Tuesday, April 28, 2009

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

约翰·多恩《告别词》
JOHN DONNE (1572-1631) A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNING

AS virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
"Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."

So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;
Men reckon what it did, and meant ;

But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love
—Whose soul is sense—cannot admit
Of absence, 'cause it doth remove
The thing which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined,
That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assurèd of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to aery thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two ;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.

And though it in the centre sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th' other foot, obliquely run ;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.

尚德之人安祥地去了,

向自己的灵魂轻声地作别,
有些朋友哀伤地说:
“他已经离开”,有些说没有。

让我们默默地消受吧,
没有滔涌的泪滴,也没有狂暴的叹息,
我们的爱情何必为俗人所知,
用以亵渎那神圣的欢愉。

动人的地球带来灾难和恐惧;
人们估测它的运动,及运动的方向;
忧伤与焦虑覆没了球面,
地核之心却是天真与无邪。

月下的爱人了无生趣
(它的本质是感官)不能承受
月亏,因为亏缺就意味着
裂变与解体。

但我们的爱千锤百炼,
不同于凡俗所感,
它们在精神中坚守,
漠然而视眼、唇、手的局限。

两个灵魂就此合而为一,
虽然我终将远离,忍受必经的
分离,我们的爱会不断扩散,
如同金光,在节拍中轻快地起舞。

哪怕灵魂一分为二,它也牢固
如圆规的两只尖足;
你的灵魂是固定的针脚,毫无
动的迹象,若非随同另一个的步调。

它虽坐定中央,
一旦另一个稍稍远足,
它就倾身而听,
脚步归来时,又顷刻直立。

对我,你正是如此,我就象
另一只规脚,倾斜着运转;
唯有你的坚定,我才画得出
终点回到起点的,圆周.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Message of Wisdom from Dr Lee Wei Ling (Lee Kuan Yew's daughter)

In 2007, in an end-of-year message to the staff of the National Neuroscience Institute, I wrote: 'Whilst boom time in the public sectoris never as booming as in the private sector, let us not forget that boom time is eventually followed by slump time. Slump time in the public sector is always less painful compared to the private sector.

'Slump time has arrived with a bang.

While I worry about the poorer Singaporeans who will be hit hard, perhaps this recession has come at an opportune time for many of us. It will give us an incentive to reconsider our priorities in life.

Decades of the good life have made us soft. The wealthy especially, but also the middle class in Singapore , have had it so good for so long, what they once considered luxuries, they now think of as necessities. A mobile phone, for instance, is now a statement about who you are, not just a piece of equipment for communication. Hence many people buy the latest model though their existing mobile phones are still in perfect working order.

A Mercedes-Benz is no longer adequate as a status symbol. For millionaires who wish to show the world they have taste, a Ferrari or a Porsche is deemed more appropriate.

The same attitude influences the choice of attire and accessories. Is till find it hard to believe that there are people carrying handbags that cost more than thrice the monthly income of a bus driver, and many more times that of the foreign worker labouring in the hot sun, risking his life to construct luxury condominiums he will never have a chance to live in.

The media encourages and amplifies this ostentatious consumption. Perhaps it is good to encourage people to spend more because this will prevent the recession from getting worse. I am not an economist, but wasn't that the root cause of the current crisis - Americans spending more than they could afford to?

I am not a particularly spiritual person. I don't believe in the supernatural beings and I don't think I have a soul that will survive my death. But as I view the crass materialism around me, I am reminded of what my mother once told me: 'Suffering and deprivation is good for the soul.'

My family is not poor, but we have been brought up to be frugal. My parents and I live in the same house that my paternal grandparents and their children moved into after World War II in 1945. It is a big houseby today's standards, but it is simple - in fact, almost to the point of being shabby.

Those who see it for the first time are astonished that Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's home is so humble. But it is a comfortable house, a homewe have got used to. Though it does look shabby compared to the new mansions on our street, we are not bothered by the comparison. Most of the world and much of Singapore will lament the economic downturn. We have been told to tighten our belts. There will undoubtedlybe suffering, which we must try our best to ameliorate. But I personally think the hard times will hold a timely lesson for many Singaporeans, especially those born after 1970 who have never lived through difficult times.

No matter how poor you are in Singapore , the authorities and socialgroups do try to ensure you have shelter and food. Nobody starves in Singapore . Many of those who are currently living in mansions and enjoying a luxurious lifestyle will probably still be able to do so,even if they might have to downgrade from wines costing $20,000 a bottleto $10,000 a bottle. They would hardly notice the difference.

Being wealthy is not a sin. It cannot be in a capitalist market economy. Enjoying the fruits of one's own labour is one's prerogative and I have no right to chastise those who choose to live luxuriously. But if one is blinded by materialism, there would be no end to wanting and hankering. After the Ferrari, what next? An Aston Martin? After the Hermes Birkin handbag, what can one upgrade to?

Neither an Aston Martin nor an Hermes Birkin can make us truly happy or contented. They are like dust, a fog obscuring the true meaning of life, and can be blown away in the twinkling of an eye.

When the end approaches and we look back on our lives, will we regret the latest mobile phone or luxury car that we did not acquire? Or wouldwe prefer to die at peace with ourselves, knowing that we have lived lives filled with love, friendship and goodwill, that we have helped some of our fellow voyagers along the way and that we have tried ourbest to leave this world a slightly better place than how we found it?

We know which is the correct choice - and it is within our power to make that choice.

In this new year, burdened as it is with the problems of the year thathas just ended, let us again try to choose wisely.

To a considerable degree, our happiness is within our own control, and we should not follow the herd blindly..

The writer is director of the National Neuroscience Institute.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Tango


"No mistakes in the tango, not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, get all tangled up, just tango on." - Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade from "Scent of a Woman"