Dr. Charles Ho wrote on the eve of Moon Cake Festival: … the more a person learns the more he knows what he does not know!
Believe it or not, this is also what Ng Keng Hwa has written in my autograph in Chinese before our graduation, indicating it as a quote from Sung Yat Sun. It was kind of disappointing to get only a quote from a famed talker. I have always wondered what he had meant. To learn or not to learn?
For me, the problem resolved itself when I failed to make it to local university after form six. Vocational options were very limited back then and I became a temporary teacher in Pontian Besar’s Tah Tong primary school. Still, the issue of the value of further education and knowledge continued to bother me. My experience was that with only secondary education, I could not even organize my thoughts properly much less to be articulate about them; and this had made me suffered much frustration from being pent up with unexpressed ideas, viewpoints and a host of abstract emotions. Socially, I felt handicapped.
As if to further rub it in on my lack-luster A-level performance, I was assigned to teach standard one at SRJC Tah Tong. Lesson 1 for Chinese subject: Ma Ma lei, bao di di!!! which called back the memory of Yeo Sek Siong’s indefatigable derisive chanting of that elementary chapter during the exchange of classroom between 5SD and 5SE for Chinese lessons. A back-bencher by the door of my neighbouring class 5SD, he would keep up with his chant, laughing uproariously to irk us: …di di bao xiao mao, xio mao…. (bla bla bla!) without fail. Nothing could stop him so the picture stuck in my mind.
When I was caught in this state of mortification, entered none other than our Dato Neo into the scene to add insult to my injury. Being at the top all through his academic life, he sailed smoothly into the country’s top university doing the much coveted Civil Engineering course. Exuding the exuberance of a university freshman, he had come to pay respect to his primary school which had laid the foundation for his current achievement (or maybe just to fetch his sister who taught in the kindergarten:D). He was happy to have stumbled on me and we chatted about the school.
Situated near the waterfront, our school had always suffered the threat of floods and the school authority was at wit’s end about a workable solution.
‘Of course the best thing is to build a wall all around to keep out the water,’ I ventured. Then I made the mistake of speaking in absolute term instead of using a non-committal statement. ‘It is impossible to do that of course,’ I lamented with sincere regret, unknowingly exposing myself to his attack. Excited with his newly learned knowledge, he declared with much confidence: ‘In engineering, nothing is impossible!’ Then he went on with a sophisticate narration of the various alternatives of flood prevention for the school. I wanted to interpose with the issue of budget but held my tongue, for who am I to argue with a top-notch scholar?
That was almost thirty years ago and now, when I have checked him out on his website www.syp.com.my, I have to concede that the knowledge he had acquired at tertiary level must have served him well, judging from the impressive record of contracts he had secured for his company. It is undeniable that sufficient relevant knowledge has much practical usage in any productive endeavour. However, are we to learn only what we need to apply? What about pushing the frontier of knowledge forward either a little or in a revolutionary way? Will we end up getting drown in the sea of knowledge; or pathetically trudging on in vain search? Are we to concede defeat and sigh at human limitations and be complacent about our position on planet earth? Is extolling the brotherhood/sisterhood of man/women and regaling in the comfort of common bonds with humanity the best option for us in our lives after fifty?
In short: Is all that we have already known about life what life is all about?
What more do we want? What more aught we want? What more can we want?
Think about it.
5 comments:
I understand from your profile that you did make it the University (more than one i think).
What you did not achieve earlier, you sure made it up later, with revenge and determination.
The search for knowledge may eventually lead us to the question of the meaning of life. The insatiable thirst for knowledge, or better still, wisdom if it can be satisfied can lead to contentment and happiness. However if this thirst cannot be quenched one may feel incomplete and thus result in depression.
Your determination and quest for knowledge is admirable. However, this quest is never ending, because knowledge is endless.
In the end we need to know what are the things that make us happy.
The problem is if one cannot find contentment with the current mass of knowledge about the human conditions, the known proposed solutions to life's problems and what life has to offer, one has no choice but to embark on the quest for new knowledge and the full ramification of a new set of prescriptions for all issues relating to life, beginning with a revolutionalized perspective of life itself.
The search is thus not about deciding on options which are visibly in existance like merchandise displayed in a supermarket; rather, it entails proactive efforts to discover or invent an unknown which satisfies the restless soul.
Any chance the 'new' knowledge can be found from the old books (old wisdom, old philosophers). They may be new to us as we never read them or never ready understand them. It is better to ensure that we have studied the past first to prevent the case of new found knowledge, after so much effort, has already been found thousand years ago.
Hapiness is about the stage of mind once food and shelter are ensured.
The acid test for the soundness of any theory or philosophy lies in how well it applies in practice. A culture is formed by the philosophy behind it; ultimately, what shapes our lives is a particular philosophy or a combination of a few which we have adopted consciously or otherwise, in the course of our lifetime.
A prominent feature of ancient cultures, both Asian and Eastern, is male domination which legitimizes the notion of females as inferior and a weaker sex. Today, that bias has weakened considerably but tradition dies hard and women continue to be victimized to the extent that many have succumbed under societal pressure to live an unfair life of servitude. Sadly, the unjust situation is still real and existing in our part of the world in the Chinese communities.
To me, any system which victimizes any segment or group within it must not be endorsed, insofar as we uphold integrity as an essential and supreme element in our culture. Confucianism, a major influence as a philosophy underlying Chinese culture, notorious for its sexist bias against women, is thus not qualified to shape our society and families. As such, I do not see the virtue of delving into this branch of knowledge in seeking a cure for social ills but turn to the alternative of formulating a more just society based on a revolutionary body of knowledge.
What else do we have off the counter? Western culture? Spiritualism? So far, none seems to be satisfactory as is self-evident in view of the miserable state the world is in today.
The quest for new knowledge has thus become my preoccupation.
There is never a one size fit all in life.
Harmony within and without oneself is an agreeable state in life. However there will be others who would think that it is a bore and monotonous.
If you were to go back to the Stone Age, you will agree that men were the hunters and women the gatherers, keeping their home of comfort. There was no philosophy then, but it was about survival, harmony and livelihood. How did such bias towards women exist during such a period? Is it because of the difference in the physical strength of the sexes that the sexes adopted and adapted to their expected roles?
Yes, time has changed. People no longer have to hunt for food and brute strength is no longer a requisite for the food on the tables. With that the women began to impose different virtues and treatment. There is no problem in that as I feel that there are always men who could agree on equality, not that whether their consent is being sought after.
In the end, it still comes down to harmony, which to many is a form of happiness.
The saying "one type of rice feeds many types of people" tells us that different people have different and many ideas about what they want and what they do not know what they want.
Say Yeow already mentioned that you don't talk about other philosophical theories if there is no food and shelter first.
Many things in life is relative. A person without food for a few days when given food will feel so happy and contented because the suffering of that moment has been relieved.
I have a proposal for your present preoccupation: let this quest for "new knowledge" be yourself.
Know oneself. After knowing oneself then we may find some answer to the unsatisfactoriness of humankind.
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