Tormented Souls
A few good old friends described me recently as a "thinker but a tormented soul". Maybe it was because of some articles I wrote on my blog or all my years of exchanges with them. One went even further to say that "no one can write like that when they are happy". I wondered about the perception. Was it a compliment or a lament? Was it stereotyping since you would have read about writers who are drunks or tortured souls. I do not think so that I'm a tormented soul because tormented souls are bottled up like a spirited drink, like aerated water. Shake it a little, open the cap and all hell breaks loose as the gas inside will cause an equal of a volcanic eruption. If you are too close, you may get remnants of the larva flow or volcanic ashes.
Tormented souls cannot be calm or cool under all kinds of situation especially extreme ones. Tormented souls are always in chains as they can't break free from whatever and usually are fixated or obsessed with certain things and could not share freely or are held back. Let Freddy Mercury and Queen share with you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hMrY8jysdg. "I Want To Break Free".
Or is it because they think I am trying to take on the world's problems. Beatle's Hey Jude said it: "Don't carry the world upon your shoulder". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD3ovfZXO5Q. I hope I can find out on setting a station for all to poll to see where I belong and it would be obvious if I don't give reader's a choice so you could only say good things. Give me a buzz with your comments by leaving it at the end of the article or just place it on the tag board on the right.
Perhaps a friend's sister summed it up best when she said she enjoyed my articles and I took the opportunity to ask if she thinks I'm a tormented soul. She said that "it seems like you have been through a lot." Have I? Yes and no. Yes because all of us have been through quite a lot but we when we realize how much more others have gone through, then ours will pale in comparison so in this sense no I have not been through a lot. The trick perhaps is to get involved a lot. When you are partying day and night how would you know there are other species on this planet. If you were elitist how do you understand the heart lander? Visit a hospital sometimes and you will realize that there are many ailing people out there and families struggling. Visit an orphanage and you will feel so grateful for yourself and your children.
Every one's attitude and sensitivities are different. How do I know? I talk to people - all the time from the hotshot CEOs to the cleaners at the food centre. Some people do not care for anything at all except for themselves. They look at life as a zero sum game. I'm up against you, I win, you loose. They do not see themselves as part of this world as they are fathers and mothers only of their own children. They may curse at a car that just sped by not knowing that it could be their own child at the wheels one day. They think that other people suffer because they are stupid or less capable. They could stop or park their car anywhere inconveniencing others without batting an eyelid but will not hesitate to curse others that do the same. Self-important souls are really quite aplenty.
Thinker / Writer
Look at our founding fathers. MM Lee Kuan Yew, the late S. Rajaratnam and the late Dr. Goh Keng Swee. They are all thinkers, visionaries and writers, prolific ones. What are their values, thoughts and principles? What is the essence of their spirit? Despite our great success as a nation in many fields of endeavour, our society is largely narrow-minded. This is why the government has been promoting the arts. We cannot just be pursuing economic gains and the endless chase for properties, cars and the high-end designer goods. All great cities in the world need a soul. This is why Singapore has been often cited for lacking soul despite the many other successes.
How do we engage ourselves through thinking? What about our values and meaning? How do we tell stories to others. I think the last time most of us did that was in Primary School may be in kindergarten. We have to think deeper and not just skim the surface of life. The arts is also about slowing down somewhat or else how can one appreciate it when we are constantly rushing through life. You won't catch any wisdom. What is civilisation and life about? I read about a 98 year old young man on several occasions the last time being some years back and he was featured recently in an article about people in their golden age. Abraham Loh is a retired ex-businessman who plays golf twice a week for 9-holes at SICC and practises chi qong in between and is the oldest person to hold a valid driving licence here and he said one of the greatest things in life was giving away money because money is not yours until it is given away.
Sparta And Athens
After the Dark Ages, there was a period called the Archaic period which was a time when Greece was undergoing a period of experiment in many things like science, arts, economy, military, politics, philosophy and writing. The tradition of the Olympics was said to have started there. The style of government was aristocracy, oligarchy or tyranny. Two City-States rose into great power - Sparta and Athens. The Spartans were warlike people who fought well and are legendary (remember 300?). Sparta was an oligarchic system with two kings that shared power, some magistrates and a group of elders. Athens created democracy. Athens went to war with the mighty Persian Empire ruled by Darius I. The Athenians won a decisive battle but 10 years later Darius' son, Xerxes sought revenge by marshaling the largest army of the time. Spartan King Leonidas led a small mercenary force of 300 men and held the mighty Persian army at bay in the narrow pass of Thermopylae for three days.
This gave the Athenians enough time to flee but Athens was easily captured. Much later, the Persians were defeated and much of the victory lay with the tactics, discipline, courage and athleticism of the Greeks. The Athenians began rebuilding their city. Athens develop a strong navy and became the greatest power in Greece. Due to trades, wealth grew and Athens flourished. Architecture and the arts reached incredible new heights. They built the Acropolis in honour of their goddess Athena. Athens became not only powerful and wealthy, it became a center of learning. Many other fields scaled new heights like never before and they were great in science and medicine, philosophy and literature. Athens has many geniuses that was not to be seen again until the Italian Renaissance. There were Ictinus in architecture, Phidia in Arts and in philosophy, Socrates taught people by asking many questions that made people think. There was also Plato and Aristotle. Aristotle was a student of Plato and a teacher of Alexander The Great. Athens was at the pinnacle because they have many thinkers.
Writer Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature said: "Nothing awakens the critical spirit in a society as much as good literature. That is why the first thing all dictatorial regimes do, no matter what their stripe, is impose censorship."
John Donne (17th century poet) - Each man's death diminishes me, I am involved in mankind.
Am I a tormented soul? Hell no! But I am an idealist at heart. I believe that we need to look at issues with a critical mind. An idealist would like to change the world for the better. We ought to have a role to promote intellectual discourse. Being an idealist alone is not enough as you have to be tempered with with experience and fire and where reality pulls a hand brake. By and large, we have to be a thinking society and a thinking people. My children names has "si" 思 which I hope will have them to be thinking people. Great people can often be misunderstood.
I am therefore, either a tormented soul or walking in absolute freedom where nothing holds me back. Free ourselves from bondage or slavery of any kind. Remove our golf, our beer, our holidays, anything. Take away our ego too. You can't be blackmailed even if you are not shown any favours. If nothing can have a hold or a grip on you if nothing can torment you, you can only be free. Like a good cowboy, you can ride into the distant sunset.
If you have no fear and can walk away from anything now, you are a free man!
Cheers to your freedom!
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