T144

ESOETERIC OBSERVATIONS

[144: a highly symbolic number]


I was always fascinated by that which could not be readily explained...bombarding my parents with questions about life, death, the Universe, ghosts, aliens, religion, cryptozoology etc. They didn't always provide satisfactory answers (forgive me for saying), which was great, because it spurred me to find answers for myself. Documentaries, books, museums (all before the dawn of the Internet) were my references as very few of my peers demonstrated a similar yearning to understand more than was presented in school.


TIMELINE OF FASCINATION:

The paranormal:-

At a very young age (around 2-3 years old) I had strange dreams which I knew were not actually dreams. I didn't have superpowers or anything like that, but, on occasion, I had experiences whilst asleep where I was in control of what I was doing. They weren't strictly Lucid dreams either because it was just me, surrounded by blackness, doing things with energy. The years rolled on and the tangible world became more and more of a distraction to the intangible.

[Rather obviously, the cult series The X Files became a major favourite viewing in the 90s]

Death & Ghosts:-

Suffice to say I didn't want it to happen to me...ever!

"Isn't that what being young is about? Believing secretly that you would be the one person the history of man who would live forever." (Vanilla Sky - a favourite film of mine)

I didn't want anyone to die! The notion that it could all come to a calamitous end at any given moment, no rhym nor reason, did not sit comfortably with me at all! So ghosts became an engrossing topic...I actually wanted to be a ghost hunter - Ghostbusters only fuelled the fascination.

Ancient Civilisations:-

Romans. Greeks. Egyptians. Chinese. I went back through the ages to learn what different cultures at differing times had achieved. Miraculous things that we, even today, would find hard to replicate. The many gods of the many cultures around the world, each governing a certain aspect of existence from wine to our demise and beyond.

Daoism:-

I suppose my first deeply philosophical/spiritual affinity was to the Dao (the Way). About 100meters behind our house in the countryside of Hong Kong was a 400 year old Daoist temple. Many a day, on the way home from school, I'd go to the temple to gawp at the Gods...the offerings...the stated guards and displays of weapons. It was all a very impressively sensual feast with the incense burning and surrounded by silence. I wonder what the monks thought when this little white kid with golden hair showed up day after day.

[Perhaps the basic black & white of a traditional Daoist costume was the inspiration for my own no-frills approach to fashion]

Aliens:-

We cannot be alone in the Multi-Verse. It is impossible no matter which way you think about it. With life being so incredibly diverse on this planet alone, why on earth (or off earth I should say) would it not be so equally abundant in the vastness of space(s). Carbon based...H20...supposedly the building blocks of life, if you throw in some Vitamin D! That is far too limiting a spectrum to consider intelligent can only evolve down the lines of...give it another 50 years and we won't even be the most intelligent life on Earth (what with the progress that A.I is making).

[I'll have to double-check, but I do believe that being abducted by aliens is one my 202 Things To Do Before I Die that I'm gona whimp out on...given the choice]

Zen (Buddhism):-

Simple. Tranquil. Unimposing and unassuming - so very different from the hectic and chaotic cosmopolitan motropolis that was Hong Kong. Eventually I realised that I was more interested in the artistic side of Zen than the philosophical aspects...but it did lead me further down the path of enlightenment.

[This image is the background on my iphone...not only is it calming and not distracting, but it also makes for a hand light - very Zen]

Martial Arts:-

I did Judo for many years as a youngster...got reasonably good at it (Blue belt 3 mon), but Kung Fu was always more appealing, given that I was embedded in a Chinese culture. During my year off I took a few lessons in Wing Tsun, but was more struck by the Qi Gong aspect to it than the martial. From there I started to investigate the internal arts of Ba Gua, Xing Yi & Tai Chi - the latter I took a few lessons in whilst at Uni because I couldn't find a trusted master of Ba Gua). Seeing groups of elderly people practicing Tai Chi and Qi Gong in the parks of Hong Kong was a very familiar site to me...after a night out as a teenager on the town, I'd often sleep it off on a park bench; eventually stirring, blurry bloodshot eyes (stinking of booze), to see a class moving in slow yet purposeful motion - invariably I'd go to the nearest McDonald's after that and consider how life would be if it wasn't like me...a typical teenager (those days are behind me)!

Quantum Mechanics:-

Super-science. We aren't talking Bunsen burners, beakers, elements and mere electrons here...I'm talking Chaos Theory, String Theory, Parapsychology, Multi-verses...a Theory of Everything etc. One of the first things I read on the Internet was a piece called Virtual Chaos (I'll add it below actually). It fuelled the flames when it came to wanting to understand more about the Universe and where (how...if) we fit in it. I recently looked for the website and failed to find it...fortunately I have a saved copy - who knows now what the origin of this piece is, and where its creators may now be:

Conspiracies:-

You don't survive making a documentary like Transmission 6-10 without it deeply affecting you in every way imaginable. My 6 year investigation into the Genocide still taking place in China fanned the flames of my curiosity in conspiracies. Sure...if you want to find or invent one it is pretty easy to look at any hot subject and think there is more than meets the eye. However, I certainly subscribe the idea that there is always a lot more going on behind the scenes than the mass media let us in on...T610 is concrete proof of that - the biggest untold story of the 21st century! Not strictly an esoteric subject, but very much a part of my way of thinking - outside the box and not mainstream.

Falun Dafa a.k.a Falun Gong:-

I'd found it. What I now realise I was searching for over all those years...something that made sense to me and made sense of everything else. In fact, I stumbled upon it. Having gotten my mother interested in Qi Gong, for health and fitness, she went to a few classes (everything except the books, which can be downloaded anyway, is free when it comes to Falun Gong...that alone was a big indicator of its authenticity and purity), purchased a book and gave it to me on visit whilst I was at University. Little did she realise how perfect the timing was. It was Pancake Day and after a night out in Manchester I said the wrong word (not to be repeated) to the wrong person and ended up taking a beating which put me in hospital - funny story now, and I'm sure it will surface somewhere else on this website in due course. Long story short...it gave me food for thought and answers to questions I never thought I had.

[Master Li Hongzhi, founder of Falund Dafa]

I now consider myself to be a practitioner/cultivator of Falun Dafa. Not a particularly great one, but one nevertheless. Self cultivation had always been a part of who I was anyway...Falun Dafa provided a framework to continue what started this all off in the first place - self awareness and a desire to understand and perfect the self. It is something that is both all consuming internally, and yet, externally, is barely visible to others that it is even a part of your life. It is a deeply personal investigation of the mind and soul with benefits for the body too - what could be better? It just so happens to fully integrate with my way of thinking and lifestyle...so...onwards and upwards I say - though I really must be more diligent. That, however, is very much a part of everything this website encompasses.