came across this article. just how many of you believe in rebirth? What is truly worth living for? If you believe in rebirth, you can have countless more lives to go. But since each will expire... then what is truly worth dying for?

From The Daily Enlightenment

' '.......It's been a few months since I moved in a highrise apartment. One of the reasons I bought it was for its terrific open paranomic view. From its windows, I could see the city skyline up to the sea. Waking up unwillingly for work this morning, I was washing up half-heartedly in the bathroom when I caught a glimpse of the scenery out there. For a moment, I was pleasantly surprised. I had clean forgotten about the magnificent view for about a week. Not that I had gotten sick of it, but I had begun to take it for granted. It had become an insignificant backdrop of daily life... having become a flat and lifeless piece of wallpaper instead of being what it really was - a dynamic three-dimensional world with a life of its own.

This happens when we get lost in our relatively unremarkable routines of life, forgetting the great scheme of things. When we lose mindfulness of our blessings and our larger purpose, we get ourselves stuck in the muck and mire of mundanity. When we forget the real reason we are living for, the worldliness of life becomes quicksand that sucks you into a spiritual vacuum. When that happens, we live less and less; we merely stay alive.

When we micro-manage and over-plan our life's mundane details, we become "penny wise and pound foolish", risking becoming blind to our spiritual life. See the big picture at your spiritual window! Deeply breath in the breath-taking view of boundless potential. Know where you are and where you are going! Don't get mindlessly caught up in the mechanical "rituals" of work, play and other whatnots. I'm going to brush my teeth while looking out of the window everyday to remind me of this. I'm going to greet the world and let it greet me. I'm not going to fret that it's just another day, but remember that the promise of a new day comes from living it well with appreciation and mindfulness.

What is the big picture? We are all here only for a short while. What is truly worth living for? If you don't believe in rebirth, this is it. Is it good enough for you? If you believe in rebirth, you can have countless more lives to go. But since each will expire... What is truly worth dying for? It is tempting to simply call it quits. But rebirth will only lead us back full circle. What you don't learn well of you will suffer of, time and again. Same old, same old. Thus what is truly worth doing is to understand the nature of life and death, so as to be able to live well and die well, and transcend life and death altogether in spiritual liberation. And this meaningfulness of life can be mutliplied infinitely when we help others realise the same......... ' '


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Another weekly column of Mr Brown - Roughing it Down Under

Life moves more slowly in Australia or maybe it's just this 56k modem

YOU will not believe it, but I am writing this on a coin-operated Internet terminal in Victoria, Australia. I am in a backpacker's hostel, writing in the middle of the night, because it was the only place I could find with Internet access at this hour.

I am on vacation with my wife and we are having a great time exploring the Great Ocean Road near Melbourne. It's just that I never thought I'd be writing my column on a terminal that looks like an arcade machine with a keyboard and a trackball bolted onto a stainless steel top.

When I inserted the $2 coin, the terminal proceeded to dial out. Yes, it is using an old--school 56k (or less) modem — when I heard those modem squeals and whistles, I thought I had entered a time warp. I am speaking like a typical Singaporean, of course. Always comparing things overseas with what we have back home.

As you may have guessed, I have no idea what is going on at home. I have not looked at a Singapore newspaper or news site for almost a week. So, if we had another blackout, or a new government committee has been created, or another country has called us a booger, I am unable to comment.

All we get here on Australian TV is Australian news. I must say I am appalled. Back home, our news channels carry at least a bit of news on Australia. The least they could do is offer some Singapore news, right? At the moment, all I know is that Australia's ruling party won in a big way and the opposition was thrashed. Wait a minute, that sounds a bit like the political situation at home.

We've noticed that outside of Melbourne, most of the buildings are low-rise. I mean, coming from Singapore, where almost every building is tall, it was a culture shock.

We drove for kilometres without seeing a single HDB high-rise. People here seem to enjoy living close to the ground. It seems a waste of vertical space, if you ask me.

I have to say, though, cars are really cheap here. We've spent many evenings watching Australian TV (because the shops generally close at 5pm — another alien concept to Singaporean shoppers) and have seen a lot of car commercials. Many of the cars here cost less than a COE back home!

Another thing we have explored in Australia is the food. I have so far seen durian gelato ice cream, bak cho mee (minced pork noodles) and "Singapore fried noodles". I was glad to find Singaporean fare here, but what on earth are Singapore fried noodles? It seems to be a dish that Singaporeans can only get if they travel overseas.

One thing you need time to get used to here is the crazy weather. One moment it is cold and windy, with a temperature of 10 degrees Celsius. The next it is 32 degrees in the shade.

Coming from Singapore, where the weather is uniformly hot, adjusting to the weather changes has been a challenge.

I am surprised the government here doesn't do something about it.

If the Singapore government had to deal with such wildly changing weather, it would come up with some kind of law, a committee and maybe a campaign to look into how to create consistent weather.

I have to say, though, that Australians know how to take care of their elderly and disabled people. Many of the attractions we visited had disabled access and even buggies for wheeling old folks around. Have you ever seen a buggy service for old folks at a Singapore attraction?

The Singapore approach seems to be: "You die your business" (to quote an old Cantonese saying). And if you are too old to walk to the nature attraction, maybe you should be at home watching TV instead of inconveniencing us able-bodied folk.

I have to go now; my Internet time is almost up and I'm out of coins. I promise that next week, I will make fun of local things again. Thinking of home, I really miss my kids and my laptop.

mr brown is the accidental author of a popular website that has been documenting the dysfunctional side of Singapore life since 1997. He will never complain about his computer again.