When you approach the end of the road, what do you see?

Just fiddle abit with my guitar and did some morning static exercise. After everything, i just sat in front of my desktop and my mind suddenly thought of something.

I remember reading a book that wrote," Religion tends to paint a beautiful afterlife picture, so that people will not be too afraid of it. At the same time, if human can, because of this beautiful picture looks forward to afterlife then humanity has failed itself.". I can't remember the exact phrasing, but this is the main gist. The last part of this sentence struck me deeply - Humanity has failed itself. Perhaps, we human has through our own hand constructed a fearful world for ourselves. Maybe, we ourselves are the source of each pain and sorrow. Yes, all these are very probable.

Though the world is not exactly very pleasant to live in, i m definitely not one that looks forward to afterlife and this does not mean i am afraid of it. If the objective reality cant be changed, then perhaps we can change the subjective reality and this lies in us. In counseling theory, i remembered is called the ABC model.

And as for the answer to my title, I dont really care what i will see at the end of the road, all that matters is what i will see along the way.

Best read of the month.

" One day everything will be well, that is our hope. today everything is fine, that is our illusion."

"We never quite get over the sorrow caused by losing those loved; we only learn to live with it and to live despite it; which makes living a richer thing. That is sorrow's gift."

These are 2 quotes that are extracted from the book i am reading now. It has been months since i found a book that can impress me incredibly much. A book by A.C grayling " The meaning of things- Applying philosophy to life". This book is made up of many short essays that tackle with every aspects of life. For example, some of the chapters in it are "death","tolerance","virginity","peace" and so on... Each chapter consists of 2 to about at most 6 pages, which is pretty short for any book. But after i read it, i understand why each chapter is so short. The reason is there is no reason for it to be long. The author just did a fantastic job in covering the width and depth of a particular theme within the 6 pages. Any longer, it will be superfluous.

In fact to me, though this book just consist of many independent short chapters compiled together, i found it quite a "heavy" read. The whole book is laid with sentence like the quotes above. It induces a lot of thinking, a lot of cross referencing to my experience and the reality. Frankly speaking, to be able to cover every aspect of life to such great depth and all the way down to the tiniest details, i really wonder what kind of life he has been through. He is definitely one of my most admired writer. Going to get his other books soon. haha...

unconsidered life is not worth living- by socrates. <--- i think is very true. i am a great advocate of this ideal.

Clown.

I remember a story that goes something like this.....

One day, in a small little town, a man went to a psychiatrist in that same town over the problem that deep within him, he can't seems to be happy. This doctor then recommended him to a super famous entertainer(a clown) in town which was believed to be able to evoke laughter and happiness in the man, but it turned out that this unhappy man is actually the entertainer.

Interesting story. Somehow, i can actually empathize with this unhappy man. In his daily life, he had to put on that facade and performed to gain the smile and laughter in the audience. It was his job's obligation. For me, i too put on a facade and it is one akin to a clown. The only difference is, my facade stemmed from my insecurity.