Self

People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.

~Thomas Szasz, "Personal Conduct," The Second Sin, 1973

Do you believe in Fate?

Do you believe in fate? If you believe that our life is a pre-destined one, then what is the purpose of us living?

I believe that fate do play a part in our life. Things happen for a reason. But if fate controls our life, then what is worth striving for? If we leave it to fate, we became reactive in life and we tend to blame the world and everyone for our failure in life.

There are things that are beyond our controls. We cannot control whom we are born to. We cannot control that we are born poor or born rich. We cannot control accidents that happened in our life, leaving some handicapped by the accidents.

What we can control is how we react to these incidents and how we make used of our life.

Fate is like food ingredients. One person can get the best food ingredients in the world but does not mean that he can cook the best dish. Conversely, the one who get the worst ingredients might not make the worst dish.

There are many examples around us that show the differences in how they make use of their ingredients. One can be born in a wealthy family, go to the best school and have a bright future of becoming a doctor (these are his ingredients, his fate). But he become a drug addict and ruins his bright future. On the other hand, one can be born handicap, his family is not so wealthy but he can become a great motivator and inspiration to the society.

Fate is the raw materials of experience. They come uninvited and often unanticipated. Destiny is what a man does with these raw materials. ~ Howard Thurman

We do have choices in life! If we strictly believe that our life is a pre-destined one, we are left with no choice. Being proactive in our life means taking responsibility for your actions and your situation. Stop blaming the world for whatever happened to you. Make use of the situation and cook a good dish out of it!

Not reacting to content - Eckhart Tolle

Our Mind is a Constant Battlefield

I recently came across a popular Japanese comic called Death Note. In the story, the character called “Light” happened to receive a black notebook from Death God. This notebook has the power to kill anyone whose name was written on it.

Light is sick of the world, he thinks the world is so unfair and he attempt to use this notebook to kill anyone he thinks is sinful. Having tasted of the power of this notebook, he is attached to the power of control and attempt to play God to build a ‘New World’ free of crimes and free of sins.

It seems like a noble mission at first but it turns out to be just an excuse to support his ambition and egocentric self. In this story, Light is not at peace with himself. He hates his world and his surroundings.

When we look at our world today, there are wars everywhere. There are wars between countries, wars between religions, wars between races, etc. There are constant struggles between human, animals and even Mother Nature, causing great harm and disharmony among the livings.

When we examine these disharmonies, it is often caused by egocentric thinking, supported by a series of excuses and reasoning for a particular action. Man are angry and dissatisfied at themselves, and they directed these anger to the world. We have these constant conflicts within ourselves such as greed, jealousy, hatred, anger, etc. Sometimes, we hated ourselves for behaving in a certain way, we are angry with ourselves for being angry. In attempt to build an ideal world, we cause destructions and use excuses in the name of God, countries, and races.

We might not even be aware of these internal conflicts but these internal struggles are constant. When our mind is not at peace, our world will reflect our conflicting state of mind like a mirror.

Our mind then becomes the biggest battlefield on earth and we can only win this war though peace and compassion. Only when we are at peace with ourselves that the conflicts in our world will cease, love can spread, ignorance dispelled.

From the words of Ven. Dr K Sri Dhammananda

The man who is not at peace with himself, cannot be at peace with the world. There can be no peace in the world until the conflicts of man within himself ended.

War is created by the human mind and the same human can create peace with justice if only man uses his unbiased mind.