My new discovery -Creative Non Fiction

My course in English Studies has lead  me to a genre,  that has tremendous width , height and depth- the extraordinary of Creative non fiction and its many forms.  In memoirs especially, it helps me set up  my boundaries; direct focus on the facts, the 'truths',  the events of my past. It liberates me, releasing me from  the habitual tip toeing over  the literary surface,  that "keep out' sign firmly fixed on the door knob.No entry! I write the words not  what  Michael Steinberg termed the inner story and the thoughts which brings in the soul..

Now, a little window opens. It sets me on a course of exploration, the questioning, the re-examination. Why I have taken this particular exploratory journey now? Why do I  find it worth the  while to retrace  my footsteps,back  in this direction? . What is it that  I have left locked up , that only half of me walks the living days and nights all this while, while the other had remained in the closet in mute solitude?. I've been only partial, for so long  that I have forgotten about the other  existence until writers like Patrica Hampl, Rushdie and of course my mentor  Ms. Leong , open my mind and blew  away the cobwebs that a little sunbeam peek in and touched the forgotten.

 I stood on the outside , looking in , observing...I'm eavesdropping . I hear  my thoughts ,my thinking, my heart. I  see this  young urchin  filling up the empty pages of this  huge book, intoxicated by the tales that flowed effortlessly from her. I see her sparkling eyes, hear  the vibrant of her voice, and feel her passion. And then, a void, a darkness, which shuts me out. I'm unable to see through, unable to bridge  the big gap and though, I search and dig under the surface, I'm unable to find the thread back to that fountain of vivid imagination.  Who, why  and what turned off  the tap?  What stopped the flow of creativity?


Lately, I've been bothered  by a dream,  there I was walking confidently and in good spirit and then I come to this tunnel in a cave ....suddenly, I was afraid  and unable to go on... the tunnel slopes downwards, and I do not know the depth. No, wait,  on closer examination,  it wasn't sloping downwards at all, there is just darkness midway through  and that had the appearance of going downwards but it was a straight tunnel. .I am disturbed by my inability to see ahead and so I turned back. In my heart, I know,  that is the direction, I should be going. And yet......the light reaches only  midway into the tunnel. I am afraid, I wish there is someone with me..It is as though, I'm venturing into a forbidden zone. That tunnel leads  not only into the past but to the space of before- a  life , a journey travelled before. It is like crossing back, something forbidden, unless angels lead you through and bring you back. It requires the blessings of the divine.


Perhaps, I should arm myself with a powerful torch and steel myself to get beyond the obscure and the unknown, the next time the tunnel in the cave appears.. Then perhaps, I could  find the vital piece ,  the missing link to connect  and reunited  with that  Weaver of Tales again. Perhaps, she would speak to me and explain her reason, why she had been gone for so long. Then, maybe  the ghosts of the past will  be at  peace and  I could fearlessly  venture into that cave, that tunnel  and roam freely on the pastures  at the other side of  the tunnel, no more forbidden , but a source of light for the now and the future.

Lessons

Surely,Destiny would not forsake its purpose,
Nor life its ordained quest,
And yet challenges pile its heavy weights 
And obscure the paths.

My heart leads me.

It's not the world I seek

Nor the multiples of heaven

Just fruits, that sustains

and secure the being ;

freedom to breathe independently

till time sets me free.

The merit of this journey

is not the stars and pretty decors

that fills life's adventure book

but the gratefulness, the appreciation,
the learning , of the lessons,

life generously bestows.

Everything is but a mirage,

the illusions

of a world so temporal-

tomorrow is never a certainty;

nothing matters, yes, nothing matters

Oh God, except the worth of my being

in your presence .

-Marie Lee-

Body, Mind and Self

  The Body and the Mind

The Cartesian Dualism. (a theory or system of thought that regards a domain of reality in terms of two independent principles, especially mind and matter ( Cartesian dualism ).

Fun Look-See -The Gender (issue) in Body, Mind, Spirit and Soul

Start off with the Male and Female species at biological level. They who combine and populate the face of the earth. They who are the stuff who colours and develop the landscape and construct and defines what gender is all about. gender roles, gender specifics and so forth.

Complicating, border-less, all over the face of the earth, (no more just  about women, there is now the third sex maybe even the fourth to consider) the way they construct and incorporate ' Gender' into this great  universal issue, is mind boggling . Frankly, I see it as the marinating of various vitamins to provide the energy in the power field of  everyday living-cultural role play, the politics, the actioning and the continuous  construction of whatever structures society deems fit. I remember as a young child, we had this big stone grinder where we put in the rice, and pull with all our strength for the desired produce. You can only pull in one direction....Hard to explain but ...

Gender is something that has become  every day functioning -a part of the living  individual's body, mind , spirit and soul. It has taken over the definition of what is self!!  Everything,  has that Gender word labelled and stamped on it.I prefer the old  and simple definition of  the biological -simply difference in the sexual make up -man and women BUT, Gender goes beyond that.

The Oxford dictionary defines it as :The state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones): They forgot the third kind. the likes of Elton John who are gaining recognition in the cultural world. Definitions of right and wrong, what is socially correct, what defines sin and so on..the dictionary need to broaden their definitions.

FAO defined Gender as ‘the relations between men and women, both perceptual and material. Gender is not determined biologically, as a result of sexual characteristics of either women or men, but is constructed socially. It is a central organizing principle of societies, and often governs the processes of production and reproduction, consumption and distribution’ (FAO, 1997). Despite this definition, gender is often misunderstood as being the promotion of women only. However, as we see from the FAO definition, gender issues focus on women and on the relationship between men and women, their roles, access to and control over resources, division of labour, interests and needs. Gender relations affect household security, family well-being, planning, production and many other aspects of life (Bravo-Baumann, 2000).

Girl - Pink,  small  gentle, sweet and submissive. Boy - Blue big strong, rough and gruff!!  Women-kitchen, child bearing and rearing, take the lesser role . Men, decision making, leader, freedom to do what women cannot do  Too big a subject to tackle, you need a couple of books to get through that!!  :) 

I like an example given to me yesterday- something about the constructs of society :

A 70 year old lady, flirting with a group of teenagers and the eyes of the watching people go big and round, I guess, even the eye balls would  fall out. The mouths goes yapping..'what the heck is that woman doing? What sort of behaviour is that??' Well, where in the books of living does it say, that is bad behaviour?? Flirting?? that's society's perception. Is she really flirting or just being the nice old person?? The additional issue here is of course the age factor. She is expected to act her age. Where in the world does it say, people have to act their age? That elderly persons of 70 etc.. should just sit around, dressed in black, act sombre, stay out of everybody's way,perhaps wait for the day of  recall??That's all constructed (ahem! :) in my views nonsense!!) 

The Baby to Sunset in Body, Spirit, Mind and soul

I'm a  baby and I clung on to my mother. I drink her milk, partake of her nutrition,I grow. I take comfort and finds security  in her warmth, her presence.  I live her tastes, preferences, belief and her culture. The clothes that I wear? That's her taste,  I passively accept and absorb. I go to the school,  she and my father thought is best for me and I get grounded into the principles of  her tradition , religion,  the social, the cultural expectations of their upbringing and community living.  

Then my senses found their own bearings and my mind develops and so I started to think on my own and start to discern. I start to develop my own taste and preferences and decide my own beliefs. My spirit, and conscience becomes stronger. I learnt to take care of my body, the way, I decide best. I learn to consume things and act on my own. I find my own definitions of happiness, wellness, peace and calm. I detached myself from dependency and move into independence-self of body and mind. Differences and deviations moves in and a whole new set of culture is adopted.

to be continued

Health in the Spirit , Body, Mind and Soul

Everything boils down to the HEALTH word. The dictionary defines it as 'absence of disease or infirmity'. WHO went a step further. They define it as 'A state of complete physical, mental & social well being. Notice those words-Physicial-the Body, Mental-the Spirit, the Mind and the Soul. Social well-being -the connectivity of relationships, the interaction with other beings in their respective framework. The I, You, Us thing. My interpretation comes with the certainty of God's presence. Spirit, the Spirit of God which comes from the living breath, He breathes into me.

Health is a state of optimal well-being, vitality and the wholeness  of being  that we are able to live the purpose of survival, minus the diseases, the anxieties and the pain. On the basic level, we talk about the wellness of the human body with all its mechanism and  full function-ability robust and intact.

 The spirit, mind and soul is housed within the framework of the human body thereby there is a strong and vital connectivity to the composition and the flow of energy.  All must function in unity and correct sequence to get the whole Being  of man working well and in perfect balance. Without the balance, some form of ailment  comes in. If any one of these components are  diseased or sick, it  affects the others. The brains and mind think and send messages to the body for its mundane, everyday living  functions such as eating , taking a bath, keeping clean, going to work and so forth, Movements as basic as sleeping, walking, moving your fingers and feet, they illustrate the individual body parts working in unison with the mind and the senses. It is individual yet a combine effort of the connective parts. You feel the sensation and the energy of your actions. I'm typing into my key board now, it is the work of my fingers, yet it is connected to my eyes, my  mind and my brains. The vision, the intellectual , the thinking mind is at work.

To be continued

Spirit, Body, Mind and Soul

I have been asked to reflect on the Spirit, Body, Mind and Soul relationship. I have always been interested in this topic. I recalled that more than 10 years ago, when blogging and the cyber thing was just sprouting buds, I had started a page  with that specific heading but due to the difficulty of internet connection, I left it to waste. Before I knew it , that "Spirit, Body, Mind and Soul' became a familiar sight in the media columns and in cyber space and I thought wow! that must be a powerful subject matter, I've picked. Indeed it is, it has become a part of contemporary studies, something, the current world is trying to understand better.


Years ago, when I picked on that specific subject title for my blog page, I envisage the whole package of  the total human existence in the body and physical frame, empowered by the Spirit , the Mind and the Soul  with the  subconscious and conscience fully embedded. I believe that the spirit, soul, conscience and the mind enjoy a unique  connection, a special relationship  with the divine. The solid foundation is the power source which we are all a part of and that  dispenses energy for the survival, the existence and the journey from birth to death..

The human part of us-that  is the body complicated with  the full range of emotions , the bloody mass of feelings, senses, yes life itself -susceptible to the ravages of time, weakness, disease and the cycle of the seasons. Humans are given the mechanism of the thinking and discerning mind, the Will Power, so to speak to decide their course of action and direction. Somewhere along the line, (or is it right from the beginning, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and stole from the tree of knowledge?) Perhaps at that precise moment, Greed, Self and Ego became a part of Man.  They are driven from Paradise into the earthly realm where darkness and light, is part of living. 

I've have always been fascinated by the night and day thing and their implications to human living. There is a whole aspect of the yin and the yang to explore, discover and understand. I find sense in the teachings of balance. Humans are  a composition of  goodness and darkness. Goodness is retained from the creator and the darkness encrusted when greed and disobedience took over at the point of  the original sin and that becomes more amassed in everyday living. Therefore there is the constant need to preserve balance. 

Because, the body ages and decay with time...health and other factors moves in.. The human body is unique, it grows and progresses with time-goes to the peak and from then onwards the decline. Very much like the flowers you see in your garden, first  the buds, then the awesome bloom and before you knew it had faded; decay had set in and soon they are no more. Everything has a set pattern..observe the seasons, the spring, summer, autumn , winter and then comes spring again..Reflection of the cosmic life cycle. Our body mechanism is only set for a lifetime and it runs on the mechanism of time. The stages of  baby, teen, adult and then the senior, autumn  years advancing into winter and sunset years. Life's warranty on the body and its function-ability  runs out. It stops, no longer  functioning and we  bow out.

Health

 To be continued..