The Walk of Life

Written a post on History Talks just a few days ago and having made reference to two ancient Chinese historical books “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” and Sun Tsu on the “Art of War”; I feel like sharing from yet another famous ancient Chinese book and that is the Book by Lao Tze titled “Dao Te Jing”. This book was the foundation on which the whole religion of Taoism started. Basically I wonder whether Lao Tze started any religion at all! Just like Jesus, I doubt very much He started Christianity! Usually it was the people who referred to the disciples or followers of the Teacher either Taoist or Christians. What is the connection between the teachings of Christ and Lao Tse? Amazingly there are some relevance.

In Lao Tze’s book he wrote the following statements as re-produced here :-

“Something mysterious already made, Existing before heaven and earth, In the silence and the void, Standing alone and unchanging, Ever present in constant cyclic motion, Perhaps He is the source of myriads of things, I do not know His name, Call Him ‘DAO” For lack of a better word, I call Him ‘Almighty’.

(Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.)

“Men follow the earth, The earth follows the heavens, The physical heaven follows the Dao, The Dao follows His own way.”

(Exodus 3:14 & 15 I AM THAT I AM.)

“The Dao exists as one, One exists as two, Two exists as three, And three creates everything.”

(1John 5:7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.)

From the Scripture references given, it looked like Lao Tze was talking about this Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth, and this God is a Three in One Entity! Was it a coincidence that Lao Tze discovered these truths or was it a revelation given to Lao Tze on who is this Being that made the heavens and the earth? Subsequently his followers made his teachings into a religion and digressed from it and people called them Taoists.

For more on such amazing Chinese ancient teachings that have a relevance to the Bible like the famous saying of Confucius on the philosophy of living a perfect life, please refer to my earlier posts

• Chinese Keystrokes 1


• Chinese Keystrokes 2


• Chinese Keystrokes 3


• Chinese Keystrokes 4


• Chinese Keystrokes 5

Today I stumbled upon Random Acts of Kindness and I think this blog has a very good theme. It is about showing kindness on a daily basis. It could be to your family, colleague, friend or a total stranger! I think our world needs this sort of influence just like years ago the Smile thing! Its true if we give a smile to others invariably they smile back and so it goes on!

Sharing kindness across the blogosphere will be a similar type of gesture! Encourage my visitors, bloggers to drop by Random Acts of Kindness. You can even do a link exchange there!

Visited Joel and was attracted by his post titled "Listen to the sayings of Elders" I guess I was attracted simply because being considered an elder now, it made me feel good! I posted a comment there saying "there is no fool like an old fool". Aw! sorry my contemporaries I don't intend it to be rude but I am sure we have had heard of this saying too.

I agree that the life experiences of the seniors are invaluable lessons for the younger generation but many considered their experiences out of date, not applicable for current situation. Perhaps on technology it holds true but in things like life experiences with people, situations I am convinced that there are plenty to learn from their stories

Remembered my last days with the company that I worked for, I was planning my own retirement but for the years of service, love and affection I was persuaded to stayed on as adviser. However I noticed that you can give advise as much as you want, but somehow it is their choice whether to take it or leave it. Finally seeing the signs of the times I decided to retire for good. Did the company failed? Heck! No! so there are many new ways of doing things! Well the seniors also have to learn from the young too! For the times they are a changing so sang Bob Dylan. One great example was this comment by this senior advertising friend who commented that in his days, he used to go out to the companies to get jobs but now on the internet it is about doing the right SEO and PPC to get traffic to your company website to convince them to engage you!

In conclusion, I have to say is that, listening to the sayings of the elders, traditionally. is very Asian in terms of culture. There was a time when I knew CEO's in Japan used to be in their 70's and 80's. Current trend seems to favor the 30's and 40's. I don't know which is better for I guess there are always the pro's and con's to it. All I have to say is that in everything, be it running a business, or just simple living, history has a lot to teach us! Even in husband and wife relationship, you do notice that marriages that have a history (meaning time in essence) tend to be stronger and can withstand many storms in life. To me History is just a record or collection of experiences that our predecessors went through and we in the present need to draw out or derive the value from the lessons, mistakes they made. One of the greatest novel written in China was the 'Romance of The Three Kingdoms' and till this day, the Chinese still refer to it for strategy, moral values to apply in their present situation and so too the Book of Sun Tsu!

We cannot help but feel for the parents of today and especially for young parents with children between the ages of 5 to 14. With the current rising costs of supporting a family and say with two school going children, many parents need to work. On top of it the demands of modern education, many parents do need tutors. This is very common with dual income families who resort to get help from their grannies or a domestic helper or a day-care center.

While having alternative care for your kids after they returned from school is good and a necessity, however most day cares, grannies or the maid could not help your children with their home-work. So sending your children to tuition classes is one way to help your children getting the help they need. Even during our time, we did send our children for such extra classes, at least there is someone keeping an eye on them regarding doing their home work.

You can find great tutorials and learn all that you can online. Find out ways to learn about subjects you are passionate about, and set your goals. Something as easy as art lessons are good to take from the comforts of home.

Read a very inspiring story from Jacklyn (who is into Personal Development and Empowerment) about how someone from bankruptcy, picks himself up and building a successful business now. As for me personally, never really experienced that but went through a similar thing with the company I worked for in the first 2 years of her start-up. We were threatened to be foreclosed by the Bank and it was no small matter and you really feel the heat and the pressure just to stay afloat. Thank God the company survived and grew to become quite a successful established corporate entity in her own field of expertise.

Recalled how I got the job with this company and looking back, it was quite funny really. I was a fresh graduate engineer and was dying for a job so that I could support my wife and child then. During that period of time, there was an excess of engineers plus very little openings and many of my fellow engineers were unable to get a job, not even with the Government. We were surviving on rock’s salary as a school teacher and boy it was tough! Without even a rented house, no car, no income and a forever hungry baby! We lived in a room with my mom-in-law who offered us free accommodation but we paid for our food. Remember to give thanks for parents and parents-in-law for they are a source of tremendous help and support for a young person starting life as a rookie.

I learned of this company doing something in line with my qualifications and training, so I headed to the office asking for a job. Never bothered to write-in to save time. I was disappointed for the Admin cum Personnel Manger told me that they already had 5 engineers and there were no vacancy for another! A very quick 3 minutes interview I got. Being young, arrogrant, reckless, fearless or hard-headed, I did not accept his answer, thinking to myself if at all anybody tells me there’s no vacancy got to be the boss himself! But how could I by-pass him to get to the boss? Well by way of the boss' secretary! Don't forget to give thanks for secretaries too! So I waited until lunch break saw the Admin Manager leave for his lunch, I sneaked back into the office chatted with the secretary, using all my charm and good manners, managed to get her fixed me an appointment with the boss who was away and won’t be back for a week. I did not lie to her if that was what you folks are thinking for actually I knew this boss by name but he never really know me. We were working for the telecoms before I left to pursue my degree and now he started his own company.

Of course I managed to meet him, got the job and since then had never looked back until now after retirement! Why I share this story and what it has got to do with Jacklyn’s story? Don't give-up easily, persist and persevere until you get something to start with and then advance from there. Anyway what conclusions you may have drawn or derived is not that important but starting live from scratch and from bankruptcy requires determination, focus and some tenacity and that’s my 2 cents worth.