The ridiculous balance

Work has been taking too much of my time, bust since I'm on MC, i've got a little to spare.

In life, consciously and subconsciouly lots of people seek a balance in life:

The right proportion for work or studies,
The just right amount of time you spend with friends
The right amout to distribute to your hobbies
The right amount for this and that

Hopefully, after spending their time, finances, and affections in some near-right proportion, they will stumble upon the recipe for success and happiness. While some do it consciously - especially those who lack time, most people do it subconsciously.

In search for the divine balance where the good life is hidden

Much more could be say about the good life - the good good eternal life that is full of joy, goodness, and a whole new taste for uprightness and be able to live in such a world...

Much more could be said about that, but what I want to point out here is just that:
"If you are a normal human being like me, you probably won't get the divine balance"

Most of the time, people don't expect to reach the best brew for life. They just hope to "aim for the moon, and even if you miss, you will land among the stars" sort of thing. While that might sound like a good way to think about life - at least experience tell you otherwise.

There have been too many so-called "successful" people in the corporate world who try to juggle severything. The classic example is super-mom. High up in the corporate world and trying to care for her 2 children and at the same time having tea parties to attend to.

The thing is this: super-mom model Angelina Jolie herself is not juggling it well. She has more fame, more kids, and more many things. Now, some of you might think, if I had half of her kids, half of her money, and half of her causes to fight for, then I should be able to juggle it well.

This might need more convincing, but that while limited resources is an issue, diverse affections is probably the main reason this can't be done. People want to be passionate about things, and the more important you get in the eyes of the world (and of yourself), the more significant you want your role to be in the life and activity of many things. However, as an average human being ( and for argument's sake lets assume you are as good as Angelina), you still can't balance everything out.

What I am trying to get here is that the thinking of "divine balance" is not the best way to proceed in life. There are too many unknowns. What you know is that you are searching for this thing called "happiness", and you would understand happiness to be a combination of different things in particular proportions in life.

A much better way to organise life is to think in terms of priorities.
If you have been around the web long enough reading forwarded emails, then you probably heard of the professor who took a big glass jar into class. He then filled it up with big stones, then smaller ones, then pebbles, and then finally sand. He then explained that our life is like the empty jar, we can't fill everything in, but let us make sure the big things in life are in first, then the lesser ones. It is alright if not all the sand that you have (menial things) gets in to the jug, you have tried your best, and at least the big things are in already.

I'm aware that actually many people think in terms of priorities instead of a chasing of the divine balance. the problem of chasing for the divine balance is the rich man's problem. It is always the rich man's problem.

When you start getting successful and rich, you start to think that you have a bigger jar in life. Since you have a bigger jar, you might just be able to fit almost everything in that jar - so you think that you are the group of people (consciously or subconsciously) who can play the game of life by a different set of rules. You think you have risen above the average and you pat yourself on the back for being so smart for so long - and suddenly on your deathbed (hopefully earlier than that) you realize that you have been an idiot for the past few decades.

There are other reasons that contribute to this stupidity too. If you do get there, you might one day think "I have put all my big stones in the jar first, and followed the whole big to small principle, but my life is still so miserable". Good - you have reached a dead end. Many people don't get there, instead, they just get trapped at either divine balance or mere priority principle.

The most obvious ones are to think that the big stones are work and significance in life.when that becomes the big stones, the things that ought not to be big stones have taken the place of them and your jar has now 50% less space which should take much less space.

Motivational seminars normally just tell you up to the point of: Write down the "big stones" in your life according to you.

Nobody really tells you what the big stones ought to be. And the way people live is an epitome to the fact that work and fame is the biggest stone in life. Now, you might disagree with my evaluation of society's biggest stones - but it does remain that these 2 plays a big big role.

1. What you could work out from here is to find out "what are the REAL biggest stones?"

2. Work out the method by which you will find that out - trial and error? most people spend a lifetime to work these things out, and most don't get there finally. Or at least, on their deathbed, they replace "work" with "family", then they die after 4 months of realizing that - which is still an unproven theory in their mind.

3. If you fancy this, then work out the various expressions people have in trying to go with the priority principle method to life, or divine balance, or a mix of both, or work out other alternatives in which people try to organise their lives. What is the underlying worldview or philosophy that is cuasing them to live like that. Is it hedonism, or is it something else?

Preference

Hey you! This is one of those "Joel articles" where he tries to impress imaginary people with his claims about " I understand everything about everything there

is to know - let me tell you my GREAT opinion". Well, nah... he is just reacting impulsively to a lot of IMHO kind of patronizing talk. IMHO stands for "in my humble opinion". It is just that many times when people use the word IMHO, they normally finish the sentence/paragraph with pretty proud statements and conclusions.

Joel isn't going to say that whatever written below is some IMHO kind of thing - since he knows with some degree of certainty that they are true. But of course, being a fallible human who makes mistakes and becomes stupid at many instances in life, there are mistakes. But I know some of you people out there think of

yourselves very highly and say things like "since there are mistakes, let us discredit whatever he says and treat it as just ANOTHER opinion". Please, grow up. I know you relativistic people. You think you are a genius, but you are not qualified to teach as a teacher, to argue as a philosopher, to think rationally like an

engineer - but HEY! you are a genius! Please, forget about reading the rest of it and marvel at yourself, you ALWAYS have a good time doing that.

Oh! I remember a joke! Not quite a joke if you are THE joke:

There is girl who was chatting with her girlfriends and couldn't stop talking about herself. And so her friends listened and listened to her bragging about herself over lunch for more than an hour. And suddenly, she realized she has spent too much time talking and not listening. so she said:

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I spent so much time talking about myself. So, it should be you turn to talk...So, what do you think of me?"

EEESH......

Now, probably some of the things below will sound self-righteous, and at different points someone might actually ask "What makes you think that is RIGHT?". What I can say is that these things are what I work out (at least I think so) from the Bible - have pondered over it logically, do not claim to have fully achieved it (far from it actually) - nonetheless, it is something I prefer and actively strive towards. Here goes.

Joel would want himself to be a passionate person. By passionate, I mean REALLY PASSIONATE. Somebody who knows what he is doing in life, has a strong drive to do it well. If he doesn't, he should work hard at finding it out. But of course, since Joel is a Christian, he doesn't want himself to be passionate about just everything in life. Joel wants to be passionate about very few things in life.

*pause*

actually, Joel is trying to cover up what he really wants to say. The fact is that Joel has a lot of expectations of other people and really wants to write an entry about "what I would prefer to see in other people". But that sounds SO SO SO...er... So not quite right since there are always people who complain about the

whole world except themselves. So now he covers up by saying what he expects of himself. You sly! But then again, if I write an entry about what I expect of myself, what kind of egoistic guy would keep bragging about their expectations of themselves?

Hmmm....

What kind of guys actually spend so much time thinking about themselves....

Hmmm....

Why.....


EVERY OTHER GUY!

That egoistic race!

Of course. Right, good, Joel is normal in covering up. People would just think that he is like every other guy.

*resume*

Continuing from where I left of - Think of loving your wife. You want to love your wife passionately, not EVERY WOMAN. Likewise, Joel doesn't want to be passionate about everything, He wants to be passionate about the Jesus kind of things. Being passionate about Jesus isn't just concentrating on one tiny area in life. Since following Jesus has implications on every sphere in life - godliness has everything to do with life, just life a life passion more or less determines your

life direction - since that, Joel has to be very careful about his life and what he gives his heart to. Having said that, Joel would be really angry with himself if he is lazy. He thinks that laziness is a manifestation of a lack of passion and drive. While he remembers that sometimes he just conveniently forgets about his aim in life, he also remembers that the kind of "conveniently forgetting important things" are not really forgetting, but simply being wicked for a prolonged period of time until he becomes indifferent to what is holy and good.

And yes, he has a strong dislike for the same yuck-ness he sees in others. He has resorted to the word "yuck-ness" because some think it too "OUCH" if he uses the word wickedness on others, but Joel thinks that using the word "weakness" is just playing the victim. It is like saying "oh, i have the 'less passion gene' flowing in my veins" kind of nonsense.

Joel knows Kenneth who puts in a lot of effort to try to be both considerate and passionate. Now, anybody who have tried that would know that instead of saying "considerate and passionate", "considerate BUT passionate" would sound more normal. It is a hard thing, not to balance them out, but to demonstrate them in a timely manner - that is a hard, VERY difficult. Joel aspires to be more like Kenneth.

Yes, Joel hates nonsense. He loves jokes, he loves to laugh. But there is this whole "other category" of not-so-funny-jokes where people play the victim, give lame excuses, and patronize one another with illogical nonsense. They are really not funny. I suppose most of us know it when we hear some really really out of place excuses like "traffic jam"(when they just live 10 minutes away), or "your opinion is really interesting"(when obviously you really want to say: that was the dumbest thing I have ever heard).

But Joel enjoys having fun, teasing himself, and sometimes inappropriately teasing others. He needs to work on that - the teasing others part. He has a friend called Andy who is working hard to come up with clean jokes, and finding more ways to make others laugh by teasing himself (and not others). Joel respects Andy for that kind of love he has for others(and many other things). One day when Joel grows up, he will be funny in a godly way. Ooo.... that sounded so wierd that it just sent a chill down my bones.

Funny and godly.

*double chill and goes to the toilet*


Ahem..Joel wants to be like a kid. He wants to be really happy when he is happy, he wants to be really sad when he is sad. Besides that, Joel wants to be VERY angry when he is angry. He doesn't want to be some human-zombie trying to fit into our sometimes not-so-healthy-culture where laughters, tears, or anger is restrained. Joel has a STRONG dislike for people like that but he has to learn how to love them and be mindful for them.

But essentially, Joel has no desire
whatsoever to have less emotions. He thinks he is "quite there", but needs some polishing and balancing on the "caring for the other person" and being "considerate" - you know? like being rightly angry but not venting them on others, like being rightly angry about appropriate things and actually solving the issue instead of shouting at everyone?

While Jesus is of course the ultimate role model in the things mentioned above, Joel particularly wants to mention more on Jesus on this one. One of the reason Joel loves Jesus is because Jesus cries, loves deeply, talks funny at times, and knows how to get mad. Joel loves how Jesus makes fun of self-righteous people, although Joel doesn't quite enjoy it to find himself being one of them at times - but Joel knows that self-righteous people aren't quite worth much except to be poked at. Joel loves Jesus crying and scolding, because that is a very human thing to do.

Most of the humans Joel know aren't quite humans. Of course, quite a handful of them are secretly being humans - and they stop being humans when they meet other people. Then when they go home, they cry quietly on their bed in the stillness of the night. Joel understands to some extent why that happens, wants to sympathize with them (and himself, plus think of himself as the victim of society), but do not desire to excuse himself or anybody for that matter for our own fears and failures.

At this point, Joel is sick of using politically correct words like fears and failures, and weakness. Please think of wickedness whenever you see those words.

Thank God Jesus isn't like some politically correct politician. Thank God Jesus is The Perfect Man that Joel can look up to. Oh God, Please destroy those pictures that portray Jesus as some semi-gay figure with fair skin and long straight hair and deep blue eyes...

But anyway, Joel went through that whole "I am secretly a human" phase back in high school. It was a lonely experience, quite scary and sad. If you are reading this and you are somebody like that, lets talk! I'd love to talk with you! I'll TRY to be gentle! = ) Can't promise anything, but I'll TRY... like for a few minutes. But if I were you, I'd prefer a good Christian girl. or a good Christian man. Yes, MAN. Christian boys.... hmmmm, maybe not.

And yes! Joel would love to marry a real human. and of course, whether that comes true or not, Joel wants to be a real human. A wonderful thing he learnt from married Christians is that "Don't just say I want this and that kind of spouse, be the this and that(godly and matured) kind of spouse, and if whoever you are looking for doesn't appear, you have at least got your part right with God".

A note to that, Joel needs to remember that this is a fallen world. While expectations of God are perfect (which is good), expectations of humans (myself included) often have to be somewhat scaled down. Joel has known people (himself included) that say big things, great expectations of himself, only to see himself failing at every point the next week. He has seen guys that say: I want to marry a girl who is A, and a character that is B, and C, and D... to see them going out with a girl that is the complete opposite of that.

No, it wasn't some special love at first sight. Its just that whatever was said earlier was partly nonsense, and partly fairytale. The opposite is the real thing, partly due to desperation and selfishness, and a whole lot of invalid reasons which astrologers come up with.

Hmm, after all have been said and NOT done, now there are just so many things to work on: like Joel's character. Hmm... working on that would probably take a life time. But if he keeps looking over his shoulder and compare himself with his peers, he probably have to take more than a life time. If he continually blogs about these kind of things, then it would probably have to take a little more than 2 life times.

Lets go to sleep and wake up tomorrow morning to study for the upcoming exams. And there is prayer meeting later with some guys! Sounds like something helpful to keep me focused on Jesus during crunch time! And oh! Joel went for Queen's Birthday Convention at St. Andrews Cathedral and got a photo and a signed book from Phillip Jensen! Good stuff, save it for conversations.

Hypocrisy

The same person who says,

"There is so much wrong in the government"
"He is right, she is wrong"
"Something should be done about this"
"The government is stupid"
"These people are so corrupt"

is the person who tells their children

"If you find a good opportunity, go somewhere else"

who would, provided the compensation was good enough - would not mind bribery and corruption.

This is mankind. Doesn't anybody see that we are sinfully and totally depraved?
(The finger pointing business proves my point)

www.success.con

If you flip through "The Star" Newspapers, no doubt you will find advertisements like:

Are you fearful of the recession?

Do you have a second source of income?

"Get Rich with FOREX"

- Dr. XYZ, BA(Hons), MBA, PhD is an expert in the whole field of Foreign Exchange. For the past 20 years, he has help thousands of people achieve success in their lives, etc etc. Let him teach you the skills that you NEED to SUCCEED in LIFE!

Testimonial by Mr. Chan Ah Beng

This course has made me earn RM15,000 a month by just spending 20 minutes a day!

Testimonial by Ms. Chin Ah Lian

This course has given me financial success, now I can quit my job and stay at home! 

or maybe...

Do you know that Success in Education means Success in Life?

Your son/daughter has no motivation in life?

Your children finding no interest in their academics?

Join Mr. Beng's Memory course! Our children can memorize 20 digit numbers at ease, and score for your exams! Let Mr. Beng teach you the principles that your child needs to SUCCEED IN LIFE!

Testimonial by Lee Ah Kau, 12 years old

"I used to score 1 A, now I am scoring 19 As in UPSR!"

Testimonial by Lim Ah Miao, 17 years old

"I used to hate studying, but now I am the top student in school!"

I have went to some of these. But before I give my testimonials to them, please bear with me for a while - consider my experience and credential.

2 Business/Life Concept courses

1 Self-Esteem/Motivation course

1 Options/FOREX course

1 Creativity/Memory course

These courses would sum up to about RM20,000. These course have led me to talk business with 1 CEO and 1 Director of different companies. Both are multimillion dollar companies. Well, my proposals didn't get through, but it was a good try. To give them their credit, my academics are pretty good - and I can memorize quite well.

This is not to boast - and there isn't much point in doing so, because anybody who knows me knows that I am nowhere near "SUCCESSFUL" as far as the advertisements define. It seems that every other course has promised you SUCCESS in LIFE! In my better moments, I really feel that these things have somehow given me a successful life... 

However, in my more sober moments, I know that these things mean very little

For the advertisers...

It seems as though an increase in self-esteem will lead to success. 

Or increase in memory will result in success. 

Having lots of money will give you success. 

Really?

I don't doubt that many people out there think that these things will give them lasting happiness somehow - though perhaps many of us doubt that secretly inside our hearts.

When I was in high school, Success meant marrying the hottest girl in school and having lots of money to spend, with a lot of people envying and respecting me. I catch myself thinking like that often - even these days. I know some braver friends who admits it, and I know tons of friends who are more shy who would not admit it.

What is success in life?

Success is like the IN-word, the BUZZ-word for all time. Everybody wants to be successful in life, well... maybe. But I don't know anyone who wants to be a failure in life. In aiming to be successful in life, many have tried all sorts of "successes".

Money.

Girls.

Sports.

Climb to the top of the corporate ladder.

Top the university.

Get famous.

In the end, what? Tell me, what? Many of us have grown "wiser" to realize that there ain't to many spots for a "future Bill Gates". Easier alternatives are cheap beer and free internet porn. They seem to be more convenient time-killers. But as the years go by, many have become indifferent to the question 

"What is this success in life that I yearn so much for?"

But that is okay. The business people aren't really interested in answering your question anyway. After figuring out that they are also confused with the issue...

"Hey, why not make money in the process?"

Hence - success courses. Let me be frank with you, of the people I have known or asked, none of them gives a clear answer. Forget about a good one. See, there are these "spiritual" and "philosophical" people who also got confused with the issue...

"Hey, why not make the question more complicated?"

I hate to say this. But since the media is pushing so much sex, the major shareholder of the future - the youths are "enlightened" by MTV...

" F*** success... wait... to get to F*** is SUCCESS "

I was in form 3 when I first heard from a girl telling me how she got "scored" by another guy. That guy must be pretty successful in the eyes of many high schoolers. I can testify to that. Talk about peer pressure at 14.

Then again, as time goes by - we learn how fleeting these moments are. Fleeting, like the mist in the morning that appears for a little while, then gone. 

I have heard the "happy family" theory too. They tell me fun friends and a close family is the "genuine" success. This is a little more tricky. The more innocent it sound, the trickier it is. I want to ask the people who told me these things whether it is consistent with the their experience in life - is it such a good definition that can apply to all humanity at all times... being all sufficient. I've learnt that the people who always look most innocent and blur, and probably worse off than those who reveal it on the outside. 

Like Chinese you know?

Let me start off with this. I work with Malay colleagues. They are decently hardworking people. I have hung around Chinese long enough to know that most Chinese think Malays are the laziest people on earth. Ah, but don't forget, I have also hung around Chinese long enough to know that they are so sly that it is hard to catch them slacking off. We are the best actors. Chinese Drama remember? It all started from Hong Kong - Chinese. 

Hollywood doesn't know acting for nuts - They know visual effects and the like. But real acting belong to the Chinese, on screen and off screen... Boss around, Boss not around. If Boss cannot catch you slacking off - SUCCESS! 

Come on - you and I, and perhaps every other person that you know seem to strive so hard for success in life. Couldn't it bother you to spend a little more time figuring out what success in life is - if it is indeed so important. 

Maybe, for a start - to know where you are heading? Why are you heading there? and where are you supposed to head anyway?

Do you?

ANYWAY........

On a happier note, 

Something my older sister said made me realize something. It went something like...

"Our language is not broken ( broken english, broken malay, etc), it is unified"

Now, it might sound terribly lame. Lets admit it, we speak broken-whatever.

But for the past 2 days working in Astro (my office being 70% Malays), I have made friends with 3 Malay colleagues. 

I used to call friends "fren"..

when I went Australia, I learnt that they call friends as "mates"

now I have a little more Malay friends... the word of the day is "member"

It is amazing, how Malay-English-Cantonese mixed up in one sentence is understood by all 3 major races in Malaysia. Mr. Mamak also knows them.

I hear of some Chinese with political ambitions wanting to unify Malaysia in one way or the other. Most of those I am heard goes something like: 

" I will be a top politician... then I will make laws that..."

" I will be a famous (insert-your-white-collar-profession-here)... then I will... "

Self centeredness World Champion... Chinese la...

Well, based on my 2 days experience only... with no political training in any way... the best thing that we Chinese can really do isn't becoming a politician or being famous or whatever to actually create change...

We should just...

Try making some Malay friends. 

.

.

.

.

.

.

They are nice people.

Con Job

Today, I met an Indonesian - at least he introduced himself that way. I met him while I was walking back from Uni. He told me that his atm card is lost because he entered a wrong pin number - the bank said he has to come back tomorrow to get the card, and he has no money to pump petrol to go home. He told me the situation was embarassing, and he wanted 20 dollars.

I only had a 50-dollar note. So I went away to look for change... a couple who sat nearby had 48.80 in change, and I said it was okay for them to give me 48.80 dollars. From a distance I could see him make a call to his friend describing his embarassing situation.

And so I gave that man 20 dollars. He thanked me, asked me if I wanted to take down his number so he could repay me again tomorrow in Uni. My mind was thinking, do I want him to repay me? Well, I'm not doing charity here, but I didn't want him to feel bad... so I said it was okay, he can take down my number and call me at his leisure.

As i left the scene, far enough almost to lose sight of him - I saw him approach an australian student...

Con man?

Well, as I think of it again now - I'm not so bothered as to whether I was cheated or not. I was just thinking... if I can do it again, would I have done it differently?

I was thinking, if Jesus was there - and since God would know the thoughts and intentions of a man's heart... He would have known that it was a con job. Knowing that, would he have given?

Now, I didn't know that man nor his intentions - but it wasn't hard to test.

1. He said he had no money to pump petrol, I could ask him to bring me to his car if he even had one.
2. I could check whether he really made a call by checking his phone.
3. Banks are closed on Saturdays - they shouldn't be asking him to come back tomorrow unless it is a wierd bank that opens on Saturday.

Even if I didn't do this, I could have ran back to the Australian student and verify if he used the same excuse. I didn't even make him put a miss call on my phone!

My mind is thinking : Joel, if you can get conned by such a thing, you must be a real idiot.

But my mind is also thinking: Would I lie and tell him I don't have 20 dollars? Or would I tell him that I think he is a con man and he doesn't deserve 20 dollars... Maybe I will tell him - here is 20 dollars, REMEMBER that I am a Christian...

(Just so he knows that he conned a Christian, and even if he doesn't see me anymore in this life, he better remember that Jesus is going to judge him... and he better repent this life or face the consequences when he meets Jesus the Judge)... well, its just typical of me to like thinking that everything I do have some good consequences even if it isn't handled the best way.

Sometime ago I was talking with some friends and we happened to talk about giving money to beggars. Some of them told me that the beggars were con men and they are pretty well off really, living off the pity of gullible people.

After some thought, I said... I would give them money anyway even if they are con men. They are in such a depraved state, their actions are not worthy of any honour (I think beggars have more honour than them)... I would pity them and give them the money.

On the other hand, if they are not con men, and I didn't give them the money they need to eat dinner the same night - than I am being merciless and have caused a man to go starving...

I said that with the idea that giving would mean a few ringgit... not 20 dollars which would convert to about 50 ringgit now. What I did today - I have very little idea if I did the right thing. If he didn't get 20 dollars off me, he would have gotten it off another person. If he did get 20 dollars off me (which he did), he would go around to get more 20 dollars anyway.

If I exposed him in public... I don't know what will happen. Is his dignity worth 20 dollars? Or is it that I am so gullible - that my intelligence is worth less than 20 dollars? I would like to think of it as the former. I mean - I would like to think of myself as a good person. Yet I know... I thank God didn't create my forehead with a screen that would display all my thoughts, cos that would be disasterous...

I know deep in my heart - not only short comings and weaknesses... but also the struggles with lust and all sorts of temptations and laziness that I have to face everyday.

I'm happy that Crystal thinks well of me. I really am happy of that. Having said that, I have to maintain a cool head and not get carried away. After all, it is pretty easy to live like a damn confident person who has no flaws when others only see us once in a while. I have friends that think well of me too... but the better they think well of me, the more I realize that they must know who I really am and what I struggle with.

Or else, they might just be living with an imaginary Joel. Neither do I want to live the life of an imaginary Joel. Very much like infatuation... She is so pretty, she is so hot, she is so smart, she is so perfect... She is flawless.

I have to deal with sin seriously and work on godliness... even if I can hide it from others, I won't be able to hide it from my wife... even if I hide it from my wife, God will see. And maybe the issue isn't really whether someone would catch me doing the wrong things and saying the wrong words...

It is just about wanting to give the genuine best to the people that I value in life. Though I am far away from that ideal- and I doubt I will ever reach that in this life... The little things that I need to remember is that both the journey and the destination is important.

Jesus promises in the Bible that one day I will be free from this sinful body (and it isn't in this life on earth but in heaven). Until then(and onwards), I will live an honest and transparent life... I will make honest effort, because I know that I am not alone in this effort. I know that God is helping me, and by making this effort - I also encourage others who are making the same effort, as well as receiving their encouragement simply by persevering.

Con job? Should I have given or shouldn't I have given?
I really don't know. My answers to my friends wouldn't be as definite as before. (back of my head: I don't mind getting cheated of 5 ringgit.... but 50 ringgit is a bit too much...)

Well, for the very least, I don't want to con myself to live an imaginary life.
For the very least, I want people to expect honesty from me.
For that, I better be honest to myself.

How Bizarre! How Bizzare?

Thou standeth in the moonlight,
Yet sunlight shineth on thee -
Thou declareth thyself a god - with words unspoken.
Thou loveth limelight.

My heart is what you want. How bizarre!
Thou fool! Thinketh thou that I be such a brute as thee?
Thou crafteth up deceptive words,
Thou dimmeth my surrounding into the night -
Thou seek thine own glory -

Wilt thou obtain my heart with a lying tongue?
Thou promoteth not clear conscience,
Thou setteth forth truth in lies
Thy mind is darkened - True Light is Thy foe
Unrighteousness surroundeth thee
In pretense thy companion boasteth arrogantly with thee

In foolishness thou share their joy
So shalt thou share in their inheritance
Feet swift of selfish gain
Surely mercy be far from thee
Thou hast lifted thine heart above thy God
He who sits in heaven mocketh thee:
"This age, so shall it be!"

When thou giveth up thy breath,
Thou shall give an account of thy deeds -
and shall be found wanting
What then is thy boasting?
Thy enemies will rejoice over thee
For the accuser and his prophets lie in waste

The wicked shall dwell together,
thou shall share their company forever,
Thou shall live in death
In living - thou shall ever die.
The fear of The Lord is far from thee,
Thou art void of wisdom -

How long wilt thou see and not perceive?
Hear and not listen?
Wilt thou lust forever - doth thy mind burneth not thy soul?
So shalt thou eat the fruit of thy labour
Thou shalt reap what thou hast sown

Unless thou repent
thou shalt perish likewise
Unless thou repent
thou shalt perish likewise
Thy heart is crooked
They ways are bent

Fear God and keep His commandments - for He who sits in heaven delayeth not and is swift to Judge... for the plea of His saints have filled His ears.

Review: The Dark Knight

I was actually expecting just a lot of explosions, a useless woman that Batman loves and has to save - which will ultimately be the climax of the story, but I think Christopher did a wonderful job in making that NOT the point of the story.

I think the story is actually an insult to the society, which the society can do nothing but admit.

This is revealed in the Joker's plans. The first was when Joker visits Harvey Dent and said something like (paraphrased) "The people get frantic when their puny plans are interrupted".

In the ferry explosion story, the Joker did not intend to bomb the ferries - but he was confident that humans are selfish in nature that they will blow themselves up anyway. Of course, there was a good guy at the ship which threw the remote control out of the ship - doing the right thing. But we saw a tension between doing what is fair and what is sacrificially good.

Joker was trying to point out that humans, even the best of them (Harvey Dent) will turn wicked and mad given the proper pressure and circumstances. In this, the Joker got it right. The best did turn evil.

Another insult to the society is that the society cannot handle truth. Harvey was the wicked guy, and Batman was the good guy - but in the scene where son asked the inspector why Batman has to run(escape the police), he said Batman has to run... because the police had to chase.

See, the issue was - in the last scene, either Harvey Dent was the bad guy or that Batman was the bad guy. The truth is that the real saviour is batman, but the society hates batman. Harvey Dent was the symbol of hope and goodness for the society, but Harvey couldn't really help the society - so for the greater good (with the ignorance of the society in the picture) Batman had to be the bad guy, and Harvey must be the good guy - even though he turned wicked.

The movie also ends with the idea that Batman must be the dark knight, he has to get his hands dirty and play the bad guy role in order to be the good guy - because of the ignorance of the society.

If we took moral classes in college, we would know that there is a difference between the consequentialists and non-consequentialist theories. The non-consequencialist (like Divine Command theory) is critisized somewhat in this show - saying that Batman cannot do the right thing, because doing the right thing will tear the society apart. Batman had to lie in that sense, to save the society. A somewhat twisted version of Robin Hood.

There are quite a few contrasts here in the show. The first is Harvey Dent versus the people in the ferry. Harvey Dent turned wicked under desperate conditions, but the ferry people, though they inclined to do the selfish thing, yet under desperate conditions they chose the right thing, to sacrifice their rights.... but instead by sacrificing themselves, they saved both the ships.

Another contrast is Morgan Freeman and Batman. Morgan knew certain things that were unethical, and he said he would only help Batman once, and then he would quit the job - he faced the pressure, yet he to some extent bought the consequentialist idea to some extent.

Though Batman actually asked Morgan to do the illegal thing (installing the sonar detector into everyone's phone), yet when he was in his bike and he tripped the truck that Joker was in, he did not choose to kill Joker, but did things the lawful way and allowed the inspector to arrest the Joker.

But another insult to the law is this - it was within Joker's plan that he ought to go to prison to fulfill his greater plan of threatening the whole society. On one hand, it might show some intelligence on the Joker's part, but on the other hand, it is also trying to say that our so called organized institutions are full of flaws.

Yet, one starking truth that we ought to know is this: Being the good guy is always harder. Good guys have to play by the rules, bad guys can do anything. Yet in such a deficient society, it is always the more sacrificial and counter-intuitive thing to do the right thing.

The conslusion I think from the movie is a heavy consequentialist theme - it is that we cannot really do good in a bad society; to some extent that is true, but that is not the ultimate solution for earth. The Bible records that God will one day come in Judgement and He will righteously and justly render to each person their work, no partiality and fairly.

The Con Job Part 1

The Con Job Series, Part 1

Exams are coming, so I'll just start this series which I will update once in a while on HOW peopl can con you, and that you always should be careful.

Sometimes for the sake of selfish argument, I catch myself using these unethical tactics or argument - so here... the Christian version of "me" will disarm the selfish version of "me"

This post, I will be talking about giving false impression. Its quite simple, and it is subtle, consider this:

A person who eats very unhealthily wants to justify himself that he is not exactly doing the wrong thing.

A few characters for your understanding:

John - the unhealthy Guy
Mr. EatGood - a guy who eats a lot of health food

He gives you an example:

Did you hear about the news of Mr. EatGood who died last thursday? I know
you are going to say that it was a freak accident - but he still died.

You see, we don't really know when we are going to die, so the thing is as
long as we are not taking drugs which kills us, then it is really alright to
just enjoy our food - and not be over health conscious.

Consider Mr. EatGood2, and Mr. EatGood3 - they all died - I know they
didn't smoke, but the second hand smoke they came into contact with still killed
them ( and yes we know that non smokers die of lung cancer too, for something
not their fault ).

You see, there are a few tricks that are being played here:

1) Diversion -
He brings in the element of enjoyment vs. non-enjoyment, and also whether we know when we die or not. We have to be confident of our point. We are not saying that eating healthy will prolong your life most indefinitely, i.e. if you eat healthy you are destined to live to 100. We are stating a rule - i.e. be healthy, eat healthy. A few exceptions do not break a rule.

2) Impression of truth being generalized -
He takes exceptions out of context. For every Mr. EatGood that died, hundreds of Mr. EatGood lived much longer. We know this by rule, not by exceptions. Example: Exams are coming tomorrow and we study for the exams, we don't wonder that we might die tomorrow on the way to College and decide that since we are never certain of how long we live, therefore we don't study. That is called irresponsibility.

Note: They do not need to say wrong "facts" to win the argument. All the need to do is de-emphasize on what we are REALLY saying, and overemphasize on things that we might be implying.

When these two elements come into play (there may be more that I missed out), we who argue for the right thing are blurred by:

1)Too many ideas that are brought into play
If you are ready, i.e. you know how to counter the arguments - do it point by point. Finish one argument then the other. At times when I speak with those who try to disprove God's existence, these patterns are most obvious. Halfway through talking about historical facts, they ask "Why then is there suffering in the world". As with any important issue, we know that the answer is not a one liner - halfway explaining why there is suffering, they ask me "then how about evolution".

Whether they are intentional or not I do not know, but what I know is that I cannot continue talking to him in that pattern. We ought to know we are not likely to convince a man who is set against your opinions - how much more within one argument? So, make your point and leave it there. Gently acknowledge the other person's questions, and refuse the others, or postpone them for a better time.

2) Too many words
The accusations are always the same. The reason being that many people have probably accused him or confronted John who eats unhealthily... So he is very very well versed in defending himself. Wherelse, it is our bad day to enter a foolish argument. Why on earth would we have so many prepared arguments on our mind to attack his stand? Either do not enter the argument, or use the "closed ended final word" method. That is, say a one liner that you need to say, and refuse to talk further. For example:

John, you know its bad for you - but if you do not think so, it is up to you - you reap the consequences anyway, not me. I don't want to argue, you just think about it okay?

You have refused to argue and he can only say YES or NO. To say yes is to somewhat say that he acknowledges the truth you speak. To say NO is too degrading for a person who likes to argue - how can he chicken out of an argument by saying " I don't want to consider your point of view ".