Religiolous

I have no more excitement. For sure much less from that I used to have say five years ago or so. Instead of one or two or a handful of a few things on which I should be investing more time and effort such that to develop new talents or new knowledge, I seem to scatter around and to be caught between many and different interests.

Lately I have been asking my self a very vague yet profound question provoking a whole week of self reflection or self thought process. It is the very basis and one of the strongest and most sensitive attribute to a human being living in most part of the world. Religion.

First and foremost I am not going to ask the existence of God. Not because I am 100% sure for the existence nor due to the fact that I have solid fact stating otherwise. It is because of the fact that I am unable to provide certainty supporting neither side of the argument.

Although the terror of childhood story of hell and the torment mankind may receive due to the wrong doing which mainly mean the wrong doers are those who do not execute what the Creator wants them to execute. Not to mention the detail specific kind of action the mankind expected to execute such as a certain way of dressing, going to a particular place on a certain day/days, abstain from eating certain type of meat or from eating at all in a particular month, and so on. These rituals that are seem to be so important even more than the more sensible ones such as loving each other, help the poor, live your dreams and so on but instead these minute details that determine the kind of accommodation one will receive in the after life. I must admit at times these haunt me. Thus, I do those that I am expected to execute.

Would not you think that it is superficial? That we do all these things not out of freewill but instead of out of fear. Who created this fear?

Such superficiality that was accentuated by Kathy Griffin in her Emmy acceptance speech. Where she said:

Now, a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn't help me a bit. If it was up to him, Cesar Millan would be up here with that damn dog. So all I can say is suck it, Jesus, this award is my god now!

This remark apparently made a headline and brought such controversial publicity to Miss Griffin back in 2007. Although she was trying to convey the message that the superficial shallow people who tought themselves as the centre of the universe such that God partakes and participate in helping this people getting an award or making some billion dollars from a movie premiere. As if God had nothing else or more important stuffs to deal with.

Another thing that I dealt in again was this comedy and political documentary by the director Larry Charies en titled "Religioulous" which the word is derived from the word "Religion" and "Ridiculous". The documentary features interview with people from organized religious group or believe system by Bill Mahem who also gives remark and narration in the video. It was funny but smart. Provocative but probable.

I must admit my attitude towards religion or having one religion has developed to another level these past few years. It is the experience of meeting different type of people with different cultural approach to this topic and different attitude regarding religion. I am not sure and do not care if it is a better attitude or worse to the topic. Although from personal experience and personal observation my conclusion is religion may hinder someone from reaching its true potential or lead someone to self hate or self repression due to some fact that is not approved in the religious rules and law which can not be changed. Example: Being a homosexual.

My Affirmation of The Day:

I want to LIVE in Zurich :D

Reasons :

1. High Standard of living
2. Subtle or close to no Racism environment
3. Open to international people
4. English is spoken by many people
5. A beautiful city
6. One of the greenest and cleanest city in the world
7. At the centre of Europe
and the list goes on..

First Sun in May in Zurich

After weeks of cold and rain the Sun has appeared form Her shelter. Everyone comes out enjoy the warmth and the company of each other.
Father and Son playing soccer, youngsters gather and laugh, old couples strolling slowly in the park.

Venter = God

Imagine a point in time in the future when life is engineer-able and life form is customizable to the desire of the creator. Different shapes of life form emerges with clearly defined functionality bringing convinience to homo sapiens. Wait long no more my friends.

US scientists have recently able to synthesize a bacterial cell from a chemically synthezied genome which is then transplanted to a bacterial cell. The group is led by genetic research pioneer J. Craig Venter.

"This is the first synthetic cell that's been made and we call it synthetic because the cell is totally derived from a synthetic chromosome, made with four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesizer, starting with information in a computer," said Venter [source: www.aaas.org].

This is a real breakthrough in life science which claimed to be the biggest breakthrough in two decades. I, not for a second, question it. Customizeable bacterial cell is like programming a set of instruction to an entitiy which is not anymore composed from metal and electric current but instead A LIFE FORM that has a very unique intelligence. I can imagine the vast application that this breakthrough is able tap into: environmental, medical, energy and so on. The very decremental issues that we face in a daily basis by which our economy and many countries' foreign policy have been driven.

For example. the researches are planning to design algae that can capture carbon dioxide and make new hydrocarbons that could go into refineries. They are also working on ways to speed up the vaccine production. Making new chemicals or food ingredients and cleaning up water are other possible benefits, according to Venter. [source: http://www.aaas.org/]

Actually I am more interested to see what will happen hundreed of thousands of year after the first synthesized bacteria created. Perhaps they will evolve and create a civilisation like human beings after all of our race extinct. Perhaps they will go to another planet and start a new cilization and colony. How will this bacteria look like hundreed thousand or million of years from now? and does it make Venter and his colleagues GOD since they start this civilization? If that this case would it be possible that we are all product of synthesized simple living form after years of evolution.

On the sides note, I cant believe the amount of residual wealth he is generating from this thing. Pharmeceutical industry, Medical, Energy, and so on. Gosh... he will be one wealthy man...

Richer Life

With the barely 1500 CHF stipend I receive monthly for my internship I understand and am fully aware of my disqualification in giving advise on how to become a millionaire. Although I must say that it is currently the number one priority in my wish list. Alright, perhaps the word advise is simply too big for such a (still) little person like me.

Many of us have dreams. Among the many I have being millionaire is one of them. Unfortunately, I am a person who always takes dreams seriously. I do take my wishes and try my best-est and hope and pray my hardest and make any possible ways to realize them. I like dreams because it makes us living human being with purpose and goal in life. It makes us advance in our civilization and lead us to the better. This time my dream is particularly in becoming a millionaire.

I have started this blog since February and reality has it that I have yet made my first one million dollars to date. I have been using methods written in the secret, bought a lottery card, thinking positive but it seems that thus far none of them has been fruitful. At times I have doubts about the legitimacy of this Secret and perhaps try the conventional way (that most people take) to being a millionaire: work, safe and invest.

Thanks to the compound interest that we can have our money compounded for us yearly. For example, if I have 1000 USD to invest now in a financial product that gives me 8% interest compounded monthly and that every month I can put away 150 USD it will take me 47 years to get my first one million dollars. That means if I start right now, this financial product will yield me 1,000,000 USD when I am 67 years of age. With inflation and the fore gone experiences that I could have had by spending this money in the younger days, the value of this one million dollar may not able to compensate the sacrifice made in this investment. Simply put one million dollar when I am 67 will not able to buy as many things as I can buy today and on top of that the foregone experiences I could have used this money for perhaps go traveling or some valuable books or stuffs like that is not regainable thus this maybe considered as opportunity cost.

We all live just once. I believe that, as much as I LOVE money, we shall not put money as the centre of our universe. Money is barely a tool to help us fulfill whatever that we need to fulfill in enriching our short journey on this planet earth.

Still I firmly stand on the ground that being a multimillionaire is the one thing that everybody should strive for. With millions of dollars in your account you are able to do and experience a lot of things that will make you a richer person inside and outside. However, when stocking piles of money leads you to being a mizer then the fulfillment that has been discussed is not achieved.

Personally, there are a lot of things that I want to achieve and do in this very short period of my life. And that requires lots of money as a tool to achieve this: a richer life.

Keeping Positivity Ain't Easy

Ever wonder how that boy with average intelligence and a mediocre job is able to radiate that charm of joy and happiness albeit having no specific reasons that he does so. Perhaps "specific reasons" not being clearly enough defined.

Alright alright. Everyone has their own scale of measurement (to be happy).

I came across easily dozens of book on how to make your self happy. Being happy is from within and should not be determined by exterior world. and bla bla bla.

Truth is...

People feel bored once in a while, people feel worried once in a while, people feel saturated once in a while, people feel angry once in a while!

I understand the importance of having this "positive" energy that propagates and somehow attract the nice things you outlook yourself and surrounding. BUT. How to do it and maintain that level of happiness?

Perhaps, there is a missing link in theory of this Self Help so-called being happy Gurus. Is it, anyway, at all bad to feel unhappy once in a while?

Are you supposed to keep your posture of happiness and always tried your best to see the "bright side" in every possible event?.

What about Holocaust?

or

Tsunami?

Anyway I am just trying to make a point how at times it feels so natural to feel unhappy. Why shall we force ourself to feel otherwise?

Interesting Meeting

This afternoon I got acquainted with a local Swiss person who seems to be excited about art. We had a brief chat after which I was invited to see his apartment located in the vicinity of Zurich where he lives with his partner. The apartment was tiny cozy type decorated with art pieces from different artists. There were paintings with different genre. Not only he was interested in art in the sense of buying some art pieces but also he was quite well informed about the different types of art.

We then had a little chat over coffee down the street not far from his place. He was seems to be interested as well about my background and a little bit of history of Asia.

The best part of the conversation was when he asked me if I was thinking of selling my art. I was quite surprised and at the same time flattered that one person is thinking of buying my art. I am sooooo happy. Now the problem is I have no ideas how much my painting would worth. I really dont.

Time

Just recently I was in an exhibition by Philip Camens entitled Non Stop. The exhibitionist was my best friend teacher back when he was a graphic designer student in Luzern. The exhibits were stuffs that created or put together describing how modern civilization seems to be running out of time.
The exhibition flow starts with a big white room with floor that luminates and on which speakers are attached. The room is just cubic in shape and the wall was covered with some kind of white clothes or sound absorbent material.

It starts with the sound of the water, the leaves, the forest, the bird which gave some kind of relax feeling for about 8 minutes and the sound changes to the sound of ticking clock, beeping digital watches, answering machine, telephone ringing, car honking. The sounds then got louder and louder got mixed and intertwined to one another making such a fuzz when it then stops. Then the people exit the room and proceeded to the next exhibit.

The next exhibit was more like a lounge with four big screens showing people of different positions talking about their job in German, Swiss German. Although I did not understand a bit of what was being said and that I disturbed my friend once in a while to briefly translate what was said I quite get the irony and sarcasm that the exhibitionist tried to convey from it. Basically it attempted to show how people wasted such resources to build such state of the art mechanism to produce a final good which values did not add up to the better life for the consumer in terms of happiness and feeling of content.

The next one was more like a spacious room with computers each in which there was videos of motion which was captured in different pace. There was a video of an eagle catching its prey from the water which paced had been slowed down and there was a video with speed up pace showing a construction of skycrapers and changing seasons. It tried to show us how we perceive time and the change that goes with the running time. There are many things that could happen in a blink of an eye just as many can be witnessed in the course of our life time. For me this was the most memorable exhibit.

One level up, There was a bar and a dj awaiting with a set of black plates cased in covers of different color and arranged to form the word "Non Stop". The DJ asked us which of the story that was written in a card we would like to hear. Unfortunately all of the story was narrated in German.

One more level up, I was in a dark room with torch and papers on a table. These papers are to be used to write some of the anwers to the question that was asked in each row in the room where it has like six rows. The questions were:
What did you spend most of your time?
For what you wished you had more time for?
What stupid things you wasted your time for?
and etc
These papers are then hang

Networking

It is naturally natural that we strive for the better. A more comfortable shelter, a more assisting tool kit, a more systematic government these are among the few things which has evolved in the course of evolution of human beings. Our cognitive ability is designed to survive and pass on the "surviving" traits to our offsprings. Natural selections sort out the more prefered traits from the less prefered ones due to which the entity deploying this trait is extinct.

In the world of commercial and capitalism, where goods are valued with nominal, those with the most money will win in this natural selection process. They will grow and get strongger and eventually pass on these traits to the offsprings. Although once in a while we hear stories of millionaires who hit the rock bottom. As much as the law seems to be clear cut and self evident just as much as it is not factual. It is unfair and baseless to say that everybody needs to get rich in order to get richer. This theory is legitimate to the degree that people who are surrounded by rich peolple tend to absorb and adapt the mentality and attitude of these billionaire people and thus tend to generate the same amount of the result as the person from whom the example was followed. To lesser degree is that it provides more possibilities within this network which might bring benefit to one or both party linked to the network.

While many of the rich people are born into networks of the rich and famous, fact is most of the rich people are not. In fact, they get their way in to this network by establishing their names, their brand, and their persona.

Why would you pay so much for a Madonna concert whilst you can pay half for a better singer in a local night pub. Madonna is a classic and cliche example of a person who seems to have that great amount of luck. Not much of a singer as she is, it did not hinder her to top the chart and to out sell her ticket concert and thus cashing in piles and piles of cash. Because she has contacts, because she has a group of support system and network which is solid strong. That is the key. How do you build your support system and network?
By building your name, by building your brand, by building your integrity. Stick to something which represents yourself that makes you memorable. Be charming. This group of people who like you will introduce to other group of people who like who then will want to work with you, collaborate with you, and thus help you building your empire. And that how it works and has been.
People have different expertise and people are prone to be subjective, if we are not,... Trust me Madonna would have not been famous for being a singer.

Aboard and Enjoy The Journey

Where am I now, right now?
No no.
That not what I meant.
Where am I right now in the society?
Am I up there, down there or just somewhere in the middle.
anyway.
Does it matter?
haha don't ask them.
ask
You.
Shall I guess the path and scratch the map to hidden treasure of life.
Or should I religiously go back to the master of life map and ask for a guidance. A guidance with assurance that I will arrive there someday.
Perhaps.
Or
Perhaps not.
Probable that I will never get there.
Do I care?
Yes, I do.
As it will hurt me badly knowing it if it is a fact.
Or
Am I a designer of my own future
a painter of my own reality
I do not know
some told me that
some told me the opposite
Which to trust
I do not know
they say
follow your heart!
But
what does my heart know
Now I am aboard and enjoying the scene of my journey
to somewhere
where I can proudly say
finally I am here.

Focal Points

What is the focal point of your life?
The pivot where your interest and passion going about. Or perhaps you have none. Like most of us. I have no particular passion in one thing nor am I insanely good in one thing. Although I know a little bit of everything and understand a little bit of most of the thing, still I am no conoisseur in one particular thing. Passion-wise there is not one thing that I want to dedicate my life to yet - as far as I know.
Do you know?
The funny thing is that I am not wanting to be mediocre. Many a times I believe that I am simply too good for mediocrity. Perhaps this is just a form of an unhealthy self-esteem or self dillusion with overestimation of my self's quality.

I won a Lottery

Not. This has been the second time that I failed to pick the right combination of numbers that was drawn in the lottery result last Friday.
Should I bet for one more?
Unbelieveable amount of jackpot money for such a small amount of ticket price really is a big temptation for a big dreamer particulary of being rich such as myself. Especially when you are pretty much not sure how to start building your empire. Winning 77 million euros surely is the easiest and fastest way in earning your money.

Doubts

I have doubts. The ones which may be taboo to talk about. I have doubts about system that we have created or believed to have been created by the supreme being with orders and rules of how we should live our lives. A dictate to minute details such to what to eat and what to wear.

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

I am Placing an Order

Universe has intelligence like you me and every living things which function and create the unity and succession of life along with cycles that go in it. Many new age teachers recently tap into this soon-to-be saturated philosophy which base has not harvested solid scientific proof despite enthusiasm that has been seeding it. From NLP to The Secret to Positive Thinking to Cosmic way. It boils down to the same principal: You wish upon something hard enough and soon it comes to you. whatever it is. I mean or they mean whatever. Only with one pretext: Believe with it blindly.

Somehow I notice that there are many things that can justify this just as many that can do the opposite. It is our selective cognitive that opted to see those things that incidentally skew to the favored side of the statistics which then indeed justify this wishful thinking. But, may I call it wishful?

Debate of someone's life which is an outcome of conscious decisions, a series of coincidental events or the combination of both always have been throughout the history since the premature development of human's cognitive ability to analyze which led to habits in predicting and forecast. We have always been interested in events taking place in the future. Enabling us to take steps in preparation as a way of anticipating outcome that may not be favored. We then started to worship the "greater" power starting from things visible in nature and gradually shift to angelic heavenly and fatherly figure possessing attributes of magnificence. As our society changes and develops our priority changes and so is our perception to the creator. We started to modify rules of belief systems that fit in our "modern" society mind set. We started to set up method to "engineer" outcome of the "preferred" future through statistics and probability. We want to create a predictable world.

Now, what if our future is engineer-able. This question sparks multidisciplinary expertise from human resource to mathematics to engineering to metaphysics. We want to have a certain outcome within a measured and specified range of predictability out of infinite possible outcomes by means of law of science and mathematics. We create postulates that says definite things that gives exact same outcome when the same steps to harvesting it is done in the same exact manner and order. That is how scientific world overrates documentation, that is why cooking book has written precise quantity of the amount of flour and cheese to bake a cake and so on. But, is that even possible when applied to success of a human being?
Will I be an Oprah if I do and follow the same exact steps that she did?

How do you engineer success?

Or should I be reliant to the "intelligent" cosmic universe to send out signal of my wanting to become succesful and with countless piles of dollar?

telll me.