The Gift of Looking Inwards

Nothing beats the feeling of reconnecting with an old friend. Even better, is when the connection comes with gifts attached. In this instance I received two! The gift of time and thoughtfulness.

The Gift of Time

Giving a good gift is never easy, what makes it more challenging is that its got nothing to do with the money! Thank you, Tasha (Soon & Paul) for taking the time to contribute in Vision for a better Asia, a gift so meaningful to me, you have no idea.

The gift of thoughtfulness

It is a common courtesy to check out your would-be employer's website prior to an interview. Meeting a person is no different. These days, every Tom, Dick and Shaunny have a blog! Bloggers do not expect you to read their blog before meeting them (at least not this one). But the possibilities of conversations opens up to a whole new level, when you make a little effort to read their mind (blog) prior hand.

Tasha's contribution to my blog made my day, but its her thoughtfulness in feedback about some of my postings that touches my soul.

(An almost complete Gift)

In writing this article, Tasha did not give me a Title nor a Picture. You will be the judge for whether or not I have done her essay justice with my additions.

Without any further a do, I present:


The Gift of Looking Inwards

By Tasha Ong

One cannot help view the world in which we live through a Eurocentric lens. This lens carves up and colours the established map- that image that we so easily conjure, the United Kingdom in the centre, the United States on the left; such a lens bends time, forcing it into the linear march of “progress”, through industrialisation to post-modern capitalism; it ranks the world into first, second and third; it incites the desire to measure up to standards exported from overseas, rather than those created at home.

My vision for a better Asia involves dispensing with this Eurocentric lens. This is not to say that an Asia-centric lens should be taken up in its place, but rather that lenses of all kinds should be done away with. It is to hope for an Asian identity that is created by looking inwards, rather than outwards, for new conceptions of time and progress, and that this new vision will lead to a flourishing of culture and the arts.

5 philosophies:

1) Slower is faster
2) Simplicity is elegance/ elegance is simplicity
3) Not all truths are meant to be spoken (Toute vérité n’est pasbonne à dire)
4) Better alone than in bad company
5) Love is an art

Plus ONE bonus!
6) (The robes don't make the monk )[Its the hair, or there lack of: Shaun]