Explosions or Merely Rumblings of a Small Mind?

More Explosions or Are They Merely Rumblings of A Small Mind?

We can feel contemptuous to others and cast them as sub-humans and insects; we can regard others as festering sores of humanity. In fact, most humans at one time or another feel so and experience a sentiment of smugness and superiority. There comes a time, however, a collision with reality occurs and flashes of insights explode. That is when we realize that we have been, all along, nothing but moral lepers and a fraud. That is when there is a breakdown and suicide ensues. Such an outcome will not take place as long as we are still able to embrace self-ironies and be blind about ourselves.

Language is at once clarifying and mystifying. Written language, the last phase of language acquisition, exposes the mindset of the user. Through it, we can see the true nature of the user. The facts he employs, the arguments he marshals, and the tone he dispenses through the choice of his words and the syntax, tell us who he is and what he is made of.

Dalai Lama has been influential and respected among some informed circles because the language he employs is the language of reason, embracing understanding and forgiveness. It is the language that appeals to the nobler and wiser side of Man. He does not deliberately sprinkle his words with the Buddhist doctrines. He merely states what he thinks is useful in bringing mankind together in peace. Buddha said that he was nobody special. He was only a man who was awake and everybody else could be like him if they tried. He didn’t invoke God to make himself special and unique. Followers of Muhammad believe that he was the last prophet. Christians believe in the divinity of Jesus. Some followers of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam name their children, out of affection and love, after the prophets: Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Buddhists, on the contrary, don’t name their children after Buddha since perhaps they believe Buddha was a very special man, an inspiration, and a model of behavior for us to emulate, but no other man could be as understanding and wise as Buddha himself, hence no other man deserves to be called Buddha unless metaphorically.

You just received an email and it blew your mind. Your mind was so fragile. It blew up easily. Your respect for the author of the email went up sky high. The email was not about you. It was about reality. The manner it was written spoke volumes about the true character of the person. Once again, written language is powerful. Poetry is even more powerful. Poetry is the language that taps into the subconscious and reflects feelings and thinking at the most condensed and penetrating. Poetry is therapeutic and the last refuge of the troubled mind. If poetry fails, the poet kills himself. There is a high suicide rate among poets. The poem Ngay Xua Hoang Thi is immortal because it captured the universal feelings of halting, incipient feelings of first falling in love by an adolescent. All poems are personal and true in one way or another.

Yesterday a client of yours asked you to write for her a letter of denunciation to her soon-to-be-ex-husband. You refused, telling her that the request was absurd and making her look bad and low-class. We can learn a great deal about a person just by quietly observing how he behaves under stress. You don’t usually exhibit grace under pressure. You recognize your weakness and are working on it. Pride is a two-edged sword.

The sun is shining. The air is fresh. Acts of generosity and beauty abound if we care to look. You feel good, calm, and promise to yourself that today you will not let monkeys, ticks, and lice bother you. You will not scratch if bitten. You will accept them as they are. After all, they have the right to be here. Like you, they are the children of the universe. And you are not better than they are. Not really.

Wissai
October 24, 2009
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