A faceless and voiceless society

The internet community is becoming a faceless and voiceless society especially with the increasing popularity of blogging and text messaging. The same holds true for the 16 million mobile phone users in this country with their SMS and voice messaging. As technology gets better and better, we will sooon have video messaging. A new platform streaming into our internet blogging lifestyle is podcasting or audioblogging. This is the seduction of new technology and we must reap its benefit before it goes out of fashion.

Yes, this is a great time for the autistic individuals to make their presence felt in society! Autistics are inward looking people who lack social skills and the sensitivities belonging to a normal social person like establishing eye contact, facial and bodily expressions and proper voice tone. These conditions are predetermined genetically (God bless them). It is becoming a dream come true for them because they are known to be attached to computers and IT know-how. The same may hold true for other unfortunate individuals like the social phobics, the speech impaired, the stutterer, the deaf and dumb, the semi-paralysed and the handicapped (God bless them all). Do you know that Bill Gates, a very capable and high functioning person, has some autistics traits and poor social skills? In a book written by John Locke titled Why We Don't Talk To Each Other Anymore, it was mentioned that he would comb his hair to look presentable before emailing. He would rock his chair repeated during meetings when the tension was high; he had dated on a virtual romance and would rather chat to his date online and over the mobile phone about a movie that they had watched together than to do it face to face.

Now, blogging has entered the mainstream. There are many 'ready to go' free blogging service like this one that makes your entry into the blogosphere so much easier these days. I believe bloggers will supplant the mainstream newspaper one day.

There are also many people who do not blog. There are people are witty and outstanding when it comes to actual conversations. They would effortlessly talk about everything under the sun including politics, business, childen's education and current issues. We sometimes need an environment of such nature (eg in a local kopitiam) where the spirit of conversation, the humour, the color of various emotions are given full freedom of expression. For this reason, I have also purposely left out many issues of daily concerns in my blog because I knew they could be found in other blogs but more importantly because these are best discussed in an open, face-to-face settings with friends and relatives.

However, bloggers would argue whether you would sacrifice your time and money to travel 10km for a business meeting when you can easily do it online. I say we need a balance of both. I am not against building your blog into a social network platform as, hey, I am a blogger myself! Some activities like virtual dating, internet TV gospel, online counseling service and virtual job interview are making their presence felt and we cannot stop them. Living in a global village, it is hoped that we can bring people living everywhere, especially in remote areas, together. Connecting humans, as the Nokia slogan says. But we must move away from our computer screens into a more personal, interactive lifestyle. We cannot afford to turn from becoming TV addicts to computer addicts.

If society as a whole, even among the majority of us who are not socially impaired, begin to embrace this speechless and faceless technology without the intimacy of human warmth, I see a future where we enter into a newer version of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

And now, I am just happy to let my painting do the talking.....

A wet path

I would like to devote an article today to a man who had been an inspiration to many. A nobel prize winner, a seasoned politician whose motto was 'never give up', a writer, orator and last but not least a painter whose art now hangs in numerous galleries and museums. He was the man who led Britain to victory during the WW2. His name is none other than the great Sir Winston Churchill, whom many believed to be the man of the 20th century.

He had been in and out of parliament so many times during his more than 50 years of political ups and downs but in the end, it was always his resourcefulness, optimism and courage that pulled him through. He was a controversial man and not everything he did was successful. He was made a scapegoat for every bad things that had happened to England including the Great Depression in 1930. His judgements were increasingly being criticised by his colleagues before WW2.

He was a successful and extraordinary writer. His style of writing protrayed his personality. He wrote about history, the 1st WW, and thought provoking essays about the contemporary political situation around the world. During his years out of parliament in the 1930s, this great soul wrote about the increasing aggression of the Nazis and evil deeds of Adolf Hitler. However, his warnings were simply ignored. It was a case of passive injustice. The people were guilty by association. By keeping silent. Here, there is a saying 'jaga tepi kain sendiri'. We cannot always be sitting on the fence. We have to look at the big picture and speak out against cases of corruption and misuse of power, for example. We are doing a great disservice to ourselves and the future generation if we remain silent. The British people had failed to foresee the events that led to the outbreak of WW2 and allowed an evil empire to rise.


Fortunately, honor was in his blood. He was called back to office in 1940 and delivered a great speech, declaring that Britain would never surrender. Similarly, his approach to life was one of courage, openness and a willingness to try new things. He took up painting, by accident, at the age of 41 when he was in near despair due to political strife. He was looking at a blank canvas and did not know what to paint until a painter friend told him to just get started. Painting brought joy to his life. He was so enthusiastic that he wrote a booklet called 'Painting as a pastime'. Here he urged others to take up painting. He said ' Painting is a companion with whom one may hope to walk a great part of one's own journey - happy are the painters for they shall not be lonely. Light and color, peace and hope - will keep them company to the end, or almost to the end of the day'. He was quite modest though about his art unlike his political achievements and speeches where he was more confident. He learned how to paint by copying the works of artists, by immersing himself in the galleries studying the techniques of the great masters and sometimes by taking art lessons from his painter friends. He did win first prize in an amateur art competition, painting a red brick house in a winter scene.


Therefore, my friends, I would also like to encourage you to take up 'the joy of painting'. You could also try to do something that you do not normally do in your daily routine. It would be a great stress reliever.

We will be facing a wet season till the end of the year. We are bound to have flash floods, fallen trees, inaccessible roads and maybe a few leaking roofs. Hopefully, we won't have another landslide in another hillside project. However, it is good that the air has cleared. The haze has enveloped much of the city for about a month. Studies have shown that it does not matter how high the air pollution index is, whether it is above or below 100. The danger lies in the particle size. If the particle is small enough, they could seep through our respiratory system and cause irreversible tissue damage or lung scarring, especially in children and the elderly. This is the reality.

Going back to Churchill, his paintings provide a look into his soul. His optimism. His struggles. He believed everything was planned by God. Everything has a destiny. When he reached heaven, he already expected to spend the first million years painting. His affinity to art continues with these words ' we must not be too ambitious, we cannot aspire to masterpieces but we may content ourselves with a joyride in a paintbox'.

I dream one day we would not do anything for the sake of money, fame or power but merely for the sheer joy of doing it.

Hidden Stream

For those who are having emotional conflicts in life, I would just like to let you know that all of us who are living in this 21st century, especially in the urban setting, will always have some troubles that will cause some sort of emotional disturbance in us. Those troubles can come from within us or from the society we interact with. The secret of living a happy and successful life lies in how you manage those conflicting emotions in you.


Aristotle said that to be happy, one must find some pleasurable activity to indulge in, even more so if you enjoy doing it very well and doing it for the good of society. Happiness does not mean you have to feel good all the time, drive yourself crazy by going to wild parties, indulge in expensive things etc. These are all transcient emotions and superficial forms of happiness. You can put up a cheerful disposition but you cannot be forever cheerful and laughing. Genuine happiness is actually a reflective form of emotion. Happiness as in joy is something we all hope to attain in our lives. However, we cannot always reach that emotional high. It is like wanting to scale up the mountain peak everyday.


Each one of us have this thing called temperament. It is a more profound and long lasting emotion which we inherit from our genes and from our upbringing and environment. This temperament or mood is what makes some people to be mild mannered, some to have a wonderful sense of humour and some to be gregarious and some to be depressed. But because I believe our emotions have intelligence and rationality, we can learn to perceive our emotions in the right way, to understand why we feel angry, hurt, embarrassed etc and to make correct decisions regarding how we can manage those negative emotions. We cannot always make the right decisions based on our emotions but we can try. We must also learn to perceive other people's emotions based on their way of life, their culture and language. For example, some Chinese dialects are spoken aloud as if there is a shouting competition and may put off a foreign tourist.

Lastly, human beings are capable of emotions that connect with the universe. Emotions are not just about everyday petty things like hate, jealousy, vengeance etc. Imagine yourself lying on the field and looking up at the stars. You will have that sense of humility in that you are not the most important person in the world. At the other end of the spectrum, you will also have an elevated feeling in that a great God can create an entire universe filled with galaxies and stars and you are part of that creation.

God will make a way

Oftentimes when I paint seascapes, I am reminded of the major tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean 2 years ago, mainly in Sumatra, Sri Lanka and India. Our country too is not spared. Although we cannot with our human mind comprehend why this happened especially when the majority who died were helpness women and children, we must know that there is an ocean of little 'tsunamis' happening in the lives of ordinary folks like you and me across the planet everyday. Lives of sorrow and darkness and confusion - these are quite prevalent in our society today. Interestingly, with each technological advance, our lives become more and more isolated.

But the good news is that God, is here for us all the time, like a father who will never forsake his children. His light will shine on you even through your darkness night, even as you walk through your valley of sorrow. Like a lighthouse. When God closes one door, He will always open another one. You may not understand His plans for you, but if you will only have faith (and faith can start small like a seed), what most people will notice initially is that they are trading their heavy hearts with hearts of joy. It is as simple as that. It starts with a humble bow before Him, and a promise. A promise that is so good - eternal life, and new mercies (or grace) that you will receive throughout your time on earth.

So, make no mistake. Take that leap of faith from the cliff. Reason has an end as it also has a beginning. God has been here for you 24/7. You have been looking out for God all your life. But events have taken a turning. The hunter becomes the hunted. You are stopped dead in your track. Suddenly you hear footsteps...... it is not you searching for God; it is God that is searching for you all this while. Searching for a long lost child.

So let all creation sing. Let the earth proclaim - this is the God of Love. Let us celebrate Love. Hear the oceans roar - God will make a way where there seems to be no way.

Everlasting Joy

What is your personal view about faith? Is it a difficult subject to talk about? To me, faith has many levels.

When you are a student, you may be living in a care-free environment. Life offers many pleasures to indulge in. You may also be the one of the 'wild' type who has 'been there, done that'. Many issues about life still look a bit hazy to you and you are not ready to live a life of devotion, at least not until you are committed to get married. After marriage, life is beautiful. There is a stable relationship and you feel satisfied with what you have. You go to church, you send your children to Sunday school and you live a moralistic kind of life. You may also indulge in other forms of pleasures but find that you are actually missing out on something. You may also turn to a socratic kind of wisdom about life. Questioning life. Questioning faith.

If you are stuck in any of these stages in life, you have to move on. Otherwise life will become stale, rusty and full of strife and agony.

If you say you belong to a certain faith, here's something I personally don't agree. Faith is not something that you register into and have it printed out. It is not about infants lining up to be baptised. It is not about compulsary attendance of Sunday service. It is not about listening to professors talk theology to you. These are too easy. You are living in your own comfort zone. To me, faith has to be a little more difficult to grasp - to be authentic.

Faith is about direct communication with God, no mediator needed. It is presenting yourself as a person before Him, all your imperfections, sins, suffering, everything. Faith is something subjective (there is no absolute certainty in life) but it involves a pro-active effort on your part to seek the Truth. It is giving everything back to God. It is losing your life, so that you can find it back. It is like immersing yourself as if you are part of the Great Story. That is the power of faith.

Before I end, here is a wager for the modern skeptics. Nobody can scientifically prove the existence of God. As I have said in my earlier posting, God is perceived only through the mind, not the senses. My wager is, if there is no God, then you don't gain anything at all. On the other hand, if there is a God, well, here, you lose nothing but you gain everything in life and have everlasting joy. Think about it, my friend.

Work in progress

I'm taking a short break. The above is a work in progress of a seascape. Hopefully, if all goes well, I'll be able to show some peaceful waves lapping towards the beach against a bright sky (in fact, the sky is too bright until I had to wear sunglasses, just kidding!). I love to do seascapes - it gives me great peace but at the same time, reminds me that life can be rocky. I was also reminded about the time during my university years when I was passionately searching for answers to life. I was lost until I found God. Without faith, a person will be like struggling in the ocean looking for a distant land to swim to. We all need a spiritual compass in life.

Another thing is, faith has to be dynamic. We don't stop at the point when we have found God. There must always be this passion of the pursuit of God. Faith must also be strong enough so that we are willing to give everything we have back to God. Imagine throwing everything you own back to God for eternal truth. All finite things washed away by the waves. You will be surprised. God will honour your effort and give it all back to you. For example, a person vowed to celibacy may find himself happily married and blessed with children.

In the next posting, I will contemplate on what exactly is faith. What is faith to you?



While we are on the subject of giving things up, you can try giving up your favourite food. This is the season to celebrate Chinese mooncake festival. It is also a time to hang lanterns around the house. What joy to see the lantern lights glowing on the faces of happy children. Unlike today's battery powered, Power Rangers lanterns, I remember the time of my childhood when I would happily carry lanterns which I made by myself. However, a word of caution from the doctor - each piece of mooncake is a lump of sugar and fat. Even the low sugar variety still contains sufficient amount of it. My mother even has to reject mooncakes given by relatives and friends - we can't finish what we already have. So, please eat with moderation.

The Problem of Pain (and Suffering)

I would never qualify myself to be able to discuss the great problem of human suffering. In his book The Problem of Pain, CS Lewis, a prominent Christian writer, said 'God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience but shouts in our pains'. However, I know many people, including many who profess to belong to a certain faith, who cannot reconcile the existence of a good, all powerful and kind God with innocent human suffering.

There are many solutions to this dilemma given by major religions of this world. The commonest would be that suffering is for our own good - this is to show that we are not as self-sufficient as we think we are - so we all need God.

Another would be suffering in this life is only temporal. We shall attain a better life in the hereafter / nirvana as a reward. Anyway, life is short here on earth compared to eternity.

Still another solution is that we all deserve it as a form of punishment since from the beginning, all humans are fallen - this is the concept of the original sin.

There's also another solution formulated since the ancient of times - that there is always a cosmological battle between good and evil. This is called dualism - a struggle in which humans are the pawns.

Another solution would be to leave God out of the picture and blame the major catastrophes to nature itself and the great wars of the world to human greed. It looks like a rational solution at first, only this position called atheism is untenable in the long run.

Here is another solution which I will call the painterly answer - light stands out best in darkness. In any painting, there is always an interplay between light against dark, and dark against light. In order to let the highlights of my trees and bushes stand out, I need to block in a dark base - the darker, the more outstanding will be my trees. Also, for contrast, I must remember not to kill all my dark areas so that I can bring out individual trees and bushes. So you see, if you are in a difficult situation, don't forget to light a candle in the dark period of your life - it will be a life giving source to you!

Now, having said all this, you may ask why do the innocent suffer the most - you will not find a better example than the recent Indian Ocean tsunami that happened to our neighbour - where mostly children and women perish in a twinkling of an eye. To this, a friend of mine gave me a remarkable answer - God also suffers along with us. Sometimes, in the face of great suffering, human empathy is worth much more than all the knowledge we acquire about the problem of evil and divine justice.....

Some stress relieving technique:

Sometimes, I find my patients are trying too hard to get better. Do not think that you must or you should get well soon, because if you put a demand on yourselves like saying you must fall asleep by 12 am, you are putting unnecessary pressure on yourself and your insomnia will get worse. Similarly, if you are someone who likes to work on a job to impress other people, or fear others will look down on you if you didn't do well, your performance will deteriorate. Instead, do something for your own personal improvement and stop thinking the perfectionist attitude. This is a matter of self-esteem.