Brains matter

I was watching the comedy Friends yesterday. Anyway, there was this scene whereby Ross was telling his friends that years ago, he had come up with this comic character called "Science boy" whose superpower was his insatiable thirst for knowledge. The audience laughed, presumerably 'cos that was such a 'geeky' thing to think up.

I was thinking, was it that funny?

In a way, Friends is quite an adult comedy, not because it tells dirty jokes or anything like that, but of the implicit presumptions that it shares with the audience. Most people are unawares because it is very subtle. It is for a mature audience because younger people (I'm thinking about teenagers) may not be able to discern the values it promotes.

Just a short scene described above, was a subtle put-down for a hardworking bookish child - perhaps the effects are far ranging precisely because it is not obvious.

That's so sad. A hunger for knowledge is mocked at. Perhaps because we are in a civil society, it is not expressed as uglily as say, racism. But titters and little snide remarks are just as devastating, all the more so because it's insidious.

It seems with modern technology and better education, we are so focused on the physical (looks, clothes, body) and the material (cash, car, condo). Trying to find joy and happiness in the things and people that surround us rather than being content and joyful with ourselves first.

There's a difference between being alone and being lonely. One can be with a group of friends, be married, and still be lonely. It is not a matter of numbers.

I think sometimes, people are afraid to be by themselves so they surround themselves with a buzz of activities.

Have we ever taken time to cultivate the soul and the spirit? To reflect, to think and to appreciate? To cultivate the faculties of the mind in reflective contemplation. To cultivate the soul with music, art, sound, observation.

It is only when our inner man is filled that we can appreciate the world and people around us, rather than to take from them; to serve others rather than to let our happiness and self-esteem depend on them.


Have you ever heard this term called "renaissance man"? Think Leonardo da Vinci..

A renaissance man is a philosopher, an artist, a scientist, a painter, a musician.. etc. And I'm just thinking, where does he get all the time to be all these? And this being about three to four hundred years ago? With the opportunities and technology and the vast amount of knowledge we have today, where's the renaissance man of the 21st century?

They had time.

How do we spend our time today?

Time in the present - gobbled away in front of the telly, reading the newspaper, dazed on the bus to work, stoned after clubbing on the way home. And then to come home, empty, drained on resources, too busy then, too tired now to realise loneliness. But as the head touch the pillow, and eyes stare at the ceiling, and the heart ask, "is there all there is"?

My experience once upon a time, praise God, never again!


They say that people only use 10% of their brain in their lifetime.

I believe that it'll be more than that for us.

Various reasons. But in short,

1. mind of Christ
2. observation on cranial activities when praying in tongues
3. long life, days of heaven on earth - mind needs to store years of knowledge and experience


Oh, there's something noble, exciting and thrilling to thirst for knowledge! It's the anticipation, about being lost, the thrill of discovery, the journey to find the answer - it is in the debates, the theory, practical application - it is in the realization of bringing an intangible idea into tangible fruition.