I have a chapter on happiness in my forthcoming book.

Happiness is not a gift, it's a product of self-cultivation, self-awareness, self-sufficiency--it usually has a long incubation just like a patient bud waiting to flower in the ripeness of time.

True happiness is not about self-gratification but extends outwards in connectedness with others, in kindness, compassion and generosity.

Happiness is not only realised because a person has an easy or good life as many have found happiness after overcoming adversity, pain or hardship.  

It's not a constant phenomenon as it can be severely affected by adverse circumstances but the person recognises this and accepts and adjusts, knowing life is in perpetual flux.
When the storm is over, he recovers.

Happiness can be found only in a virtuous life---it's any enemy of immorality. At its most sublimest, it's both transcendental and spiritual.    copyright 2021

I look at the old trees which have shed their leaves, with brittle trunks and branches, with their barks scotched and in decay and notice how they struggle in the storms and shiver in the harsh winters and  then a deep sense of desolation sets in my heart---there's no turning back the clock--

I am like them but they are more sturdy and will outlive me.

It's time to rest, to have no more desire, to let go of every memory and to walk gently and peacefully into the darkness of no return---the last note of the symphony has ended and to have heard it is itself sweet eternity.

Love is not ownership---we don't own the person we love

2. he or she is their own person

3  the couple need not share the same interests as each is different and independent

4.  a loving couple nurtures and supports each other to further their goals/realise their dreams

5. in love, despite each lover being different, they converge in being united irrevocably in heart, mind and soul--throughout their life

6.  love is symbiotic relationship, equality and complete freedom

7.   at its height, love is spiritual and divine

8.   the love that has survived all adversity is the strongest ever

9.   love is not about the self but in caring more of the person treasured

10. love is stronger than death

If that we wished for
we have had
we'd seek more
and still aren't glad-

our desires-- how they wax and never abate
we wake up only when our present joys have fled
time too soon sweeps us away from our treasured gate
it would then be futile for us to weep or regret

Dear Professor A.G.,

1. Talent is ubiquitous, in most cases, it's not discovered
2. Talent is not enough--it has to be tempered with values and character
3. None should claim to be 'smart'---that would be egotism-
it's what that person can contribute to general welfare
4. Be careful of cleverness---it might be cunning (Tao Te-Ching of Lao Tze, 600 BCE)
5. I agree. Listen to the smartest in the room, but
among the listeners there might be one or some who are even smarter---we wouldn't know until the debate starts-
perhaps the speaker might turn out to be what he's not.
6. He who regards himself smart falls short of humility which is the hallmark of Confucius's Junzi (the Ideal Person, the Gentleman, the Exemplary Man).
7. Confucius again: I walk with two persons, making a company of three---I count one of the two my (potential )teacher.
8. Yes, every encounter is a chance to learn something new but we need to be humble and learn to listen well, without being prejudiced or judgemental.
9. We should always remind ourselves that what we know is but a drop in the ocean of wisdom
10. It's not what we know that makes our life worthy--
it's the essentiality of our moral character

THE GENTLE ART OF TAO LEADERSHIP Nov 2020 is relevant to our discussion.

Once upon a time
but I wasn't there
not part of the plot
of a fairy-tale-

now here I am
can only say
I was a little boy then
life was my daily play-

the radiance of innocence
smiles without guile
purity of heart and soul
that made angels cry-

life the restless ceaseless river
once had a glimpse of what was I
it didn't stop nor speak a word
nonchalantly it sped by-

there wasn't 'once upon'
fairy-tales are  just dreams that lie
time ravages all hopes, love and hate
it's long past my hour--now it's goodbye

My life is in

my own palms

not in any card--

I create my desired outcomes

Flowers drift in pond

at first light of cheerful dawn

nature's early smile

I was there
it was real
I breathed
and sweated
as each moment
did its power peel--

my ground
I stood
I didn't yield
despite the wounding
in calm acceptance
myself I managed
to heal--

life is lived
much in suffering
despair I would not-
my equanimity
nothing nor anyone
could ever steal

What's trusted might not be understood
what's understood might not be trusted

How childish I was

when I was least aware

after the moments had passed

ardently I wanted to return there

Please don't follow me

    I am no one's leader

    you are your own infinity

     to move away would be a grievous error

Hidden faraway

evening light falls on pond

leaves rustle gently

I'll watch over you

not only for the sake of love alone

my heart is ever-true

without you, nothing would I own

My heart said:
i know you love me
but it's sad
you don't really understand me

Come to me my darling-lover

let my heart be your chapter

read me and you will remember

every sweet moment we had been together

Another summer
have I changed
how and why?
I wonder--

summer
it's not a season or weather
but us--do you love me still?
I wonder-

the next summer
what would we remember
joy or sorrow?
I wonder-


the eternal summer
will be the love we rediscover
when our hearts again come together
in unending wonder

We tend to think we are someone who's special
as it makes us feel good, at least some times in our lives
but this can be self-delusion and we  will get depressed or feel disappointed when we discover later on we weren't that--
then the wall collapses on us.

So few do realise that self-honesty is very healthy
and that we can achieve so much with a sense of purpose, though being ordinary

Old age is reminiscences-

   often and more of sorrow than joy

   as the former bitterness outweighs the sweetness of the latter.

The day is not the time to set targets

      that should have happened long before

      what was once sown is what one now gets

      this well-deserved harvesting needs nothing more

We will come together

the joys of life to celebrate

in song and in laughter

mirth and goodwill we'll create-



we'll not cease to remember

in every dawn and every sunset

each of us is a family-member-

every act of kindness will ingratiate.

Dear Moriah, may thanks.

C19 has changed our psychology and way of life. I started on my latest book, the 8th since Dec 2019 and thought it would be done within a year--I was wrong and am still struggling as at now.

It's about resilience and finding meaning in troubled times.
It's hard to write as the subject is essentially abstract. I shall advise you in Nov?

Life is the imponderable and the pandemic has caused even greater uncertainty.
How should we live? How should we find meaning?
How should we look at ourselves, those whom we love, those who come into contact with us?What makes for humanity, compassion and magnanimity?  Is there hope? How should suffering and pain be addressed?

Can we triumph over tragedy or adversity?

Dewdrops
each speaks
like a tear of my heart
of bruises
and brokenness
of love
that vanishes
as each drop
is vanquished
in the mid-noon sun

I have lost
the will to love--
in my wintry heart
my life is done

Be the common grass
not the blowing flower
both are greeted by the breezes that drift past
also the sunshine, the blast of the storm and the drench of the shower

I never knew
tomorrow
was hiding
beneath my bed-time pillow

Know the literal
but understand the figurative
it's not the kernel
the latter is the real gift

We were there
long before--
the wooden bench
still remembers-

it was late autumn
evening was drawing near
fallen leaves were strewn
on the meadow-floor-

no words did we speak
nothing from life did we implore
how we wished we'd say no farewell
of each other we yearned for more-

here we are on this same old bench
so many tearful years had gone before
in the ripening of our love
new affections we still explore.

Life is at odds
with people
who cling to
their 'oughts'

The clown bears suffering
none would ever know
there's no cleansing
this departing-route I must follow

We can't be diminished
by any outside force
unless our essentiality we relinquish
or give up our moral cause

Walking alone
on life's shoreline
I owned the sea
in my mind--

the tides in rhythm
the swelling, the ebbing
the sighing, the moaning
while my heart is weeping

Looking in
  looking out
  the puzzle remains
  life is all doubt

..where untold personal pain
  is translated into compassion
  the world is in such glorious gain-
  this--  the loftiest human expression

I have returned to myself
this natural home of mine
which I left in ignorance and folly
and having then  lost my sunshine

now as I look around
my mind-scape one again
is  a lush green field and a rosy garden-
ah,  the coming-home, the end of my pain!

Beth, geniuses are driven by a force within which they can't shake off.  However much they might resist, the voice doesn't go away--it reaches the point that makes them delirious or mad--that's when they realise the gift is a curse and they have to pay a price in suffering and torment.  They ask themselves: Is this worth the price?

Yet, it's their misery that gives the world the gift of infinite beauty, wonder and awe.  We are the benefactors of their suffering.

Those who are happy are not even conscious of it-
it's a state of inner freedom where they are at home
being themselves and are at one with the moments before them.
Life is in order--there's no disarray, doubt, anxiety or fear-
only a state of grace, calm, harmony, being in tune with self and others, as well as with the universe-- it's the experience of completeness beyond the pale of words--even poets and artists can't describe this dimension which, to me, borders on the sublime , the spiritual, and even, the mysterious.  

Here is the epiphany of love and beauty, of worship, of acceptance of life in all its indescribable wonders and splendours.Yet, happiness isn't blind to nor does it turn away from suffering--
only that, just as it recognises life's sunshine, it, in equal measure,
accepts such suffering from which none is immune--it is prepared to walk through its darkest shadows, in utmost humility, without any sense of loss or bitterness.

That there's pain and sorrow doesn't demean life nor does
it blemish happiness-

indeed, in the acceptance of such, happiness takes on even more meaning as this  ennobles life and bequeaths a spiritual dimension that strengthens rather than weakens the self.

Those we recognise happiness and suffering as not mutually exclusive are truly enlightened.

Ah, dear Elon

You can talk like this as the world's richest man ...but I do things slowly--it has to do with talent---only one in 500 million is like you-
most of us struggle through our plans and goals--worse still, often we lose our way and have to start all over again--but being slow and arriving at the end is redemptive--nothing has been wasted or lost-
the journey has been well-worth it in every sense and, in looking back, it will be cherished as much as the arrival.

Let me invite you for a cuppa--I can afford that.
Would love to hear your story but please don't finish an intended hour of joyful discussion in 5 minutes--it would disappoint me!

BTW, since we are acquainted, how about a good discount on the latest model of your Tesla?

Your smile tells me you are very happy, so am I --in my little quiet way--in a suburb east of Melbourne.  Our tiny garden has lovely flowers-- I have discovered a new rose-species and after much deliberation have desired to name it TESLA-ROSA.

My contact address is teslarosa@ teslamail.eloncom.

Yours sincerely

In the old days it was:

'An apple a day keeps the doctor away'

these days: 'Leave home without your Apple

it would be your disaster of the day!'

Waves as emotions

each movement a reaching out

they laugh and they weep

Dear Ruth, as a humanist, what I write is always about the ordinary person in their unique personal pursuits, however humble---Tolstoy in his CONFESSIONS extolled the virtues of common people and added that he was inspired by the way they bore pain and hardship.  

Another thought in my mind when I wrote about learning was this: society largely belongs to the intelligentsia who are the catalyst of growth and generator of ideas, and menial workers/artisans/those who never went to colleges are often overlooked--yet the roles played by such people complement what the knowledge workers do and, without them, roads will never be swept, toilets will not be cleaned, cars will not be repaired, shoes won't be mended, our hair will not be cut, our clothes would not be made---we would die for want of good food as there won't be chefs around!

Society is segregated by skills.....I must leave this to the sociologists.

Art is the music of colours which dazzle so vividly before our eyes that we take it as even more real than life itself--
being intoxicated by its beauty, we want to gladly die unto it as this dying is a gift unto us and we ,being part of it, are made immortal.

We should never make anyone or body auditor of our life-
we are not an entity that must be chopped with these words:

'the subject has been examined thoroughly, in all respects, and found to have complied with the requirements of Rule...of Life's Moral Code'.  

signed,  Public Auditor of Moral Behaviour,
Ministry of Order and Justice

Rest, oh rest so sublime

as night drifts into the unknown

forgotten is weary time

this, the sojourn alone--



light, oh light so calm

all darkness on swift wings has flown

ah, sleep so welcome--  the sweetest balm

what the living have never ever  known

Thanks, Beth...I can't walk away from this one!

It's poetry without words, charm beyond compare, richness in silence, nature in matchless splendour, wonder that warms the very heart, love in sharing and being together, the crowning moment that stops time, eternity captured---all that is, is beauty and Arcadia
and life, in its essentiality, blooms like an endless succession of the most beloved flowers, wakes the world to a miracle that transcends our deepest sentiments.

Great guy. I would have liked to chat with him but I think he won't welcome me as I had nothing to offer.
He used to visit brothels when he visited London and contracted venereal disease, a condition he mentioned in some of his works

Ah, the Elizabethan Bard
who stole everyone's heart
human nature he knew so well
its darkest secrets he could tell-

his sonnets are still by lovers recited
they set feelings free and unencumbered
if he has belonged to our age
a Nobel prize would put him on the Stockholm's stage--

I would surmise further more
penicillin would have cured his private sore
let's not judge him-- he was human too
minus his writings, he was just like me and you!

Faraway from home

I'm never alienated

it stays in my heart

The biggest somewhere

is not to be found in the universe

seek no further--it's already there

in your heart-- all the meaning and the purpose

First Verse of a Love-song (never completed)



Love is not one

but two

it's called

two-gather..........



(from John Lennon's hidden notebook--through my eyes)

Be grateful you know little as this gives ample room for you
to learn---and this is the linchpin of your education and progress.

The reward here is the enjoyment--each step forward is likely a sip of good wine which will whet your appetite and bring you a smile through your living days.

Minds that are too full or over-crowded tend to be stressful
and their owners find it hard to relax or be happy.

Be like a child, regard yourself being still in the kindergarten of life
and you will be filled with wonder and joy.

I am blessed as I know little.

Ourselves we over-price and embellish

as though we are items in life's market-place

in our name-tags that beholders might relish-

we would die in the absence of applaud or praise