twenties and proceeds into her thirties, her once tight features will begin to relent ever so slightly lending her a certain calmness of appearance that had always been elusive to her when she was younger and again that is yet another type of beauty and as this woman proceeds further into her forties the fullness of her hips will begin to flesh out (there are of course exceptions like fish ball transformer cases lah, but we will not go there as I don’t want to get charming letters asking me to go and die. That is not beautiful so we will not talk about it. Incidentally I forgive you all.)…and again that is beautiful as well.

So as you can see. At every stage of life there is plenty of room for improvisation to for one to be beautiful.

The same holds true for man as well. In the moment of his youth, he’s like an open top cabriolet with a feisty and noisy engine that is raring to go. As this man ages into his thirties, forties and beyond. So long as he has the benefit of this insight printed and laminated in his wallet every stage of life will hold up plenty of opportunities for him to aspire to be beautiful as well. He too will be able to find this mythical line.

As this man ages he will acquire a certain steadiness and stateliness like a well heeled Mercedes Benz. There is power but now it is not the raw white knuckle variety. Rather it’s refined, very polished, sophisticated even in an old school 007 genre and very understatedly muted. As at that stage in life, there is very little to prove….you already know who you are and what you are capable of doing. Nothing flashy or glarish just like silk cravat peeking out from an open neck shirt to give the assemble as certain saviour faire. But it is equally surefooted and powerful, if not more as this time, as it is complimented with experience and confidence and wisdom. These things are very beautiful in a man. His clarity. Precision of thoughts along worldly knowledge that could have only have come from having come before it, seen it and conquering it. That is why if a man keeps himself well and doesn’t have a skin that’s too thin…he will be beautiful right up to Unclehood and beyond. Same with some aunties as well…they too are very beautiful in their own terms. If they can go beyond just the vapidness of commercial beauty.

Knowing that each stage of life offers a different way to express ones beauty has nothing to do with vanity and everything to do with how to live and most importantly enjoy a purpose driven life.

When you see life thru this multi dimensional philosophy of beauty – then you will realise true beauty is not simply about possessing or being clingy to a monent in your life that is really only variety of beauty. It is not about trying to be Peter Pan. Or even trying to discover the elixir of youth in a bottle of moisturising cream where the only active ingredient is water.

Above all it is not about possessing…it is really only about appreciation.’

Politics & Diplomacy

Politics to me is the art of talking about everything under the sun except that which you should really only be talking about.

Diplomacy on the otherhand is the incomparable ability to say both no and yes at the same time and still be able to deny either positions when one is really pressed to clarify one’s position.

This should prompt sane and reasonable people to ask why mankind requires both politics and diplomacy…..well it should at least.

——————————————————————————

‘Trade negotiations will begin soon. And it’s not uncommon for the stakeholders to jostle for advantage….no matter how small and insignificant it may appear to be – this is not merely the art of pettiness. I assure… it is none other than its other higher evolved kin…the theoretical science of petty. It seems the venue has become a highly contestable issue this year. Last year it was the menu. The year before the sitting positions and the year before that the allocation of parking lots.

This year. The millers seem to prefer to conduct trade talks in their home turf. While the landowners prefer to hold it in their strongholds. I on the otherhand much prefer to conduct trade talks at a neutral zone.

But how does one go about conveying to either party that their chosen venue is not agreeable without coming across as a petulant child who seems to be kicking up and fuss. Perhaps one way to do this is to state categorically that one is agreeable to whatever has been decided and do the opposite.

It is not easy to do the opposite. First one has to be most agreeable and even give all the parties a verbal undertaking that one is most willing to see the matter thru as sincerely as possible. This I have already done to the best of my abilities which I can only describe as a feat that probably deserves an oscar nomination and at least two Bafta’s to boot. On one occasion I even looked at a group of landowners with tears welling in and told them all in a trembling voice that I will do everything within my power to preserve the peace and that they can absolutely count on me. Now all that needs to be done is to ferret out ever more inventive reasons to say…but and of course however..these are two weapons of intrigue that feature in any form of double dealing.Along with of course…My words were taken out of context….what I actually meant to say was this and not that! That crowbar always comes in handy and of course if all fails one can always take refuge in the idea…of miscommunication.

This I am yet to do. But I am sure the opportunity will present itself later. If that fails I can always engineer an impasse along with level wild accusations on either side that if they do this or that. Then I would respond in the following manner…it is with deep regret that I can only consider this as a declaration of a trade war and I have every right to defend myself. Thereafter I take out my oversized good morning hanky blow my nose and walk out. If that doesn’t work I can always avail myself of the persuasive powers of banging my shoe on the podium and demanding fair terms that actually only favour me and hope that someone would be sufficiently moved to appease me. Then again I might even break off negotiations abruptly by raising an old wound and making it into a mountain….but I don’t believe that will work as I pulled that capper last year.

Perhaps I will just go this year and take my allocated seat that for some inexplicable reason seems to get closer to the toilet with each successive year – after that when anyone ask me what I think about it…I will simply express in a sardonic tone. We live in interesting times….do we not?…and just leave it at that.

Do not feel sad when things don’t go your way

Today I visited a newbie farmer and his wife. It seems they have thrown the towel in as a for sale sign was hung out at the gate. When I pulled up, a man in his thirties greeted me. I could tell by just surveying the field, they were going thru a very hard time. Coming to think of it, whose doing well these days given the relentless freaky weather…I mean if Michaelangelo was denied fine Italian marble and just had clay to work with. Even he would just be an excellent flower pot artisan.

While walking with the man he began to recount how they had once sold everything in the city and moved here, but it seems they can’t seem to make ends meet. I did not say much instead I got directly to business and asked, how much are you asking. When the figure was blurted out. I held out my hand and said, I think we can shake on that figure. That was when the woman rushed to her husbands side and whispered something. I could tell from the way she looked at me, she wasn’t keen on selling. That was when the man changed tack and asked whether they could have more time to think about it.

I said no. Shake my hand and it’s done, I pressed on. And this time the woman said quite openly to her husband…if he’s willing to pay that much for the land then he knows that he can get much more out of it….we best hold on to the land and give it another go.

I merely sigh thereafter I expressed in a condescending tone, you will never get such a good offer again.

While pulling out of the yard. I wound down the car window and asked again….this is your last chance. This time the woman stepped forward and told me, we are going to give it another go….do us a favour on the way out please take down the for sale sign.

I just shook my head in feigned despair and drove right off.

Truth is I will never pay such a high price for that land….truth is I do this at least twice every year whenever I see newbie farmers at the end of their rope and truth is it always works like a charm…they will give it another go and usually they hit pay dirt as when it’s already that bad, it can really just get better.

…………………………………………………………………….

Never feel sad when you have it hard….hard at school…hard at work…hard at the playground…hard at relationships….so hard that it seems everyone is having it so easy all the time. While all you seem to be doing is chucking out heavy boulders just to move a few miserable inches forward. Because when things don’t go your way…it’s not just a case of not being able to get what you always expected to get out of life. Rather you get to experience first hand many other things that the people who have it easy all the time never ever get to know about….trust me. One day when you punch thru that hole and it opens right up like open sesame and make all those cool moves that puts you at the top of the hill.

You will come to realise that it wasn’t the things that came really easy to you that really made all the difference. Rather it was actually the things that you had to work really hard at with loads of superglue and duct tape that really all added to make the defining difference in your life.

And when you see it that way, then hopefully you will have that once in the life time privilege of experiencing a rare moment of epiphany and realise that if those hard luck things didn’t feature so much in your life….you would certainly never be the person who you are.

I think when we learn to see success thru this alternate lens of being nothing more than a series of failures, shattered dreams and countless agonies of defeats…then it’s not about how smart or dumb like me you are or even whether you were born into rich or poor parents. Rather it’s just about one thing whether you can keep it day in and day out like a steady beat of metronome when all others have long sinced thrown in the towel and stomped right off.

Withdrawing from the world to become a hermit

Many people have expressed great shock and surprise that I have decided to dedicate myself to a hermit’s life. Even more have asked, why do you want to be alone….why do you want to suffer all by yourself…..then there are those who simply conclude something hurtful has happened so that may well account for why I have decided to turn inwards.

Truth is even if I am alone…I am not really alone. As it is very difficult for one to be truly alone.’

——————————————————————————-

‘It may at first seem very strange and even slightly curious to the uninitiated why a man or for that matter any man would deliberately fashion his life of seeming normality into the highest expression of suffering.

Yes. I do admit it does have a certain dramatique feel about it…like some vampire ritual.

I must admit I too have been deeply enamoured and intensely fascinated by that other category of men who have all suddenly broken off from the world only to walk away from it all.

Strangely very little have been written about these men…swordsmen who retreat deep into the forest only to disappear into the folds of nature..aesthetics who recluse themselves for years on end surviving only on a meagre diet of gruel….writers should shutter themselves from the world preferring the company of birds and trees.

It would seem all these men were depicted as tortured souls who deliberately sought out some means of atonement as opposed to redemption..often the imagery is couched in a sypnosis of lingering sadness, scandal or some dark secret bordering on insanity…but in truth, the real reason for denigrating and casting negative spells on these morose characters may have more to do with moderns fear of being alone.

Truth is one cannot be alone even when one is alone.

To understand this paradox one must understand how difficult it is to be truly alone. I am not merely referring to the physical dimension of loneliness where one is separated by all others by the singularity of time and space. Rather the notion of loneliness is exclusively a state of mind.

At this juncture it is my duty to inform you are about to read will have the capacity to transform the rest of life….I would therefore urge you to click on Mr Brown’s site and never read on should you desire the rest of your life to remain the same.

Still here? OK…let me share with you what my research has been thus far on the subject of being alone.

As even when one is alone. One is usually accompanied by an extraordinary big crowd. This crowd is in the head of all men who search to be alone….the composition of this crowd is not physical. Rather it exist in the form of encrusted memories, beliefs, assumptions, lexicons, philosophies and values that was once subliminally programmed into the mind of this man since he stepped into this planet.

Those who have never genuinely strived to be alone before will never be conscious of the presence of this crowd, that is because they never ever stay long enough in the discomfort zone of loneliness to ever register the presence of the crowd their heads…even when these people find themselves alone what they are actually experiencing is not truly loneliness. Rather it is the illusion of being alone. If they were really part of loneliness then they would never feel the discomfort of being alone – it is precisely because there is so many people running around upstairs and so many voices speaking at the same time that heightens the terror of being alone and why modern man equates being alone with suffering and pain. But how did this association form to even fossilize into an assumption that is usually recruited whenever this person speaks about the subject of loneliness? Where did it all come from?

It is from the crowd in his head.

As the crowd usually takes the form of what the world has to say and think about its many objects of interest…and regrettably when it comes to the subject of loneliness the world sees this as an undesirable thing…a character flaw, a sign of a dysfunctional mind. That is because the world constantly needs to validate its position – to feed this lie that to be alone is undesirable and even dangerous it first programs every member of society to first turn against anyone who even demonstrates the slightest inclination to seek out being alone. This the world regularly does by giving free rein of judgement to those who are presumptuous enough to believe there is something terribly wrong with being comfortable alone…people who seem unabashed and even proud to dine alone….travel alone…shop alone…work alone are often regarded as outliers. As a consequence modern man is conditioned since birth to be dependant rather than independent…worst of all he is led to believe as an individual he is powerless and unfulfilled, that liberty and emancipation can only be attained thru the capacity of being a team player…hence the crowd. And since membership into this crowd of possibilites first requires the subjugation and better still the assassination of the self in this grostequely convoluted manner modern man acquires a morbid fear being alone very much in the some people harbor an irrational fear of spiders.

So now you know even when one is all alone. One is still very much in the company of the crowd….as to search for a true and unadulterated state of loneliness is incredibly difficult and some say even impossible…and that is precisely the very reason why it must be done.’

Replanting phase 2

The first task of Phase 2 is to plough the land. The land needs to be ploughed twice. The first plough is very important as this sets both the depth and line. The optimum depth which the plough disc needs to flocculate the soil is at least one feet.

To accomplish this consistency is not only a man and machine consideration. It is also dependent on soil and weather conditions. Since it has been raining quite heavily, the soil structure is very wet and this would mean the tractor would need to proceed at a slower pace to plough. The general rule of thumb is – it is better to plough when it’s bone dry as this ensures consistent depth. But since we have been having a freaky spell of heavy rains recently – we would need to bring in a heavy duty plough set and a four by four tractor to get the right depth. The correct depth will ensure optimal mix between the new soil that has been dregded from the trenches and the old soil.

This is critical – the correct ratio to new and old soil mix is 3:7. If this stage is not done properly. Then it would seriously affect the second ploughing.

Quality control is very important.

After the first plough. The land is fallowed to solarized for a period of at least three weeks to a month to further extract out excess moisture and allow the soil to aerate and stabilise.

Based on the freaky weather we have been experiencing. I am not confident at all that we can get three weeks of sunny and hot weather to allow us to plough to quality. It’s conceivable from this point onwards it will be wet thru out the whole of the remainder of the year.

The quality for the second plough will be pulled back to maybe two weeks after the first plough.

After that we will prepare the lining that is when the planting points need to be calculated, fine tuned and marked out on the land. For oil palm the optimal distance between one tree to another is 30 feet (143 per hectare). This is arranged in a series of interconnected equilateral triangles orientated along a North South axis to benefit from maximum sun exposure.

During the inter growth period when the oil palm is still young and unproductive, banana will be grown in the rows.

Learning to be alone

Learning to be alone is the hardest thing that a man can ever direct his mind to do. As not only is the act of willfully seeking out loneliness anathema to the human condition….but one can say it goes against man’s nature….I am reminded virtually every aspect of man is designed for social interaction. Man’s skin is hairless unlike other animals so as to enable him to best respond to touch and to convey warmth…we have very advance vocal cords to allow us to articulate and give life to words in the form of speech…even our brain is hard wired for social intercourse….that is why the most painful form of ostracization takes the form of ex communication…it is as if so much of what makes us human is a function of this programming where we are required to search out to connect with our fellow humans.

It is for these reasons why the hardest thing for a man to do is to direct himself to live a hermit’s life…..because the very moment he dedicates himself to this way of life he inadvertently enters into conspiracy where his mind can only turn against him and even find every reason (real and imagined) to derail him from ever succeeding in this mission…..the enemy is within.

——————————————————————————-

‘I think this is one of the hardest discipline to keep at. If I were to summon the various reasons why this should be so……it is simply because so much that feeds into the idea of what we consider to be a human being is derived from the external rather than from the world within the individual.

This is not an indictment of mankind in general…if anything it is a very accurate description that accounts for why man is very much conditioned to be a social animal.

Neither is there any right or wrong here. My interest in this subject is not to politicise why it far more superior for a man to dedicate himself to loneliness than to try to seek the same level of satisfaction and edification from marinating himself with his fellow humans…..if anything it is simply to understand where exactly are the limits of this stream of consciousness.

I do not know exactly what value such enquiries could possibly yield for the rest of mankind. Maybe one day someone who plans to blast off to Mars will stumble on this blog and say to himself…’er maybe this will be useful for me once I get so used to wearing dirty underwear that I don’t even feel to need to change any longer.’ Or perhaps it will be compressed into some booklet of desperation for the dearly unfortunate as required reading to be incorporated with other depressing stuff like flare gun, emergency rations, torchlight, Valium to ease the disposition of those who may suddenly find themselves marooned on a shark infested island smack in the middle of nowhereville.

I wonder why do I secretly crave for someone to tell me that I’ve done a very good job in my replanting – why do I suffer from such an infantile craving. Of greater interest is why do I seem to regard this craving as a weakness that I even feel ashamed whenever my mind turns to the subject. Otherwise what else can explain my militant refusal to even seek the approval and acceptance of others….could it be pride….or maybe it is my arrogance that comes from my irrevocable belief that I am superior and therefore do not require lesser mortals to tell me these things which I secretly yearn to hear.

But I do not need to hear it from them do I….I can sense their admiration…respect and even fear from the way they lower their eyes whenever the subject surfaces. I can even register their deliberate refusal to recognise the quality of my work by the way they prefer not to discuss this subject. Yes I can sense all these things and much more. So I am very conceited am I not. On one hand I seem to know everyone admires my work, yet for some childish reason I demand recognition by secretly yearning for nods of approval…After all a man who is truly confident of his abilities will not care very much for what others think about his work.

Another example of my ability to deceive myself can be gleaned from my numerous interactions with the contract girlfriend. On one hand I continue to secretly insist she is so well below my social station and imagined intellectual status, I can even entertain her ridicolous entreaties without ever once ever succumbing to them as real possibilities…I even make all sorts of happy excuses to convince myself that I am actually above all forms of carnal attraction as well….but how can one explain that I even feel elated whenever I see her at the mall. Isn’t that a form of deception….contradiction of terms even….on one hand I repudiate everything that she stands for. Yet I find myself entertaining her under the guise of what I much prefer to regard as ‘social experimentation’ cum curiosity and feigned understanding that I even have the métier to pass off as intellectual diversions when actually it is vicariousness approaching nothing less than cheap voyuerism…but can I not say that I do actually find her company stimulating and even a happy diversion from my hermits existence…..what actually is the difference between the man who keeps a mistress by the side and visits her from time to time to take his fill of the illicit thrill from I the man who goes to the mall under the false pretense of stocking up on dog food while whiling my time with the contract Girlfriend? There is no difference actually is there…it is semantical, but the motivations remain disturbingly the same. The difference being one part of my brain is able to convince the other side that all these is not happening….if there is such a thing as a difference – it is simply my refusal to come to terms with the distinct possibility that, that could well be my only reason to drive down to the mall.

I am deceitful. Truly conceited deceitful. As I have become the deceiver of myself. It is conceivable a conspiracy has begun in earnest in some corner of my mind that I am not even aware of….I looked thru all my shopping receipts and noticed that I’ve been making more trips to the mall than I would usually have to…not that it surprises me.

This conspiracy of the mind is reminiscent of what Descartes wrote in the First Meditations where the tortured soul explains why he felt the need to call his beliefs into doubt. Like all true deceivers of the self…he was indeed a purist. As he even took the trouble to couch his ramblings with a patine of intellectualism – I can well relate to his experience as a fellow self deceiver.

As I might to Swann’s slow burn fascination with Odette in Marcel Proust novel as well…recher du temps….where Swann expresses her love for Odette not directly but rather obliquely to first complete the great lie by using Botticelli’s painting Zipporrah as a respectable intermediary to cleanse himself of lecherism…..where one’s beliefs have been suddenly called into questioned. Descartes rambles on that God is actually a deceiving demon, or that he might simply be going crazy. He then goes on to develop some horse brain overarching theory that he never seems to get around to explaining how he came to this formulation…never… except maybe to elide all aspects of it that would have rendered it sound and convincing by using the sobriquet term of endearment..’you know what I mean’…and goes on to gives himself imagined reasons to be skeptical of all his further beliefs. Here is where he dabbles in not philosophy but rather mumbo jumbo mysticism and some how manages to convince one part of his brain that nothing of the world is real. The other side of his brain follows naturally..He essentially disbelieves everything that can possibly be called into question and whittles existence down into a nihilistic blob. Then, he declares imperially…..I must finally conclude that the statement “I am, I exist” must be true whenever I state it or mentally consider it…I think, so I am.

Paradoxially what Descartes (or for that matter Swann) actually meant to say was not what he claimed to have said in either his scholarly litany that he seemed to be able to convince the lecole that he even had anything worthy to say about the human condition. Rather it was what Descartes preferred not to say, but should have that actually betrayed a mind who simply couldn’t come to terms with how he had totally deceived himself….and it would read something like this….I am the great deceiver of the self.

Yes…the same mechanism of self destructive afflicted Swan’s character as well. Where the main protagonist formed an equally ridicolous association between his fetish with Odette and some mural that he once saw in Florence depicting muses of sorts….but what was actually festering in his head was an elaborated form of denial and guilt complex that he actually required her participation to complete his incomplete world thru the construction of yet another greater lie…a world that was devoid of all imagined possibilities that he couldn’t even bring himself to admit as it would first require the repudiation of his aristocracy.

There is a flaw in the thinking is there not?

I see it very clearly now…it is a conspiracy borne out from a mind that is yearns to be connected. Yet denies it at the same time by fashioning all sorts of delectable excuses why that may not be such a sensible proposition…

From tomorrow onwards I will no longer go to the mall any longer or for that matter mingle unless I really have too…even then I should be economical with my time…Above all. I must instead keep to discipline of observing the deceiver who resides somewhere in my mind. I will corner him like hunter. I don’t know where he is hiding…but I am sure if I take the time about him. I will eventually have him in my sights long enough to take a clean shot and wipe him forever.

Then like Descartes I will truly be free….I think, so I am. Only this time it would not be a crie de couer like Descartes…I will really be free in the depths of being alone all by myself.’

How to control your anger

Imagine a puppet attached to strings. When you want the puppet to nod its head. All you have to do is to pull on the string that is attached to its head. Should you like it to walk, you can pull and release the strings to both its legs. You can do anything to this puppet and with practice you can even make it dance and entertain people.

This is what happens when you allow anger into your heart….you give those who want to hurt you…power…authority…control over you and your state of mind.

When you understand how anger works thru this imagery that I have just painted…..then it is very easy to keep calm even in a stressful situation.

Because in life you can give people many things. You can give them love, friendship, time etc etc etc or like the girl in the mall who keeps hassling me to take her on as a contract girlfriend….you can even give understanding.

But you should under no circumstances give any one complete and total power of control over you….this you must never do. Not even to your husband, wife, parents, pastor etc etc. As it is both hazardous and foolish….so tell me now.

Why are you so willing to give power…authority…and control to someone who wants to bring out the worse in you by making you angry?

——————————————————————————

‘Never allow anyone to make you angry. Because to be angry is not so different from sitting in the hottest place in hell. If I were to light a bonfire under your backside….what would you do? You will step to one side abruptly and ask of me in a stern voice – what are you doing?

But the funny thing is when someone tries to make you angry, you even help this evil person to pour the petrol into your underwear, light the match and even willing sit on the fire…..there is a flaw in the thinking…is there not?

That may well explain why this whole idea of anger management has been around since the late 1950’s. You want to know why…it doesn’t bloody work…as there is a critical error in thinking…..Firstly, it assumes that you can do the impossible and exercise total and complete control AFTER your backside is on fire….what can one do when one’s backside and other unmentionable body parts is engulfed in flames, except maybe to scream and jump up and down…what is there to manage intelligently…nothing. So this idea of MANAGING anger is an oxymoron, it’s a five chili stupid idea – how is it possible to talk the language of management when you have already given the full and complete authority and control like a string puppet to this evil person who wants to bring out the worst in you.

But if you say to yourself when someone or a situation threatens to make you angry – you have no power over me….I didn’t sign a power of attorney…all your levers are connected to absolutely nothing. Usually I will say this three times under my breathe. And that is really enough.

Because when a man has the capacity to remain calm when others are trying to bring out the very worst in them…that by itself can only be very intimidating and scary. To my understanding of the world – there can be nothing more powerful than this to disturb. As it means ALL authority….power….control is retained by the person.’

The maturity to be yourself

Most people suffer unnecessarily because they find it very difficult to accept themselves. Often their militant refusal to accept themselves is the main reason why they much prefer to live a life where they spend most of their time pretending to be someone else.

Today in the digital age it is remarkably easy to be everyone and anyone else except yourself. All that is needed is an instagram account and a good photoshop app and you are good to go.

The inability to accept oneself is not just a singular flaw. As it is the foundation that all other human character is built on. Because if one has trouble in that department, then it is impossible to build anything solid on something that resembles jelly. As the inability to accept oneself also means it will be impossible for one to love oneself or even to be forgiving and gentle to oneself.

But if one has the courage to accept oneself. One will have truly begun the journey towards being a more mature person. Be the person you are. Maturity is accepting the responsibility of being oneself, whatever the cost. No matter what anyone else thinks or says. Risking all to be oneself, that’s what maturity is all about.

——————————————————————————-

‘The entire purpose of a human life can be distilled not into four, three or even two goals. Rather it all converges into ONLY one ultimate goal in my humble opinion and that is for one to strive to attain maturity.

Because intelligence without maturity can only be very dangerous. So is wealth without maturity, it can often be self destructive. Talent without maturity is even worse. As it can only lead to avarice and a premature death. As for good looks without maturity, it can only be wasted. And you can say this about virtually every aspect of human endeavour…everything ranging from religion to bicycle maintenance, when it is not sensibly coupled with maturity, it will all go downhill.

That is why never set your eyes on the world. As the way of the world is always to hold you by the nose and tell you like a wide eyed immature child – you need this or that to complete your life…you must be like so and so etc etc just to be happy and lead a purpose driven life. Notice the world never says – You are fine! You are OK! You are good to go!

No! They never ever say that!

They are always trying to plant either this or that flag on your head…always trying to selling you, me and everyone else something better, faster and newer. Always trying to engineer a fictitious deficit somewhere in your life so that they can justify why you should buy into the wisdom of their marketing manifesto….they have too, otherwise their business model will simply collapse.

Recently on my last shopping trip to the mall to stock up on provisions. I looked at a tube of anti Aging Neutrogena face wash for a very long time. When the contract Girlfriend asked me why since she has never seen me browsing around the toiletries section before. I sheepishly showed her a photo of Chuando and said that I would very much like to look like him since my skin has been ravaged by the recent replanting project.

But when she explained to me I also need to get a cleanser to go with the face wash along with a day and night moisturiser and possibly an ultra sonic face cleaner plus spf 50 sun block plus chap stick to stop my lips from cracking along with ten other stuff that I can’t seem to recall. I would also need to trim my eyebrows. Stay away from the sun. Eat only egg white and steamed chicken breast seven times a day. Exercise every alternate day. Sleep twelve hours. Etc etc etc etc.

After hearing all that I felt quite embarrassed and silly and decided to put that magical anti Aging tube of face wash back on the shelf again.

As in my whole life my only toiletry has been only a bar of soap. I don’t even use shampoo.

I guess what I am trying to say is that’s really who I am. I have always been a man who needs very little to get by….I take exceptional pride in my ability to live a simple life free from all affectations and even if I never get to look like Chuando on the account of the philosophy…somehow after hearing the litany of what I need to do to get to look like Chuando. I don’t think it’s that important to me any longer.

Maybe I should just accept myself…wrinkles and all.’

The old man and his pretty Vietnamese mail order bride

Today I overheard a conversation between two housewifes in the village pasar (market place). They were both talking about the new bride of an old man…she will steal his money…he is a fool…etc etc.

Eventually more housewifes joined in the conversation. Then even the men joined in as well and soon they had worked themselves up into a frenzy and that was when one of them turned to me and asked,

‘Landowner what will you do about this travesty?’

I told them all, ‘what travesty? Who killed who? Where is the dead body? Besides this is none my or your business. Why don’t you all go and put your houses in order first before you go poking your noses into other people’s personal affairs…now go home and do not think too much.’

—————————————————————————–

‘If you are genuinely interested in the truth then you will not harbour any assumptions. Because the moment you have an assumption. Then you have already sabotaged your search for the truth. After all how did your assumptions come about? Someone put it there. Maybe it was the priest, your teachers and perhaps the newspapers….but did you actually witness first hand these events that all added up to the sum of your beliefs….No! So those people worked on you pretty well. They painted those pictures in your head. They did a good job didn’t they? They have to otherwise their business model will fall apart. And you are merely the sum of their handiwork.

So remember if you are genuinely interested in the truth. Never begin by harbouring any assumptions. Start with absolutely nothing and allow only the facts that you see for yourself to form the final picture.

This is very easy to say. But trust me the discipline is very hard to keep. As in this world there so many stupid people.

Research and study this well.’

The reason I think and write the things I do…..

Is not to accumulate recognition, wealth or fame….these things are not important to me. They might as well be on the surface of the moon for all I care. The real reason is because I realise deep down that no matter how hard I try to fit into this world….I will always stand out like a sore thumb.

Writing my thoughts down is one way to fit in I imagine…it’s a prosthetic.

You see the mere act of thinking and behaving ‘normally’ is not something that comes naturally to me as I am autistic. It requires considerable effort, care and attention to detail to even pass off as normal…I can pull it off so well that no one would even suspect I am autistic….but there’s really one problem – it’s not really me.

Most people I imagine just wake up, gulp down their coffee, jump into their car and marinate themselves in the daily affairs of the world like the way a fish takes to water. For me it will always be like an astronaut having to put on a complicated space suit before it is possible to even open the airlock to that other world.

I am always conscious of how I have to be hermetically sealed in your world and that awareness merely heightens the sense of my own estrangement. Often i ask myself – where is the world that I should belong too?

It is not easy to function in your the world. That could explain why I choose to do what I do. I wouldn’t say I much prefer the solitude of the wild. I would even lay claim to the idea this where I am in my element. But at least in this world…that terminal sense of estrangement isn’t amplified. Besides here I can apply myself to the practical necessities of life, like dedicating myself to labor under my own terms to gainfully earn a living.

But the wild is also a rhapsody of contradictions that doesn’t sit very well with me – for starters, it’s so cut off from that other world that it might even be another world in its own right….I can sense the wild reaching out like a tendril and wrapping itself right around my soul…permeating right down to the marrow of my bones…lancing deep like roots drilling into the earth in search of what I don’t really. How much of me has changed and will continue to be altered by the wild remains unclear to me.

But there is certainly a lingering duality within me that doesn’t seem to want to go even when at times I believe the moment has passed….there’s always a faint water mark impression. A deep yearning to be part of your world that I find myself perpetually exiled from…..the feeling resembles the sensation of looking at yet another world thru a medium like perhaps six inches of bullet proof glass….like maybe watching sharks swim in some cavernous aquarium….wanting to be part of that dangerous other world despite the finality of my condition and realising the futility of it and it is this that so often fills me with a deep and profound sense of sadness.

Is there a place for people like me. Will I ever come across people like myself only to exclaim – I am not alone. Or are we all supposed to just hide in attics.

But I have to keep searching for my world. The world that I belong in. I know it’s there. Maybe it’s just over the next hill….or maybe I just have to make it like those toy railways that come complete with church spires and even a park with little figurine walking their terriers.

I have to keep searching.

——————————————————————————

‘Sadness is not something to be avoided. Because within the folds of sadness there is depth and silence. Silence is definitely not sadness, but it is very much like it. So when you first begin to turn away from the world in search for silence. You may in the beginning experience a genre of silence that closely resembles sadness. Don’t be afraid or try to run away from it. Let this feeling go into you. As it is not sadness, rather just the feeling of silence, the depth and character of which closely resembles sadness. People who journey deep within their inner being frequently encounter this problem. But if they give that idea time to mellow then eventually they will understand that this is really how the world really is – that’s to say if some things in life come hard to you and even if you try real hard you can’t seem to get it to click in place and that causes you to feel sad….that’s not the end of the world. As it just means there are other things that are better waiting for you to be discovered. Even should you feel a pang of sadness from your unfulfilled yearning. You should take it all in with a contemplative attitude, as it is only when one learns to savour silence can one appreciate how sadness can often impart depth meaning and gravitas to one’s character. It is like the canopy and roots of a tree. They are always in proportion. Though one cannot see what is happening beneath the ground. If the shade of a tree is sprawling so are roots….in the same way in darkness there is light…without sadness there can be no such thing as an appreciation of bliss and happiness.’

We can all learn a lot from the business strategy of the boss of Razer

Shortly after the PM of Singapore shared his blueprint to transform Singapore into a cashless society on TV. Tan Min Lian, the bossman of Razer responded as follows – you press the ‘go’ button (not the Pokemon variety) and in 18 months it will be all over the island.

End of story.

If all businesses in Singapore can adopt this attitude. All our problems will disappear very quickly and Singapore will be very powerful.

—————————————————————————–

‘When it comes to business. I am definitely not a Gung Ho sort of businessman. I wish I was. Truly I do. But to be perfectly honest with you all – I don’t nearly have the quantity or quality of confidence to ever come across as Gung Ho.

Most of the time I cover my ass with as much steel plates and Kevlar as I can get my hands on. Even then I never ever stick my neck out unless I know for certain what I am getting myself into.

Having said that I do genuinely admire people who are not afraid to make commitments from the word go…..as these people are the clearest expression of the spirit of going where no mind dares to go!

Yes. I don’t imagine for one moment Mr Tan would ever fall flat on his face…nor make a fool of himself – how can he…after all surely he appreciates that when he makes such a strong commitment – failure is hardly an option. Mr Tan is just not representative of his firm…he is a gamer like all of us. He is a representative of a larger and broader community.

So it to the benefit of our strategic interest that Mr Tan succeeds in this endeavour. As many people still think gamers are just an indolent bunch of no hopers who all live in rooms where clothes and over night pizza go to die….these people don’t see the field of possibilities we see and know of…how can they.

So really his failure is our failure and his success is also our success…so how can we just sit on the bench and twiddle our thumbs.

I wish Mr Tan god speed….and may the force be with you!

How to still the mind and be one with calmness

Many people have asked me this question. Some have even made it a point to search me out just to ask- how can I turn off the ceaseless chatter in their head? Some even believe this has to be a form of mental illness as since it is so noisy upstairs it even threatens to degrade their quality of life. Then there are others who simply search no end for the answer like a busy bumble bee flitting from self help books to meditation and mind control techniques…..but still the chatter persist and in some cases even grows louder.

The reason why these people who find it so difficult and in some cases even impossible to stop the noise in their mind and to regain inner stillness is because they have not bothered to ask the most needful question….there is flaw of thinking here…..as it is not the mind that is the cause of all this noise. Rather it is the conversation between the chattering mind and the listener who reacts to what the former has to say about this or that.

Is it not logical…for there to be a conversation there must first be someone talking and another who listening.

This should prompt the perceptive reader to ask – who is the listener? It is actually you…the mind is chattering away and you are listening and reacting to what it has to say about it’s various objects of interest. To be specific it is actually your ego that is the world’s most attentive listener. He is the one that is constantly jumping up and down to what the mind has to say…..like – look he has a better car than you! You react by being envious. He has more money than you! This makes you conscious of your own inadequacies. He went to a better university than you. This heigthens your inferiority complex. He looks like Chuando…you on the otherhand look like a bag of potatoes. You sign up for an expensive gym membership that you will later regret.

The reason why the listener is none other than your ego is because only the ego puts a tremendous amount of value and importance on what your mind has to say and that is because the ego is a self promoter par excellence – and that is really how you, me and everyone else inadvertently fashions themselves into the world’s most attentive and patient listener to the ceaseless chatter that comes from the mind.

So the solution to still the mind is not to stop the mind from chattering or preventing it turning its attention to this and that. You can do that if you like…but you have to take poison. After your heart stops then the mind will stop automatically. But a safer and better way is to simply take the listener to one corner and tell him – listen don’t pay Mr Mind too much attention…..he is likes to recycle on go on a loop.

This may seem easy to do…but it is not…it is very difficult…because one must first be conscious of why the listener has such a high appraisal of what the mind has to say and secondly one would need to confront the ego and tell him simply…don’t think you know everything…there are many things don’t know!

Once you cultivate this habit of being dismissive to what the mind has to say – then and only then will the noise in your head be silence very much in the way I don’t much care to listen to a bunch of drunks arguing how many angels they can fit on a pin head….infact I do this all the time with my mind when it tries to draw me into the gyre like a broken record…I just tune out. And once you have mastered this technique only then will the skeleton key to the door that leads to stillness appear magically in the palm of your hands.

It took me many years of patient observation all by myself in the wild to discover this.

Practice this daily….and you will find that your life will be quieter and with that stillness in the form of calmness will come naturally.

—————————————————————————-

‘During the dead of night it is not unusual for me to take a midnight walk around the plantation. It is very cool at night and since there is hardly any light pollution. All the stars pop out right out with such uncanny clarity that it’s even possible to make out the Milky Way and the red planet Mars. I can spend hours just looking at the stars and during these moments there is hardly a thought in my mind. As the sheer majesty of the night sky can truly render one so small and insignificant that words are truly meaningless and even unnecessary….I don’t think it’s bad at all for one to feel so small that one may even keep quiet and look at the world with eyes of wonderment of not knowing….no. As it is in these moments when we are truly mindful of how small and insignificant we truly are that we begin to discover who we are in stillness.’

Why bad things happen to good people

Today I went down to the mall to stock up on provisions. This time the girl who always there promoting cars or household appliances who keeps hassling me to take her on as a contract girlfriend was ostensibly missing….I remembered walking the aisle and loading items on the trolley with an almost bitter sweet feeling. You see I’ve formed an association with shopping and having to fend off her advances.

Somewhere between two rows of mushrooms canned soup. I suddenly caught sight of her. She was wearing sunglasses and seemed to be avoiding her. Soon I cornered her in the pet food section and asked, let me see how bad it is…..she took off her sunglasses sheepishly and she sported a shiner.

I held her chin to the light and after assessing the shiner from various angles I quipped….’well it could be worse.’ That’s when the contract girlfriend flipped and started swearing at me at the top of her voice in colourful charming Hokkien as to how any self respecting man would have got angry and beaten the shit out the man who did this to her.

I told the girl I will do no such ridiculous thing. Thereafter I walked away. Not before she stepped forward into my path and demanded to know why I was so cool about the matter….I simply told the contract girlfriend whether I wish these things or not they’re going to happen, and whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon you ability to see the message in your misfortune.

She started to cry that was when I told her to put herself together as I need her to do something really important….I need someone to help me load the dog food….I swear they weight over a ton.

…………………………………………………………………….

‘Understand this! Understand it very clearly! As what I have to share with you has nothing whatsoever to do with motivation. You only have one life. And what I have to share with you will be a recurrent theme. Everything and anything bad that has happened and will happen to you has only two possible outcomes – one it will scar you and you will probably end up a scaddy cat for the rest of your life. Or it will have the transformational power to alter your being to make you a better and stronger person. So do now you know the score – sadness is optional.

Let me give you and example. When someone who you believe in betrays you, it will teach you the importance of loyalty and trust. Learn to trust again…never let that person rob you from trusting others. Same with ❤️.

When you suffer bad luck. You will come to realise how capricious life really can be and how chimeric the thrill of success and the agony of defeat really is – hopefully you will gain insight into how your success and the failure of others is not completely deserved. That should keep your head small.

And when you fall down flat on your face, as you will…trust me, I hope your enemies will give you a hard kick in the ribs. I even hope you cough blood. As this is the only way for one to learn about the importance of fair play and sportsmanship.

I hope you will be regarded as transparent like glass and even struggle in a chorus of voices to be heard…pray for you that one day people around you will talk about you as if you’re not there, so you know the importance of being kind, considerate and gentle. You will never take it for granted.

I hope you will not have anyone to rely on one day. That even should you break your leg you will be so far from civilization that you have to live with the prospects of 50% gangrene or just hacking it off – I even hope it will be so bad that it might well take you a full hour and bit just to crawl to the shit pot. Either that or you just have to settle to crap in your pants…to be so alone all by yourself that you know how the four walls of a cell called forsaken…so that you realise when things go wrong. You will discard the bad habit of blaming others and when things turn out well, you will rejoice and never take it for granted. Above all I hope and pray when things don’t turn out well – you will never beat yourself up into a pulp and even be kind and gentle to yourself…simply because there is no one else to sayang you except yourself – this will teach you sagacity….forebearance and fortitude.

I even hope that one day you will be cheated and end up in debt so that one day you will understand what a blessing it is to deal with a honest man and why you should subscribe to the principle of dignity of labor and pay him a fair wage for his labor and learn the importance of keeping your word even if it hurts your wallet.

Remember everything that I have mentioned here will happen to you irrespective whether I wish it on you or not….only also bear always in mind what I said in the beginning of this sharing…..yes. It has the power to transform you into a better and wiser person.

I am a frontier man….I am the last of my kind. No! There is no point looking out for more of my kind to past your way…..you would find a single one, not in Singapore. We have all gone. Besides they don’t make men like me any longer. I am the last production model that came out of a line that’s long dead and gone….after me there will be no more. That is why what I have to share with you is a matter of life and dead. As this is the only thing that will endure after me. You could even say this is the sum of my lot…my lives work.

My name is Darkness.’

How not to get angry

If you are driving and a branch from a tree falls off and blocks your way forcing you to brake suddenly…do you get angry? Of course not….you say it is bad luck or maybe you console yourself that such things don’t happen so often that you have to bothered about it all the time.

But if you are driving again and this time a car suddenly cuts into your lane forcing you to brake suddenly. You get angry. But why? Because this time you are convinced it has to be personal….simply because unlike the branch that is impersonal. This time there is a human being behind the wheel….so it becomes automatically personal….from these two illustrations about how the mind perceives events, we can begin to see the flaw in our thinking.

We get angry because we take things too personally….that is to say we convince ourselves the person who is doing the things they do simply want to bring out the worse in us – when in reality it has absolutely nothing to do with us and even less about making us angry.

Don’t ever take things personally…let it go…once you cultivate this attitude of looking beyond skin, bone and into the mind….you will be less inclined to be judgemental and angry and more understanding.

Be mindful of how your own interpretation of events around you can frequently cause you to get angry unnecessarily spoiling the day for yourself and your loved ones.

Practice this daily and you will find yourself letting go and being less of a slave to anger.

——————————————————————————

‘Recently I went out on to lunch with a friend. While we are lunching a mutual friend appeared. He did not even greet us and hardly even paid us any courtesies and just ate his lunch in one corner to which my friend took as a grave insult. He went on and on about the incident all thru lunch and even when we were visiting an estate he was still bitting on the topic like a dog with his fangs firmly set on a bone.

That was when I turned to this fellow and told him – do not take it personally. Please try to understand it is well known to all that you have turned a bountiful harvest that many estate owners can only dream of pulling off on such a difficult year. Not everyone is as lucky as you to have cut all the right moves. He on the otherhand did not have such a happy year. As the weather was not on his side and he even made a few mistakes along the way that came to bite him so very hard that it is unlikely he will have good harvest next year either. So please try to understand when he sees you – it can only remind him of his own failures and that has to be painful as no man wants to beat himself up when he is already down and since you are by nature an inmoderate sort of chap who likes nothing better than for others to pay you compliments all the time. That can be challenging…..so please try to understand it cannot possibly be personal. He is just going thru a very rough patch. Please do not take it personally.

When I shared this with my friend. I could tell that his anger began to dissipate almost immediately. Thereafter he suggested we pay this fellow a visit to cheer him up. To which I considered a most agreeable idea.’

The art of war – always keep one channel of communication open

Never ever cut off all communications with your enemy. Never! I cannot emphasise how dangerous it is to do this. As frequently the inability to communicate with your enemy is the leading cause for misunderstandings that is likely to escalate the hostilities beyond the point of control.

This is the dynamic of how a conflict gets from bad to worse.

If you cut off all communications. There is no scope for you to proof information or improvise and take full advantage of a situation to position yourself to win.

Impossible.

Always keep at least one reliable channel of communication open with your enemy.

This is known as ‘the bridge of hesitation’ strategy. Or in western parlance it is known as keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer. Unfortunately the application of this strategy frequently misleads leaving one none the wiser as to its workings – the origins of this strategy has its roots in the martial discipline of Hon Kuen where in the hidden chapter of the vermillion veil it’s intent and purpose is spelled out clearly.

It is as follows….

The channel of communication or bridge would have to involve someone senior in the enemy camp. Otherwise it will not work. He would also need to be a decision maker and not just a messenger and most importantly enjoys the support and respect of those who belong to the enemy camp.

All conflicts will eventually settle into a state of either armistice or detente where each side is likely to ritualize war making into a formal set of behaviours, conventions and protocols to perpetuate the status quo. This is simply because war in any shape and form is frequently a costly and uncertain affair fraught with high risk for both sides.

By having this single channel of communication where you able sit down and trash out disputes in a congenial and seemingly friendly atmosphere this will prevent misunderstandings since only one person represents the official position. This will cut off extraneous noise that can frequently lead to unnecessary speculation of intent, misunderstandings that may percipitate a full blown war.

By having this single channel of communication with your adversary. You are also able to posture and parlay for advantage. It will also serve as a dead letter box where you have a platform to convey either information or intent to your adversary via a clear channel that can never be corrupted by rumors and those who may have designs to take your words out of context.

The guidelines for setting up a channel of communication with you adversary should be structured as follows –

(1) Choose a neutral zone or safe location where you can meet on a regular basis. This would I imagine involve some degree of haggling. As each side would naturally prefer to site it at their home ground for an obvious advantage. Once both camps have settled on their respective sitting positions and rituals. This is likely to remain unchanged for every other successive meeting.

(2) Remember how the game is played. Everyone knows a state of war exist. Everyone is just pretending they are good friends. But so long as you are in the four walls of the neutral zone and the set pieces to (1) remain unchanged. Both of you are on friendly terms. This means you will need to observe all the rules of decorum and remain impeachable both in speech and conduct during these meetings.

(3) The frequency of these meetings would I imagine vary depending on prevailing threats and opportunities.

(4) The exchange of seasonal gifts is usually customary. But they should be made to the emissary and not directly to clans.

(5) Always be mindful….a state of war exist!

——————————————————————————-

‘I met up with the millers for breakfast on the first Monday of every month. As my car pulls up. Suddenly it hits me. The restaurant is usually empty for some strange reason whenever we have arranged to met for breakfast. For the life of me. I don’t ever seem to have any recollection of having seen other diners whenever we met up for chow. How very strange….I take my seat facing the east shaking off these frivolous thoughts.

To the south directly before me is the mill owner who likes to talk about stocks. He seems to be in full swing this morning and only raised up his hand momentarily to register my presence when I took my seat. To his immediate right is the immoderate owner of yet another mill who prefers to wax lyrical about his car collection. He seems to be in deep conversation with yet another landowner about how difficult it is these days to find a reliable mechanic. This other landowner always keeps quiet. He seems to have a very pleasant habit of only listening intently. I like him. As for me I much prefer to listen as well. I serve everyone tea. First I run my fingers along the edge of the cups to rotate them in a tray of boiling water. I do this slowly so as not to make too much noise. As it’s impolite. Then I arrange the tea cups in a semi circle and never in a straight line. As Chinese superstition believes evil can travel in straight lines….after that I pour a half measure of freshly brewed tea into the first cup as a sign of supplication to further warm them further only to pour it’s contents to the next cup and so on and so forth till only the last one remains. Then I will throw out its contents on to the floor making a splash like blood to the east for all to see.

This is a symbolic gesture that the tea is not oily and pure like my heart.

Only then do I pour the tea and serve the others. Always with both hands as a sign of utmost respect. This is what the man who sits on the chair facing the east is supposed to do. As he is the youngest on the table.

On one occasion. Some one asked me midway while I was pouring tea whether it would be a good idea for me to turn the fish over. The rest looked on pensively. I merely kept quite and smiled. Only to hold up a tea cup to this person and as his fingers wrapped around it suddenly it slipped and spilled the contents over this person. Of course I apologise profusely for my clumsiness. To which he responded in what I can only describe as a very perculiar expression…I understand why you will not join us* That was what he said.

How odd….how perculiar even….I don’t understand. Or maybe I do. Yes where was I…ah yes.

That at least is how I seem to spend the first Monday of every new month.

Having my friends FOR breakfast.

*2,000 years ago in China.

Kwai Loong the legendary swordsman had been brought before the warlord of Yuen who had asked him to renounce his vow of monkhood by turning and eating the fish. The weaponless monk took a step forward, picked up the chopsticks and turned the fish…thereafter he presented it to the warlord of Yuen who asked again. I would like you to eat the fish to renounce your allegiance to your robe and join me.

The monk merely replied. This fish has too many bones my lord. Maybe you should take a sip of tea first to help it go down better. The warlord of Yuen was so infuritated by the reply of the insolent monk that he asked one of his imperial guards to draw his sword and force the monk to eat the fish.

At that very moment Kwai Loong grabbed the sword and in a flash killed all twenty guards in the chamber. There after the great swordsman held the tip of the sword pointed at the heart of the warlord of Yuen. Who promptly gulped down his tea so fast he spilled most of it only to blurt out meekly…I understand why you will not join us.

That morning as the weaponless monk walked out of the Imperial chamber of Yuen and into the courtyard filled with the armies of Yuen. The generals would be heard shouting…kill him…kill him…but as the swordless monk walked thru the seventh gate to the east not a single man from entire army of Yuen would dare raise his sword against the monk who was once the greatest swordsman who ever lived….it was an unusually beautiful morning…as the sun was crimson red like a blood orange.’

The art of war – the strategy of playing to imaginary fears

The strategy of playing to imaginary fears is one of the most effective tools of waging war. If deployed expertly, it can spread fear thru the ranks like wildfire and cause widespread confusion, panic to mass disorientation.

The failing common to this strategy is while it is possible for the strategist to enable the strategy. Frequently it is ONLY possible to exercise control over the outcome to a very limited degree. The lack of controlling features is one reason why this strategy is seldom ever used by practioners of war as it is considered highly volatile and can at times turn against the interest of the strategist.

As a consequence this strategy should never be deployed casually and should be STRICTLY regarded as a weapon of last resort.

—————————————————————————–

‘One reason why Trump was able to garner such a significant support from such a broad spectrum of US voters was precisely because there was so much widespread opposition sorrounding the roll out the TPP.

Paradoxically, the trade agreement was central to securing long-term U.S. interests around the world. It was a significant step in engineering a supranational free trade architecture that combined the economies of North America, South America, and most economies in Southeast and North Asia.

Had the TPP been realised. It would certainly have dominated the field of business for international trade and commerce and would have certainly encouraged firms to place their bets on the world’s single largest trading zone, one that would have been dominated by the U.S., the largest and most developed economy in it.

By imposing a single supranational legal construct on trade and commerce. The TPP would have offered both incentives to firms to partner with others in the region.

Since the dominant party in the pact, the U.S. would have controlled future access to that zone. The US would have been able to set both the directional and instructional agenda for a new set of standards ranging from intellectual property rights to labor and work conditions right down to environmental protection guidelines on trading partners. For the poorer countries, especially Vietnam, these would have meant real advances for workers and the environment.

The zone would have all but outflanked China both geo economically and geo politically, which was specifically excluded from part the pact, and would have served to preserve the primacy of Pax Americana as blunt all attempts by the Chinese to dominate trade and commerce in the Pacific region.

This should prompt many to ask – if the TPP was able to confer so many goodies to the US….why did so many Americans vote against it?

One reason that led to the TPP being still born was the iron curtain of secrecy and elitism that sorrounded it’s conceptualization. Ordinary people were not even consulted nor were they in a position to get any information concerning the TPP. To amplify the suspicion that the TPP was just a rich man’s club. Only corporations were privy to the highly secretive and close door negotiations.

This created ideal conditions for Chinese agents embedded in the internet to forment fear concerning the scope of the TPP – since the public were specifically excluded from the conceptualization of the TPP and virtually no information existed. Fear was able to spread efficiently like wild fire…soon all sorts of imagined fears ranging from people losing factory jobs, particularly in the Rust Belt to how the TPP was just a sell out of America took hold in the public consciousness.

In reality estimates today suggest the negative effects of the TPP were highly exaggerated. For one it wouldn’t have had much direct impact on American industries or blue collar workers. The global shift away from tariffs and other trade barriers predated the advent of the TPP and had began in 1964 and was, largely, completed by the time the TPP would have rolled out. There were no real issues concerning trade involving finance, entertainment, and pharmaceuticals. As the real beneficiaries was still US firms and workers. Neither would the TPP have presaged a great US manufacturing diaspora. As that had already occurred in earnest during the late nineties and by every conversative estimations the ferocity of the trend has began to taper of significantly by the time the TPP was anticipated to come on line.

Today the US and their allies find themselves in a quandary with China that is fast supplanting the US as the preeminent power broker in Asia.

Trump wants very badly to bring back the TPP. But since he was the primary instigator of fear for the TPP. It is unlikely that he can ever effect a U turn without compromising his ratings. Hence the US is trapped.

As for the shadowy sites that once broadcasted negative news concerning the TPP
From Belarus. They have all disappeared mysteriously.