Sight to Insight

The world has full of talents - be they architects, engineers, artists, dancers, singers, inventors and so on. For me to have my daughter drawn from a picture inside a snuff bottle not bigger than 4 cm in breadth is so incredible! This is my gift to her - the only one that exists in this whole wide world, painted by a famous artist in China. Snuff bottles collectors are getting sophisticated and the variety that are coming into the market out of China are many. Few can be considered as collectables. Most will pass off as amateurish souvenirs. Most literature available today on snuff bottles is mainly in the Chinese language. Those that are available in English itself has become a collectable, as they are not available commercially. I was advised by my collector friend, and I think it is of great wisdom is to BUY that which you truly like and want to be part of your life - an admirable companion. Otherwise, it really does not matter how much it costs, if you do not like the inside art t...

All the world says, "I am important;I am separate from all the world. I am important because I am separate, Were I the same, I could never be important. "Yet here are three treasures That I cherish and commend to you: The first is compassion, By which one finds courage. The second is restraint, By which one finds strength. And the third is unimportance, By which one finds influence. Those who are fearless, but without compassion, Powerful, but without restraint, Or influential, yet important, Cannot endure. ooooOOOOoooo What does this chapter mean? Does it mean one is important because one is not part of the herd? That one is not part of the "rat race"? Being separate provides the independent spirit, and that perhaps is important NOT to the world but to oneself. The moment you want to be recognized as being an important person, you have lost that separateness. You are nothing but part of the herd, and it becomes a self-aggrandisement and delusion. Three key attrib...

The Way takes no action, but leaves nothing undone. When you accept this The world will flourish, In harmony with nature. Nature does not possess desire; Without desire, the heart becomes quiet; In this manner the whole world is made tranquil. ---------------------------------------------------------- Is this a contradiction? Takes no action, yet leaves nothing undone? I think over this for sometime. I still have my doubt on my interpretation. But why be "right" when I can do what I want to do. In the corporate world, I notice a lot of "make work". The concept of being busy means that one is working to impress the boss remains a culture; albeit a self-deceiving one at best. I interpret this chapter as not doing unimportant or non-impactful things as the principle of work. The Way takes no action on many wasteful tasks. Instead, the Way concentrates on tasks that affect the environmental sustainability and ensure that nature will continue to provide for many generati...

I don't know a lot about Art, though I did read about him in my earlier years. I remembered him as writing humorous articles. Only today, I read in the newspaper that he has moved on. Curiosity made me to a search, and just reading a short brief on his life, showed me a man who lived a very fulfilled life. Ethel Kennedy said that heaven is a much better place because he is bringing along his humor along. Isn't this a great eulogy? Few will have such publicised eulogy, and fewer even remember our days on earth. It does not matter at all. What is more important are the few closed people around us who will remember us as the sweetest person ever touching their lives. My aunt in law just passed away in solitude. She was only discovered a few days later. In the tropics, where the heat accelerates decomposition, it was not a good sight nor the stench bearable. My family received a call on the weekend, and immediately we made plan to drive back to "accompany her on her last jour...

"It's not fair!" screamed the wronged adult. Why should a failed CEO be paid U$210 millions, while I worked my butt out, and yet unable to pay my bills! Haven't we heard this familiar phrase before that the world isn't fair? It comes in all sorts of form - an innocent statement, a passive resistance downright to active violence, because of the desired "justice must seen to be done." Is justice done after Mr. Saddam was hanged? Is justice done, after the collapse of World Trade Centre? What is justice? Who is the authority of justice? What are the criteria of justice? Ever heard of the phrase, "one man's meat is another man's poison?" What is justice to one is injustice to another. Is then the world unfair? Or is it really true that fairness was not meant to be. The world starts off being unfair, and will remain unfair for it to survive the abuses human beings heap onto it. Think about what abuses these could be. The list will be long. L...

Thomas Friedman wrote the book, "The World is Flat" and being a famous journalist and writer, he gets attention. He may get a few critiques, but mostly he gets praise. After all, would a book with more criticism than praise make money for the publisher? I think the world is round. I tell you why. What goes around comes around. The saying that "every dog has its days" is as true as when it was originated. The only issue is that we will not know when. Usually it is a very long time, and most of us will not be around to see it happened. Think about manufacturing. The industrial revolution started in England and factories were built. Now where is the manufacturing capital of the world? China. Before that, it was the United States of America with all the big factories after England. Then these were exported to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and so on. Now, many of them are going to China. Is that the end? If the world is flat, it will have an end point. There is no end po...