I read Erich Fromm’ book “To Have or To be” several decades ago (First Published in 1976). Recently I have seen my old wife doing Spring -Cleaning, when the house is not really dirty, not perfect, but clean enough. Many other housewives do the same, and then suffer the aches and pain of excessive work. I do help a little, vacuum the floors before she mops. I notice more silvery strands strewn on the floors, due to the stress. The more furniture and fixtures, the more one has to bend to wipe and sweep. We clutter and then declutter in this market driven technology and advertisement. In our modern world, having is a status symbol and shows ease of living. These days, most of the things are not made to last, otherwise factories will close down and workers out of jobs. We have advanced fast in science and technology, but inwardly we are the same 50 years or more ago. The entanglement of private property, profit and power are still the same, but expressed differently. (The Latin word for private means to deprive another.) Authority and its power are entangled in it. US and the advanced rich nations have the obsession to stay supreme, to be in control of industry. Human Rights and Truth are just excuses for them.
I welcome any comment and discussion.
The pictures are copied-pasted from the web, with appreciation to their owners,
The first six lines was my paraphrase, in my own verses with end rhyme, from her poetry content. She has inspired me in a wide range of topics. The next six lines was my continuation of the fun. The word frolic is used as fun play among children. At 76 years, there’s end of flirting, except some rare reminiscence in younger days. Flirting is not necessarily negative. It’s a social game people play, but chose the right people to engage in the sports. After a traumatic bloody knee injury, one needs a laugh to relax.
The cartoon is copied and pasted from the web, with appreciation to the owner.
MALAYSIAN HAIKU/SENRYU ECHOES 597: MINGLE IN A TANGLE
mankind but not kind
image of divine, cast out
sake of sinful bite
in samsara round
paradox in paradigm
choice less or rebirth
surmount suffering
offloading outlook burden
open door leisure in
awesome real data
self trap in tangled wire
mingle to emerge
Note:
Covid 19 , with its B2 omnicron variant, infected massive population world wide. Two approaches: Open free policy to achieve herd immunity (UK, US and West) or zero tolerance (China), or mixed approaches (Singapore’s so called Middle Path). Most of the infection might be mild, but not the mortality figures on a large scale. And in a huge population like China and India, the death could run into millions. Besides, it;s the eve of Chinese New Year and Winter Olympics, and Western threat of war, plus natural calamities, inflation, rise of petrol price, unemployment etc. The world is not really a safe haven to live. Other than faith and serenity, religion and philosophy have not much to console us, except for the staunch believers.
In the context of SOP, how do the individual keep a safe physical distance, and yet maintain social ties. The pandemic affects us not only physically and economically, but also psycho-socially. In a small advanced nation like Singapore, fancy an old man could live in a forest (?) for so long without awareness by the family and community. Or the family or other citizens were not aware of psychiatric or social help. Of course, we have such cases all over the world, even in advanced West. Despite all the religion, sciences and knowledge, the end of light have yet to be seen. We are over burdened with choices (and we cant be right all the time); and uncertain on how real were the data to us, individually rather than collectively. We felt loss or trapped in the tangled loop of information. We are choked by excess knowledge that do not apply to us personally. Yet we had to be alive physically, economically, socially and well psychologically. We find ways to mingle and enable us to emerge from the entanglement of SOP. It’s looking at a meandering path with a different twist, not cutting corners, or short cut. I find a modify method of Moreno’s tele- psychodrama (and sociometry) useful, with soliloquy in loneliness. It is seeking a divergent way to get out of the chaos alive, or with lesser trauma. Many people find solace in ap gossip, zoom or video chatting etc. In the morning or evening walk or exercises, how safe it is for a large crowd to appear in a park, though we may wear masks. And then we expose ourselves in restaurants, cafe, pub and supermarkets, for human beings are also social beings. We may travel to UK (or US) and get infected without a place to stay . Nevertheless, life has to go on, but as senior citizens, we refrain from outing too often, or we chose better hours or opportunities, and that is only reducing the risks temporarily.
The Chinese character, men means door, an open one. The moon shines within it, making the character jian , meaning leisure. It’s good to chat with friends, sipping tea, while watching the moon and sky at night. Xian , with wood within, also implies leisure or idleness, but lack poetic ambience.
The narration and haiku are meant to be social chat, nothing political or religious in intention. If you prefer it is gossiping in prose and verses. All the pictures are copied and pasted from the web.
I wish all my Chinese readers a very Happy Chinese New Year.
Bilingual translation is never an easy thing. It could be subtractive or additive. How does one translate HOOYA? Clearly it is Yahoo written in the reverse order. The usual Chinese translation for Yahoo is 雅虎meaning a graceful tiger; it is sonic literal translation, more meaningful than the English.
It could be a tiger (fierce animal), but not graceful in my case. Even turning the words around means more or less the same in Chinese. This is not the narrator’s intention. The translation must not be word by word, but in the context of the haiku. What the HOO (crap) is Yahoo protecting, YA? No offence to Yahoo, but a momentary personal feeling towards electronic devices, a burden to many senior citizen shared. One goes in circuitry with the steps, in Yahoo RESET and there is never any person you can talk to about unsolved problems. 非哑, The first word means negativity or void, or no; the second word means mute.
The first poem in my second book is “Canon and Cannon”, for it is the most widely read poem in my blog, for reasons not known to me. Yet no reader has queried the silence of “cannon” in that short poem. The above haiku will break that silence.
GODSIB AND GOSSIP 11
I asked the young lass “Tell me in few words, from your heart, what Buddhism is? Please don’t quote from the books or master”. She replied “Learning.” I request her to elaborate. She remarked “learning to be a better human being.” “You mean educating one to be a better human being; or to bring out the best qualities of a being, meaning consciousness.” Indeed, if one could not be a decent being, how to label oneself as a disciple of this or that religion (re afresh, ligare to link, bond).The label is not the essence; the living religion is.
A Chinese monk, Master Taixu (1890-1947) once wrote that when personhood was fully cultivated and developed, enlightenment could then be attained. In other words, learn to be decent human being, before one plays the role of God.
This morning I take my legs for a walk. The haze has kept many indoors. Indonesia has given us more month of haze-free air to breathe. We are grateful. Our Malaysian Raja Bomoh (King of Shaman) has sucked the haze in his modern magic vase. I can’t remember which century we are living.
Every morning and evening, a lot of Singaporeans take their dogs for a walk. With a population of less than six millions, there are certainly a lot of dog lovers or loners. However, unlike in Malaysia, there are no “dog poos” along the walkways. There are displays of fine: a thousand Singapore dollars, if you are caught without cleaning up. In Malaysia, we are very free, humans and dogs can do what they like in public places.
I like to walk along canals (euphemism for drainage) in Singapore, except it’s not easy to find toilets, and, with CCTV and social media around, it’s not easy to ease the tension even among the bushes. Best on your pants to show you are at least sweating profusely. In Singapore, you are able to walk in these parks and contemplate peacefully. In Malaysia, your mindfulness is with trepidation, for we have lots of “Butch Cassidy” in our Highways and neighbourhood. It’s not money or your life; often it’s both, and it will be ridiculous to ask gangsters for a reason. If you report this, they console you by telling you it’s so prevalent, and you are really nuts to take it so seriously. You learn to accept your fate in a society full of faith. What they did not remark was, if the top could do it, then it was free for others, for earning a living was hard for many. Our stress level was up with the rising cost of robbing a living. We exercise lots of stereotyping in our daily lives. My learned friend said in schools they taught such over- generalization was wrong and racial. In Singapore, I walk many miles; passing by many races and creed, there was no need to be on guard or stereotyping, on all parties. Yet I change my social gear on safety each time on my return, knowing over generalization is evil. Be honest, stereotyping is not necessarily racial, it’s bad governance.
This poem is easy read for Malaysians, I hope. It is written in the bus.
Que Sera Sera: is Spanish/Italian, meaning: OK, it is your destiny or fate. In Chinese the word, Ming, is written with three radicals, starting from top to bottom, meaning the first thing in life is to kow tow (bow) to your destiny. Or the first thing in life is to obey commandments (kou lin). Of course Chinese do not have a fixed view on destiny, but that’s the prime thing out of four other factors in life, viz. destiny, opportunity at right time, geomancy and location, merits and connection, and personal knowledge and capability. These five factors play supporting and dynamic roles. Destiny is to show that at times, despite the best of everything, one cannot succeed at all, and has to accept the status quo. This is to prevent resentment to others and society.
This is what I wrote on Facebook today to remind friends:
My mistress, Xiaomi, broke down since last night. The night was quite. I woke up in the morning even without her cock call. Have to get her fix, otherwise my days ahead will lack some fun and lustre. She was proven to be a lovely companion, spending many lonely hours together, even with intimate selfie. Today my lap pet will replace her, but she is too burdensome to hug or tug around.If you cannot contact me via my mistress (a million stresses), try my private number, the one will double balls behind. The meaning of life is found in routines and habits and the dysfunction of the mistress, (fortunately the pet does not join hands together), may cause Anxiety States in some.
P/S
Told my relative that my Xiaomi could not be turned on. She hold on to her, and diagnosed as “over heated”. “Your lady is too hot”, and need to undress. She opened her cover and gave her power a gentle rub. She responded straight away. Your xiaomi was over powered with excess forwarded mails over the last two days. Many well intended people kept forwarding similar mails endlessly, to show they were all there in the “revolution”. It was all about the protest march in Malaysia against corruption. Even the devils were holy enough to join the angels. God bless them all.
wonkywizard 