Sunday, November 20, 2011

Doodle #154 : Alpha

Ekam Eveileb.

Sometimes all you need is a little faith, that one guiding light amidst darkness. To know that the world we live is but a small part of a larger puzzle and each of us represents a piece of that puzzle. When push comes to shove, you'd want something, or someone to fall back on. Something bigger than any of us, a deeper meaning to life. Perhaps that something resides in each and every one of us already, we just have to acknowledge it. All you have to do is reach out, and believe.

Just finished reading both books borrowed from Samantha. I was supposed to pass her Pendragon as part of an exchange pact but alas, it slipped my mind on the day itself. Sorry! I really am, LOL. I'll pass them to you, and your books back when uni reopens!

Having said that, I attended the final gathering for Alpha at Whispering Hope (a church in... Damansara?) I'm sorry my geographical knowledge is horrendous. In simpler terms, it's Mun's, Joshiee's and Rachel's church. There! So much easier, no? It was more of a celebration, to celebrate (well, duh) the end of Alpha, or so Mun puts it.

It's been roughly 3 weeks since I last attended Alpha, due to the increasingly hectic schedule back in the end of Semester 2. Seeing as this was the final one, I made a point that I'll attend. I'm glad I did too.

In a nutshell *flashes back to 2010*, Alpha can be described... somewhat like a forum I guess. Basically, we meet up, eat dinner, chit chat, watch a video, then share our views on what we thought of the video. It's like a gathering to know more about other religions and their views on life. Throughout the past few weeks of attending, I feel that I've learnt quite a bit on Christianity. Well, much more than what I had previously known. Well, it's always nice to know more about the religions of others and share your views.

Those who find historical / religion related facts boring should look away now.

Last night's session was pretty interesting. Christianity in ancient China. Generally, we'd all assume a Chinese to be either a Taoist, Confusionist (is that how you spell it?), or a Buddhist. Well, apparently before all those came about there were no actual official religion or beliefs documented. However, historical records of China existed way back to 2500BC and all 3 religions aforementioned only came about roughly during 5BC. That leaves us with over 2000 years of.. blankness. Well, historical records may not have recorded any official religions but most would agree upon the existence of ONE god, Shang Di, contrary to what we know of in Chinese culture today. Cue flashbacks to the various Chinese drama's I've seen as a kid where there were over 20+ individual gods and goddesses.

Interesting, no? Even more so is the fact that history could only be documented only when people were able to write, that is when the Chinese writing was invented. Now, if something of epic proportions were to happen now, people could document them. The Flood, Tower of Babel and the Creation Stories would be as such. I won't even try to go through every last detail in this section as I'm not exactly well-versed in the ways of religion. But here's something to ponder upon, take a good look at some of the Chinese characters and how you write them. "Guilt", "Lust", "Sky", "Garden". Call it coincidence if you wish, but somehow or rather, each word carried with them a portion of the creation story. The speaker in the night's video really managed to explain each with such clarity and confidence you can't help but agree that he has a point.

It was a pretty fascinating thought.

On a side note, attendees (myself included) were also each given a certificate of attended throughout the Alpha course. Well, I wasn't sure how to react but it was nice to get one.

It's the thought that counts, right? :)

Allusions, unrelated thoughts strung together weaving a web of an intricate plan.

Okay, I just can't randomly string words together to form the complex sentences I used to be able to do. At least not now. For now, time to relax. :))

Kinoc, out.

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