Danger + Opportunity ≠ Crisis

Today I stumbled upon a tweet from @DK_Matai, quoting JFK:

»When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity. JFK«

More than three years ago a teacher on a course suggested the same thing, and I remember that my bogometer prompted me to dig deeper into the matter immediately after class. When confronted with the statement, a Chinese friend of mine wrote:

»There are many Chinese words combined by two or even four characters, but you can't just understand the meaning of the whole word by the meaning of the individual characters. Crisis can also mean “the prediction of a danger”, here the “opportunity” is not the right meaning, I think the “potential” is the better word, so crisis actually mean the “potential of a bigger danger”.

Many other examples can be raised for this characteristic of Chinese language, I guess that's one of the factors that make the language so difficult. Because we combine characters to be a word, and which can be totally different meaning from the original characters.«

There you go. I also found the following web pages to be illuminating:

• Chinese Tools FAQ
• Pinyin.info
• Patrick Hassel Zein's FAQ
• The Straight Dope

Oh, and @DK_Matai issued an erratum:

Apologies… JFK wasn't right! RT @engelholt: @DK_Matai danger + opportunity ≠ crisis: ⌘ http://j.mp/XWmbq ⌘ http://j.mp/87oqn ⌘ http://j.mp/2WsKkH ⌘ http://j.mp/4DDSt4 #Chinese #中文

☺

It's all a dream

Mark Twain, in The Mysterious Stranger, wrote:

“Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane — like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell — mouths mercy and invented hell — mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!…”

Solitude Sunday

A recent vipassanā retreat has made clear a pressing need for solitude.

These are times for you to be
with your Self.

Do whatever you—
all parts of you together—
want to do most at the moment.

The point, however, is not to distract your Self
with television, radio or reading.
Do these at other times.
These are analogous to bringing back other human beings
in some form.

Do not answer telephone calls at these times,
if at all possible.

Be with
your Self.

Just try it.

So without further ado I hereby intend to make it a top priority to have at least 24 hours of contiguous, uninterrupted solitude per month: #Solitude­Sunday.
This will take place on the Sunday of the last odd week in each month, and — if convenient — on the remaining sundays in odd weeks (according to my current job schedule).
The “rules” are simple:

• No contact with other human beings
• No communication with the outside world
• No media consumption of any kind, not even books

I'm still unsure whether I should “allow” writing or not, but I'll give it a whirl without writing and see what ensues.

Follow your intuition in setting up these conditions.
Don't push where there is strain.
Go the easy way at first.
Later you can gradually get closer to the ideal.

Related links:

• Wikipedia: Solitude
• Henry David Thoreau: Walden: Solitude
• Brian Tracy: The Magic of Solitude
• Andrea Chalupa: A mindful proposal: Can you handle 24 hours of solitude?
• Sam Anderson: In Defense of Distraction

Ocean of Light

My sister once had an apartment on 4th floor with two living rooms en suite. One evening my sister and her boy­friend sat in the bigger living room, chatting and watching tv, while I was sitting at the computer in the other living room.

I happened to look out through my neck, and saw a vast ocean of light. The sea level was rising from ground floor to 4th floor where we were sitting. As it reached 4th floor I could see huge waves rolling from the distant horizon towards us, and I noticed there was information “written” on each individual wave. Every time a wave hit the three of us, I noticed that thoughts and emotions corresponding to the information on that wave emerged within me, and my sister and her boyfriend would “act out” the information — or at least giggle when they were hit.

Seen through my physical eyes it looked just like they were having an every­day conversation while drinking red wine, watching the tv and chatting. Seen through the eye(s) in my neck there was no doubt their their words and actions — and the thoughts and emotions within me — were caused solely by the waves of the ocean of light.

Mindful Monday

Thích Nhất Hạnh, in his book The Miracle of Mindfulness, suggests that …

“… each person should try hard to reserve one day out of the week to devote entirely to their practice of mindfulness. […] After only three months of observing such a day of mindfulness once a week, I know that you will see a significant change in your life. The day of mindfulness will begin to penetrate the other days of the week, enabling you to eventually live seven days a week in mindfulness.” ¹

Such a great idea! Starting next Monday I will introduce #MindfulMonday into my life.

¹) For those of you who don't have The Miracle of Mindfulness, please see DBT Self Help's excerpt.

Easter Bunny

Via @c4chaos:

The only bunny I care about this Easter is the one who would offer me a red pill and lead me down the rabbit hole.

Reminders to self

T@r|n over at DhO posted a set of sample reminders to stick on the wall when going on “retreat”:

1. Don't indulge in your crap!
2. When in doubt or struggling, note/hit and accept pain.
3. If you have a question, the answer is in the three characteristics.
4. Be mindful during transitions between activities.
5. Analysis is not the same as practice.
6. Practice at all times when awake.
7. Stick to the schedule!
8. Remember how precious these moments are and how much the dark night sucks.
9. When alone, practice just as hard — this is for you.

Excellent stuff!

Remember how much the Dark Night sucks!