Of Education and Educators

The following is an essay written by me about education which has been extracted from my book - The Universe - A Personal View ( page 165 to 169 )

Link to my book :- https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxqa2hjbGlmZXN0eWxlfGd4OjM5NmM2NTViMjAzY2M5MTk

Of Education and Educators

As I consider ignorance to be the greatest of all mortal sins, I naturally hail a good education system as mankind's saviour. As a matter of fact, I myself am a beneficiary of the education system in old Hong Kong. However, please do not misinterpret my statement as a compliment to the past colonial elite education system in Hong Kong back in the 1960s and 1970s. Notwithstanding the fact that the said elite system had provided me with the basis for my career, I do not support such an elite system which is only advantageous to the running of an impersonal and unjust colonial system. Such a system only takes care of the brighter group of students and ignores the needs of the majority. The great Chinese educator and philosopher, Confucius said that :- “ Education should not distinguish between different classes of students. “ It means that a good teacher is to try his or her utmost to impart knowledge and skill into the mind of every student regardless of their level of intelligence. I totally agree with such a noble and visionary principle of education. In my own case, I sincerely pay my unreserved homage and express my heart-felt gratitude to the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the De La Salle Brothers who labour their heart and soul constantly throughout their saintly lives to open up our minds and souls to reason and compassion. They are unconscious followers of Confucius' educational philosophy and have provided the underprivileged children like myself in my younger days and others a chance to better ourselves and make a difference to our lives. I have come a long way, though modest by general standards, since my childhood days which were spent in our literally humble home and environment at the fringes of the infamous Walled-City ( Kowloon City ), a place well-known for criminal activities, delapidation and untouchable by British colonial laws due to its jurisdiction being covered by the Qing Dynasty Unequal Treaties. Of course, I like my siblings owed my mother a lot for bringing myself and four of my brothers and sisters up working hard as a teacher for some thirty years day and night ( taking up evening classes as well ). I was able to enter Hong Kong University in 1968 as an undergraduate student in accounting and economics mainly because of my adequate intellectual training provided to me by the Christian Brothers and partly due to my luck on the spark of inspiration in making the right decision to change to the arts subjects. The British system at the university was both rigid and not conducive to developing personal initiatives and intellectual agility. It was again by sheer luck and competent basic training in my secondary school days that had pulled me through to graduation. Therefore, I do have some bitter and sweet experience with the education system that has enabled me to develop some particular insights into this all important system which is the locomotive that pulls society forward.
Unlike traditional thinking of aiming at students' success in their

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future in society, I am inclined to the view that they must be educated in the defensive techniques of handling failure. Nor is this simply a pessemistic view of reality. Let me ask you this question. How many students are number one in their class ? Surely, there is only one ! What happens to the rest ? Are they to feel sorry for themselves and quit trying ? Of course not. But before they can achieve that, they have to be able to get over their initial failure first. The highest position I ever got to in my class was during year seven which was second spot in my class of 45 and eighth spot in the whole of year seven totalling 270 students ( 6 classes in total graded by their results ). I never got to the top spot which is generally viewed as absolute academic success. So, you cannot argue with statistics that failure outweighs success by a huge margin but that depends on how you define success. If it is defined in terms of improvement, then it will be a different story. It is all a matter of expectation and the selection effect as in scientific research.Therefore, I am glad to learn that recently public organizations in Hong Kong and elsewhere have contributed to certain academic awards called award on progress instead of the traditional awards to the top students only. Those students who have made the biggest improvements during their academic year will be recognised regardless of the position where they have started in the beginning of the year. This is definitely a more sensible and encouraging approach. Students should be given the realistic picture of life which is this failures do very often occur. This is to be expected as the rule rather than the exception.The most important thing to bear in mind is that they must do their personal best to achieve the academic goals set for them by the education system. If the unfortunate scenario of failing an examination arises students should find out the reasons why and, may be with some help from their teachers and parents, to learn from their mistakes. Then, they must accept the reality of their failure and move on, putting their earlier failure in the proper perspective of their whole life as just one of the unavoidable falls in one's life. A failure in one examination among numerous academic tests and other emotional and physical trials throughout one's life can be meaningfully compared to a little painful fall in the process of a child learning to walk. The sensible and logical thing to do about such a mild set-back is to endure the pain. Cry a bit if you like to relieve the pressure and stress ( I have always opposed the wrong attitude of adults in stopping children from crying when the young and gentle soul feels like it- crying is Nature's way of dealing with stress ). Then stand up and try once more. Learning to muster enough strength in one's character to put the past behind oneself and to pick up whatever pieces in one's life to endure failures and improve oneself should be the top priority in the education process. After all, to beat the overwhelming odds is the defining hallmark of life with a capital L. Therefore, take strength from the emergence of life in this universe and try your very best to beat the odds. You will be surprised at what you can achieve through your will power. It can be a case of mind over matter if you so decide.

Then, there is the issue about humlilty and absolute respect to the teachers that are to be traditionally demanded of students. While there is little doubt that humility and respect for the older generation are great virtues, blind adherence to such ideas regardless of the relevant circumstances will reduce such virtues to farce and even demerits. Take the process of learning in the class room, for example. We all agree that by tradition, students with oriental cultural backgroumds take less initiative in asking questions in class. Firstly, they are unreasonably inclined to the view that asking questions indicates disrespect and implies potential challenges to their teachers' instructions or competence. Secondly, the students may be under the mistaken impression that asking questions also reveals their own ignorance. It is obvious that the students are wrong on both counts. The correct attitude in learning is to clarify any doubts that may adversely affect our understanding of the truth and knowledge at hand. The question of disrespect for the teachers does not arise in this proper procedure of the learning process. Students should show their respects in their manners and body language in and outside of classes instead. Also, it is naïve on the part of students to feel embarrassed in asking questions which they may feel will reveal their ignorance. On the contrary, asking more questions ,in fact, shows that the students know a lot about the subject being discussed. If they do not know anything about the subject in question, they would not have been able to raise any relevant issues in the form of queries to the teacher in the first place. So, students should ask as many questions as they possibly can. It shows that you are really smart and works to both your advantage and personal image if you feel that is important to you. It will give

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you better self-confidence, too in public speaking and improving your ability to articulate your thoughts and verbal ability.

It appears to me that the virtue of humility has a lot to do with building up the students' self confidence. Always being humble regardless of the circumstances is counter productive insofar as it erodes one's confidence. When students are certain that they are right on particular issues they should be encouraged to express their points politely but forcefully. This will build up their confidence in sticking to their own principles. That is why the extracurricular activity of debating is a very good way of training in logical thinking and articulate verbal ability. I was once a member of the school debating team and I did enjoy the experience very much. On the other hand, humility comes in when the students should always be reminded of their proper place in life and society and ultimately the whole universe when they mature. The point that no one is all powerful and indispensable must be hit home in the students' mind. Similar to dealing with failure, students should be taught not to lose their head in excitement, pride and over-confidence with themselves in their successes as pride goes before a fall. Again, no one is invincible.

Let me tell you a very subtle tale told by a great Japanese master in Zen philosophy. There was once a very clever young man who heard of an old and wise Zen master from whom the young man wants to learn more wisdom. So, the young man paid a visit to the Zen master's humble dwellings. Upon entering the the entrance the young man was asked to crawl through a very low gate as a symbol of humility to access the study where the Zen master practised his meditation. After they were seated on the straw mattress, the old master performed tea ceremony and poured some tea into a cup held in the hand of the young man. He was specifically asked by the old master to pay attention to the tea pouring procedure so that he might learn something. As instructed, the young watched the cup slowly filling up with tea but he noticed that the old master continued to pour tea into the cup even after it was full and overflowing. He could not stand the pain of the hot tea burning the skin of his hand and let go of the cup which subsequently shattered to pieces on the floor. Without apologizing for his clumsiness, the old master asked the young man to leave. He was astonished by the rudeness and protested about the pain caused him by the old master. In the young man's mind, he felt cheated by the old master's claimed reputation of being a wise philosopher. He thought that the Zen master was nothing but a useless and clumsy old fool. So, the young man demanded that he be given some advice by the old master before he would leave him in a move to try to embarrass the old master and to discredit his reputation. Whereupon, the Zen master spoke in a slow but self- assured tone of voice :- “ I had already given you some excellent advice only you were too preoccupied with your own ego and complacency to have missed it. “ But the young man retorted that the Zen master was nothing more than a sham and his remarks were a poor disguise of the old master's total ignorance of any Zen philosophy. Without being upset in anyway, the old master said :- “ If your cup of thoughts is already full, how can you acquire any more knowledge to enrich your wisdom further ? “ The young man realized there and then that the whole scenario was an elaborate lesson to teach him humility. He felt so ashamed of his own arrogant attitude that he knelt down in front of the old Zen master in great humility to beg for his forgiveness. He was subsequently accepted by the old Zen master to be his follower and became an accomplished Zen philosopher himself in due course. There you have it. The little tale I have just told you is known as a Koan in Zen terminology which is similar in nature and purpose to the parables of the New Testsment of the Bible. It is really a telling episode.

Teachers occupy a very high and honourable position in oriental cultures and so did they under the ancient Greek tradition. This is not an accident of history but rather a reflection on the important responsibilty they bear in educating the younger generation who represents our future hopes and dreams. This being the case, teaching is not just any old job for people to make a living but instead it is a profession of vital importance on which society depends to shape the brains of the future. So, if you are thinking of making teaching your profession for life, please make absolutely sure that you are willing and able to commit your whole heart and soul to it before jumping into such a noble and demanding commitment. Let us examine in detail the ideal requirements of a competent teacher. First of all, teachers must have an affinity and aptitude to deal with the young. This would imply that teachers should have a patient and caring disposition. They

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must also be generous with their time. Expect to be bordered by your students even after classes where the formal learning process is going on. This is because teachers are not only responsible for imparting knowledge on the minds of students but also concerned with their personality and character development in co-operation with their parents. It is equally important to educate students in knowledge as well as in their morals. Students must be taught to be responsible citizens apart from being compassionate human beings. It would be most dangerous to teach students knowledge without instilling a sense of duty to themselves and to society as a whole because power ( that is knowledge ) without control ( that is moral responsibility ) would be potentially destructive.

Secondly, teachers must have a sense of mission because the education system is not run on the commercial principle implying that the pecuniary remuneration cannot be comparable to the commercial sector which operates on a profit motive. Without a sense of mission and generosity, mediocre teachers may tend to cut back on their time and commitment to their students to an extent that is commensurate with the limited financial rewards teachers are getting. This kind of commercial attitude has no place in the education profession. Once you begin to have such an urge to measure the efforts against the remuneration, it is time for you to consider quitting your job so as to prevent yourself from making a fool out of yourself as well as your students. As soon as such an attitude has developed in you mind, you would be wasting both your own time and that of your students if you continue to engage in teaching. The real reward from being a good teacher is to see the tangible results of your dedication materialize in producing successful key personnels in different walks of life who were once your students. If you are lucky enough, you may have lent a helping hand in the emergence of one or two Nobel Prize winners. That would be the pinnacle of your success. Failing this ideal situation, the mere thought that you have not produced any student who is a menace to society can be a source for satisfaction. Even such a scenario would be a consolation. That means that, at least, you have prevented the breeding of criminal elements in society.

Thirdly, teachers must have the virtues of fortitude and perseverance. In the Chinese tradition, educating the young has very often been compared to planting and nurturing a tree. There is a Chinese saying that goes like this :- “ It takes ten years to nurture a tree to maturity but it will take a hundred years to complete the education of men.” The meaning to be read between the lines is that it will take generations ( a hundred years are about five generations in duration ) to instil wisdom and good habits into the minds of the population. One properly educated generation will have positive influence on the next until the ideal moral standards can take roots in society after a number of generations. Therefore, teachers must have confidence in their mission and must persevere in their noble goal of shaping the minds and souls of their students. Do not expect immediate results for your efforts. The fruits of your labour will ultimately be reaped by society in the long run. Such belief and conviction has to be constantly refreshed in your hearts and minds to provide energy and support for you unceasing struggle in this vital mission.

Within my limited experience from our voluntary education project in China, my friends and myself have also endured some of the agony and enjoyed some of the esctasy in being teachers. We made it a point to request a verbal undertaking from the older students ( in year 8 and 9 ) to assist their younger schoolmates in their studies the same way as we have unconditionally helped them, especially in their English language skills. Most of them have subsequently honoured their promises. The agony we experienced had surprisingly come from the school administrators some of whom are Communist Party members. The students themselves were very eager to learn but the only trouble was the limited resources provided by the state run schools. Once we tried to hold English revision classes in the evening in preparation for public examinations which were very important to the year 9 students' future working careers. The school administrators objected on the grounds that they had to switch off all the lights at the officially set time of 8 p.m. to save on electricity which is quite expensive in China. So, we had to offer to pay for the extra costs out of our own pockets to get the evening classes going. There were other incidents like sporting equipments for which official funds had already been approved 2 to 3 years before but had not been made available due to the unexplained disappearance of the funds in question. The reader should be aware that

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there are no independent audit systems in China both at the governmental and the private enterprise levels. This is the working of absolute power in action. The party cannot tolerate the operation of an independent auditor whose power to investigate into financial affairs of the state would be tantamount to asking the party to give up its monopoly on absolute power which it has always been guarded with great jealousy. So much so that the party was willing to risk everything including its reputation and credibility to turn the army against its own people as it did on the 4th of June, 1989. True to my earlier statement of the adverse effects of not recognizing the rightful place of the individual in society, such totalitarian system of government will and does affect the livelihood of the people, even little people who are the future of our society. The only thing to be done in this particular case was again our own money that saved the day. Fortunately, we also experienced the ecstasy when our efforts were recognized by the students and ordinary members of the local farming community ( who are mostly parents of the students we helped ) by having been invited to participate in their local mid-autumn festivities of songs and folk dances followed by simple but delicious local cuisines. It was an experience that I would find great difficulty in forgetting. Now that some of my friends had been successfully appointed to the provincial People's Consultative Committee whose responsibility is to make annual recommendations on local governmental affairs including education, our work has been made a lot easier. That is the political reality that the school officials have no choice but to face! So, this is the story of my own adventure in Chinese education. Suffice it to say that even within the seemingly monotonous process of teaching, one can still become the richer in spirit despite the meagre financial rewards offered to the professional educators which is the rightful and honourable name I prefer to call all teachers. So, three cheers for teachers all over the world including my mother from whom I had the benefit of her guidance ! 

Of Money and Men

The following is an essay written by me about money which has been extracted from my book - The Universe - A Personal View ( page 154 to 159 )

Link to my book :- https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxqa2hjbGlmZXN0eWxlfGd4OjM5NmM2NTViMjAzY2M5MTk

Of Money and Men

The most practical of all issues is, of course, money, money, money.... which makes the world go round. If you still recall our newly learned know-how, you will realize that money as we use it in our financial system of a market ( or capitalistic ) economy is a man-made Hybrid Reality (HR). Money by itself is merely pieces of paper or some plastic material such as in the case of the Australian currency. It is only by human institutional power ( in this case the Australian Legislature empowering the independent Reserve Bank of Australia ) ascribing financial values to the currency that money carries its assigned value usually based on the laws of supply and demand on Australian goods and services. In short, the Australian currency is the i.o.u. issued by a legal entity brought into being by the Federal Parliament in Canberra, ACT ( Autralian Capital Territory ) which is democratically elected by the citizens of the Australian Commonwealth. This kind of managed currency is also known as fiat money ( “ by fiat “ means in the place of ) meaning it is a stand-in for the real values money represents. As such, it is not as rigid as the physical laws of nature. That means HR can and should be changed to keep in step with the requirements called for by the relevant circumstances. This is lesson number one.
In the olden days of a barter economy, all resources are distributed or passed around by physical exchanges among the owners of such resources. Only the right buyers and sellers can strike a deal. This is obviously cumbersome and money was invented by some clever merchants as a medium of exchange. Older forms of money are not fiat money because the issuer of fiat money must have a good credit standing and trustworthiness on account of the i.o.u. nature of fiat money. There were no such persons or entities around. Therefore, most early monies have intrinsic and tangible values in themselves such as gold which is precious and scarce or sea shells that are rare. Even today, gold is still the safest kind of money but with a carrying cost in terms of the foregone interest income if an equal amount of value is held in the bank as money deposits. This is the opportunity cost for holding gold instead of money but gold is the only kind of money that is not someone else's liability. Therefore, it is the safest money available since the user need not investigate the credit standing of the previous owner. You can simply rely on
gold's face value.
It is precisely this nature of money as a medium of exchange that has given rise to a lot of undesirable side effects. Since money is only a means to an infinite number of ends ( i.e. to exchange for other goods and services ), it can represent endless goodies and this gives rise to greed for money which translates into greed for all material stuff. Money is the power of access to everything worldly. Very few people can resist the temptation of money. Show me a person who does not like money and I will call him a saint. At the philosophical level, human beings should not be greedy if they really understand the true reality of the physical world and their own limited capacity to enjoy physical goodies. This is the reason why I consider IGNORANCE the greatest of all mortal sins because the failure to understand this world and oneself leads to the second greatest mortal sin which is GREED. All other sins are derived from ignorance and greed. Consider the usual misdeeds we call mortal sins such as fornication ( greed for sexual gratification ), gambling ( greed for easy money ), alcoholism ( greed for consuming alcohol ), gluttony ( greed for food ), pride ( greed for other people's admiration and recognition ), cruelty ( greed for blood and other people's suffering ), injustice ( mostly done out of greed both for physical things and perverted mental satisfaction ), jealousy ( greed for obsessively possessing one's loved ones or precious goods ). All sins are related to greed one way or another. If you only knew how limted human capacity to enjoy was, you will never be

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greedy again. In other words, if you are no longer IGNORANT of your own limited abilities and insignificance in the objective world you will not fall into the evil trap of GREED ever again. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to be well informed about oneself and the world. The word education immediately comes to mind again!
To be able to understand the pitfalls in our financial world, I must acquaint you with the concept of the limited liability company which has become the single most important vehicle for the the serious and inhumane crime of greed that is to adversely affect the lives of billions of underprivileged people of the world. When human beings first organized business ventures there were only sole proprietorships and partnerships which were all with unlimited liabilities. This meant that the owners or co-owners had to be responsible for debts owed by the business to outside creditors without limit. In extreme cases, suppose the owners had previously built up a lot of assets over the years yet a single very large claim made by the creditors in the current year would cause the owners to go bankrupt and lose all the hard earned assets accumulated over numerous years while in business. The concept of unlimited liability was originally based on the sound ethical belief that a real man should face up to his full responsibility no matter what. However, when carried to its logical conclusion in business it would mean that even a debt contracted by one partner in the name of the business would be binding without limits on all the other partners. This could lead to dishonest partners disappearing leaving massive debts to be borne by other innocent partners. In other words, the system of unlimited liability is open to fraud by dishonest elements in the business world. There is another even more serious criticism against the unlimited liability concept and that is nobody would be willing to undertake huge business ventures such as massive infrastructure projects like building airports and cross-harbour tunnels and bridges. Massive projects like these require a pooling of capital involving thousands of people. Even without criminal elements to stage fraudulent schemes to trap other partners the amount of potential and legitimate disputes amount partners would be unthinkable. No individual investor would contemplate taking part in these important project to the detriment of the economy. Such considerations subsequently led to the limited liability concept being introduced after the start of the industrial revolutionary when huge infrastructural projects like railways and grand ocean liners had to be built.
As its name indicates, limited liability allows the investors or the shareholders ( as they are called ) of a company limited by shares to limit their personal liability to the amount of the paid up capital they have invested in the company. Huge limited companies can also subject to stringent securities ( legal terminology for shares listed on stock exchanges ) regulations become publicly listed company to invite investment funds from the public. Other protections for the investors include the legal requirements to appoint independent certified public accountants and auditors to audit or to check whether or not a limited company's accounts truly and fairly reflect the profit or loss positions of the company's business which affect the amount of dividends that can be distributed to shareholders. So far so good, but the main problem with limited liability companies or corporations as they are usually called is the separation of ownership ( the legal owners of the company are the shareholders ) from the management of the company's business affairs. The management responsiblity of the company usually falls on the professional managers generally called board of directors, chief executive officers ( CEO ) and chief financial officers ( CFO ) who may or may not own shares in the company ( i.e. they may not be owners ). Even if they own certain shares, they would be more interested in the remunerations they received for their services rendered which is also partly related to the profits of the company in the form of performance bonus. At first sight, such bonus system seems to lead to a common goal for the professional managers and the shareholders alike to make more profit for the company. But this is not always so. It gives rise to the temptation for the corporate custodians ( which I think is a better name for the professional managers ) to inflate the company's profit on paper such as in the recent US court case of the convicted CEO of the energy giant corporation Enron which collapsed in 2001 due to false accounting. What can we expect from a system that is
totally motivated by greed.
There are mainly two ways dishonest corporate custodians can rip
off the company and the owners. Firstly, by manipulating the company's accounts to the

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maximum stretch of the limit allowed by law. Although this is not strictly illegal it is definitely unethical. According to my fuzzy logic, they are fuzzy criminals to the highest degree or virtual criminals in everyday language. Secondly, they can charge to the company so called legitimate expenses ( such as entertainment expenses ) excessively and provide themselves with outrageous perks such as luxurious holiday bungalows and expensive cars. Theoretically, this is also subject to scrutiny by the auditors but the custodians can also find ways to legitamize such expenses on the grounds of promoting the company's business or maintaining the corporate image. The separation of ownership and management of the corporation is the single most devastating weakness of the limited liability concept. Due to human greed, there is a tendency for high ranking custodians to build up a huge bureaucracy of supporting staff and purposely to pay them high salaries to justify their even higher remunerations. There are plenty of outrageous examples of corporate abuses by their custodians. Recently, in Australia certain big banks announced the retrenchments of hundreds of jobs and branches to cut back on their expenditures only to pay out millions of dollars in “ performance bonus “ to their CEO and golden handshake payouts to retiring and early retiring high ranking officers who were connected to dubious transactions causing huge financial losses to the corporation in question. Even worse cases of similar scandals are very often reported in the USA where much larger financial stakes are involved.
The main reason for the persistence in this unfortunate state of affairs can be attributable to the lack of ownership loyalty to any public corporation by shareholders in general. Unlike the traditional small businesses where there is usually no separation of ownership and management, shareholders of modern public corporations merely holds the shares or equities in a corporation mostly for speculative gains in the increase in share prices. Only when the increase in their equity prices is not enough to justify a sale will they keep the shares for the distribution of dividend which is usually a bit higher than the interest receivable from term deposits in the bank. This is because the risk factor in holding equities is considerably higher than putting your money in a bank. Risk and return is always directly proportional to each other. Thus, shareholders do not usually hold their shares for the very long term. Even for non-speculative investors they will change their holdings to other corporations without hesitation if there is a better return on their capital investments. Being only temporary owners of the corporation, the shareholders ( who are the actual legal owners of big public corporations ) very often have less loyalty to the corporation in which they hold shares than the custodians who make their careers in the corporations for which they work. Over a considerable period of time, the custodians may gradually feel that they themselves have more claim to the corporations assets than the legal owners. This kind of misguided psyche of some custodians very often leads to a mentality that is conducive to putting their own selfish interest before that of the corporation or the shareholders. This is the direct but undesirable consequence of the separation of ownership and management ot the modern public corporation. Again, I must emphasize that I am not accusing all corporate custodians across the board of fraudulent practices but I do maintain that some bad elements and the particular culture of the corporate world do contribute to various abuses of their power by virtue of the inherent weaknesses of the corporate machinery. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So said Acton, First Baron of England (1834-1902 ). I used to admire the powerful CEO s and their stylish ways of life when I was a kid. I was foolish enough to think that they deserved the huge resources they can control and enjoy with apparent impunity purely on account of their talents until I learn of the pitfalls in the operations of the limited companies from my economics and accounting disciplines. Now, I totally detest crooked corporate custodians. They are worse than thieves and thugs because they prey on poor old pensioners and small investors who desparately depend on their meagre amount of dividend income for their daily needs. Crooked corporate custodians obtain both financial resources and power with all the related trimmings by deception. The kind of excessive remunerations and fringe benefits ( sometimes known as benefits in kind ) pocketed by some crooked corporate custodians can run in to the tens of millions. Such excesses are simply outrageous by whatever standard by which one cares to gauge them. Unfair distribution of income in favour of these crooks is to be denounced on both moral ground of justice and economic ground of wastage and unfavourable dispositon for

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consumer spending because the marginal propensity to consume is much lower for ultra- high income earners.
You may be surprised to learn that the same kind of malpractices discussed in the previous paragraph are also being carried out even in charitable and non- profit making corporations. To start with, custodians of charitable organizations are in the privileged positions of not requiring to make huge amount of profits and yet be able to hang on to their custodianships. Although their remunerations may not be as ludicrously excessive as that in the business world they can nevertheless take advantage of their organizations in other ways. One very common practice by some delinquent custodians is to engage in extravagant spending to boost their inflated ego. I have this personal experience with our own education project in China which I have mentioned in the prologue. It was our original intention to refer one well-known international charity group to take over of the project at the very beginning since we had doubts about our resources and commitment. When we request them to visit the location the high ranking custodians proposed to charter a helicopter for the visit because the drive from Hong Kong to northern Kwongtung Province would take five hours and deemed by them to be too time consuming to fit into their busy schedule. Their suggestion infuriated us so much that we finally decided to take up the project on our own. We are angery not only because of the criminal extravagance but also because of the painful realization that even custodians of such charitable organizations which are supposed to do their utmost to help the underprivileged can be so arrogant, egocentric and have a complete disregard for their declared ideals. I am not suggesting for one second that all charities work that way but we were totally terrorized by the possibility that there could be many of these irresponsible custodians out there. Another way irresponsible custodians can rip off their organizations is to receive benefits and perks from suppliers of their organizations' materials and services like going on study trips which are actually of a holiday nature to conferences and seminars conducted by these suppliers. These are tantamount to bribes given to custodians for ensuring the charitable organization's continued patronage of the suppliers' goods and services. The extra expenditures incurred by the suppliers will without a doubt be reflected in increase in the prices of their products. In worse cases, unethical suppliers may even pay monetary kick-backs to the custodians to enlist their support. Again, such illegal and unethical practices are to a large extent the result of greed on the part of the irresponsible custodians coupled with the opportunities provided by the separation of ownership and management of the organization concerned. Most important of all, we must realize that all illegal and unethical practices can only be eradicated from society by replacing a partly corrupted population with a new younger generation of high ethical standard through a sound education system. The police force and the legal system alone are not up to the task. It takes time and resources and perseverance to achieve this long term objective. A democratic and accountable government with ethical and respectable statesmen ( as opposed to politicians ) with strong leadership and foresight is desparately needed before
this noble and ultimate goal can be attained. This is our next topic of discussion.
Before we leave the topic of money, I wish to remind the reader of the limited capacity of human beings to enjoy earthly goods. The understanding of this particular aspect of our physiology will lead you to the sensible conclusion that greed is
both futile and not worth the price to be paid on both the individual and social levels. To enjoy life is our inborn right. But like all rights, the right to enjoy life is not absolute and must necessarliy carry with it the corresponding responsiblities. Furthermore, all individual rights must be subordinate to the natural laws and all just human laws enacted by any constitutionally appointed legislature elected through due democratic process. Regardless of the amount of wealth you own, there are just a finite amount of goods and services you can enjoy. How many times can you eat in a single day ? Three, four, five or six times is the best one can manage. Even if you ignore the adverse effects on our health resulting from excessive eating, your digestive function is liable to a total breakdown within a day or two upon uncontrolled intake of food. That is why ancient Romans used to performed self- induced regurgitation to make room in their stomachs for consuming more food. That sounds more like torture than enjoyment to me. Again, greed is the culprit.
As for clothing, housing and locomotion or travelling which are the other three major areas of our daily living, it is simply a question of your expectation. It can

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never be enough or it can be sufficient at a minimal but generally acceptable standard. Imagine ladies fashion. There are all sorts of new styles every season and countless number of designer labels. The issues of affordability and suitability aside, there is only 24 hours a day. How many times can a lady change her attire in a single day ? How many sets of clothing are enough ? Again, the sensible answer is countless sets or a few dozens or fewer depending on one's own expectation. One very common argument put forward by ladies in defense of stockpiling clothes is that one must not be seen to be wearing the same set of clothing on different formal occasions. This is really a matter of subjective perception. if the ladies assume a more objective view, they will realize that this argument of theirs is not completely valid because not all their friends had been present on all previous formal occasions when a particular dress was worn. In your view you may be repeating the same dress but from others' point of view you may be wearing the repeated dress for the first time. Everyone's frame of reference may be different and they may hold different but equally valid views with respect to their own perspectives ( c.f. Special Relativity ).
Now, let us consider other mental or intellectual enjoyments. Take going to the movies or concerts for example.You will feel tired after a few hours of watching a movie or enjoying an opera. Most large scale public entertainment programs like rock concerts and other opening or closing ceremonies of popular sporting events also generally last for 3 to 4 hours because there is a finite amount of information or external stimuli a human being can meaningfully take in and enjoy. Anything beyond the tolerance limit is a waste of resources. Typically the human brain can only pay attention to between 6 to 8 unrelated items of information and make intellectual sense out of them at a single moment. Anything more than this limit will result in a jumbled up mess of meaningless signals. Besides, there is the question of time that can be spent on such entertainments.There are only 24 hours in a day and generally one third is spent in our sleep for recuperation of our energy. So, you will see that spending most of our life working like a dog to earn money for the sole purpose of enjoying earthly goods is not an unassailable proposition. In fact, it may prove to be an unwise one because I have often come across cases among my own friends who used to say that they would have time to enjoy all they want upon retirement if they could mass enough money during their working life. Alas, a poor few were recalled by the Almighty soon after their retirements and some had worked themselves to ill health that further considerably reduced their already limited capacity to enjoy earthly goods as everybody else is for reasons cited above. The Uncertainty Principle decrees that nothing can be 100% certain. Therefore, you serve yourself best by living each day as if it were the last day of your life. Only by so doing can you enjoy life to the utmost.
I remember a funny but telling story told me by my good friend Frank. A rich and powerful aged banker once went for a holiday in Tahiti, French Polynesia. He went on a fishing trip in a boat captained by a lay-back Polynesian. After they had spent a day with some good catch, they chatted with each other on their return journey to their island resort. The banker lamented that his polynesian captain could have amassed huge fortunes if only he could be more enterprising and had spent more time and effort in expanding his single fishing vessel into a whole fleet of sight-seeing and fishing boats under a huge public corporation by inviting investment capital from the investing public. As the banker was enjoying the satisfaction of being smart with his know-how in the financial market, he got the following unexpected response from his Polynesian captain. The captain responded by saying that if the banker could answer just one question from him he would follow the banker's advice to form a corporation. The banker said :- “ Just Shoot ! “. Then the captain calmly asked :- “ Where are you now ? “ The banker immediately retorted :- “ I'm in Tahiti enjoying a great holiday, of course. “ Then the captain replied :- “ You are exactly right but I have been here enjoying the beautiful sun, sea and sand all my life free of charge. Why should I bother myself like you did working so hard for 30 years and then start coming here to enjoy the same beautiful scenery that Mother Nature has provided to me and everyone else for free? “ Who is the smart guy ? It is so true. Some of the best things in life are really free only if you have the time and wisdom to find them !
After involving ourselves in the money game for a while, we tend to make money for its own sake and, most of the time, we do not even have the spare time to

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enjoy the money or family values. I am both devastated and deeply saddened by the audio tape recordings of mobile phone conversations between the victims of the September 11 terrorists attack on the World Trade Centres in New York City back in 2001 with their families during the final moments of their lives. How they wished they had spent more time with their families instead of making money all the time. It is really heart-breaking. In the course of our wealth creation process, sometimes, it becomes money for money's sake. Still remember the bottom line I told you earlier. When you leave this world you cannot take a single dime with you. Worse still, you may create some lazy and good-for-nothing off-springs because they think they can rely on their parents' pecuniary legacy. So be wise with your money and strike a healthy balance in spending it and making it. Enough is enough but be smart about your standard of having enough money. It is all a matter of expectation. So be reasonable and yet realistic about your own expectation with money. There is only a marginal difference between an extra million when you are fortunate enough to have a few in hand already. The economic law of diminishing returns has got to have its effect even with money only few people are willing to accept this phenomenon when it happens. When this stage is reached it becomes purely a number game. So, be a bit generous with your own money. You have taken it from society give some back when you are on your way out. Be compassionate with the less unfortunate as we are all from the same stardust of this universe and all face the same harsh reality.
The very last issue about money on which I wish to comment is the Scrooge Syndrome. Everyone of us must have come across Mr. Scrooge or his close cousins at some point during our lives. The main argument put forward by Mr. Scrooge in support of his behaviour is usually this. One must be conservative and accumulate as much personal wealth as possible to increase one's protection against every possible contingency. I put it to Mr. Scrooge very strongly that he is not being conservative at all. Quite the contrary, he is taking the greatest of all risks and must end up in overdoing the act of “ Scrooging” ( a word coined by me to describe his actions ) which would lead to much greater loss in terms of personal relationships that could translate into tangible and adverse effects on him. In short, his action is bound to backfire. How so ? Well, as I see it, the only way to make sure that he had already squeezed every possible bit of benefit for himself out of a given situation is to reach the breaking point. Take buying stock and shares for example, the only sure way to confirm that the highest price has been reached is when it starts to fall and to get one's confirmation on hind sight by the drop in the share price. Otherwise, there would still be a theoretical possibility that the peak price is still to come. Scrooge would still not be satisfied at this point until the confirmation of a drop in price albeit, on hind sight has actually materialized. In terms of human relationships, Mr. Scrooge would withhold any consideration or price he would have to pay to obtain the desired return ( or reaction ) from the person he was interacting with to make sure that Scrooge need not pay a bit more than he really had to. Again, the only sure way to confirm that this absolute necessity has become unavoidable is the breaking point. The person Scrooge interacts with would protest before Scrooge could be sure that he had reached this breaking point. Unfortunately, by virtue of the most powerful Second Law of Thermodynamics of increasing entropy when something is broken the resultant entropy or disorder can never be fully restored. Scrooge cannot have the cake ( an amicable relationship ) and eat it ( and not having to pay any price to maintain such relationship ) as the saying goes. My advice to Scrooge is that the related pair of values - having the cake and eat it are another classical pair of complimentary values just as predicted by Quantum Physics. You can only have one of them materialized but never both at once. So forget about your frivolous attempt to have the best of both worlds. This is against the laws of nature. This is greed pure and simple. It is an undertaking of the highest risks you can engage in. It will certaintly lead to disaster ! Take money at its face value. Never read more into it than it can offer. You will ultimately lose all your close friends although you can still retain some who share the same kind of values as yours. I always wonder why people enjoy taking advantage of their neighbours. May be it is the evil aspect of our nature. Why can't we derive satisfaction out of giving and not taking ( advantage or anything) from others. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Taking advantage without contributing is just like a low down animal the biologists has classified as a parasite. How hideous and pathetic can it be. Respect yourself and others as human beings that are supposed to be

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endowed with more noble attributes of love and sacrifice. Down with the bad Mr. Scrooge who ultimately realized his despicable behaviour and was finally reconverted into humanity at the eleventh hour as a happy ending in Charles Dickens' memorable Christmas epic, A Christmas Carol. Therefore, the evil spirit of Scrooge must be exorcised, Scrooge, be gone ! 

Facebook Three Reasons Zuckerberg’s “Internet For All” Crusade Rings Hollow

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Three Reasons Zuckerberg’s “Internet For All” Crusade Rings Hollow

By Alex Fitzpatrick - Aug. 27, 20131 Comment

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Last week, billionaire Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced a new initiative, Internet.org, aimed at greatly expanding Internet access throughout the developing world — a goal that he said would spark dramatic economic growth in the world’s poorest countries. But is Zuckerberg’s claim really true? And is Internet.org really the humanitarian effort that Zuckerberg painted it to be?

None other than Nobel Peace Prize winning economist Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank, has endorsed the project. “Extending Internet access, in an almost costless way, to the next 5 billion people is key for solving all social problems,” he said in a statement issued by Facebook. “Using the combined power of technology and social business will enable any individual anywhere in the planet to change the world in the fastest possible time. Internet.org will help transform a small piece of solution of a giant problem, in one unknown location, into a global solution.”

But the majority of reactions have been far less kind. The criticism of Internet.org breaks down into three basic points.

1) “Internet for All” really means “Facebook for All.”

That’s the message of David Sasaki, a Latin American open web advocate. But Sasaki is hardly alone in essentially calling Internet.org a thinly disguised Facebook marketing scheme. Writing in The Atlantic Wire, for example, Rebecca Greenfield makes plain what she says are Zuck’s true motivations: “Facebook wants more Internet customers because it has exhausted the connected world and it needs to grow.” Indeed, having already signed-up some 1.15 billion users, Facebook’s growth is now slowing — and many believe that the vast majority of the approximately 2.7 billion people worldwide with Internet connections who want to sign up for Facebook have already done so.

As Greenfield points out — and as Zuckerberg himself touches on in his essay — Facebook is already heading down this path with its “Facebook for Every Phone” web app, which delivers Facebook content on the less advanced “feature phones” common throughout the developing world.

Zuckerberg himself acknowledged Facebook stands to “benefit from” improving global access to the Internet, though he rejected as “crazy” criticism of that reality. “The billion people who are already on Facebook have way, way more money than the next 6 billion people combined,” said Zuckerberg in a Monday interview with Wired. “If we wanted to focus on just making money, the right strategy for us would be to focus solely on the developed countries and the people already on Facebook, increasing their engagement rather than having these other folks join.”

2) The Internet does not cause economic growth.

Pointing to graphs drawn from a McKinsey study that purportedly show the Internet is increasingly contributing to GDP growth in developing countries, Zuckerberg presented a vision of a world in which low-cost Internet access, innovative business models, and highly efficient apps for mobile devices would grow the economic pie in developed and developing markets alike.

If he’s right, Zuckerberg’s motivations would arguably be besides the point — and could even be seen as an example of capitalism at its best, lifting all boats through the power of self-interested economic behavior. It is possible, after all, that Facebook’s interests just happen to align with those of the developing world.

But the growth-boosting power of the Internet appears less clear-cut than Zuck suggests. Jen Schradie, a sociology doctoral candidate at the University of California-Berkeley who researches digital democracy, posted a widely linked open letter to Zuckerberg criticizing him for overstating the relationship:

Where you get stuck, really stuck, is in your neat bar charts from McKinsey in which you talk about how technology is associated with GDP growth in developed countries. Write this down: correlation is not causation. It’s a neat phrase to throw around at cocktail parties. But for our purposes, the Internet in and of itself will not solve the structural problems in the developing world. Think about it this way – the economic advantages that the developed world has, often on the back of the developing world, could be fostering Internet growth, rather than the other way around.

Even the McKinsey report itself was careful not to overstate the cause-and-effect: “Of course, these are just correlations. Causality still needs to be fully proved and we welcome additional work in this field.”

(MORE: The Internet Cannot Save You)

Research into this very question has further called Zuckerberg’s economic claim into doubt. In a June Bloomberg Businessweek article, for example, Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development who studies the link between technology and economics, poked holes in a 1999 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland study that’s often used to establish a causal link between Internet use and economic growth. The study does indeed demonstrate “a positive relationship between the number of Internet users in a country in 1999 with gross domestic product growth from 1974 to 1992.” But, he adds sarcastically, “Usually we expect the thing being caused (growth in the 1980s) to happen after the things causing it (1999 Internet users).” And in a 2003 paper, Kenny specifically discredited the premise on which Internet.org is based, concluding: “Beyond the scarcity of physical and human capital needed to benefit from the Internet, the institutional environment in [less-developed countries] is not conducive to rapid and successful exploitation of the technology.”

3) Internet access may be important, but it’s not a right. 

Zuckerberg has repeatedly asserted Internet access to be a human right — an assertion that, even more than his economic claims, has the power to moot all criticism of Internet.org. But is Web access really an inalienable human right alongside life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

The vast majority of global Internet users and the United Nations Human Rights Council say yes. But the question continues to be hotly debated by both human rights experts and the tech community. Some are concerned that labeling the Internet a human right cheapens other, more basic rights. ”There are only 30 articles in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the most widely accepted list of human rights,” wrote Brian Skepys, a Google employee, in a research paper on the topic. “The rights listed are all basic rights that are arguably instrumentally necessary for membership in a political community. On the other hand, there are plenty of things that we are tempted to claim as human rights, such as Internet access, that are not human rights in themselves.”

The legendary computer scientist Vint Cerf, often called “the father of the Internet,” has been careful about calling the Internet and other technologies an enabler of rights, not rights in and of themselves. “Improving the Internet is just one means, albeit an important one, by which to improve the human condition,” Cerf wrote last year in the New York Times. “It must be done with an appreciation for the civil and human rights that deserve protection — without pretending that access itself is such a right.”

Suw Charman-Anderson, a journalist and former executive director of the Open Rights Group, agrees with Cerf. “Cerf points out that making the Internet a human right is akin to making a horse a human right in the 19th Century because it was the primary form of travel. However, focusing on the horse rather than the freedom of movement exalts one particular technology, rather than digging to the core of what basic human needs require protection,” she writes.

Meanwhile, none other than Bill Gates recently went on the record questioning the value of a Google initiative to bring the Internet to the developing world using balloons as floating hotspots. “When you’re dying of malaria, I suppose you’ll look up and see that balloon, and I’m not sure how it’ll help you,” Gates told Businessweek earlier this month.

None of this is to say that Zuckerberg has an obligation to commit his wealth — let alone Facebook’s resources — to furthering humanitarian causes. (Or that he has entirely failed to do so — to his credit, Zuckerberg donated $100 million to the Newark public school system in 2010 and $500 million in Facebook stock to a Silicon Valley community nonprofit in 2012, moves that don’t have a clear tie to Facebook’s business interests.)

And of course Zuckerberg has a fiduciary duty to his shareholders to push for expanding Internet access simply because it would help Facebook.

But his exaggeration of the economic benefits to developing nations, and his failure to acknowledge how much his company (and personal fortune) would stand to gain, make the grandiose claims of his Internet.org presentation ring pretty hollow.

 by Taboola

Read more: http://business.time.com/2013/08/27/three-reasons-zuckerbergs-internet-for-all-crusade-rings-hollow/#ixzz2dB0pUotn

Of Death and Destruction

The following topic is extracted from my popular science book :- " The Universe - A Personal View " at page 183 which represents my personal view on death based on science :-

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxqa2hjbGlmZXN0eWxlfGd4OjM5NmM2NTViMjAzY2M5MTk

Of Death and Destruction

The British novelist, Henry Fielding ( 1707-1754 ) wrote aptly about death in the following manner :- “ It hath been often said, that it is not death but dying,which is terrible. “ This cannot be more akin to the truth. Ageing is part and parcel of theprocess of dying and it can be really terrible. There are four kinds of unavoidable painsand sufferings in life according to the Gautama ( Sukymuni ) Buddha - birth, ageing, sickness and dying. Two of those- aging and dying are different stages leading to death.To look at it in a even wider perspective, death actually begins at birth. The finer point to note in this classification is that death or more precisely the instance of death to the buddha is just a beginning of the next life - the beginning of reincarnation. Therefore, it is just a stop on the way to the next life. There is nothing more natural than death. It is just one stage of the eternal cycle of life through death and death through life. Come to think ofit, it is actually the stark reality. The conditioning of our brain through life long experienceof daily routines has led us to emotionally attach ourselves to the idea of life. Death withall its unfamiliarities and unknowns naturally evades our attention. Or is it actually adeliberate disregard ? It is our ignorance about death that gives rise to the great fear in usregarding death. Strictly speaking, it is not death but the fear for the unknown after deathand the process of dying ( the sense of helplessness, the feeling of loneliness, thedeterioration of our body and the loss of contorl over our life resulting in diminished personal dignity ) that is so frightening. Strange isn't it ? There is no surer thing than death in our life and yet most of us are not really prepared for it or even shun it by turning death into a taboo subject. I think otherwise. As ignorance is the number one cardinal sin to me, Iadvocate a more positive and aggressive attitude towards death to enable us to beprepared for its certain arrival. As a result of improved health service and coupled with thelow birth rate, the proportion of the elderly population is increasing by the day. Therefore,there is a very urgent need to face up to the problem of ageing and death by learning moreabout it and educating our elderly citizens on the proper and sensible way of dealing withthis extremely personal problem with a profound social connotation.
Let us start with the more practical and fundamental issue of ageing.

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Our senior citizens need to know how to age graciously and peacefully. Education andcounselling is the answer. A lot of research and surveys have been conducted on theproblem of ageing. One of the most comprehensive studies ever done on the problem ofageing was carried out in the USA mainly under the sponsorship in the form of a generous grant from Harvard University. The subject population for the study involved over 800males and females from three different suburban groups of varying economic and socialbackgrounds over a period of more than 50 years to research into the important factorsaffecting the process of ageing in these individuals. The subjects were interviewed everyfew years since the 1940s starting from their twenties all the way to their late seventies tosee how their lives and the ageing process had been affected by their family, social andeconomic backgrounds. The results of this comprehensive research together with somecase studies have been published in a book by George Vaillant called “ Ageing Well “. Wewould not go into the technical details of the study but would only attempt to learnsomething from the conclusions and recommendations which we may find useful andilluminating. The following factors are cited as being important for ageing well. These are :-(a) social and emotional maturation, (b) identity, ( c ) intimacy, (d) career consolidation, (e)generativity, (f) keeper of meaning, (g) intergration. Let me give a brief explanation of eachto enable the reader to have a clearer understanding of their significance to the process ofageing well. (a) concerns the maturity of a person in terms of his emotional state ( oremotional quotient, EQ ) and knowing one's position among other people and in society.The more mature one is in these respects the better one can adapt to the ageing process.(b) means knowing about oneself or being able to attach ( or identify ) oneself with yourown social group. With a sense of place and purpose, one can naturally age betterbecause there is emotional support from your social group. ( c ) deals with intimatepersonal relationship. If one is emotionally involved in a congenial personal relationshipwith someone, there is naturally more sense of purpose in life. Therefore, we can appreciate that the most important purpose of marriage or a de facto relationship is companionship in old age as far as the partners are concerned. (d) is the sense of achievement in one's career. A fully accomplished career in life would, of course, be agreat consolation and something to be proud of when one gets old. This helps a lot inone's ageing process. (e) is the sense of continuity one has in your off-springs and yourgrand children. This is most important to us as human beings because having a part in the propagation of the human race is such a great feeling as if we become part of the grand scheme of Mother Nature. No wonder having children and grand children has a positive effect on ageing despite all the physical and emotional pains and hardships in raisingchildren. In other words, you feel needed. This will give rise to a profound sense of purpose. (f) is the responsibility of old people in up keeping moral values and traditions either in the family or society. (g) is very relevant to one's ageing process insofar as beingable to integrate into one's emotional, social and economic backgrounds will give rise to asense of harmony and peace with one's existence. One will not feel out of place in life ifone is integrated with one's physical and emotional environment. So, there you have it.These are the helpful pieces of advice for ageing well.
Then, there is a second tier of factors that can help in the ageing process.While some of the factors important for ageing well set out above are beyond our control,some steps suggested in the study are very useful for ageing people. Furthermore, theseare well within our control. These suggested activities include :- Friendship and social contacts, hobbies, community service activities, religion and recreational sports. These arevaluable recommendations and the the study also provides the following simple cues for positive ageing :- (i) Let go and let God ( relax and let nature runs its course ), (ii) firstthings first ( take care of the younger generation ), (iii) keep it simple ( back to the basics inlife ), (iv) carpe diem ( live one day at a time ) and, finally, (v) use the telephone ( or betterstill, use the internet for social contact ).
There is even a third tier of general advice for ageing well. This general advice is mainly to keep, a positive mental attitude and keep your humour. Do not be like King Lear in Shakspeare's tragic play ( which incidentally was one of my texts inmatriculation class ). One should accept ageing gracefully because there is no other alternative. To do this, the study suggests that you learn about the reality of ageing and learn from the numerous positive real life examples in the subject population. Pray that in

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old age you'd be able to strive for the possible ( whatever that may be under your ownexisting circumstances ) with perseverance; to accept the inevitable ( biology only runsdown hill under the irreversible flow of the Second Law of Thermodynamics of everincreasing entropy or disorder ) with serenity; and have the wisdom to tell one from theother. My own attitude in dealing with human affairs is, as always, to exercise caution in applying any hard and fast rule. Therefore, I suggest that one should adapt the above advice to suit one's own particular circumstances. The human brain is such a complex and chaotic system that I cannot even vouch for myself with 100% certainty ( c.f. TheUncertainty Principle in Quantum Theory ) what my exact behaviour will be like in the next moment. Nevertheless, over a sustained period of time some general guidelines arealways helpful. My own golden rule is that there is no golden rule with universalapplication. With regard to the problem of ageing, I feel that the most sensible attitude to maintain is to expect the worst and hope for the best. A lot of humour (or what I call Mr.Q's attitude ) will come in most handy.
Ageing will end in death ultimately. This is unavoidable butcould be made less unpleasant by learning about its nature and by making sufficient preparation for it both physically and mentally. Let me share with you some of my limited experience of encounters with death. By encounters with death, I do not mean that myown life is at stake. It is simply my personal experience of being present at the moment of death of other people including that of my relatives which has provided me with some insights into this sad but inevitable event in everyone's life. My most graphic encounterwith someone else's moment of death was experienced by me when I was twenty-sixyears of age. I was then working for an international CPA firm. When we were young we were very often careless about our own health. May be youth is so filled with life andenergy that we more often than not have taken life and health for granted. We may eventhink that we are physically invincible as we are most of the time feeling mentally strong.Anyway, I did not take good enough care of my own health and used to work 10 hours aday under normal circumstances and even up to 12 hours in case of urgent assignments. So much so that I was hit with a bleeding stomach ulcer that required blood transfusion thus resulting in my being hospitalized and bed ridden for a week. That wasback in 1974 which was the first time I was ever admitted to a hospital. Any first hospitalstay however non-life threatening is a frightening and thought provoking experience. It wasalso the first time I ever had enough idle time to really do some soul searching since mygraduation. Such was the hectic schedule of my profession which left me no time at all todo some introspection. The motto for office life in Hong Kong then and always is to “ work hard and play hard “. It was supposed to be my last night in hospital but due to a fever resulting from my blood transfusion, the doctor required me to stay on for an extra night.Sharing my room was another old gentleman in the seventies. We had becomeacquaintances during our few days together as room mates. We talked about life ingeneral and the old gentleman had given me a lot of the benefit of his wisdom. Inparticular, he advised me to take good care of my health while I was young. Otherwise, I would be sorry at my old age when it would be too late. He also suggested that I should spend more time to enjoy my youth. He became some kind of mentor to me in hospital and
I was very grateful.
According to his doctor, he was also supposed to be able to check outin the next few days but life could give us a nasty shock out of the blue. As he was supposed to be recovering, all his family members who used to stay with him in turn everynight had all gone home. At about 3.00 a.m., I was woken by his painful moaning. Hecoughed continuously and did not seem to be able to breathe properly. I helped him tosound the emergency alarm which was answered right away by the nurses. Alas, beforethe doctor's arrival on the scene the old man coughed a lot of blood that gushed out of hismouth like a fountain and became motionless and died within a matter of less than aminute. It was a horrifying and bloody scene of chaos with some four nursing staff trying to revive him and blood spilling all over his bed. After everyting had calmed down, I wasmoved to the adjacent single room. I heard the heart breaking weeping of his familymembers who had arrived too late to be at his death bed. I was also gravely shocked bythe untimely tragedy and I felt like I had also lost a relative of my own. It was not thehorrific scene that had left the deepest impression on my memory but, strangely, it was the

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sense of helplessness in life and the surprising peace of mind that I experienced for having accompanied him on the moment of his passing that had left the deepest imprint onmy mind. Right after the tragedy as I lay alone in the next room, I originally thought that Iwould be very much fightened and would not like to be left alone. But instead, I felt asense of serenity and peace, thinking, as my religious influences had led me, that such akind and gentle soul would definitely be somewhere nice and quiet, and perhaps inheaven. Life works in very mystical ways. I could never have imagined in a million yearsthat out of all the people in this world I had to be the last person to befriend this kind, oldgentleman and no one else, not even his loved ones, but just me to accompany him at thefinal moment of his life. I felt my life had been greatly enriched by this experience. I still think of this kind, old man from time to time. May his soul rest in peace ! The insight I had gained into life and death in this tragic episode is that life is uncertain and nothing can be taken for granted. We should always be prepared for any eventuality. Secondly, we can deal with the issue of death in a peaceful and informed manner and without panic. As long as we have fufilled all our obligations towards ourselves and other people, we can always feel a sense of peace in our mind regardless of the unfortunate or frightening circumstances.
Then there was another incident in 1981 at my grandmother's death.She was 81 when she passed away. At the time of her death she was staying with me. Noone else except a maid was in the house when her heart failed due to old age. I and my wife who were both working in Central - the commercial and banking district in Hong Kong- rushed home by taxi and I found my granny lying on the floor unconscious. The ambulance had arrived at about the same time and the paramedics tried to resuscitate her without success. We were allowed to accompany her body to the public hospital in the ambulance and I held her in my arms for a while on her last journey. My granny had been weak and frail for a few years without any particular complaints about her health. She hadbeen alone after my grand father's death back in 1949. So, she had lived for 30 years as a widow but had always helped out around the house and to look after us when we were kids. She used to take me to school until I was in year three of primary school and give mepocket money for snacks during recess at school. Those were my fond and warm memories of granny. Although I could not hold back the tears, I still felt the same sense ofserenity I had before and was subconsciously happy for her in the sense that she wouldbe joining my grand father for always. Even though my granny's death was expected thesense of loss was still deeply felt by all of us. The only sensible way to deal with the issueof death is to rationalize it as a stage in the eternal cycle of change. No matter how muchyou love the dearly departed you must accept that their death is at some point inevitable. So is your own. Nothing is permanent and life must go on. I always try to comfort friends who have lost their loved ones by telling them this :- “ First of all you must sincerely believe that the dearly departed have to be in a better place where there is neither pain nor sorrow. Secondly, imagine that they are overseeing you just as guardian angels do. Do you think their everlasting consciousness would feel good if they see that the loved ones they left behind are devastated by their passing ? You should live happily for their sake and in honour of their memory ! “ I have always found such advice to be most useful and comforting to my griefing friends.
Is death the destruction of life ? I have always doubted about the validityof this idea. If one defines death as the destruction of the physical body, then this question should be answered in the positive. However, if one sees death as only a stage in theeternal cycle of change that is represented by the alternating state of life and death, thenthis question should be answered in the negative. Furthermore, the idea of death being thedestruction of life is only a materialistic world view which is not the only valid interpretation of the reality. As I have time and again stressed the point that the reality is not composed of things ( materials ) but processes, this narrow materialistic world view appears to be out of touch with the reality, even for the objective reality (OR). If consciousness is also taken into account, the materialistic world view would even be less tenable. However,there is still a lack of consensus on the nature of the human consciousness so that, for the time being, the materialistic world view, with all its inherent faults, has so far survived an outright refutation. But its inadequate nature is seldom in dispute. Nevertheless,indirect and circumstantial evidence has clearly points to a deeper level of reality similar to

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the intricate order pioneered by David Bohm. My own views favour a higher level of existence for all forms of life. I base my convictions on the indicative evidence from luciddreams ( LD), near death experience (NDE), out of body experiece (OBE), multiplepersonalities disorder (MPD), reincarnation claims (RC), extra sensory perceptions (ESP),psychokinesis (PK) or mind over matter incidents ( such as a mother lifting a falling car ofclose to a ton to save her baby ), the mysterious relation between energy and matter ( the equivalence of energy and mass – but energy is massless while mass is considered to befrozen energy ), non-locality ( first proposed by Einstein in his ERP thought experimentand proven later by Bell's Inequality Theory ), inextricable relationships between elementary particles (quantum entanglement), Alain Prospect 's experiment ( confirming faster than light propagation of signals) together with the theory of Holographic Model ofthe universe by David Bohm ( the intricate order ). Details descriptions of all these phenomena have been set out in chapters (iii) and (iv) respectively. To me, death of the human body is definitely not equivalent to the destruction of the human consciousness ( the master mind of our body ) which I believe to be an enduring entity akin to energy thatis eternally conserved within the universe according to the Law of Conservation of Energy.
Regardless of the conclusion we have reached on whether or not death represents the destruction of life, we must all face the hard fact of death as a practical and inevitable issue. And one thing is certain. The more we learn about it the better we will be equipped to face it when the fateful moment of death descends upon us. To this end, we can start with demystifying death by excluding it as a taboo subject for discussion andscientific research. Neural scientists should do their very best to conduct serious researchinto the subject starting with NDE and other related phenomena and not to dismiss suchphenomena as hallucinations under the possible influence of drugs. Most psychiatrists,clinical psychologists, neural scientists and members of the medical profession are generally sceptical about NDE claims, at least in an official capacity, because they are always under peer pressure to avoid these difficult issues lest they may be branded asabnormal and unscientific by their colleagues. As a matter of fact, there have been unofficial reports and comments from some prominent psychiatrists in the USA to the effect that they are basically holding a positive attitude towards such research. They are simply reluctant to express their true stance on this matter in public due to fear of ridicule by their peers. In my opinion, such attitude is counter productive and not in the interest ofthe advancement in science and technology. Some prominent members of the scientific community must have the courage and foresight to take up this worthwhile challenge. Withthe fast improving computer and neural monitoring technology, there should be a lot ofroom for further research into the nature of death to benefit the ever increasing ageing population. No further delay should be tolerated on this pressing issue.
Before we leave death and destruction behind, let me give you someof my eccentric thoughts on this taboo subject. Everyone including myself is fearful ofdeath to a greater or lesser degree. But just imagine for a moment what would have happened if there were no death for anyone of us and everyone has life everlasting in the physical sense. This would be a disaster for the individual as well as society, wouldn't it ? It would be an impossible situation from both the personal as well as the social perspective.On the personal level, you would find that you would have an endlessly extended retirement for which you would not be able to support financially. You could, of course, continue with your working life indefinitely and that in itself would be a punishment in the form of everlasting labour. Then, you would get bored with life which would be forever so that you are liable to run out of interesting things to do. You would be bored to death but could not die from this boredom ( still remember the evil Dracula in the horror movies – in particular, the one in which Tom Cruise took the leading role – Interview with the Vampire ). It would be living hell. Furthermore, you would have so many children or grandchildren that you would not be able to even remember their names. Of course, you could do family planning but then how could you stand the loneliness of a childless but everlasting life. Even your wife, if you had one, would not have agreed to your childless arrangement. Worst of all, you would never be given an assessment for the success or failure in your life either by yourself or others because your enduring life's work could never be done. Then, on the social level, over population would have resulted from thezero death rate. Providing employment and aged care for the undying population would be

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an impossible task for society. A lot of drastic measures would have to be taken leading to serious conflicts of interest and clashes of human rights among the everlasting population.All in all, it would have been an impossible situation. Therefore, enough is enough. Deathis, in fact, a blessing in disguise. To quote from the words of Nicholas Rowe (1674-1718)in his book called “ The Fair Penitent”,-” Death is the privilege of human nature. And life without it were not worth our taking.” Therefore, I have come to the ridiculous conclusion that death through nature's course is not only logical but necessary for the survival of the human race as a whole. It is without a doubt one of the finer points in the grand design ofthe universe or multiverse. Life without death is unbearable and may even lead to adiminished level of dignity for the individual because nobody will be missed by anyone elseif human life is everlasting. My final remark on death is that we can always overcome its destructive power over our physical body by immortalizing our brighter ideas ( such asuseful and practical advice ) and useful creations ( such as technical inventions andmaster pieces of music and art ) that could make a difference to our younger generations and future society. This idea is, in fact, the basic premises for my own goal in life which isto try to make this world a better place when I leave than when I have found it at my birth.If you want to know whether or not you have lived a good life, just ask yourself this question. What would you do if you knew you were going to die tomorrow ? If you could answer that you would carry on as before, then you would have lived a happy life. This is because you would have done everything that you had wished for and had no regrets. I sincerely wish I could be in that position when I die. Having made a dream of a wish for myself, I would end our present discussion with my own saying :- “ It does not matter how you die. It only matters how you have lived ! “ - Death be not proud !

JKHC.

9/9/2006

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