What and who are we in this life ?

Do we have a chance to be different from what we used to be ? are we insane for things we think and do which are different from other common people think and do? can we freely express what as our passions ? have we ever thought about the mystery of our existence in the world and thought beyond our conventional comprehension ?

One day Veronika a young lady from Slovenia-it was Yugoslavia- with her perfect life planned to end her life by consuming overdose sleeping pills. She’s just 24. She’s fed up with her boring life. She everyday time to time did the same things. Life seemed predictable to her while she can’t do anything knowing most of the time so many people are suffering from war, poverty, and any other unlucky things that she watched from TV without ending. However she didn’t die. She found her self in a mental hospital in a weak condition. It was told that she had five days left of her life ever since. Being desperate to know she was still alive however she seemed that she felt relieved to do the things she never did before her death. She celebrated her life and met some inmates who had also another horrible lives.

Zedka, a housewife about 35 year old with two kids and a perfect husband obsessed of being a mistress of her former lover who is married. She was depressed of being lonely to be his mistress. Time to time she kept on waiting him but he didn’t come. It is getting worse while in the heat political situation during the war She eventually became acutely depressed. She was a Serbian campaigner for her people in the country but at the same time regretted her self not doing the same effort of struggling for her first love. She ignored and abandoned her lovely family and was getting crazier of her lost love.

Mari, a 40 year old lawyer is one of inmates in Villete, a mental hospital where Veronika and Zedka spent their miserable but “free” time together. The doctor diagnosed that she was sticken by panic attack or panic disorder. Her story began when she had watched movie on poverty in El Savador with her husband. She was gripped by despair looking at the terrible realm in the movie ; starving, children were forced to live on the streets and turn to prostitution. Since she began her career as a lawyer for years until she has got grown children she felt that she never realized about what was happening in the world. In her mind it didn’t make sense that people still fighting in war at the end of the twentieth century.

What Zedka did sounds stupid for us. Meanwhile what Veronika thought about committing suicide seems hopeless that nothing would change in this life. What about Mary who are schocked by knowing the miserable real life of other people far away in El savador? Where has she been so far? What did she ever do to the her people surrounding her as a lawyer for 40 years? Why did she just realize that there are a lot of people out there who live suffering in war and below poverty line ?

Another patient was Edward, diagnosed as schizophrenic. But he’s not. He found his self-existence when he got an accident and spent awhile in the hospital. During that time he met some people who introduceed him the world that he never touched. This world that actually he passionate about. He loved art. He aspired to be an artist. Unfortunately his diplomat parents disagreed with that. They made him to follow his father’s career path as a diplomat. Edward was desperate and became lonely. He kept him away from the people but just spent the whole days in his room with his art creations. His parents thought that he was crazy.

What happened to them are reflected to what happens to us as human beings. Like Veronika she experienced the days are almost the same everyday, since she was a child until she has grown as a young lady see knew that life’s circle was around into the same path every time. We were born, we go to school, we fall in love, we get married, we take care of husband and children for so many long years, we are getting old, and we die. This all for her seemed boring, predictable and not surprising. What she understood about life is all that.

What about Zedka, she lived in fantasy trying to find her true love like stories in the movies and live with happy ending after long struggles.

Why should we live in this world ? what are the meaningful things we are able to create either for ourselves or even to other people ? should we go so far being a volunteer in the war zone just to help people ? or actually we can do something else which will value the same ? do you believe that we are unique creature with different destiny, passion, interest, thought, and on and on? We could be born from the same parents but with different characters. No matter what kind of people and parent who bring us up, we just go with our destiny flow. There’s no one better than others because of our different toughts. We're just different each other. That's why we learn to complete each other.

This reflective work by Paulo Coelho takes us on a quest to find meaning in a culture overshadowed by angst, soullest routine, and preserve conformity. This story is based on true events in Coelho’s life, Veronika Decides to Die questions the meaning of madness and celebrates individuals who do not fit into society considers to be normal. Bold and illuminating, it is a dazzling portrait of a young woman at the crossroads of despair and liberation, and a poetic, exuberant appreciation of each day as a renewed opportunity.

Note : some of the last statements are quoted from the brief description in the book.

The Eleven Minutes

What do you think about prostitute ? what do you feel if one of your beloved ones being a prostitute ? have you ever known what they feel and think about life, love and God ?

The story started with Maria as a young Brazilian lady who were innocent and shy but she was in love to several guys, broken heart and gave up to be in love, learnt a lot about love and guys at the same time.

By the time she grew up, she became a smart lady, independent, and felt understanding about how different the men are from the women.

The real story of her life began when she met the one who promised her to be a famous star in Geneva. She felt doubt initially but accepted the job offer eventually.

All happened as she arrived there was unpredictable. She was trapped to become a prostitute with a big amount of debt she had to pay to process some documents and airplane ticket reimbursement. She cried so much every night and remembered her family who didn’t agree with her decision to go to Geneva.

The thing that made her survive was her intelligence. She tried hard to not give up and attempt frequently to seek out the way to accept “her destiny”,to create some worth values to survive. She encouraged her life spirit by writing diary, reading mutual books, and thinking and viewing life in different ways.

Coelho described in the story about what sex does mean to men and women, how men do understand about woman’s body and vice versa. He also described about sexual pleasure for its own sake and the possibility of a “sacred” sex in the context of love.

In the story of Maria’s prostitution journey, you will learn about what love is, what virtue is, what life is, what God is, etc.

A beautiful quote of Maria’s contemplation about love is :

From Maria's diary, on a day when she had her period and couldn't work ( as a prostitute ) :

"If I were to tell someone about my life today, I could do it in a way that would make them think me a brave, happy, independent woman. Rubbish : I am not even allowed to mention the only word that is more important than the eleven minutes--love.

"All my life, I thought of love as some kind of voluntary enslavement. Well, that's a lie : freedom only exists when love is present. The person who gives him or herself wholly, the person who feels freest, is the person who loves most wholeheartedly.

And the person who loves wholeheartedly feels free.

That's why, regardless of what I might experience, do or learn, nothing makes sense. I hope this time passes quickly, so that I can resume my search for my self--in the form of a man who understands me and does not make me suffer.

But what I am saying ? In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel.

It hurt when I lost each of the various men I fell in love with. Now, though, I am convinced that no one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone.

That is the true experience of freedom : having the most important thing in the world without owning it.


note : eleven minutes means sex duration

So, Guys... don't ever lose your hope. No matter how many times you failed and how much you get suffering, there must be a lot of things we can learn to be strong and understand more behind your existence in the world...

You're not alone :)

Where are we now and where are we going ?

Do you feel that the world we live in now is becoming crowded and more crowded day by day ?

when I was a child 20 years ago, I used to play with my friends in the big farms, wide gardens, and large squares that I can find everywhere in Sukabumi, West Java, my hometown in Indonesia. Year by year the lands become eroded and now I find no more place for kids to run, play, only in the streets. For the ones who have much money, the can take their kids to play in the playgroup in city centers or malls. The lands I used to play there now are full of houses and buildings and I find people everywhere. I find the phenomenon is everywhere all over the world. Can you imagine that ?

Not only crowded the world now as well is becoming hot. Building constructions are everywhere. We find fewer trees and green lands. The world now is not comfortable anymore to live in. should we move to another planet then ? At the same time we don’t feel that distance is problem anymore. The great people’s inventions are able to make us meet our friends, family, other people overseas without wasting time and money to visit them. We can just sit, turn on your computer, click internet connection, and your people you want to meet are there. You can talk face to face. Or even by an advanced technology the portable ones like laptop or mobile have been installed internet connection in it. That’s fantastic !

That’s the place we are now, in a red alert !

Thomas L Friedman in his latest book entitled “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” makes us to muse and inquire why the beautiful world now is really hot and crowded and flat ? and what would happen if the convergence of three elements are sustained for the following decades ? how many more population will occupy ? how crowded is the world then and where are we going ? and why so many people are still not aware of the reality ?

In the detail description with a number of facts, Friedman has tried to figure out the issue and unravel one by one correlation among the global politics issues with economics, environmental, terrorism issues, and the impact of the elements to humankind life in a global scale. He finally offered the way out and solution for us where we should start to take action to delay the end of man history because of the great impact of global warming. No time to argue, no time to doubt, to discuss, to delay, don’t waste your energy for that but start to optimize your brain to save your life by saving electricity, recycling used stuffs, forestation your land, using biohybrid fuels and any smart efforts.

One thinks smartly another one follows and more people think so, I bet we can make the change for the better world in the future. Don’t think that what we do now it will only effect to your self alone but other people as well in the future.
Happy earth day, Guys...Peace !!!

Success Intelligence : Timeless Wisdom for a Manic Society

“ You waste the best years you have in your life just to do the job that you don’t like it so that you can buy the things to support your life style that you don’t enjoy it, it sounds stupid to me!! “

I quoted it from the “Success Intelligence” book written by Robert Holden. He defines success is as a journey. Success Intelligence stresses to how we always create the best things that we can have to enjoy today, at the present, right now, right away. In this book he approaches the success method as a self principal. As he said, the quality of your relation between you and your self will determine the quality of your relation between you and money, job, family, happiness, love, sex, etc.

Nowadays we are trapped to live in a hasty society. No time to talk to and recognize ourselves. Like life in Dubai, everyday and everywhere I see people just work, work and work. Consolation for them is sex, clubbing, shopping or sleeping all day in the weekend. No wonder I often meet lost and depressed people. They don’t know anymore what to do as purpose for their life except money. They lose their valuable time at this moment to get wealth in the future.

Robert Holden said in the book that for the ones who have SQ, Success Intelligence competency, they never waste their energy for uncertain coming future. It doesn’t mean that we ignore what we should prepare for the future, but it means that the main focus is how we achieve every single second at the present to have such a quality time for ourselves, for our lives. It will automatically effect to our future life.

Holden, more over guides us how to start to be intelligent living our lives by self-questioning a lot step by step. He divides the book into 7 chapters which each chapter has tricks. Begin from building vision, discover our potential, seeking a wisdom, create mutual relationship, self-encouragement, blessing, and the last is renaissance.

“The quotation I like most is, do whatever you have to do in a smart way, but keep your goal is still visible “ …

(Believe me Guys...this book is amazing :) )