don't ever stop

There was once a young aspiring writer in the 19th century, who had everything going against him. He had only attended school for four years and his father was in jail for unpaid debts.

He stuck labels on jars to earn a living and slept in a rat-infested warehouse in the slums of London. However, he persisted in his writing and would sneak out at night to post his manuscripts to editors so that no one would laugh at him.

His stories were repeatedly rejected and turned down. But one day, just one was finally accepted. The editor who accepted that manuscript praised the young man's writing.

That night, the young man walked the streets of London dazed... with tears rolling down his cheeks. His name was Charles Dickens.

the unspeakables

Pain, grief, sorrows and sadness are not words. They are feelings and feelings are not spoken; they are felt. How can one explain the hurt that comes together with love without falling into the shortness of language. And after a while there is the desire to go beyond words and to communicate in a different way. Perhaps there is another method. The fullness of love runs away never from grieve of parting, losing and distance. But when one loves hollistically, losing a loved one is the most fundamental term of life and it is there when one enters into a relationship of any kind. And to love this term and not reject it as evil, is to completely love. Then no words can fail because there is no need for words.

a familiar place

Have I been there before?
Was I there when great battles were fought over the Holy Land?
Did my blood soak the grounds as that of my brothers?

I don't belong here, at least some parts of me don't feel at home. No, this is not how I want to put it. Maybe, it knows. The one who is not physical sees the truth.

valour

Only a fool believes in chivalry and honour, but I shall be the fool.

drifitng

Flow with whatever may happen
and let your mind be free;
Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.
This is the ultimate.

-Chuang Tsu

Post II

After all, talking about things does not bring out the actual truth of the matter. What one can dwell upon is merely the surface of an endless tunnel.

temperance

The power of the mind is not limited by its physical casting. In this case, the human body acts as a hindrance because it creates a sense of solidity and immutable existance. Einstein's theory of relativity dissected all matter into energy. Thus that which is tangible is an illusion. The entire physical world is not real. Nonetheless, there are doubts that cross the faculty of logic which discard such thoughts. How can the "me" be not real? One can touch, taste, smell, see and hear effortlessly. Perhaps for those who do not step beyond the five senses, the world exists in a singular dimension; that which is real is what I deem to be.

For such persons, the mind is shut and so is the way. The body is not treated as a vessel, an organism like the flowers and the animals. Under such circumstances, the body is a sponge of pleasure; absorbing all that brings immense joy. If one uses the body only to evaluate, the mind lays dormant and wasted.

Sense pleasure and worldly esctasy are not wrong and sinful but indulgence and lust for bodily fun is. The uncontrollable urge to rule others and the importance of self-expression endorses the ego. This in turn prevents the mind from growing spiritually and morally. It is filled with tomorrows, plans, promotions, monies, competitions, etc.,etc. Progress is not wrong but placing uncurtailed credence in its ability to make everything better is evil.

Progress will not make the world a better place and change a person's attitude. Only a human can do that. It is the mind that forges glorious moments. And that moment is now.

Points

The thoughts are harnessed in tandem like horses before a carriage. When a stimulant arises the whip lands on the body, a whack and immediately a snort is heard from the nostrils; without further hessitation the carriage is pulled forward.

Look left, look right. (Thanks for taking the picture, Michelle!) 

something stupid

I know I stand in line
Until you think you have the time
To spend an evening with me
And if we go someplace to dance
I know that there's a chance
You won't be leaving with me

Then afterwards we drop into a quiet little place
And have a drink or two
And then I go and spoil it all
By saying something stupid
Like I love you

I can see it in your eyes
That you despise the same old lines
You heard the night before
And though it's just a line to you
For me it's true
And never seemed so right before

I practice every day to find some clever lines to say
To make the meaning come through
But then I think I'll wait until the evening gets late
And I'm alone with you
The time is right
Your perfume fills my head
The stars get red
And oh the night's so blue
And then I go and spoil it all
By saying something stupid
Like I love you

I love you...

PS: This is exactly how I feel when I am with you. What can I do when all I know is I love you?

the greatest

all, everything that i understand, i understand only because i love.

- Leo Tolstoy

many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.

- Song of Solomon

Always.  

Sally and me.

Things on the outside may not seem to be the way they are. We like to pretend that we are doing good, much better than someone else. It is always necessary to find a scapegoat, that someone whom we readily condemn and criticise. Because this is the only way we know that we are loved, by believing that someone else gets lesser than us. On the other hand, someone who gets more love is a noted enemy. It is all highly pretentious.

But I know now that loving a person is only fulfilled in silence. There are many magic moments that I feel when all is quiet. In tranquility, I see and feel you. Not because you love someone less or the other more. It is because love is not discriminatory and fake.

In that few seconds, I never felt so loved.

Thanks for the motivation.  

right here waiting

i guess that i am utterly wrong. "the tower" does symbolize an occurance of uncontrolled destructive events that would pulverize everything. i am idealistic and undeniably self-pleasing. how can i avoid the truth by creating false hopes?

Levels

Do objects like rocks, stones, plants, trees and air talk? Perhaps among each other and cracking jokes on humans. To the human minds this kind of thinking is absurb and definitely not very friendly. Talking rocks and singing trees drive our imaginations out of the norm. Anything abnormal is not acceptable. We seem to have fixed categories of things. Wthouth such categories nothing will function and will fall into chaos, so we prematurely believe. In a game of football without rules turns it into a barbaric encounter. We are so caught up with rules, with what is right and what is wrong. The worst is there seem to be immutable fixations on the right can never be wrong. Compounding the issue is that we all believe that this world we live is real and this world is self-reliant. Nonetheless, there is a conflict because unconsciously we do want to talk to rocks, trees and plants. The imagination may not be abnormal after all.

Boyhood

Henry: Can I speak to you, please? In private.

Mr. Lawson : Yes, of course.

Henry: I am sorry, Uncle David. I am sorry to have disturbed you in your chambers.

Mr. Lawson : No, no not at all, Henry. What brings you here and in such haste?

Henry : It is about my mother.

Mr. Lawson : I fear the day will come, Henry.

Henry : She is gravely ill and has taken to bed for 3 days.

Mr. Lawson : Has she gone to the hospital?

Henry : No, Uncle David. That is why I am here. Can you please talk to her? She only listens to you.

Mr. Lawson : I am afraid that I can't, Henry. My presence will only add more shame to her and bring misfortunes to her family, to you.

Henry : It is Uncle John, isn't it? He doesn't want you to see my mother again.

Mr. Lawson : He is only protecting his family.

Henry : You are only protecting someone you love. But on ther hand, Uncle John does not want to see her sister hurt again.

Mr. Lawson : Henry, you know when little boys grow up, numbers don't mean anything. It is what's in here, inside the heart, something grand happens. It is like winter melting into spring and the first flower blossoms to the first call of the birds. You become a man. Master Henry, you are now a man and there is no one else who can talk to your mother but you.

Student for Life

Who wants to learn for life? Me. As long as I am clinically alive, I learn. I won't get a degree and am no where near to obtaining a PH.D! But it is not about qualification. It is about finding the bliss that opens invisible doors. In English it means, follow my dreams.

Mastery

"The ultimate leave-taking is the leaving of God for God."
- Meister Eckhart

The role of an arranger is not to exclude but to include everyone. She is to communicate the voices of the people and to provide information to avoid gaps of doubts and misunderstandings. All actions and decisions are never to promote self-gratification but collective happiness.

Writing to Mother Teresa

Dear Mother,

This is my first letter to you. I hope that it is not too late. I know you will be able to read it, somewhere. To begin with, I am not a Christian. I can be religious and I pray to be spiritual. But in you I see God, Christ, the divine, love, compassion, the Buddha and the entire mankind. I don't see or even feel that a seperation exists among religions. When you speak of Christ, I find love emanating and when you speak of God, I sense the vibrations of the universe.

You touched my soul immensely and I find words too inadequate to tell you how I feel. But I will try. I ask that you could patiently listen to my impoverished speech.

I am a lost little child and am running in circles constantly. At times I see a light flickering out of no where and I run towards it only to find that it is an illusion. Even if I didn't imagine it, when I held it in my hands, I can't handle the heat. Very soon I pour water over it. I find excuses and the most ridiculous ones, mind you. Justifications are used to protect pains from usurping.

Maybe this is a confession, of course minus the priest and the small compartment. Maybe this is just another ego trip.

Mother, you forget about yourself completely and surrendered yourself to the divine. I am still stuck at the lowest level of materialism. If I can stop typing and seeking "I" choicelessly, perhaps I can hold your hands.

But you are a great mother. You will hold my hands irrespective of how pretentious and cruel I am. And this is what makes me weep. Because no matter what I have done, you forgave me.

I only pray that I can forgive myself.

Mother, can you...no, this is not how I want to put it.

Mother, love...love is great. Not the love for one person. But love for life. Respect and care for the elders, sick and less fortunate because then you are respecting and loving life itself. Then, love is for everyone.

Mother, the REAL thing can only be understood in silence. But I talk too much. A whole lot of rubbish most of the time. Because I think I am scared. Scared to be alone. Scared to face myself and God. So, there is a need to talk and chatter, chatter, chatter.

Mother, you know...

With what no words can spell out,
Wendy

The Biographer

A young girl at the tender age of 6 had a dream. She practiced singing and dancing in front of an improvised audience. She displayed pictures and posters of celebrities in a room and pretended to perform for them. She believed in this dream and it took her on a bountiful path. Twelve years later in 1979, she released her first Mandarin album in Taiwan and in 1984, her first Cantonese album in Hong Kong. A multi-talented artist, in 1980 she starred in her first movie, “One Match Stick”. Thereafter, nothing could stop the advent of Sally Yeh into the entertainment industry.

Born in Taipei on September 30th, 1961 Sally spent her early years and received her formal education in Victoria, Canada and as a result of which, English became her common language. Barely knowing much Cantonese and reading little Chinese, her foremost Cantonese song “Ten Minutes Passed Midnight” which was composed by her now husband, George Lam, became an instant hit.

A quarter of a century later, Sally has passed the test of time successfully. She kick-off a 25th anniversary concert tour last year with sold-out shows in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Beijing, Australia, Canada and U.S.A. This year she was invited to perform with the prestigious Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and demonstrated that she is still the queen of Canto-pop. With nearly 100 solo performances world wide under her belt, she is deemed to be a darling of Asian music scene who never fails to mesmerize.

True to her words, Sally will not settle for anything less than perfection. This is why each of her 30 albums reflects the determination, integrity and potency of Sally as an artist. Her inimitable style and authentic vocal won her countless awards and she is Hong Kong’s best female singer for four consecutive years at the Jade Solid Gold Award Presentation ceremony. She won two major “Song of the Year” awards in 1988 and 1990. After returning from a 5-year hiatus in 2002, radio stations such as RTHK and Metro Showbiz unanimously honored her come back hit “Bygone Hurt”. Outside of Hong Kong, Sally has established a household name whereby she rightfully garnered the best female singer award from Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia in the 1990s. She was also a prime Asian artist to have sung with James Ingram and Tommy Page.

When it comes to acting, Sally is a serious and dedicated worker. An iron lady, she took up wu shu training and kickboxing and suffered from back injuries as a result of falling off a horse in a scene. Despite the pains, she went into the studio to record the theme song of the movie for two hours. Her efforts were recognized when she was nominated for “Best Actress” at the 6th Hong Kong Film Awards for her role in “Beijing Opera Blues”. To the disappointment of many fans, after starring in 25 movies she has decided to take a break until the right script comes along as she wants to concentrate more on music. Her last movie was “Sisters of the World Unite” in 1991.

The zealous and energetic Sally is heavily involved in badminton now and is actively promoting the healthy sport. At 44, this beautifully groomed lady and wife is setting an example for the younger generation. Sally Yeh has always done things her way but her sincerity will leave an everlasting impact on every fan.