Telos and destiny
For those that don't know what telos is, it's greek which translates into the general idea of purpose, goal, destination.
We all are suckers for direction. We could almost say that the human soul is enlarged by considering things in perspective from a distant telos. It gives us direction, turns our attention away from ourselves. Makes us noble and gives us dignity-provided that that telos is really something worth holding on too, hoping for and pursuing.
Dr. Loo in his talks (during LPC) enlarged on this theme, the role of a spiritual leader is to lead his flock to a goal: that goal being the glory of God and the final salvation of our souls.
Jesus himself told us not to worry about tomorrow. It is ironic that people who have no hope worry inscessantly about tomorrow, since there really is nothing to assure them that things will continue on as they always have been. This is manifest in the fear of change. But we have a glorious hope, an assured hope-the kingdom of God, of which we must seek first. It is this assurance that enables us to live one day at a time-the future certain for us.
The nation-states in South-East Asia are young, arising from the nationalism of our founding fathers. All of them are based on the premise of the right to self rule. It is neccesarily backward looking. Identity is defined by what has happened before. The only way to keep society together (and in fact a multi-racial one for that matter) is national development, which as time goes by, is defined more and more by the acquisition of wealth. This the manifest goal which guides the nation's leaders to lead a people towards. Even for religious states (like Malaysia) the destination is still a certain level of health and wealth (think Wawasan 2020). The official religion informs the nation's values which inform the way we should go about doing it. The question begging is whether health and wealth are ultimately worth pursiung.
Can it be that the slow settling dust, the dreariness of Malaysia's youth, (or their vibrant shallowness) and angst is a telling tale that they know, deep down inside that Wawasan 2020 is not worth pursuing. That deep deep inside they are tired out and wasted by pleasures that living in M'sia is becoming so steadily unbearable.
They say that (physically) dying people are also the most alive. I think its because they begin to realize that life is more that their possessions and their hearts are more set on eternity than ever before.
We all are suckers for direction. We could almost say that the human soul is enlarged by considering things in perspective from a distant telos. It gives us direction, turns our attention away from ourselves. Makes us noble and gives us dignity-provided that that telos is really something worth holding on too, hoping for and pursuing.
Dr. Loo in his talks (during LPC) enlarged on this theme, the role of a spiritual leader is to lead his flock to a goal: that goal being the glory of God and the final salvation of our souls.
Jesus himself told us not to worry about tomorrow. It is ironic that people who have no hope worry inscessantly about tomorrow, since there really is nothing to assure them that things will continue on as they always have been. This is manifest in the fear of change. But we have a glorious hope, an assured hope-the kingdom of God, of which we must seek first. It is this assurance that enables us to live one day at a time-the future certain for us.
The nation-states in South-East Asia are young, arising from the nationalism of our founding fathers. All of them are based on the premise of the right to self rule. It is neccesarily backward looking. Identity is defined by what has happened before. The only way to keep society together (and in fact a multi-racial one for that matter) is national development, which as time goes by, is defined more and more by the acquisition of wealth. This the manifest goal which guides the nation's leaders to lead a people towards. Even for religious states (like Malaysia) the destination is still a certain level of health and wealth (think Wawasan 2020). The official religion informs the nation's values which inform the way we should go about doing it. The question begging is whether health and wealth are ultimately worth pursiung.
Can it be that the slow settling dust, the dreariness of Malaysia's youth, (or their vibrant shallowness) and angst is a telling tale that they know, deep down inside that Wawasan 2020 is not worth pursuing. That deep deep inside they are tired out and wasted by pleasures that living in M'sia is becoming so steadily unbearable.
They say that (physically) dying people are also the most alive. I think its because they begin to realize that life is more that their possessions and their hearts are more set on eternity than ever before.
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on Wednesday, June 08, 2005 at 12:58 PM.
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