禱吿.

There are a thousand and one things to pray to you about, to manage expectations, to expend on wisdom. Keep all of us close to Your heart…

So close that I can hear your heart beat.

Islam. A Short History.

The external history of a religious tradition often seems divorced from the raison d’etre of faith. The spiritual quest is an interior journey; it is a psychic rather than a political drama. It is pre-occupied with liturgy, doctrine, contemplative disciplines and an exploration of the heart, not with clash of current events. Religions certainly have a life outside the soul. Their leaders have to contend with the state and the affairs of the world, and often relish doing so. They fight with members of other faiths, who seem to challenge their claims to a monopoly of absolute truth; they also persecute their co-religionists for interpreting a tradition differently or for holding heterodox beliefs. Very often, priests, rabbis, imams and shamams are just as consumed by worldly ambition as regular politicians. But all these is generally seen as an abuse of a sacred ideal. These power struggles are not what religion is really about, but an unworthy distraction from the life of the spirit, which is conducted far from the madding crowd, unseen, silent and unobtrusive.

In the Hindu tradition, history is dismissed as evanescent, unimportant and insubstantial. The philosophers of ancient Greece were concerned with the eternal laws underlying the flux of external events, which could be of no real interest to a serious thinker. In the gospels, Jesus often went out of his way to explain to his followers that his Kingdom was not of this world, but could only be found within the believer. The Kingdom would not arrive with a great political fanfare, but would develop as quietly and imperceptibly as a germinating mustard-seed. In the modern West, we have made a point of separating religion from politics; this secularisation was originally seen by the philosophes of the Enlightenment as a means of liberating religion from the corruption of state affairs, and allowing it to become more truly itself.

But however spiritual their aspirations, religious people have to seek God or the sacred in this world. They often feel that they have a duty to bring their ideals to bear upon society. Even if they lock themselves away, they are inescapably men and women of their time and are affected by what goes on outside the monastery, although they do not fully realise this. Wars, plagues, famines, economic recession and the internal politics of their nation will intrude upon their cloistered existence and qualify their religious vision. Indeed, the tragedies of history often goad people into the spiritual  quest, in order to find some ultimate meaning in what often seems to be a succession of random, arbitrary and dispiriting incidents. There is a symbiotic relationship between history and religion, therefore. It is, as the Buddha remarked, our perception that existence is awry that forces us to find an alternative which will prevent us from falling into despair.

Perhaps the central paradox of the religious life is that it seeks transcendent reality in earthly, physical phenomena. People have sensed the divine in rocks, mountains, temple buildings, law codes, written texts, or in other men and women. We never experienced transcendence directly: our ecstasy is always ‘earthed’, enshrined in something or someone here below. Religious people are trained to look beneath the uncompromising surface to find the sacred within it. They have to use their creative imaginations. Jean-Paul Sartre defined the imagination as the ability to think of what is not present. Human beings are religious creatures because they are imaginative; they are so constituted that they are compelled to search for hidden meaning and to achieve an ecstasy that makes them feel fully alive. Each tradition encourages the faithful to focus their attention on an earthly symbol that is peculiarly its own, and to teach themselves to see the divine in it.

In Islam, Muslims have looked for God in history. Their sacred scripture, the Quran, gave them a historical mission. Their chief duty was to create a just community in which all members, even the most weak and vulnerable, were treated with absolute respect. The experience of building such a society and living in it would give them intimations of the divine, because they would be living in accordance with God’s will. A Muslim had to redeem history, and that meant that state affairs were not a distraction form spirituality but the stuff of religion itself. The political well-being of the Muslim community was a matter of supreme importance. Like any religious ideal, it was almost impossibly difficulty to implement in the flawed and tragic conditions of history, but after each failure Muslims had to get up and begin again.

Muslims developed their own rituals, mysticism, philosophy, doctrines, sacred texts, laws and shrines like everybody else. But all these religious pursuits sprang directly from the Muslims’ frequently anguished contemplation of the political current affairs of Islamic society. If state institutions did not measure up to the Quranic ideal, if their political leaders were cruel or exploitative, or if their community was humiliated by apparently irreligious enemies, a Muslim could feel that his or her faith in life’s ultimate purpose and value was in jeopardy. Every effort had to be expended to put Islamic history back on track, or the whole religious enterprise would fail, and life would be drained of meaning. Politics was, therefore, what Christians would call a sacrament: it was the arena in which Muslims experienced God and which enabled the divine to function effectively in the world. Consequently, the historical trials and tribulations of the Muslim community – political assassinations, civil wars, invasions, and the rise and fall of the ruling dynasties – were not divorced from the interior religious quest, but were of the essence of the Islamic vision. A Muslim would mediate upon the current events of their time and upon past history as a Christian would contemplate an icon, using the creative imagination to discover the hidden divine kernel. An account of the external history of the Muslim people cannot, therefore, be of mere secondary interest, since one of the chief characteristics of Islam has been its sacralisation of history.

The Preface from the book “Islam, A Short History” by Karen Armstrong.

IFG Touch Rugby & a few good things.

Arts sent in two teams for IFG (Inter-Faculty Games) mixed touch rugby. We trained 3 times in the last two weeks before playing. My team won even though I didn’t do much. It was just good to hang around and make more friends.

And today, I relived a passion that I thought had died away since my secondary school days. That rush of the wind; the slow motion of the ball flying from your teammate into your hands; the thrill of side-stepping an opponent; the satisfaction at having out-witted your opposite half. Thank God for letting me find a closure somewhere, even though it was not a full one. No more living vicariously through the windows of the shuttle bus anymore. : )

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you know, tt feeling

when you are almost certain something

BIG is coming your way.

(or, maybe it is already, and it’s just 

tt realisation hasn’t set in.)

that feeling

it doesn’t come often.

in such intensity.

but when it does you know:

brace yourself to be amazed.

*YES. I share the same feelings too.

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It is nearing the end of February. Disong, Weichao, Zihao have settled down in London. Kwang Yew in UPenn. Zhi Jian in Oxford. Pei Ni in America. All rooted already and heading in various directions of growth.

On this sunny side of the island, we have Ellen, Ale, Jan, Raphael, Noi, Jade, Fai, the new international friends that I’ve known at NUS for slightly more than a month, but it feels like longer, and also my SM3 group Lixun, Lin Bo, Junjie, Chaojie, Cui Xiang, Zuo Yu, Liu Xu, Xu Ke, Ruilong, Liu Xiang. There are huge people movements around the world at anytime, and when we move on, new relationships are made while old ones are being renewed. Serving God on campus has brought me into the lives of so many international students. It made me think of what type of legacy do I want to leave behind.

Give me wisdom O Lord.

the ignorant man.

The men who sleep with prostitutes http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7257623.stm

This is not meant to be a moralistic statement, but views like this makes me utterly ashamed of being part of the male gender.

Seize the Day!

It is really really lovely mugging in the school library. Just finished a 30 page academic text review on social changes in Western Europe. Haven’t got on to touch on the stuff for the lectures tomorrow, but am currently feeling slightly more knowledgeable than I was about politics in contemporary Europe than 2 hours ago.

Going to grab some food at the Central Forum now with Flo, before going back to PGP and grab the training stuff for the last IFG training this week. Heh! Exciting things to really really look forward to this week, before the dawn of the reading week.

Yesterday (or technically this morning) run with Becky was extremely liberating even though I was a bit sick. Oh well! Time to go. : )

Clean Hands Pure Hearts.

Today has been a fantastically good day. It started off with a surprised 21st birthday celebration for Joanna with GK and Teck Tee, and then off to English Speaking Corner (ESC) with Yiwen. I really appreciate the time spent sharing and praying together before and after the conversations with the chinese students. I’ve learnt a lot from her sharing and the way she prays. Other than Weichao, she is the only other friend whose passion for science, coupled with a graceful articulation enthralls me by turning science into an art form that I can understand and appreciate.

Managed to introduced the story of Moses and how he brought his people through Egypt during today’s topic on “songs” for ESC. Glad to see our efforts slowly bearing fruit. I saw Jan today too at the engine bridge! She stopped and talked to me and I introduced her to Yiwen, who had quite a good exchange experience in Canada. I’m beginning to hope that I get my second choice for xchange actually. Am starting to think that Canada would be a better place than England.

The incessant praying by myself and with friends like Yiqing for example has produced much fruit. I had my church history tutorial and public administration in Asia lecture today. I’ve learnt quite a lot from Lockheart on kingship and priesthood, church and state. As for the latter, I learnt quite a lot from Professor Kikkon Ko that gives me the chance to think and reflect and also to learn from Edward too.

There is Fellowship Teachings (FT) today, and I caught up with quite a bunch of other cfers from other faculties. I caught up with Wei Shieng and also Christelle! We were just msging each other this week and it was quite a big and pleasant surprise to see her even though I couldn’t recognise her initially. It was because today’s FT was organised by the medical faculty. We have lots to update each other soon.

Been sharing with GK during FT on some of the burden I have for international students. Am greatly encouraged by a later sharing of Feng Qian when she mentioned she received Christ when she was at LSE. I have hopes of IFG achieving something similar. It is quite good to have a close friend who shares a similar idea and burden, and I thank God for GK. : )

Seeing all the girls working so hard and being so disciplined makes me want to discipline myself and work harder too. Friendly competition. : )

Last Saturday, I invited my Vietnamese neighbours to my house and we had a bit of a sharing. Am really glad and feel privileged at the foreign experiences that I’m getting in school, and how I can reach out to them. Caught up with Seok Fun too!

Looking back at the happenings so far of the week, I’m even more convinced that I’m a people-driven person in the sense that I really really feed on other people’s energy; in making friends and deepening old relationships. I’m determined to look back at my student life with a sense of pride at how I have lived it to the fullest for the Lord. Never felt so close to the Lord after quite a long lull period.

Siqi : ) One of my favourite and brightest cousins from my mom’s side. Actually I’m already considered her uncle, but I rather not be called that… Heh.

The silences of Jesus are as eloquent as His words

My love is silent because I love beyond the power of words to express it and beyond the understanding of the human heart. Also, it is silent for your sakes – that you may learn to love and trust Me with pure, Spirit-taught, spontaneous responses. I desire for your response to My love to be without the prompting of anything external.

God will do wonders never before done, if you learn the mystery of His silence and praise Him every time He withdraws His gifts from you. Through this you will better know and love the Giver.

-Streams in the Deserts

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If the last two weeks are thunderstorms and snowstorms, then this week would be the renewal and peace that comes from the wisdom earned from the faithful heart that petitions to God, who gives freely without asking.

My weak impatient heart cry out because I think that God does not answer at all or He answers in a way that I believe is less than the best. In fact, the silences of Jesus are as eloquent as His word and may be a sign not of His disapproval but of His approval and His way of providing a deeper blessing for me.

I will yet praise Him, even for His silence.

More Cello music.

Metallica/Apocalyptica – Nothing Else Matters

Apocalyptica – Metallica cover with 4 cellos

Latvian Rock Cellists and others.

Final Countdown. Super cool… I seldom see Cellists who shake their heads and then hold up their Cellos and play!

落葉歸根 by Wang Lee Hom.

菊花台 remix. : ) More songs to learn from my せんせい!

of Rugby, Frisbee and Captain’s Ball.

I played captain’s ball and frisbee with the science faculty and the med faculty after my lessons today. It was a time of good fun, with old and new friends, and I harked back to the days when I was still playing sports regularly. Even the pain from spraining my little finger brought back memories of the rugby days when I mis-catched a ball or made a bad tackle. There are so much energy around us, with the basketballers, the netballers, the soccer players… After the games, on our way to dinner at Dover, we walked past the other end of the field and I was observing the contact rugby guy’s team playing touch rugby. The abundance of energy, the skills, the breakaways, the tackles all brought back a heavy sense of nostalgia. Rugby was also a game where I met two great pals, of which one became a best friend. Playing with some of the people today made me dream of a “yet to meet best friend”.

Further down the field, I saw a mixed touch rugby team doing their drills, probably the opposition for me next Sunday. My team is training this Friday, and two sessions next week. Finally, a chance for me to live out my favourite game in real-time rather than living vicariously through other people. I’m glad that I have God always give me something to look forward to, and fill it up with purposeful and meaningful things.

Had a fun time at dinner too! And I realised that only a quarter of us are Arts and Social Science Students. I think having a good attitude coupled with an open mind is very important in making friends, and keeping them.

Was too lazy and too busy to write for the last few days, and to my chagrin, most of the memories slipped past me already. In fact, I live on in the consolation that I did used to have the memories, and in my daily actions and reflections, know that I have tried to live out each day as best as I can, and that perhaps live me with no regrets, even though I didn’t penned every single memory down.

And yes. I thank God for a good CNY.

My best friend is in Berlin now, and my prayers rest in both him and the other とてもvaluable pal too emoting by himself in his own room mugging away without the other one around. For you Wei Chao. Missed ya too.