Jung and Sailor Mercury

I am now reading Jung's Flying Saucers. Although it is definitely not an easy read and is somewhat hypnotic, I enjoy his explanation about UFOs... He says that they are modern myths (projections of unconscious minds both collective and individual) with technological cover-ups. He is a sceptic. So am I.

And quite surprisingly, I found a clue to why I saw Sailor Mercury so often anywhere I went a few months ago even though Sailor Moon had already been a thing from past. (See my previous post: Wisdom Seen in Sailor Mercury dated on 21 March 2006)

According to Jung, the Roman god Mercurius (Mercury) is a "bringer of healing." As I have started feeling that healing has been taking roots in my soul, I feel it very logical that Sailor Mercury appeared to me to tell me that I was being healed...

But why is it not male Mercurius but female Sailor Mercury? It's quite simple. For I am a heterosexual man, I want healing coming from a female figure, as I think healing is especially effective when it comes in a romantic way. And Sailor Mercury is indeed very close to my anima figure (she looks quite much like my dream girl), a short haired woman with a quiet determination...

My anima figure also matches Jung's description about mercury, the metal. Mercury is metal and liquid at the same time. It changes its shape almost freely. A boyish girl is like this; she flexibly shows both of her female and masculine sides... I find this kind of woman the most fascinating...

The combination of Jung and Sailor Mercury sounds very ridiculous for a 37-year-old man but anyway, healing of a mind often comes in a very absurd fashion...

Anyway, our unconscious minds often try to reach our conscious minds in a very enigmatic ways...

Tags: Jung, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury

Dear Mr. Confucius

Hong Kong, 29 April 2006

Dear Mr. Confucius,

I was very surprised to hear your words during meditation. What I heard was: At seventy, I could follow the wishes of my heart without doing wrong (七十而從心所欲，不踰矩). It is indeed the goal of any pursuit of happiness!

I have been practising meditation to let go of judgments to myself and others. Although I have done this only for a few months, I feel I am happier and more peaceful.

As Jesus, my another teacher said, not judging others and myself is one prerequisite to enter the Heaven. But frankly speaking, I did not expect that you would talk to me during this no-judgment meditation.

I have been critical to your teachings as many progressive people say that you made the foundation of two millennia’s spiritual stagnation in China. But now I know such an idea is indeed a judgment.

Now I have started letting go of my judgments. Now I can more open-heartedly listen to the teachers I used to avoid.

So I'll study your words along with those of my other teachers. I believe by knowing your words, I can reach out to the people in this part of world much more easily...

I love the word I heard during the meditation. I know you are indeed one of the greatest teachers in human history. So now I would like to apologise for my long-time prejudice toward your teachings...

Sincerely yours,

Peter Yokoyama

Tags: Confucius, ACIM, Pathways of Light, meditation, self-hypnosis

My First Mandala

This is my first mandala. (Mandalas play an important role in Jungian psychology.)

It came out in relation to my previous article Yin, Yang and Unity (26 April). It symbolises the unity of Yin (Udeke) and Yang (Alaqa) by their baby (Ushana). I simply could not help myself from drawing this... It came out so spontaneously.

The triangle behind Alaqa, Udeke and Ushana seems to represent the trinity of these three elements.

Sorry for showing an eerie and badly-drawn picture. This is the very first picture I have drawn to show to other people in more than two decades...

Tags: Jung

Energy Soup in Cooking

So tired that I only want to float on a bed
Just like a sea otter on the bed of kelp.
Release all the tensions without fearing
That I'd decompose into soup of energy.
If my body wants to do so
Just let it melt into the sea of fantasy.

Floating like a sea otter
With my mouth agape
With my eyes staring blankly at the sky.
Perhaps I look like a typical idiot.
But why do I have to care about How others see me
When I don't even fear being decomposed...

Anyway I am just floating on my own bed
On the sea of fantasy without any tension.
I am decomposing my old self and
Renewing everything in me.

I am energy soup in cooking...
Tags: Deepak Chopra, Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen, relaxation

New Alaqa Blogspace for Poems

I have set up a separate blogspace Alaqa Verses for my poems at the former url of Alaqa! (Eastern Unorthodox), as some readers want to read only poems.

However, I continue posting both verses and proses on this blogspace.

Anyway, thank you for visiting Alaqa! (Eastern Unorthodox)!

Yin, Yang and Unity...

Although I still have no idea what Alaqa exactly means, it already has a gibberish friend Udeke (pronounced Oo-deh-keh). I don’t know what it means, either…

But I feel Alaqa and Udeke make a yin-yang couple. Alaqa seems to be yang because “a” sound is a yang vowel in Altaic languages (which my native tongue is said to be related). Then Udeke should be yin as “e” and “u” sounds seem to be yin vowels (in Altaic languages). I feel their consonants also make a good pair…

My five-year son says that Alaqa represents the power of the Sun, while Udeke does that of the Moon. Alaqa is like a bull that energetically jumps out, while Udeke is like a careful bear. In addition, I tend to say Alaqa when I want to give myself a jump start, while I say Udeke when I want to relax. I guess they are paired mantras.

Alaqa and Udeke have been with me for many years. But recently, another mantra emerged out of blue. It’s Ushana (Oo-shah-nah). As it has both yin and yang vowels, I think it represents the unity between Alaqa and Udeke. Maybe it is a baby born between them. But I don’t know its gender yet. Maybe it is androgynous…
Tags: Jung, Chinese Philosophy, Yin Yang

The Smell of New Creation

Back to the basic... A garbage-collection poem.

Just a few hours before
It was dinner delicious and hot.
Now it's garbage smelly
That will soon start to rot.

It is indeed odour horrible.
But it was originally a sign that
Germs were preparing meal
For hungry scavenger animals.

Not many things smell
As horrible as rotten food.
Yes, we should throw it away
And let the nature do its job.

Rotting of food smells bad.
But it's actually just the smell of
The nature renewing herself.
So it's actually the smell of
New creation...

But alas, the garbage I pick
Has no farm to go back to.
It will just buried in holes
And stay there almost forever.

So the ordour of urban garbage
Is its voiceless cries of longing
To return to earth.

What I can do to console garbage's sorrow
Is to sort paper, metal and plastics
So that some of it have chances of rebirth...

Tags: Thich Nhat Hanh

Heirs to Grumpiness

I hope every grumpy old men are as playful as these two... As it's getting hotter in HK, I miss the blizzard that almost killed me in Minneapolis...

Why old men like to lament
About today's young people?
Is it because of envy and regret
That they couldn't fully enjoy
Their youth when it was with them?

A healed mind would advise
But it would not judge.
Complaints are just the sign
That one's mind wants healing.

Then what grumpy old men
Really want is to heal the past
That is filled with so many
Things left undone...

A grumpy grandad has very likely
Created another grumpy dad.
Such a dad is likely help his son
Become another grumpy grandad
A few generations later.

A broken heart can be hereditary.
But I want to leave a clean heart
To the generations to come.

So I want to heal my mind
Because I want my son to
Become an heir to a pleasant world.

So Holy Spirit,
Cleanse my soul
And help me heal my mind!

Ashehra Qaleke!

Ashehra Qaleke! Ah!
Oodook dood dood doo!

Ashehra Qaleke! Ah!
Oodook dood dood doo!

Ashehra Qaleke!
Ashehra Qaleke! Ah!
Oodook dood dood doo!
Oodook dood dood doo!

Yes, it's complete gibberish. But how do you feel now? I hope you find it funny and feel happy...

Tags: Mirmo

Do You Like a Tyrant?

Do this! Don't do that! Go this way!
Don't go that way!

Do you want someone
To be yelling at you always?
I guess you cannot take it
Even if he is a famed coach. 

You want him to know
What you feel
What you want,
Don't you?

I guess you'd jump on
Every opportunity to run away
From this tyrant coach,
Wouldn't you?

Although we don't like a tyrant
We often try to rule our own hearts
Forcibly just like tyrants.
No wonder why we always
Long so much for healing!

Be a friend to yourself.
Be kind to yourself.
Listen to the voice from deep inside
That tells you What you truly want. 
When mighty power of will
Takes you to nowhere
And makes you suffer,
It's high time you listened To the whisper of your heart...


Ha ha, influenced again by a Miyazaki Anime again! This time unwittingly by Whisper of the Heart（耳をすませば　魔幻街少女）. Sailor suits! Hubba-hubba!
Tags: Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, Whisper of the Heart, ACIM, 宮崎駿, 耳をすませば

Power of Tongue-Speaking

I speak in tongues when I upset with my wife:
Ooshanah alekina herekena hootah....!!!

I can defuse a bomb ticking in my belly
Absolutely without uttering an abusing word.
And the chain of absolutely nonsense words
Usually ends up making her smile.
So I can defuse a bomb ticking in her, too.

Stupidity is sometimes extremely useful
Because it can often soften the tight air around us...

Happiness Made Easy

I feel a mouthful of water can taste better than a glass of fine wine after picking garbage for more than a hundred families. It does not have to be ice-cold. It just has to be water. That's what I have learnt at the bottom of a society.

The simpler your demand is, the easier it is for you to feel happy...

When you feel unhappy, try doing something you can do without thinking almost at all and you can easily see a result.

If you can draw, draw a picture that will make you happy. Draw freely because you only have to please yourself.

If you love to sing, sing your favourite song to please your ears and soul. Sing as you like because you are the only audience.

Is your sink full of dirty dishes? You are so lucky that you have an opportunity to free yourself from thinking for half an hour. You can sing if you want while doing dishes.

It is easy to get satisfaction from these simple tasks. Don't underestimate these small things. Awareness of happiness you feel from these small things will serve as stepping-stones when you pursue bigger achievements.

So do a simple thing and be happy with a good result from it. Just like a child. Yes, indeed, it is easier for children to enter and stay in the Kingdom of Heaven than for us the grownups...

Even a Cat Knows

I love giving Chinese tuina massage to my family members. Giving massage to someone is as soothing as receiving so when I feel tired, I massage my wife's legs and back. Now I know that sharing energy can activate it and giving is better than receiving.

I often give massage even to Amy, my 10-year-old cat (photo). I started massaging her a few years ago when my son (then two or three years old) started chasing her around. She became very nervous and when I patted her on the back, I often found her muscles very stiff. That's why I started massaging Amy.

In the beginning, she simply hated it. I know very well that massage on stiffen muscle is indeed very painful from my own experience. When my fingers sank into meridian points, Amy angrily meowed and bit my hands. So I had many small wounds on my hand for the first year or so.

After a few years’ practice, she now likes my massage. She sometimes lies at my feet and demands me to massage her. Although she still gets angry when I push too hard, she enjoys my massage, closing her eyes and purring comfortably.

When she really enjoys it, she rewards me with licking my hands. She licks my hands carefully to show her satisfaction.

A cat is said to be a very selfish animal. But Amy often simply cannot help herself from expressing how much she loves me. That makes me feel that loving someone and expressing love may be a basic instinct of animals with highly developed brains. Even a cat knows that loving is as good as being loved...

Hating someone or something is a part of our original and primitive design. But seeing my cat licking my hands, I feel love is also one of our fundamental desires that has been with us for millions of years. And we humans have free will to decide which we want to nurture. It's up to every one of us...

Roswell, Oh, Roswell

I watched a TV programme about the Roswell flying saucer case on Discovery Channel yesterday. The large-eyed naked "alien creature" on the autopsy table reminded a classic comedy film Forbidden City Cop starring Stephen Chow, the master comedian of Hong Kong.

In this movie, the alien creature is just a Chinese Emperor in an alien costume... It looks so much like the Roswell spaceman! Because it is the parody of the Roswell Case... So Stephen, who volunteers to dissect the "Heavenly Fairy", almost chops His Majesty's leg. Anyway, this is a great post-modern masterpiece with a lot of surprises. Definitely must watch.

Well, I have been very sceptical about UFOs since one of my middle school classmates was arrested right after he ran into a police station, saying that he was almost kidnapped by space aliens. He was high on paint thinner...

Anyway, these kids often saw UFOs, nymphs or goblins while they were high on their cheap and easily available drug. I once heard that cocaine-addicts also tend to see UFOs.

So I basically think a UFO is an external projection of mental image. I am not saying that everyone who sees UFO is a drug-addict. But I guess it is a psychic rather than a physical phenomenon.

Driving in a place like a desert in New Mexico, a person can easily go into trance and see a lot of weird things. Such unexplainable images used to be called ghosts or monsters in the pre-modern times. But people continued to see these things even after the penetration of modern science into the general public, anyway. So I guess people, who had outgrown ghosts or fairies, wanted a more "rational" explanation and put scientific-sounding wrappings of aliens or UFOs on the things formerly known as ghost and such.

Well, in a society like Japan where an ancient culture survives in the rural areas, people still see ghosts quite often on lonely highways at night... In the United States, these primitive "spirits" seem to have been exterminated upon the colonisation by White people...

Then, why several people can witness the same UFO or alien creatures? I guess these images are made in the collective unconscious and seasoned by the zeitgeist. Anyway, many people used to see the same ghosts or goblins...

Well, Carl G. Jung wrote a book titled Flying Saucers: a Modern Myth of Things See in the Skies in 1958. I will read it soon.

Musashi's Trust in Himself

Statutes of Musashi (right) and Kojiro on the site of
their duel on Funajima Island (now called Genryu-to
Island), Shimonoseki

Whew! I finally finished reading the entire volumes of Musashi, the epic Samurai novel today. It's so good that I simply could not put it down so it took only 10 days to go through 1.45 million Hanzi (Chinese characters) in 1,300+ pages. (I read the Simplified Chinese edition from Hubei Province.)

It is full of Zen wisdom and is a kind of book I would read over and over again in the rest of my life. As it is an extremely long story, I will just talk now about an episode very close to the end of the story. I love this part. I guess it is already a classic episode that many people have already known, though...

Just a few hours before the official duel with Kojiro on a tiny island, another young sword master, Musashi takes a long time and quietly draws pictures at his hostel. The people around him get frustrated by Musashi's unhurried attitude and worry that he may not really willing to fight with Kojiro. He draws these pictures for the inn's master and the boatman who will soon take him to the duel for memories.

And after he goes on aboard a boat, he starts carving an old and cracked oar into a wooden sword. He carves the wood with a short knife slowly and quietly.

He draws pictures not because he was reluctant to fight. He carves a wooden sword not because he has forgotten his own. But he quietly prepared for his duel by making his consciousness focused on manual work. As both painting and carving require high level of concentration, you cannot do these well if you think much. And it is vice versa.

When you are doing a good manual work, you are absorbed into it and very unlikely thinking much... Actually that's the reason why a Zen novice starts his training from cleaning and washing dishes.

By drawing and carving, Musashi empties his mind. He knows very well that thinking much about how he should fight with Kojiro would not help him much. After many years of training, he has learnt that the most reliable thing is what has already been completely a part of him so that he does not have to think about it at all. (Such a state is called Unconscious Competence by practitioners of Neuro-linguisic Programming - NLP.) He has decided to let his unconscious mind prepare for the duel.

Emptying your mind is a good way to achieve excellence because it is the highest level of trust you can grant to your unconscious mind. If you can do this, your unconscious mind will be so glad that she would co-operate with you, providing you with all the available resources.

Why Now After Two Decades?

A girl has been on my mind these days for an unknown reason these days. She had never been significant to me so I have been puzzled why she emerged out of blue in my consciousness after many many years...

The last time I met her was on my way to school when I was on the 11th grade. As the top of her sailor suits was white, it should be between June and September. She was on her way to another school and just said "Hi!" with a broad smile and rode away on a bicycle. It's been already more than 20 years since then... I guess I hadn't even thought about her for more than a decade.

I'd known her for more than a decade by then but I'd never felt close to her. Looking back, I feel quite strange why I didn't fall in love with her. She always wore short hair, had a pair of large and mischievous eyes, a boyish smile, flat chest and nicely tanned body and legs like those of a leopards... And she was a kind of girl who would chase after and hit a boy who flipped her skirt, laughing and shrieking wildly.

She was just a right kind of girl for me. But I have no memory that I liked her. I remember her as a very cute girl. She was also very sexy in her gym outfit. But I didn't ask her to go out with me, even though I did to other less cute girls who weren't interested in me at all.

I wonder why. I don't regret at all that I didn't flirt with her. I just wonder why I did not pay attention to my dream girl even though she was very friendly to me. I was grossly unaware of whom I really liked. Maybe I unconsciously repressed my emotions towards her for some reason...

I have no idea why she has stays put on my mind for more than few days without stirring any strong emotion in me... I don't have a clue what triggered her memory.

Why now? Actually, I haven't though about her for more than a decade! A memory is indeed a weird thing.

Anyway, I wrote about her simply because she wanted to emerge from my unconscious mind. Perhaps, I'll find a reason soon.

When a Cat Stops Talking To Her...

I am delighted that a local Hong Kong TV station (ATV World) recently shows a Miyazaki anime every Sunday. It showed Kiki's Delivery Service yesterday. Even though Kiki is a bit too young to be my anima figure, I love this story of the little witch's growth.

I guess Kiki's age is somewhere between 12 and 14, the later stage of Lolita period when a girl becomes a young woman. In order to train herself into an independent witch, she leaves her parents in a village and flies to a city on her broom. Jiji, her little black cat accompanies her on her shoulder and continues to chat with her.

I see this anime as a story of the emergence of independent self and consciousness in a young girl. In the first half of the story, Jiji the black cat chats with Kiki in the human language. I think this is a sign that Kiki has not fully developed her own consciousness yet. She can chat with her cat because the boundary between she and Jiji is still quite vague. And she can fly on a broom without thinking. She can do it unconsciously.

But after she becomes aware that she likes Tombo, a bespectacled mischievous boy, she loses her magic power. She cannot fly. Jiji no longer speaks a human language but only meows. Moreover, he goes out to court his white dream she-cat. Kiki now has separate consciousness from Jiji's. Anyway, a city is a place for separate consciousness.

It does not give one a blanket of protection and oneness that a village would provide her... Having her own consciousness, she has to re-learn how to fly, that was simply a natural thing for a witch's daughter. I guess this part of story symbolises the difficulties that an early teenager experience especially in the relationship to the people around her. It is the pain of re-birth. I guess she's lost ability to fly because she still do not know how to handle her newly gained separate self.

Close to the end of story, she flies again to save Tombo, who hangs onto a rope attached to an airship that has accidentally started flying. Now flying needs a reason and determination. She has to be fully aware of her ability to fly so that she can use it better and in a conscious manner (so she would not abuse it). But after she is able to fly again, she is accepted by the people in the city as a heroine. It is the beginning of her life as a young adult.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Christianity almost is a woman's religion in Japan. Almost every Protestant church there has more female number than male ones so that it is awfully difficult for a Christian woman to find a husband of the same faith.

Actually Christianity is a religion of woman lib there. (It also expains why Japan's first female prime minister was a Protestant.) And one of the reason is (naturally) the Easter story that Jesus first appeared to women after the Resurrection. Indeed Jesus respected women...

I love this story because it can also free men from the unbearable heaviness of being, along with women from the unbearable lightness.

And the popularity of Christianity among Japanese women comes from mysogyny of the Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism. Well, any religion (or ideology) as a tool of governance tends to be hostile to women and the non-mainstream people...

The Lilies Instead of the Thorns

Offer your brother the gift of lilies, not the crown of thorns; the gift of love and not the “gift” of fear. You stand beside your brother, thorns in one hand and lilies in the other, uncertain which to give. Join now with me and throw away the thorns, offering the lilies to replace them. This Easter I would have the gift of your forgiveness offered by you to me, and returned by me to you. We cannot be united in crucifixion and in death. Nor can the resurrection be complete till your forgiveness rests on Christ, along with mine.
- A Course In Miracles (ACIM), Chapt. 20, I, Para. 2, Verses 5-10

A Holy Defloration?

When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And then the centurion said that Jesus had been surely the Son of God. (Mark Chapt. 15)

As I did not see a clear logical connection between the torn curtain and the centurion's comment, I wondered why the holy curtain had to be torn in two. Well, it has been explained as the symbol of reconciliation between God and man. Now, there was nothing to separate God and man as Jesus died to redeem the sin of the world. This is the traditional Literalist interpretation. It's not mysterious enough and is very boring...

But I recently read an interesting interpretation. Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy say in their Jesus and Lost Goddess that the curtain was a hymen! No, it is not a typo of hymn but it is hymen.

They say that a curtain is used in a Jewish secret ritual to explain what is like for a man to know God. In that ritual, a priest opened the curtain and revealed a statute of two entangling angels. This statute showed that love of God is similar to the love between men and women. And the curtain represented a hymen. Freke and Gandy say that the curtain in Jesus' Passion was taken from this secret rite.

Then the Crucifixion could mean an act of defloration! Then who was the virgin? I don't think she was Virgin Mary. Mary Magdalene? Probably not, either.

I guess it was Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom... Then the Crucifixion was man's penetration into the Gnosis (the knowledge of God) and makes this hymen theory quite logical.

But I feel defloration is not enough for a man to know a woman very deeply. Even if it is a symbol of marriage, it is just a beginning. Wedding is just an entrance to another level of intimacy between a man and a woman. Maybe it is a rite of transformation of hot romantic love into warm but long-lasting love. Then the Crucifixion may not be the completion of devine plan but just an entrance to a higher consciousness.

Who Is Afraid of Judas Iscariot?

Judas perished because he was so faithful in the coming of external Kingdom of Heaven that he ignored the Inner Kingdom. Perhaps, so are we.

Judas was not a Satan’s agent.
Neither was he a hero
Who helped Jesus complete his mission.
He just saw a superhero in Jesus
And wanted him to expel the wicked Romans
With Jehovah’s mighty superpower.

He was just one of us
Who long for the external Kingdom of Heaven.
He was just like the people
Who cheered at Hitler, Stalin or Mao,
Longing for the Heaven on Earth.

His end was tragic
Not because he was a betrayer
But because he was so faithful
In the coming of the Outer Kingdom
That he ignored the Inner Kingdom
Which had always been so close to him.

Why do we hate Judas?
It’s because what we see in him
Is just the reflection of our stupid selves.

Judas was just like one of us
Who cheer at Batman or Power Puff Girls
In the lazy hope for superficial peace and justice.

So I want Judas to rest in peace.
He was not evil but just far from enlightenment
Just like all of us…
Tags: Gospel of Judas, National Geographic, Gnosis, Gnosticism

Keep It Moving!

Yin Yang symbol is a sign of Qi (life energy) in motion.

Qi is a curious thing.
If you try to save it,
It’ll stagnate and make you sick.

It’s what you can use
But not what you can have.
It’s with you always
But it wants you to keep using it.

So when you are tired
After many hours at desk,
Walk around, stretch,
Chat with your colleagues,
Play yourself or make love*.
You’ll find yourself more alive
When your Qi starts running again.

Be generous and share your Qi
With anyone who needs it.
The more generous you are with Qi,
The more Qi accompanies you.

I wonder
If Qi is the Heaven's reminder to us
That being is more lively and precious
Than having…

* Not recommended while you are at a classroom, a church, a temple or an office. Choose an appropriate place.

Green, Red and Black...

The weather suddenly turned hot a few days ago here in Hong Kong and I felt dizzy. So I tried to give myself a nice jump start with a cup of Japanese green tea, which is rich in caffeine and effective in removing body heat.

But I could not get the desired effect. I continued to feel dizzy and there was slight discomfort in my gums. So did a cup of Fujianese Tieguanyin Wulong. So I realised the dizziness did not come from heat but lack of Qi in my body. (Wulong has the characterisics of both green and black teas. It is good at removing excessive body heat without cooling down the body too much.)

So I tried Ceylon black tea, Lipton's Yellow Label. It refreshed me a lot. Black tea (which is called red tea in China) is indeed a good qi suppliment. But my eyes stayed sore. Then I thought that perhaps I was so tired that my liver needed a special care.

Pu'er black tea from Yunnan province is usually a good remedy for sore eyes as it helps liver function. My favourite is the one from Xishuangpanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture close to the Laotian border. It is so black and thick that it tastes somewhat like coffee.

But I usually do not drink Pu'er in summer because it warms a body up. It's no wonder why Mongols and Tibetans love Pu'er. (If a person with excessive body heat drinks it, he might have a diarrhea. Well, I sometimes intentionally do this to clean my intestines, though.) So I was a bit reluctant to drink Pu'er but I gave myself a try, anyway.

A cup of very dark Pu'er gave me a feeling of regaining the balance of Qi. It is very unusual for me to feel this way after drinking Pu'er in summer. Perhaps it's a sign that I need a good rest now...

Anyway, there are bewilderingly many different kinds of teas in China. And you can rebalance your Qi by choosing different kinds of tea according to season or your condition.

The Power of Myth

A large sign I recently saw on the wall of a Methodist church in Hong Kong has stirred a lot thoughts in my mind.

Although I don't remember the exact wording of the sign, it roughly said that "The Resurrection is not a myth but a historical fact." I smiled a bit bitterly at the sign, feeling it was pity that the church members utterly underestimated the power of myth. Well, it was also a smile to the ignorant me of the past.

Actually, Christianity is losing its appeal among the intellectuals because of its insistence that the entire Jesus story was a historical fact. It is very difficult for anyone with a scientific mind to believe that God exercised such supernatural power exclusively in Palestine around 2,000 years ago. (According to a very famous theologian of our time, such power was available only for 30-plus years and only within 60 km radius of Jerusalem.) Jung says that the historical Jesus can at best be a mere failed reformer of Judaism.

But Jesus story as a myth has an extremely profound potential to lead people to the search of higher state of being. Anyway, all myths (in the original sense) are introduction to enlightenment, regardless of whether they are historical facts or not. For example, Miyazaki's epic animes such as Princess Mononoke or Nausicaä also are powerful myths in a very innovative packaging. These cartoons are profoundly religious.

I believe now that Christianity can renew itself if it can be free from its literalist tradition and admit Jesus story is a myth. Anyway, it's pity that so many people feel reluctant to tap into this powerful myth of reconciliation between conscious and unconscious minds just because it is presented as a fact...

Musashi's Gnostic Passion (2)

After capturing Musashi, Master Takuan tied the young straggler to the trunk of a thousand-year-old cedar tree at a place quite high up from the ground.

Left high up on the tree, Musashi continued screaming like a beast, demanding the Master to kill him.

The punishment was so cruel that O-tsu, the fiancée of Musashi's close friend also demanded Takuan to release him. And a few days later, Musashi's screams changed into cries for help. Takuan recognises the emergence of human soul in Musashi, but refused to free him. Then O-tsu secretly released him and ran together.

Musashi tied up on a mighty tree reminded me of graffiti from the first century Rome: a crucifixion of donkey. (See the picture above.) The donkey represents the animal self of a man in a Pagan ritual of re-birth. He dies of lower animal (hylic or physical) self and reborn into higher psychic consciousness.

Sounds familiar, huh? Yes, it is indeed related to Jesus' Passion. Actually, the early Gnostic Christianity was an importation of Pagan myth of rebirth into the Hellenised Jewish context...

So Musashi died of his hylic self on the tree. However, he needed to live in the hell before he was really freed.

After escaping to the city of Himeji, Musashi was once more captured by Takuan. Then the monk suggested the Lord of Himeji to imprison the young straggler in a haunted room at the top of a castle. Musashi now had to go down to the Hades. Takuan arranged to have massive number of both Chinese and Japanese classics carried into the dark haunted room. Then Musashi spent years of imprisonment in a very intensive study.

So when he was finally released from the room after three years of imprisonment, he was no longer a wild beastly samurai but had changed into a young man with sophisticated spirit. It was the completion of his death to the animal self. He was reborn as a man with human consciousness.

But it is just the first tenth of the epic story. He had just been initiated into the search of his spiritual (pneumatic) self...

So when we are baptised or when we become aware of being saved, we have just been initiated into the search of our true Self. It is just the beginning... It seems we still have quite a long way to go.

Musashi's Gnostic Passion (1)

I've had quite a bad digestion problem for the past few days. Maybe it's not just due to common cold but also to the maldigestion caused by reading a book by Erich Fromm and two by Carl Jung within a week. I feel that I need to get back to these books again a few weeks later so that I can absorb them better...

Well, even though I've been sick and tired and spent much of my free time in the bed these days, I still have a very strong desire to read. But I don't feel like reading something tough amid the intellectual maldigestion so I picked up the Chinese translation of Musashi, a classic popular novel by Eiji Yoshikawa(吉川英治著「宮本武藏」). It's awkward to read the translation of a novel written in my mother tongue but these two-volume books are the game from my garbage collection. No one throws away Japanese books here in the southern tip of China. Anyway, very few people throw books away, anyway... (Well, I read most of Murakami's works in Chinese translation, too. I like the mainland versions better than Taiwanese versions...)

And I've found the novel very suitable for the Passion Week.

Musashi, a young and wild straggler was pursued by the local authority after killing some border guards. After the local samurai and peasant failed to capture him after a long and extensive search, an eccentric Zen master Takuan (whose name is very funny to the modern Japanese because it means yellow pickled raddish popular in the East Asia) offered to capture him within three days.

After Master Takuan captures Musashi by attracting the lonely and hungry man with taro stew, the monk asked the local warlord to allow him to treat Musashi as he wanted. The petition was granted and Master Takuan told everyone that he would execute the young beastly warrior twice. And the way Takuan, a man who had made a vow of no-killing, killed Musashi was just like the Gnostic Passion myth... I will tell you more about this tomorrow.

Sophie's Trick on My Wisdom Tooth?

The gum around my wisdom tooth still aches. It's not as bad as a few days ago because I could sleep without aspirin last night. But pain anyway drains a lot energy. In addition, as my swollen gum only allows me to take very soft or liquid food such as tofu or congee, it's quite difficult to regain energy... So I cannot think of a good poem today.

But wait a minute. Now I suffer from the pain around my wisdom tooth. Is it that Sophie (of course, her name means wisdom!), my anima and Inner Wisdom is playing a trick using her tooth? Well, I asked Sophie, my anima to help me lose some weight. Is she trying to restrict my food intake using her tooth? I don't know. Perhaps I can ask her in tonight's dream...

Well, it's painful but much much more benevolent than her previous trick. Many years ago, I asked her to help me cleanse my entire self. But I was indeed careless enough to use the Japanese expression "to drain the pus." It means renewal or reform but Sophie took it literally; she kicked my ass furiously in my dreams. It caused horrible abscess around my ass and I had to take three surgeries before the complete cure.

But she is my source of creativity because she is so much playful (although sometimes bit daemonically) and unpredictable... She's my muse.

A Frikking Pain in the Mouth

I had a frikking pain from my swollen gums until 10 minutes ago. The swell suddenly receded right after I finished writing today's news articles... The swelling should have something to do with my news reporting job.

According to Louise L. Hay, emotions such as anger, stagnated thinking, bottled-up tears and feeling trapped can cause swellings.

Hmm. Anger? Yes because I have to write too many articles. Stagnated thinking? I don't know. It seems more like an effect of my swollen gums than the cause. Bottled-up tears? Probably yes. Feeling trapped? Definitely yes! Well, I have to talk with my boss to reduce my workload.

By the way, Louise says that masturbation can stop migraines. I don't know whether it is true or not. But I know that playing with myself is a good cure for light common cold, especially the kind that stuffs my nose...

Escape from Serfdom

"Whenever I see my high school friends, we always reach a consensus that what our parents told us was right."

When I heard a close friend of mine, a Japanese man in his early 30s say this, I felt utterly appalled.

Their parents should be around 60 now. When they were in their 40s in the mid 1980s, Japan was at the peak of the post-war economic success. But its success had been built on corporate serfdom and young Japanese hated their likely future as corporate livestock (shachiku in Japanese) but they did virtually nothing to change their fate. It was a time of prosperity but that prosperity had been built on the escape from the self...

So my friend's words sounded just like his surrender to a state of learned helplessness. Maybe it would lighten the pain of struggle of finding his own Self but I feel it would leave a big hole in his soul. Because being a good serf requires him to dissociate himself from reality and himself.

That's what I have fought. That's why I left the country twice to find a place I can be myself. I love my parents but I cannot think they were right. I want to continue my search for what is right for us now and for our future generations. I may look foolish but I believe I can be more content when my body is cremated some decades later.

Light Up Here And Now

Find a light in yourself now.
And let it grow into a bright torch
So your entire self can glow.

See the world around you
With the torch of your inner light.
I believe you'll find the beautiful world
That you've never imagined.

After you see the light is good,
Look back your past with the light.
I believe you'll see your past filled with glory
That you've never imagined.

Light up your here and now
So that you can light up your eternity.

Actually time is only an illusion.
So if your present is glorious
So are your past and future.

Amen!

Healing Touch After an Argument

When you find it difficult to
Reconcile with your beloved one
After a heated argument,
Try massaging his neck and shoulders.

The argument hasn't only hardened
His heart and attitude
But also his muscles.
So gently knead his neck and shoulders
With the hope of reconciliation.

You'll soon see his heart soften
As your hands soothe his muscles.
And you'll see your soul lighten also
As you gently knead his body and soul.

You'll find in this way
His healing is yours
And his is yours.

Nausicaä in Cantonese

I don't know how many times I've watched Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds. But I am now watching it once again. My wife is still at work so I don't have to worry about being scolded by her for watching the same movie over and over again.

Although I perfectly understand the original Japanese versions, I always choose to watch Miyazaki's animes in Cantonese. One reason is that Hong Kong voice artists talk much more natural than Japanese ones, who tend to speak more like stage drama actors.

And the other reason is that I love Hong Kong women's boyish way of speech. They speak in a much lower voice than most other Asian women and such a voice is just perfect for a character like Nausicaä, a warrior princess with quiet determination.

Well, I love most of Miyazaki's works because his heroines are mostly in line with my dream girls. Perhaps he has an anima figure close to that of mine. And his works might be so popular because the world as a whole has the collective dream girl close to Miyazaki's heroines... Then I might not be as much deviant from the mainstream culture as I've thought... And it may be a good news.

Playful Wisdom

Why has Jehovah always been so grumpy?
I had no idea until yesterday but Jung (Answer to Job) gave me a clue.

Jung says, Jehovah actually used to have a playmate called Sophia but forgot Her somehow.

Now I also have an answer to another question. My Inner Guide always appears in my dreams as a very playful young woman. I was somewhat uncomfortable with a playful Wisdom but now I can accept it. Because She was a playmate...

And now I understand why She inserted a joke in Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach (Sir) 13:26 (RSV):


The mark of a happy heart is a cheerful face,
but to devise proverbs requires painful thinking.

It might have been her small and playful resistance to no-nonsense to Jehovah...

I Wanna Work Until Death But...

Very tired...

I am ready to work until death but working seven days a week may bring the death too much earlier than I hope.

Yes, I am ready to work until death but like Carl Jung (who died at 85) or Fung You-lan (a Chinese philosopher who died at 95 after his final work was sent to a printing house). I want Grimm Reaper to wait at least until I am 80.

I want to work long but not too hard. I've go to cut back my working day to six at least...