No full glass

11/23/98

"There is no one who has a full glass under the sun."

Yes, indeed. Can we have everything under the sun? People who are seemingly living perfect lives may well feel that they are missing or lacking something in their lives. No one can feel content by assessing what one has, whether physical or psychological. The contentment only comes from within oneself. If one is willing to be content, he/she will be. If one is waiting to be content, he/she will never be content. No one has everything under the sun. We don't even know what having everything is like because we cannot comprehend what 'everything' is.

What does it mean by a full glass in life? All of us were born with empty glasses. The glass is for a cocktail, which is a mixture of spiritual, material, physical, intellectual, emotional, relational, and psychological juices. All glasses have everything in them but the proportions are very different in such a way that some glasses may show only a trace of a certain juice, barely detectable by our conscience. So, when we say no one has a full glass, it means no one has a perfect cocktail with which everything in it we can taste. Can we discover the perfect formula for the perfect cocktail? No. We are passive beings. No human beings have ever willed to be born. We were just thrown into this world with glasses in our hands. We don't even know where we came from and who made the glasses(unless you are religious). We are not as intelligent as we think we are, and we are not capable of making the perfect cocktail, whether you admit it or not. If this is the case, should we all be unhappy? No.

You will not be happy with your life unless you are willing to compromise the quantities in some of the ingredients. If you want more of one kind, you must sacrifice some of other kinds. You just cannot have everything because your glasses are too small and there is nothing you can do about it. You were born into this world. If you try to have everything in your life, you will not be satisfied nor happy. Why? Because when you have the equal quantities of everything in your glass of life, you may not have enough of anything to taste each flavor. Your glass is too small. None of the ingredients will have enough quantities to give you the taste. If you want to taste them, you need more of each. But your glass is just not big enough to hold them all. If you force it to have more of the flavors, you will end up spilling your life all over the place and creating a big mess. Either you or people around you will have to take the burden of cleaning up your mess. Thus, if you are wise, you just have to lessen some so that you can have the more of others, which give you stronger taste of the ones you chose.

The world is not a fair playground as far as we are concerned. You don't agree? Just look at you! Yes, some people are born with more 'juices' than others are in certain aspects and areas. Often, it seems that it's not how much you thrive or how hard you try, but it's what comes to you. Some people seem to get more than others do, and yes, they really do get more. However, in a mysterious way, the world poises its fairness. If one has something more than others, he/she lacks something else. Look around you. You see this happening everywhere. Why does this happen? Because the balance has to be maintained. It's a zero sum game. The micro-scale of life gyrates wildly but the macro-scale is always perfectly still, keeping the equilibrium. So, be content. If not, you are just hurting yourself and others. It's all within you.

Anything fast is dangerous

4/26/1999

Today's topic is, "Anything that happens really fast is very very dangerous." This sounds pretty simple but it can pretty much sum up the essence of how everything works.

If you are stopped fast, you've crashed into something. If something stops on you fast, you've either got hit by a bullet or crushed by something. If something burns fast, it's exploding. If you rush into a relationship, you might regret it soon. If you rush out of a relationship, you might regret it soon too. If you talk fast, you are not thinking and may say something that you shouldn't have said. If your life moves too fast, you may be losing what your life originally intended to.

A trinity in you

4/16/1999

Your being is like a trinity (not the biblical trinity, of course). The trinity is your mind, body and soul. All three are different, yet they cannot be separated. The separation means disintegration of yourself, which is different from death. How are they kept together? You need something that integrates them together. It can be something very static such as what people refer to as 'the meaning of life', not knowing what it really is, or something very dynamic such as one's work, money, religions, relationships, a certain belief, or pure ignorance.
When your trinity becomes unstable or is about to be disintegrated, you may experience the 'gap'. No one can withstand the gap if it persists. Life has to be continuous and harmonious. If you experience the gap, you must be losing the oneness of your mind, body, and soul. The gap represents total nothingness. Nothing matters anymore. No senses are needed. Everything is empty. It's like a beam of light piercing through a shell when you are inside. In the beginning it looks awesome but as the shell cracks, the light will blind you and you won't be able to 'see' things anymore. Your trinity loses the balance and is about to be disintegrated. Nothing can be seen or heard anymore. You are losing it. You are powerless.

What makes your life go on everyday? What will happen if you lose it? Is it really that important?