Basis Of Singaporean Spirit - People Power: Why Do You Want to Go to Heaven?

[This is part of the book: Basis Of Singaporean Spirit - People Power, click here to go to the main page]

[This chapter was planned to be published later, however, since there is a huge conflict in Singapore where a lady wreaked havoc on other's worship, I find it timely to publish it now. Please share.]

[This chapter was initially written for Singapore. However, during the writing of this book, there were conflicts in the Gaza area. Therefore, I would like to dedicate this chapter to the People of Israel and Palestine too.]

A Dedication to Ms Yeo, Who Wreaked Havoc on Other's Worship

First of all, this is a religious chapter. In a multi-culture and multi-religion Singapore, it will not be complete without a chapter on this. If you don’t believe in religion or feel that it is too sensitive for you to talk about it, please skip this chapter.

When we were young, we were told to be good and kind, so that we can go to Heaven.

Heaven was described as a place full of happiness and with all the kind people, while Hell was described as a place full of suffering and evil people.

In general, there is a common understanding that Heaven is a better place to go compared with Hell.

But the next question is: "How does one go there?"

Different religions have different ways and different descriptions on how Heaven really is. So who is right?

Let's assume everyone is right. If so, how can this be possible? Well, maybe there are different 'segments' of Heaven, where different people go to different segments depending on their beliefs and approaches.

But if so, what is the difference between Heaven’s multi-segment-model with the Earth’s multi-country-model? Don't forget that terrorists also have their version of Heaven[i], would we be fighting up there again[ii]?

Let's take a step backwards. Maybe, despite all the differences in all the religions, could we possibly be talking about the exact same Heaven? But how could this be possible?

Well, let's take another step backwards. I am sure 99% of us had heard about the story of "The Blind Men and The Elephant", right?

If not, the story goes like this (there are slight variations of the story, but in general, it is as follows):

A king gathered 5 blind men to the palace and asked them to touch an elephant and describe it. After they had each touched the elephant, the king asked them to describe the elephant.

The first man who touched the tusk said: "Elephant is like a spear!"

The second man who touched the ear said: "Nonsense, it is so soft, it is like a fan!"

The third man who touched the body said: "No, it is so hard and firm, it is like a wall!"

The fourth man who touched the tail said: "Rubbish, it is so thin and long, it is like a whip!"

The fifth man who touched the leg said: "It is obviously thick and firm, it is like a tree!"

Soon, an argument broke out and all the men insisted on their views and refused to accept others' arguments.

The commotion was interrupted by the king's laughter. The king proceeded to tell them that all of them were right and advised them to share their knowledge by guiding one another on their experiences.

After the experience sharing, all the blind men were extremely happy and exclaimed that they finally got to know what an elephant really was!

Isn't it amazing that this story had been told in so many religions as well as in so many literatures?

Although the details are not exactly the same, although the context may not be exactly the same, it points to the same message - that elephant is a big creature that we need to collaborate and share information in order to fully comprehend it.

Had it even dawn upon you that Heaven could be the big 'elephant' that if we do not collaborate and share knowledge, we would never be able to fully comprehend it?

Could these be our training ground that The One up there had thoughtfully created for us to practice to be magnanimous and encompassing so that we can all go to Heaven together, happily ever after?

Did you realise how The One had crafted the training ground for all of us using the 3-Powers[iii]?(these are mentioned in earlier chapters, will be published later)

Heaven (Abstract Factor) - Religion

Earth (Physical Factor) - Country

People (People Factor) - Race

Only when we are able to transcend beyond our beliefs, our locations, and our outlooks - to be indiscernible[iv] and share among ourselves, would we be able to enjoy the harmony.

Do you know that there are 3 types of Harmony? They are Compromise, Acceptance and indiscernible.

At the lowest level, it is "Compromise". Compromise is about tolerating others, i.e. "I give you this, but you must give me that", or as what my boy always tell me:

"If you want me to practice piano, you must let me play iPad!"

Although there is harmony, it is not a true one.

The middle level is "Acceptance". It is about understanding the differences and accepted them as part of the overall day-to-day life.

At the highest level, it is "Indiscernible". At the indiscernible stage, we don't even realise that there are differences, so how could there be conflict in the first place? This is the ultimate state of harmony.

In closing, I would like to point you to the following picture.

Figure 17: Picture of My Boy's Friends

 Did you see the picture with whale, Christmas tree, octopus, seahorse, snowman, grapes, etc?

One day, when I went to fetch my boy at a Kids' Club[v], he showed those to me and said: "Daddy, can you use your hand phone to take a picture of my friends?"

I was so touched because this is an example of indiscernible - everyone and everything can be his friends. Some of you might think it is childish, but let me assure you, it is not. He is a very smart boy and I am often amazed by his thoughts and speeches.

Reflecting it back to ourselves, we were all like him when we were kids, when had we become so calculative and intolerant?

BOSS Wisdom: “Religion is just like a stream, delivering the water to us. The water will look different and taste different because it had been customised for our easy absorption; however, it still comes from the same common source. Go beyond the boundaries of religion, walk up the stream to the source. We will all meet there, laughing happily together on how silly we were before, thinking that our water were the best, which in fact, is from the same source.” - BOSS

The book is available at Amazon.com:

Amazon: Basis Of Singaporean Spirit - People Power: A Wake-Up Call for Leaders around the World

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[i] I supposed that you are not that naive thinking that terrorists do what they did just to go to Hell, are you?

[ii] I came across a saying that if a person is not in a specific religion, that person will end up in Hell. I have heard it from not just one religion. So applying logical analysis, does this mean that they will end up in each other's version of Hell? To me, that saying doesn't make sense at all. Does it make sense to you?

[iii] Please refer to the chapter "Introduction to Three Powers" for the background on the 3-Powers.

[iv] Not distinguishable.

[v] Kids' Club is a facility provided by most hotels where kids can play under the supervision of hotels' staff while their parents enjoy themselves.

[This is part of the book: Basis Of Singaporean Spirit - People Power, click here to go to the main page]