Get your bum off that chair! (1)

I cannot recall how many times the following scenario has happened.

I have been labouring on a task at my desk. My mind has got completely stuck after searching for a long time for a solution which has been eluding me. And then when I stand up and go for a drink or a trip to the toilet, an inspiration strikes like lightning.

I did not notice the amazing change at first, but I have had enough such experiences now to convince me that one thinks better while standing.

So get your bum off that chair - at least once in a while!

Revolt against reason

"We live in a time of revolt against reason. Revolt against beauty. Revolt against joy. Artists dribble paint out of paint cans onto canvas. Sculptors weld together pieces of old iron and concrete they have scavenged from a junkyard. Musicians blow klaxons and bang tire irons for symphonies. Poets babble trivial obfuscations. Philosophers prove by reason that reason can prove nothing.”

This is what Norman Vincent Peale, in his book Enthusiasm Makes the Difference, quoted James Dillan Freeman as saying. I am afraid what Freeman said some decades ago still very much rings true now, and even more so than ever. So businessmen and politicians pounce on and feast on this gullibility. They know that we are not willing or even able to think, so to achieve their ulterior motives, they feed us with well-packaged, sugar-coated half truths. And they usually get by. Who is to blame but this lazy, foolish generation of people ourselves? Technology, particularly information and communication technology, has enabled us to do things we have never before thought possible. There is now this reliance on and obsession with technology to do everything for us, even to the extent that the planting of a microchip into us will provide us all the knowledge we will ever need.

We are playing God, but look at how people playing God in history ended up.

Another poem that went to the moon

This powerful poem, I Am There, is the second work of James Dillan Freeman that made its way to the moon. Astronaut Colonel James B. Irwin left a microfilm copy of it on the moon in 1971, two years after Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. brought The Prayer for Protection with him when he made his moonwalk.

Do you need Me ?
I am there.

You cannot see Me, yet I am the light you see by.
You cannot hear Me, yet I speak through your voice.
You cannot feel Me, yet I am the power at work in your hands.

I am at work, though you do not understand My ways.
I am at work, though you do not understand My works.
I am not strange visions. I am not mysteries.

Only in absolute stillness, beyond self, can you know Me
as I AM, and then but as a feeling and a faith.

Yet I am here. Yet I hear. Yet I answer.
When you need ME, I am there.
Even if you deny Me, I am there.
Even when you feel most alone, I am there.
Even in your fears, I am there.
Even in your pain, I am there.

I am there when you pray and when you do not pray.
I am in you, and you are in Me.
Only in your mind can you feel separate from Me, for
only in your mind are the mists of "yours" and "mine".
Yet only with your mind can you know Me and experience Me.

Empty your heart of empty fears.
When you get yourself out of the way, I am there.
You can of yourself do nothing, but I can do all.
And I AM in all.

Though you may not see the good, good is there, for
I am there. I am there because I have to be, because I AM.

Only in Me does the world have meaning; only out of Me does the world take form; only because of ME does the world go forward.
I am the law on which the movement of the stars and the growth of living cells are founded.

I am the love that is the law's fulfilling. I am assurance.
I am peace. I am oneness. I am the law that you can live by.
I am the love that you can cling to. I am your assurance.
I am your peace. I am ONE with you. I am.

Though you fail to find ME, I do not fail you.
Though your faith in Me is unsure, My faith in you never
wavers, because I know you, because I love you.

Beloved, I AM there.

The poem that went to the moon

What is the greatest achievement for a writer? His work becoming a best-seller or getting rave review?

How about having his work taken to the moon?

James Dillet Freeman is a writer with this honour. His work has been taken to the moon. Not once, but twice! The following poem, called The Prayer for Protection, which Freeman wrote for all soldiers during World War II, was taken aboard Apollo 11 by Lunar Module pilot Edwin Aldrin during the first manned moon landing:

The Light of God surrounds me.
The Love of God enfolds me.
The Power of God protects me.
The Presence of God watches over me.
The Mind of God guides me.
The Life of God flows through me.
The Laws of God direct me.
The Power of God abides within me.
The Joy of God uplifts me.
The Strength of God renews me.
The Beauty of God inspires me.
Wherever I am, God is!

Here is what Freeman said about the poem:

"On the very first flight to the moon, on Apollo 11, astronaut Col. James Aldrin carried Unity's 'Prayer for Protection' with him. He did not know me or Unity.

"It has appeared in hundreds of different publications that have no connection with Unity, and millions of people have carried it around on cards that fit into their pocketbooks, pockets, and billfolds. It has been translated into many languages. Sometimes it appears with me as the author. Often no author is given. Sometimes other people are named as the author.

"It has been changed and changed again before it reached the form that it now has that best meets people's needs. This prayer is the product of much thought and concentration and of a mind that was willing to stay open to receive divine inspiration."

"Whatever" you say

How does a statement like this make you feel?

"Whatever you think about using grating words, at the end of the day it's actually better not to say whatever, if you know what I mean."

You should be somewhat pissed off, if the Marist poll on the most annoying word or phrase in the English language is anything to go by. "Whatever" tops the list, followed by "like", "you know what I mean", "to tell you the truth" and "actually".

What makes these words or phrases so irritating? If you look at these top five, you will notice that they are either dismissive, patronising or condescending.

How about the Chinese language? It will be interesting to have a poll like that. My personal picks of annoying words and phrases are context specific. When financial analysts on TV say "in terms of" in every other sentence to sound more professional, when salespersons in shops harrass you by saying "can I help you?", when cold callers reveal their identity by saying "how are you, sir?", it drives me mad.

Other people's dishes

The other night, my wife and I ate out. After finishing our orders, I glanced at the steaming dish the waitress placed on the next table and whispered to my wife with envy: "See how big that dish of fried rice is."

Seeing that I was comparing that dish with the one we had been served earlier, her response, calm as a millpond and yet sound as a bell, was: "Other people's dishes always appear to be bigger."

L'hiver