Do you believe what you believe?

Belief

I've often wondered why people believe the things they believe. Did they decide to believe a claim and later stay with that belief without necessarily having to find out whether it is true, or do they simply hold on to the belief till it is disproved? Maybe for some, they believe a proposition to be true and adds 'logic' and 'supporting evidence' and disregards 'unsupporting evidence' in order to substantiate that belief?

People used to believe that the world is flat and that belief stayed for a long time before it was found to be untrue. However there are certain claims that would be hard to prove or disprove. Examples of these are the existence of God, gods, dieties, ghosts, afterlife, rebirth or even ultimate reality. The agnostics believe that those claims will not be able to prove or disprove and so they do not believe. This view is not to be confused with the atheist who simply do not believe in the existence of god.

Then there is another group who believe that there is no purpose in existence and that it is without intrinsic value. They assert that there is no objective morality in existence and thus claim that it has also no intrinsic higher meaning. They therefore claim that there is no reasonable proof that there is a higher ruler or creator. These nihilist view is opposite to the Christian faith.

The Christians are monotheist. To them the scriptures in the Bible is authoritative as they believe them to be God's words. The death and resurrection of Jesus are considered to represent the possibility of eternal life after death in this human life, Some say that there is no God as you cannot see one, but others will tell you that since you cannot see your brain therefore you don't have one. The believers will tell you that they know, the way that believers know. However a sincere believer in the flat world theory does not know that the world is flat.

We have been told not to listen to rumour, but sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between rumour and truth. When a statement is repeated once too often, people starts seeing some truth in it - no smoke without fire. Traditions are also easily believed, and so are scriptures of the ancient. We tend to believe certain things based on our logical thinking and especially if it is biased towards our accepted consideration.

So what do we believe? How to believe? Belief is afterall a psychological statement for a proposition to be true. Belief is knowledge only if the belief is true. As we all know, our understanding of the world around us, and more importantly within us, comes through our six senses; the eyes (sight), the ears (sound), the nose (smell), the skin (touch), the tongue (taste) and the mind (thinking). However we know there is this optical illusion and the limitation of the eyes being able only to see within the colour spectrum and not beyond, like the infrared or the ultraviolet. The working ears can hear a frequency of between 20 to 20000 hertz. Can we say there is no sound beyond these frequencies? Our ability to understand the things around us is limited to what we have learned so far and we can thus be biased towards things we have no inkling about. So how convinced are we about what we believe?

To illustrate this, let me quote from a book called 'The Black Swan'. Before the discovery of Australia, people of the Old World were convinced that all swans were white. The sighting of the first black swan might have been an interesting surprise for a few ornithologists, but that is not where the significance of the story lies. It illustrates a severe limitation to our learning from observations or experience and the fragility of our knowledge. One single observation can invalidate a general statement derived from millennia of confirmatory sightings of millions of white swans. All you need is one single black bird.

Now, what do you believe? Do you still believe what you believe? Or are you waiting for the Black Swan?

Seah YK

The Quest for New Knowledge – a Question of To Be or Not To Be?

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.

Forum: Is there life for SSP76 after Dec 6?

Is there life for SSP76 after Dec 6?

Dear All
While on the phone with Say Yeow last week, I asked him if he might have a
longer term plan for our batch of SSP students. I was surprised to learn
that it has all started with merely the idea of a reunion dinner from SSP
girls like Chin Sik Fong. I thought the Dato' has wanted to hold this
group of people together to promote a worthwhile cause of his choice
perhaps to fulfill his ambition. See how my imagination can run wild just
like that.
How about the rest of you? What is the fate of SSP76 going to be? A one-off
rendezvous or a long-term commitment?

Regards
Michelle
15 Sept, 2008

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Dear All

When emails for the reunion dinner was circulated, I find it very difficult to keep on adding extra email addresses. Then only I thought of using this google group system to make life simple. Later, come the idea of trying to add members using internet to hunt for our schoolmate.

This should be a good platform for all to communicate. Some of us may have past differences, if we still can remember. After 30 years, some of us may have changed. Some friendship can be built, rebuilt or strengthen. Some permanent differences can only be treated as difference in personality, character and style and can only be tolerated. Human needs human. We will need each other more from now onward as we will more and more time.

For the group to start, I believe it is important to get those 'then popular figures' to play active role. Among them should include all the prefects. Let me post their nice young 18 year old pictures later. No copyright, I assumed.

This is more like a social group like Lions Club or Rotary Club but unlike them, we starts with some old memory. A bit of energy is required from many members. Hope this can be kept alive for long term plan. With about 70 people in the list, if each write a few words once a while, the group can be active. With 50 years of age, we all are very experience in Life, good + bad.

Cheers

Say Yeow
15 Sept, 2008

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Dear ALL

Finally we like to talk freely about everything, including about the
past and about the future. We can joke. We can praise. We can
compliment each other. But certain things are not good to put on
record as this group is open to all.

With regard to the admirer’s story, it can be very real. If someone’s
the other half see it, I hope he or she is open-minded enough.
Otherwise, not so good lah, Please be alerted.

SY
15 Sept, 2008

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Dato’

You have done a great job with the little spark of yours. Fire is now burning and the heat is on but for how long? Michelle asked the right question on what is next after Dec 6? I have no answer for this but immediate thought you got to do what you ought to do if you find meaning in keeping friendship alive. They say when you have no one in your life you can call and say “I need help,” then your life is unfulfilling. I am sure we all can count on one another to openly extend a helping when the need arises. So, help keep the fire going and let us not have to rekindle it only once a year. Do your part – update your personal profile when you change it, drop a word or two to the Group when you can, share a joke, say hello with a call. It is for you to manage.

Best Regards

Sam Loh

15 Sept, 2008

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for the record, original intention was simple, to celebrate 50yrs young
birthday with my
childhood friends and classmates, was not out to do something great.

SikFong.Chin@seagate.com
16 Sept, 2008