Tag: peace

Posted in Life & Happiness

Home

Posted on by Jinavie

What makes your home a home?

The definition of a home varies from person to person. For some, it is simply their current place of residence. But for many, a place must fulfil certain criteria before it could be considered a true “home”.

For some, a home is a place of rest. It is a peaceful place where they can lay their weary heads to rest. A place where the chaos and pains of the world cannot touch you. A place where you can feel safe in your own space.
For others, it is a place of connection. A place they share with the people they love, whether it be a significant other, family or close friends. It is a place where you can connect intimately with someone at the deepest level, as you would only invite someone you wholly trust to your sanctum.

Much like many questions, this is one where there is no one true answer. Everyone would have their own reason as to why their home is a true home. For myself, a home is a home when there is normal, day-to-day domestic things going on, such as someone cooking up a meal or resting to some music.

Whatever your reason may be, the question is worth pondering because once you have figured it out, you will never feel lost in life. 

For home is where your heart is.

Posted in History & Literature

To End All Wars

Posted on by Jinavie

In his play Lysistrata, Greek playwright Aristophanes gives a comic account of one woman’s extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War – a 30 year old war between Athens and Sparta. How did one woman bring an end to such a deadly war?

In the play, Lysistrata (the female protagonist) becomes sick and tired of men treating women like simplistic hedonists incapable of functioning on their own. She believes that the war is a result of irrational men making stupid decisions and the long war is a waste as young, nubile women are aging away. She holds a convening of the women of various city states and proposes that the women must rise up to stop the war. Lysistrata’s plan is simple: withhold sex from the men until they cave (i.e. a sex strike). The women are reluctant at first, but agree to join her. They then take over the acropolis of the city, setting up a safe haven for women, barring any man from entering.

The men initially scoff at this revolution and try repeatedly to lay siege on the acropolis. However, they fail and the women continue to not provide any sexual pleasures to any male. The men constantly make snide comments about how women are hysterical and only seek pleasure, but sooner or later, they become desperate for sex. One by one, desperate men (sporting “burdens”, i.e. erections) come to the acropolis, pleading for relief (funnily, some women desert the acropolis in desperation for sex as well). The women take the men in, but only to tease them and leave them disappointed.

Eventually, the men (of both Athens and Sparta) cave and surrender, agreeing to end the war. There is a hilarious scene during the peace talks where Lysistrata brings out a stunning young girl named Reconciliation in front of the men, quashing any complaints or objections. Even the men who protest against the women’s demands are overcome by their lust and want(/need) for sex. Once peace is declared, the men and women all come together in the acropolis for singing and dancing, celebrating the women’s success in ending the war.

Although the play is only a comic exploration of the battle of the sexes, it clearly shows the power women have over men, and how they can use that power to easily control men.

Posted in History & Literature

Noblesse Oblige

Posted on by Jinavie

Noblesse oblige is a French term that literally translates to “nobility obliges”, stating that those with wealth and power must also take responsibility of the society they lead. Also, it requires the nobles to show a high level of morality, acting out the duties of a citizen. The etymology of this term dates back to the 14th century in the French city of Calais during the Hundred Years’ War.

During the war, the city of Calais was under siege from the English army. They fought valiantly for a year but ultimately surrendered to the English. The English desired to execute every citizen for making them fight for so long, but considering the bad press they instead announced that they would let the citizens live on the condition that six people take responsibility for the battle and are executed for it. The citizens were in agony. Who would sacrifice their life to protect the lives and safety of the other citizens? At that moment, Calais’ wealthiest man, Saint Pierre, volunteered to be sacrificed. Following his brave act, five other bourgeois of Calais, including the rich, noble and lawyers, put up their hands and stated that they would gladly give up their lives for the city. Moved by this sacrificial spirit, the queen of England convinced Edward the Third (then English king) to cancel the execution and have mercy. This story became the foundation of the noblesse oblige spirit of “those who are noble should take responsibility first”.

Although it is a very touching story, it is also an uncommon one. Instead, it is much more common to hear stories of the upper class fleeing the country and protecting their own lives when their country is in peril. A true developed nation should have those who lead a wealthy life work harder for the country than regular citizens. We should not be following the social Darwinistic belief of survival of the fittest, but rather show harmony where the strong help out the weak. In the case of the Roman Empire, nobles believed that what set themselves apart from slaves was not their status, but their ability to carry out social duties, having great pride in practising noblesse oblige.

The most common example of noblesse oblige would be the rich giving money to charity, but there are other duties of a citizen other than paying taxes (a way of redistributing wealth). A citizen must respect and follow the law, vote to practise democracy, pay their taxes, receive education and much more (in some countries, conscription is a duty too).

When the Korean War broke out, the first chairman of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong, sent his first son to participate in the war. After his son was killed in action and many people asked him why he sent his own son to war, he replied: “How could I as a leader ask my people to send away their sons to war when I am not willing to send my own son away?”.

The higher your social status, the more wealth and power you have, you should thoroughly upkeep your duties as a citizen and help out so that everyone can live happily.

(Les Bourgeois de Calais by Auguste Rodin, a sculpture depicting the six nobles of Calais who stepped up to be executed)

Posted in History & Literature

The Great Dictator

Posted on by Jinavie

The following is the final speech given by Charlie Chaplin in the movie The Great Dictator (1940). To this day, it is considered one of the most inspirational speeches in modern history. (NB: video excerpt at the end)

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness – not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another.

In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world – millions of despairing men, women and little children – victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say – do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes – men who despise you – enslave you – who regiment your lives – tell you what to do – what to think or what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men – machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate – the unloved and the unnatural!

Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the 17th Chapter of St. Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” – not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power – the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work that will give youth the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfil their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people! Now, let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.

Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!“

Posted in Psychology & Medicine

Dream

Posted on by Jinavie

Deep within the rainforests of Malaysia, there lived a tribe called the Senoi. Because they centred their lives on dreams, they were also called the Tribe of Dreams.
Every morning as they ate breakfast around a fire, they discussed their own dreams from the previous night. All social activities within the tribe had a close connection with those dreams. If one dreamed of harming someone, they had to give the harmed person a present straight away. If one hit someone in a dream they had to ask for forgiveness from that person along with another present.

The Senoi tribe placed more importance in education regarding dreams over that of how to live in the real world. If a child dreamed of running away from a tiger, the tribe would tell the child to dream of the tiger again and then fight it until it was killed. The elders taught the children how to achieve this. If the child could not defeat the tiger, the tribe would scold him.
Placing such importance on dreams, the Senoi tribe thought reaching an orgasm in a dream involving sex was a must, followed by thanking the other person with a gift in reality. If they faced an enemy in a nightmare, they had to defeat him and later befriend him by exchanging gifts. The dream they wished for most was a dream about flying. If someone dreamed of flying, the tribe would congratulate him, and a child’s first dream about flying was almost like baptism in the Catholic church. People would bring many gifts to the child and then teach him how to fly to distant lands to bring back wonderful objects.

Western anthropologists were fascinated by the Senoi tribe. There was no violence, mental disease, stress or greed. Only enough work to survive was required.
The Senoi tribe disappeared in the 1970s when the forest they lived in was cleared. However, we can still utilise their knowledge.

In a dream, we can test our infinite potential. In a dream, everyone is omnipotent. The first hurdle in dream aviation is flight. Spread your arms, glide around, dive, turn again then rise. Anything is possible. You can do anything you want. As a dream is your own world, no one can bother you. If a monster appears, shoot it with a bazooka. If you face an opportunity to date, do not let it go and make full use of it. Since there are no sexually transmitted diseases or indecency in a dream, there is nothing stopping you.
Dream aviation requires an increasing degree of training. As your “flight” time lengthens, your confidence will grow and you will get the hang of it. Normally, children can control their dreams in any way they wish within 5 months of training, but adults can take much longer than this.

(from The Encyclopaedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge by Bernard Werber)

Posted in History & Literature

Karaoke

Posted on by Jinavie

Karaoke are entertainment machines that play music without the vocal track, so that users can sing along to the song (where lyrics are usually put up on a screen also). It is a great addition to any party and is found in almost every city nowadays, especially in Asia.

The word karaoke means “fake orchestra” in Japanese, and this is linked to the story of its inception. A musician/entertainer by the name of Daisuke Inoue was often approached by patrons at cafés he played in, asking him to record his tracks so that they could play it anywhere. That, along with his laziness, led him to devise a machine that played pre-recorded tracks when coins were inserted, thus removing the need for an actual band to be present. This idea became instantly popular, and he loaned karaoke machines to businesses, updating the song database himself so that users did not have to purchase new songs every time they came out. 
He was awarded the prestigious Ig Nobel Peace Prize for inventing the karaoke, “thereby providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other”.

Posted in History & Literature

3000 A.D.

Posted on by Jinavie

How will the world change over the next millennium? Everything will change: from lifestyle and culture, to international politics and economics. This makes the posited question extremely interesting.

As science will continue to advance rapidly, technology that can only be dreamed of by modern man will become commonplace in the future. For example, computers will become essential tools such as pen and paper, or possibly become obsolete like the typewriter. Human beings will rely more and more on machines, which may lead to human-machine interfaces and cyborgs, or simply robots becoming common household appliances. Space travel will become as common as air travel, and humanity may even begin to colonise other planets or moons.
As this field can flow in completely unpredictable directions, it is extremely hard to know what will come. One thing is for sure: there is infinite potential in science for at least the next thousand years.

The continuing evolution of medicine and advanced hygiene policies will increase the lifespan of the world. This will bring upon the aging of the population, a “disease” that already plagues some developed nations. Governments may even respond with extreme solutions such as setting an age limit (or killing the elderly to change the demographics), but the more likely option is lengthening the period of youth or reversing aging to prevent the phenomenon of an elderly population.

Socially, the internet will allow for a ubiquitous society, bringing together the entire world. However, the internet is a double-edged sword that may improve interpersonal relationships, but also cause people to become antisocial and communicate only via electronic screens. Unfortunately, it is unlikely the gap between the rich and poor will be filled. The reason being, people’s basic instinct to take from others to improve their own life means that there will always be those who are rich and those who are poor.

In mankind’s history, there have been only a few empires that have survived over a millennium. Even the United States of America that currently is the leading nation is showing signs of deterioration, and China will instead rise to the top over the next few hundred years. But no one knows who will be the strongest power in the year 3000, as even a (currently) weak nation may suddenly strike and claim the throne.
For example, the Roman empire 2000 years ago, the Mongol empire 1000 years ago, and the Ottoman empire 200 years ago have all fallen and have only become pages in history books now.

Even after two vicious world wars, future nations may ignore history’s teachings and cause a third world war, which could involve the use of nuclear weapons. In this case, the world will definitely be unrecognisable compared to now. 
Alternatively, history may take a peaceful course where the concept of “nations” crumble and instead a united world is formed.

An even more interesting thought is “How will future people see us?”. As we mock the unsanitary conditions, violent history and underdeveloped science of the past, the future may laugh at concepts such as paternalism and communism, or even our fashion of jeans and shirts.
On the other hand, it is possible that works such as Harry Potter or House MD will be seen as classics and become the future Shakespearean plays.

As seen from this, the possibilities for the future are endless, and pondering the different futures sometimes bring light to ways to improve the present.