Last week I attended a Viola concert in Erasmus Huis (Dutch Language and Culture Center in Jakarta). The viola (not violin) concert was led by Esther Apituley with 3 supporting violist (Mieke Honingh, Rogier van der Tak, Ernst Grapperhaus), a pianist (Rie Tanaka) and a tap dancer (Peter Kuit). Well, for me the concert was different from what generally-known viola (or violin) concert. Usually, the atmosphere is quite tense and serious, while the Amsterdam Viola Quartet was kind of funny and entertaining. The atmosphere was quite casual yet interactive…
I like attending music concert, especially the contemporary or classical one. Not only that, I don’t think there is a day passed without music. Look around you, set up your ears then music that you hear. Music is everywhere. Music is life. Life is music.
Life is about rhythm and tones. And so it goes. This universe is made of particular sounds. The blowing wind, the waving sea, the singing bird and so many sounds which, I think, are creating music. So, you cannot escape music.
I think, the most ancient communication way is through music. Through sounds and vibrations. Let’s track back to the long, long time ago. Many ancient tribes who has their offering songs or folk songs or ceremonial songs. That was how they communicate with this universe.
If we try to see deeper, music is actually made of certain waves and so this life (and the universe). When two or more waves with the same frequency meet each other, they will synchronize. A simple example, go to a pond or find a place where you can see water surface. Try to throw something (or simply put your finger on it) to create ripples on several spots. At the first, probably you will see many different waves but in the end there will be some waves which synchronize each other.
This is actually, an analogy of what is happening in our life. Every action (to think is an action, too) we make will create such kind of wave. And when a wave meet another similar wave, it will synchronize. In this case, that is faith. You meet a friend not by a coincident, but you must be having something in common. If you believe in cause-and-effect law (a.k.a karma), then every thing that we undergo now is a result(effect) of what we caused in the past (1 millisecond ago is considered past).
Many people would likely to blame the environment for many bad things happen on them. I failed because the jury was unfair, I could not be an architect because my family is poor, and so on and so forth. If we want to see further, there must be something we had done which resulted in our failure or our condition now. What we can do is try to be as objective as we can to evaluate and try change the main cause.
So, as the conclusion, never blame the others (or the environment) for every (usually bad things) happen in our life. We are the one who control our life. Think wisely before acting!
Let’s listen to the music of the universe…
Monday, February 15, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
What lies behind the Aha!
Everyday, we are faced with so much information. Every single little thing that sensed by our senses is processed by the most sophisticated processor ever: Brain. Well, actually, every living thing has a brain, too. Even though the forms and shapes are different, the function is the same: central processing unit a.k.a CPU., range from the simplest creature, such as bacteria till the most complicated creature, mammals. Then, here comes another question, what makes Human (-according to Darwinian, is classified as mammals) different from other creature????
Physically, you can find many features that makes human is not a mammal. I am not a biologist, but at least, have learnt some. There is one documentary film that, I think has a very funny way of differentiating human from other animal, let’s say pig, or tomatoes (it happens in the film). Human has a special brain (cephalon or something like that) and the opposable thumbs!
Ough, forget about the brain thing. In one blog, my friend said that human is a learning creature. He has a better explanation on how many nerves working in our brain, how our brain sends the data and electrical waves so that any information can be process in a surprisingly quick way. This blog is not meant to talk more about biological things of human, but more about human ability as a mankind.
Human has a skill to receive, store, analyze and process any stimulus he gets. Human develop a complicated language. Human has the ability to perceive, and the process of decision making is superbly quick. We learn from our surrounding and always curious and will never stop to satisfy the curiosity. Another thing is, human has the ability to invent and develop, in terms of intelligence and civilization.
Another great thing human possesses is the INSIGHT, the ability to recognize his own mind, to give meaning to every experience, to make improvement and to have a new understanding.
I myself am also a learner (which indicates that I am still a human). I learn from many things (read: media). Maybe, when I talk about learning, most people will think of going to school or university, reading textbooks and doing assignments. Well, that is what we called formal learning system, isn’t it? Again, thank to human who has ability to create such a system so that all people can learn. But, what about non-formal learning? Look around you, everything you see can teach you a lesson or two. Go to cinema and watch a film, you have just learnt something. Go to book store and read, you have learnt something. Listen to your favorite song, you have learnt something. Start browsing something on your internet browser, you have learnt something. Read a blog or two and you have learnt something.
Rene Decartes said “I think, therefore I am”. When you stop learning, you stop thinking then in the end, you stop living. Life will be flat and purposeless, or quoting Frankl “meaningless”. Therefore, never stop learning and thinking.
If you happened to pay attention on the title of this blog, you will see the word AHA. Actually, not only do human have insight. In fact, the word “aha” was spoken by a guinea pig Chimpanzee during the experiment on the insight. Even though, Chimpanzee is regarded as to have the closest feature with human, this fact is a bit ironical. Well, during the experiment, a Chimpanzee was put in a cage. Hanging on the ceiling was banana, high enough not to be reached by its hand. Near the Chimps, laid an extendable stick, but was set at its shortest form. As the hunger come, the Chimps intended to eat. With the stick, it tried hard to hit the banana. However, the stick was not long enough. After several tiring tries, the Chimps became frustrated. It throwed the stick at the right angle so that it extended. Happy with this finding, the Chimps reflectively shouted “AHA”.
Whew, what long introduction! Actually, this is a background of the creation of this blog: to give an AHA to the readers. Some of you may think, why bother to give such a long prolog. Well, for me, it is another way of learning.
Physically, you can find many features that makes human is not a mammal. I am not a biologist, but at least, have learnt some. There is one documentary film that, I think has a very funny way of differentiating human from other animal, let’s say pig, or tomatoes (it happens in the film). Human has a special brain (cephalon or something like that) and the opposable thumbs!
Ough, forget about the brain thing. In one blog, my friend said that human is a learning creature. He has a better explanation on how many nerves working in our brain, how our brain sends the data and electrical waves so that any information can be process in a surprisingly quick way. This blog is not meant to talk more about biological things of human, but more about human ability as a mankind.
Human has a skill to receive, store, analyze and process any stimulus he gets. Human develop a complicated language. Human has the ability to perceive, and the process of decision making is superbly quick. We learn from our surrounding and always curious and will never stop to satisfy the curiosity. Another thing is, human has the ability to invent and develop, in terms of intelligence and civilization.
Another great thing human possesses is the INSIGHT, the ability to recognize his own mind, to give meaning to every experience, to make improvement and to have a new understanding.
I myself am also a learner (which indicates that I am still a human). I learn from many things (read: media). Maybe, when I talk about learning, most people will think of going to school or university, reading textbooks and doing assignments. Well, that is what we called formal learning system, isn’t it? Again, thank to human who has ability to create such a system so that all people can learn. But, what about non-formal learning? Look around you, everything you see can teach you a lesson or two. Go to cinema and watch a film, you have just learnt something. Go to book store and read, you have learnt something. Listen to your favorite song, you have learnt something. Start browsing something on your internet browser, you have learnt something. Read a blog or two and you have learnt something.
Rene Decartes said “I think, therefore I am”. When you stop learning, you stop thinking then in the end, you stop living. Life will be flat and purposeless, or quoting Frankl “meaningless”. Therefore, never stop learning and thinking.
If you happened to pay attention on the title of this blog, you will see the word AHA. Actually, not only do human have insight. In fact, the word “aha” was spoken by a guinea pig Chimpanzee during the experiment on the insight. Even though, Chimpanzee is regarded as to have the closest feature with human, this fact is a bit ironical. Well, during the experiment, a Chimpanzee was put in a cage. Hanging on the ceiling was banana, high enough not to be reached by its hand. Near the Chimps, laid an extendable stick, but was set at its shortest form. As the hunger come, the Chimps intended to eat. With the stick, it tried hard to hit the banana. However, the stick was not long enough. After several tiring tries, the Chimps became frustrated. It throwed the stick at the right angle so that it extended. Happy with this finding, the Chimps reflectively shouted “AHA”.
Whew, what long introduction! Actually, this is a background of the creation of this blog: to give an AHA to the readers. Some of you may think, why bother to give such a long prolog. Well, for me, it is another way of learning.
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