"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. Let's start with excessive consumerism. We use up more resources than we ever need. Think about the waste we create, when we throw away unfinished food. How many more could be fed with that waste? A plant starts off from a seed in the ground, carefully drawing food from its seedlings and grow up to be a beautiful green lettuce. It took time. It took light and mineral from the soil. It took tender loving care of the farmers. It took a whole process of production before the lettuce reaches the market before it was bought and consumed. Yet when we discard good and wholesome food, we discard away the gift of the earth. Little wonder, the earth responds back with famine - to teach the gift of good food. Is the world fair?
What about e-waste? The thousands of electronic gadgets that we threw away because they are too expensive to repair. The cheap factory of the world in China will one day be the most expensive clean up of the developed world. The time may not be now. It will come. The poisonous lead and the indestructible waste will come back to haunt us. How about poisoned stream water as a start? How about contaminated vegetation? We may not know all the consequences of this mountains of spoilt or even underpowered computer monitors, PCBs, outdated technologies going down the good earth. The good earth will need to respond.
Come the more exciting human greed - the desire to possess, in order to self-gratify. Be it power or wealth; both of these launch wars. Wars that lead to human destroying human. The war could be using weapons or in the boardroom. Both destroy human beings in different ways. In the process, we have radioactivity destroying humans slowly but surely. We have unemployment, leaving some poor souls wondering what they could do next to eke out a living. Guerilla warfare and terrorism arise to counter forces that cannot be defeated in a conventional warfare. Unions start to unite the people into labour movement to protect jobs. It is "us against them" mentality. Calamities arise because some seek more than they can ever spend it.
Taoism brings the concept of "yin and yang"; a duality of harmonious balance. Push the pendulum far out of balance, and it will push back to restore equilibrium. The world is indeed fair. It seeks a harmonious existence with all that thrive on it. The eco-system is a fair system. It does not seek power nor wealth. It seeks harmony.
May you think about this simple principle of living. Be good and do good, and life will never go wrong. That mindset is one of harmony. Attaining that mindset is a journey which I will write more in later articles.
May you be happy and healthy
May all your family be happy and healthy
May all that dwell on the earth be happy and healthy
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. Let's start with excessive consumerism. We use up more resources than we ever need. Think about the waste we create, when we throw away unfinished food. How many more could be fed with that waste? A plant starts off from a seed in the ground, carefully drawing food from its seedlings and grow up to be a beautiful green lettuce. It took time. It took light and mineral from the soil. It took tender loving care of the farmers. It took a whole process of production before the lettuce reaches the market before it was bought and consumed. Yet when we discard good and wholesome food, we discard away the gift of the earth. Little wonder, the earth responds back with famine - to teach the gift of good food. Is the world fair?
What about e-waste? The thousands of electronic gadgets that we threw away because they are too expensive to repair. The cheap factory of the world in China will one day be the most expensive clean up of the developed world. The time may not be now. It will come. The poisonous lead and the indestructible waste will come back to haunt us. How about poisoned stream water as a start? How about contaminated vegetation? We may not know all the consequences of this mountains of spoilt or even underpowered computer monitors, PCBs, outdated technologies going down the good earth. The good earth will need to respond.
Come the more exciting human greed - the desire to possess, in order to self-gratify. Be it power or wealth; both of these launch wars. Wars that lead to human destroying human. The war could be using weapons or in the boardroom. Both destroy human beings in different ways. In the process, we have radioactivity destroying humans slowly but surely. We have unemployment, leaving some poor souls wondering what they could do next to eke out a living. Guerilla warfare and terrorism arise to counter forces that cannot be defeated in a conventional warfare. Unions start to unite the people into labour movement to protect jobs. It is "us against them" mentality. Calamities arise because some seek more than they can ever spend it.
Taoism brings the concept of "yin and yang"; a duality of harmonious balance. Push the pendulum far out of balance, and it will push back to restore equilibrium. The world is indeed fair. It seeks a harmonious existence with all that thrive on it. The eco-system is a fair system. It does not seek power nor wealth. It seeks harmony.
May you think about this simple principle of living. Be good and do good, and life will never go wrong. That mindset is one of harmony. Attaining that mindset is a journey which I will write more in later articles.
May you be happy and healthy
May all your family be happy and healthy
May all that dwell on the earth be happy and healthy
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