My Religious Beliefs

Disclaimer: Please do not read further if you tend to feel insulted by unorthodox religious beliefs.

Personally my belief is somewhat close to Buddhism.

I think somewhere in the universe, probably in another dimension, there is a clearinghouse where souls wait to be assigned to different lifeforms. Each time we descend to enter a body, all memories of the past are locked so that we cannot access them, thus when we are born our mind is a blank slate. However when we return to the clearinghouse we can access all the memories of all our lives.

So coming to this world is really like starting a new game, one that restarts each time we are born. What would be the purpose of this then? At first glance it seems rather meaningless. But I think each time we come down we receive different experiences; we explore different facets of life. For instance, in past lives I could have been a pregnant mother, a king, a beggar, a great warrior, a victim of war, a scientist or a man of religion. When I go back to that clearinghouse all the memories mold together so that I can understand the universe and the true nature of life better.

The more diverse these experiences are, the faster we get to understand truth. If I had been an ordinary worker in every life, this would not help me attain wisdom very quickly as all my memories would be mundane ones, the most vivid might be banging a different girl in each life, but after a few lives that would feel the same as well. What would help would be something like being a conqueror that slays millions in one life, then a man whose family is killed in war in another.

As for karma, does it exist? I am inclined to doubt it. For compared to our true form as souls, life as flesh is truly insignificant. For us to hold on to grudges from these lives would be as foolish as two people fighting because one fellow killed the other in a computer game (not that I have not seen this happen before). So why should deeds from one "game" affect the starting conditions in the next round?

I think that the conditions which we are born under, whether rich or poor, healthy or sick, beautiful or ugly, smart or dumb do not reflect our deeds in the past, but instead represent different starting conditions in which we begin each round of gaming, and these variations paired with our actions bring us different life experiences. Just the same as you would play a hand of poker differently depending on whether the two cards that were dealt initially were a pair of aces or a three and an eight.

Then we may ask: is doing good of no consequence? Should we commit evil since this life is unimportant anyway? This is the question my philosophy cannot answer. My personal feeling is that although the actual impact of our actions are of no consequence on the cosmic scale, if we keep harboring negative intentions in every life it may impede our understanding of the universe, thus slowing down our ascension to divinity.

So when we finally understand everything and do not need to go into the cycle of life again, we merge with all the other souls that achieve enlightenment. This entity is the most powerful being in the universe. It would also be very very bored as there are no challenges, so its pasttime would be to contemplate within itself. Fortunately its members bring in a lot of experiences and perspectives. So for their sake, we must all strive to attain nirvana so we can join them and add our experiences into the pool.

Girls and short hair

I've heard many girls ask why guys like girls with long hair more. Here is my explanation:

Traditionally guys wear their hair short and girls wear their hair long. Think of it, how many guys you know would look better with long hair? I think the answer is: not many. Sure, some handsome or artistic-looking fellows may look great with a lengthy hairstyle, but these guys are definitely in the minority.

Hence, we can extrapolate from this that the percentage of girls who look good with short hair are also in the minority.

Good deeds

Many people express the sentiment that one should not expect returns for one's good deeds; the act of doing good should be ample reward in itself. Though I admire the nobility of this sentiment, I cannot agree with it in the larger picture.

Let me relate a story. A long time ago in China, when it was split into several countries, the master sage Confucius had a disciple who was traveling outside his own nation. This disciple came upon a fellow countryman who had been sold as a slave, so he took out his purse and paid the required amount of money necessary to free the man, who was naturally very thankful.

When the disciple returned to his own country, he told Confucius of this. Confucius commended his act and told him to claim the amount of money he had spent with the government. At that time, in their nation there was a law saying that if money was spent to save a fellow citizen from slavery in a foreign country, the government would reimburse the giver.

Confucius' disciple declined, saying that he was willing to perform this good deed using his own funds. Upon hearing this, Confucius insisted that he reclaim the money from the government. The disciple was puzzled: why would Confucius prevent him from doing a good deed?

The sage then explained: "If you spend your own money to save this man, all our country will admire you. However in the future, if other men see our fellows being enslaved overseas, how will they act? Will they save them then come and claim the expense? That would make them look petty next to your example. Yet if they do not claim the expense the cost to themselves would be significant."

"The logical outcome is that they pretend not to notice when they see our people being sold into slavery," Confucius concluded.

Therefore, is it wise for us to expect people to do good purely out of the nobility of their hearts? Such nobility does exist, but we should never count on it from day to day, as it could be worn out by constant use.

Much better to promote a culture where goodness is seen and recognized, and rewarded by praise and respect. The recipient of kindness should constantly think how to repay it. For we all act in our self-interest, and if such self-interest can be aligned with the interest of society, the motivation for helping others will be significantly stronger than solely altruism.

(Fiction) The Princess and the Dragon

In a land far far away, and a time long long ago, there lived a young prince. He was the last of a proud and noble family; both his elder brothers had perished on quests to rescue the most beautiful princess in the world, locked up in a crystal tower guarded by a fearsome dragon. His eldest brother had been the greatest warrior in the land, but he never rode back from single combat with the dread creature. As the second brother rode to avenge him he charged with a hundred fierce knights, yet all was naught before the deluge of flame.

The young prince decided that his brothers should not die in vain. He was ready to face the dragon. Although his mother pleaded with him not to go, that he was her only son left, he stood resolute. Only a few knights went with him as he rode to that crystal tower, other attendants trailing behind reluctantly.

After some riding, they reached a vast plain over which the tower loomed. Above it flew a mighty dragon, scales black as night, eyes red as blood. It was large enough to cover small towns in its shadow. His attendants trembled in their boots.

But instead of pulling out a sword, the prince pulled out a horn and blew it loud enough to wake the dead. The dragon stared downwards. Was this challenger foolish enough to fight it bare-handed? Alone? It would make him regret. Steadily it flew down towards him.

Yet as it got near, it paused. The prince's attendants had laid out pigs and cows on the ground, all without hair and cooked to a crispy perfection. The smell was heavenly. The dragon landed before the small party and their offerings.

"You do realize we dragons are immune to poison, don't you," the dragon smirked.

"Of course, Mighty One," the prince smiled. "These animals have been cooked with spices by the best chefs in my kingdom. Please enjoy".

The dragon chomped down. It was truly a feast fit for a dragon. It tore through the tender flesh with teeth as sharp as daggers. When it had finished, it let out a mighty burp.

"That was pretty good. Thanks. Now let's fight and get it over with". The dragon said, thinking it would finish it quickly and mercifully in thanks for the food.

"Wait. If you kill me, you aren't going to get any more of this food." That made the dragon pause. The lunch it had just taken was much much better than any of the tough, stringy knights it had eaten before. Indeed that was all the food it got, and fewer and fewer of them came nowadays.

"You suggest we not fight?" This was somewhat out of the norm.

"How about you follow me back to my kingdom? Help me burn some enemies occasionally and I will make sure you dine like this forever. My servants will help you clean your scales too"

The dragon considered the offer for a moment. It sounded much better than guarding a silly tower and killing knights once in awhile.

"But I am bound by a magical contract to guard this tower."

"What does the contract state?" The prince asked.

"I must not harm the princess, and I must kill anyone who attempts to rescue her." The dragon replied.

"We can get around that easy. Let me in the tower."

"That would be against the terms"

"I'll go in and kill the princess. That way you can let me in because I'm not trying to rescue her. After she's dead you are free from the silly contract and can follow me back home."

The dragon scratched its head, then looked at the prince.

"Deal."

Thus House Targaryen was born.

Beginner's Luck

We often hear the saying that beginners tend to have good luck in things, especially in gambling. This phenomenon is known as beginner's luck.

This always struck me as rather ridiculous; if anything one would expect beginners to do worse. If beginners really had better luck, why not just follow them around in a casino and bet on whatever they bet on? Obviously this claim is not scientific.

However after some consideration, I have hit on a possible explanation for the claim of beginner's luck.

Statistically speaking, half of the beginners who start a luck-based game will have better luck than average, while half will have worse luck than average. More of those who experience above-average luck will elect to continue playing the game, as they have had a lovely time at the start, while those who started with bad luck will have a greater tendency to drop out.

Over time, this makes it so that among the population of gamblers, a larger percentage have experienced good luck when starting, thus causing them to feel that beginners tend to have better luck.

A reminder to myself

As I write this I have not slept at all. I've been grinding out some code for the whole night; now my hands are kinda shaky too from lack of sleep.

My arms and legs are pretty painful too from riding a rodeo bull the day before. I suppose to win prizes you have to pay a price in life.

Having said that, I managed to stay on the bull and win. I managed to stay awake and finish my programming.

Never give up in life.

Chinese educated people taking English names

Being Chinese educated myself, I naturally mix with many people for whom English is not their first language. Due to this they have not had an English name since birth, instead having to take one for themselves later in life. Some of them have wisely consulted me before picking an English name and so got something lovely. Unfortunately, many have not had such good sense, causing them to pick rather... unorthodox names such as "Apple", "Fish" and "Flower". My personal favorite was when one girl told me her name was "Kinky" (Kinki? could not ascertain spelling), upon which it took all my willpower to keep from laughing to her face.

Though we may laugh now at such naming choices, it is in a way not surprising. The plain fact is at the beginning of a language being developed, its users tend to pick rather literal names for themselves - for example Native American names such as Howling Wolf or Spirit Eagle. Suddenly "Fish" doesn't sound so outlandish any more right?

In fact most "modern" English names have literal meanings. "Bernard" means "bear", while "Calvin" means "bald". Smith and Archer, both common surnames, are self-explanatory. Avril Lavigne's Avril means "April" in French. Judging by this, I would say taking names such as "Apple" or "Flower" aren't so strange at all, especially considering that there are people named "Flora", which is simply flower in Latin.

However "Kinky" is still unacceptable no matter how you cut it.