Christmas

Christmas, Material

The past few days have been quite eventful. I have since been reminded that there is beauty in simplicity, that the best form of Christmas celebration is a simple meal with loved ones and good conversation; that a hug at a timely moment is priceless and that there is always a need to look beyond the material. Intangibles. The problem with modernity is that we no longer see the forest for the trees; that for all our knowledge we are not wiser. This is perhaps why I find the story of Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince so endearing - it shows how the cleverness of our age causes us to overlook the essentials. It is the Little Prince, who has a certain naivety, that ultimately sees more and better. What really counts? What is authentic? What keeps us going? I now believe the key is to see what is simple; no more, no less.

Wake

Taken for granted

For the first time in a long while, I slept without the air-conditioning. Not out of choice but because the darn thing was broken. Fortunately, it is a Singaporean winter these days and the night was nice and cool. It was the morning sun and a light breeze which swayed the blinds that gently roused me; not the mechanical timbre of an alarm clock. I woke to the sound of birds chirping, the cool damp of the morning and the sound of my dogs running about in the garden. Maybe it is true. That sometimes it takes a breakdown to make you remember that its the simple things in life that count; like waking up.

Shadow

Even in a black and white, the street is no place for the grey.

In our society where boundaries are blurred and ambivalence is the theme of life, it is ever important to remember that there are still absolutes; to escape "Out of the night that covers me".

Monads

To be naive

I want to be bewildered again, to stop and stare in awe. To wander, ponder, wonder; I want to feel. Life is a collection of feelings, delineated by moments which in totality we loosely term as "experience". Each moment is precious and more importantly, eternal.

Bach

On that note.

A weekend workout at the gym with the iPod spilling out Bach at full blast is really refreshing. Classical music or lyric-less music has a way of drowning everything out, filling the void with just enough to keep you going. I find that the older I get the more inundated I've become by words, especially words spoken without meaning; not quite lies but not much veracity either. And it seems this inundation infects my way of living too, to the point where my own words seem to lack meaning; Affectation. Of late, it has become so difficult to square the record that I rather drown everything out, even that soft prompting within.

Journey

Corinthians

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I understood like a child, I thought like a child. But when I became a man, I put aside the things of a child. Now we see through a glass darkly. But then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, even as I am known.

Random

Random street corner, Beaune

A random dinner with good conversation, reminiscing on the feelings of a recent past. Randomness and spontaneity allows you to see beauty in the ordinary.