two types of committees, - two types of bureaucracies...

Type 1) 

"You need this approval  to teach your students ? "

"yes, they have to program the computers themselves."

"Ok we can set that up. We've restricted them a bit but you should be able to do the work."

This type of committee gets stuff done. 

They exist to make stuff happen. The rules are simple and clear, transparent and commonsense." 

The focus is on getting stuff done: whatever the committee is for, they want to get it done and out there and into the community. 

If it's sport, then they get sport out there, 

if it's an awareness campaign they get the message out.. 

if it's a new public transport ticket system, they get that out there.... 

The photo above: is it for type 1 or 2 committee ? 

A: neither. It simply shows clear simple instructions. 

The fine is not so hight it cannot be implemented.

It's clear, no doubts, no if's no but's.

Efficient.
 

Type 2)

This type does not need much explanation.

"Oh...Uhm.... not sure, we can allow that. Please fill out this form in triplicate, attach copies of your great grandfathers' wife's family tree and get the following 500 point police check. Then take your paperwork to the department ABC, they will give you instructions." 

"Sorry, wrong department, you need to get a Y type stamp from Department ABC, then if you fall into category  Q, or R you need to go to another deparment". 

This kind of committee exists to perpetuate itself. It love the power and it loves making people bow and scrape before their authority before graciously and magnanimously granting the request (for a parking space outside your own house). 

Fortunately: all committees fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

fear brings about what it fears (fear is a powerful manifestation force)

"why do you want to stop trying ?"
"oh, because it might not work."
"so you want to stop because it might not work. So you decide to stop for sure because it MIGHT not work ?"
"uhmm...yea, I guess so."
"Do you see what you are doing ? You are stopping for SURE, because there is chance it MIGHT not work. Why not take the chance ? "

"Hm.... ..................."
"it sounds like you prefer the certainty of nothing, over the chance of SOMETHING."
"hm....."

I want guarantees about life (fear series)

seeking advice
seeking advice from friends 

seeking readings
seeking ...
asking

asking...
trying to be safe, 
trying to know before doing it.
trying to know "WHAT IF this???"
Trying to know the answer without paying the price...

do I not simply seek to avoid the risk of living and making my own decisions ?

I look into the Tarot cards...
I seek to know for sure...

yet... some things you simply cannot know... and
knowledge changes them...

only one way

"Suck it and see"(as they say in Aussie slang)


For sure, research and find out as much as you can, be wise... 
be clever, 
but in the end... 
some things - all things- can only be tasted by experience. 

I understand why people smoke even though they know it's bad for them

 My colleague tells me studies have found that if you drink a little bit of alcohol in just this right amount it reduces the risk of heart attack by 27%. Of course too much alcohol and you get liver damage and could die of that first.

Fear of death is the motivator behind those warning and the reason people follow them.

What ist the point of living if you spend all you time worried about dying ?

Based on the fear of death, all sorts of things can be said how to reduce your chances of dying of this or that.
Those warnings start to get almost like a religion.
do this ...
do that....
this is the best way to drink....
this is the best way to eat...
this is the best way to excercise ....
this is the best way to make love....
...best way to.....

...best way to....

Studies have found ...

"you know what ? I don't care what the studies have found! I'm not going to run my life by the ideas from the lastest groups of wanky experts - unless I'm really afraid of dying, and I'm not that afraid!"
"I think those experts like the power to sway and control people with fear"
"It sounds like a regligious thing almost with a creed that says
'we all believe in death as the ultimate evil,
'we believe that no expense be spared to prolong life even for one minute, one hour, one day'
'we belive in the power of science, mind and medicine'
'we believe in modern technology'
'we belive ...

 
Do those experts really believe and expect me to change my way of eating,
drinking,
shitting,
running,
excersiing
picking my nose
based on some academic study ?
Get out of there.

If I change things in life it is because *I* decide and because it feels right to ME.
If I want to eat at midnight every day I'll do it, if I want to run like crazy I'll do it.
If I want to smoke I'll do it and .............for all these things I'll pay a price.
Everyone pays a price for all things they do.
If you follow the panel of 'how live longer and reduce the risk of this n that" experts then you pay a price in loss of enjoyment! loss of autonomy and loss of freedom.

I don't like smoking by the way, but I REALLY REALLY understand people who smoke. I understand why the horrible pictures on the packets don't have much effect on them.
I suddenly understand the smokers :-)
I like their stand. Know the price and be willing to pay it ! YES! 
The non smokers will say "Tut tu, we told you so, serves you right"

And you know what else ? 
I might die of being shot, or accident, or go down with a plane, or bus or a ship, fall, or get malaria, colera or some deadly flu or whatever... totally unforseen. 
I might die of boredom and too much superannuation money,
In those final moments I'll think "shit, all those nice things I denied myself because I wanted to "reduce the risk of getting this or that, who would have thought I'd go THIS way ? " ha ha ha

I can hear the Expert say: "Ah you mentioned accident did you know if you wear this safety device you reduce your chance of accident by 33%"
"Shut up! I'll take the risk."

NOTE: risk is a statistical concept. It applies to LARGE groups, but is meaningless for individual cases.
Reducing your risk of getting XYZ is just that reducing a risk. it does not mean you don't get that XYZ thing. 
It just means in a LARGE group of people fewer will get it.
But for those who get it, they get it 100%.
If YOU get it, YOU've  GOT IT  100% !    ;-P

over n out -
signed : Grumpy old man (GoM)

comments:

take it from me - when you have a brush with the big C and you could

almost hear, smell, see and taste the face of death then suddenly you
will realise the meaning of LIFE and just as suddenly begin to realise
what your priorities should be !!!  What I am saying is you only need to
listen to yourself at all times even if you have to consider
well-intentioned people, too.


more comments: 

Hi,
        yes lots of choice and decisions can be  problem and reduce
happiness.

Typical solutions are-

  1. I hate making these decisions or do not understand them
      so I will agonize and get unhappy.

  2. I will ignore all the advice.

  3. I will put in the effort, decide on a  balance between risk and
benefit,
      and run with that.
      Only revisit if there is something notable that pops up,
      ignore not the noise of the media.

I like 3 myself, but at the risk of being elitist, it's only available to
people who are reasonably (even self) educated who have a skeptical view
of life.

regards  P


More thoughts by Haiko 12Feb10 

there is a popular misconception: that immunization means you never get stuff,
or that risk reduction means safety.

It does not.

Perhaps people should get cards in the mail:


Dear Mr Jones,

because of risk reduction for disease XYZ this year 37 fewer people have to die.
You are one of the lucky fewer.
You are healthy and free of disease XYZ because of the lower risks and initiative undertaken to prevent XYZ. If this initiative was not carried out your number would have been up.
Congratulations, please enjoy your life, knowing you just escaped the curtain call.

Sincerely the

disease XYZ risk reduction team


Same letter could be written by the Transport Accident commission (TAC)
Dear Mrs Smith,

The safety measures undertaken by the TAC this year have reduced the number of deaths on the road by 57.

We have talked with God and he informs us that YOU are one those 57 who did not have to die.
Please enjoy the extension to your life, if not for TAC you would dead now.

have a nice life

TAC accident reduction team

the real ME

Nothing of what I own will remain as part of ME
nothing of my head knowledge is really ME.
None of my memory is really ME, (I use it, like I use a database on a computer)
but - it is something outside of ME,
and not even the insights I have in life are ME, they are stuff along the way I discover.


I got sick of trying to accumulate stuff (physical, stuff, knowledge, spiritual stuff), hoping it would change ME, it never will.

The only way I see to really really take things with me,  
is to take the truths I find and become them, live them, make them ME.
BE inside them.
As long as I know them in my mind I am outside them.
I need to be, I want to BE INSIDE THEM.

For example: I touch the deep insights I gathered in my travels. I enter them briefly in what I call my mandala by remembering them. 
I do the rounds of them. but I don't LIVE THEM. 
I feel them for an instant.
Like a miser with his gold hoard, I count my gold coins, feel them then put them back into the chest.  

but in reality: what I want is to LIVE those truths, 
BE them, let them be a part of ME.

So now I understand that I have been seeking myself, my core being in the temple.
I didn't ever put into such words and when I heard the words that I was seeking the core temple of my being, it made me think:
"what ? lill' ole' me looking for something as grand as the Temple of Being ? git outta dere..."
but I see now how I've been looking for that for a loooooooooong time.
ah........

The problems of words and labels...........

Your inner experience is holy.
Why then do you look into the eyes of others
who hold their own inner self in question
and ask them "Will you please tell me who I am ?"
They cannot even know you.
How can you give them the power
to cancel or amend you?

        -Emmanuel book 2 p67

 

“Well done”, he said, "it is good to stand against the darkness, yet sometimes we must even stand against the light in order to find our true selves.” 

              from "Shadows & Illusions  -  conversations with Master Serapian" Bk3 p37, 

just words - two people

Two people. 
you can say opposites attract,
you can say opposites repel
you can say same people form a bond
you can say same people bored and not work out.
you can say many things
its all words.

what is the reality behind those words ?
It is feeling
in the end:
it either works
or it does not
all else is just talk.


Words come after the feeling.
words describe the feeling. 


energies live behind the words 
energies have their own mind 

energies have their own wisdom..

KL taxi driver - a la natural - a contented man

Taxi drivers the world over are an odd bunch.
Talk about taxi drivers and everyone has a story of how they got ripped off by a taxi driver,  and luckily  there are also a few  stories about how NICE a taxi driver was to them.

It's pissing down with rain, a real tropical rain storm, buckets of water coming down. It's warm, this is KL (=Kuala Lumpur - Malaysians LOVE TLA's). We are undercover at a petrol station.
People on motorbikes flock to the petrol station to stay dry and wait it out.
A friend and I were on the way to KL Menara, the tall Lookout and TV communications tower overlooking the whole city.

The traffic is crawling along, its 5pm and rush hour.
I spot an empty cab, and we make a run for it.
The driver is smiles and beckons us in.

The car inside looks old , loved and well used like a favourite pair of shoes.
The driver smiles and nods as we give him the address of the hotel up the road.
We're happy to be out of the rain.

Traffic crawls slowly along, the windows are open and he has a cigarette, one of those nice smelling clover cigarettes.
Sitting back, making conversation, "Driving Taxis is a tough job".
"No, not hard," the driver turns his head and smiles at us.

Uh... what do I say to that ?
I had tried to sympathize and I had  I assumed every taxi driver would feel their job was hard.
"I get to travel round," he adds.
"What time did you start this morning ?"
"Six. I'm going home now, after I drop you two".
"Wow, 12 hours a day"
" I meet my friends for two hours every day for lunch, we chat and talk".
I can really see that he has a close circle of mates who all meet up together. He looks relaxed and happy - a sign of good friendships.
I remember lots of Astoria Taxi drivers in Carlton meeting at Genevie's restaurant at 11am every day. That was in the 1970's.

"Not so much money though," I persisted in pursing that track.
He didn't hear or didn't bother.

We talk about the traffic, how it's got heavy especially in the rain.
There is not frustration in his manner. 

"Your car ?" I ask him. The car looks old, but well cared for.
It does not have the slickness of a depot car. There are little nick-nacks of his everywhere, reminds me of the nick-nack's in my own office.
"Yes, my car." He smiles and nods.
"I've been driving taxis since I was a Bachelor", he tells us.
"Before you were married ?"
He nods.
"How many kids ?"
"Three."

We pull up  outside the hotel.
The fare is 6.20 Malaysian Ringgit, that's  $2.30 Aussie dollars, it wasn't far.
"I give you a discount make it six Ringgits"
He smiles and and leans back.
No hurry.

I'm stunned.
This is a happy man, a contented man.
I'm used to taxi drivers trying to get every little bit extra.
I'm used to rush rush rush....
This guy is not bothered.
"Make is seven", I hand him a ten Ringgit note.
He just smiles and says something I've forgotten by now.
"Here's my card, if you need to go anywhere you can call."

I've still got his card, his name is: Badrul Hisham 019 245 8678,
yes, if I needed a driver I would call him for sure.
It wasn't a clever marketing act that he did there.
He was just being himself.
A la natural!

I wonder why I assumed that everybody was unhappy in their job or felt underpaid.
Meeting a contended man.. was such a shock.
what happened to social expectations, ambition?
How dare he just be happy where he was ?
How dare he just see the good in his situation and accept it with a smile ?
Wow... A great taxi ride.

 
this was an actual  story on a recent trip.

...at age 23, I drove taxis for Astoria Taxis in Swanston Street - after my lectures at Melb Uni where I did  a Dip Ed I would walk over and see Mr Gange (the Gange family had 110 taxi licenses)
"you got a car for me Mr Gange ?"
he looked at me over his glasses.
"How long you want it for ?"
"Just tonight, bring it back in the morning."
"Check with Paul."
"Thanks".
Mr Gange alwasy wore satin shirts, dark red, smoked like a chimney.
He had style of sorts.

I'd wander over to see crusty old Paul. Paul looked like a war veteran, with bits shot off and missing, scars and a limp.
His outward manner was rough but he was a good bloke.
He "did the cars" for the depot.

"Paul,, you got a car for me ?"
No answer just a quick wave of the hand to the corner where two ancient dilapidated, creaky old Kingswoods stood.
Bench seats, suspension like a see-saw.
This was the rock bottom of the pile.
Fair enough, I was a greenhorn, a young kid doing this part time.
I didn't want fancy cars either.
Small scratches wouldn't matter on these cars.
Its much more relaxing driving a heap. Even if I did break down a sometimes and I needed to radio the depot for a tow home.
Another car would come and get me using a tow rope.
I was a student, it was all part of the adventure.


If you have any good Taxi driver stories... send me an email.

cheers
Heiko
Glossary:
TLA's = Three letter acromyms

'dance me to the children who are asking to be born....'  - Leonard Cohen 

"Well done", he said, "it is good to stand against the darkness, yet sometimes we must even stand against the light in order to find our true selves."

              from "Shadows & Illusions  -  conversations with Master Serapian" Bk3 p37,

Skype ID:  ask me by email, if I put it here, I get spam messages.

Haiko's - blogs -(o)- metaphysics  -(o)- travel -(o)- stories -(o)- travel-tips. 
 One often meets one's destiny while trying to avoid it. - Anon.

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bottle happiness - we try have 'it' without paying full price

Something nice happens, 

I take great risks to have it, to get it. 

the path to get it really tests me. 

I get it. ! I'm happy. 

For a while. Then I want to safeguard it and make it last FOREVER and EVER.

I ask for promises and rules. 

I put it in a concrete safe with 5 keys. 

I put armed guards around, 

I check on it every few hours. 

Yep it's still safe.

Now I OWN it, no one can EVER take that happy-ness from me. 

It is MINE, all MINE. 

Yeppeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

-----------------

I open the concrete safe, use my 5 keys.

it has gone. 

how could it have gone ?? what killed it ? 

I know what killed  it.

I go out again,

I wander the world, 

Then I meet it !

It is free, it is there, it was always free, 

It was always mine. 

It comes with me, and walks me 

and the darkness lifts from my soul.

I don't use the concrete safe and the 5 keys.

I let go the armed guards. 

I leave it free, 

And I have no rules,

no guarantees,

but I have 'it'