A friend remarked, ‘It is depressing to know that many suffer from depression.’ This is surely nothing to joyous over, but should we grieve along? The Buddha would empathise, but not lament or even sigh, and simply contemplate skilful action. If we become depressed too, how can we help the depressed? May our passionate grief [...]

‘A Study in Scarlet’ is the debut Sherlock Holmes story. It is a good reminder of several truths… The plot of how things came to be is usually thicker than we superficially assume. This does not just pertain to criminal matters. There is always tragedy behind crimes which are tragic in themselves, as criminals are tragically disturbed, [...]

If you don’t like yourself, why don’t you change yourself? If you can change yourself, who is really your ‘self’? – Stonepeace Reflections from watching ‘A Ton Image’: If your clone vies for attention of your beloved, would you be jealous – of your double? Would there be a form of self-hate mixed with self-love? [...]

To empathise is to civilise. To civilise is to empathise. – Jeremy Rifkin As mentioned in the video, ‘We are soft-wired to experience another’s plight [or joy] as if we are experiencing it for ourselves.’  Interesting. The monkey experiment illustrates the power of empathy and rejoice.  Some Dharma teachers teach that rejoice in a good [...]

There was a discussion with friends from Vegetarian Society over coverage of boycotting shark-fin soup for wedding dinners in the news… about whether it involves etiquette in rejecting invitations that include the dish and speaking against the dish during such dinners. Here is my reply: It’s all very simple, methinks… We just need to sincerely [...]

The maniacal Joker in ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland tries to make Commissioner Gordon snap mentally by giving him physical and mental torture, while proclaiming that ‘All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That’s how far the world is from where I [...]

Some lyrics from R.E.M.’s ‘Everybody Hurts’: Well, everybody hurts sometimes. Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes. And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on… Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on… Everybody hurts. You are not alone. Everybody Hurts – is this not the First Noble Truth for us [...]

I once listened to someone’s grievances overnight. She was planning to kill herself. When dawn broke, she felt reborn. I didn’t give much advice because I didn’t know what to say. In fact, I shared my grievances too. (We wept hard.) It was the power of empathy, of being there for each other, of self [...]

A Tit for a Tat (77) Tit: I think he suffers from some mental disorder. Tat: Which one? Tit: It doesn’t matter. Tat: What do you mean? Tit: Can you imagine the days when disorders like depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD… weren’t well researched? Tat: Yes, but what are you trying to say? Tit: I [...]

A Tit for a Tat (26) Tit: In case you don’t know, he’s not ‘normal’, in the sense that he suffers from a mental disorder. Tat: I see… that explains some of his less than normal behaviour. Tit: Do be more patient than normal with him. Tat: Yes, it’s would only be normal for me [...]

Inspired by the existentialist novel, The Outsider (L’Étranger) by Albert Camus: Sometimes we remark that someone is strange, as if it’s a fault of theirs. But it’s often our fault too, for not seeking to understand why they seem strange to us. Not trying to understand those who seem strange makes us strange too.