| I’ve let my IT skills slide for a long time. Since the day I’ve stopped coming with tech-savvy presentations for projects, I’ve not pushed myself to learn new skills. All I can possibly do is power powerpoint slides, draw process maps using Visio which I learnt years ago in consultancy, power Excel and Word. That day I was watching my aunt clicking her way on colours using Adobe Photoshop and I thought it was simply awesome. She was doing up a presentation, using Flash and all. And the most amazing thing which shocked me that I had backslide for soo long was that these were taught by my 12 year-old cousin.
Then again, this reminded me of something I had discussed with Scholar before. We only have this much of time and since we have so much that we have to learn, we can only do so selectively. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s about differing priorities of each person. Passion would decide what one would pursue I guess. Another would be the relevant set of skills needed for survival in one’s livelihood. I’ve always wanted to be able to stretch my musical talents, not that I have a lot to begin with. It’s an interest that I’ve acquired when I joined the ensemble group in primary school. From it, I learnt how to read musical notes and on my own part, I’ve spent hours after school at my fren’s house to meddle with her piano..where I’ve somehow learnt to play fragments of certain classical pieces. Only fragments of it coz I could never figure out those finger-stretching chords nor be able to coordinate those difficult chords in a single piece of classics. I hope to be able to play piano and this time round, I want to go through the motion of learning from a teacher, going for piano exams..those theory and practical. At my age, there can be no practical use of learning piano, I know. But I’m a believer of pursuing your interests since I’ve already equipped myself with the practicalities of having a Business degree. This, is something I think we should all do. Go for something practical first so that one can afford to pursue their interests in future, should the incapacity of time in the current society not embrace those interests.
I was at the Toa Payoh interchange earlier when I was waiting for my feeder service and I saw this middle aged lady approaching random people to donate for some cause with the stack of coupons she was holding. I thought she was really persistent towards those strangers. I cant help but notice the way she was speaking to push for “sales”, which I thought would probably attribute to her unsuccessful pleas for donation. She was playing up on people’s sympathy about her having a huge stack of donation tickets that she has to complete. By and large, I have no issues or a problem with “peddlers” of these sort. Perhaps, it’s because I know I have the power and ability to say “no” without feeling any guilt for not donating. Well, I don’t believe in half hearted giving. Any form of giving resulting from even a little bit of guilt or pricked conscience is half hearted giving, no? Anyway, that poor young girl who looks like a geek had trouble saying no to the lady and soon enough, the lady got frustrated and irritated with her incessant willingness to say yes. That middle aged lady walked away with an annoyed look on her face, ready to look for her next “victim”. I had actually wanted her to approach me. Not that I was going to donate. But I was ready to give her an affirmative NO, because obviously, she was making use of a soft spot in everyone’s heart to sympathise with her for the lot of donation tickets that she had to get rid of. Too bad, she didn’t approach me. Perhaps, she knew she wouldn’t have a chance at all. Heh..
I had another one of those random thoughts while reading “The Problems of Philosophy” by Bertrand Russell on Appearance and Reality. I figured why I’ve been drawn to “double-think” and explore puzzling questions as we do in ordinary life. I thought I’ve been full of contradictions about some matters while other matters, I find my stand on those as clear as the blue sky. (hmm, a literary attempt here)  I guessed I wanted to go through a great amount of thought to enable myself to know what it is that I really believe in. Our daily life, as what Bertrand Russell said in his book, we assume as certain many things which, on a closer scrutiny, are found to be so full of apparent contradictions.
Anyway, Appearance and Reality chapter explores about a common object say, a table, that is supposed to be known by the senses on its colour, texture, shape etc but under different lens these properties changes. For example, with the naked eye, the table looks smooth and even. But under a microscope, we see roughness and hills..imperceptible to the naked eye. Then which is the “real” table? Suppose we use a higher index microscope, this changes again. Hence, the question of is there a real table? What our senses immediately tells us is not the truth about the object. Thus what we directly see and feel is merely “appearance” which we believe to be a sign of some “reality” behind. But if the reality is not what appears, have we any means of knowing whether there is reality at all? If so, have we any means of finding out what it is like?
I cant help but ask the above question in relation to a broader picture of different aspects of our life. Essentially, we shouldn’t trust what appears to be, and if so, what can we trust then? Even in the table example, the confidence in our senses deserts us. It is often said, trust your instincts. Isnt our instincts coming from our senses? And even our senses fail to perceive the reality of what it is, so how?
I know there can be no answers to bewildering questions of sort but at least I believe in the power of asking questions which increase my interest to the world. To show the strangeness and wonder lying just below the surface even in the most common of daily life, as said. This is Philosophy.
And I’m beginning to love the way my life is turning out. |
check out those at wikipedia 